Dr. Carlos Balam Kuk Solís, Associate Vice President for Technology Innovation, is passionate about identifying technologies that allow people and organizations to innovative and accelerate towards their goals, while minimizing obstacles to success.
His interests include the application of networked technologies to education and empowering individuals to leverage cloud-based solutions to tackle their own challenges. As a result, Carlos is focusing on the power of low-code no-code solutions as innovation enablers.
Other projects developed under his leadership include the Bobcat Digital Assistant (BVA), a comparative study of AI Captioning and Transcription Services, the use of AI to provide efficient feedback to provide content quality feedback developed by students, and the development of the strategy for The Texas State University Digital Learning environment.
Carlos is the recipient of The Computer World Smithsonian Award, as well as the Microsoft Connected Learning Community Award. He is a member of the Microsoft Higher Education Customer Advisory Board, and a member of the advisory board for Rosalyn AI.

Cristina Blanton serves as the Systemwide Compliance Officer and Privacy and Data Protection Officer for the U.T. System. She specializes in privacy protection laws, including HIPAA and FERPA, and serves as the designated HIPAA Privacy Officer for System. Cristina provides specialized training and legal guidance to system administration and system institutions on all matters related to privacy and data protection. Cristina has extensive experience in advising, collaborating and providing state and local government entities and officials with an understanding of complex and ever-evolving laws and regulations.
Prior to joining the Systemwide Compliance Office, Cristina worked for the Texas Association of School Boards as Senior Attorney and Special Risks Consultant, advising Texas school districts on issues involving Title IX, student privacy, data security, breach response, and myriad other school-business matters.

Greg Brandenburg has over 20 years of experience as a technology leader in church, K-12, and higher-ed institutions. He is currently the Vice-President for Information Technology and CIO at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor where he is responsible for IT operations and infrastructure, data analytics, LMS support, and media services. He is a graduate of Dallas Baptist University, has a Master’s of Divinity from Western Seminary, a certificate from Johns Hopkins University in School Administration and Supervision, and an MBA from the University of Texas at Tyler.

Deepika Chalemela is a highly accomplished professional with more than 25 years of experience in higher education and corporate technology. As the Chief Information Officer at the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA), she oversees technology infrastructure, research support services, enterprise systems, software development, project management, change management, and innovation in support of UTA's mission. Deepika's work at UTA includes the establishment of a Project Management Office (PMO), leading a $2 million web modernization program, academic technology standardization, and numerous other multimillion-dollar investments.
She is a member of the Academic Advising Strategic Planning Task Force and spearheading UTA's AI council, serves on the board of the Lonestar Education and Research Network (LEARN) and represents the university at TASCC, UT-INFOSEC, and Educause, where she has also authored influential pieces.

Brian Cohen is the Vice President of the Center for Digital Government and Center Digital Education, a national research and advisory institute on information technology policies and best practices in state and local government and education. Prior to joining the Center, Brian was Vice Chancellor and University CIO for the City University of New York (CUNY).
As the Vice-Chancellor and University CIO at CUNY, Brian directed the Office of Computing and Information Services (CIS), developed, and managed the enterprise IT vision, strategy and day-to-day technology operations of the University. His areas of focus included academic and business systems, cloud strategies, IT policies and procedures, Cybersecurity, project management, IT resiliency and disaster recovery, and network and telecommunications.
Brain also served in leadership roles with the City of New York. Among his many accomplishments, Brian developed the City of New York’s E-Government strategy, implemented the City’s award-winning nyc.gov website, and managed the City’s effort to address the Y2K technology challenge.

Yeman Collier is the Vice President and Chief Information Officer at UT Health San Antonio. Yeman has over 20 years of experience in the IT industry, including stints as the Chief Technology Officer at City of Hope and other organizations.
Collier is a senior leader in the deployment and upgrade of EMR, Time and Effort, Grants/ERP, Human Capital, and Fundraising / Development applications. Yeman has also provided leadership in the establishment of PMO/IT Governance, Innovation and Rapid Improvement Initiatives, such as Point-of-Care Mobility, Research Computing, Information Security, and Disaster Recovery.
Yeman’s educational career began with a Bachelor of Science in Engineering/Management from Missouri University of Science and Technology.

Frank has 35 years of experience in Information Technology. The University of Texas at Dallas is a 29,000+ student (and growing), selective, research 1 institution located in Dallas, Texas. As Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Frank is committed to providing innovative, secure information technologies that support students, faculty and staff and help achieve the University’s goals and initiatives. In addition to delivering services marked by excellence, value and reliability, the office serves as a resource for the latest advances in higher education technology.
Before joining UT Dallas, Frank was the Executive Director of Central IT at the University of Arizona. Prior to joining the U of A, Frank spent three decades in private industry IT leadership roles. His stops included 11 years with McDonald’s Corporation, 4 years with McDonald’s global supply chain integrator, and 2 years with US Cellular.
Frank has led all aspects of IT, including application development, cyber-infrastructure, research, architecture, traditional infrastructure, operations, project management, and client services.
A native of Illinois, Frank holds a Masters degree in Computer Science and a Bachelors degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign.

Nassos Galiopoulos leads the development of strengthened systems to support students, faculty, and staff in their academic, research, and administrative pursuits. Nassos has a proven record of success in enterprise service management and performance analytics, bringing two decades of experience in a myriad of industries to his role as CTO and Deputy CIO. As UTSA embarks on our digital transformation, Nassos’ ability to cultivate high-performing teams and drive innovation will play a crucial role.
Prior to coming to UTSA, Galiopoulos served the University of North Texas System (UNTS) as a service operations, analytics, and technology executive. There, he led and directed the enterprise information technology services for the UNT System while advancing partnerships with internal and external entities to optimize the institution’s value and the student experience. Galiopoulos has a passion for analytics and has demonstrated substantial success in using proven process models to provide end-to-end services to customers. Hailing from one of the first higher education institutions to implement ServiceNow’s Performance Analytics, he has presented at numerous conferences.
A first-generation college student and two-time UNT alumnus, Galiopoulos holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration and an M.B.A. in Information Technology.

Ben Lim has been an integral part of Trinity University for 2.5 years, serving as Chief Information Officer. He has over 30 years of Information Technology experience in a wide array of industries including retail, banking, manufacturing, and higher education.
One of the guiding principles that shape Ben's approach to life and work is the famous quote, "People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care," attributed to Theodore Roosevelt. This sentiment underlines his commitment to building meaningful relationships and fostering a caring, supportive environment for Trinity University and its community.

William (Bill) Rials, Ph.D., is a professor and associate director (department chair) of the Tulane University School of Professional Advancement IT and Cybersecurity Program, where he focuses on continually delivering and updating the program curriculum based on innovative and emerging technologies. Before transitioning to academia and higher education, he had a diverse gov tech career delivering value to state agencies, local governments, and law enforcement agencies throughout the state of Mississippi. He has served in CIO, CTO, and CISO roles for local governments and also in various leadership positions within the state of Mississippi’s IT organization as a deputy to the state CIO. Dr. Rials holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Belhaven University, a master’s degree in computer information systems and cybersecurity from Missouri State University, as well as a Ph.D. in higher education administration and public administration from Jackson State University. His dissertation research involved the critical factors that affect the adoption of cloud services within the public sector. He is a noted expert in the IT and cybersecurity space and is frequently quoted by national media outlets. He is also a frequent contributor to national IT government organizations such as NASTD and NASCIO.

Melissa Vito has over 35 years of experience in public higher education. As Vice Provost for Academic Innovation at the University of Texas San Antonio (UTSA), Melissa has transformed teaching and learning at UTSA, grown an infrastructure for fully online programs and created dynamic learning environments that prepare students to thrive in a world where digital literacy and fluency are required.
She led the reorganization that brought together the areas of Teaching and Learning and Digital Learning into one area focused on modality-agnostic teaching, learning, and digital transformation. Under her leadership, UTSA Online, a fully-online university experience, climbed to the top 25% of all online U.S. News and World Report’s Best Online Programs list in 2023. Melissa was instrumental in uniting UTSA and Adobe Creative Campus and creating a research project to measure the impact of curricular use of Adobe tools on student learning.
Melissa and her team have also reimagined physical learning environments. Academic Innovation transformed over 60 classrooms and four outdoor learning spaces. The Educause Horizon Report in 2022 recognized UTSA’s dynamic approach to integrating collaborative academic technologies into classrooms and faculty training. Melissa envisioned and created the Academic Innovation Center (AIC), an incubator and community space that brings faculty, students, and teaching and learning specialists together to experiment with new ideas, encourage creativity and inspire transformative teaching. Melissa has enhanced student success by creating innovative faculty professional development programs and dedicating more than $1 million to faculty grants and incentives.
Prior to UTSA, Melissa served as Senior Vice President for Enrollment and Student Affairs and Senior Vice Provost for Academic Initiatives and Student Success at the University of Arizona (UA), retiring in July of 2018. During her UA career, she developed and launched UA’s online programs in 2015, and was recognized by UPCEA in 2019 for the Innovation in Transformation Award. She co-founded the Gender-Based Violence Center; co-coordinated efforts that led to UA’s designation as a Hispanic Serving Institution; envisioned and developed the Think Tank learning center; reimagined Career Services; and oversaw the development of the University’s first Veterans Center. Melissa’s vision to bring together all areas that impact student success resulted in the UA Student Success District, which opened in 2021.
Melissa has consulted with large public universities and corporations on issues pertaining to higher education, fully online programs, leadership, crisis management, and faculty development. She speaks and writes frequently, including contributing to NASPA’s book Online & Engaged (March 2020) and From Grassroots to the Highly Orchestrated. Recognized nationally by NASPA as a Pillar of the Profession, she has also received the ACPA national award for Excellence in Practice, the National Association of Fraternity and Sorority Advisors Kent Gardner Award for Excellence, is a member of the Online Learning Consortium Board of Directors and on faculty for Educause’s Digital Leaders Institute.
At UA, she earned a bachelor’s degree in Journalism and English and a master’s degree in Higher Education and Counseling. She has a Doctorate in Educational Leadership from Northern Arizona University.