Vanderbilt names vice chancellor for development

John Lutz

Vanderbilt University has named senior technology leader John Lutz, a former longtime IBM executive, as vice chancellor for development and alumni relations, effective immediately.

Lutz had been named interim vice chancellor in April 2020. In the role, Lutz is responsible for IT infrastructure and application management across all of Vanderbilt’s academic and administrative groups, vanderbilt.edu reports. Lutz succeeds Susie Stalcup, who continue to serve as vice chancellor for information technology.

Since joining VU in 2013, Lutz has combined seven organizations to unify the university’s first IT organization. Most recently, he and his team helped the university move to alternative learning and remote work due to COVID-19.

Previously, Lutz crafted and oversaw a plan guiding the reorganization of the university and Vanderbilt University Medical Center's infrastructure, networks and applications when the two entities formally separated. In addition, he led enhancements to Vanderbilt’s cybersecurity profile.

Vanderbilt.edu reports the VU Giving Day held on April 7 — overseen by Lutz and held for the first time since the pandemic began — raised more than $5 million to advance the university’s mission of education, discovery and leadership.

Lutz joined Vanderbilt after serving as president of IBM Canada. He started his IBM career in 1984 and served as general manager of IBM’s global financial services group and as executive assistant to IBM Chairman and CEO Lou Gerstner. He holds an A.B. degree, magna cum laude, in computer science and linguistics from Harvard.

“Over the past year, John has executed a vision for Development and Alumni Relations to better serve our alumni, donors and the university as a whole,” Chancellor Daniel Diermeier told Vanderbilt.edu. “He has led the DAR team to engage Vanderbilt’s diverse alumni community in new and creative ways amid the unprecedented challenges of a global pandemic. These efforts have kept our alumni invested in the transformative educational experiences and groundbreaking research and discovery taking place on our campus.”