Written by Marcie Kamb, July 16, 2026
The Center on Education and Training for Employment (CETE) continues to grow its team of specialists, welcoming Dan Spears as a System Administrator Analyst, bringing with him almost 20 years of information technology (IT) experience spanning small businesses, enterprise environments, local government, nonprofit organizations, automotive research and development, and healthcare.
Before joining CETE, he specialized in supporting backup solutions for physical and virtual server infrastructure and Microsoft 365 data. During that time, he also developed backup product aptitude tests and mentored junior support engineers, helping them strengthen their technical knowledge and troubleshooting skills.
As he embraces his new role, he has gained an appreciation for the breadth of CETE’s work and the impact technology has on advancing education, workforce development, and research.
“Just in the short time I have been at CETE, I have gained a much deeper appreciation of how technology broadens the scope of what we can do in our work to educate and train and perform research and what we can provide to the entities and organizations we work with,” he said.
He believes technology helps CETE link innovation with the important conversations happening across education and workforce development.
“This allows us to be at the forefront of what we do and to help shape the conversation around those areas in really meaningful ways, and it is something I am keen to be a part of in the days and months ahead.”
As someone who has spent his career working in IT, Dan has seen the evolution of artificial intelligence (AI). While he sees the potential, he also believes organizations need to approach AI with realistic expectations.
“One of the more interesting trends to me has been watching companies go all-in on AI only to find out that the AI they think they have is not the AI we actually have,” he said.
He notes that AI can be an incredibly useful tool when people understand both its strengths and its limitations.
“There are definitely lessons to be learned there because I do think AI can be a useful tool, but only if you understand what the limitations and constraints are. I am also interested in how AI relates to information security, not just from hackers using it to exploit others but end-users uploading sensitive information to it without thinking through the potential implications. This is something that the IT industry as well as businesses in general are having to figure out in real time, and it is creating some interesting discourse around the subject.”
Over the past year, he has also dedicated himself to improving his physical health through walking.
“I recently walked the equivalent of five marathons in seven days on my walking pad on two different occasions,” he said. “It was definitely not a planned goal, at least not the first time anyway, but it is an accomplishment I am very proud of.”
Dan is already making a positive impact on his associates at CETE, offering his technical expertise, the mentorship of others, and a fresh perspective on emerging technologies that can help strengthen the Center’s technology infrastructure.