AV/IT Amplifier

AV/IT Amplifier

Higher education institutions rely on audio-visual (AV) and information technology (IT) solutions as a key backbone for modern teaching and learning. The AV/IT industry plays a critical role in providing these solutions, and it is important to highlight the latest trends, innovations, and perspectives in this sector. The podcast “The AV/IT Amplifier” aims to fill this gap by featuring interviews with people from Higher Education Institutions and the AV/IT Industry who have an idea, concept, perspective, event or product that would be helpful or interesting to the target audience of higher education technology managers. The host of the podcast is Ryan Gray, Assistant Director of IT at Yavapai College. “The AV/IT Amplifier” podcast will have a bi-monthly schedule with two recordings per month, each being split in half to provide for weekly episodes. Each episode will be targeted for 30 minutes to be about the length of an average commute. The first half of each recording will focus on the primary topic for that guest, while the second half will be a profile of the person. The podcast will not only focus on technical topics but also on non-technical ones such as effective people management, pedagogy, community building, building a personal brand, career planning, professional development and other similar topics for our audience. The split episode format allows for a dive into the topic and the opportunity to get to know the person and perhaps draw the connections between why that topic is so important to that guest.

Episodes

141: Average Size Zach with Zach Moss

July 15, 2026 • 23 mins
Ryan Gray is back for week two with Zach Moss of Yavapai College, this time leaving project management mostly behind for the questions that really matter. Zach establishes his place in the Yavapai College hierarchy of multiple Zachs, explains why he considers himself an extrovert, looks back at his first job washing dishes in an Italian restaurant, and shares why he tries not to let fear make decisions for him, even when that philo...
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140: I'll Get There On Thursday with Zach Moss

July 1, 2026 • 33 mins
In this episode of The AV/IT Amplifier Podcast, Ryan Gray sits down with Zach Moss, Project Manager in the IT department at Yavapai College, during a live recording at the Arizona Community College Technical Conference in Tucson, Arizona. Zach talks about what project management actually means inside higher education IT, where the work can stretch from campus remodel conversations to ERP replacement, portal launches, vendor coordin...
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139: The Igloo Takeover with Laura Mills and Rebecca Wade

June 24, 2026 • 30 mins
In this one off InfoComm 2026 episode, the tables turn as Laura and Rebecca from Igloo Vision take over the microphones and interview Ryan Gray for a change. What starts as a lighthearted booth conversation quickly turns into a surprisingly honest discussion about recognition, community leadership, HETMA’s future, the pressure of being seen by others, and why the best technology is often the kind instructors never have to thi...
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138: I Don't Wanna Be The Cheesey Boy with Philipp Gude

June 10, 2026 • 34 mins
This week on the AV/IT Amplifier, Ryan continues the conversation with Philipp Gude of GUDE Systems, moving beyond the product conversation and into the people, personality, and philosophy behind the company. The episode starts with the most important technical matter of all: how exactly Americans are supposed to pronounce “Gude,” why “good” works just fine, and how quickly a strong product name can become a...
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137: Reliable as F*** with Philipp Gude

June 3, 2026 • 29 mins
In this episode of The AV/IT Amplifier Podcast, Ryan Gray sits down with Philipp Gude of GUDE Systems during the final run up to InfoComm 2026. Philipp shares the story of GUDE as a family company, founded by his father more than 35 years ago, and explains how that structure shapes the company’s approach to decision making, long term investment, and customer relationships. The conversation quickly moves beyond power distribut...
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136: You Never Go Full Bald with Chris Kelly

May 6, 2026 • 34 mins
Chris Kelly returns to The AV/IT Amplifier Podcast for week two with Ryan Gray, and the conversation picks up right where the first one left off: part Higher Ed AV Media strategy, part neurodivergent team therapy session, part comedy riff about baldness, gifts, and why some people should absolutely not be forced to sing an improvised jingle on command. Chris, Senior IT Support Specialist at Creighton University, HETMA Advisory Boar...
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135: The Managing Editor with Chris Kelly

April 29, 2026 • 34 mins
Chris Kelly returns to The AV/IT Amplifier Podcast for a conversation about media, volunteerism, accessibility, and what it means to help amplify voices across the higher education AV community. Chris, Senior IT Support Specialist at Creighton University, HETMA Advisory Board Chair, and newly announced Managing Editor for Higher Ed AV Media, talks with host Ryan Gray about how his deep engagement with higher ed AV content eventuall...
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134: They Don't Sit in the Classroom Like I Do with Mike McHugh

April 1, 2026 • 31 mins
Mike McHugh is back for Part 2, and this half of the conversation opens up into something bigger than a technical discussion. Ryan and Mike talk about what it really takes to stay current in a field that never stops moving, from relying on trusted partners and professional communities to making room, when possible, for demos, articles, and the constant work of learning. They also dig into AV over IP, not as a buzzword or blanket an...
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133: It Might Just Be Future Mike with Mike McHugh

March 25, 2026 • 30 mins
In Episode 133 of AV/IT Amplifier, Ryan Gray talks with Mike McHugh of Goshen College about what it means to build a career, and a legacy, at a small institution where everybody knows everybody and the work is always personal. Mike shares what it has been like to spend more than two decades at a 900 student college in northern Indiana, doing everything from classroom technology support and system design to campus events, athletic s...
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Special: HETMA Presents... Live Keynote from the HETMA Virtual Conference

February 25, 2026 • 58 mins
Recorded live as the Friday keynote on Day 3 of the HETMA Virtual Conference, this AV/IT Amplifier crosspost pulls a fast moving hybrid conversation from sister show HETMA Presents, combining #Roadto10K and This Month in Higher Ed AV into one session.

Host Ryan Gray is joined by Britt Yenser, Tim Van Woeart, and Gina Sansivero to unpack the month’s community theme, Time to Level Up, and get specific about what leveling...
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132: The AV Nerd with Tom Segers

February 18, 2026 • 28 mins
Ryan is back on the ISE 2026 show floor for Part 2 with Tom Segers, an AV professional supporting Thomas More University of Applied Sciences in Belgium across multiple campuses. Tom shares what it looks like when a hobby becomes a career, and why being detail minded is not just a personality trait, it is survival in higher ed AV.

From WhatsApp culture in Europe to the very real complexity of LED walls, 4K workflows, and teac...
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131: Work Together To Make Some Difference with Tom Segers

February 11, 2026 • 29 mins
Recorded live at the HETMA booth on the show floor of ISE 2026, Ryan sits down with Belgium based higher ed AV leader Tom Segers from Thomas More University of Applied Sciences. They talk about what it looks like to support AV at scale with a tiny central team across multiple campuses, and why global community matters when higher education needs a louder voice in an industry that often defaults to corporate assumptions. 
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130: Catch You On The Flipside with Issac Abbs

January 28, 2026 • 28 mins
Isaac Abbs returns for week two and the conversation leans hard into the human side of senior leadership: how an introvert survives a job that demands constant presence, how you build buy in like a coach building a locker room, and how you create real moments of recognition when your team is the one taking the calls and absorbing the heat. Along the way, Isaac shares what he has learned about getting comfortable being uncomfortable...
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129: Trust Drips In and Pours Out with Isaac Abbs

January 21, 2026 • 30 mins
Ryan Gray is joined by Isaac Abbs, Chief Information Officer at Pima Community College in Tucson, Arizona. Isaac walks through what the CIO role really demands in higher ed—leadership, clarity, and the ability to solve problems at a level that changes outcomes for the institution. He reflects on his career path (public sector to higher ed and back), why the CIO role appealed to him early, and what it means to lead techno...
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128: If You Think Nobody Cares, You're Wrong with Thomas Eastlack

January 14, 2026 • 30 mins
Week two with Thomas goes deeper into the inner mechanics of growth: how confidence gets built (and rebuilt) in real time, how “needing people” can be both a strength and a signal, and what it looks like to stop outsourcing your own decisions. Ryan and Thomas talk candidly about learning to move forward without requiring constant external reassurance—and how that shift changes the way you show up in work and life....
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127: Don't Lose Yourself with Thomas Eastlack

January 7, 2026 • 33 mins
After a stretch of inconsistency, Ryan kicks off 2026 with a simple promise: the show is back, and the conversations are the fuel. In this in-person episode, he sits down with Thomas Eastlack, a familiar face at Yavapai College who recently moved from the IT service desk into a newly created role supporting HR technology.

Thomas unpacks the shift from reactive “break/fix” work to proactive systems thinking—...
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126: Wish You Were Asked? 2025

December 31, 2025 • 35 mins
We close out 2025 with a listen back to some of our favorite guests this year and their answers to the questions they wish to be asked.

Stay tuned for new episodes of The AV/IT Amplifier Podcast in 2026!

Connect with Ryan
@Ryan_A_Gray
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanagray
ryan@higheredav.com

Voiceover by Chris Dechter

Have feedback or guest ideas? Let us know!

This show is a production of...
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125: RTM Higher Education Fall 2025

November 12, 2025 • 37 mins
Recorded on-site in Austin, this cross-conversation episode (in partnership with RTM Business Group’s Inside Innovation) brings together fast takes from the Fall Higher Education CIO Congress. We open with RTM’s Mica Spanos on how listening to practitioners—and getting them into the same room—drives a program that’s useful in a world that never quite calms down. Cole McFarren (University of Arizona Glo...
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124: Gray Matter Moment: Leadership Odyssey

October 15, 2025 • 23 mins
Sometimes leadership doesn’t begin with a grand vision—it begins with a text. In this introspective Gray Matter Moment, Ryan Gray records from the shores of Puerto Peñasco during his family’s annual October trip and reflects on a recent experience that brought personal vulnerability into the spotlight. He had been invited to co-lead a session at Yavapai College’s “Students of Leadership” retreat,...
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123: The Dude with BC Hatchett

October 8, 2025 • 28 mins
BC Hatchett returns for week two with a laid-back, life-and-leadership conversation that ranges from higher-ed purpose to… blacksmithing. We kick off with Halloween costumes (the Dude abides), detour through first jobs and Louisville summers on a greenskeeping cart, and land on why twenty years at Vanderbilt still feels mission-right. BC talks candidly about what keeps him in higher ed: watching students arrive, grow, and cr...
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