Keith Collins is executive vice president and chief information officer for SAS. Collins directed research and development at SAS for most of his career, including 13 years as chief technology officer. His latest charter is to redefine the role of IT from tactical to strategic, and to accelerate SAS in cloud computing. In this role, he is re-envisioning IT to support global operations across all business functions to be consistent, efficient and transparent.rnrnCollins earned a computer science degree from North Carolina State University and is a founding member of the computer science department’s strategic advisory board. In 2003, the university named him a Distinguished Engineering Alumnus.