Michael Triplett has been selected as Manager of ITS Digital Services after serving as the interim manager since last April.
“We are very fortunate to have such a highly qualified candidate already on the Digital Services team,” said David Eckert, Director of Managed IT Services. “Michael brings a wealth of directly related expertise to the Digital Services manager role, and his previous work experience is very well aligned with this position.”
Triplett became Manager of Digital Services on March 11. As he did in his interim role, Triplett reports to Eckert.
“As the new Digital Services Manager, I’m eager to shape our team and services. With my experience, I’ll ensure every aspect, from security to accessibility and usability, while meeting UNC policies,” Triplett said.
Has served UNC for a decade
Triplett has been with Digital Services since 2016, beginning as a Lead Web/Mobile Developer. Since October 2018, he has also been Technical Solutions and Web Architect Lead, which he continued as interim manager. Before joining Digital Services, Triplett spent more than 2 1/2 years as a Web Developer and then Senior Web Developer at UNC Creative. In addition, he has a background in graphic design and has served as a creative director in previous roles. He earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, with a concentration in Digital Design, from UNC Greensboro.
He also has managed multiple teams and developed several public-facing services.
Triplett “has experience developing websites at UNC as a customer of Digital Services and for UNC customers as a Digital Services team member,” Eckert said. “He has also done web development outside of UNC and has a complete, well-rounded understanding of the needs of our customers.”
Triplett has conducted “web design work and web architecture work, including being a key contributor to the team that migrated over 20,000 UNC websites to our current hosted WordPress solution,” Eckert added. “He has experience in most of the important aspects of the manager position, and I’m looking forward to working with him on the next version of Digital Services.”
Manages 6,100 University websites
As the leader of Digital Services, Triplett manages the team that provides WordPress-based web development and web hosting for the University. The team helps enterprise site owners (departments, schools, centers) with content strategy, site architecture, content migrations, design, site testing, training and documentation. The team also provides a self-service option for anyone at the University to create a website on TarHeels.live. The group manages about 6,100 University websites, including the University’s homepage, Alert Carolina and more than 500 UNC School of Medicine websites.
About Michael Triplett
Title: Manager, ITS Digital Services
Education: Bachelor of Fine Arts, concentration in Digital Design, from UNC Greensboro
Native of: Originally from Florida, but having lived in Chapel Hill since 1996, now considers himself a North Carolina native
Family: Lives in Chapel Hill with his wife and two children
Hobbies: Outside of work, he enjoys a variety of hobbies, including photography and music. Despite his better judgment, he still finds himself skateboarding. As a musician, he has toured nationally and internationally with multiple bands. Additionally, he takes pleasure in woodworking and recently completed an eight-year project: restoring his late father’s 1961 Chris Craft Wooden Ski boat.
Ensure innovation, accessibility, sustainability
“My overarching goal is to ensure that our users feel supported and that the solutions or environments we provide are both innovative, scalable, accessible, yet rooted in sustainability and stability,” Triplett said.
“Digital Services is a collective effort, a community, which includes every user of our sites,” he said. “We must prioritize our partnerships and educating our users on best practices, whether related to accessibility, security, or enhancing the WordPress user experience. It’s also crucial the community knows we’re committed to listening, seeking feedback, and identifying areas for improvement.”
Excited to introduce new WordPress theme
In addition to Triplett, the group currently is made up of three permanent employees and one contractor.
“I’m grateful for our talented team and aim to lead by empowering and supporting each member. With my technical knowledge, I hope to remove any blockers they face, whether technical or non-technical, fostering a more cross-functional team,” Triplett said.
The team, he said “is particularly excited about introducing the new custom UNC WordPress Full Site Editing Theme called Wilson, which will significantly enhance our users’ ability to produce websites rapidly with rich features while keeping accessibility and UNC identity and branding in mind.”
Triplett assumes the manager role formerly held by Kim Vassiliadis, who served as both manager and director of Digital Services after advancing within ITS and gaining multiple units to oversee. When she left the University last year, Triplett became interim manager and began reporting to Eckert.