Cheryl Feldmeier
1:1 Leadership Insight
🧠 ThinkSpace Synthesis Memo
Cheryl Feldmeier, Executive Director of Technology – 1:1 Leadership Insight
Facilitated by Beyond | May 8, 2025 | Duration: In-person 1:1, ~60 minutes
👥 Who Was in the Room?
Cheryl Feldmeier serves as Executive Director of IT at CSN, overseeing both infrastructure and user-facing services. This leadership-level ThinkSpace was designed as a precursor to the broader faculty, staff, and student sessions. It offered an opportunity to surface strategic priorities, operational constraints, and cultural dynamics from the technology executive’s vantage point.
🎯 What We Set Out to Do
This session aimed to understand the current IT landscape at CSN from Cheryl’s perspective, with a focus on surfacing strengths, pain points, and change readiness. It was especially geared toward informing the design and facilitation of upcoming ThinkSpaces with broader stakeholder groups.
🔍 What We Heard
What’s Working
Long-tenured IT staff are highly dedicated and deeply knowledgeable about CSN’s systems and culture
Some leaders within the department are actively encouraging documentation and cross-training practices
CSN offers strong non-cash benefits, such as a 17.5% 401(k) match and favorable work-life balance, that appeal to many contractors and potential hires
What’s Not
Newer, contract-based staff just treat this like a job
Students and faculty don’t even know who we are anymore
Projectors are dim, and GoCSN is way past its end-of-life
We’re trying to cross-train, but there are still big knowledge gaps — too many single points of failure
Casino wages make it really hard to compete for talent, even if the culture here is better
We lost a lot after COVID relief — there’s no real capital left for tech refresh
🧭 Where We Go From Here
Infrastructure & Tools
Classroom technology is outdated and highly visible; refresh cycles are overdue and increasingly urgent
The GoCSN portal is a consistent source of frustration and should be prioritized for replacement or overhaul
Org Design & Workforce
There's a desire to rethink the IT org chart, including shifting more roles in-house and combining AV/Desktop roles to streamline support
Contractors often make more than staff, but Cheryl believes many would return given the right conditions — benefits, flexibility, and team culture remain CSN advantages
Visibility & Engagement
CSN Connections–style events, where IT staff were visible and hands-on, have disappeared. This contributes to a trust gap between IT and its end users
Cheryl supports restoring these initiatives to increase engagement, trust, and awareness among students and faculty
Governance & Knowledge Transfer
Documentation and process handoffs remain uneven
Desire for better communication structures — both internally (among teams) and externally (with the campus community)
🌱 Strategic Opportunities
Reconnect IT to the Campus Experience: Restore and modernize student-facing engagement such as CSN Connections; emphasize face-to-face service moments
Position Benefits & Mission as Talent Levers: Lean into CSN’s cultural and lifestyle differentiators to attract skilled staff who may accept lower salaries
Redesign for Resilience: Rethink org structure to reduce single points of failure, enable cross-functional support, and return key leadership roles in-house
Refresh Tech Where It Hurts Most: Prioritize upgrades where pain is most visible and urgent — particularly in classrooms and the GoCSN login experience
Clarify Ownership & Communication: Design system maps or dashboards to help users understand outages, who’s responsible, and when to expect resolution
✅ What Happens Next?
This memo will inform the facilitation strategy for upcoming ThinkSpaces with faculty, staff, and students. Cheryl’s input will also seed hypotheses around IT structure, tech refresh priorities, and talent strategy to be tested with broader groups. Action items and structural opportunities will be mapped to deliverables in the Consulting 4.0 lifecycle as stakeholder input deepens
