The IT Partners Conference is BACK, and in E51 again!
The 2025 IT Partners conference will be held from 9am to 4pm on Wednesday, June 4, 2025, in Bldg E51 and livestreamed on Zoom.
The conference will feature presentations on a variety of IT topics, from infrastructure to code to programs that help build tech skills.
If you have any questions for conference speakers, or have specific suggestions for topics you would like to see at future IT Partners events, please contact the IT Partners Planning Team at itpartners-plan@mit.edu or on Slack #ask-it-partners-planning-team.
How was the conference?
We'd love to hear what you thought of this year's IT Partners Conference. Please let us know by filling out this feedback survey.
Schedule + Session Slides and Recordings
| Time | Wolk Lobby | Ting Foyer | E51-149 | E51-151 | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9:00am-10:15am | Registration | Vendors | Networking and Breakfast (Diebold Lounge) | 9:00am-10:15am | |
| 10:15am-11:00am | Pioneering Productivity: MIT Sloan's Journey with Microsoft 365 CopilotDan Alexander and Saul Horowitz (MIT Sloan)We’ll provide a high-level overview and comparison of Microsoft 365 Copilot experiences with demos that showcase the features of both Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat, a tool available to the community at no cost, and Microsoft 365 Copilot, a paid subscription product. We’ll also share our experience from running a 6-month early adopter program for the paid product, discussing how we managed the project, the metrics we tracked, key findings, and our next steps. | Data Access in the Current EnvironmentAmy Nurnberger (MIT Libraries)Persistent access to data collected and hosted by the US government is important, as data can potentially disappear because of government shutdowns, broken links, and policy shifts. This session will address what’s happening with federal data resources, why it matters, who is working in this space and what are they doing, plus resources and opportunities for contributing. | 10:15am-11:00am | ||
| 11:00am-11:15am | break | 11:00am-11:15am | |||
| 11:15am-12:00pm | MIT Libraries Cloud Infrastructure with Terraform and AWSChristopher Butler (MIT Libraries)Part journey and part destination, Christopher will share a summary of MIT Libraries’ journey into AWS, reflecting on decisions made (both good and bad), opportunities gained, our current footprint, and future decisions as we continue to aim at an always out-of-reach destination. | Actions IT Partners can take to improve Information Security at the InstituteJessica Murray (IS&T)Hear updates from the IS&T Security team. | 11:15am-12:00pm | ||
| 12:00pm-1:00pm | Lunch (Diebold Lounge) | 12:00pm-1:00pm | |||
| 1:00pm-1:50pm | Business and Digital Transformation UpdateRenaud Fournier (BDTO)Renaud Fournier, Chief Officer for Business and Digital Transformation, will provide an update on MIT’s multi-year initiative to modernize our business processes and systems to align with the excellence of the Institute. This work includes modernizing MIT’s solutions and technology and making business data more accessible and understandable – all while ensuring community engagement every step of the way. | End User ComputingTim Yager (IS&T)The IS&T End User Computing team will provide updates on upcoming projects including Microsoft Intune (with updated timeline), Jamf/macOS updates, and other project updates. | 1:00pm-1:50pm | ||
| 1:50pm-2:00pm | break | 1:50pm-2:00pm | |||
| 2:00pm-2:50pm | Name Badge Return | Teaching and Learning with AI at MIT SloanJason Alvarez (MIT Sloan)Learn how the Teaching and Learning Technology team at Sloan is supporting faculty and student use of AI as part of the academic curriculum. | What can you do with Gartner? And what can Gartner do for you?Chaz Bjernestad (Gartner)Learn about the resources available to all MIT staff via Gartner.com as well as services provided by Gartner. | 2:00pm-2:50pm | |
| 2:50pm-3:10pm | break + snacks! | 2:50pm-3:10pm | |||
| 3:10pm-4:00pm | AI Meets MIT App InventorJeff Schiller (CSAIL)Learn how MIT is making AI available to App Inventor users. The use of proxy servers that interact with several providers and models provides a flexible and extensible base for future development. | IS&T’s VMware to Nutanix MigrationClaudia Rugeles-Vaccaro (IS&T)In this session we will explore the reason for the migration away from VMware, the process of choosing a new vendor, and the implementation process with Nutanix. We'll also talk about what virtualization at MIT looks like post-migration. | 3:10pm-4:00pm | ||
Vendors Attending
- Apple - Mark Tashian, m.tashian@apple.com, and Kevin Black, kblack@apple.com
- CDW - Joe Masulli, joemasu@cdwg.com, and Bryan Nasznic, bryanas@cdw.com
- Connection - Paul Cardinal, paul.cardinal@connection.com, and Darren Gullen, darren.gullen@connection.com
- Fenway Group - Larry Giuffra, lgiuffra@fenway-group.com
- Giro Studio - Felicia DiBiase, felicia@girostudio.com
- HP - Jeff McCrea, jeff.mccrea@hp.com
- Lenovo - Jill Dixon, jdixon1@lenovo.com
- NCS Global - Scott Stevens, scott@ncsglobal.com
- QRSTs - Peter Rinn, info@qrsts.com
- Spry International - Hilary Gallagher, hgallagher@spryinternational.com
- Women in IT ERG - Olimpia Caceres Brown, olimpia@mit.edu
Have feedback or questions?
Contact the IT Partners Planning Team:
- Slack: #ask-it-partners-planning-team
- Email: itpartners@mit.edu