Biography

As Associate Director, IT Strategic Sourcing for the University of California system, Thomas Trappler leads enterprisewide IT procurement and supplier management initiatives and negotiations focused on cost reduction and risk mitigation. The UC IT Strategic Sourcing team has won both the EPIC Team Innovation Award and CHEC Focus On Efficiency Award. Thomas currently serves as the Co-Chair of the EDCAUSE IT Procurement and Supplier Management Community Group. An internationally recognized expert in cloud computing risk mitigation via contract negotiation and supplier management, Thomas was named a "Cloud Luminary" by CA Technologies alongside such distinguished thought leaders as Vivek Kundra and Nicholas Carr. Per the Los Angeles Times, "When Thomas Trappler talks clouds, companies listen." Dubbed the "Cloud Contract Adviser" by Computerworld, Thomas has presented at numerous events, including Cloud Expo, Gartner Catalyst, Educause Annual Conference, Security Threats Conference, IT Sourcing and Procurement Summit, CA World, The Business of Cloud Computing Conference, and the Security Professionals Conference. He has written a monthly column for Computerworld regarding cloud computing contracts, co-authored the book "Contracting for Cloud Services", and has published articles on cloud contracting and open source software for Educause Quarterly. Thomas has lectured at UCLA and the Polytechnic Institute of New York University, and teaches "Cloud Computing Risk Mitigation Via Contract Negotiation & Supplier Management", the original seminar focused on cloud computing contract issues.