Paras is a Technical Lead Manager at Google Cloud, where he leads a team dedicated to simplifying complex cloud solutions for customers. Drawing on his strong foundation in cloud solutions and backend development, he guides his team in architecting scalable and resilient infrastructure. Paras is also a passionate educator and regular international speaker at premier events like the Linux Foundation Open Source Summit, known for his ability to make advanced technology accessible to a wide audience.

Paras is a Technical Lead Manager at Google Cloud, where he leads a team dedicated to simplifying complex cloud solutions for customers. Drawing on his strong foundation in cloud solutions and backend development, he guides his team in architecting s... Show more

Joy Marie Curtis is an AI and organizational transformation executive specializing in Agentic AI, enterprise deployment, and global team scaling. She currently serves as Head of Organizational Development at NeuralSeek, where she leads enterprise AI strategy, delivery models, and talent pipelines across regulated industries including government, healthcare, insurance, and financial services.

Joy’s career began in education, an experience that deeply shaped her leadership philosophy: complex systems succeed when they are designed for people first. That foundation now informs her work guiding organizations through large-scale AI adoption—helping executives cut through hype, reduce risk, and turn AI from experimentation into measurable business impact.

She has overseen 40+ enterprise AI initiatives, delivering Agentic AI solutions across IBM, AWS, and Azure, and ensuring deployments meet PCI, HIPAA, and SOC 2 compliance standards. Her work sits at the intersection of strategy, governance, and execution—aligning executives, legal and compliance teams, technologists, and end users around a shared operating model for AI.

A sought-after speaker, Joy challenges the tendency to overcomplicate AI implementation. She introduces leaders to metacognitive approaches to AI adoption—thinking deliberately about how organizations think, decide, and deploy—so AI initiatives remain grounded in purpose, accountability, and outcomes. She speaks candidly about both successes and failures, offering practical frameworks that help organizations move AI from concept to real-world, scalable impact.

Joy has presented at LASCON 2025, Microsoft Azure, and Google’s Agentic AI forums, speaking to executives, developers, and compliance leaders on responsible AI deployment, enterprise readiness, and scaling AI organizations globally.

Joy Marie Curtis is an AI and organizational transformation executive specializing in Agentic AI, enterprise deployment, and global team scaling. She currently serves as Head of Organizational Development at NeuralSeek, where she leads enterprise AI ... Show more

Michael Coté studies how large organizations improve how they build software to run and grow their business. His books Changing Mindsets, Monolithic Transformation, and The Business Bottleneck cover these topics. He’s been an industry analyst at RedMonk and 451 Research, done corporate strategy and M&A, and was a programmer. He also co-hosts several podcasts, including Software Defined Talk. His daily-ish newsletter is at newsletter.cote.io.

Michael Coté studies how large organizations improve how they build software to run and grow their business. His books Changing Mindsets, Monolithic Transformation, and The Business Bottleneck cover these topics. He’s been an industry analyst at RedM... Show more

I turn tech topics into digestible content. I try to keep them a blend of information and entertainment. In my daily work I look at current developments in the security space, build Android sample code and am happy to work on feedback we are receiving from users. Please feel free to approach me about security, programming, Passkeys and Yubico. I also love to talk about community building at my GDG Berlin Android.

I turn tech topics into digestible content. I try to keep them a blend of information and entertainment. In my daily work I look at current developments in the security space, build Android sample code and am happy to work on feedback we are receivin... Show more

CTO at Software Central. MVP in Intune and Security Copilot. Far too many years in IT, likes PowerShell, Graph and all things Intune

CTO at Software Central. MVP in Intune and Security Copilot. Far too many years in IT, likes PowerShell, Graph and all things Intune Show more

Tiago Costa is a Senior AI & Cloud Architect and Advisor, focusing on AI & Microsoft Azure, a Public Speaker, Trainer, and Author. For the past +20 years has been architecting and developing solutions using Microsoft technologies. In recent years, Tiago has been helping companies migrate and build AI & cloud-native workloads on Microsoft Azure. Tiago has been working at the Senior Architect level, but he always likes to take on some hands-on tasks on the Azure Administration and Development side. You can also find him in the classroom or online teaching AI & Microsoft Azure. All this real-world experience enables him to deliver outstanding training in AI & Microsoft Azure.

Tiago has several Microsoft Certifications and awards:
- Microsoft Azure MVP (2016 – …)
- MCT – Microsoft Certified Trainer (2006 – …)
- MCT Community Lead (2013 – …)

He loves diving into new technologies and sharing his experience at conferences and training classes. What excites him about his work is helping others explore new frontiers in technology and becoming better professionals. His free time is spent with his family in the sunny surroundings of Lisbon, Portugal, and building cool geek projects.

Tiago Costa is a Senior AI & Cloud Architect and Advisor, focusing on AI & Microsoft Azure, a Public Speaker, Trainer, and Author. For the past +20 years has been architecting and developing solutions using Microsoft technologies. In recent years, Ti... Show more

Lead SRE at Visma e-conomic, developer at heart and frequent speaker at conferences, meetups and local events. Found passion in QBasic, jumped through C++, C#, JavaScript, TypeScript - only to land in the world of YAML. Finally, a full-stack engineer! Nowadays works on everything from UI to Cloud tooling. He spends most of the time at the keyboard typing yet another demo or application. If you take his keyboard away from him, he will talk endlessly about code, best practices and what not to do... Been coding for over a decade to know if something is a programming fad or not - and prefers spaces over tabs. Strong proponent of Open Source and all things chocolate.

Lead SRE at Visma e-conomic, developer at heart and frequent speaker at conferences, meetups and local events. Found passion in QBasic, jumped through C++, C#, JavaScript, TypeScript - only to land in the world of YAML. Finally, a full-stack engineer... Show more

Cat is a Staff Product Manager at Syntasso, where she works at the intersection of developer experience, infrastructure strategy, and product design. With a background in enterprise platform tooling and developer productivity, she focuses on helping teams treat platforms as products that deliver measurable value. Cat brings experience from both engineering and product management roles in fast-scaling tech environments.

Cat is a Staff Product Manager at Syntasso, where she works at the intersection of developer experience, infrastructure strategy, and product design. With a background in enterprise platform tooling and developer productivity, she focuses on helping ... Show more

Lonneke Opsteegh, PhD, is an expert in data communication, with a strong focus on dashboards and data visualizations. A solid data foundation and in-depth analyses are essential, but not sufficient to achieve real change in an organization. Using clear and direct visuals, Lonneke makes data understandable to everyone in the organization, including people without a "math knack"...

Lonneke designed Power BI dashboards, templates/style guides and a 'way of working' for TNO, Rabobank, ForFarmers, InRetail, Roompot, Kapimex, TIGRA and the University of Wageningen, among others. She also helped hundreds of trainees to design and build better graphs and dashboards, both in science, business and (semi-)government (e.g. Radboud University, GasUnie, various municipalities, ABN AMRO, Van Lanschot bankers, Pink Roccade).

Lonneke knows like no other how and why certain design elements work well or not so well in practice. She likes to take you along in the world of dashboard design and data visualization.

Lonneke Opsteegh, PhD, is an expert in data communication, with a strong focus on dashboards and data visualizations. A solid data foundation and in-depth analyses are essential, but not sufficient to achieve real change in an organization. Using cle... Show more

Platform Engineer at Space International during the day, tinkerer during the night

Platform Engineer at Space International during the day, tinkerer during the night Show more

Joshua Higginbotham is a Microsoft Data Platform MVP and Senior Data & AI Architect at QSIC, known for bridging the gap between deep technical execution and executive-level strategy. He has built and led data platforms across software engineering, database administration, business intelligence, and AI, with hands-on experience taking ideas from whiteboard to production.

Joshua has worked both as an individual contributor shipping real systems and as a leader guiding teams, roadmaps, and platform modernization efforts. A frequent speaker and Co-Chapter Leader of the Louisville Data Technology Group on Meetup, he’s passionate about helping data professionals build practical, scalable solutions that actually move the business forward.

Joshua Higginbotham is a Microsoft Data Platform MVP and Senior Data & AI Architect at QSIC, known for bridging the gap between deep technical execution and executive-level strategy. He has built and led data platforms across software engineering, da... Show more

Ondro is a software developer and consultant specializing in combining standard and proven tools to solve new and challenging problems. He's been developing in Java for over 10 years. He’s worked for clients like Payara, LottoLand, Uniqa and others.

He has co-founded OmniFish, which provides enterprise support for Eclipse GlassFish and expert Jakarta EE services. He’s passionate about helping his clients and the wider Java community with their projects based on Jakarta EE and similar technologies.

As an experienced Java developer and instructor, he's helped companies build and educate their development teams and improve their development processes.
He's a core member of several opensource projects and Jakarta EE specification projects. He’s a frequent conference speaker, leader of the Czech JUG, and a Java Champion.

Ondro is a software developer and consultant specializing in combining standard and proven tools to solve new and challenging problems. He's been developing in Java for over 10 years. He’s worked for clients like Payara, LottoLand, Uniqa and others. ... Show more

With a passion for enhancing organizational effectiveness through digitalization and process optimization, Tomasz brings extensive expertise as a seasoned Business Analyst. As a distinguished Microsoft Power Platform expert, recognized with the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) title and multiple certifications, including Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT), Tomasz possesses a robust analytical acumen. With proficiency in SharePoint, Nintex, Webcon, and other process implementation tools, Tomasz continuously updates his knowledge to deliver cutting-edge solutions and shares insights with both clients and technical communities.

Renowned for crafting user-friendly business processes and applications, Tomasz prioritizes simplicity and reliability, ensuring seamless adoption and comprehension. As a dedicated co-organizer of community events in Poland and an active blogger, Tomasz contributes actively to the technical community and serves as an esteemed international speaker.

With a passion for enhancing organizational effectiveness through digitalization and process optimization, Tomasz brings extensive expertise as a seasoned Business Analyst. As a distinguished Microsoft Power Platform expert, recognized with the Micro... Show more

Microsoft Fast Track Recognized Architect. I have 30+ years experience in Data Analytics, Infrastructure and Integration Architecture. 20+ years of Microsoft Business Applications and Azure, including SharePoint, Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365CE, FO & HR. Business experience as IT Manager and IT Director allows Claire to work closely with customer IT teams and understand their pain through transformation programs.
9 years experience with Power platform architecture and design, with Dataverse , SharePoint, SQL , Azure cognitive services, Azure Blob and Azure datalakes. I am passionate about Learning new things and sharing that knowledge with others as well as being incredibly passionate about the outcomes we give our customers.
My prime focus is on Security, Governance and Integrations with the PowerPlatform.

Microsoft Fast Track Recognized Architect. I have 30+ years experience in Data Analytics, Infrastructure and Integration Architecture. 20+ years of Microsoft Business Applications and Azure, including SharePoint, Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365CE, FO ... Show more

James McGillivray, Data Management and Analytics MCSE, has been working in Business Intelligence for over a decade. He spends his working hours building solutions that allow people to make informed decisions. quickly and accurately. He is a Director at South African Data Consultancy, Cobalt Analytics.

Before his career in data, James was an avid musical theatre student and musician. This love for performance has developed into a passion for developing and delivering presentations that are informative and enjoyable. James speaks frequently at Data Community Events, and has presented at some of the most well-known Data Events around the globe, including PASS Summit, SQL Bits and the Power BI World Tour.

James McGillivray, Data Management and Analytics MCSE, has been working in Business Intelligence for over a decade. He spends his working hours building solutions that allow people to make informed decisions. quickly and accurately. He is a Director ... Show more

Roel started a long time ago using Oracle RDBMS 5, Oracle Forms 2.3, RPT/RPF and Oracle*Case 4.5. Since over 10 years he focuses mainly on Oracle Application Express.
Roel has been a speaker on UKOUG, OOW, Collaborate, ODTUG's Kscope and a number of local Oracle User Groups.
Within ODTUG he acted as the APEX Content Lead for the Kscope14 and KScope15 conferences and was a member of the Board of Directors from 2018 to 2024.
He keeps an (APEX-related) blog on https://roelhartman.blogspot.com.
In June 2009 Roel received an Oracle ACE award and in August 2010 he's appointed as Oracle ACE Director.
Roel is a co-writer of the "Expert Oracle Application Express" and "Oracle Application Express for Mobile Web Applications" books.
Roel is Director at APEX Consulting in The Netherlands.

Roel started a long time ago using Oracle RDBMS 5, Oracle Forms 2.3, RPT/RPF and Oracle*Case 4.5. Since over 10 years he focuses mainly on Oracle Application Express. Roel has been a speaker on UKOUG, OOW, Collaborate, ODTUG's Kscope and a number of... Show more

William is a CNCF Ambassador and Linkerd Ambassador currently working at Mirantis as Global Field CTO. He’s focused on helping customers designing, building, and running their initiatives on Edge, AI and Platform Engineering. He wore many hats in the IT world, Engineering, Pre-Post sales, Product Owner and Consulting. from HPC, Storage to Distributed Systems.
William enjoys volunteering in several Cloud Native groups and organizing the KCD Netherlands events.

William is a CNCF Ambassador and Linkerd Ambassador currently working at Mirantis as Global Field CTO. He’s focused on helping customers designing, building, and running their initiatives on Edge, AI and Platform Engineering. He wore many hats in the... Show more

From the moment I turned on my Vic-20, 40 years ago, I knew my life was aimed at technology. I've always been the first in line to test out new products, services, gadgets, especially those which promised to change people’s lives. I’ve always been a tech superhero.
After all these years, my personal mission went from changing the world through technology to improving the world, one human interaction at a time. Changing the way people live in the digital age is possible only by addressing the human factor, together with technology.
My proven track record of driving sales involves creating connections, building communities, challenging views, delivering value, and going the extra mile.
As a Cloud Architect and Evangelist, I’ve presented technical and business content to a wide range of different audiences, from executive meetings to large developer conferences, including many online and in-person events, and I was recognized as the “best speaker” multiple times, thanks to a clever mix of storytelling and technology.
I have a deep technical knowledge of Application Innovation and Modernization in the Cloud, Cloud Native solutions and, of course, on-premises solutions. I can drive product development and technology teams.
I have a deep business knowledge of Manufacturing, Automotive, and Construction business, coupled with a broad knowledge of ISVs and Microsoft partners.
So, if you're ever in need of an evil genius being able to impact deals through human interactions and technology, look no further. I’m the right person to help with your business!

From the moment I turned on my Vic-20, 40 years ago, I knew my life was aimed at technology. I've always been the first in line to test out new products, services, gadgets, especially those which promised to change people’s lives. I’ve always been a ... Show more

Curious by nature, talkative geek who can speak in front of a public or a camera, in love with technology, especially Azure and SQL Server.
I want to understand how things work and to solve problems by myself during work as in my many hobbies.

Curious by nature, talkative geek who can speak in front of a public or a camera, in love with technology, especially Azure and SQL Server. I want to understand how things work and to solve problems by myself during work as in my many hobbies. Show more

Especialista FinOps con 7 años de experiencia liderando implementaciones técnicas, operaciones en la nube (AWS, AZURE, GCP) y gestión de soporte técnico para clientes de diferentes sectores, resolviendo casos técnicos con la colaboración de equipos internos y externos. Ganadora de la presea Jóvenes con Valores, y del primer lugar del premio Daniel Cosío Villegas, autora de 7 libros sobre tecnología y FinOps. Cuenta con todas las certificaciones de la FinOps Foundation

Especialista FinOps con 7 años de experiencia liderando implementaciones técnicas, operaciones en la nube (AWS, AZURE, GCP) y gestión de soporte técnico para clientes de diferentes sectores, resolviendo casos técnicos con la colaboración de equipos i... Show more

Mark Pryce-Maher is a Senior Program Manager on Microsoft Fabric. Primary focusing on the Mirroring, User Experiences and Migrations for the Data Warehouse. Mark has spent the last 7 years at Microsoft in the Big Data space, including helping many customers migrate from Netezza, Teradata, Oracle, APS, SQL Server to Synapse Data Warehouse.

Mark Pryce-Maher is a Senior Program Manager on Microsoft Fabric. Primary focusing on the Mirroring, User Experiences and Migrations for the Data Warehouse. Mark has spent the last 7 years at Microsoft in the Big Data space, including helping many... Show more

James works at Microsoft as a big data and data warehousing solution architect where he has been for most of the last ten years. He is a thought leader in the use and application of Big Data and advanced analytics, including data architectures such as the modern data warehouse, data lakehouse, data fabric, and data mesh. Previously he was an independent consultant working as a Data Warehouse/Business Intelligence architect and developer. He is a prior SQL Server MVP with nearly 40 years of IT experience. He is a popular blogger (JamesSerra.com) and speaker, having presented at dozens of major events including PASS Summit, SQLBits, Data Summit, SQLDay, Enterprise Data World conference, Big Data Conference Europe, SQL Saturdays, and Informatica World. He is the author of the book “Deciphering Data Architectures: Choosing Between a Modern Data Warehouse, Data Fabric, Data Lakehouse, and Data Mesh”.

James works at Microsoft as a big data and data warehousing solution architect where he has been for most of the last ten years. He is a thought leader in the use and application of Big Data and advanced analytics, including data architectures such ... Show more

As Microsoft DevOps MVP in DevTech with multiple accolades, my mission is to mentor and contribute to technical communities, ensuring that my dedication to DevOps and AI services not only enhances project outcomes but also empower the broader developer ecosystem and community. I am a critical thinker with a strong advocacy for technology, continuously pursuing excellence and innovation, particularly in cloud technologies and automation. As a Cloud Solutions and DevOps Architect, I focus on delivering scalable, efficient, and cutting-edge solutions and to solve complex technical problems.

Alongside my technical pursuits, I am deeply committed to promoting the responsible and ethical use of technology and AI, emphasising fairness, transparency, and inclusivity. My goal is to foster a balance between innovation and accountability, ensuring that technological advancements benefit society as a whole.

I'm also the organiser of two .NET foundation user Groups, DevOps & GitHub Meetup Brighton (Sussex) and DevOps, Data Science & GenAI Meetup (London) normally hosted at the Microsoft Reactor in London or virtual events online.

As Microsoft DevOps MVP in DevTech with multiple accolades, my mission is to mentor and contribute to technical communities, ensuring that my dedication to DevOps and AI services not only enhances project outcomes but also empower the broader develop... Show more

o Advisory on digital transformation (Kit Consulting, Kit Digital, ISO 27001)
o Development of interactive data visualization tools (Power BI / Fabric)
o Automation and optimization of internal business processes (Power Automate / Azure)
o Implementation of artificial intelligence solutions (Power Apps, API, WSDL, LLM, MCP)

o Advisory on digital transformation (Kit Consulting, Kit Digital, ISO 27001) o Development of interactive data visualization tools (Power BI / Fabric) o Automation and optimization of internal business processes (Power Automate / Azure) o Impleme... Show more

I am a professional with more than 10 years of experience in the IT world, specialized in Business Intelligence, analytics and information representation. Throughout my career, I have worked extensively in requirements analysis, relational and analytical database modeling, ETL process development as well as reporting and data visualization, using tools such as Power BI, Azure services or Microsoft SQL Server BI suite.
In addition to this, I have a master's degree in graphic design and illustration, which allows me to combine my technical skills with a creative perspective to generate attractive and effective visual solutions, using the Adobe suite and other tools.
Outside the professional field, I enjoy drawing, playing guitar, walking, cooking, watching series and movies. I am always looking to learn new things.
This mix of interests and skills allows me to approach projects with a broad and creative vision.

I am a professional with more than 10 years of experience in the IT world, specialized in Business Intelligence, analytics and information representation. Throughout my career, I have worked extensively in requirements analysis, relational and analyt... Show more

Alex Riviere is a Senior Front End Developer for Hygiena and a Co-Organizer for the Atlanta Vue.js Meetup.

Alex Riviere is a Senior Front End Developer for Hygiena and a Co-Organizer for the Atlanta Vue.js Meetup. Show more

Ashish is a creative technologist and Solutions Engineer at DevRev, where he drives revenue growth and fosters customer partnerships by tackling intricate challenges that lie at the intersection of Customer Experience and Conversational AI-powered developer interactions. Previously at Okta, he deepened his expertise in identity and access management, and he is a leading community voice in Conversational AI, having built over 800 voice applications, won multiple Amazon Alexa Hackathons, and created in-depth training courses. Ashish brings a unique blend of technical depth and user-centric, secure design to everything he builds.

Ashish is a creative technologist and Solutions Engineer at DevRev, where he drives revenue growth and fosters customer partnerships by tackling intricate challenges that lie at the intersection of Customer Experience and Conversational AI-powered de... Show more

My entire career has revolved around technology and my challenge to constantly keep up to date. I have never stopped learning and I will never stop. Learning gives me life.

🎯 I actively participate and engage in the SEO and digital marketing community, the Microsoft technology enthusiasts community and, up to the #WPdrama, in the WordPress community.

🗣️ Feel free to contact me if I can help you or if you think we can collaborate.

And besides all this, I am the proud father of Lukas 😍.

My entire career has revolved around technology and my challenge to constantly keep up to date. I have never stopped learning and I will never stop. Learning gives me life. 🎯 I actively participate and engage in the SEO and digital marketing comm... Show more

John has been a Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT) since the summer of 2000 and specializes in teaching Azure SQL and SQL Server workshops. He is currently a Senior Cloud Solution Architect for Microsoft, a former MCT Regional Lead, and a Data Platform MVP alumni.

John has been a Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT) since the summer of 2000 and specializes in teaching Azure SQL and SQL Server workshops. He is currently a Senior Cloud Solution Architect for Microsoft, a former MCT Regional Lead, and a Data Platfor... Show more

As a security professional and researcher focused on building scalable security systems, I bring valuable perspective on innovative security solutions that truly work at scale. With several published papers in cryptography, network security, and privacy, I combine academic rigor with practical implementation experience. My experience collaborating with teams to design and implement security solutions while maintaining operational excellence in areas like scalability, performance, and cost optimization provides me with a strong framework to evaluate cutting-edge security initiatives.

I am also a course instructor and the author of my first book - "Cybersecurity for Startups: A Blueprint for Growing Securely," where I share practical insights to help emerging companies build strong security foundations. Currently, I am the cofounder of OmniChat, an AI-based startup revolutionizing customer engagement solutions. My entrepreneurial journey includes roles as a founding engineer at two startups, where I played a pivotal role in architecting and building their engineering systems from the ground up.

My background including security engineering at Praetorian, Meta (formerly Facebook), and now Block Inc (formerly Square Inc.) gives me broad exposure to diverse security challenges and solutions across different industries and scales. Having worked on projects from fuzzing platforms to payment systems security, I can evaluate and brainstorm problems from multiple technical angles while understanding their practical business impact. I'm passionate about fostering innovation in cybersecurity and believe my experience building scalable security systems combined with my academic research background would help identify truly groundbreaking contributions to the field. The opportunity to recognize excellence while connecting with other security leaders aligns with my commitment to advancing cybersecurity practices across the industry.

As a security professional and researcher focused on building scalable security systems, I bring valuable perspective on innovative security solutions that truly work at scale. With several published papers in cryptography, network security, and priv... Show more