Link Oregon 2026 Annual Member Meeting

Join us for the 2nd annual in-person Link Oregon Member Meeting! We are excited to gather our community for a day of connection, collaboration, and learning.

Registration is now closed. If you have a question about registration, please reach out to info@linkoregon.org. Thank you!

Thank you to our member meeting sponsors!

Program

Time	Location	Activity	Speaker(s)	Session Description
8:15am	SMSU 1st Floor Lobby – Broadway Street Entrance	Registration Opens
8:15-9:00am	SMSU Ballroom Third Floor	Continental Breakfast, Coffee, and Networking
9:00-9:20am	SMSU Ballroom	Opening Session: Link Oregon Update: Strategic Roadmap	Jackie Wirz, Executive Director, Link Oregon	Executive Director Jackie Wirz will kick off the Member Meeting with a look at where Link Oregon has been and where we’re headed. She’ll share key milestones, the organization’s strategic roadmap, and the priorities shaping the year ahead — setting the stage for the conversations to come.
9:20-10:00 am	SMSU Ballroom	PLENARY: The Network Effect: Orchestrating Oregon’s Digital Ecosystem Presentation Slides	Jameka Williams, Executive Director of Member Service & Community Engagement, Merit Network Jackie Wirz, Executive Director, Link Oregon	As the nation’s oldest Research & Education Network, Merit in Michigan is a model for how RENs create value over time and orchestrate digital ecosystems that drive opportunity. Using Oregon’s statewide connectivity landscape as a case study, this session explores how infrastructure, trust, shared services, and cross-sector collaboration can create exponential value for education, research, healthcare, public safety, workforce development, rural communities, and more. Jameka and Jackie will examine the shift from network provider to ecosystem partner and consider practical ways to turn fragmented assets into shared abundance..
10:05-10:30am	SMSU Ballroom	PANEL: AI in K12, Higher Education, and Government: Policy, Practice, and What’s Next	Sean Alagar-McCartney, DevOps Lead / AI Governance, City of Portland Kasey Fernandez, District Library Media Specialist + STE(A)M, Tigard-Tualatin School District Victor Villegas, Broadband & Digital Technologies Adoption Coordinator, Oregon State University Extension	Artificial intelligence is reshaping how students learn, how researchers work, and how public agencies serve constituents — and Oregon institutions are responding with policy in real time. This panel brings together voices from K–12, higher education, and local government to share what’s working, what’s unsettled, and how to build durable policies as the technology keeps changing — with community at the table.
10:30-10:40am		BREAK
10:40-10:55am	SMSU Ballroom	LIGHTNING TALK: IP Routing and Switching, Engineered for the AI Era Presentation Slides	Ken Abel, Solutions Architect, Ciena/PIER Group	This session explores how Ciena’s IP routing and Ethernet switching portfolio is purpose built to meet the demands of today’s AI-driven networks. As AI workloads reshape data center architecture from GPU cluster interconnects to spine-and-leaf fabrics the requirements for low latency, massive throughput, and intelligent traffic management have never been greater. We’ll examine how Ciena’s solutions address these challenges across the full network stack, from core routing to edge switching, and why next generation AI infrastructure demands more than legacy networking can deliver.
11:00-11:30am	SMSU Ballroom	PANEL: Regional Planning and Collaboration Across Agencies	Robin Mayall, Director of Information Services, City of Eugene Jesse Nelson, Executive Director, Connected Lane County Keith Testerman, Data Center and Systems Manager, Lane Council of Governments	In Lane County, cross-agency collaboration and regional planning are delivering better outcomes, expanding critical infrastructure, and improving service to constituents. In this panel, leaders from the Lane Council of Governments, the City of Eugene, and Connected Lane County will share how long-term partnerships across agencies have enabled innovative solutions. Attendees will learn the principles that sustain collaboration through leadership changes and resource constraints, how trusted relationships can unlock efficiencies, and what it takes to build a culture of cooperation that delivers measurable benefits for residents.
11:35-11:50am	SMSU Ballroom	LIGHTNING TALK: Modernizing Identity Security Presentation Slides	Anton Cauduro, Senior Director of Modern Privileged Access Management, Palo Alto Networks	This talk will cover the latest industry trends and the evolution of identity security in the education sector. As institutions face escalating threats from ransomware and initial access brokers targeting student and staff data, modernizing your identity perimeter is no longer optional. We will discuss practical strategies for adopting Zero Trust architectures, enforcing robust MFA, and safeguarding digital identities without compromising the collaborative learning experience.
11:50-11:55am	SMSU Ballroom	ANNOUNCEMENTS	Jackie Wirz, Executive Director, Link Oregon
12:00-1:00pm	SMSU Ballroom	Lunch – Lumen Luncheon Sponsor
1:00-1:45pm	SMSU Ballroom	BREAKOUT SESSION 1: CIO/Leadership Track – Telling Your Story with Impact: An Advocacy Workshop	Christy Long, Associate Chief Information Officer for Technology Infrastructure, University of Oregon Ellen Miller, Senior Lobbyist, bau Oregon Will Pazner, Assistant Professor in Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Portland State University Leah Tucker, Legislative Associate, bau Oregon	Getting the right resources and policy support often comes down to one thing: how well you tell your story. In this session, bau Oregon lobbyists Ellen Miller and Leah Tucker workshop with University of Oregon’s Christy Long (CIAO) and Portland State University’s Will Pazner (ORCA) to sharpen how their programs are pitched to legislators. The session opens with brief program snapshots, then moves into real-time coaching on framing, messaging, and making the case to decision-makers who hold the purse strings. Attendees will walk away with practical advocacy techniques they can apply to their own programs and initiatives.
1:00-1:45pm	Room 328/329	BREAKOUT SESSION 1: Technical/Engineering Track – DDoS Scrubbing; 400G Presentation Slides	Stephen Fromm, Senior Network Automation Architect, Link Oregon Richard Hicks, Senior Network Engineering Architect, Link Oregon
1:50-2:35pm	SMSU Ballroom	BREAKOUT SESSION 2: Research Computing	Shayne Huddleston, Chief Technology Officer, Oregon State University Gwen Jacobs, Cyberinfrastructure Alliance for Oregon	Oregon State University is building one of the most powerful supercomputers in the Pacific Northwest — and it’s designed to serve all of Oregon. In this conversation, consultant Gwen Jacobs sits down with Shayne Huddleston, OSU CTO, to explore what this machine actually means for researchers, institutions, and communities across the state. From its origins in a landmark gift by OSU alumni Jensen and Lori Huang to its potential to accelerate everything from climate modeling to AI development, attendees will get an inside look at how OSU is thinking about access, collaboration, and responsible stewardship of a shared resource — and what it could mean for Oregon’s research computing future.
1:50-2:35pm	Room 328/329	BREAKOUT SESSION 2: eduroam! Presentation Slides	Keanen Boeholt-Lovgren, Network Analyst, Capital Region ESD 113 (WA) Cynthia Brown, Manager of Implementation and Operations, Link Oregon Jack Haden-Enneking, K-20 Program Manager, University of Washington Information Technology Susan Tenkhoff, E-Rate Advisor, Link Oregon	Link Oregon and WA K-20 are the eduroam Support Organizations (eSOs) for Oregon and Washington and are joining forces for a collaborative, regional approach to eduroam implementation. Our organizations each manage a single statewide license and support eduroam for K-12, libraries, and museums. Join us to learn more about a supported path to implementing eduroam and to hear from folks with technical experience turning up eduroam in a variety of contexts.
2:35-2:45pm		BREAK
2:45-3:00pm	SMSU Ballroom	LIGHTNING TALK: Campus Segmentation Strategies Presentation Slides	Joe Lentz, Service Engineer, Arista	The traditional “castle-and-moat” security model is no longer sufficient in today’s hyper-distributed environments. As lateral movement becomes the primary vector for sophisticated threats, the need for granular, identity-based security has become business critical. This talk will cover the Evolution of Segmentation: Moving beyond traditional ACLs, VLANs and VRFs to dynamic, stateful policy enforcement.
3:00-3:25pm	SMSU Ballroom	PANEL: Practical Conversations About Cybersecurity	José Dominguez, Chief Information Security Office, University of Oregon Michael Klinkerfues, Network Services Manager, Central Oregon Community College Hailie Roark, Information Security Manager, Clackamas ESD	As cybersecurity threats evolve faster than ever, public-sector organizations are challenged to defend critical systems with limited resources, growing attack volumes, and an increasingly complex threat landscape. In this session, panelists will share experiences from the front lines through the lens of K-20 institutions. Attendees will hear how organizations are using automation to strengthen defenses, where institutions commonly struggle when scaling their cybersecurity programs, and what strategies are proving most effective in resource-constrained environments.
3:25-4:00pm	SMSU Ballroom	Interactive Closing Session	Link Oregon Team	Link Oregon’s closing session puts our new tagline to the test. Teams drawn from across sectors will tackle a hands-on creative challenge designed to do what Link Oregon does every day — bring unlikely collaborators together to build something none of them could have built alone. Come ready to roll up your sleeves, meet someone new, and have a little fun.
4:00-4:30pm		Member Networking Time