Alumni Spotlight: C. Fara Francis

C. Fara Francis smiles for a headshot.

Class of 1998

Degree:

Masters of Business Administration

Current Role:

Chief Information Officer – Global Technology

Fara Francis is a C-Suite Executive and currently, Chief Information Officer for the Center for Creative Leadership. Prior to that, she was the Chief Information Officer for the ASCD an organization supporting educators in the K-12 space with over 100,000 global members. After graduating from Marymount in 1998 with an MBA in Finance, Fara went on to work with Grant Thornton, LLP as a Senior Consultant and then Manager for almost 7 years. She then served as Project Manager at Broadpoint Technologies, Inc. In 2006, she was appointed Chief Information Officer for AGC of America – the leading construction industry association successfully leading the organization’s technology initiatives which she did for 12 years. In 2019, she was selected as the Chief Information Officer for the ASCD in Alexandria. Fara also holds an Executive Leadership Certificate in Strategy and Innovation from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management and is PMP certified. Her passion is in giving back and building a legacy to support and elevate those who are coming up in their careers offering mentorship and guidance where needed. Her goal is to create a platform to share her story of career growth and ascent – a roadmap of courage, tenacity and resilience to other women who desire to see change in their careers. She particularly wants to share at colleges and universities. She supports the YearUp Workforce Development program and has served on their Tech Council. She is currently on the board of the DC Chapter for the Society for Information Management (SIM).

Fara enjoys global travel, international soccer games (Go Brazil!!) and salsa dancing and lives in NW Washington DC. 

What was your most memorable moment at Marymount University? 

One of my finance classes organized a trip to Wall Street. Some of us were selected to go down to the floor of the NYSE – I was selected. An amazing and exciting experience. The energy on the floor among the traders is something that I have never experienced. Grateful for that walk through. The tour guide had us hopping through there at rapid fire pace – matching the frenetic energy of the floor. The second memory for me was graduation. That feeling of accomplishment and relief.