Innovators & Influencers: Community College CIO Powers E-Learning Effort To Reach Navy WorldwideInnovators & Influencers: Community College CIO Powers E-Learning Effort To Reach Navy Worldwide

Rob Rennie has spent the past 15 years leading IT on college campuses, the last nine for Florida Community College at Jacksonville. But his IT strategy doesn't sound much different from those in the for-profit world: Expand globally, improve mobility, drive growth. "We are responsible for new business opportunities," Rennie says of IT.

And how's that going? In October, the college signed a three-year, $65 million deal with the Navy, providing on-campus and e-learning training for 45,000 Navy personnel, including those serving abroad. Remote instruction relies on the school's virtual campus, through which at least 30,000 of its 104,000 students take e-learning courses, either exclusively online or as part of on-campus classes. "Without the virtual campus, we wouldn't have the Navy contract," Rennie says.

The school provides courses to 19 other government entities, plus companies such as Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Flor-ida, which buys tailored e-learning curricula for customer service teams. All part of the growth plan.

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