Dr. Mel Fenner Jr. PhD, MBA, CISSP

Dr. Mel Fenner is an enterprise technology executive with 20 years of leadership experience across higher education, healthcare, government, and corporate environments. As Lincoln University's senior-most technology leader, he serves on the President's Cabinet providing enterprise leadership for all technology strategy, cybersecurity, governance, and digital transformation. Formerly in senior leadership at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, he directed enterprise IT services for 100,000+ users across Student Affairs, McKinley Health Center, and the Smart Healthy Communities Initiative.

His leadership approach centers on technology as an enabling, trust-based function—embedded within teaching, research, healthcare, and administrative operations rather than operating in isolation. At Lincoln University, he provides strategic direction for technology strategy, cybersecurity, governance, and execution across academic, administrative, and student-facing systems, reporting directly to the President's Cabinet.

Dr. Mel brings a dual perspective as both an executive strategist and educator, serving as adjunct faculty at Southern New Hampshire University teaching graduate-level IT Management, IT Innovation, Health Informatics, and Project Management. A CISSP-certified leader with a Ph.D. focused on the relationship between technology threat avoidance and innovation, and an MBA in Technology Management, he builds resilient, future-ready organizations that manage risk deliberately, enable responsible innovation, and deliver long-term institutional value.