Regents to name tech chief as temporary president of UH

The University of Hawaii plans to tap its longtime information technology executive to be interim president of the 10-campus system as it continues searching for a permanent replacement for outgoing President M.R.C. Greenwood.

The Board of Regents announced Tuesday that it will vote next week on appointing David Lassner to the temporary post, effective Sept. 1.

Lassner, 58, has worked at UH since 1977 in various technical and management roles that culminated with his creating and leading the university’s first systemwide IT support organization. Since 2007 he has served as UH’s first vice president for information technology and chief information officer. He previously was the first director of information technology services.

A native of Connecticut, Lassner received his doctorate in communication and information sciences from UH-Manoa in 1998. He earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and a master’s degree in computer science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

If approved, Lassner will receive a salary increase of about 30 percent to $325,008 a year — the same amount approved for interim President David McClain when he was appointed in 2004 but less than the $475,000 salary Greenwood was paid at her hiring in 2009.

"The Board of Regents has complete confidence that Vice President Lassner will continue to move forward the agenda affirmed by the board, and to pave the way for the next permanent president of the university," regents Chairman John Holzman said in a statement.

Holzman added that "it was a unanimous choice on the part of the board to post his appointment for public discussion" ahead of next week’s vote.

Lassner will take the reins from Greenwood, who announced in May that she will retire Aug. 31 to spend more time with family and deal with health issues. Her contract, after an extension in 2011, was set to expire July 31, 2015.

Greenwood’s announced departure came nearly a year after UH became embroiled in the so-called "Wonder blunder" from a botched Stevie Wonder concert that shook public confidence in the university’s leadership and spurred questions about UH’s operations and accountability.

regents WERE expected to vote on an interim candidate last week but emerged from a lengthy closed-door meeting only to say that they were talking with a candidate and needed more time to complete due diligence.

Holzman has said the interim search committee would focus on candidates already in the university system to help ensure a smooth transition. Meanwhile, several regents have indicated a preference that any interim appointee not be eligible for the permanent position.

"I look forward to working together with my colleagues throughout the UH system and with the community to advance our agenda to serve the people of Hawaii," Lassner said in a statement. (UH said Lassner would not be speaking with media until after the formal board vote Tuesday.)

Lassner has served on more than a dozen local and national boards and commissions, including as chairman of the state’s Hawaii Broadband Task Force — a group the state Legislature created in 2007 to find ways to make broadband Internet service more available and affordable in Hawaii.

But he isn’t generally known outside UH and the local tech community.

"I know he’s very, very capable in tech and broadband, but I’m not really sure what his business acumen is or his experience as a business manager, and I really feel that’s what the university needs right now," said state Rep. Isaac Choy, chairman of the House Higher Education Committee.

"For the interim position, though, picking someone from within is a smart move because it gets us going real quick with a short learning curve. I think he’ll have a lot of challenges ahead of him, and hopefully he’s energetic enough to meet those challenges," Choy (D, Manoa-Moiliili) added.

Friends and former colleagues describe Lassner as a problem-solver and as someone who gets along well with others.

"I’ve known David for 20 years. I’ve seen him in action as a friend and business colleague, and I think he brings a lot of credibility to the table," said Gordon Bruce, president and CEO of local IT provider Pacxa and former chief information officer for the city.

Sonny Bhagowalia, the state’s chief information officer, said his office has had a good relationship with Lassner as it works to upgrade the state government’s antiquated technology infrastructure.

But Lassner has also been criticized for large data breaches that have occurred at UH on his watch.

In 2010 the Washington, D.C.-based Liberty Coalition, a nonprofit civil liberties watchdog group, said more than half of the 479,000 Hawaii records breached since 2005 were those mishandled by UH. The group gave UH an "F" for privacy and data security.

Examples include the personal information of more than 40,000 alumni being inadvertently placed online between 1990 and 1998 by a faculty member who was conducting research. And between 1998 and 2009 more than 53,000 people who did business with the Manoa campus parking office had personal information compromised.

As a result, UH last year settled a class-action lawsuit that required the university to provide two years of credit monitoring and credit restoration services to those affected. Lassner, who was named in the suit, said at the time that UH "is also working diligently to significantly reduce the chance of future data breaches."

UH will be soliciting bids for a national or local executive search firm to help regents with finding a permanent president. The 12-member committee, which has said it wants to consider candidates with strong Hawaii ties, will also request proposals from search consultants. The search, which began last month, is expected to take between six and 10 months.