- Overview
- Speakers
Leading On the Bleeding Edge: Agentic AI, Accountability, and the Absence of a Playbook (a Leadership Ecosystem Webinar)
Where: Webinar/Virtual
When: Thursday, September 17, 2026
12:00 pm - 1:30 pm EST
Note: Zoom login instructions will be sent the day prior. If you have not received login instructions by 4:00 pm the day before the webinar, please check your spam folder; if you still have not received the login details, please email nercomp@nercomp.org.
Workshop Organizers: Michael Cato of Bowdoin College and Becky Frieden of New York Institute of Technology
Registration Fee:
NERCOMP Member: Free
Non-Member: Free
Event Overview:|
This is the first session in a two-part series on this topic. The second session will take place on a date TBD.
An AI assistant is like hiring someone to do your laundry: your house, your machine, your detergent, and you are there to say how and intervene if needed. Agentic AI is dropping your clothes at the dry cleaner. You hand over the bag, someone else's process takes over out of sight, and the results come back.
For the first time in modern higher education, we are facing that shift with no known predecessor. There is no playbook, no colleague who has been here before, no benchmark institution that has figured it out. While there is no shortage of tools or opinions, many information professionals are asking a more fundamental question: what does it actually take to lead well when no one has led this before?
Join a candid conversation with senior technology leaders from institutions across the region, comparing notes on where agentic AI stands on their campuses today. We’ll explore the working reality, not the vendor version. Panelists will speak openly about what they have deployed and what they have deliberately paused, where governance has held and where it has not, and what they would do a second time differently.
Our new org charts may have two kinds of employees, human and agent, with both reporting to a human leader. The agent has capabilities; the human has accountability. Agents need onboarding like any new hire, and an escalation path for when they get it wrong. While some decisions need to stay human. Panelists will discuss span of control across both, and how they judge whether an agent earns its keep.
The conversation then turns to questions leaders are already sitting with. Which roles will be fundamentally different in one to three years, and how are you telling staff before they read it in the news? How can we prepare students for this emerging world? What becomes of security when attackers no longer move at human speed? Throughout, panelists will return to institutional context: culture, mission, readiness, and constraints. Adoption is no longer the differentiator. Coordination and governance are.
This webinar is part of NERCOMP's Leadership Ecosystem series, which focuses on critical leadership issues facing information-focused organizations and professionals in higher education.
Session Outcomes:
Attendees will be able to:
- Understand the distinction between AI assistants and AI agents
- Consider what it means for human employees and AI agents to coexist
- Examine the practical side of agentic AI such as defined scope, access controls, audit trails, and crucially which decisions stay human regardless
- Reflect on how culture, mission, readiness, and constraints shape AI leadership approaches, and why there is no one-size-fits-all answer
- Identify where your institution's bleeding edge sits and what governing AI at enterprise scale would actually require
Moderator: Michael Cato, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Bowdoin College
Panelists:
Becky Frieden, Senior Director of Enterprise Applications and Decision Support Systems, New York Institute of Technology
Neeraj Kumar, Vice President of Information Technology and Chief Information Officer, Roosevelt University
Edlira Stefani, Executive Director, Data Engineering and Operations, Bentley University
This session will not be recorded.
This session is for individuals employed by higher education institutions only. No vendors, please.
Accessibility
NERCOMP strives to make its online offerings and in-person workshops accessible to all registrants. Please contact us should you have an accessibility need. We've worked to provide resources that are accessible to as many people as possible, and if you encounter any issues while attending our events, please contact us at accessibility@nercomp.org or at 860-345-2081 to request assistance.
Michael G. Cato
Michael leads Bowdoin College's Information Technology (IT) strategy and operations through the Information and Technology department and has spent over 25 years in Higher Education IT. He previously served in IT roles at Vassar College, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Michael is active in a number of professional organizations with an emphasis on leadership development, inclusive leadership, and aligning IT with strategic priorities. He is the 2022 Technology Executive of the Year – Education award winner from the IT Senior Management Forum (ITSMF), and the 2021 recipient of the EDUCAUSE Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Leadership Award.
Michael is faculty director for the Next Leaders Fellowship, a program that identifies, develops, and advocates for information and technology professionals in higher education, with a special emphasis on developing leaders. Michael is a member of the Society for Information Management (SIM) and the Information Technology Senior Management Forum (ITSMF), an EDUCAUSE Leading Change/Frye Fellow, and an alum of Leadership North Carolina. He previously served as a faculty member of the Council of Australasian University Directors of Information Technology (CAUDIT) Leadership Institutes, a faculty member for the EDUCAUSE Institute Leadership and Management Programs, the State University of New York (SUNY) SAIL CIO Academy, and has served as a mentor in the EDUCAUSE Hawkins Leadership Roundtable.
Michael currently serves on the board of Bangor Savings Bank, Educate Maine, and the Seguinland Institute. 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 weekdays being humbled by CrossFit. He is raising an awesome son with his partner and wife Heather.
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Becky Frieden
Becky Frieden is the Deputy Chief Information Officer at New York Institute of Technology, where she leads a team of developers, project managers, business and data analysts, and data architects. As a member of the senior IT leadership team, Becky focuses primarily on the management and accessibility of enterprise data to enhance the decision-making power of university officials, and the efficacy of the user experience. To accomplish this work, Becky works closely with both internal and external stakeholders of all contact levels of the institution. Becky takes great pride in the trust-based relationships she has established within her institution, with colleagues at other institutions, and with her vendor partners. She has led many cross-functional, enterprise-level projects that have improved the value and efficiency of many administrative processes. Prior to her current role at NYIT, she was a Director of Administrative Information Services at Clark University in Worcester, MA.
Becky deeply values and is an active leader in several professional organizations. Becky is a NERCOMP Managers Series alumnus, and is currently serving on the NERCOMP Market Research Task Force. She has also served on the Ellucian Preferred Name Task Force; the Ellucian Committee on Algorithmic Packaging for Banner; and the Massachusetts Education Finance Authority (MEFA)’s Advisory Board. As an active member of the Northeast Directors of Administrative Computing (NEDAC) and New England Banner Users’ group (NEBUG). Becky has organized and presented at several regional conferences including a NEDAC conference on the future of ERPs; and several of the NEBUG annual meetings. She is also active with several of NERCOMP’s Communities of Practice, and the Society of Information Managers (SIM) Boston chapter. Becky enjoys seeing her staff grow professionally - as such, she has sent her team to many NERCOMP professional development opportunities including the New Horizons PMP course.
Becky has a BS in Finance from Boston College and an MBA from Clark University. She is also an alumnus of the Center for Creative Leadership’s Leadership Development Program (LDP) and has completed several graduate-level courses at Babson College. In addition to her administrative role at NYIT, she is also an active professor in the MBA and MSBA programs at Clark University and serves on the curriculum committee for the MS in Business Analytics program. Becky’s work in IT coupled with her passion for education has also led to many activities that focus on exposing young women to careers in IT or the IT industry.
Neeraj Kumar
Neeraj Kumar is Vice President of Information Technology and Chief Information Officer at Roosevelt University in Chicago. He leads the university's AI strategy, data and analytics initiatives, cybersecurity program, and digital transformation efforts. With more than 30 years of experience in technology and higher education, Neeraj helps institutions translate emerging technologies into practical solutions that advance student success, improve operational effectiveness, and support responsible innovation.
Edlira Stefani
Edlira is a driven and passionate individual with a deep interest in data, the future of data, and artificial intelligence. She believes in the transformative power of data to drive decision-making, innovation, and growth. As a results-oriented executive, Edlira has over twenty years of experience in the technology field. She has developed and managed collaborative strategies and roadmaps for enterprise data modernization, including data governance, integrity, security, compliance, and change management strategies for processes, procedures, practices, and policies. Edlira is committed to improving the user experience in making data-driven decisions and helping organizations achieve their strategic objectives. With excellent communication and strong analytical and interpersonal skills, she excels in solving highly complex data and related technical domain issues.
Edlira is passionate about teaching and sharing her knowledge. She is an adjunct faculty at Clark University, where she teaches Data Engineering.
Currently, Edlira serves as the Executive Director – Data Engineering and Operations at Bentley University, where she leads a team responsible for designing, implementing, and maintaining a robust data ecosystem architecture. Her extensive enterprise reporting experience has been critical in establishing a data-driven culture at the University that aligns with its strategic goals.
Edlira was the Associate Director of Application Data Management at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) before joining Bentley University. During her tenure, she oversaw the Data Management Program, one of four Enterprise Transformation workstreams. In addition, as the co-chair of the Information Governance Council, she guided the leadership team in formulating and implementing a data governance strategy and policies. As the Associate Director of Analytics at WPI, she established a data analytics strategy that resulted in the implementation of Tableau at an enterprise level.
In addition to her professional achievements, Edlira is an active member of the NERCOMP Program Committee, contributing to various activities and presenting at NERCOMP Annual Conferences. She also serves on the EDUCAUSE Data Governance Group Steering Committee.
Edlira is highly motivated to help others understand the value of data. She is committed to sharing her knowledge and expertise to help people leverage data to achieve their goals. With her excellent communication skills and strong technical background, Edlira excels in bridging the gap between technical and non-technical stakeholders, making data accessible and actionable for everyone. She is constantly exploring new technologies and techniques to improve data analysis and visualization, and she is excited about the endless possibilities in data science.