Last month, CIO Grant Crawford announced plans to resign in June after seven years in the post to "pursue other professional opportunities," according to the system.

"I came to North Dakota to make a difference," said Crawford via e-mail. "I did that. They've got a new library system, a new administrative system and a video network that has grown more than ten-fold."

Crawford will be replaced on an interim basis by Randall Thursby, a managing partner of Thursby & Associates Inc., a technology consulting firm in Cochran, Ga. Thursby, a former CIO for the University System of Georgia, is slated to remain in the post until July 2008.

At the same time, Bonnie Neas, associate vice president for federal government relations in the NDUS, was named deputy CIO and executive manager for the troubled ConnectND program, an effort to implement PeopleSoft ERP and academic applications that has suffered through delays and cost overruns.

Both Neas and Thursby will be based in the university system's Fargo IT facility.