Most Active Speakers 2023

Sessionize proudly presents the list of the most active speakers in the year 2023!

  • 758 speakers
  • Auto-generated
Will Velida

Will Velida

Will is a Senior Software Engineer at Microsoft, working in the Industry Solutions Engineering team.

Will has extensive experience in software development, building solutions in the financial, health and agricultural industries. Will has also previously been a Microsoft MVP for Kubernetes and Open Source before joining Microsoft.

Will regularly speaks at conferences, user groups and developer events around the world, such as Microsoft Ignite, NDC Conferences, and Techorama. When he is away from his keyboard, you'll find him hiking around the countryside.

Will is a Senior Software Engineer at Microsoft, working in the Industry Solutions Engineering team. Will has extensive experience in software development, building solutions in the financial, health and agricultural industries. Will has also pre... Show more

Henk Boelman

Henk Boelman

Henk is a Cloud Advocate specializing in Artificial intelligence and Azure with a background in application development. He is currently part of the AI cloud advocate team and based in the Netherlands. Before joining Microsoft, he was a Microsoft AI MVP and worked as a software developer and architect building lots of AI powered platforms on Azure.

Henk is a Cloud Advocate specializing in Artificial intelligence and Azure with a background in application development. He is currently part of the AI cloud advocate team and based in the Netherlands. Before joining Microsoft, he was a Microsoft AI ... Show more

Geert van der Cruijsen

Geert van der Cruijsen

Geert van der Cruijsen is the CEO of Zure Netherlands, helping companies improve how they build software by combining strong engineering culture with modern technology. He focuses on DevOps, cloud-native development, architecture and AI, enabling teams to work more autonomously and deliver faster through smart platforms and better ways of working. Geert is a long-time Microsoft MVP and an active member of the tech community, frequently sharing knowledge through talks, content and mentorship.

Geert van der Cruijsen is the CEO of Zure Netherlands, helping companies improve how they build software by combining strong engineering culture with modern technology. He focuses on DevOps, cloud-native development, architecture and AI, enabling tea... Show more

Keith Atherton

Keith Atherton

Power Platform Solution Architect, Microsoft MVP for Business Applications, Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT), 11x Microsoft certified, published LinkedIn Learning instructor, public speaker, Power Platform Community High Five user group founder, On Air in the Cloud podcast host, blogger, and mentor.

Versatile solution architect with over 25 years' international experience of leading and developing software solutions in permanent and contract roles for sectors including finance, legal, manufacturing, construction, game development, retail, healthcare, travel, and charity.

Find me online: https://linktr.ee/keithatherton

Power Platform Solution Architect, Microsoft MVP for Business Applications, Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT), 11x Microsoft certified, published LinkedIn Learning instructor, public speaker, Power Platform Community High Five user group founder, On ... Show more

Alessandro Stefouli-Vozza

Alessandro Stefouli-Vozza

Community leader and CNCF ambassador, Alessandro has spent the last few years building cloud native infrastructures for Microsoft customers, animating the Dutch community, and training others to pass the CKx exams. He has passion for all things cloud native, he's been around open source for 25 years and recently moved to a new Developer Relations role. Twitter handle: @bongo

Community leader and CNCF ambassador, Alessandro has spent the last few years building cloud native infrastructures for Microsoft customers, animating the Dutch community, and training others to pass the CKx exams. He has passion for all things cloud... Show more

Barbara Forbes

Barbara Forbes

Barbara Forbes is an Azure Architect & consultant at Zure in the Netherlands, a Microsoft Azure MVP, Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT), and a GitHub Star. She works at the intersection of technology, strategy, education, and development. Her focus is on the Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework, Generative AI, Infrastructure as Code, PowerShell, and GitHub.
Barbara loves explaining things in an accessible manner; in person, as a teacher for LinkedIn Learning and as a frequent speaker at conferences and user groups. She is actively involved in the tech community, including being part of the organization of European events

Barbara Forbes is an Azure Architect & consultant at Zure in the Netherlands, a Microsoft Azure MVP, Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT), and a GitHub Star. She works at the intersection of technology, strategy, education, and development. Her focus is... Show more

Craig Porteous

Craig Porteous

I'm a lifelong learner with a passion for creative problem-solving. I share my expertise and insights with the data community through talks, video content, and bringing people together with the DATA:Scotland event.

I'm a lifelong learner with a passion for creative problem-solving. I share my expertise and insights with the data community through talks, video content, and bringing people together with the DATA:Scotland event. Show more

Mats Necker

Mats Necker

I like lots of stuff 👉 Power Platform 💘 Dynamics 365 🚀 Azure 🧙‍♂️

Microsoft MVP ✍ blogs at https://nckr.de 🚀 Founded https://dhino.io

I worked for over 15 years with Microsoft Biz Apps as a solution architect / developer, starting with Business Central, nowadays loving the Power Platform & Azure

Building repeatable software has always been my passion and I'm continuing to talk about the best ways to do that 🙂

I like lots of stuff 👉 Power Platform 💘 Dynamics 365 🚀 Azure 🧙‍♂️ Microsoft MVP ✍ blogs at https://nckr.de 🚀 Founded https://dhino.io I worked for over 15 years with Microsoft Biz Apps as a solution architect / developer, starting with Bus... Show more

Dave Stokes

Dave Stokes

Dave Stokes has worked for organizations ranging alphabetically from the American Heart Association to Xerox in areas ranging from anti-submarine warfare to webmaster. He lives in a small Texas town with the required hound dog and pickup truck. Dave is the Author of MySQL & JSON - A Practical Programming Guide, now in a second edition.

Dave Stokes has worked for organizations ranging alphabetically from the American Heart Association to Xerox in areas ranging from anti-submarine warfare to webmaster. He lives in a small Texas town with the required hound dog and pickup truck. Dave... Show more

Nikola Ilic

Nikola Ilic

I'm making music from the data! Power BI and Microsoft Fabric addict, Microsoft Data Platform MVP, Pluralsight Author, O'Reilly Instructor, blogger, speaker...Interested in everything related to data - always eager to extract valuable info from raw data in the most effective way. Multi-year experience working with (predominantly) Microsoft Data Platform (SQL Server, SSAS, SSIS, SSRS, and Power BI). Father of 2 and true football (and Barca) fan!

I'm making music from the data! Power BI and Microsoft Fabric addict, Microsoft Data Platform MVP, Pluralsight Author, O'Reilly Instructor, blogger, speaker...Interested in everything related to data - always eager to extract valuable info from raw d... Show more

Gianluca Sartori

Gianluca Sartori

Gianluca Sartori is a Data Platform MVP, independent consultant and performance tuning specialist. He has been working in the software industry since 1999 and has been working with SQL Server ever since. He also works as a SQL Server trainer and in his spare time he writes technical articles and participates the SQL Server forums. Gianluca enjoys presenting SQL Server topics at conferences in Europe and US. He is currently working as lead DBA at a famous Formula 1 team.

Gianluca Sartori is a Data Platform MVP, independent consultant and performance tuning specialist. He has been working in the software industry since 1999 and has been working with SQL Server ever since. He also works as a SQL Server trainer and in h... Show more

Callum Whyte

Callum Whyte

Callum Whyte is a x7 Microsoft MVP and x9 Umbraco MVP specialising in building robust scalable solutions on Azure and the .NET stack, as well as websites with the open-source Umbraco CMS. By day he heads up the award-winning team at Bump, across the UK and Australia.

Away from his desk you can find him organising community events; from local meetups and hackathons, to global conferences and roadshows. He’s an active contributor to open source projects, a regular speaker at events all over the world, as well as co-host of a weekly YouTube series “UmbraCoffee”!

Callum Whyte is a x7 Microsoft MVP and x9 Umbraco MVP specialising in building robust scalable solutions on Azure and the .NET stack, as well as websites with the open-source Umbraco CMS. By day he heads up the award-winning team at Bump, across the ... Show more

Nicolas Fränkel

Nicolas Fränkel

Nicolas Fränkel is a technologist focusing on cloud-native technologies, DevOps, CI/CD pipelines, and system observability. His focus revolves around creating technical content, delivering talks, and engaging with developer communities to promote the adoption of modern software practices. With a strong background in software, he has worked extensively with the JVM, applying his expertise across various industries. In addition to his technical work, he is the author of several books and regularly shares insights through his blog and open-source contributions.

Nicolas Fränkel is a technologist focusing on cloud-native technologies, DevOps, CI/CD pipelines, and system observability. His focus revolves around creating technical content, delivering talks, and engaging with developer communities to promote the... Show more

Danica Fine

Danica Fine

Danica began her career as a software engineer in financial services and pivoted to developer relations, where she focussed primarily on open source technologies such as Apache Kafka® and Apache Flink®. She now leads the open source advocacy efforts at Snowflake, supporting Apache Iceberg™ and Apache Polaris™, serves as a Jupyter Foundation Board member, and is a member of the Apache Software Foundation.

She can be found on X (Bluesky and Mastodon) @TheDanicaFine.

Danica began her career as a software engineer in financial services and pivoted to developer relations, where she focussed primarily on open source technologies such as Apache Kafka® and Apache Flink®. She now leads the open source advocacy efforts ... Show more

Edoardo Dusi

Edoardo Dusi

Edoardo is a Developer Relations Engineer. He has a strong software developer and team leader background, working on various projects and platforms. He is passionate about creating and sharing content that educates and inspires other developers, such as tech talks, videos, podcasts, conferences, and more. He enjoys connecting with the developer community and promoting the benefits of open source software.

Edoardo is a Developer Relations Engineer. He has a strong software developer and team leader background, working on various projects and platforms. He is passionate about creating and sharing content that educates and inspires other developers, such... Show more

Arthur Doler

Arthur Doler

Arthur (or Art, take your pick) has been a software engineer for 22 years and has worked on things as exciting as analysis software for casinos and things as boring as banking websites. He is an advocate for talking openly about mental health and psychology in the technical world, and he spends a lot of time thinking about how we program and why we program, and about the tools, structures, cultures, and mental processes that help and hinder us from our ultimate goal of writing amazing things. His hair is brown and his thorax is a shiny blue color.

Arthur (or Art, take your pick) has been a software engineer for 22 years and has worked on things as exciting as analysis software for casinos and things as boring as banking websites. He is an advocate for talking openly about mental health and psy... Show more

Matt Gordon

Matt Gordon

Matt is a Microsoft Data Platform MVP and has worked with Microsoft data technology since 2000 and Azure AI since 2017. He is the leader of the Lexington, KY Data Technology Group and a frequent domestic and international community speaker. He's a Redgate Community Ambassador and an author of two books. His original data professional role was in database development, which quickly evolved into query tuning work as a DBA in the healthcare realm. He has supported several critical systems utilizing SQL Server, Azure SQL, and Microsoft Fabric and managed dozens of 24/7/365 data estates. As a consultant, he works with customers large, medium, and small to migrate to the cloud, make their data estate operate efficiently, and find the right tools and solutions within the Microsoft data & AI ecosystem.

Matt is a Microsoft Data Platform MVP and has worked with Microsoft data technology since 2000 and Azure AI since 2017. He is the leader of the Lexington, KY Data Technology Group and a frequent domestic and international community speaker. He's a Re... Show more

Dennie Declercq

Dennie Declercq

Dennie is Microsoft MVP Developer Technologies and has experience in accessibility with Microsoft technologies. In daily life Dennie is president and developer at DDSoft, a nonprofit that connects IT to People who are less tech-savvy. Dennie invented technical solutions and systems to help people with disabilities to participate in their daily life. Thanks to his autism he's the right man at the right spot to contribute as a volunteer in function of people with disabilities.

Dennie is Microsoft MVP Developer Technologies and has experience in accessibility with Microsoft technologies. In daily life Dennie is president and developer at DDSoft, a nonprofit that connects IT to People who are less tech-savvy. Dennie invented... Show more

Kyle Kotowick

Kyle Kotowick

Dr. Kyle Kotowick is the founder of a Canadian consulting and development firm focusing on cloud infrastructure, security, and Internet-of-Things implementations for high-growth clients. He completed his Ph.D. in MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, joint with the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He has served as a consultant, systems architect, and developer for global firms, startups, and universities; as a project lead for military medical and communication technology; and as a researcher for military navigation systems and for life support systems in space. He specializes in working with both startups and enterprise clients to define requirements and explore possible solutions, as well as in leading the development of project architecture, cloud services, and back-end software.

Dr. Kyle Kotowick is the founder of a Canadian consulting and development firm focusing on cloud infrastructure, security, and Internet-of-Things implementations for high-growth clients. He completed his Ph.D. in MIT's Computer Science and Artificial... Show more

Vlad Catrinescu

Vlad Catrinescu

Vlad Catrinescu is a Microsoft 365 and Power Platform Specialist with over a decade of hands-on experience deploying, securing, and governing Microsoft 365 environments. As a Technology Evangelist at Syskit, he works with organizations on SharePoint governance, Copilot readiness, permissions management, and Power Platform automation.

A Microsoft MVP since 2013 across SharePoint, Microsoft 365, Microsoft 365 Copilot, Power Automate, and PowerShell, Vlad is a regular speaker at Microsoft Ignite, Microsoft Inspire, ESPC, and community events worldwide. Through his Pluralsight courses, books, and conference sessions, he has helped over 1 million IT professionals build practical skills with Microsoft technologies.

He has authored 100+ courses on Pluralsight, three books with Apress, and runs Vlad Talks Tech, a trusted resource for IT professionals at vladtalkstech.com and youtube.com/@VladTalksTech.

Vlad Catrinescu is a Microsoft 365 and Power Platform Specialist with over a decade of hands-on experience deploying, securing, and governing Microsoft 365 environments. As a Technology Evangelist at Syskit, he works with organizations on SharePoint ... Show more

Ian Cooper

Ian Cooper

Polyglot Coding Architect in London, founder of #ldnug, speaker, tabletop gamer, geek. Tattooed, pierced, and bearded. The 'guv' on @BrighterCommand

Polyglot Coding Architect in London, founder of #ldnug, speaker, tabletop gamer, geek. Tattooed, pierced, and bearded. The 'guv' on @BrighterCommand Show more

Peter Zaitsev

Peter Zaitsev

Peter Zaitsev is an entrepreneur and co-founder of Percona, Coroot and other tech companies. As one of the leading experts in Open Source strategy and database optimization, Peter has applied his technical knowledge and entrepreneurial drive to contribute as a board member and advisor to several open source startups. Additionally, Peter is the co-author of the book "High Performance MySQL: Optimization, Backup and Replication," one of the most popular books on MySQL performance.

Peter Zaitsev is an entrepreneur and co-founder of Percona, Coroot and other tech companies. As one of the leading experts in Open Source strategy and database optimization, Peter has applied his technical knowledge and entrepreneurial drive to contr... Show more

Asanka Abeysinghe

Asanka Abeysinghe

Asanka is a technology visionary who connects people and technology through digital transformation programs that create consumer-centric applications. As WSO2's CTO, he is responsible for advancing the company's corporate reference architecture and promoting its thought leadership vision. Collaborating with customers, partners, and industry analysts, he drives WSO2's technology mission. With over 20 years of experience in designing and implementing scalable distributed systems, SOA, microservice architectures, and business integration solutions, Asanka is a contributor to the Apache Software Foundation and a sought-after speaker at global events and tech meetups.

Asanka is a technology visionary who connects people and technology through digital transformation programs that create consumer-centric applications. As WSO2's CTO, he is responsible for advancing the company's corporate reference architecture and p... Show more

Paul Swider

Paul Swider

30 years building tools that add hours back to a clinician's day
CEO at RealActivity | AI Pioneer | BOSHUG Founder | Microsoft Keynoter

I've spent my career at the intersection of healthcare and technology, not talking about AI transformation, but actually building it. In 2001, I designed a symbolic AI triage engine that eliminated pre-op anesthesia visits and accelerated same-day surgery pathways.

In 2023, my team shipped RealActivity Physician Activity Copilot, the world's first AI harness focused on hospital administration. And 2024, we shipped Wheelhouse, a model fine-tuned on PeopleSoft healthcare operations data and executive prompt workflows.

What happened in between? I trained 3,000+ engineers across GE, IDX, and Microsoft in enterprise software patterns. I migrated 50+ HIPAA workloads to Azure. I built the CMS compliance and activity reporting platforms that health systems still rely on. I earned Microsoft MVP recognition and was named Azure Most Influential, not for evangelism, but for implementation.

Today I'm CEO & Chief AI Officer at RealActivity, a boutique Microsoft partner delivering mission-critical AI for academic medical centers and health systems across the Northeast. Our focus? Tracking system wide clinical time (cFTE), CMS complaint AI, and improving operational efficiency, the problems that keep CMOs and CMIOs up at night. I'm also the founder of OCS Labs, an AI lab building industry-specific AI for government, and sectors where getting it wrong isn't an option.

I founded BOSHUG, the Boston Healthcare Cloud & AI Community, which has grown into a global network serving 40k. I'm a Cloud Wars healthcare AI analyst, a top 3% rated global speaker (Microsoft Ignite, Cloud Wars, and beyond).

Global citizen based in Greater Boston. When I'm not building healthcare AI, you'll find me at a Sicilian bakery arguing about lemon cake, sailing, snowboarding, diving, or planning the next adventure. 114 countries, and counting.

30 years building tools that add hours back to a clinician's day CEO at RealActivity | AI Pioneer | BOSHUG Founder | Microsoft Keynoter I've spent my career at the intersection of healthcare and technology, not talking about AI transformation, bu... Show more

Michelle Gilbert

Michelle Gilbert

Principal Cloud Solution Architect focused on Modern Work and M365 Copilot. Trusted advisor for delivering the value proposition of Copilot and leading architectural design sessions. Former Director of Modern Work Customer Success, Teams Technical Specialist, Microsoft MVP and Office 365 solution architect in the Twin Cities, MN. She has been delivering business collaboration solutions for years with her focus on Copilot, Teams, Viva, SharePoint, and Office 365. Michelle is the board President of the Minnesota Microsoft 365 User Group, community organizer of MN M365 Workshop Day and has been a member of the SharePoint community since 2009.

Principal Cloud Solution Architect focused on Modern Work and M365 Copilot. Trusted advisor for delivering the value proposition of Copilot and leading architectural design sessions. Former Director of Modern Work Customer Success, Teams Technical Sp... Show more

Shawn Wildermuth

Shawn Wildermuth

Shawn Wildermuth has been tinkering with computers and software since he got a Vic-20 back in the early ‘80s. As a Microsoft MVP since 2003. He’s the author of over twenty Pluralsight courses, written eight books, has a popular YouTube channel, and is one of the Wilder Minds. You can reach him at his blog at http://wildermuth.com.

As a filmmaker, he creates documentaries including a feature-length, documentary about software developers today called “Hello World: The Film”. You can see more about it at http://twainfilms.com.

Shawn Wildermuth has been tinkering with computers and software since he got a Vic-20 back in the early ‘80s. As a Microsoft MVP since 2003. He’s the author of over twenty Pluralsight courses, written eight books, has a popular YouTube channel, and i... Show more

Marcel Meurer

Marcel Meurer

Marcel Meurer has a vast history in IT Consulting and the development of solutions and tools. Today, he is Vice President for Azure Solutions at LoginVSI and has a long history of doing and leading professional IT services.

His technical focus is on Microsoft Azure platform services, and he has been recognized as a Microsoft Azure MVP since 2016, having also been honored with the Azure Virtual Desktop MVP award.

Since 2021, Marcel has also run the company ITProCloud GmbH. The company focuses on delivering cloud-based solutions for all types of companies. The well-known solutions for managing Azure Virtual Desktop easily and automatically are Hydra for Azure Virtual Desktop or WVDAdmin. ITProCloud was acquired in 2025 by LoginVSI, which continues to create the right solution for the right purpose and make it available to customers.

Marcel's journey in the IT industry began in the early 1990s, a time when personal computers were just emerging (and before that, the Commodore 64 was the norm). His focus on assembler and hardware-related programming, particularly in the context of the IoT of the 1990s, showcases his early dedication and passion for the field.

In 1995, he began studying electrical engineering. During his studies, machine learning and neural networks were among his favorite topics. In addition to his studies, he worked for a small computer company in Aachen, where he developed operating systems and applications using automated methods on multiple computers.

Marcel Meurer graduated with a degree in electrical engineering from the University of Applied Sciences Aachen.

Marcel Meurer has a vast history in IT Consulting and the development of solutions and tools. Today, he is Vice President for Azure Solutions at LoginVSI and has a long history of doing and leading professional IT services. His technical focus is ... Show more

Marc Duiker

Marc Duiker

Marc is a Sr Developer Advocate at Diagrid and enjoys sharing knowledge on how to build distributed applications. He's one of the Dapr Community Managers, and he loves helping developers to achieve more every day.

You might have seen Marc at a developer meetup or conference, since he's a regular speaker and event-organizer in the area of Dapr, Azure cloud, and serverless technologies. From 2019 to 2025 Marc received the Microsoft Azure MVP award for his community contributions.

In his spare time, Marc likes to give attention to the creative part of his brain. He likes to create pixel art (check out VSCode Pets), code visuals & music, and create an occasional retro game.

Marc is a Sr Developer Advocate at Diagrid and enjoys sharing knowledge on how to build distributed applications. He's one of the Dapr Community Managers, and he loves helping developers to achieve more every day. You might have seen Marc at a dev... Show more

Michael Kaufmann

Michael Kaufmann

Michael Kaufmann is a technology strategist, international keynote speaker, and author with more than 25 years of experience across startups, scaleups, and global enterprises.

He created the Three-Layer Transformation Model, which connects Flow, Enablement, and Leadership to explain why transformation succeeds or remains theater. His keynotes explore enterprise change, AI agents, decision speed, and the future of work through practical experience, memorable stories, and clear models.

Michael is the author of The Horizon Problem, a business novel about why transformations fail and what actually works, and Accelerate DevOps with GitHub. He challenges leaders and technologists to look beyond tools and methods and redesign the systems surrounding the work.

Michael Kaufmann is a technology strategist, international keynote speaker, and author with more than 25 years of experience across startups, scaleups, and global enterprises. He created the Three-Layer Transformation Model, which connects Flow, E... Show more

Vadym Kazulkin

Vadym Kazulkin

I'm Vadym Kazulkin 🇺🇦, husband and father of 3. I'm AWS Serverless Hero and Head of Development at ip.labs based in Bonn. I have been in the tech industry for over 25 years. My current focus and interests include the design and implementation of highly scalable and available applications in the AWS Cloud, with a special passion for Serverless, Generative, and Agentic AI, as well as the optimization of Java applications (also utilizing Spring Boot, Micronaut, and Quarkus frameworks) on AWS Lambda.

I'm also the co-organizer of the Java User Group Bonn meetup, a frequent speaker at various national and international events, and a regular author of articles in different published and online magazines and on my online blog.

I'm Vadym Kazulkin 🇺🇦, husband and father of 3. I'm AWS Serverless Hero and Head of Development at ip.labs based in Bonn. I have been in the tech industry for over 25 years. My current focus and interests include the design and implementation of hi... Show more

Please note that Sessionize is not responsible for the accuracy or validity of the data provided by speakers.

Most Active Speakers 2023

Every year, we put together a list of the most active speakers. This list features the top 3% of speakers who have participated in events using Sessionize during the 2023.

The 3% is calculated from the pool of all speakers that have at least one accepted session in year 2023. We don't include inactive speakers or speakers that had no accepted sessions during the year. There are around 25 thousand unique accepted speakers this year, the 3% is 771. Not all of them have their speaker profiles set as public, and we respect that, so the list doesn't show all of them.

The calculation is based on the number of accepted events, that's the main criteria, but to get more refined results we also look at things like multiple sessions per event, sharing a session with a co-speaker and how big the event is. Number of submissions and declined sessions don't affect the list.

Please note that the count of events and sessions in this list does not represent the number of events and sessions from the year 2023. Instead, it shows the number of events and sessions featured on the speaker's public speaker profile; these numbers have nothing to do with the award itself.