Ivan Stegic
CEO at TEN7
Ivan Stegic has always been driven by purpose. Growing up in South Africa, moving to Minnesota, and eventually founding TEN7, Ivan has forged his own path with a goal to make the world a better place.
A physicist by training, Ivan moved to the United States after college, working long hours in research and engineering roles. He burned out, realizing he was spending too much time and energy at work and not enough with his family.
He decided to make a change, letting passion be his guide. He knew he liked working online, solving problems, and making connections. He started doing website development projects for clients, ended up hiring some team members to help, and TEN7 was born!
Ivan lives in Minneapolis with his wife, kids and two dogs. He’s a huge Minnesota Twins fan; a relentless ambassador for technology, science, and common sense; and an eternal optimist.
At TEN7, Ivan is a purveyor of positivity, working with clients and hiring team members who share his desire to Make Things That Matter.
When a closely knit and well experienced government team build their first Drupal site and then launch it on their own hosting, they run into unforeseen yet surmountable obstacles. Come with me as we go on a journey and learn how this team improved their Drupal Systems — from the site’s user experience and tagging strategy to the automation at AWS — in only six months.
This talk is suitable for people with or without Drupal experience. Even though the example is specific to a state government project, the things we learned and how we grew is applicable to Higher Ed teams as well. The talk will address:
- the very real challenges that result from a fast migration to a new platform on a tight timeline
- how we helped the Minnesota Department of Health overcome these challenges
- how we’ve started paying down technical debt by optimizing Drupal for best practices
- how strict security requirements can be your friend and that automation and speed are still possible
- the secret to achieving all of this, with every team, every time
We hope that this talk inspires teams that may be in a similar situation to reach out and ask for help — Drupal Systems can be nimble and transformations fast.
Working in higher education, particularly in marketing and technology, takes a special kind of dedication. The institutional landscape can lead to days being bogged down by bureaucracy, inefficiency, and dysfunction. It’s complex, stressful and frustrating. When everything is important, nothing is important! In this talk, I’ll share the core tenets that have shaped my leadership of TEN7, a digital agency serving Drupal teams in higher education. Some tenets we’ll explore are the power of self-control, the necessity of self-care, and how a clear purpose can inspire others to join you on the path to clarity.