Michael G. Cato
Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Bowdoin College

Michael leads Bowdoin College's Information Technology strategy and operations through the Information and Technology department. Michael came to Bowdoin in March of 2018 with 17 years of experience in Higher Education IT having served in roles at Vassar College, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Michael is a faculty member of the EDUCAUSE Leadership and Council of Australasian University Directors of Information Technology (CAUDIT) Institutes, a member of the Society for Information Management (SIM) and the Information Technology Senior Management Forum (ITSMF), an Educause Leading Change/Frye Fellow, an alum of Leadership North Carolina, and serves on the board for the American Institute for the Biological Sciences (AIBS) and the Northeast Computing Association (NERCOMP). He holds a B.S. in Zoology from Andrews University and an M.B.A. from Wake Forest University.

Michael loves to learn, read, eat, occasionally cook, and starts most days being humbled by CrossFit. He is raising an awesome toddler son with his partner and wife Heather.

Joan Cheverie
Co-founder & Partner, Certified Designing Your Life Facilitator & Coach
Fieldbrook Advising

Joan has had a breadth and depth of experiences throughout her career across many sectors of higher education that have brought her to this point. She is the Co-founder and Partner of Fieldbrook Advising, a small company that offers workshops and coaching for personal and professional development, incorporating design-thinking and self-compassion.  Joan is a member of the first international cohort to be certified to facilitate Designing Your Life (DYL), a methodology that applies the creative, iterative, human-centered design process to life changes and transitions, and to crafting a life we love.  

Currently, Joan’s coaching work focuses on leadership development and career growth and transition. She sees her work as a catalyst for leaders at all levels to succeed with compassion, courage, wisdom, and clarity. Joan helps individuals and teams understand who they are (and are becoming) as leaders and how to bring this to every aspect of their lives.

 Previously, Joan was at EDUCAUSE where she supported and promoted community collaboration by designing and facilitating professional learning programs to advance IT leadership in higher education, with a specific focus on those who lead, manage, and use information resources to shape strategic decisions. She facilitated programs, mentored participants, and wrote and spoke widely to members of this national association. Prior to that position, she served as a Policy Specialist for EDUCAUSE, where she dealt with critical IT policy issues arising both in Washington, D.C. and on campuses. Joan joined EDUCAUSE from Georgetown University where she was the Head of Copyright and Rights Management and held other senior management positions. She served as a Visiting Program Officer for the Coalition for Networked Information, and she was a 2008 Fellow from the Frye Leadership Institute (now the Leading Change Institute). She holds a bachelor’s degree from Mount Holyoke College, a master’s degree in Library and Information Science from The Catholic University of America, and a second master’s degree from Georgetown University in communication and technology. She edited the Professional Development Commons column in EDUCAUSE Review and she currently serves on the editorial board of the peer-reviewed journal, portal: Libraries and the Academy

Heather Shaughnessy-Cato
Heather Shaughnessy-Cato is Co-Founder and Partner of Fieldbrook Advising, a small company that offers workshops and coaching for personal and professional development, incorporating design-thinking and self-compassion.  Heather is a member of the first international cohort to be certified to facilitate Designing Your Life (DYL), a methodology that applies the creative, iterative, human-centered design process to life changes and transitions, and to crafting a life we love.  

Heather is also a teacher of mind-body practices including mindfulness, self-compassion, and yoga.  With a background in counseling, Heather incorporates a range of evidence-based practices into her work to explore embodied and creative ways of navigating life’s challenges with more awareness, curiosity, wisdom, and ease. 

Heather has enjoyed a range of professional experiences: as a mental health counselor; yoga, mindfulness, and self-compassion teacher; development/fundraising professional working in leadership roles with non-profits and within higher education; and as a volunteer with a number of empowerment-based programs for youth. 

Heather Shaughnessy-Cato holds an M.A. in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and a B.A. in Psychology and B.A. in Sociology from the State University of New York at Geneseo. She completed a 200-hour Vinyasa Yoga Certification in 2010, and the Mindful Self-Compassion teacher training, and the Designing Your Life Certification in 2019. Heather has also engaged in training on and regularly integrates trauma-informed practices into her work.