by CUGC HQ
Steve Elgan, CTA, Omaha CUGC Leader
Omaha, NE US
What Citrix technologies are most important to your work?
We use XenApp, StoreFront, Netscaler VPX, PVS, and MCS on Nutanix to deliver our Electronic Medical Record workloads to about 1200 users in three states. We love how well Citrix integrates with and runs on Nutanix!
What’s the biggest tech challenge in your work environment, and what Citrix solutions are you using (or hope to)?
The largest challenge is trying to keep the environment as simple as possible while providing the best user experience. Citrix has enabled us to provide a superior user experience regardless of geography. We are in the early stages of planning our SD-WAN implementation. With SD-WAN, we aim to optimize our HDX traffic and provide better resiliency between locations.
You’re part of the leadership team for the upcoming CUGC XL Great Plains event on April 5, 2018. Tell us about the experience and what you’re looking forward to most.
The XL event is coming together nicely. At this stage, we already have all the details worked out and now we have open registration. I feel really lucky to have the opportunity to work with so many great leaders from Omaha, Kansas City, and CUGC HQ staff. These folks are all committed to putting together a world-class event and it’s been a real honor to collaborate with them. I’m most excited about networking with other attendees and shaking hands with the presenters. We have an all-star lineup of presenters. These are folks whose blogs I read and tweets I follow. I look up to many of them because of their deep technical knowledge and their willingness to share that knowledge freely with our amazing community. Honestly, I hope the attendees take advantage of the networking opportunities as well. You just can’t get a conference of this caliber at this price anywhere except CUGC. 25% of the capacity for the XL event was filled up in just a couple of days which affirms that what we are trying to accomplish with the XL event is filling a need.
On a similar note, what do you enjoy most about leading the Omaha CUGC?
I most like that moment near the end of the event when someone comes up to me, shakes my hand, and shares how excited they are that they came to the event. That’s how I know we provided value and served the community well.
Citrix Synergy 2018 will be your first–are you excited?
I’m incredibly excited! I’m looking forward to experiencing the energy of a bunch of passionate EUC folks coming together, sharing stories, and learning from each other. I’m also really excited about hearing Dr. Condoleeza Rice speak. In my job, I’m a leader and a senior technical resource, so I soak up leadership content like a sponge.
Favorite words of wisdom?
There are so many things that come to mind but I think one that really helped me change my perspective on leadership the most, is something John Maxwell wrote in his book: The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. He teaches a principle called “The Law of the Lid,” which basically states that organizations are limited by their leaders, and that everything rises and falls with leadership. I’m not leading an organization, but I do lead two teams, so the same principle applies. My team will always be limited by my level of leadership. If I do not grow, my team will not grow.
Outside of work and CUGC, what do you do for fun?
Well, I love to play ping pong. We actually play that at work so maybe that doesn’t count. My wife and I have three kids and we enjoy spending time with them. We are involved in our church and enjoy leading members of our church through Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University class.
