Driving Digital Transformation: Highlights from CISOA 2025
The 2025 California Community Colleges Chief Information Systems Officers Association (CISOA) Technology Summit, hosted March 3-6 at the Hyatt Regency Burlingame, reaffirmed its status as the premier conference for IT professionals in California’s community colleges. This year’s summit, themed “Fostering Creativity and Innovation,” featured educational sessions focused on key areas such as cybersecurity and risk management, data and technology infrastructure, accessibility and compliance, educational technology and student support, operations and service delivery, enterprise solutions and tools, and leadership insights.
With over 500 attendees, the summit provided a valuable platform for participants to discuss current and emerging trends, share best practices, and collaborate with district colleagues and corporate partners.
Jorge J.C. Sales, Foundation for California Community Colleges (FoundationCCC) Executive Vice President of Enterprise and Institutional Partnerships, led a session titled “Streamlining Technology Acquisition Partnerships in the California Community Colleges.” This session offered an in-depth exploration of the value CollegeBuys brings to the California Community Colleges as the systemwide procurement and contracts hub. Sales highlighted CollegeBuys’ experience in developing master agreements that deliver cost-effective technology solutions tailored to the business needs of the California Community Colleges. Attendees were guided through how to access and utilize CollegeBuys resources, with Sales facilitating an engaging dialogue that addressed questions, highlighted system partners, shared best practices, and identified future opportunities.
In addition to the educational sessions and various networking opportunities, FoundationCCC hosted a dinner for the CISOA Board, creating space for meaningful discussions on collaborations between CollegeBuys and CISOA. Together, they explored ways to achieve better outcomes for institutions and students.
Highlighting our strong partnership with CISOA, the Board made a generous contribution to support the system’s Southern California Wildfire Relief efforts, coordinated by FoundationCCC. CISOA Board President Rupa Saran and Board Treasurer Gary Moser presented their donation to Jorge J.C. Sales, Jennifer Keiper, and Kevin Wutke, aiding students and communities affected by the recent devastating wildfires.
The 2025 CISOA Technology Summit underscored the importance of collaboration and innovation in addressing the evolving technology needs of the California Community Colleges. Through interactive sessions and meaningful discussions, attendees gained practical strategies to enhance technology adoption and improve institutional efficiency. The CollegeBuys team values its partnership with CISOA and remains committed to supporting the system’s technology goals through continued collaboration and resource-sharing.
