Living Your Leadership Legacy: Intentional Impact for IT Leaders in Higher Education

In higher education IT, leaders are often measured by systems delivered, services stabilized, and risks mitigated. Yet long after platforms are replaced and strategies evolve, the most enduring impact of IT leadership is cultural—how people experienced trust, accountability, inclusion, and purpose under our leadership. This session invites higher education IT leaders to rethink legacy not as what we leave behind, but as how we intentionally lead every day.

Drawing on the presenter’s leadership journey across two institutions, this session uses real-world IT leadership use cases to explore how conscious leadership behaviors shape team culture, resilience, and institutional trust over time. Framed through an analogy familiar to many—financial retirement planning—the session highlights the importance of investing early and consistently in one’s leadership legacy through everyday actions, decisions, and interactions in order to create a deep and meaningful outcome that can outlast their leadership and career journey.

The presentation is further informed by the work of leadership coach and professional trainer Meghan Kirwin, whose background in positive psychology brings evidence-based insight into how intentional behaviors, mindset, and relational leadership practices can create lasting positive impact for IT teams, leaders, and the campus communities they serve.

Designed for IT leaders contemplating their value, impact and career satisfaction while navigating complexity, constraint, and constant change, this 45-minute session blends reflection, practical frameworks, and applied examples. Participants will leave with a renewed understanding of leadership legacy as a living practice—and concrete ways to bring greater intentionality into their leadership today.

Session presenter Gayleen Gray is the recipient of the 2026 EDUCAUSE Community Leadership Award.

Award sponsored by Moran Technology Consulting, Mission Partner.