Keynotes · Panels · Conference Sessions
Speaking
I speak about what we've actually built and learned at UC San Diego — not frameworks, not predictions. Real deployments, real outcomes, real friction. If that's useful for your audience, let's talk.
Upcoming Engagements
Scheduled events and upcoming talks.
Recent Engagements
Recent conferences, summits, and panels.
Topics
Keynote and breakout session topics I cover regularly. All are grounded in production deployments at UC San Diego.
Building Vertical AI at Scale
How UC San Diego moved from generic AI tools to purpose-built, on-premises institutional AI — and what it takes to go from pilot to 73,000 users. Covers architecture, governance, and the difference between deploying a chatbot and building infrastructure.
Agentic AI Workflows in Higher Education
The shift from AI assistants to AI agents that act — automating administrative workflows, delegating tasks across systems, and governing autonomous behavior in an institutional setting. Real deployments: contract review (91% turnaround reduction), financial data agents, transcript matching.
AI Governance That Actually Works
Governance isn't a brake on AI adoption — it's the infrastructure that makes adoption durable. How to build guardrails, data classification, and oversight frameworks that let an institution say yes faster, not slower.
The Citizen Developer Program
How UC San Diego built a governed developer enablement model so staff, researchers, and faculty can build their own AI-powered tools — with credits, templates, guardrails, and a 4-step access path from idea to deployed application.
AI as Institutional Infrastructure
The case for treating AI like cloud, email, and identity — shared, governed, rechargeable infrastructure — rather than a department-by-department procurement race. Includes the multi-institution model: BearGPT (UC Berkeley), UC ANR, Fairleigh Dickinson University, UC Merced.
What to Expect
No slide decks full of AI hype
Specific use cases, real numbers, and honest failures. What worked, what didn't, and why.
Deployable ideas
Every session surfaces things your audience can take back and try — not just frameworks to think about.
Institutional perspective
I'm not a vendor or a consultant. I run a 5.7-FTE team serving 73,000 users. That shapes how I talk about AI.
Interested in having me speak?
I speak at higher ed technology conferences, AI summits, and institutional leadership events. Let me know what you're planning and who's in the room.
Get in Touch