The Association for Information Systems named Terry College of Business professor and department head Jerry Kane an AIS Fellow.

The award was presented at AIS’s conference in Nashville, Tenn., on Dec. 16 and recognizes individuals who made outstanding research, teaching and service contributions to the field of information systems throughout their careers.

Kane, who serves as Herman and Mary Virginia Terry Distinguished Chair in Business Administration, is head of Terry’s Department of Management Information Systems.

Kane joined the Terry College in 2022 and was named MIS department head in January 2024.

An Atlanta native, Kane earned his PhD in information systems at Emory University, then spent 16 years on the faculty of Boston College’s Carroll School of Management. He also served as a visiting scholar at Harvard Business School and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

He’s best known for his research in digital transformation and how new technologies can change a company’s operational rhythm and work culture. His books — 2021’s The Transformation Myth: Leading Your Organization Through Uncertain Times and 2019’s The Technology Fallacy: How People Are the Real Key to Digital Transformation — were published by MIT Press and focus on how companies take advantage of technological transitions by preparing their teams to adapt.

As a faculty member in MIS, which has a strong relationship with industry advisors and practitioners, Kane feels he is in a good position to turn students into graduates who can shepherd companies through what he predicts will be successive technological transitions during their careers.

“It’s our job to stay not only on top of what is needed now, but also what’s going to be needed for the future,” Kane said when he first came to UGA. “We’re trying to prepare the students for the business environment of the future, not just for today. Because if we’re preparing for today, we’re going to be too late.”

Kane also values the department’s broader role in expanding digital fluency and helping students effectively integrate new technologies into their skill sets across the Terry College.