Edge Leverage Trust

Explore the Edge-Leverage-Trust framework and how businesses can use edge technology for competitive advantage. Timothy Chester draws on his experience leading digital transformation and building trust in complex organizations to illuminate key benefits and challenges of edge computing. This episode unpacks how strategic trust and innovation at the edge are shaping the IT landscape.

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Chapter 1

Understanding Edge-Leverage-Trust

Timothy Chester

Early in my first CIO role at Pepperdine, I found myself at an EDUCAUSE event in downtown Chicago; late evening, enjoying quiet drinks with colleagues. That’s when Brad Wheeler walked in. Brash, brilliant, and already a force in higher ed IT, Brad was Indiana University’s CIO and a professor of business. He wasn’t just running systems—he was reshaping how large institutions align technology with mission. I found Brad intimidating, but also magnetic. Over time, I learned from him, especially how Indiana avoided the false choice between full centralization and fractured autonomy. Their model, Edge, Leverage, Trust, offered a clear path: scale what should scale; innovate where flexibility is needed; and build trust to hold it all together. It wasn’t just efficient, it was elegant. Brad stepped down some years ago. Our profession has been a little less bold and certainly more boring without him. But the model he championed remains essential. In this Dispatch, we make the case for Edge, Leverage, Trust as the most effective IT strategy for research universities and show how it’s also thriving in the private sector.