Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
By Kevin Morooney, Vice President of Trust and Identity and NET+, Internet2
We continue to celebrate InCommon’s 20th birthday with a series of forward-facing conversations featuring prominent leaders in the research and higher education (R&E) community.
Today, we spotlight a conversation I had with Jack Suess, vice president of Information Technology at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
During his time at UMBC, Suess’ work has been nothing short of remarkable. After decades at UMBC as a student or staff, Suess was appointed the university’s CIO in 2000 and named a vice president five years later.
He has spearheaded initiatives in advanced networking and cloud computing and helped lead the R&E community to embrace new protocols. Suess chaired the EDUCAUSE Higher Education Information Security Council, has been chair of the REN-ISAC advisory board, and was the higher education representative on the NIST National Strategy for Trusted Identity in Cyberspace effort from 2012 to 2017.
Suess’ importance to the continued success of Internet2 and InCommon cannot be overstated. He led UBMC to be an early adopter of Internet2 in 2000 and was chair of the Internet2 council that recommended the NET+ cloud services program. From 2009 to 2014, Suess served on the InCommon Steering Committee.
I had an opportunity to sit down with Jack Suess at the Internet2 2024 Community Exchange this past spring in Chicago to discuss InCommon’s past and, more importantly, its future.
Kevin: Jack, as a longstanding customer of InCommon, could you
share how it has propelled UMBC forward?
Jack: InCommon has truly been instrumental in shaping our trajectory towards cloud adoption and embracing software as a service. Since we joined InCommon in 2006, it has seamlessly integrated into our procurement process, becoming the cornerstone of our onboarding strategy for new applications.
Kevin: Your dedication to sharing expertise across various
consortia in higher education is as admirable as it is exemplary. Has InCommon played a significant role in
your personal journey?
Jack: Absolutely. InCommon holds a special place in my heart as it
was my initial foray into the national higher education community.
UMBC’s involvement dates back
to the early adopters group in 2000, when I had the pleasure of meeting luminaries like Ann West and Ken
Klingenstein. The sense of community within InCommon is unparalleled. Once you’re in, you’re hooked for
life.
Kevin: If you had the chance to make a wish for InCommon’s
future, what would it be?
Jack: My wish would be for InCommon to become the indispensable infrastructure for all of higher education in the next five years. Imagine reaching the 25th birthday milestone with InCommon serving as the bedrock for every institution — not just research-focused ones.
Kevin: When you think of InCommon, what three words (or
phrases) come to mind?
Jack: Community first; forward-thinking; and problem solvers.
As you can see from my dialogue with Suess, InCommon’s strength and value come from its members’ continued contributions. From conferences to steering committees and everything in between, InCommon and its community embrace forward-looking strategies and continuously look for ways to improve identity and access management solutions in R&E.