Innovate with Us

After a quarter-century of shaping the next generation of networking professionals, two longtime Cisco Networking Academy instructors have taken their mission to the next level. Chad Johnson and Aaron Conn, professors at NHTI – Concord’s Community College, have launched their own Academy Support Center (ASC) and Instructor Training Center (ITC) to deliver hands-on training and mentorship with the personal attention they believe educators and students deserve.

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Their journey spans 25 years of classroom instruction, lab development, and curriculum evolution—training thousands of students and supporting instructors across the region. Over the years, Chad and Aaron found themselves frequently shifting between various ASC/ITC partnerships due to changes in management and organizational direction. While these transitions brought new challenges and learning opportunities, they also revealed a clear gap in consistent, personalized support for Cisco Networking Academy instructors.

“We’ve always believed in putting instructors and students first,” said Aaron. “But too often, decisions about training and support were made far from the classroom. We knew we could offer something better—something built by educators, for educators.”

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That realization led to the creation of their own ASC/ITC—an independent center grounded in decades of practical teaching experience, strong peer collaboration, and a deep understanding of Cisco’s educational tools and technologies.

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Their new center will provide instructor onboarding, certification prep, training workshops, and ongoing support tailored to both new and experienced instructors. It also aims to foster a community of educators who can share resources, best practices, and innovations in teaching networking, cybersecurity, and IT fundamentals.

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Chad, who began teaching Cisco networking when routers still required serial cables and sd cards, reflected on how far the field has come. “Back then, we were figuring it out one cable at a time. Now we’re talking SD-WAN and cloud infrastructure. But what hasn’t changed is the need for instructors to feel supported and empowered to grow.”

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With their new ASC/ITC, Chad and Aaron hope to give back to the community that shaped their careers and to help fellow instructors not just survive, but thrive. “We’re still teachers at heart,” Chad said. “We’re just scaling our classroom.”

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The center is already attracting interest from academies across New England, and the duo hopes to expand its reach even further—without losing the one-on-one connection that sets them apart.

“For us, it’s personal,” said Aaron. “Because great instructors create great students. And great students change the world.”