2025 Link Oregon Annual Member Meeting Speakers

Steve has over three decades of experience around Internet-based network development and deployment and serves as Executive Director of Link Oregon, the non-profit organization formed by Oregon’s four largest research universities and state government to develop and operate a high-speed, statewide broadband network in support of the founding partners’ missions of education, research, healthcare and public service. Prior to assuming this role in 2018, he was Chief Technology Officer with responsibility for IT infrastructure at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU). Steve will be retiring at the end of June 2025. Jackie Wirz will step in as the new executive director for Link Oregon.

As the Executive Director Derek serves as the chief executive of Arizona’s fast-growing research and education network, The Sun Corridor Network (SCN). With over 20 years of experience in education technology his passion and enthusiasm for bringing technology to education is demonstrated throughout Arizona. Derek and the SCN team have been focused most recently on Digital Equity solutions, building Arizona’s first open-access middle-mile, and assisting schools to meet modern technology demands, particularly mid-pandemic. 

Additionally, Derek currently serves on the Boards of Directors and advisory committees for a number of collaborative non-profits, including The Quilt, WestNet Research & Education Collaboration, and the Internet2.

Dr. Jimmy Godard is the Chief Technology Officer for the State of Oregon and brings two decades of experience and a proven track record of success in technology leadership and strategic organizational transformation. His experience includes implementing global information technology infrastructures and leading-edge program solutions.  He oversees Enterprise Information Services’ Strategy and Design program to manifest strategic technology initiatives, enterprise technology standards and processes and policy decisions to align technology vision with business strategy. Before joining Enterprise Information Services, Dr. Godard worked for Bank of America as Senior Vice President of Strategist and Governance and Senior Vice President of Program Service Delivery Manager.

Skip is a frequent speaker on topics related to technology and entrepreneurship, tech policy, economic development, workforce, public-private-academic partnerships and civic innovation. He serves on the Oregon Cybersecurity Advisory Council and the Workforce & Talent Development Board, the advisory board for the OSU Advantage Accelerator and several community-based organizations in the Portland area. Before founding TAO, Skip was an economic development policy advisor to Portland Mayor Sam Adams, where he helped create Portland’s first comprehensive economic development strategy in 16 years, recognizing software as a key industry cluster.

Jackie is a seasoned educator, researcher and non-profit leader who will assume leadership of Link Oregon as its new Executive Director on July 1, 2025. As a scientist, educator, operations leader and community advocate, Jackie has led high-impact initiatives in public and non-profit institutions that sit at the intersection of technology, education, and public service. Her career has included senior roles in research, teaching and leadership, including appointments at OHSU as Assistant Professor of Biomedical Research, Assistant Dean of Graduate Studies and Director of the Career Development Center in addition to executive leadership roles at the Saturday Academy, Donate Life Northwest and Oregon Residency Collaborative Alliance (ORCA-FM).

William Chapman is the Statewide Interoperability and Watch Center Manager for the State of Oregon. He supports the State Interoperability Executive Council in carrying out the Statewide Communications Interoperability Plan, promotes interoperability between and amongst public safety agencies, administers the OR-Alert statewide alerts and warnings program, and leads emergency communications support efforts through the State Emergency Coordination Center during times of emergency.

André Le Duc is the director of the Institute for Resilient Organizations, Communities, and Environments, which links, leverages, and aligns applied social science research and resources to help organizations and communities adapt and thrive in the face of adversity. He also established the National Disaster Resilient Universities Network, with over 2000 members covering an estimated 900 higher education institutions. Le Duc is the University of Oregon’s first chief resilience officer and vice president for safety and risk services (SRS). The mission of the SRS division is to collaborate with all campus constituents and the surrounding community to safeguard life and health and mitigate threats to the university’s core missions of academic excellence, research, and public service. 

Robin is the Director of Information Services for the City of Eugene. Previously, she was the Director of Information Technology and Strategic Innovation for Lane Transit District where she formerly held roles as a Business Analyst and Project Manager. Robin graduated from the University of Oregon in Art/Computer Science and has worked as a Software Engineer and Program Manager for Microsoft, a Business Intelligence Analyst at Symantec, a volunteer robotics team coach for F.I.R.S.T., and “Coder in Residence” in Eugene/Springfield school districts. She currently chairs the Lane County Transportation Advisory Committee and serves as the Vice President on the board of OAGITM (Oregon Association of Government IT Management).

Richard Hicks is a Senior Network Engineering Architect with over 30 years of experience designing and supporting complex routed, switched, and optical networks. He currently serves in this role at Link Oregon, where he plays a key leadership role in the design and operation of statewide infrastructure supporting research and education connectivity. His past roles span healthcare, public education, and enterprise technology, with a consistent focus on building secure, high-performance networks. Richard brings a strong background in BGP, MPLS, and troubleshooting, with a passion for resilient, scalable infrastructure.

Christy is the Associate Chief Information Officer for Technology Infrastructure and Chief of Staff for Information Services at the University of Oregon. She is responsible for engineering and support for research IT services and high-performance computing, networking, compute, storage, voice, data centers, audiovisual and classroom technologies, and UO staff supporting the Link Oregon statewide research and education network. Christy has more than twenty years of experience serving higher education as a technologist and leader. Her leadership experience spans three AAU members, R1 institutions.

Mark Keever is Executive Director of Digital Research Infrastructure at Oregon State University, where he leads strategy for advanced computing, AI infrastructure, and cyberinfrastructure innovation. With over 20 years of leadership at top R1 institutions—Georgia Tech, Vanderbilt, and OSU—he has driven enterprise-wide digital transformation, secured multimillion-dollar grants, and led the design of high-performance computing environments, including an upcoming AI supercomputer. Mark builds collaborative, high-performing teams that deliver secure, scalable IT solutions aligned with institutional research and operational goals.

With 27 years of experience in software engineering and networking spanning both higher education and industry, Kevin has deep expertise in wide area networking, high-performance packet processing, and software-defined networks. He has influenced some of the world’s largest broadband networks, driving innovation in next-generation hyper-converged network infrastructure. His work on developing Distributed Access Architectures for the cable broadband industry has led to several core features of the Kubernetes container orchestration system as well as a Technology & Engineering Emmy award in 2023.

Rachel supports a regional technology ecosystem that includes network services, information services, digital learning spaces, digital workspace modernization, information security and more for the High Desert ESD in Central Oregon. As CIO, Rachel and her team work daily to improve the security, access, and mobility of technology resources in classrooms, schools and offices throughout the region. Rachel joined HDESD in 2006, working as the information projects manager before assuming her current role in 2011.

With over 30 years of experience working in technology, José currently serves as the Chief Information Security Officer at the University of Oregon (UO), where he is responsible for defining cybersecurity strategy and operations. He leads teams managing information security risk and compliance, IT security services and operations, IT disaster recovery, security incident response and the university’s Cyber Security Operations Center. 

Before taking on his current role, José served as the Interim CISO and Director of Information Security Services & Operations at UO.  

Stephen is a Senior Network Automation Architect for Link Oregon, with over 20 years experience working in middle-mile, regional and education networks. He is well-versed in designing and operating optical and routed networks, virtualization, and network storage technologies. Stephen is experienced with automation technologies to manage a number of services and platforms to deliver consistency and predictability. He has contributed to various open source projects, including the automation platform Ansible.

Greg is the current General Manager for the City of Sandy’s municipally owned Internet Service Provider, SandyNet. SandyNet services upwards 80% of the community and businesses with fiber optic broadband service. Greg has worked at the City of Sandy for over fifteen years, with a short stint at the Union Pacific Railroad, and has held roles in systems administration, network engineering, and software development. Greg obtained his undergraduate degree in Business Information Systems and is expected to graduate with a Master of Public Administration in September 2025. Greg and his partner, Estera, have put their roots down in Sandy to raise their daughter, Madeline. Access to broadband and community growth are some of the major forces behind Greg’s role at the City of Sandy and SandyNet. 

Johan works for Oregon State University in the UIT Networking and Telecom team. During his career in IT Networking, he has been involved in numerous large-scale projects, including several campus-wide wireless rollouts, LAN and WAN upgrades, centralized storage implementations, and virtualization and high-availability efforts. He also has experience with various automation technologies and scripting languages. A graduate of OSU, he has worked in IT in Japan, and most recently in Arizona before joining his alma-mater again.

Brian J. Smith is an academic expert in quantum optics, quantum information science and technology, optical physics and nonlinear optics. Brian’s research spans the general areas of quantum optics and quantum technologies and their use in probing fundamental quantum physics and realizing quantum-enhanced applications with performance beyond that possible with classical resources. Recently his efforts have focused on harnessing the temporal-spectral mode structure of light to enable realization of larger quantum systems. He was elected Fellow of Optica (formerly Optical Society of America) in 2023.

Will Pazner is currently an assistant professor in the Fariborz Maseeh Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Portland State University. He is also an affiliate of the Mathematics Group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Previously, he was at the Center for Applied Scientific Computing (CASC) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, first as the 2018 Sidney Fernbach Postdoctoral Fellow and then as a staff scientist. His research focuses on the areas of numerical analysis and high-performance scientific computing.

Cynthia is the Manager of Operations and Implementation at Link Oregon, where she oversees Service Delivery and Field Operations and leads key initiatives in project management, business processes, and product and service development, with a focus on member engagement and network integrity. With over 20 years of experience in both wireless and wireline industries, Cynthia has successfully led the development and implementation of innovative technologies, nationwide network deployments, and collaborated to evolve operational and development frameworks, elevating user satisfaction and laying a foundation for scalable growth.