John Sack Associate Publisher and Director HighWire Press Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources

B I O

Over a 20-year career in information systems, John has been responsible for architecting and leading the delivery of campus-wide and nation-wide information systems and systems infrastructure. In the 1980s, this included development of systems infrastructure such as data base management and electronic forms/signature systems that brought transaction processing to nearly every desktop in the University; in the 90s, the work has focused on planning the move from proprietary and locally-developed systems to open, marketplace solutions. John has worked in several functions in IS: from consulting and training, to applications and systems development; areas spanning the range from academic IS to administrative IS: applications, data base systems, library automation systems, architecture, decision support systems, and information publishing systems; and in roles ranging from project and functional management, to staff roles, to general management of the IT function. John is an expert at the introduction of new technologies into large organizations, and at managing the organizational change cycles related to such technology introductions. After several years leading the transition of University infrastructure to open, client/server systems, John has shifted his focus back to information-delivery and -publishing technologies which can be thoroughly rethought in light of new distributed technologies. He is now launching within Stanford an electronic publishing business -- called "HighWire Press" -- whose goal is to change the economic model of scholarly communication, especially for scientific, technology and medical information. [Resume]

F R I E N D S

Jasmine & Goblin.