[1 CPE] From Disruption to Enablement: Rethinking IT After 25 Years of Change

  Presented by Scott Taylor • Vice President for Information Technology & CIO, Creighton University

Over the past 25 years, IT organizations have navigated an extraordinary series of disruptions from enterprise systems and consumerization to cloud, cybersecurity, the pandemic, and now, artificial intelligence. Each wave has reshaped not only the technology we manage, but how people work, how organizations operate, and what they expect from IT.

Through it all, IT has adapted. We’ve modernized infrastructure, embraced new delivery models, protected increasingly complex environments, and helped our organizations navigate enormous change. But as technology becomes more distributed, accessible, intelligent, and embedded in nearly everything our organizations do, we face a bigger question: Is adapting our technology enough or is it time to rethink the role of IT itself?

From Disruption to Enablement looks back at 25 years of change to consider where IT goes next. It challenges us to move beyond defining ourselves by the technology we manage and instead consider a broader purpose: enabling our organizations and our people to accomplish more through technology. And as the pace of disruption continues to accelerate, it asks us to consider how we build IT organizations that are not simply prepared for the next wave of change, but are designed to continuously learn, adapt, and enable what comes next.

Scott A. Taylor is Vice President for Information Technology & CIO at Creighton University, where he leads the university’s technology strategy, operations, cybersecurity, enterprise applications, infrastructure, and digital transformation initiatives. He oversees a broad portfolio of services that support teaching, learning, research, and administrative operations across the university.

With nearly 30 years of leadership experience across higher education and healthcare, Scott has held technology leadership roles at institutions including Creighton University, Washington University in St. Louis, the University of Michigan, Boise State University, and others. Throughout his career, he has led transformational initiatives focused on technology governance, cybersecurity, service management, organizational design, digital modernization, and strategic planning.

Scott is recognized for helping organizations move beyond traditional IT support models and into strategic enablement, aligning technology investments, services, and talent with institutional priorities. His work has included building governance frameworks, advancing enterprise service management capabilities, strengthening cybersecurity programs, modernizing technology operations, and developing high-performing teams equipped to lead through change.

A passionate advocate for servant leadership, Scott’s leadership philosophy is shaped by nearly 30 years of experience leading organizational and technology transformation. He focuses on building healthy organizations, developing leaders, and creating cultures of accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.

Scott believes that successful transformation is ultimately about people, culture, and leadership, with technology serving as a powerful catalyst for organizational success.

[1 CPE] Beyond the Box: Rethinking IT Deployment at Scale

  Presented by Samer Kandah, Sr Solutions Architect • C1

Organizations spend significant time evaluating and purchasing new technology, but the success of a modernization initiative often depends on what happens after the equipment arrives. Configuration, asset tracking, staging, logistics, and deployment can quickly become operational bottlenecks at scale. This session will explore how IT organizations can rethink technology deployment as a repeatable and scalable lifecycle. We’ll look at strategies for centralizing configuration and staging, improving asset visibility, reducing the amount of work required onsite, and creating more consistent deployment outcomes. We’ll also discuss how automation, zero-touch provisioning, and emerging AI capabilities can improve these processes and help organizations get technology into the hands of their users faster and with less disruption to their internal IT teams.

[1 CPE] Extending Network Flexibility with EVPN

  Presented by Josh Miller, Channel Systems Engineer • HPE

Explore when and why EVPN can be a valuable approach for modern campus and branch networks. This session will cover practical use cases and considerations for deploying EVPN, followed by a look at how straightforward implementation can be within a Mist-managed environment.

[1 CPE] The New Hypervisor Landscape: Market Shifts, Platform Tradeoffs, and Migration Paths

  Presented by Mike Bullough, Principal Engineer, Solution Engineering • CompuNet

This presentation explores the current state of enterprise virtualization after VMware’s transition to a more tightly bundled, subscription-based model. It compares the leading replacement paths including Hyper-V, Nutanix, Proxmox, HPE VME, and cloud first strategies, and examines how cost, maturity, ecosystem fit, and operational complexity are shaping the way infrastructure leaders approach virtualization strategy.

[1 CPE] Simplifying IT Infrastructure with Modern Hyperconverged Platforms

  Presented by Eric Skaare, Regional Channel Manager • Scale Computing

Managing servers, storage, and virtualization across multiple locations can increase complexity, cost, and administrative overhead. This session explores how modern hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) platforms simplify IT operations by consolidating core infrastructure into a unified solution. Attendees will learn how organizations are improving performance, enhancing resilience, reducing hardware footprints, and streamlining management across distributed environments. The session will also examine key considerations when evaluating HCI platforms and strategies for freeing IT teams to focus on higher-value initiatives rather than day-to-day infrastructure management.

[1 CPE] Agile Infrastructure: Transforming 5G and LEO Satellite into Enterprise-Grade WANs

  Presented by Ericsson

Legacy terrestrial networks often introduce deployment delays and single points of failure that modern enterprise and public sector operations cannot tolerate. From distributed commercial storefronts and temporary pop-up locations to emergency response vehicles and IoT ecosystems, organizations require agile, secure, and resilient connectivity that deploys in hours, not months. This session examines how Ericsson Enterprise Wireless Solutions, powered by Ericsson Cradlepoint wireless edge endpoints and the NetCloud platform, converts cellular and Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite transports into a predictable network utility.

We will explore the operational realities of combining public, private, and non-terrestrial networks into a cohesive WAN edge. For the leadership in the room, we will discuss how this hybrid architecture accelerates time-to-market, ensures business continuity during physical fiber cuts, and simplifies zero trust security through integrated SASE. For the technical architects and partners, we will break down the edge mechanics required to achieve this, including link steering and bonding, device-level routing policies, and the management of differing latency profiles across simultaneous wireless link types. Attendees will leave with a practical blueprint for engineering high-performance, resilient connectivity anywhere, without infrastructure constraints.

[1 CPE] Future-Ready Infrastructure: Enabling AI, Security, and Resilience

  Presented by Nutanix

As agencies evaluate generative AI, cybersecurity modernization, and digital services, infrastructure has become a strategic decision rather than simply an operational one. This session examines how public sector IT leaders are simplifying operations, increasing resiliency, and preparing their environments to support emerging AI workloads without sacrificing security or budget predictability. Attendees will leave with practical considerations for infrastructure modernization, virtualization strategy, and building a platform capable of supporting tomorrow’s government services.

[1 CPE] Global SASE, Local Advantage: Why Inspection Location Matters

  Presented by Blackfoot Communications & Cato Networks

Speakers: Eric Midtlyng, Director of Product Management, Blackfoot Communications and Michael MacLean, Channel Sales Engineer, Cato Networks

As organizations adopt Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) architectures, many discover that security effectiveness depends not only on the platform itself, but also on where inspection occurs and how traffic reaches security services.

This session explores the architectural considerations that influence user experience, application performance, security visibility, and operational resiliency in modern SASE deployments. Attendees will learn how regional security presence, traffic localization and resilient connectivity can improve outcomes for distributed organizations.

Using real-world deployment examples, we will examine the role of localized security inspection, digital experience monitoring, and emerging AI-powered security capabilities. The session will conclude with demonstrations and practical guidance for evaluating SASE architectures that balance global reach with local performance and operational simplicity.