Erik Runyon is technical director and developer at the University of Notre Dame — and also program vice chair of the 2026 Dev Summit, which will take place Tuesday, April 28.
In 2011, Erik Runyon headed from Indiana to Austin, Texas, for his first Digital Collegium annual conference. In the years that followed, he attended — and typically presented — at many regional and annual events.
With more than three decades experience in the industry, Erik is now technical director and developer at the University of Notre Dame — a perfect background for the program vice chair role with the Summit. We asked him a few questions about the event and the broader world of web development.
Q. Tell me a little about your background in web development. What set the stage for your career, and how has it evolved?
I initially picked up web development in 1995 as something to kill time while working as a lab monitor at the University of Michigan. There weren’t courses at the time, but the web was a lot simpler then. It was just a matter of viewing the source. This was before table-layouts were a thing.
After graduation I worked as a graphic designer for seven years where building and maintaining the company website was simply an add-on to the primary role. What I quickly realized was the “web” part of those early jobs is what I loved the most. That led me to seek out a full-time web developer role.
I think what I loved (and still love) most about web dev is problem solving. It’s taking a large technical project and breaking it down into parts and seeing it come to life over time. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in over 30 years of building for the web is that we have to stay curious. Especially for the last 15 years or so, the web platform has progressed incredibly fast. As web professionals, it’s vital that we push ourselves to keep learning and advancing our knowledge and skill set.
That’s why professional development conferences are so important. We have a limited amount of time to research and test new techniques and technologies. Professional conferences such as DigiCol are a great way to learn from others who have done some of the deep diving for you, allowing you to discover important areas where you should spend some time leveling up.
“I think what I loved (and still love) most about web dev is problem solving. It’s taking a large technical project and breaking it down into parts and seeing it come to life over time.”
Q. Two-parter here. First, can you share a little about why you decided to get involved in planning this year’s Dev Summit? And second, the schedule is live and looks great: What was the process of putting this all together, from responding to potential speakers to making selections?
It’s been a long time since I’ve volunteered (2014 annual in Portland), so when Sara (Clark, Digital Collegium’s executive director) asked if I wanted to be involved in the inaugural Dev Summit, it sounded like the perfect opportunity.
I’ve not been involved in building a schedule before, so I don’t have a great frame of reference to compare to other events. Due to scheduling requirements, we had to put together the conference on a very tight timeline. We had a pretty good response to the call for proposals. The difficulty is trying to balance the available presentations into the three tracks.
Q. What are you most looking forward to about the Dev Summit, whether it’s a specific topic/speaker, the experience itself or something else?
As many DigiCol regulars can attest, I’m a sucker for web-performance talks, so I’m particularly looking forward to Steve Graboski’s presentation “Don’t load it twice: How caching made our higher-ed site one of the fastest”.
I also have a co-worker, Jonathan Arp, presenting on some projects we worked together on, so I’m really looking forward to his presentation as well.
“Often in HigherEd it can be difficult to get out of our bubbles. Attending conferences … such as the Dev Summit, you can learn what others are going through, the challenges they’re facing, and most importantly, how you can incorporate the wins and solutions that are presented into your own work.”
Q. In your words, why is professional development important, especially in today’s rapidly changing world? And, more specifically, why should someone consider this specific event?
Often in HigherEd it can be difficult to get out of our bubbles. Attending conferences such as DigiCol, whether that’s the annual or specialty events such as the Dev Summit, you can learn what others are going through, the challenges they’re facing, and most importantly, how you can incorporate the wins and solutions that are presented into your own work. It’s not always one-to-one, but inspiration can really drive our work forward and keep us engaged.
Q. Aside from the Dev Summit, what is keeping you busy at Notre Dame these days?
Our team launched a new theme/design system within the past year, so I’ve been focusing a lot on helping to create the resources our partners need to work with that system. Otherwise I’ve been cranking out features and updates to our custom CMS.
Want to learn more?
Check out Digital Collegium’s 2026 Dev Summit on April 28. Members can also log into DigiCol’s Professional Development Library to access summit archives, including presentations on website development.