The MacAdmins Conference is the premier East Coast conference for anyone who deploys and manages devices in the Apple ecosystem. Over the last 15 years we featured hundreds of sessions and many workshops with top notch speakers in the MacAdmins community. MacAdmins offers an incredible level of expertise, value, entertainment, and a great opportunity to network with your fellow admins!
APIs are fun and powerful! Have you ever wished you could have a way to “push that button a hundred times” or search the data in your management systems in ways that the built-in search just can’t do? APIs are a great way of doing this, and many of the systems you already use come with them built-in! The goal of this session is to give a very basic understanding of APIs, how they may be discovered and used, and some strategies for working with the data you may get back.
Platform Engineer, Rochester Institute of Technology
I have always loved bending technology to my will. After a high school friend I met through our mutual abuse of Radio Shack computers got a Mac, my path was forever changed. I've been managing Macs in one way or another since System 6. I'm currently a Mac and Integration/Automation... Read More →
Wednesday July 16, 2025 9:00am - 10:15am EDT TBA 3Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel, 215 Innovation Blvd, State College, PA 16803, USA
Learn the fundamentals of networking by either being an observer or participant in a play that has people acting as the elements of an IP network. From ARP to VPN we will learn it all!
John has been working in IT since 1988, spending most of it with Unix-like systems including NeXTSTEP and MacOS. He's worked in startups in the insurance, VR and film industry, and spent over 20 years in higher ed. He currently teaches computers science at the University of Kentucky... Read More →
Wednesday July 16, 2025 9:00am - 10:15am EDT TBA 4Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel, 215 Innovation Blvd, State College, PA 16803, USA
The first official AutoPkg release was almost 12 years ago and the famed autopkg_tools.py was first released 8 years ago. I'm here to present a new runner to the landscape that is built from the ground up to support CI/CD pipelines, download caching, and it does it all faster than you thought possible.
Scott is a longtime Apple Admin with over 20 years experience in IT. He is currently working for Flywire where he and the rest of the team manage a fleet of 1300 Apple devices across the globe. He spends most of his evenings enabling his kids to do great things in soccer, tennis... Read More →
Wednesday July 16, 2025 10:45am - 12:00pm EDT TBA 4Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel, 215 Innovation Blvd, State College, PA 16803, USA
Learn how the University of Nebraska leverages Power Automate and Jamf Setup Manager to securely streamline macOS deployments. This process dynamically sets the device name, assigns the correct Jamf site, and applies risk classification, all while maintaining a single PreStage for the entire university. By using unique keys and API calls, this method ensures security without exposing credentials.
Quinn is an Endpoint Security Engineer at the University of Nebraska, specializing in macOS security and automation tools. Passionate about making complex systems more approachable, Quinn has presented at PSU MacAdmins and the Jamf Nation User Conference (JNUC). She thrives on helping... Read More →
Wednesday July 16, 2025 10:45am - 12:00pm EDT TBA 2Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel, 215 Innovation Blvd, State College, PA 16803, USA
Introduction to Git version control software. Learn basic concepts, common commands, GUI apps & command-line usage, important caveats, and interaction with common Git services (eg GitHub, GitLab, BitBucket)
Started in IT/HelpDesk, worked at the Apple Store, went back for a CS degree, got into mobile app development at a small company, then returned to IT/DevOps as the org grew (from 3 to 40+ folks).As a dept. of one there's a wide range of tasks including DevOps, IT/HelpDesk, AV, and... Read More →
Wednesday July 16, 2025 10:45am - 12:00pm EDT TBA 3Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel, 215 Innovation Blvd, State College, PA 16803, USA
You've used swiftDialog-based projects like Nudge, or erase-install, or Setup-Your-Mac. You'd like to use similar notification or action windows for your user-facing scripts, and you have no idea where to start! Come and see my approach to using swiftDialog for my scripts, as a person with no particular scripting expertise. Beginner and intermediate admins should get something useful here; advanced scripters, probably not.
Endpoint Architect & Desktop Systems Administrator, Cat Herder
I came to tech support and computer administration after a career as a postpartum doula and childbirth educator. (When you think about it, they're not that different.) Now I work in higher education, where I architect our workstation management, as well as administer the applications... Read More →
Wednesday July 16, 2025 1:30pm - 2:45pm EDT TBA 4Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel, 215 Innovation Blvd, State College, PA 16803, USA
This year we will journey into the exciting yet thankless world of bug reporting, and how best to fine tune your troubleshooting skills to ensure your fleet of Macs will continue running smoothly in the face of constant platform change.
Learn how to create AutoPkg recipes for MacOS, Windows, and Linux from scratch. AutoPkg can be used to automate the distribution of software updates from vendor websites to your distribution tool of choice, saving many hours a week. It is recommended to be comfortable on the command line, but previous knowledge of AutoPkg is not strictly required. AutoPkg itself is written in Python, but writing python code is not required to write recipes.
Have you ever watched a conference presenter or YouTube tutorial about a topic, but while the presenter is talking, you notice them do some keyboard shortcut magic to complete a task that normally takes you 3 times as many steps? In this session, we hope to teach you some of those shortcuts, tools, tips, and tricks to help you be a more efficient Mac Admin.
Associate Director of Computing, Eastman School of Music - University of Rochester
Dennis provides Apple-focused expertise in his role as Associate Director of Computing at Eastman School of Music. He has written for technology journals and presented at several conferences. Away from the keyboard, Dennis enjoys cycling, automotive technology, and travel.
I was tasked with deploying JAMF for our Loaner Fleet as an initial proof of concept before a wider staff enrollment. I created this dashboard to keep myself organized during planning, development and launch phases. This quickly became an indispensable tool for my workflows and an efficient way to share the current state of the environment, both with my own team and other stakeholders. I will explain its features, give a live demo, and will provide a free link to a template for public use.
Workstation & AV Support Engineer II, Computing Sciences Area, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
I'm a hardware technician and systems administrator with over 14 years experience working in IT. My experience spans across a variety of industries including retail, educational, design & advertising, tech start-up, fin-tech, venture capital, medical, and governmental organizations... Read More →
Thursday July 17, 2025 9:00am - 9:45am EDT TBA 1Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel, 215 Innovation Blvd, State College, PA 16803, USA
The session should progress by highlighting our 10,000-foot journey to modernization in our environment. Where we've added automation, we've also added user interactions. We were looking to strike a balance in Mac management for devices used by developers. Specifically we've like to highlight our use of Swift Dialog as our primary user-interaction tool.
Compliance Benchmarks in Jamf Pro – the game-changer for security and compliance! Effortlessly define, audit, and enforce compliance standards across iOS, iPadOS, and macOS, ensuring your organization stays secure and aligned with industry best practices—all with the power and simplicity of Jamf Pro.
Tyler, a Senior Customer Success Engineer at Jamf, has a deep passion for technology and security. With five years at Jamf‚ including two in Technical Support‚ he's a subject matter expert in Jamf Security Cloud, Jamf Protect, and Jamf Executive Threat Protection. He plays a key... Read More →
Hector has 15+ years of experience in Apple software, hardware, and device management, supporting organizations, schools, and government entities. Before joining Jamf, he was a partner delivering professional services and teaching Jamf courses. He has collaborated with Apple as a... Read More →
Thursday July 17, 2025 10:00am - 11:00am EDT TBA 2Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel, 215 Innovation Blvd, State College, PA 16803, USA
How to enable employees and students with different OS on Mac devices while maintaining security and compliance. This session will cover the latest advancements in deployment and management of virtual machines on Mac devices at scale in both educational and corporate environments.
Liubov leads the B2B segment for the Parallels Desktop. She works closely with Mac admins in corporate and educational sectors to understand their challenges and improve VM management at scale. With over six years of experience in managing virtualization products, Liubov combines... Read More →
Thursday July 17, 2025 10:00am - 11:00am EDT TBA 4Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel, 215 Innovation Blvd, State College, PA 16803, USA
Accessibility tools are for everyone. This session will explore some of the more hidden tools and accessibility options in Apple's operating systems -- macOS, iPadOS/iPhoneOS, and VisionOS.
Damien has been supporting Macs for more than 25 years in corporate, small business, and education environments. He currently works as the Apple Platform expert at at Fortune 500 company.
Thursday July 17, 2025 10:00am - 11:00am EDT TBA 3Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel, 215 Innovation Blvd, State College, PA 16803, USA
So, I use AppleScript. Probably overuse it, to be honest. And, likely, I use it wrong. To me, it's like a Swiss Army hammer that can clobber any situation that needs automation. I'll share my journey from making a button to detecting them in the UI. Come hear about how I love and misuse this weird, old language, integrating all sorts of other code and API calls into my scripts, and the (hopefully well-commented) trail I've left through my career.
Dave Siederer has been a force in the Apple world for over two decades. These days, he's with AWS, specializing in Amazon's EC2 Mac instances. Prior to that, he led SHI's Apple technical practice for 12 years, creating ZeroTouch to automate iOS deployment. Dave lives in Central NJ... Read More →
Thursday July 17, 2025 11:15am - 12:00pm EDT TBA 3Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel, 215 Innovation Blvd, State College, PA 16803, USA
In this hands-on session, discover how to diagnose and resolve common wireless issues using tools like WiFi Explorer, Airtool, and Wireshark. You’ll leave empowered to confidently diagnose common wireless issues even if you are a beginner.
With over 25 years of IT experience in large Fortune 500 companies as well as non-profits, Jeff Forrest has brought solutions and education to clients in a way that is easy to understand. Jeff fell in love with with a G4 Macintosh because he could edit video and also administer an... Read More →
Thursday July 17, 2025 11:15am - 12:00pm EDT TBA 4Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel, 215 Innovation Blvd, State College, PA 16803, USA
In this session, Charles will facilitate a turn-based role playing game in which the audience pools their wits and experience to solve the fiendish puzzles of Remote Mac Support. Players (that's you!) will take turns attempting to slay increasingly terrifying troubleshooting tasks. Join your companions in a maze of twisty passages, all alike. Can the User be trusted? Will you be eaten by a Grue? Do fabulous riches* or humiliating defeat lurk just around the corner? * not actual riches
Charles Mangin enjoys setting up camp at the intersection where divergent disciplines meet: Analog and digital, creative and analytical, the old and the new. He‚Äôs been working with Macs for over three decades, having transitioned into IT by way of graphic design and web development... Read More →
Thursday July 17, 2025 1:15pm - 2:30pm EDT TBA 4Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel, 215 Innovation Blvd, State College, PA 16803, USA
Hi there! I started using a Mac while in school back in the early 90s. I have always had an interest in Apple devices since. Currently I am a solutions engineer focused on Healthcare and Life Sciences at Jamf! I've spent the last 15 years wearing many hats supporting Apple devices... Read More →
Thursday July 17, 2025 2:50pm - 3:50pm EDT TBA 1Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel, 215 Innovation Blvd, State College, PA 16803, USA
Dear Future Me, I promise to stop leaving you cryptic notes and forgotten wikis. No more digging through old Slack threads or deciphering scripts named fix_this_maybe.sh. Today, I commit to writing clear, versioned, and useful documentation—because you deserve better. Join me for a journey through BBEdit, wikis, Zendesk, and GitHub as we learn to document with love, not regret. Yours faithfully, Past You
For over 25 years, JD has worn many hats as a Mac Admin, Consultant, Apple Authorized Reseller & Service Provider, MSP, technical writer, and co-host of the MacDevOps podcast.
Thursday July 17, 2025 2:50pm - 3:50pm EDT TBA 4Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel, 215 Innovation Blvd, State College, PA 16803, USA
A look at the history and evolution of centralized accounts and password syncing, starting with NIS and NetInfo, moving to LDAP and Active Directory, passing through Mobile Accounts, continuing with cloud identity providers, and winding up with Apple's PlatformSSO. Along the way we'll encounter problems, solutions, and tradeoffs. We'll look at tools from both Apple and third-parties to help with some of this.
Staff Systems Engineer, Walt Disney Animation Studios
Greg has been deploying and managing macOS machines for over two decades at Walt Disney Animation Studios, a studio with a long history of family entertainment reaching back to "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" and forward to our latest film, "Moana 2". Greg is the creator and lead... Read More →
Thursday July 17, 2025 4:15pm - 5:15pm EDT TBA 2Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel, 215 Innovation Blvd, State College, PA 16803, USA
Discover how Rocketman Command Center (RCC) transforms Jamf Pro macOS management by consolidating best practices and automating common Jamf Pro workflows into one free, modular toolkit.
Christopher has been managing Jamf Pro servers since 2015. He started on the Pro Services team and Jamf delivering Jumpstarts (now called Service Engagements) and in 2017 he started Rocketman Tech, with a mission to help companies succeed with Jamf. Since that time, he has helped... Read More →
Patrick Blackmore is the Director of Product & Development at Rocketman Tech, where he leads the development of tools that streamline Jamf Pro workflows. With a focus on product strategy and user-driven solutions, he works closely with engineering teams to deliver efficient, scalable... Read More →
Thursday July 17, 2025 4:15pm - 5:15pm EDT TBA 4Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel, 215 Innovation Blvd, State College, PA 16803, USA
Join Workbrew's Brandon Valentine, a long-time Homebrew devotee and contributor, as he shows off the #1 Mac App Store for developers from the perspective of an IT admin. We'll discuss the fundamentals of Homebrew, and how embracing it can become an asset to IT and security - not a liability. It's already helping your developers be productive, but there are some surprising ways it can help your overall fleet management story beyond the developer community.
Brandon Valentine began his career in 2000 as a systems administrator managing large-scale fleets, quickly becoming an active contributor to open source package managers. Over the years, he expanded his expertise to include Ruby development, consulting, and professional sales. A devoted... Read More →
John Britton is a developer, entrepreneur, and investor. As Co-Founder & CEO of Workbrew he‚Äôs on a mission to improve the way software is deployed and managed at organizations. He is an industry-leading expert in the realms of open source and developer-tools go-to market, and... Read More →
Friday July 18, 2025 9:00am - 10:15am EDT TBA 3Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel, 215 Innovation Blvd, State College, PA 16803, USA
This session helps participants write effective software acquisition proposals and run "bake-off" evaluations, especially when opinions differ (e.g., open vs. closed-source software). Key skills include defining project requirements, assessing software features, selecting vendors, conducting structured evaluations, and presenting findings to stakeholders. By the end, participants will be equipped to navigate software selection and make well-informed recommendations.
Louise entered the world of geekdom after seeing her first tech movie where she watched HAL refuse to open the pod bay doors and then seeing the ‚Äúold‚Äù Duotronic computers not only work, but provide answers by voice on starships on TV. She has been fascinated by computers... Read More →
A native of the Pittsburgh area and graduate of Penn State. Currently a Mac admin at a non-profit in the Pittsburgh area web apps, fixing hardware of all kinds, and supporting everything IT.
Friday July 18, 2025 9:00am - 10:15am EDT TBA 4Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel, 215 Innovation Blvd, State College, PA 16803, USA
Let me show you how we, at the Gateway School District Help Desk, use Mosyle's API and some small webpage work to simplify our day to day iPad handouts and wipes by allowing these actions to trigger right from the iPad itself.
For folks new to Mac management and/or haven’t added swiftDialog to their toolbox. In real time, we’ll build a message to appear to end users with AirDrop enabled for “Everyone”, learning many of the configuration options for swiftDialog along the way.
I've worked at the same organization, Western Kentucky University, for nearly 20 years; first at the help desk for 10 years, then 4 years as an in-person tech, and currently in my fifth year as the Endpoint Engineer for non-lab org-owned Macs.
Friday July 18, 2025 10:45am - 12:00pm EDT TBA 3Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel, 215 Innovation Blvd, State College, PA 16803, USA
