Orlando Leon

About

Orlando Leon serves as the inaugural chief information officer at the Hoover Institution, where he leads a unified technology organization spanning technology services, business systems and process improvement, and audiovisual event production. In partnership with the Hoover leadership team, Leon sets Hoover’s institutional technology agenda and directs technology strategy, investment, and delivery, advancing research productivity, operational effectiveness, and digital stewardship through reliable, user-centered technology and a strong cybersecurity and privacy posture. He is guiding the organization’s shift from reactivity—responding to requests—to proactivity: setting strategy and direction; establishing the principles, standards, and roadmaps that align technology decisions with Hoover’s mission; and governing the responsible adoption of artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies across the Institution’s administrative and research work.

Leon brings more than twenty-five years of experience in information technology, including nearly twenty years in higher education. He returns to Stanford from the East Bay Municipal Utility District, where as chief information officer he oversaw the technology supporting critical water and wastewater infrastructure and public health. Previously, as the inaugural CIO at Fresno State, he built the partnerships and organizational capacity that elevated the position to vice president for information technology and chief information officer over his six-year tenure. Earlier in his career, Leon held roles of increasing responsibility at Stanford University and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and worked as a software engineer at Oracle and Hewlett-Packard.

Born and raised in San Francisco, Leon holds degrees in electrical engineering and computer science, management science, and computer science and engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He lives in San Francisco with his wife and son.