Stop Testing Your Recovery for Success — University of Wyoming, Grand Valley State & Commvault

A recovery test that only checks for success can’t prove much. Neither can a leader who only says “trust me.” The University of Wyoming is rolling out an AI platform for faculty, staff, and students, and owned up when one of the trainings went too fast. Grand Valley State’s IT team runs on values that spell ACT, and Miloš Topić is now on record to finish his leadership book sometime in 2027. And Commvault’s Jared Whitehurst thinks a lot of recovery tests are checking for the wrong thing. I sat down with Amy McLaughlin, Miloš, and Jared at EDUCAUSE 2026 in Denver to talk about all of it. And yes, we also get into ResOps, the minimal viable campus, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, why the network comes first, and my first time wearing a cowboy hat on camera (courtesy of Jared). Timestamps 0:00 A cowboy hat for the home of the Cowboys 3:55 Why the University of Wyoming told everyone AI was coming before picking a tool 7:55 "I have now four witnesses": Miloš goes on record about his book 10:25 Who has the authority to say "we're recovering"? 13:15 Have the hard conversations before the emergency, not after 16:10 What happened right before that play? A car-ride lesson in accountability 20:10 Your backups are green. "But can you prove that it's clean?" 22:40 Why being nice isn't enough if you don't deliver 23:55 The AI training went too fast. Amy's going back to say so 26:50 Why GVSU’s IT values spell ACT: accountability, collaboration, trust 29:45 Practice vs. perform: why Jared says teams should rehearse their recoveries Connect with the Guests 💼 Amy McLaughlin, Vice President of IT & CIO, University of Wyoming: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amymcl/ 💼 Miloš Topić, Vice President for IT & Chief Digital Officer, Grand Valley State: https://www.linkedin.com/in/topicm/ 💼 Jared Whitehurst, Director of Sales, Commvault: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jared-whitehurst/ Connect with Me 📬 Newsletter: https://techtables.com/ 🎙️ Podcast: https://www.techtables.com/episodes/ 😃 Guests: https://www.techtables.com/guests/ 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jtoste/ 💼 Powered by Info-Tech Research Group, Verizon, Carahsoft, & NinjaOne 💜 Leave a review on Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-public-sector-show-by-techtables/id1661752549 🟢 Leave a rating on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/0bFQBsDwKJkdNk2qENkhNL?si=0436c0c2ebca488e