FAS Information Technology

Executive Leadership Group

Jay Carter, Director of Security

Jay is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) with twenty-five years of industry experience. Jay's role within FAS IT is to provide guidance to assure FAS compliance with the Harvard University Enterprise Information Security Policy as well as all state and federal regulatory requirements. Jay has created an Information Security function which adheres to a Governance, Risk and Compliance model to secure FAS IT resources and data assets. Prior to joining FAS IT, Jay was Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer at The First Marblehead Corporation in Boston, where he was similarly responsible for establishing an Information Security program. Jay has worked in financial services, pharmaceutical distribution, insurance and retail industries.

James Cuff, Director of Research Computing and Chief Technology Architect

James was appointed Director of Research Computing for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences in 2007, previously directing Research Computing for the Life Sciences Division. In 2003 he moved from the UK to the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT. As Group Leader for Applied Production Systems, he managed high performance technical computing alongside large scale storage and relational database systems. Previously he held a position at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute as Group Leader for the Informatics Systems Group. There he built the large scale high performance computing infrastructure to support the Ensembl genome analysis project. Prior to the position at the Sanger Institute, James worked at Inpharmatica in London and the European Bioinformatics Institute in Cambridge. In those positions he focused on using high performance computing to study genome sequences and designed ab initio algorithms for protein secondary structure prediction. James holds a D. Phil in Molecular Biophysics from Oxford University and a B.Sc. (Hons) in Chemistry with Industrial Experience from Manchester University. Within FAS IT, James has overall responsibility for High Performance Technical Computing, Life Sciences and Computational Biology, Social Sciences Research Computing, and Physical Sciences Research Computing.

Jacques Laflamme, Executive Director of IT Infrastructure and Operations

Jacques was appointed Executive Director of IT Infrastructure and Operations for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences in 2008. Previously at Harvard, beginning in August 2006, he served as the Director of FAS Networking. Prior to coming to Harvard, he was Director of Networking at Thomson Reuters / Thomson Financial. As Director of Networking at Thomson, he was responsible for a global real-time financial exchange collection network as well as a 2,500 customer global client delivery network. Jacques has almost twenty years of Information Technology, Telecommunications and Computer Networking experience. He has also held managerial and technical lead positions at State Street Corp, Fidelity Investments and MIT Lincoln Laboratory. He began his IT career in the US Army, serving in the Signal Corp. Jacques holds a BS (cum laude) in Operations Management from Northeastern University, as well as an ASEE in Telecommunications, also from Northeastern University. Within FAS IT, Jacques has overall responsibility for the Network Group, Data Centers, IT Systems, and the Research Computing Rapid Response Team.

Debra Orr, Executive Director of Information Technology Services

Debra was appointed Executive Director of Information Technology Services for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences in 2007. Previously at Harvard, she was directing special projects for the University CIO. Prior to Harvard, she was a Vice President at Fidelity Investments in Boston. As CIO of a start-up company within the Fidelity Capital Holding Company, she was responsible for providing technical leadership and strategic direction. Debra has over twenty years of Information Technology and Information Systems experience. She holds a BA (cum laude) in Business/Computer Science from Boston College. Within FAS IT, Debra has overall responsibility for the Services and Support Group, Academic Technology, Humanities Research Computing, Administrative Computing, Data Applications and Architecture, and the Program Management Office.  Debra also co-manages Information Security for the organization.

Vaughn Waters, Director of Administration

Vaughn has sixteen years of education management experience. Vaughn’s role within FAS IT is to manage our Human Resources, Finance, and Operations units. Prior to joining FAS IT, he was the Administrator for the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard University. At the Du Bois Institute Vaughn was responsible for the overall financial and human resources management for the Institute. Prior to Harvard he was the Executive Director for the Princeton Review Maryland. Prior to the Princeton Review he provided marketing, planning, and management for customized training and WIA/JTPA (Workforce Investment Act/Job Training Partnership Act) programs for Baltimore City Community College, the University of Maryland, and Towson University. He holds a BS in Political Science and a MS in Human Resources Development. Within FAS IT, Vaughn has overall responsibility for Human Resources, Finance and Accounting, Operations, and Software Licensing.