Speaker: Michael Cato

Michael Cato leads Information Technology (IT) strategy and operations as Chief Information Officer (CIO) of Vassar College, a highly selective, residential, coeducational liberal arts college consistently ranked among the top liberal arts colleges in the country. Since joining Vassar in 2013, Michael has led the Computing and Information Services (CIS) division to adopt new approaches to better serve the college community. These efforts include developing Project Management methodologies, initiating IT Service Management principles, and implementing an intentional organizational culture program. Notably, in 2014 Michael led CIS to successfully receive two Campus Cyberinfrastructure: Infrastructure, Innovation Engineering (CC*IIE) grants from the National Science Foundation. Finding the right opportunities to integrate technologies into a highly successful curriculum remains one of the great challenges of leading IT at Vassar.

Michael is an Educause Institute Management Program faculty member, a member of the Society for Information Management, a member of the Information Technology Senior Management Forum, an Educause Frye/Leading Change Fellow, an alum of Leadership North Carolina, and serves on the Board of the American Institute of Biological Sciences. Degrees held include a BS in Zoology from Andrews University and an MBA from Wake Forest University.

Speaker: Paige Francis

Paige joined Fairfield University in Fairfield, CT as their first Chief Information Officer in January of 2013. Prior to joining Fairfield, Paige served in her first higher education role as CIO for Northwest Arkansas Community College in Bentonville, AR after exiting the corporate world with experience from Thomson-Reuters and Dave & Buster’s in the Dallas, TX area. Her technology experience is cross-industry with a proven track record of leadership and project execution.

With specialties including communication, collaboration, technical expertise in layman's terms, and project conception/management/completion, Paige is a 2015 Top 100 Most Social CIOs, a 2014 Computerworld Premier 100 IT Leaders Award honoree as well as one of 2013’s Top 50 Most Social CIOs in Higher Education. Having led a highly successful digital strategy and implementation at Fairfield University, Paige believes that the role of IT must align fully with business---from strategy to marketing to the ability to communicate well with others. With this philosophy, Paige rallies consensus across diverse functional, service and campus wide interests, and fosters teamwork and collaboration in order to maintain and implement new technology. Paige is an InformationWeek, CIO.com and eCampus News columnist.

Speaker: Michael Kubit

As Deputy Chief Information Officer (CIO), Michael is responsible for operational excellence of the central instructional, research and administrative information technology and operations at Case Western Reserve University. Working with the CIO, Michael is leading an organizational transformation effort aimed at strategically aligning ITS with the teaching, learning and research mission of CWRU.

Over the course of his career, Michael has been asked to establish and lead new organizational units, or assume leadership over areas requiring revitalization. His role as “change agent” has afforded the opportunity to build new teams, develop strategic and operational plans and to lead in the development of new leaders as well as new approaches in service delivery.

Michael is a Frye Fellow and alumni of the EDUCAUSE Institute Leadership program. He is a member of the Society of Information Managers and a Council Member for the Senior IT Leadership Roundtable. Michael holds certificates in Excellence in Leadership, as well as Developing Leadership through Emotional Intelligence. He is a certified executive coach and carries accreditation to administer the Emotional and Social Competency Inventory (ESCI) assessment.

Michael completed his Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Cleveland State University and an MBA from the Weatherhead School of Management.

Speaker: Keith McIntosh

Keith W. McIntosh is the Associate Vice President for Information Technology Services (ITS) and Chief Information Officer (AVP/CIO) at Ithaca College where he provides vision, leadership, oversight, and management of the College's academic and administrative information technology services, facilities, hardware, software, and staff. His team of 71 staff support an undergraduate enrollment of about 6,300 students, 493 full-time faculty, 246 part-time faculty and 1074 administrative and staff employees. Prior to his higher education career he held various progressive leadership and management positions within IT during his distinguished and 24.5 year service in the United States Air Force. He holds a MBA degree (Summa Cum Laude) with a concentration in Information Technology Management from Trident University International and a BS in Management Information Systems from Bellevue University. Keith, a 2012 Leading Change Institute (formerly Frye Leadership Institute) fellow, serves as the Center for Higher Education Chief Information Officer Studies Advisory Board Chair (2013-2016). He also serves on the EDUCAUSE IT Assessment and Benchmarking Advisory Board. He recently completed his term as Program Faculty (2012-2014) for the EDUCAUSE Institute Management Program. He was the inaugural recipient of the EDUCAUSE Rising Star Award in 2011. He is an accomplished speaker and author.

Speaker: Liz Neumann

Liz has nearly 30 years experience in financial management, organizational consulting, and executive search. At Brill Neumann, she leads searches in areas including business, finance and administration, human resources, information technology, and development for higher education, medical, and research organizations.

Earlier in her career, Liz held financial management positions at National Amusements Inc, Laventhal and Horvath, and in entertainment, real estate, and non-profit organizations. She also worked for a national executive search firm.

Liz is a conflict resolution/management consultant for churches in Massachusetts and a volunteer for the South Shore Hospice. She holds a B.A. from Boston University. She currently serves on the board of the Brookfield Institute, an organization committed to cultivating and harvesting peace.