Garry Sagert, Director, Online Systems, University of Victoria

Program Committee Chair 

Garry is the director of UVic Online Systems at the University of Victoria. Over the past 20 years, Garry has successfully led the delivery of more than $30M in strategic information systems and organizational change initiatives at the University of Victoria and throughout the B.C. higher education sector. Garry holds an MSc in Computer Science and has also made significant contributions to the field of dynamic graph algorithms. 

David Burkholder, Associate Director, Technical Services, Thompson Rivers University

David oversees the networking, telephony, and media services group at TRU. He started at TRU (then UCC) in 1989, as a technician supporting networking and telephony systems. Over the last 34 years, various higher paid individuals, recognized/decided that he had the skills/aptitude/competence (what were they thinking?), to manage and support these functions. He's honoured to know he's contributing to the support of staff, faculty and most importantly contributing to the learning and teaching of students. David enjoys hiking/walking, biking and IT support for friends and family. He really enjoys working on vehicles for a ministry in Central America (and at home).

Devon Keys, Manager Shared Systems and Technology,  BCNET  

Devon manages the diverse portfolio of shared IT solutions that are offered by BCNET’s Shared Systems and Technology team. Working collaboratively with our member community, she acts as a liaison between BCNET’s members and service providers in developing and implementing shared services and technology solutions at their institutions. With a career thus far dedicated to higher education IT, she is well versed in the needs of the post-secondary sector.

Ryan Enge, Associate Director, Research Computing Services​,  University of Victoria 

Ryan Enge is the associate director of Research Computing Services at the University of Victoria and national site lead for “Arbutus",  part of the Digital Research Alliance of Canada's national cloud platform. He started in Advanced Research Computing (ARC) after joining the High-Energy Physics (HEP) group at the university in 2004. When UVic received its first WestGrid system at the end of 2009, Ryan helped deploy Compute Canada’s first infrastructure as a service (IaaS) cloud. The RCS team was formed in April 2017 and Ryan switched from a technical role to a leadership role of this team. 

Elizabeth Kinney, Senior Manager​, Learning Applications, University of British Columbia 

Elizabeth Kinney has a Juris Doctor from the University of Victoria, BC, and a Master in Law from the University of British Columbia. With over 14 years of experience in clinical research and health research administration in both Canada and the United States, she has firsthand experience with telemedicine and health technology. 

Dave Kubert, Chief Information Security Officer,  University of Northern British Columbia 

Dave is the chief information security officer for the University of Northern British Columbia. He’s spent his career in academia working in Unix systems administration, network engineering, and software development before finally surrendering the last vestiges of his soul and moving into information security. Dave’s professional interests include redefining the role of information security in organizational structures, risk governance, walking a fine line, and being in over his head. 

Brian Lamb, Director, Learning Technology and Innovation, Thompson Rivers University 

Brian oversees learning technology for both campus and Open Learning communities at TRU. He is a co-founder of the OpenETC. He blogs at Abject. 

Dave Lampron, Chief Information Officer , College of New Caledonia 

Dave is the CIO at College of New Caledonia. He's worked in academia for over 25 years and has a passion for assisting rural and remote communities in augmenting access to essential services. 

Anna Machaj, Associate Director of Information Security,  Douglas College 

Anna is an information technology professional with extensive experience in information security, project management, application systems, and managing the complete Information Technology stack.  Since 2005, information security has been a growing part of the professional portfolio. This commitment to information security specialization has been confirmed through professional accreditation with the CISSP and CISA designations in the last few years. 

Ivor MacKay, Manager, Cybersecurity,  BCNET  

Ivor is responsible for fulfilling and planning the future of BCNET's internal IT needs. He facilitates cybersecurity collaboration and future service direction through the BCNET Cybersecurity and Identity Management Services Committee. Ivor has 29 years of experience in management and 22 years as an IT professional. He began his IT career working at the world track and field games in Edmonton, where he led the rolling out and support of desktops and servers for the games. Following his work at the games, he worked in IT for CBC in Edmonton for 10 years. He moved from Edmonton to join Coast Mountain College (formerly known as Northwest Community College) as the director of IT.

Ted Pennell, Chief Information Officer, Camosun College 

Ted Pennell is the CIO for Camosun College and is passionate about enhancing education through technology. He values innovation as an empowering agent for change and is skilled at building and maintaining productive relationships and developing capable teams that value customer service and collaboration. Ted holds an MBA degree with a specialization in consulting management and has numerous technology and business certifications and designations. 

Kevin Schretlen, Manager, IT Infrastructure and Operations,  University of Northern British Columbia 

Kevin is the IT infrastructure and operations manager at UNBC. He has spent most of his career in Academia, first at CNC, and now at UNBC. He has worked in desktop support roles, as well as systems administration with a focus on datacenter operations and service enablement. He believes that IT is best when it enables people to do their jobs effectively and securely. 

James Peltier, Director, IT Services, Research Computing Group, Simon Fraser University 

James Peltier is a seasoned professional with over 25 years of experience in supporting research in IT. He has been a valuable member of Simon Fraser University community since 2006, when he started as a Research Associate (R.A.). In 2008, James joined the Network Support Group, became manager in 2010, and the team was later rebranded as the Research Computing Group (RCG) in 2015. During his tenure, James has played a crucial role in the provisioning and support of the Cedar supercomputer from 2016 to 2022 and successfully transitioned from a technical role to become the Director of Research Computing Group, where he currently leads the team.

Keith Webster, Associate Director, Learning Technologies, Royal Roads University 

Keith manages teams within the Centre for Teaching and Educational Technologies that support both online and classroom technologies at Royal Roads. He has been an educational technologist and instructional designer for close to 20 years and has taught in the K-12 and post-secondary systems. Keith is a past chair of the Educational Technology User’s Group (ETUG) and teaches part time as an Open Learning Faculty member at Thompson Rivers University.