Arts

Talented creative individuals working in the field of visual, auditory and performance arts

Daryl Ducharme

Daryl Ducharme

Daryl is a Seattle-based Developer Advocate with Google Open Source who believes tech education shouldn't be boring. Building software since 2005, his resume includes engineering and advocacy stints at Amazon (Kindle for Android, Game Studios) and multiple teams across Google. Drawing on his unique background in improv and four years as a professional wrestler, Daryl brings a highly creative, engaging energy to his work with developers. Want a great story? Ask him about his time in the squared circle!

Daryl is a Seattle-based Developer Advocate with Google Open Source who believes tech education shouldn't be boring. Building software since 2005, his resume includes engineering and advocacy stints at Amazon (Kindle for Android, Game Studios) and mu... Show more

Andy Cross

Andy Cross

Andy Cross has lead teams building the largest AI projects and deployments, hosted on Azure. He founded a consultancy in 2012 and grew it from 2 to 300 people. Along the way he has picked up quite a few interesting stories! He is co-founder of the UK London Azure User Group, formerly an Azure Most Valuable Professional and a Microsoft Regional Director.

Andy Cross has lead teams building the largest AI projects and deployments, hosted on Azure. He founded a consultancy in 2012 and grew it from 2 to 300 people. Along the way he has picked up quite a few interesting stories! He is co-founder of the UK... Show more

JuanJo Ciarlante

JuanJo Ciarlante

JuanJo Ciarlante is a Principal Engineer at GrafanaLabs and Assistant Professor at Mendoza Uni. His industry experience includes working for Google as SRE TL, as well as other SRE roles at Canonical Ltd, and Bitnami.
His OSS journey started in 1998 when he contributed IP Aliasing support to Linux, and since then to several other OSS projects. He's particularly passionate about Cloud-y OSS projects like Kubernetes, Prometheus, Grafana, etc which made cloud computing accessible for the rest of us.

JuanJo Ciarlante is a Principal Engineer at GrafanaLabs and Assistant Professor at Mendoza Uni. His industry experience includes working for Google as SRE TL, as well as other SRE roles at Canonical Ltd, and Bitnami. His OSS journey started in 1998 ... Show more

Frank Poncelet

Frank Poncelet

Frank Poncelet is Operations Architect at Xplore Group (Cronos Group) and co-founder of Hyperlabs, its blockchain brand. On-chain he is FrankNFT.eth: the developer behind the CryptoPunks V1 wrapper, which made the original 2017 CryptoPunks contract tradeable again, and ERC721F, a low-gas ERC-721 template now used across the industry. He has written more than 40 smart contracts.

Before Web3 he maintained Alpha Jets for the Belgian Air Force and led the mobile banking team at ING Belgium that shipped the first mobile banking app in the country. In 2026 most of his energy goes to agentic and physical AI: systems that run workflows, drive devices and coordinate with each other.

Frank speaks about crypto and AI, often in a duo keynote with IrishNFTgal, and has been on stage at NFT.NYC, NFC Summit Lisbon, Dappconn Berlin, ETHcc Brussels and Devoxx Belgium. He is based in Belgium and invests, mainly early stage, in builders. The long version is at frankponcelet.com.

Frank Poncelet is Operations Architect at Xplore Group (Cronos Group) and co-founder of Hyperlabs, its blockchain brand. On-chain he is FrankNFT.eth: the developer behind the CryptoPunks V1 wrapper, which made the original 2017 CryptoPunks contract t... Show more

Todd Fisher

Todd Fisher

In his current role Todd co-launches a new venture backed startup every few months, acting as an interim CTO / founding engineer. Over Todd’s close to 20 year career, he has held titles such as head of engineering, director of engineering and principal software engineer. Todd loves to build things and, like many of us, has been enjoying the shift into the AI native mindset of software development. When Todd is not telling an AI to write code, he can be found strumming his guitar in random places, such as the beach, in the mountains, on his front porch, or even at a tech conference such as this one :). Todd is passionate about creating positive experiences for people, including through writing music, building products, and community building . Todd is always open for a jam session or the occasional paired programming with strangers, just ask.

In his current role Todd co-launches a new venture backed startup every few months, acting as an interim CTO / founding engineer. Over Todd’s close to 20 year career, he has held titles such as head of engineering, director of engineering and princip... Show more

Blake Beckemeyer

Blake Beckemeyer

Blake Beckemeyer is a technical lead of Power Platform and Fabric solutions at Applied Information Sciences, specializing in knitting low-code and analytics into simple, governed solutions — and in pushing nascent tooling into production ahead of his peers. A professional tenor based in Indiana, he brings an energetic, visceral style to the stage.

Blake Beckemeyer is a technical lead of Power Platform and Fabric solutions at Applied Information Sciences, specializing in knitting low-code and analytics into simple, governed solutions — and in pushing nascent tooling into production ahead of his... Show more

Martine Dowden

Martine Dowden

Focusing on web interfaces that are beautiful, functional, accessible, and usable, Martine approaches User Experience from both Art and Science, drawing from her degrees in Psychology and Visual Communications. She is a Web Technologies, Firebase, and Angular GDE as well as a Microsoft MVP in Developer Technologies. Martine stays active in the industry by writing articles, leading workshops, and speaking at conferences and meetups worldwide. An accomplished author, her latest book, Tiny CSS Projects was released in 2023.

Focusing on web interfaces that are beautiful, functional, accessible, and usable, Martine approaches User Experience from both Art and Science, drawing from her degrees in Psychology and Visual Communications. She is a Web Technologies, Firebase, an... Show more

Ankur Roy

Ankur Roy

I am a Solutions Architect at Online Partner AB and a Cloud GDE. I have worked on several projects involving Google Cloud services and Google Workspace along with multiple other technology stacks and platforms.

I am a Solutions Architect at Online Partner AB and a Cloud GDE. I have worked on several projects involving Google Cloud services and Google Workspace along with multiple other technology stacks and platforms. Show more

Micha Wets

Micha Wets

As a Microsoft MVP, Micha enjoys talking about all Azure & Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) topics and has already spoken at Microsoft conferences, International (User Group) events, Microsoft hosted webinars & Workshops and more.
He has over 15 years of experience as a Azure & DevOps engineer and has in depth knowledge of private, hybrid and public clouds.
Today Micha mainly focuses on Azure, DevOps, Windows 365 & AVD environments and is particularly knowledgeable about migrating those environments to Azure.
Micha is freelance Azure Architect @ Ahold Delhaize and works with Microsoft on Azure, Windows 365 & AVD

As a Microsoft MVP, Micha enjoys talking about all Azure & Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) topics and has already spoken at Microsoft conferences, International (User Group) events, Microsoft hosted webinars & Workshops and more. He has over 15 years of... Show more

Marcin Samsonowski

Marcin Samsonowski

Architect and engineer with a passion for continuous learning and knowledge sharing. Focused on people, processes, and finding the right balance between quality and effectiveness. A firm believer in the transformative power of automation and AI.

Having worked across various industries, company sizes, and roles - from startups to large enterprises - he thrives on connecting a strategic perspective with practical execution. His main interests lie in Enterprise and Solution Architecture, where he applies a holistic view to make technology serve business goals effectively.

Outside of work, he’s passionate about music - singing, playing, and dancing - as well as sports ranging from martial arts to snowboarding.

Architect and engineer with a passion for continuous learning and knowledge sharing. Focused on people, processes, and finding the right balance between quality and effectiveness. A firm believer in the transformative power of automation and AI. ... Show more

Phil Stafford

Phil Stafford

Phil Stafford is a cybersecurity expert and AI safety strategist working at the shifting boundary between human intention and machine autonomy. With over 20 years of experience across IT, cybersecurity, and AI, his work blends defensive security, cutting-edge research, and emerging policy, driven by a central question: how do we build intelligent systems that extend our humanity rather than replace it?

Phil holds a M.Sc. in Cybersecurity and Information Assurance, along with expert-level certifications including CloudNetX, Pentest+, and Cysa+. He collaborates with researchers and practitioners through the Simply Cyber community and the Multiverse School, working to shape the ethical scaffolding around next-generation AI.

Outside the realm of security, Phil is a classically trained musician and multidisciplinary artist exploring what it means to make human art in a post-AI world.

Phil Stafford is a cybersecurity expert and AI safety strategist working at the shifting boundary between human intention and machine autonomy. With over 20 years of experience across IT, cybersecurity, and AI, his work blends defensive security, cut... Show more

Kate Covey

Kate Covey

I'm a Visual Strategist with over 20 years of experience helping teams to communicate their messaging seamlessly. As a Graphic Recorder, I translate complex discussions, keynote speeches, and strategic sessions into engaging visual maps that do more than just look good—they act as a lasting anchor for attendee retention and team alignment.

What I bring to your next event:

Real-time Synthesis: I distill high-level concepts into clear visual narratives as they are being spoken.

Enhanced Engagement: My visuals keep participants focused and foster deeper participation.

Lasting Impact: Attendees leave with a shareable, visual summary of the event that continues to deliver value long after the session closes.

Whether you are hosting a high-stakes strategy retreat, a large-scale conference, or a creative workshop, I provide the visual framework to make sure your message sticks.

Let’s connect to discuss how we can bring your next event to life. https://calendly.com/katecovey/30min

I'm a Visual Strategist with over 20 years of experience helping teams to communicate their messaging seamlessly. As a Graphic Recorder, I translate complex discussions, keynote speeches, and strategic sessions into engaging visual maps that do more ... Show more

Florin Badita

Florin Badita

Florin Bădiță is an independent builder and founder based in Arad, Romania. He is the creator of DomainScope, an AI-powered domain intelligence platform indexing 15M+ domains across 177 markets, and ServerClaw, an open-source infrastructure-as-code platform with 160+ Ansible roles. A Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe honoree and TEDx speaker, he served as Tech Director at the Davos House of Collaboration 2026 and is active in the MCP ecosystem via 0mcp.com. His engineering stack centers on Go, PostgreSQL/PostGIS, and AI-assisted development workflows — he shipped four production systems and logged over 1,000 Architecture Decision Records in a single month using AI-augmented engineering, and now teaches that methodology through his ADR-Driven Development masterclass. Beyond engineering, he founded Corupția Ucide, Romania's largest civic accountability movement, and has used 8,000+ FOIA requests as a data-journalism collaborator with RISE Project/OCCRP.

Florin Bădiță is an independent builder and founder based in Arad, Romania. He is the creator of DomainScope, an AI-powered domain intelligence platform indexing 15M+ domains across 177 markets, and ServerClaw, an open-source infrastructure-as-code p... Show more

Hanne Rentsch Ersdal

Hanne Rentsch Ersdal

Co-founder and CEO of Aiga AS with 10+ years in product design, UX and design leadership. Hanne combines design-led product development with commercial experience, having built teams, led regional design organisations and delivered complex B2B solutions for clients such as Equinor, Aker BP and Halliburton. She teaches design-driven business development at the University of Stavanger.

Co-founder and CEO of Aiga AS with 10+ years in product design, UX and design leadership. Hanne combines design-led product development with commercial experience, having built teams, led regional design organisations and delivered complex B2B soluti... Show more

Joseph Parzel

Joseph Parzel

I have been writing code for about 25 years yet strive to learn something new every day. I’ll never let a technical issue get the best of me and will always find a solution to the problem. My specialties over the last 10 years have been NET C# and Office 365 development. I can make SharePoint look good!

I have been writing code for about 25 years yet strive to learn something new every day. I’ll never let a technical issue get the best of me and will always find a solution to the problem. My specialties over the last 10 years have been NET C# and ... Show more

Simon Muiruri

Simon Muiruri

Passionate Mobile Developer
TechVangelist.
Minister of Word and Worship-Musician

Passionate Mobile Developer TechVangelist. Minister of Word and Worship-Musician Show more

Francisca Ramón Fernández

Francisca Ramón Fernández

Catedrática de Derecho civil en la Universitat Politècnica de València
Licenciada y Doctora en Derecho por la Universitat de València
Investigadora principal de distintos proyectos competitivos
Premio UPV a la transferencia de conocimiento

Catedrática de Derecho civil en la Universitat Politècnica de València Licenciada y Doctora en Derecho por la Universitat de València Investigadora principal de distintos proyectos competitivos Premio UPV a la transferencia de conocimiento Show more

Jerry Black

Jerry Black

Jerry Black is a seasoned IT program manager, stand-up comedian, and the founder of IT Misfits, a movement that helps technical professionals build confidence, communication skills, and leadership presence through comedy. With more than 20 years leading infrastructure and software initiatives across enterprise environments, Jerry understands the real-world friction between business and IT firsthand.

As a performer who has taken the stage in cities across the U.S., Jerry turns the everyday chaos of IT into humor, insight, and connection. Through IT Misfits, he has built a platform where engineers, analysts, and architects write and perform their own comedy, and in doing so, become sharper communicators and stronger collaborators.

His workshops blend public speaking, leadership communication, and comedy frameworks to help technical professionals become more compelling in the rooms that matter. Audiences leave laughing, thinking, and seeing the people behind the technology differently.

Jerry Black is a seasoned IT program manager, stand-up comedian, and the founder of IT Misfits, a movement that helps technical professionals build confidence, communication skills, and leadership presence through comedy. With more than 20 years lead... Show more

Aashish Manchanda

Aashish Manchanda

I am a UX design leader and product strategist with a decade of experience in creating user-centric digital solutions. Currently, I work as a product design leader focusing on enterprise design for Cisco. My expertise lies in scaling design systems, leading cross-functional teams, and driving business impact through innovative UX strategies.

I’ve had the privilege of speaking at global conferences like UXDX and NFT.London, where I share insights on blending creativity, research, and technology to deliver impactful results. My experience also includes leveraging design and AI to drive sustainable practices through in-depth research, usability testing, and exploring how design influences user decisions toward eco-friendly outcomes. Additionally, I’m passionate about mentoring emerging designers at premier institutions, helping them shape the future of user-centered design.

I am a UX design leader and product strategist with a decade of experience in creating user-centric digital solutions. Currently, I work as a product design leader focusing on enterprise design for Cisco. My expertise lies in scaling design systems, ... Show more

Mareike Kroschel

Mareike Kroschel

Focus areas: Artificial Intelligence & Ethics, AI Safety & Governance, Voice AI & Synthetic Trust, Human-AI Interaction, AI Bias & Inclusion, Leadership under Pressure, High-Stakes Decision Making, Negotiation & Influence, Crisis Communication, Autonomic Resilience & Regulation

Member of Global Health HUB Berlin, Global Institute for Negotiation (Zurich) and Women in AI Germany. Has worked with parliamentary groups, politicians and internationally recognised entrepreneurs.

Mareike Kroschel explores the interaction between AI and human voices. Her concept of Subcortical Contact Bias describes why the body trusts AI voices before the mind decides, and what that means for leadership, communication and trust when we can no longer reliably tell voices apart. She also asks how AI voices change the way we listen and speak, and who decides how AI sounds.

Voice is identity. With this idea, Mareike Kroschel founded VoiceDoula Concept. It is not a training but an accompaniment: people listen, pause and let their voice emerge.

Her work rests on three principles. Cognitive: how voice, identity and leadership shape each other. Somatic: breath, body and nervous system as the ground of the voice. Artistic: sound, image and play as a space where the voice can appear. Her work is grounded in her training as a state-certified breath and voice therapist, many years of work in federal health care, and her career as a singer and composer in contemporary and avant-garde music.

She works with leaders (Grounded Voice), organisations (Living Cycles) and founder teams (Pitch Lab), and hosts “The Breath Room”, a space to breathe, listen and arrive.

Focus areas: Artificial Intelligence & Ethics, AI Safety & Governance, Voice AI & Synthetic Trust, Human-AI Interaction, AI Bias & Inclusion, Leadership under Pressure, High-Stakes Decision Making, Negotiation & Influence, Crisis Communication, Auton... Show more

Dora Makszy

Dora Makszy

You know what’s truly rewarding? Helping someone learn and grow. There’s nothing quite like being part of someone’s journey and knowing you played a role in their progress. As a human being, a mother, a team member, and Head of Design, my mission is to contribute to as many growth stories as possible. Over the past 18+ years, I’ve gained a wealth of experience in design, product, and leadership - and now, it’s time to give back.

You know what’s truly rewarding? Helping someone learn and grow. There’s nothing quite like being part of someone’s journey and knowing you played a role in their progress. As a human being, a mother, a team member, and Head of Design, my mission is ... Show more

Jedi Wright

Jedi Wright

Jedi Wright is an AI Experience Architect, Strategist & Independent Researcher and the founder of UX Minds, LLC, where he publishes as Systems of Thought. His work asks how structure earns trust: content frameworks with testable rules, controlled vocabularies that hold up under AI-assisted work, and record schemas for information that moves between personal and institutional systems.

He created the Tiered Content Framework, a content strategy operating model that extends Atomic Design from interface components to content, governance, and the ecosystems content lives in, along with tcf-runtime, which runs the framework's trust rules as executable checks. He is also the author of Governed Crossing, an open record schema on the AT Protocol network for documenting when information moves from a person's own systems into institutional ones. An earlier prototype from that work, which publishes from a private, local-first document to a public service with a record of each step, was featured in This Month in Automerge.

Jedi builds in public. He publishes his frameworks, decision records, and learnings on GitHub, and he writes about the work at systemsofthought.com. He also serves as a content strategist at Huge, Inc.

He previously managed the largest straight-through insurance processing platform in North America at iPipeline, and helped Disney launch one of its earliest responsive, multi-platform consumer products. From 2015 to 2020, he developed and taught four UX courses at UCLA Extension.

Jedi Wright is an AI Experience Architect, Strategist & Independent Researcher and the founder of UX Minds, LLC, where he publishes as Systems of Thought. His work asks how structure earns trust: content frameworks with testable rules, controlled voc... Show more

Tino Vivo

Tino Vivo

Tino Vivo is co-founder and CEO of Kollectiff, a creative technology company building AI-powered campaigns, interactive platforms and immersive experiences for global agencies and brands. With partners including BBDO, Goodby Silverstein & Partners and MSL, Kollectiff has delivered work for Bayer, Cheetos, Pedigree and Liquid I.V., including Bepanthen’s “Skin Like Me” with Energy BBDO, an AI tool that lets kids with skin conditions see themselves in their favorite cartoon, recognized at Cannes Lions, The One Show and the Clios, to name a few.

An Argentinean entrepreneur based in Los Angeles, Tino leads a team spread across LA, Mexico City, Barcelona and Buenos Aires. He speaks about turning emerging technology into work people actually use, and about how agencies and tech partners can build ambitious ideas faster.

Tino Vivo is co-founder and CEO of Kollectiff, a creative technology company building AI-powered campaigns, interactive platforms and immersive experiences for global agencies and brands. With partners including BBDO, Goodby Silverstein & Partners an... Show more

Habeeb Babasulaiman

Habeeb Babasulaiman

Habeeb Babasulaiman is a Cloud & DevOps Engineer, OpenStack (Ironic & Bifrost) contributor, and AWS Practitioner. Starting his journey coding entirely on a phone, he grew into an active opensource community voice, authoring tutorials, mentoring at She Code Africa, and speaking at events. Passionate about open source, he empowers developers to embrace CNCF projects and scale their skills through global community programs.

Habeeb Babasulaiman is a Cloud & DevOps Engineer, OpenStack (Ironic & Bifrost) contributor, and AWS Practitioner. Starting his journey coding entirely on a phone, he grew into an active opensource community voice, authoring tutorials, mentoring at Sh... Show more

Jean-Yves Ahouanvoedo

Jean-Yves Ahouanvoedo

Jean-Yves AHOUANVOEDO is a digital professional who combines web development, agile project management, and content creation. He progressed from freelance web developer to IT project manager over the course of more than three years. He has led Digitalize Bénin since 2022 and has been creating content for the media outlet Bénin Bouge since 2024. Since September 2026, he has been the head of information systems in charge of R&D at Agence PROCOM. As an enthusiast of artificial intelligence, he is well-positioned to bridge the gaps between technology, communication, and innovation in Benin, a country that is heavily investing in AI.

Jean-Yves AHOUANVOEDO is a digital professional who combines web development, agile project management, and content creation. He progressed from freelance web developer to IT project manager over the course of more than three years. He has led Digita... Show more

Marie Wiese

Marie Wiese

Marie Wiese is the CEO Marketing Copilot®, an AI-enabled sales and marketing firm. She is a best-selling author and host of the podcasts, Women Talk Tech and The Hot Seat for Microsoft Partners. Marie has worked in the technology sector for 30+ years and focuses on marketing automation/CRM and the digital transformation of the sales and marketing function. Marie helps Microsoft Partners, software developers and end customers build demand generation programs for their organizations with the right strategy and technology.

Marie Wiese is the CEO Marketing Copilot®, an AI-enabled sales and marketing firm. She is a best-selling author and host of the podcasts, Women Talk Tech and The Hot Seat for Microsoft Partners. Marie has worked in the technology sector for 30+ years... Show more

Rob LeGood

Rob LeGood

Rob LeGood has been building software, and the teams behind it, since 1996. He started as a developer and worked his way up to Director, Technology Solutions at OCAS, where he led a department of 30 developers and testers. Along the way he led teams at D2L and in financial services, and since 2021 he has taught web development and SQL as a part-time professor at Conestoga College.

Rob's leadership philosophy is simple: the work happens through people, or it doesn't happen. He writes about people-centric leadership at pcl.roblegood.ca. Lately he's also been writing code again, with an AI pair programmer that is very eager and occasionally wrong.

When he's not on a conference stage, he's on an actual one. He has acted and directed with Kitchener-Waterloo Little Theatre since 2000. He also plays a lot of board games.

Rob LeGood has been building software, and the teams behind it, since 1996. He started as a developer and worked his way up to Director, Technology Solutions at OCAS, where he led a department of 30 developers and testers. Along the way he led teams ... Show more

Brian Collins

Brian Collins

As a Walt Disney Imagineer, Brian helped create the stories and magic for some of the world’s most beloved attractions. Over the past 30+ years, he has produced work for a who’s-who list of corporations, as well as small entrepreneurial ventures. As an Instructor at the University of Central Florida, Brian taught a variety of classes related to immersive/thematic design, entertainment business, and emerging technologies. He is also a sought-after Futurist and Innovation Consultant through his practice known as The Brainstorm Institute where he works with both large and small companies to help them gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace through design thinking and adopting innovative practices. He has spoken at conferences around the world, is passionate about education, and is an advisory board member for several innovative tech start-ups.

As a Walt Disney Imagineer, Brian helped create the stories and magic for some of the world’s most beloved attractions. Over the past 30+ years, he has produced work for a who’s-who list of corporations, as well as small entrepreneurial ventures. As ... Show more

Iva Silla

Iva Silla

Iva Silla već više od desetljeća vodi maštovite tematske razglede grada pod zajedničkim nazivnikom Secret Zagreb. To je samo dio njenog opusa u kreativnom turizmu i interpretaciji baštine, a trenutno joj je najveća strast razvoj igrificiranih istraživanja diljem Hrvatske.

Iva Silla već više od desetljeća vodi maštovite tematske razglede grada pod zajedničkim nazivnikom Secret Zagreb. To je samo dio njenog opusa u kreativnom turizmu i interpretaciji baštine, a trenutno joj je najveća strast razvoj igrificiranih istraži... Show more

Dan Mazzella

Dan Mazzella

Dan has been building software since before the dot-com days, responsible for the modernization, site reliability and greenfield projects, as well as responsible for hiring software and devops engineers at various stages and skill levels, from junior to architect level. He has built a career at TRIRIGA, IBM, Wipro, and now as the Global Director of Software for Arcadis, a leading design, consultancy, engineering, project and management services across every phase of asset creation and management for projects all around the world.

Dan has been building software since before the dot-com days, responsible for the modernization, site reliability and greenfield projects, as well as responsible for hiring software and devops engineers at various stages and skill levels, from junior... Show more

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