Contact: James Carskadon

STARKVILLE, Miss.—A Mississippi State alumna with a track record of leading large-scale innovative technology improvements is returning to the university as its chief technology transformation officer.

Jenni Crenshaw, currently vice president for global support at PDI in Georgia, will assume the new role at MSU beginning July 1. In the newly created position, Crenshaw will provide forward-looking leadership of the university’s Information Technology Services, serve as a strategic advisor to MSU leadership, and work to develop and implement long-term technology improvement strategies.

“Jenni brings a wealth of private sector experience to this new position,” MSU Provost and Executive Vice President David Shaw said. “Technology is a vital and ever-changing facet of modern research universities, and Jenni’s experience working with clients to develop solutions and implement broad-scale changes will serve MSU well. There are many challenges and future needs related to our technology infrastructure that we will be addressing as we implement university-wide transformation initiatives. I look forward to working with Jenni to ensure that MSU remains well-equipped to carry out our teaching, research and service missions.”

Crenshaw received a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from MSU in 1999. After graduation, she worked as an enterprise architect at Accenture, where she led information technology integration, software design and delivery, and customer relationship management initiatives. She went on to spend 11 years at Jabian Management and IT Consulting, where she managed more than 200 enterprise, agile and waterfall projects, as well as cultivated efficient and high-impact teams. Since 2019, she has worked at PDI to create a team environment to drive customer and employee satisfaction and integrate global systems.

In 2011, Crenshaw was named the 2011 Woman of the Year for small/emerging businesses by Women in Technology professional association. She has also served as program manager for WIT, helping to facilitate professional development, education and outreach opportunities aimed at encouraging girls and young women to pursue careers in science and technology.

As chief technology transformation officer, Crenshaw will oversee transformational initiatives to ensure cross-coordination and manageable impacts to the university’s stakeholders. She will also work closely with MSU’s Chief Financial Officer to manage overall technology budgets and maximize resources to support the university’s goals.

MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.