Phil Komarny, the Vice President of Innovation at Salesforce, has over 20 years’ experience of using emerging technologies to create high-value solutions for existing problems. A veteran C-level executive, he has won several awards for his entrepreneurship and work within higher education and has been listed in Constellation's Business Transformation 150 in 2017 and the CIO 100 Awards in 2013. Capable of wielding a broad set of technical skills from cloud computing to social media, Komarny is also a highly social leader and networker known for his ability to develop teams of all levels and sizes and to build relationships between management, colleagues, vendors, stakeholders and technical specialists. Previously, he has served as the Chief Digital Officer of The University of Texas System, the CEO of Education at Robots and Pencils Inc., and the co-founder of HalfBuffalo.

Keld Bangsberg is the Senior Product Manager at Salesforce.org. In his 20+ years of developing software experiences and teaching others how to do the same, he has worked in many domains including consumer, enterprise, education, and entertainment software. Prior to joining Salesforce in 2012, Bangsberg was an iOS developer for Adspore. He also spent over 8 years at The Art Institute of Portland, where he taught courses on video game development, programming, and level design and ultimately became department director for Game Art, Programming and Animation. His unique blend of creative and technical skills includes project management, UX, and game development and design.

Paul Bishop, Ph.D., has served as the vice president for IT at SBCC since 2005. In 2013, the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office awarded him the Technology Leadership Award. His myriad skills include leadership, higher education, management. Previously, Bishop held the position of Executive Director at SunGard Higher Education. Before taking on that role, he spent 11 years as Director of Computing & Telecommunications at Washington College. He received his Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Bowling Green State University.

John Gorup, the Global Director of Higher Education at Appirio, has worked in the Salesforce ecosystem for more than 10 years. Before his current position, he served as Appirio’s Solutions Architect for Higher Education, helping higher ed customers maximize their use of Salesforce. He holds numerous Salesforce.com and Trailhead certifications, and he also participated in Salesforce.org’s 2019 Higher Ed Summit. Prior to joining Appirio, Gorup was a Lead Consultant at Apex IT; his expertise in CRMs and custom apps dates back to 1995. He is also known for his skill in cloud computing, business analysis, and change management.

Matt Hall, Associate Vice Chancellor and Chief Information Officer at UCSB, wields a wide range of skills from executive leadership, strategy, and management to information security and computer forensics. In his current role, he oversees all IT activities at UCSB and works also with University of California system-wide IT. He previously served for over 7 years as Associate Vice Chancellor and Associate Chief Information Architect at Vanderbilt University, working closely with faculty, staff, students, and alumni to develop the institution’s enterprise network computing and technical architecture framework. More recently, he was an Enterprise Architect and then a Major Account Executive at Microsoft. His vast credentials include numerous storytelling/creative writing certifications, an edX Verified Certificate for Cyberwar, Surveillance and Security, and an M.A. in International Affairs from Florida State University.

Monica Illes is the Career Development and Alumni Relations Program Manager for the Bren School at UCSB, where she manages career document review services and provides personal advising on resumes, CVs, and cover letters. She also creates and oversees content, branding, and materials for the student-alumni networking and career resources platform, BrenConnect. In August 2018, she spoke at the Salesforce Thought Leader Webinar on how BrenConnect uses Salesforce tools. Before joining Bren, she served as a writing tutor at UCSB’s Campus Learning Assistance Services (CLAS) and as a writing intern in UCSB’s Office of Public Affairs and Communications. Illes graduated from UCSB, where she earned a BA in English and a minor in professional writing with high honors.

Zak Landrum is the Senior Director of Advancement Services at Westmont College and has several years’ experience as an advancement professional. When he began his work at Westmont in 2016, he was immediately placed in charge of migrating the college’s advancement records into Salesforce. This task of transforming the way Westmont works with technology inspired him to create the Center for Applied Technology, a program that brings together people from across disciplines to create IT solutions for the college. A Westmont alumnus, Landrum also holds a master’s in Nonprofit Administration from the University of San Francisco.

Adam Martel is the CEO and co-founder of the first AI fundraising company for nonprofit organizations, Gravyty. An entrepreneur and inventor, he has a passion for “building great teams who fight above their weight and find ways to win” and has helped nonprofits raise millions of dollars though his company. He has worked in investment and fundraising for over a decade, but also has experience in advertising, journalism, public speaking, and even athletic coaching. On top of all that, Martel founded three companies: Gravyty, ARM Advertising & Design, and Green Leaf Convenience. He received a degree in Communication and Business from Merrimack College and an MBA from Babson College.

Matt Midura, as Associate Vice President for Integrated Marketing and Communications, provides vision and leadership for Pepperdine University’s strategic plan. Prior to joining Pepperdine in 2001, he was a web producer at KCET Public Television. He began his career as the owner, producer, and director of Midura Consulting. He is on the Board of Directors for both the Greater Conejo Valley Community Foundation and the Greater Conejo Valley Chamber of Commerce. He received a BA in Telecommunications and a master’s in Educational Technology, both from Pepperdine.

Shona Milazo is the Associate Provost and Dean of Student Academic Services at the University of San Francisco, where she uses Salesforce to oversee initiatives for student success and retention. Boasting 8 years of experience working in the school’s Center for Academic and Student Achievement (CASA) where she manages 25 staff, she is a seasoned leader, educator, and success champion with intimate knowledge of working with both higher education and CRM. She received her BA from the University of California, Santa Cruz in World Literature and Cultural Studies and MA from the University of San Francisco in Counseling Psychology. 

Becca Nerstad is the Career Development and Alumni Relations Coordinator for UCSB’s Bren School of Environmental Science & Management. An innovative higher education professional with a strong commitment to student success, she coordinates career and alumni services and events and also offers career advising and document review. At the Salesforce.org Higher Ed Summit in April of this year, she gave a live demo of BrenConnect, which uses Salesforce’s HEDA to connect students and alumni of the Bren School and provide them with career resources, facilitating their job searches. She received a BA in Literature and Writing from California State University San Marcos and an MA in Higher Education and Student Affairs from the University of Portland.

Jeremy Norberg is the CEO and Founding Member of Assemble, an engineering agency that helps companies of all sizes design, develop, and launch apps and platforms. Skilled in start-ups, entrepreneurship, and marketing, he has a passion for “combining talented people and cool ideas to form one-of-a-kind companies.” Before starting Assemble, he co-founded a social software developer called All Widgets. He also worked at Apple for 14 years, primarily in business development. He graduated from the University of Washington with a BA in Business, Marketing, and Sales.

Monique L. Snowden is Provost and Senior Vice President at Fielding Graduate University, where she also recently served as VP for Institutional Planning & Effectiveness. In her more than 20 years in higher education and 30 years in progressive strategic planning, she has honed expertise in information resources, overseeing the implementation of academic, administrative, and analytic technology to increase institutions’ effectiveness. She began her career as a business analyst and software developer. In 2014, she presented on strategic enrollment at the AACRAO SEM Conference, and in 2018, she led a session at the WSCUC Academic Resource Conference (ARC) on “The Big Data Waiting Place” in higher education.

Reed Sheard, who joined Westmont College in 2008, serves as CIO and Vice President for College Advancement. During his 10+ years at Westmont, he has led the three largest fundraising campaigns at Westmont, securing resources for new buildings, programs, scholarships and institutes. Sheard has authored numerous articles on innovation and technology and has served on numerous boards, most recently providing leadership of the Higher Education practice group of the CIO Executive Council and Higher Education Advisory Council at Salesforce.org. He and Westmont received the InfoWorld 100 Top IT Projects in Cloud Computing Initiative for both 2009 and 2011. In 2015, he was named one of the top 100 CIOs in North America by ITG/Computerworld. Sheard earned a Master of Divinity at Fuller Theological Seminary and a doctorate in higher education leadership at Seattle University.

Kaylee Yoon has been working in Salesforce development since she was a student at Westmont College and is a Salesforce Certified Administrator and Platform Developer. While working for the Office of College Advancement, she used Salesforce to identify likely donors. For her senior capstone project, she built an artificial neural network that predicts how much a donor will give.  Her ability to build and problem-solve within Salesforce led to the creation of Westmont’s CATLab, a whole team of student developers. A data analyst and software developer, she also has international experience, having done work and research for companies in Lithuania, Singapore, and Taiwan. Yoon received a degree in Data Analytics from Westmont College, where she graduated as an Augustinian Scholar.