Mark Yankowskas

Online MS-MIS Student

Mark Yankowskas, an online MS-MIS student, hits the books from 3 a.m. to 6 a.m.

“I’m never really sure what’s left in me at the end of the day. So I get up and do my homework, then I’m off to the office.” For Yankowskas, the CIO of Rockwood Holdings, that could mean a day’s work in Atlanta where he lives, at the company headquarters in Princeton, N.J. or in yet another airport en route to one of the firm’s global sites, ranging from Germany to Chile.

Rockwood is a chemical holding company with a more than $3 billion in net sales annually. The company mines lithium ore and turns it into a lithium component that will be used in most electric cars, such as the Chevy Volt due out in 2010.

The company’s Chemetall Foote Corp. subsidiary in August received $28.4 million in federal stimulus money to expand and upgrade the production of lithium carbonate in Nevada and add the production of very high purity lithium hydroxide in North Carolina.

Yankowskas said his biggest challenge has been managing the company’s technical operations in several different countries with diverse business cultures and languages.  Recently he led the company’s implementation of new central computer software for all business processes, known as Enterprise Resource Planning.

“His first-hand experience with how to manage large-scale IT projects and his honest assessment of the hidden costs associated with these projects resonated with many of his classmates,” said Molly Wasko, director of the online MS-MIS program at FSU’s College of Business. “His work experience has added a great deal of value to my classes. It seems that every discussion topic posted, Mark brings in real-world, practical advice.”

She remembers Yankowskas’ input on a discussion on disaster recovery planning. He was able to explain in the wake of 9/11 how his company was prepared in terms of data recovery, then how Hurricane Katrina drove home the challenge of how to quickly and effectively physically move business operations.

Yankowskas, a native of Boston, Mass., lives on a golf course in Atlanta with his wife, Janean. He has been involved with technology in the workplace for more than 30 years and said FSU turned out to be a good fit for him.

“When I looked internally into the program, I was very happy to see that the classes were pertinent to the direction I was hoping my career would take,” said Yankowskas, who plans to graduate in August. He said he benefits from being involved in group projects with classmates who bring other industry experience and perspective to the work at hand.

“It prepares you for the real world,” he said. “Rarely are you doing a project by yourself in the real world; you have to count on your teammates.”