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Regina Scriven has the distinction of being both the beneficiary of good timing and the victim of bad timing — all at the same time.
Scriven, who grew up in Philadelphia, is the University’s new vice president of Technology and Learning Resource Services, arriving at Salus after serving more than eight years as director of Information Technology in the School of Public Health at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
On the very same day Scriven accepted the job at Salus, her sister, who has been living in Philadelphia, accepted a new job in the metro D.C. area. So the sisters will essentially be trading geographic locations. While good professional timing, it appears to be unfortunate personal timing.
Scriven joins an IT department that has been clicking on all cylinders for a while now. The most recent example was the nearly seamless transition the University was able to make earlier this year when the pandemic hit and since. In the course of a weekend, IT was able to pivot to online learning for faculty to virtually teach the following Monday.
That transition was just one of the aspects of the job that Salus president Michael Mittelman, OD ‘80, MPH, MBA, FAAO, FACHE, and chief of staff Brian Zuckerman, shared with Scriven during her interview process.
“We talked about when the pandemic hit, everything moved online over the course of the weekend with a minimum amount of hiccups and how impressive it was,” said Scriven. “I have to say, it fit in with what I had heard about the IT department here, and that everyone was professional and good at their jobs.”
Another attractive aspect of this position was the administration didn’t hit Scriven with a list of IT issues. “The people here were like, ‘We want you to come here so that we can continue to give the great service that we’re already giving,’” she said.
While at George Washington University, Scriven, who earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in computer science from Arcadia University in Glenside, Pennsylvania, handled IT services for the University’s School of Public Health. There, she led the operational and strategic planning, which included fostering innovation, organizing and planning projects and negotiating resource allocation. She was responsible for all elements of IT and infrastructure that delivered a consistent, reliable and optimized business and operational experience for all end users as well as external providers and clients.
Prior to that, Scriven was a senior systems engineer for more than five years at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism in New York City, where she managed and co-managed projects that included in-house staff, contractors and vendors.
Scriven, who will be commuting from Washington, D.C. for the time being, has hit the ground running, having started her new job Nov. 16. In the early stages, she’s getting to know everyone, familiarizing herself with the IT department and trying to find her way around the Elkins Park campus, which is still under pandemic protocols and sparsely populated.
“This is a place where they want to be on top of technology, they want to be on the cutting edge and to give good service. Those are the things that I was looking for in my career,” she said. “I feel really good about taking this position and I feel really good about the IT team. We are going to continue the good work that is being done.”
Scriven is also pleased with the warmth and friendliness she’s already experienced from the Salus family and encouraged people to take advantage of her open door policy. Her email address is rscriven@salus.edu.
“Everyone has been welcoming and I’m really grateful for that,” she said. “If you have an idea or you’re thinking of something, stop by and talk to me or email me. I want to know all about the ins and outs and I can’t do that without the help of others.”
