Liv Gjestvang

As Chief Information Officer at Denison, Liv Gjestvang leads cybersecurity, digital infrastructure, enterprise applications, business intelligence, and academic technology. She brings a focus on digital transformation and a strong commitment to transparency and trust.

Until summer of 2022, Liv worked on Amazon Web Services’ Higher Education Strategy team, supporting leaders in addressing critical challenges at their institutions. She spent 15 years at Ohio State, serving as Associate Vice President for Learning Technology since 2014. In this role she led Ohio State’s Digital Flagship initiative, providing free technology and coding curriculum to all undergraduates and launched the Affordable Learning Exchange, saving students $40 million in course content. She co-authored College Ready Ohio, a $13.5 million grant to support college readiness, and worked with clinicians, developers, students, and a team from Apple to build Ohio State: Wellness, an app for mental health and wellness. Under her direction, Ohio State’s Digital First initiative received the New Media Consortium’s Center for Excellence Award in 2013 and Apple’s Distinguished Program status in 2015 and 2019.

Liv has served as faculty and co-director for the Educause Learning Technology Leadership Institute, faculty at the New Managers Institute, and chaired the Big Ten Learning Technology Leaders committee. She was recipient of Ohio State’s 2014 Distinguished Staff award, the 2015 President & Provost Council on Women’s Glass Breakers Award, the 2017 Educause Rising Star award, and the 2022 AWS Think Big Award. She served on Ohio State’s Presidential Task Force on Racism and Racial Inequity and has written and presented about technology innovation, social justice, college affordability, and transformative leadership internationally. Her work has been cited in academic journals and books including “Studies in Art Education” and “Interrupting Hate: Homophobia in Schools and What Literacy Can Do About It.”

Before coming to Ohio State, Liv worked at a PBS affiliate in New York and taught young filmmakers at the Sundance Film Festival. She is founder and director of Youth Video OUTreach, which convened students and artists to produce the documentary, 20 Straws: Growing Up Gay. The film screened at festivals, schools, and human rights conferences in the United States, Canada, Europe and South America.

Liv loves reading, swimming, hiking, and take-out. She lives with her partner and their 10 and 12 year old kids, who are rapidly approaching her height and will soon overtake her in the pool.