James Ptaszynski focuses on helping to fulfill the promise of technology in higher education. He designs and implements programs which assist in improving the capabilities and utilization of technology in education.

Ptaszynski joined Microsoft in October 1995, having spent the past 16 years in higher education. For the six years prior to Microsoft, he was the associate dean at the Graduate School of Management at Wake Forest University. In that position, he was responsible for the graduate management school's strategic planning, adoption and integration of technology, student services, human resources, the institute for executive education, financial planning, and budget oversight. He also taught graduate-level marketing and published research in trends and driving forces for change in education. In addition, Ptaszynski has consulted for numerous businesses and not-for-profit organizations in the areas of strategic planning, environmental scanning, market research, and technology planning and implementation. His position at Microsoft allows him to combine three of his professional passions: technology, strategic planning, and higher education.

Ptaszynski believes that there exists a great opportunity to significantly advance the appropriate use of technology in higher education. He is passionate that, in order for education to remain competitive in an increasingly information-based and global economy, higher education must adopt and better integrate information technologies.