By Chris Rapozo — Jan 26, 2023 11:00 AM
After a great response to our call for speakers, we were able to offer nearly 20 sessions covering a wide range of topics for both Cascade CMS beginners and highly-technical users, as well as a variety of strategic content.
As a small token of our appreciation, we would like to honor those who offered to participate in this year's conference by introducing them to you in today's Speaker Spotlight.
The following list is sorted by date and time as they appear on the conference schedule.
Our Speakers
Speakers:
Rebecca Crow joined Hannon Hill in 2019 as a web developer on the Professional Services team. She earned her undergraduate degree from Purdue University in Organizational Leadership, with a minor in Computer Information Systems, and her MBA with a concentration in Computer and Information Sciences from Colorado State University. Prior to joining Hannon Hill, she worked as an IT consultant for several Fortune 500 companies. She enjoys cooking, learning new skills, and playing with her dogs, Remy and Jamison.
Matt Shirey joined Hannon Hill in 2021 as a web developer on the Professional Services team. Prior to Hannon Hill, he worked in Higher Education for nine years as Webmaster for Midwestern State University and used Cascade for six years while at the University. He graduated from Midwestern State University with a degree in Business Computer Information Systems in 2007. Matt is married and lives in Texas with two boys, a dog, and cat.
Topic:
Workflow - Half-Day Workshop
Get more familiar with workflows and the new workflow enhancements within Cascade that can streamline your team's processes. Within this session, we will build a basic "approval" workflow that can be leveraged across your team's site(s) for page creation/edits/deletions and publishing. Empower your users to manage their own content while still maintaining control over the outcome!
*Please note there is a maximum attendance limit of 30 for the one-day workshops, so we encourage you to sign-up quickly if interested.
When: Monday, February 20 starting at 10 a.m. (EST)
Speakers:
Elisabeth joined the Hannon Hill team as a Web Developer in 2015. She's a pro at understanding customer needs, preferences, and overall vision and then putting it into action in her projects. As a Senior Web Developer, Elisabeth takes pride in completing complicated projects on time and to the highest degree of quality for each and every customer.
Learn more about Elisabeth here: https://www.hannonhill.com/blog/2022/october-work-anniversaries.html
Fernando Blanco is a senior Web Developer on Hannon Hill's Professional Services team. He works on code and implements website designs for Cascade CMS. He also provides customized solutions as requested/needed for our Clients. Learn more about Fernando in this month's Employee Spotlight.
https://www.hannonhill.com/blog/2022/employee-spotlight-fernando-blanco.html
Topic:
Implementing a Website in Cascade - Full-Day Workshop
Implementing a Website in Cascade - Full-Day Workshop (morning) An efficient and flexible approach to implementing a website in Cascade. Go from HTML code to a fully functioning website while learning velocity with objects (Internal Cascade API) and developer techniques, such as: using setup blocks, macros, shared system assets, and fields.
*Please note there is a maximum attendance limit of 30 for the one-day workshops, so we encourage you to sign-up quickly if interested.
When: Monday, February 20, starting at 10 a.m. (EST)
Speakers:
Sam Skinner is Hannon Hill's primary Product Trainer and the person who welcomes people aboard Cascade CMS. He helps familiarize new clients with the application and how to use it, tailor it to their needs and get them comfortable with using the CMS. Occasionally, Sam writes product documentation and helps the support staff when needed. Get to know Sam in our December Employee Spotlight.
https://www.hannonhill.com/blog/2022/employee-spotlight-sam-skinner.html
Matt Shirey joined Hannon Hill in 2021 as a web developer on the Professional Services team. Prior to Hannon Hill, he worked in Higher Education for nine years as Webmaster for Midwestern State University and used Cascade for six years while at the University. He graduated from Midwestern State University with a degree in Business Computer Information Systems in 2007. Matt is married and lives in Texas with two boys, a dog, and cat.
Topic:
Best Practices for Cascade Governance - Half-Day Workshop
As a CMS platform, there are many ways to implement a Cascade environment. How should your current content be divided into sites? One site or many? What are the considerations for publishing and for managing content providers? How should one organize and manage blocks, images, and other similar content? What is the best mix of groups and roles? Here we present some of the best practices for handling these basic implementation challenges in Cascade.
*Please note there is a maximum attendance limit of 30 for the one-day workshops, so we encourage you to sign-up quickly if interested.
When: Monday, February 20, starting at 1:45 p.m. (EST)
Speaker:
Winston Churchill-Joell is a web developer living in Stamford, CT. He has worked in web and marketing technology for over 25 years and in higher education marketing for over 20 of those years.
Currently, Winston manages a small team that covers everything to do with the public web presence of Sarah Lawrence College, from content and UI/UX to backend systems integration and, of course, Cascade Server CMS. Winston strives to put accessibility and performance at the center of what he builds and remains both excited and humbled by the pace of evolution on the web that creates opportunities to learn something new every day.
Topic:
Accessible Accordions: Using data definitions, Velocity, and a little bit of JS to get there.
Winston Churchill-Joell will walk through the remediation work Sarah Lawrence College recently undertook to make its accordion components more accessible to all users and especially to folks who rely on assistive technologies such as screen readers. From creating the right structure in the data definition to rendering the necessary markup in Velocity to the lightweight JavaScript required to make the component accessible and interactive. Winston will cover each step with code examples.
When: Tuesday, February 21, starting at 10:05 a.m. (EST)
Speakers:
Sandra Fancher is the Chief Innovation Officer at Stamats.
With more than 25 years of experience in digital strategy and account management, Sandra provides strategic counsel on analytics, innovation and digital planning, and ROI measurement.
A seasoned member of the C-suite, Sandra has lent her talents to three of the top 10 largest healthcare systems in the US, advising on IT, operations, and digital strategy. In her spare time, she enjoys attending sporting events, volunteering, and defending a unique Guinness World Records title (In 2010, she was part of the largest gathering of people performing Dutch-style clog dancing).
Jose Rodriguez is an alumnus and staff member from The University of New Mexico. As the current Marketing Manager for the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences Office for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, he is charged with spearheading marketing campaigns for university recruitment, fundraising, and research purposes.
In 2021, he completed his Master of Business of Administration from the UNM Anderson Schools of Management where he learned to pair his knowledge that intersects marketing and information technology with business acumen. Jose believes that his best work happens behind a camera while taking photos and videos for his various projects.
Topic:
Using Personalization to Optimize the Enrollment Funnel
Following a successful site launch, The University of New Mexico's College of Pharmacy (COP) was ready to take the next step with Clive personalization. After reviewing several strategy options and prioritizing personalization paths, COP started with a focus on attracting talent to their doctoral program. In this session, Sandra Fancher will cover:
- How to get started with Clive
- How to determine "what" to personalize
- Understanding the user journey process for personalization
- Setup lessons learned, outcomes, and feedback on new enhancements.
When: Tuesday, February 21, starting at 10:05 a.m. (EST)
Speaker:
Lallo Vigil graduated from Colorado State University-Pueblo (CSU-Pueblo) with Communications and New Media Studies and also earned a Computer Information Systems - Web Development minor.
He immediately began as a Web Developer for CSU-Pueblo and remained for 11+ years. Seeing an opportunity to move to San Antonio, Vigil accepted a Web Manager position at the University of the Incarnate Word and led to the same role at Randolph Brooks Federal Credit Union. He is currently a Web Developer at The University of Texas at San Antonio.
He enjoys running, traveling, and family time when he's not working.
Topic:
Planning Components in a Design Language Systems
The session will cover Fractal, the Design Language System (DLS) that Lallo Vigil's team chose to house the web components, which they contracted with a design company. The session will also cover how his team takes components from the DLS and builds them out in Cascade with what they learned in the Advanced Velocity course at Cascade Conference 2021. Other items covered will be: how his team chose Fractal and how they structured the project, hosting the project on GitHub, how his team tracks issues in GitHub, GitHub Actions, as well as how they mark items completed once the team moves components to Cascade.
When: Tuesday, February 21, starting at 11:00 a.m. (EST)
Speaker:
Narmata Naguleswaran is the Web Strategy Manager at Western University, where she oversees the design and development of web plans for the University, including web-based marketing strategies.
She is also a part-time Professor at Fanshawe College, teaching Graphic Design in the Interactive Media stream. She has been a part of the higher-education industry for over 10 years in MarCom, focusing on digital marketing, building brand recognition, and redesigning institutional websites.
Starting her profession as a designer, Narmata loves to bring her creative user-centered design and marketing skills into the digital world to develop strategies and provide solutions to unique and complex issues. Outside of work, Narmata loves to travel to different countries, go on hikes (with a friend, or else she'd be lost), and spend time with her family.
Topic:
Strategies for a Higher Ed Website Redesign
A web overhaul for any size institution is a daunting task. Having been a part of five higher-ed redesigns, Narmata Naguleswaran will share her top learnings and challenges faced during these projects to help future project leaders. The session will include tips on getting buy-in, the steps to build a solid strategy, defining project goals, and sticking to them. In today's evolving digital world, it's important to stay on top of digital trends while ensuring accessibility and user experience are complimented and not compromised.
Narmata will share insights on best practices from her current projects and approaches she's taken to ensure that these three are kept at the forefront. She will also highlight ways to think outside the box to build a user-centric experience that speaks to our target audience, as well as the importance of taking risks and non-traditional approaches.
When: Tuesday, February 21, starting at 11:00 a.m. (EST)
Speaker:
Chris Halper is a digital problem solver. In his current role, he has found that being a jack of all trades is often better than being a master of one. His abilities are summarized by his title: "Webmaster."
He has held that position at Concordia University Wisconsin for more than a decade. Chris has designed, developed, and managed content in Cascade since 2014. When he's not absorbed in his work, you may find him on the operating end of a camera, out enjoying nature, being a captive audience of old warbirds at a local airshow, and likely 'geeking out' about the latest Star Wars series no matter where he is.
Mandalorians don't show their faces except during very special events. #CUC23 is one such event. So, if you wonder what Chris's face looks like, be sure to sign up for his Exploring Digital Signage talk.
Topic:
Exploring Digital Signage
In this session, Chris Halper will show you a few creative ways Cascade can be utilized to manage web-based digital signage. Everything from feed blocks to pulling the latest athletic event information to data definitions that give users control over their department's sign and even using the Cascade REST API to manage the day's menu items.
When: Tuesday, February 21, starting at 11:55 a.m. (EST)
Speaker:
Michael Nichols is a Web Applications Developer at Texas A&M, where he has spent the last seven years designing web components and design systems and helping customers simplify their Cascade workflows.
Prior to Texas A&M, he worked for several years in advertising working in software development. You can usually find him with a cup of coffee and a comic book when he is not writing code.
Topic:
Make it easy: Creating user-friendly component-based page templates.
At Texas A&M University Libraries, new pages took too long to create. As a solution, the team created a component-based template to allow users to create pages quickly. The template improves quality control and standardization and makes creating pages user-friendly. This session will go over the tools used to create these templates, the design process, and the impact they have had on the Libraries' websites.
When: Tuesday, February 21, starting at 1:45 p.m. (EST)
Speaker:
Bart Caylor is the President of Caylor Solutions and co-host of The Higher Ed Marketer Podcast.
As a first-generation college student, Bart has developed a passion for education with first-hand experience of how it can change the course of lives.
Bart has worked with global brands such as AT&T, IAMs Pet Food, Motorola, RCA, Schlage, Roche, and GE. With nearly 35 years in design and marketing, he has spent almost 30 years in web design and digital marketing and 25 years working with education clients.
Bart graduated magna cum laude from Anderson University, where he has served as Alumni Council president and most recently served on the board for the $125 Million capital campaign cabinet.
He lives in Fishers, Indiana, with his wife and four children and continues to stay ahead of the curve for the future of marketing to consult and deliver solutions in both print and digital for his clients.
His goal is to partner with his clients to provide them with expertise and solutions for facing the challenges of the ever-changing marketing and communication landscape.
Topic:
How to Use Your College Website to Enhance Enrollment
In this session, Bart Caylor will give an overview of creating an enrollment-focused website experience for your prospective audiences. Participants will take a look at it from traditional undergrad, degree completion, and graduate programs. Join him for a very practical and applicable session.
When: Tuesday, February 21, starting at 1:45 p.m. (EST)
Speaker:
Erik Gorka is a web developer and system administrator for Reed College in Portland, Oregon. He has over fifteen years of experience with Cascade CMS and has the distinction of having attended every Cascade User Conference ever held.
Topic:
Page Components - Easier Editing for the Common User
Wish your users had more power over their own pages but find they lack the ability to do everything they want? Discover how Reed College leveraged Page Regions and Data Definitions to give users a modular and flexible way to create complex web elements like accordions, tabs, and page navigation without complex training or the need for technical help.
When: Tuesday, February 21, starting at 2:40 p.m. (EST)
Speaker:
Charlie Holder is Hannon Hill's Head of Success. He proactively reaches out to check in with customers, gathers feedback, and shares the product roadmap. He leads quarterly webinars for the entire customer base showcasing what's new with all of our products. He does so many things, all of them to ensure that every customer is happy and successful.
Topic:
How Cascade can help with SEO
In this session, Hannon Hill's Head of Success, Charlie Holder, will share SEO concepts and how those tie into specific Cascade CMS features. He will also reveal how to leverage these features to accomplish objectives.
When: Tuesday, February 21, starting at 2:40 p.m. (EST)
Speakers:
Chris Rapozo is Hannon Hill's Marketing Specialist and responsible for creating blog posts, social media content, marketing materials, and event planning. He enjoys storytelling and strives to share the latest news about our exciting product releases in a fun and engaging way.
In his spare time, Chris hosts "The Marketing Tales," a show in which he interviews marketing leaders and shares the talk with his audience. To learn more about Chris, follow him on LinkedIn.
Rebekah Langston is Hannon Hill’s Customer Success Specialist and responsible for connecting with clients daily to equip them to meet their strategic goals by fully utilizing all features Cascade CMS and Clive have to offer.
To learn more about Rebekah, visit her employee spotlight blog post:
https://www.hannonhill.com/blog/2022/employee-spotlight-rebekah-langston.html
Topic:
2023 Cassie Awards Ceremony
During the Cassie Awards Ceremony, Chris and Rebekah will introduce you to some of the customers who have done amazing things with Cascade CMS and Clive within their website. Join us as we present this year's nominees and celebrate the winners of the 2023 Cassie Awards. Who knows, maybe it's you. Join us to find out!
When: Wednesday, February 21, starting at 3:40 p.m. (EST)
Speakers:
Hannon Hill's CEO, Kat Liendgens, joined Hannon Hill in 2009. Before joining, Kat gained extensive experience in the higher education and government sectors, holding positions such as Associate Dean and IT Director. She frequently speaks at conferences about topics such as content strategy and content marketing. Kat strives to make Hannon Hill the place with the happiest employees and the happiest customers. To that end, she often holds one on one feedback sessions with our customers in order to optimally understand their needs.
Bradley Wagner, Hannon Hill's VP of Product, is the brains and strategic vision behind Cascade CMS and Clive. A graduate of Rice University, Bradley has been with Hannon Hill for many years and has seen it through many iterations. He always keeps our clients' best interests in mind when it comes to deciding which features will be implemented in future versions of the product. Bradley's main goal is to ensure that Cascade CMS is a great product for technical users and business users alike.
Learn more about Bradley by clicking the following link: https://www.hannonhill.com/blog/2022/november-2022-work-anniversary-an-interview-with-bradley-wagner.html
Topic:
Cascade CMS & Clive Roadmap
The Product Roadmap has been one of the most highly anticipated sessions for many years. Hannon Hill's VP of Product, Bradley Wagner, and CEO Kat Liendgens will share our product philosophy and themes, provide a quick summary of recently released features, and give attendees a sneak peek into what's on the horizon for Cascade CMS and Clive.
When: Wednesday, February 22, starting at 10 a.m. (EST)
Speaker:
Charlie Holder is Hannon Hill's Head of Success. He proactively reaches out to check in with customers, gathers feedback, and shares the product roadmap. He leads quarterly webinars for the entire customer base showcasing what's new with all of our products. He does so many things, all of them to ensure that every customer is happy and successful.
Topic:
Recent Releases
Join Charlie Holder, Hannon Hill's Head of Success, as he will walk you through recently-released features, polishes, and fixes in Cascade CMS and Clive.
When: Wednesday, February 22, starting at 11:05 a.m. (EST)
Speakers:
Michael Duncan is the Manager of Online Marketing at Geneva College. He's been in the role since 2012 and has worked with Cascade CMS since 2014. He understands the challenges of managing a website in the higher ed space and the importance of delivering accurate and up-to-date content in a fast-paced environment while staying on top of rapidly changing web technology. He stays current by exploring new web technologies and design strategies that impact the user experience.
Michael is married with four kids and recently became a grandfather in December 2022. In his spare time, he enjoys spending time with his family, singing, and playing music. He's a resident of Aliquippa, PA.
Caleb Hyatt is a sophomore student at Geneva College from York, PA studying Computer Science, Web & Mobile Technology, and Cybersecurity. He currently works as a web intern in Geneva's marketing and PR, where he has become well-acquainted with Cascade. He works with JavaScript making web applications, including dynamic and lazy loading and Single-Page applications with React. In his spare time, he enjoys strategy-based games, live streams, and occasionally talking philosophy and theology.
Topic:
Academic Programs Web Redesign and JSON-driven search utility
Michael Duncan and his team recently redesigned a template to drive Geneva College's academic program pages and added a JSON-driven search utility for quick and easy searching. This might be an old hat to some, but it worked well for Michael Duncan and his team.
The url for the finished product is https://www.geneva.edu/academics/programs/. Give it a look.
Learn how they've done it in Michael and Caleb's session.
When: Wednesday, February 22, starting at 1:15 p.m. (EST)
Speaker:
Judy Steward is an Associate Director in the central IT department at the University of Western Ontario. She manages a team of 20 technology support specialists who are responsible for assisting faculty, staff, and students with the use of all centrally supported applications at Western, including Cascade.
She led the project to implement Cascade at Western in 2009 and has been working with Cascade since that time. She has experience in Cascade with both development and support.
Topic:
What We Do Differently: Thoughts After 12 Years of Using Cascade CMS
The University of Western Ontario began using Cascade CMS in early 2009. Fast forward to the summer of 2022, and the school has 795 sites and 1282 users in Cascade and ongoing requests for new sites and new users to be added. After 12 years of experience with Cascade, there are a few things Judy's team would consider doing differently if they were just starting out on their CMS journey. This session will highlight what has worked well for her team and her users, what they are in the process of changing, and what her team considers changing in the future.
When: Wednesday, February 22, starting at 2:10 p.m. (EST)
Speaker:
Matt Herzberger is the Vice President of Digital Experience and Analytics. He supports client partners working through web development initiatives with expert consultation in information architecture, content strategy, SEO, and website governance and management. Matt has more than two decades of experience working with public and private higher-ed institutions and has expertise in digital strategy and planning and e-marketing and management. Under his leadership, the VisionPoint team is constantly innovating and improving its services to ensure VisionPoint's web offerings are custom-made for their higher-ed client partners' needs and goals.
Before joining VisionPoint, Matt worked at four higher-ed marketing agencies. Matt has also worked at and managed the web strategy of schools such as Purdue University, Creighton University, Texas A&M, Florida International University, and the University of Iowa. Matt is the chair of the Leadership Academy for the HighEdWeb Association.
Topic:
SEO: the balance of technical and content
To make a sound SEO strategy, you must focus on both the technical and the content. Underperforming on either makes it challenging to perform well across the board. In his session, Matt Herzberger will discuss the fundamentals of a sound technical and content strategy to make a well-performing enterprise SEO strategy, key areas of an academic program SEO content strategy, and how to get the work done.
When: Wednesday, February 22, starting at 3:10 p.m. (EST)
Topic:
To keynote #CUC23, Kat Liendgens, Bradley Wagner, and Brad Kazmer from Hannon Hill along with Beacon Technologies' Christy Phillips, Keana Massey, and Andrea Cole as they come together to share their thoughts and predictions on Higher Education Web Trends for 2023 and beyond. Troy Singer, co-host of the Higher Ed Marketer Podcast, will moderate the roundtable discussion.
You don't want to miss this!
When: Wednesday, February 22, starting at 4:05 p.m. (EST)
Speakers:
Hannon Hill's CEO, Kat Liendgens, joined Hannon Hill in 2009. Before joining, Kat gained extensive experience in the higher education and government sectors, holding positions such as Associate Dean and IT Director. She frequently speaks at conferences about topics such as content strategy and content marketing. Kat strives to make Hannon Hill the place with the happiest employees and the happiest customers. To that end, she often holds one on one feedback sessions with our customers in order to optimally understand their needs.
Bradley Wagner, Hannon Hill's VP of Product, is the brains and strategic vision behind Cascade CMS and Clive. A graduate of Rice University, Bradley has been with Hannon Hill for many years and has seen it through many iterations. He always keeps our clients' best interests in mind when it comes to deciding which features will be implemented in future versions of the product. Bradley's main goal is to ensure that Cascade CMS is a great product for technical users and business users alike.
Learn more about Bradley by clicking the following link: https://www.hannonhill.com/blog/2022/november-2022-work-anniversary-an-interview-with-bradley-wagner.html
As Manager of Hannon Hill’s Professional Services team, Brad Kazmer oversees all professional services associated with Cascade CMS for the company’s clients. Brad provides pre-sales consulting and manages all customer projects, including initial product implementations and integrations and delegation of subsequent service requests. Prior to this position, Brad was the general manager of a consulting practice that provided professional services on Content Management Systems and custom application development.
Christy Phillips contributes over 15 years of expertise in project management as the Vice President of Project Management at Beacon Technologies. Her guidance in creating new processes to streamline Beacon's workflows and project management efforts has allowed the team to grow and thrive exponentially since joining the team in 2017, with the PMO (Project Management Office) integrated into every Beacon project to ensure consistent client satisfaction.
Since then, Christy has changed the way Beacon provides customer service with her gifted problem-solving ability, crystal-clear explanations, and strategic business insights. Her favorite part of the job is developing trusting partnerships with our clients and keeping everyone at ease and on track during development projects. With Christy as a mentor and guide to your project, both our client and internal teams benefit from smooth, straightforward processes proven by years of experience. Christy holds a B.S. in Business and Accounting from Ashford College.
Keana Massey leads Beacon Technologies' developers, content strategists, and designers as the Vice President of UX Design & Development. Since joining the team in 2010, she has led and consulted for over 100 Higher Education projects (so far!) and is Beacon’s CMS expert who has truly seen it all. Keana specializes in the analysis, design, and implementation of websites with an extreme passion for user experience, accessibility, multi-device interactions, and technical best practices.
She is also passionate about her team and loves the opportunities for constant collaboration amongst talented, knowledgeable individuals with the same vision of delivering incredible results for our clients. Keana regularly presents at Higher Ed conferences on accessibility and CMS development topics, such as academic program page design and ADA compliance testing. Keana earned an Associate’s Degree in Web Technologies from Guilford Technical Community College.
With over a decade of SEO, Paid Search and Google Analytics experience, Andrea Cole is Beacon Technologies’ Vice President of Digital Marketing & Analytics and works directly with our Higher Education clients and large commercial accounts. She enjoys collaborating with her team and leads with a mantra that "the best marketing doesn't feel like marketing." In an ever-changing industry with clients who are also constantly evolving, Andrea loves that every day is different.
Andrea earned a B.A. in Communication Studies from the University of NC at Chapel Hill, is certified in Google Analytics and is invited annually to Google’s exclusive GA Summit. She recently served as an adjunct professor in Wake Forest University’s School MSBA Program and led a conference seminar for improving site search and SEO in Higher Education.
As a Digital Marketing Specialist with a passion for Higher Ed and co-host of The Higher Ed Marketer Podcast, Troy loves gaining a clear understanding of the current outreach landscape of colleges and universities, both the wins and challenges. As the Digital Marketing Specialist at Ring Digital he works with higher-ed institutions to together determine if his unique and proven digital solutions can enhance their enrollment programs or alumni engagement.
Troy lives in Dayton, Ohio, and enjoys spending time with family and friends and cheering on his Cincinnati Bengals.
