WGU’s College of IT recruits industry experts in new leadership roles to drive student-focused career readiness

SALT LAKE CITY, UT (March 7, 2023)—Western Governors University’s (WGU) College of Information Technology is pleased to announce the appointment of new vice presidents and deans Joe Dery, Newsha Makooi and Sesh Murthy as the college accelerates its student-centered approach to drive student success and career readiness in tech-related fields.

As industry leaders in the technology sector, these new appointees support the college’s continued efforts to prepare students for various IT-related careers with their industry insight, innovation and thought leadership. These newly appointed deans will focus on the fields of data analytics, data science and cloud computing. Together with Vice President/Dean Paul Bingham, who currently leads the cybersecurity department, they will build educational pathways and forge national partnerships that lead to high-value employment for students.    

“I am proud to welcome Joe, Newsha and Sesh to WGU,” said Ashutosh Tiwary, senior vice president and executive dean of the College of IT. “These leaders come to WGU with deep subject matter expertise along with a passion for supporting our students. Paired with an academically focused team of associate deans, their industry insights will help us develop new programs, certificates and learning opportunities for our students.”

Introduction to the new WGU College of IT Vice Presidents and Deans

Joe Dery, Vice President and Dean of Data Analytics: Before joining WGU, Dery spent nearly 11 years with Dell Technologies, serving first as a "hands-on-keyboard" data scientist and later growing into senior data science & digital transformation leadership roles across Dell’s sales, financ, and supply chain organizations. Through his experiences, he has become a firm believer in fostering data analytics education as a thoughtful balance of coding, mathematics and business skills. Dery holds a master's degree and a doctorate from Bentley University, and a bachelor's degree from Babson College.

"Helping students and colleagues to see the analytics light is a passion. To that effect, I also spent six years as an adjunct assistant professor at Bentley University, teaching graduate courses in advanced analytics,” said Dery. “I’m looking forward to partnering with members of the WGU community to push the boundaries of data analytics education while maximizing student success!”

Newsha Makooi, Vice President and Dean of Cloud Computing and IT Management: Makooi has more than 28 years of industry experience, including instructional experience teaching graduate-level courses at the University of Denver for the past six years. He led the technology division of a healthcare nonprofit and executive leadership positions at public companies, including Amazon Web Services. Makooi holds a master's degree in information systems from University of Denver and a bachelor's degree in physics and computer science from the University of Nebraska.

“I am excited to be part of the WGU family,” said Makooi. “I am looking forward to sharing my expertise in many facets of IT management, and I especially look forward to working directly with students and faculty to develop programs that address the needs of the workforce.”

Sesh Murthy, Vice President and Dean of Computer Science and Software Engineering: Murthy has built and nurtured successful businesses in AI, security, automated IT operations and migrating customers to the cloud.  Before co-founding Cloud Raxak, he also held several leadership roles, including vice president at IBM Global Services, where he was responsible for IBM Cloud Managed Services and for the first version of the IBM cloud. Sesh holds a doctorate from Carnegie Mellon University, a master's degree from Ohio State University, and a bachelor's degree in technology from IIT Kanpur.

WGU’s College of IT currently serves over 35,000 students and has awarded more than 6,000 degrees.