Business & Management

Professionals who specialize in the organization and oversight of business activities, as well as focus on planning, directing, and controlling company operations

Michael Plöd

Michael Plöd

Michael works as an independent tech consultant with 20+ years of experience specialized in Domain Driven Design, Team Topologies, Software Architecture and Collaborative Modeling. He is a regular speaker at international conferences and an author. Michael is also an INNOQ Fellow and Team Topologies Advocate.

Michael works as an independent tech consultant with 20+ years of experience specialized in Domain Driven Design, Team Topologies, Software Architecture and Collaborative Modeling. He is a regular speaker at international conferences and an author. M... Show more

Manuel Sanchez Rodriguez

Manuel Sanchez Rodriguez

Global CTO of the Microsoft Alliance at NTT DATA Corp. | Microsoft MVP Azure & AI Platform.
Passionate about new technologies, highlighting Netcore , Microsoft Azure, Xamarin, IA, Bots and ASP.NET. Passionate about team management. I contribute to the developers community writing articles in my personal blog and giving speeches in numerous events. I am also one of the Netcoreconf leads.

Global CTO of the Microsoft Alliance at NTT DATA Corp. | Microsoft MVP Azure & AI Platform. Passionate about new technologies, highlighting Netcore , Microsoft Azure, Xamarin, IA, Bots and ASP.NET. Passionate about team management. I contribute to ... Show more

Cortney Nickerson

Cortney Nickerson

Cortney Nickerson is the Head of Community at Nirmata and a CNCF Ambassador. She is highly active in the cloud native community, co-organizing the CNCF Bilbao Community and various Kubernetes Community Days, serving on the State of OpenCon Advisory Board, and co-hosting the "Code to Culture Platform Engineering Podcast" and "PolicyBytes" podcast.

A recognized speaker at international events, Cortney transitioned from a non-technical background to tech as an early employee (#7) at a startup later acquired by DataDog, where she wrote content for the Data on Kubernetes Community.

Beyond technology, she is a vocal advocate for DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) and openly shares her experiences with imposter syndrome. On a personal note, she's also a parent navigating the challenge of getting her kids to bed on time.

Cortney Nickerson is the Head of Community at Nirmata and a CNCF Ambassador. She is highly active in the cloud native community, co-organizing the CNCF Bilbao Community and various Kubernetes Community Days, serving on the State of OpenCon Advisory B... Show more

Dean Schuster

Dean Schuster

Dean Schuster has been envisioning and creating human-centered digital products since the advent of the commercial web. He is founder and owner of the user experience strategy firm truematter, leading the team to help national and international organizations change the way they do business online. He travels all over the world to speak and teach, mentoring professionals and challenging teams to a higher standard for digital experiences.

Dean is also an avid ultra-marathoner and trail racer, often found in out-of-the-way places, including Antarctica.

Dean Schuster has been envisioning and creating human-centered digital products since the advent of the commercial web. He is founder and owner of the user experience strategy firm truematter, leading the team to help national and international organ... Show more

Avindra Fernando

Avindra Fernando

Avindra Fernando is a software consultant with over 13 years of experience helping teams build scalable, modern web applications. In 2021, he founded Taprobane Consulting to guide clients through architectural decisions, migrations to newer tech stacks, and the implementation of robust AI-powered development and testing strategies that ensure quality and performance.

He actively mentors engineering teams, leads workshops, and delivers hands-on training. As a regular speaker at tech conferences, Avindra shares practical lessons on concepts and technologies such as Software Architecture, AI-driven development, React, Next.js, E2E Testing, and TypeScript. He leverages his experience to shape future technology direction and accelerate the growth of companies across industries.

Avindra Fernando is a software consultant with over 13 years of experience helping teams build scalable, modern web applications. In 2021, he founded Taprobane Consulting to guide clients through architectural decisions, migrations to newer tech stac... Show more

Nathalie Leenders

Nathalie Leenders

Nathalie started off as a hairstylist who could often fix the computer. She found her love for computers, and quickly turned to IT.

Now after almost 15 years in IT she has found her true passion in the Power Platform and it's community.
Anything she learn along the way she wishes to teach to others, so she also became a trainer, speaker and MCT.

She's an MVP in Business Applications and hobbyist PowerBI. She loves cats, rollercoasters and travelling.
You'll often find her on the community calls posting the dancing badgers gif whenever someone mentions the word badge, and actively encourages others to pursue their badge quests.

Nathalie started off as a hairstylist who could often fix the computer. She found her love for computers, and quickly turned to IT. Now after almost 15 years in IT she has found her true passion in the Power Platform and it's community. Anythin... Show more

Dr. Neda Maria Kaizumi

Dr. Neda Maria Kaizumi

Dr. Neda Maria Kaizumi is a distinguished technology expert at the intersection of AI development, global compliance, and international regulations. With a doctorate in Organizational Behaviour. She combines a rich academic foundation with practical insights. She has further honed her expertise through the Business Analytics and Data Science executive program at Harvard Business School.

Dr. Kaizumi is ISO standards committee member, and she shapes AI governance and compliance frameworks, advocating ethical AI aligned with global standards like the EU AI Act and beyond.

An accomplished author, public speaker, and advocate for ethical AI development, Dr. Kaizumi integrates her technical acumen and business expertise to empower organizations navigating the complex global landscape of AI governance. With a deep understanding of regulatory frameworks and their impact on technology, Dr. Kaizumi is a leading voice in fostering innovation that aligns with compliance and sustainability.

Dr. Neda Maria Kaizumi is a distinguished technology expert at the intersection of AI development, global compliance, and international regulations. With a doctorate in Organizational Behaviour. She combines a rich academic foundation with practical ... Show more

Thomas Stensitzki

Thomas Stensitzki

Thomas Stensitzki owns Granikos GmbH & Co. KG in Germany and serves as a principal consultant specializing in Exchange Server, Microsoft 365, and Messaging Security. He is an MVP for M365.
He holds various Microsoft certifications, including Microsoft Certified Master for Exchange Server 2010 and Microsoft Certified Solutions Master Messaging. When not working as a consultant, he teaches Microsoft technology courses as an MCT.

Thomas Stensitzki owns Granikos GmbH & Co. KG in Germany and serves as a principal consultant specializing in Exchange Server, Microsoft 365, and Messaging Security. He is an MVP for M365. He holds various Microsoft certifications, including Microso... Show more

Gethyn Ellis

Gethyn Ellis

Gethyn is a Microsoft Data Platform MVP and consultant helping organisations modernise their data platforms with SQL Server, Azure, Microsoft Fabric, Power BI, and AI. He leads a UK consultancy that supports clients across Europe and North America with migrations, high-availability design, performance engineering, analytics strategy, and data governance. A Microsoft Certified Trainer with over 200 courses delivered, he speaks widely on data transformation, analytics, and the future of AI-powered business.

Gethyn is a Microsoft Data Platform MVP and consultant helping organisations modernise their data platforms with SQL Server, Azure, Microsoft Fabric, Power BI, and AI. He leads a UK consultancy that supports clients across Europe and North America wi... Show more

Mathias Halkjaer

Mathias Halkjaer

Mathias is a data enthusiast with a great passion for the synergy between data analytics and cloud data platforms.

As a Senior Director at Inspari he works with building up clients' data capabilities, implementing data platform technologies and all-in-all maximize the impact of their data.

Being a Microsoft Data Platform MVP, he is very passionate about sharing anything with community, especially something around turning data into impact!

With a background in Product Development and Innovation, Mathias brings a unique 'Data Product' perspective to the realm of data architecture, and is obsessed with the bigger picture. With his slightly rebellious attitude, he's not afraid to challenge the status quo and break industry norms to find new and better solutions.

Mathias is a data enthusiast with a great passion for the synergy between data analytics and cloud data platforms. As a Senior Director at Inspari he works with building up clients' data capabilities, implementing data platform technologies and a... Show more

Anton Babenko

Anton Babenko

Anton is an AWS Community Hero and helps companies around the globe build solutions using AWS, and specializes in infrastructure-as-code, DevOps, and reusable infrastructure components.

He spends much of his time as an open-source contributor on various Terraform & AWS projects, such as Terraform AWS modules (downloaded more than 2 billion times), Terraform best practices ebook (www.terraform-best-practices.com), doing serverless with Terraform (serverless.tf), Terraform Weekly (weekly.tf), Your Weekly Dose of Terraform (http://bit.ly/terraform-youtube).

Anton is an AWS Community Hero and helps companies around the globe build solutions using AWS, and specializes in infrastructure-as-code, DevOps, and reusable infrastructure components. He spends much of his time as an open-source contributor on v... Show more

Jean-Yves Klein

Jean-Yves Klein

Senior Agile Coach, Jean-Yves Klein has worn many hats: developer, project manager, program director, head of IT… This diverse background gives him a 360° view of agility — from hands-on delivery to executive strategy.

Certified in PMI, SAFe, and Disciplined Agile, he has coached teams across IT, mechanical engineering, electronics, marketing, and legal. His approach is always tailored to the team, the project, and the organization — no cookie-cutter solutions here.

A passionate educator, he has designed over 10 Serious Games, including several with LEGO, to bring Agile, SAFe, DevOps, and key roles like Product Owner and Scrum Master to life. With him, learning is hands-on, fun, and unforgettable.

Senior Agile Coach, Jean-Yves Klein has worn many hats: developer, project manager, program director, head of IT… This diverse background gives him a 360° view of agility — from hands-on delivery to executive strategy. Certified in PMI, SAFe, and ... Show more

Michelle Sandford

Michelle Sandford

Michelle Sandford is a Developer Engagement Leader who writes code, builds with GitHub and Azure AI, and learns out loud. She likes sharing what’s useful (and what isn’t), and believes shipping is better than talking about it:

- A community builder, connecting MVPs, user groups, universities, and developer communities into thriving ecosystems that learn together and lift each other higher.
- A technical storyteller, Michelle shapes how the world talks about AI‑powered engineering and Azure innovation bringing clarity, curiosity, and creativity to every conversation.
- A program strategist, designing scalable, repeatable motions that help developers grow their capability and confidence at pace with a rapidly evolving industry.
- A bridge between engineering and the field making sure developers feel heard, supported, and empowered, from the first line of code to the final production push.

Michelle Sandford is a Developer Engagement Leader who writes code, builds with GitHub and Azure AI, and learns out loud. She likes sharing what’s useful (and what isn’t), and believes shipping is better than talking about it: - A community builde... Show more

Daniel Ward

Daniel Ward

Daniel is a Microsoft .NET MVP and software consultant at Lean TECHniques. He helps teams deliver high-quality software while adopting modern practices such as effective CI/CD, automated testing, AI usage, and product management. With experience spanning multiple industries, including finance, retail, and agriculture, he has served as a technical coach, agile coach, and tech lead, with a primary background as a software developer. Outside of work, he enjoys playing piano and guitar, swing dancing, and game development.

Daniel is a Microsoft .NET MVP and software consultant at Lean TECHniques. He helps teams deliver high-quality software while adopting modern practices such as effective CI/CD, automated testing, AI usage, and product management. With experience span... Show more

Eldert Grootenboer

Eldert Grootenboer

Eldert is always enthusiastic about embarking on new journeys with the Cloud, and Azure in particular. He is very passionate about growing his dreams and teams, and goes above and beyond to help those with the same spark. Eldert comes from a background as a cloud solution architect and Technology Lead, was an Azure MVP for 5 consecutive years, and is now working as a Principal Product Manager at Microsoft for Azure Service Bus.

Always having a smile on his face, Eldert can be found delivering noteworthy sessions at in-person conferences, meetups, and online platforms. He values sharing and spreading knowledge while building genuine connections regardless of background and expertise. His goal is to bring people closer and work together to influence the outcome and optimize the future of Cloud technologies.

Eldert is always enthusiastic about embarking on new journeys with the Cloud, and Azure in particular. He is very passionate about growing his dreams and teams, and goes above and beyond to help those with the same spark. Eldert comes from a backgrou... Show more

Steve Dalby:  MVP

Steve Dalby: MVP

I started my Collaboration journey by anticipating the release of SharePoint Server 2001 and was updated with an invitation to be an MVP. I tell stories from experience and real-world examples of how we implement M365, PowerPoint and AI Solutions across the Microsoft Landscape.

With a background in Stand-up comedy and 20+ years of experience moving people to collaborative working. My stories have helped people and business identify the value they can bring to their organisations.

Delivering MS Teams & SharePoint Change to companies like Heineken, US Army, Atlas Copco, Ford Motor Co. and Euroclear Bank. I now head up the Infrastructure Services team at Lineas NV Belgium.

I started my Collaboration journey by anticipating the release of SharePoint Server 2001 and was updated with an invitation to be an MVP. I tell stories from experience and real-world examples of how we implement M365, PowerPoint and AI Solutions acr... Show more

Sébastien Goodwin

Sébastien Goodwin

Agile Coach and Kanban expert (certified Kanban trainer and coach, AKT, KCP), Sébastien has a solid experience in supporting organizations in their Agile and Lean transformation.

He helps teams of all sizes, from the smallest to projects of +150 people, and works daily in collaboration with geographically distributed teams both in France and internationally. Sébastien also has expertise in complex project management, problem solving, and continuous improvement.

After 20 years of experience in a large company, in 2023 he launched his training & consulting company - Kudja.fr - to share his expertise on Kanban.

Agile Coach and Kanban expert (certified Kanban trainer and coach, AKT, KCP), Sébastien has a solid experience in supporting organizations in their Agile and Lean transformation. He helps teams of all sizes, from the smallest to projects of +150 p... Show more

Angel Ramirez

Angel Ramirez

Angel Ramirez is a technology leader and entrepreneur with expertise in software product development, cloud-native technologies, and Kubernetes (Kubestronaut). As CEO of Cuemby, he develops innovative solutions that align technical concepts with business goals. A CNCF and TODO OSPO Ambassador, Angel is recognized for his public speaking abilities, making complex ideas easy to understand. His approach integrates technology and business strategy, helping organizations achieve scalable solutions while fostering ongoing learning and community engagement.

Angel Ramirez is a technology leader and entrepreneur with expertise in software product development, cloud-native technologies, and Kubernetes (Kubestronaut). As CEO of Cuemby, he develops innovative solutions that align technical concepts with busi... Show more

Christian Buckley

Christian Buckley

Christian is an award-winning product marketer and technology evangelist, and both a Microsoft Regional Director (RD) and Most Valuable Professional (MVP). Christian's 30+ year tech career includes Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Evangelist for several leading SharePoint ISVs, and being part of the Microsoft team that launched SharePoint Online. He has worked with some of the world’s largest technology companies to build and deploy social, collaboration, and supply chain solutions, and sold his first software startup to Rational Software in 2001. Co-author of books on both SharePoint and software configuration management (SCM) and one science fiction novel, Christian is one of the most widely published names within the Microsoft ecosystem, and can be found online at www.buckleyplanet.com and @buckleyplanet

Christian is an award-winning product marketer and technology evangelist, and both a Microsoft Regional Director (RD) and Most Valuable Professional (MVP). Christian's 30+ year tech career includes Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Evangelist for sev... Show more

Nicole Enders

Nicole Enders

Nicole Enders lives and breathes Modern Work.

As a Microsoft MVP and Evangelist for Microsoft based Solutions, she turns cloud tech into real‑world impact - think Microsoft Teams makeovers and Power Platform magic.

For 15 + years she’s crafted collaboration experiences that stick, blending out‑of‑the‑box features with tailor‑made code until every social intranet or digital workplace feels like it was built just for you.

Catch Nicole on conference stages, in her books, or on her blog, where she shares hands‑on tips and a healthy dose of geeky enthusiasm.

Nicole Enders lives and breathes Modern Work. As a Microsoft MVP and Evangelist for Microsoft based Solutions, she turns cloud tech into real‑world impact - think Microsoft Teams makeovers and Power Platform magic. For 15 + years she’s crafted ... Show more

Cecilia Geraldo

Cecilia Geraldo

Mobile Engineering Manager focused on building scalable platforms and AI-enabled engineering systems.
At Thoughtworks, she leads mobile teams operating across 15+ engineering teams in high-scale environments, applying modular architecture, server-driven UI, and platform-as-product thinking to enable sustainable growth and team autonomy.
Her work integrates AI agents and Model Context Protocol (MCP) into developer workflows, documentation systems, and internal tooling, bridging mobile engineering with next-generation engineering practices.
As a Latina engineering leader working in global tech ecosystems, she champions technical excellence, inclusive leadership, and knowledge-sharing as pillars for long-term impact.

Mobile Engineering Manager focused on building scalable platforms and AI-enabled engineering systems. At Thoughtworks, she leads mobile teams operating across 15+ engineering teams in high-scale environments, applying modular architecture, server-dr... Show more

Ángel Díaz-Maroto Álvarez

Ángel Díaz-Maroto Álvarez

Angel is an energetic and forward-thinking Agile coach specializing in leadership development and organizational agility. His pragmatism and experience in organizational coaching and Business Agility are the driving forces behind his methods. Throughout his 15+ years of hands-on experience as a coach, trainer, and mentor, Angel has provided expert guidance to organizations and Agile leaders in North America, South America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.

Angel’s leadership has been particularly notorious at the ING Group, where he has performed as the first Agile Champion at ING Spain and chairman of the first Global ING Agile Experts Group since 2010. He has also supported companies from more than 40 countries, contributing to the Agile journeys of King, Toyota, Falabella, Banco de Chile, Roche, BBVA, Sunhotels, DEWA, FAB, PZU Group and the Catalan Institute of Oncology.

Angel holds the Scrum Alliance’s highest-level certifications in the field. Being the first Spanish CST (Certified Scrum Trainer), the first Spanish CEC (Certified Enterprise Coach), and the first European CALE (Certified Agile Leadership Educator).

Angel is also a PCC (Certified Professional Coach) by the International Coach Federation, a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC), Certified specialist in team coaching and systemic leadership, Management 3.0 facilitator, Certified Kanban Management Professional (KMP), Certified LargeScaleScrum Practitioner (CLP), Certified SAFe® Program Consultant (SPC), Licensed NLP Practitioner and TTI-certified Behaviour and Motivation Analyst.

In addition, Angel has participated as a speaker and keynote at more than 60 international conferences and Agile events worldwide and has been a significant contributor to the international Agile community since 2009.

Angel is an energetic and forward-thinking Agile coach specializing in leadership development and organizational agility. His pragmatism and experience in organizational coaching and Business Agility are the driving forces behind his methods. Through... Show more

Daniel Sogl

Daniel Sogl

Daniel Sogl is a Principal Consultant at Thinktecture AG and a Microsoft MVP for Developer Technologies – Web Development.
He helps companies design and implement complex web applications, with a strong focus on modern web technologies with Angular as well as Generative AI and AI-assisted software development.

Knowledge sharing is one of his core passions – as a speaker, trainer, and author, he regularly contributes to conferences, workshops, and publications. His mission is to foster technical excellence and empower teams to build sustainable, future-proof software solutions.

Daniel Sogl is a Principal Consultant at Thinktecture AG and a Microsoft MVP for Developer Technologies – Web Development. He helps companies design and implement complex web applications, with a strong focus on modern web technologies with Angular ... Show more

Clarissa Rodrigues

Clarissa Rodrigues

Clarissa Rodrigues is graduated by University of Vale dos Sinos (UNISINOS), specialist in Software Engineering by Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) and master student in Applied Computing by UNISINOS. With more than 10 years of IT experience, she has been working in different roles and companies, such as a Business Analyst at SISPRO, ADP, SAP and most current Technical Quality & Program Manager at Uber. On her journey, she has been advocated for quality inside QAs work to make sure goods and services are designed, developed, and made to meet or exceed customers’ expectations and requirements.

Clarissa Rodrigues is graduated by University of Vale dos Sinos (UNISINOS), specialist in Software Engineering by Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) and master student in Applied Computing by UNISINOS. With more than 10 years of IT exper... Show more

Michelle "MishManners" Duke

Michelle "MishManners" Duke

Mish is a multi-talented personality in the tech and gaming communities. Mish has worked in the technology space for the last decade and has a tonne of experience in developer advocacy, community management, marketing, and content creation. Mish has spoken at over 400 events on topics like AI, the future of work, communication, teamwork, and has given technical demos. She's a respected leader in the hackathon community, having won, organised, and mentored over 120 hackathons.

Mish is a successful entrepreneur and founder, having co-founded several companies – including an artificial intelligence company, and as a result, sits at the forefront of Melbourne’s science, tech, esports, and startup scenes. In her 'spare' time she’s a streamer, journalist, loves playing sports, and is always working on something exciting.

Mish is a multi-talented personality in the tech and gaming communities. Mish has worked in the technology space for the last decade and has a tonne of experience in developer advocacy, community management, marketing, and content creation. Mish has ... Show more

Dan Bergh Johnsson

Dan Bergh Johnsson

Dan Bergh Johnsson works at the intersection of software architecture, security, and large-scale system design. He has decades of experience designing and reviewing complex systems where security, stability, and delivery speed are in constant tension.
Dan is co-author of Secure by Design (Manning) and a frequent international conference speaker. His talks focus on how architectural and design choices — increasingly involving AI — shape long-term security, system behavior, and organizational responsibility. He is particularly interested in what gets lost when productivity increases faster than system understanding.

Dan Bergh Johnsson works at the intersection of software architecture, security, and large-scale system design. He has decades of experience designing and reviewing complex systems where security, stability, and delivery speed are in constant tensio... Show more

Ambesh Singh

Ambesh Singh

I am a Father, International Speaker, Software Engineer, and Architect at Visionet Deutschland GmbH, currently living in Germany. My interests range from technology to travel. I am also interested in coaching, entrepreneurship, reading, vlogging and programming.

I am a Father, International Speaker, Software Engineer, and Architect at Visionet Deutschland GmbH, currently living in Germany. My interests range from technology to travel. I am also interested in coaching, entrepreneurship, reading, vlogging and ... Show more

Mario-Leander Reimer

Mario-Leander Reimer

Passionate software developer and architect. Proud father. #CloudNativeNerd. Leander is the CTO at QAware. He’s continuously looking for innovations in software engineering and ways to combine and apply state-of-the-art technology in real-world projects. As a speaker at national and international conferences he shares his tech experiences and he teaches cloud computing and software quality assurance as a part-time lecturer.

Passionate software developer and architect. Proud father. #CloudNativeNerd. Leander is the CTO at QAware. He’s continuously looking for innovations in software engineering and ways to combine and apply state-of-the-art technology in real-world proje... Show more

Matthew-Hope Eland

Matthew-Hope Eland

An AI Specialist and Wizard at Leading EDJE who is known to teach software engineering, AI, and data science concepts in the most ridiculous ways possible. Matt has used machine learning to settle debates over whether Die Hard is a Christmas movie, reinforcement learning to drive the behavior of digital squirrels, data analytics to suggest improvements to his favorite TV show, and AI agents to play board games and create an AI agent with the personality of a dog. Matt is the author of "Data Science in .NET with Polyglot Notebooks" and "Refactoring with C#" as well as several LinkedIn Learning courses. Matt helps organize the Central Ohio .NET Developer Group, runs several blogs and a YouTube channel, has a Master’s of Science in Data Analytics, and is a current Microsoft MVP in AI and .NET.

An AI Specialist and Wizard at Leading EDJE who is known to teach software engineering, AI, and data science concepts in the most ridiculous ways possible. Matt has used machine learning to settle debates over whether Die Hard is a Christmas movie, r... Show more

Agnius Bartninkas

Agnius Bartninkas

8+ years of successfully leading a process improvement and automation agency, specializing in RPA using MS Power Automate (and the suite by Softomotive prior to 2020).

Over 200 projects delivered to more than 100 clients worldwide either personally or via a directly managed team of developers. Over 10 million EUR in accumulated savings reported by clients due to these projects.

Personally trained numerous automation developers to work with the Power Platform and related software.

Microsoft Business Applications MVP.

8+ years of successfully leading a process improvement and automation agency, specializing in RPA using MS Power Automate (and the suite by Softomotive prior to 2020). Over 200 projects delivered to more than 100 clients worldwide either personall... Show more

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