Engineering leaders are under constant pressure to deliver faster, improve quality, and reduce costs despite fixed resources. At Nelnet, this challenge was compounded by ongoing acquisitions, a complex application landscape, and competing team priorities. Brittany Wilson will discuss how they evaluated the impact of Generative AI (GenAI) on the software development lifecycle without disrupting critical delivery work and how Nelnet adopted a measured pilot approach. Over 12 weeks, a side-by-side experiment compared a GenAI-enabled team with a business-as-usual team working on similar...
Brittany Wilson
Managing Director of IT
Nelnet
Brittany Wilson is a Managing Director of IT at Nelnet, based in Lincoln, Nebraska, with nearly 20 years of experience in the education technology industry. She has spent her career leading technology and engineering teams through meaningful change, helping organizations modernize platforms, evolve operating models, and adapt to the growing needs of K–12 schools. Brittany is passionate about process efficiency and continuous improvement, challenging traditional ways of working to help teams focus on outcomes that deliver real value. Equally important to her work is a deep commitment to supporting educators through technology—building and operating reliable, scalable solutions that enable teachers and administrators to focus on what matters most: students. She brings a thoughtful, people‑first leadership approach, emphasizing strong relationships, collaboration, and trust as foundations for sustainable, high‑impact technology delivery.