Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
Kevin Morooney, vice president of Trust and Identity and NET+, Internet2
Continuing our celebration of InCommon’s 20th birthday, we bring you a conversation with another influential voice in the research and higher education (R&E) community: Sean Reynolds, vice president for Information Technology and CIO at Northwestern University.
Sean remains a dedicated and active volunteer with InCommon. He served on the InCommon Steering Committee from 2015-2020, acting as Chair for two years. Sean’s leadership was critical as the Trust and Identity in Education and Research (TIER) program wound down and was permanently resourced as an ongoing part of the InCommon portfolio.
He has also played a role in recruiting new members to the committee, even after his service, and continues to help guide InCommon. It is very helpful to have someone like Sean now sitting on the Internet2 Board of Trustees, helping to bring an InCommon perspective to strategic matters for all of Internet2.
This past March, at the Internet2 2024 Community Exchange, I had the chance to sit down with Sean to learn more about why he’s committed to helping the InCommon community grow. We also explored the factors he attributes to InCommon’s success and how we want to see InCommon improve and innovate in the coming decades.
Kevin: Sean, you’ve been one of the most passionate volunteer leaders of InCommon. How has Northwestern University benefited from InCommon over the years?
Sean: It’s all about connecting our researchers and educators to their peers. All of their work is based on interactions with other researchers and teachers, and InCommon gives us that infrastructure and set of services to do that.
Kevin: That’s a common refrain I hear in my role, and it’s really rewarding to know that InCommon is serving so many different institutions. One thing I’m interested in learning from you is whether there has been anything that InCommon has done for you personally.
Sean: The community I’ve met and been able to interact with, from a personal perspective, is really quite incredible. The talented people across the U.S. and beyond who have come together to put this federation in place and continue that effort make it so fulfilling. For me, it’s about collaborating with others.
Kevin: If you had a chance to make three wishes on behalf of InCommon, what would those wishes be?
Sean: My first wish would be for a community that wants to continue driving the infrastructure and services to enable collaboration within our community.
My second wish would be ongoing support by Internet2 in those endeavors.
The third would be the continued commitment and success of Internet2 in providing InCommon services.
Kevin: If you were to describe InCommon in three words, what would they be?
Sean: Collaboration, community, and success. We have a community that thrives on collaboration. InCommon has put the necessary infrastructure and services in place, and they’ve done so in a successful and sustainable way.
As Sean emphasized in our conversation, InCommon’s strength lies not only in its infrastructure but also in the vibrant community it fosters and supports.
This commitment to collaboration and shared success has enabled InCommon to thrive for two decades and will continue to propel it forward into the future.
Through the dedicated efforts of leaders like Sean, InCommon remains a cornerstone of the R&E community, ensuring secure, seamless connectivity and collaboration for years to come.