Dr. Michael Chipps is President Emeritus of both Northeast Community College and Mid-Plains Community College and one of the earliest and most important executive champions in KANE’s history. Over a career spanning nearly four decades in higher education, he served in instructional, student-affairs, administrative, and executive leadership roles across Nebraska’s community colleges, including as president of Mid-Plains Community College from 2003 to 2012 and president of Northeast Community College from 2012 until his retirement in 2019.
His leadership extended well beyond the institutions he served. Dr. Chipps held national and regional roles with organizations including the American Association of Community Colleges and the Higher Learning Commission, co-chaired the Nebraska Information Technology Commission’s Education Council, served as a consultant to more than 60 colleges and universities, and later joined the Phi Theta Kappa Foundation Board of Trustees. He was also recognized by the Association of Community College Trustees with its Western Region CEO Award.
Dr. Chipps’ legacy is not only the institutions he led, but the leaders he developed, trusted, and encouraged to take meaningful risks.
For KANE, however, his most enduring contribution came at the very beginning: he encouraged technology leaders to think beyond the boundaries of their individual institutions and gave them the trust and freedom to collaborate.
Doctorate in Educational Administration, Curriculum, and Instruction with a specialization in Management of Colleges and Universities, University of Nebraska–Lincoln; master’s and bachelor’s degrees from the University of Nebraska at Kearney.
Dr. Michael Chipps was KANE’s first executive champion. While serving as president of Northeast Community College, his experience, encouragement, and willingness to empower his technology leaders helped create the conditions in which KANE could exist.
The idea began with an informal meeting of the minds among Derek Bierman, Tom Peters, and John Dunning. Dr. Chipps encouraged that collaboration rather than treating institutional boundaries as barriers. His support gave the CIOs permission to share openly, learn from one another, and explore what might be possible if their institutions worked together.
That early collaboration soon expanded to include Cory Falldine and Tom Erwin. Rather than beginning with bylaws, contracts, or a formal organization, the group started KANE as a handshake agreement built on trust, shared problems, and a belief that the institutions could accomplish more together than separately. Dr. Chipps’ continued support gave that experiment credibility and space to grow.
Without his encouragement and empowerment at that formative moment, KANE would not exist in the form it does today. His leadership helped turn a conversation among colleagues into a lasting consortium and established the collaborative culture that remains at the heart of KANE.
“Dr. Chipps took a chance on me early in my career. He gave me trust, room to lead, and the encouragement to think bigger than the boundaries of a single institution. I worked hard to make sure that opportunity was not wasted. His mentorship helped shape the leader I became, and his continued mentorship still matters to me today. KANE exists because he believed in people, empowered them, and gave good ideas the space to become something real. I will always be grateful for the confidence he placed in me and for the example he continues to set.”
— Derek Bierman, KANE Chair and Founding Member
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KANE is a higher education technology consortium rooted in Kansas and Nebraska and open to broader collaboration. We connect institutions and technology leaders to share expertise, strengthen cybersecurity, develop people, and create more value together.
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