EdCircuit Staff 
Donna Williamson 
Karyn Dobda 
Steve Thomaschefsky 
In this episode of the CoSN podcast, we welcome Donna Williamson, facilitator for CoSN’s Early Career K12 CTO Academy, along with two members of the current Academy cohort: Karyn Dobda, Director of Innovation and Strategic Initiatives for Pennsylvania’s Quaker Valley School District; and Steve Thomaschefsky, Director of Technology, School District of Waupaca (Wisc.) to discuss what CTOs need to know.
The conversation touches on a number of topics relevant to technology leaders in education. Among other topics, the guests discuss how districts can make sure to have the right leaders in the CTO role [3:50], how school boards can identify people who aren’t simply “techies,” but have the potential to be great leaders [8:30], the roles that communication, collaboration and professional development play in technology decision-making and implementation [12:15], and the interpersonal skills CTOs need, in addition to the technical ones [21:53].
Follow Donna @dwmtnbrook, Karyn @kdobs1129, and Steve @sthomaschefsky.
Learn more about CoSN’s Early Career CTO Academy here: https://www.cosn.org/TheAcademy
The CoSN Podcast is produced in partnership with EdCircuit. To learn more about CoSN, visit https://www.cosn.org/.
