Behind the Scenes with UCOP CIO Molly Greek

By UC Tech News

You may recognize Molly Greek’s name from some of UC’s most visible technology services, but you may not know the leadership approach behind the scenes that she has helped teams deliver at scale. Greek is the chief information officer (CIO) for the Office of the President (UCOP), which supports systemwide platforms and services across UC.

In a recent conversation, Greek, kicking off our new UC Tech Leaders series, shared a leadership perspective rooted in people, structure and continuous learning. Her message was clear: Leadership is not defined by a single milestone. It is shaped over time through thousands of experiences.

How did your early experiences shape your approach to leadership and technology?

Leadership doesn’t come from one defining job or moment. It comes from thousands of experiences across a career. The lessons that stick with you the most are failures, things that didn’t work.

Leadership is an ongoing practice. It is built through training, reflection and on-the-job learning. When I attend leadership training, I have to be intentional about choosing two or three things that I will commit to doing differently. Changing your work habits is hard and requires intentional commitment. Over time, all those lessons shape how you think, how you decide and how you support people.

How do you think about people, priorities and culture as a leader?

I have used a pyramid image for a long time to share my priorities and help others in our organization align on theirs.

An employee’s health and safety are at the top of the pyramid, followed by the critical needs of their family, then critical cybersecurity, production and finally our projects. So, people are at the top of the pyramid; we can’t support our mission without our people being aligned on our priorities and knowing that we support them.

When you think about legacy, what matters most to you?

It’s not about one project or one achievement. I’ve worked with organizations full of talented people who needed clearer structures and more support to achieve big things for the organization and career development and fulfillment for individuals.

My focus has been on building foundations that help teams succeed. Creating systems, processes, policies and environments that make ambitious work possible. Often, the team members haven’t changed significantly; the capability was already there. What changed was the direction provided, the training and standards and the support.

What does professional growth look like in IT today?

Technical knowledge and ongoing education are necessary to remain relevant in IT and is generally desired by staff and supported by management. If you work in IT, I assume you know the technical side and that you want to keep learning it. Where we need to encourage learning and growth is in leadership, industry understanding and customer focus.

Those of us in higher education must pay attention to what is happening in our industry — what is changing, what pressures institutions are under and how external forces affect our work. To serve well, you need to understand faculty, healthcare providers, students, staff and the many partners, not just systems and tools.

Leadership is about people and supporting the mission—communicating and building relationships so that technology truly supports UC’s mission.

What are your biggest priorities right now?

Security! The work never stops, and the threat landscape is always changing. The top attack vector was phishing, and then it moved to vulnerabilities. The shifts happen quickly. We must constantly focus on the newest threats.

We are striving to improve detection speed and accuracy so we can respond more quickly.

How do people grow their careers at UC?

People often want to know how you move forward at UC; there isn’t always one clear path.

Relationships are the currency of UC and many large organizations. You move forward by building real relationships, not transactional ones, by understanding what people care about, learning their priorities and being a consistent partner and advocate.

People are often considered for roles when they are already working at that level. Competence is essential, as is collaborating beyond your immediate team to solve problems at your organization.

Don’t wait for opportunity to come to you. Look for it or suggest it — on committees, in workgroups and in cross-functional efforts — where your leadership is visible through what you do.

As you prepare to retire at the end of the fiscal year, what aspects of your leadership or the work accomplished during your tenure do you most hope will carry forward?

The main thing I have accomplished in my tenure is leaving our organization in a better place than where I found it. I was able to do this by investing in people and processes and aligning with our colleagues and mission.  I am proud that many of the people on my teams have continued to grow and advance their careers at UC while bringing their unique leadership skills to the fore.