Rupa Saran

Rupa Saran serves as the Vice Chancellor and Chief Information Technology Officer for Coast Community College District, one of California’s leading multi-college districts located in Southern California. She provides strategic leadership and vision for the planning, development, implementation, and support of innovative information and learning technologies that serve more than 50,000 students and 2,000 faculty and staff across the district’s three colleges: Coastline College, Golden West College, and Orange Coast College.

A passionate advocate for equitable access and student success in higher education, Rupa’s influence extends well beyond her district. She serves as a senior executive and project lead for the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office Common Cloud Data Platform Project, a statewide, grant-funded initiative advancing data-driven decision-making across all 116 community colleges that collectively serve 2.2 million students.

As Board President of the Chief Information Systems Officers Association (CISOA), Rupa helps shape technology strategy and leadership development across the California Community Colleges system. She is also a representative of Coast Community College District, a founding partner of the California Community Colleges Digital Center for Innovation, Transformation, and Equity, where she co-leads statewide efforts to integrate generative AI and digital transformation into student and institutional success initiatives.

In addition to her executive leadership roles, Rupa contributes her expertise to several statewide workgroups, including the California Community Colleges AI Council, CollegeBuys Technology Workgroup, California Community Colleges Consortium Information Systems (4CIS), the California Community Colleges Banner Group, and the CISOA CTO Certification Program. She is deeply committed to fostering innovation, inclusion, and operational excellence throughout higher education, believing that every challenge is an opportunity to build stronger and more adaptive systems.

With more than 25 years of experience in information technology and education administration, Rupa is known for her creative, innovative, and solution-focused approach to leadership. She takes pride in delivering on her commitments and consistently follows through on initiatives that drive measurable results. Before joining Coast Community College District, she served with the Orange County Department of Education, supporting 28 K–12 school districts countywide. Rupa holds a Master of Science in Project Management, a Bachelor of Science in Computer Information Systems, and certifications as a Chief Information Systems Officer and ITIL Practitioner.