Tanya Acevedo: New Miami Dade College VP, chief information officer

Miami Dade College has in its ranks a new professional with three decades of experience establishing the technology vision and leading innovative strategies in organizations. Tanya Acevedo, who was appointed vice president for information technology and chief information officer in September, is in charge of guiding the information technology (IT) strategy of the college as it evolves into a more digitalized organization. 

Her career in technology started on an Indian reservation working under the general manager of the casino. That was what she describes as the first opportunity to work in an organization that had a public sector component but also private. 

“I was lucky to start my experience in the technology world knowing that I definitely like to make a difference, and that’s in a public sector rather than the traditional corporate world, so I really enjoyed that work,” she said. 

As Ms. Acevedo moved forward, she went into the private sector and got experience with online e-commerce, and even did consulting. She held technology management positions at Toyota Financial Services, Edmunds.com, Answerthink Consulting, and Orange County, CA. 

In California, she focused on strategy and automating processes for Orange County, making sure the information technology projects were aligned with the business needs to support the constituents. 

Ms. Acevedo later joined Travis County, TX, at the time she describes as the shift to e-government. She contributed to the shift to remote services such as paying parking tickets online and signing up for services rather than making people continue going to the offices. 

“What’s interesting in Travis County is that we even helped change or support the Texas State code to allow videoconferencing for open meetings, and this was before the pandemic, so when the pandemic happened they were able to quickly pivot to video meetings because we had been doing it for years,” she said. “This is one of the projects that I’m really proud of.”

She later served as chief technology officer for Bush Intercontinental and William P. Hobby airports in Houston, an experience she describes as “a switch to smart cities.” In that position, she started exploring and implementing the Internet of Things and facial biometric technologies, which is “another thing that really helped with the pandemic for the touchless technology inside the airport.” 

Joining Miami Dade College is an opportunity that Ms. Acevedo sees, due to her background, to increase the public service “to help the student journey, and the faculties and staff,” she said. 

Ms. Acevedo keeps in the forefront the importance of serving in the community and considers it in the professional steps she has taken. From a very young age, both of her parents, educators, taught her the importance of leaving the world better than you found it. “That’s why I’ve got that itch for public service early in my career,” she said. Up to today, she takes that philosophy to every project she undertakes. 

Tanya Acevedo was interviewed by Miami Today reporter Gabriela Henriquez Stoikow. 

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