Phil Ledgerwood’s resumé looks like seven other people’s resumés stitched together. He has baked bagels, guarded Clint Black’s town home, cooked for a gourmet food shop, freed stuck college students from elevators, managed printing plates for packaging, and served as a linguist in the Air Force. He taught himself HTML when the Netscape browser was still a thing, and the rest is history.

Phil is a twenty-year veteran of the software development industry in the Kansas City area. If you’re in the Kansas City area, he is two degrees of separation away from any programmer you know and has probably worked for, at, or with your company.

When the agile movement hit town, Phil knew a good thing when he saw it and became an early adopter of first wave agile practices. He has used these practices to ideate, build, and complete software projects ranging from loan forecasting to routing irrigation trucks to managing pharmacies to predictive lead generation to selling teddy bears. When people ask what vertical his company serves, he says, “Yours.”

Phil has incorporated Lean methodologies into software development just like his father used to do in manufacturing. When he partnered with Travis Dietz to start Integrity Inspired Solutions in 2012, they laid the foundation in Lean to make the custom software development enterprise more humane, predictable, and focused on the success of everyone involved.

A regular speaker at developer, Lean, and Agile conferences, Phil has a passion for taking his company’s ways to other companies whether they create software or not. He loves to see them transform from a collection of interactions riddled with disappointments and broken promises to team-oriented relational companies enjoying newfound trust, joy, efficiency, and success. Several companies from all over the world in all different industries contract Phil to help coach them through their own journeys. He also hosts the successful "Agile Bites" podcast.

When he’s not helping project managers learn predictive metrics or helping developers write customer-focused features, he’s enjoying a wide array of highly geeky hobbies including fantasy and sci-fi novels, gaming, and teaching Filipino stick fighting. His main hobby is making the world a better place for everyone who has to share the planet with him, and the engine for that is love.

Phil Ledgerwood’s resumé looks like seven other people’s resumés stitched together. He has baked bagels, guarded Clint Black’s town home, cooked for a gourmet food shop, freed stuck college students from elevators, managed printing plates for packagi... Show more

Enid-Mai Jones does not talk about transformation in the abstract. She has lived it — in boardrooms, budget cycles, and staff meetings where real organizational change happens.
As the founder and CEO of EMJ Consulting LLC and its AI consulting division, InsightfulAI Strategies, Enid-Mai equips association and nonprofit leaders to build learning portfolios that drive revenue, adopt artificial intelligence with intention and ethics, and lead with the kind of clarity that moves organizations forward when the stakes are high.

Her proof is specific. At LifeSpan Network, Maryland's premier senior care association, she scaled educational programming from 35 to more than 100 annual events, grew conference attendance by 106 percent, and increased non-dues revenue by 160 percent — from $350,000 to $1.5 million. She has managed budgets up to $3 million, led teams across 17 state chapters, and built certification programs with a 90 percent first-year pass rate.

Enid-Mai holds dual master's degrees from the University of Kansas and credentials including the Certified Association Executive (CAE), Certified Association AI Professional (AAiP), and Certified Diversity Executive (CDE). She is an ASAE DELP alumna and has spoken at United Way Worldwide, the National Leadership Alliance, and the American Society of Association Executives.

Her sessions are built to move people — not just inform them. Attendees leave with a framework they can use the next morning.

Enid-Mai Jones does not talk about transformation in the abstract. She has lived it — in boardrooms, budget cycles, and staff meetings where real organizational change happens. As the founder and CEO of EMJ Consulting LLC and its AI consulting divis... Show more

Dr. Jodie Burchell is the Developer Advocate in Data Science at JetBrains, and was previously a Lead Data Scientist at Verve Group Europe. She completed a PhD in clinical psychology and a postdoc in biostatistics, before leaving academia for a data science career. She has worked for 9 years as a data scientist in both Australia and Germany, developing a range of products including recommendation systems, analysis platforms, search engine improvements and audience profiling. She has held a broad range of responsibilities in her career, doing everything from data analytics to maintaining machine learning solutions in production. She is a long time content creator in data science, across conference and user group presentations, books, webinars, and posts on both her own and JetBrain's blogs.

Dr. Jodie Burchell is the Developer Advocate in Data Science at JetBrains, and was previously a Lead Data Scientist at Verve Group Europe. She completed a PhD in clinical psychology and a postdoc in biostatistics, before leaving academia for a data s... Show more

CRUX IS AN EXPERT ANALYST ON CBS, THE REAL CSI: MIAMI.
Click The Link To See Crux in The Real CSI: MIAMI

https://youtu.be/UsVswWyyFZg?si=L9lca4H98xypbGRz&t=49

Crux resides in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and has over 20 years of law enforcement experience (Now retired), criminal profiling, and teaching experience (adjunct professor). Crux has now taken his years of experience, education research, and training; to incorporate novel methods of teaching/learning. Crux has utilized his background in Psychology, Team Building, and Behavioral Profiling to implement said methods to take out the law-enforcement aspect and make these skills people/civilian practical.

#Cybersecurity, #CriminalProfile, #Ninja, #Keynote, #Speaker, #TeamBuilding #TeamDynamics #TechPsychology, #Security, #DevopSec
Law Enforcement experience:

•Homicide Detective
•Criminal Profiler
•Gang Unit Specialist Detective
•Hostage Negotiator
•Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Officer
•School Resources Officer (SRO)
•Five years as a Special Agent with the DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND (DHS)

Now retired, Crux worked as a Homicide Detective, Criminal Profiler, and Hostage Negotiator with the Fort Wayne (Indiana) Police Dept.

Teaching experience:
Currently, Crux is an Adjunct Professor:

•Psychology
•Business Psychology
•Social Media Psychology
•Criminal Profiling
•Criminal Behavior
•Computer Psychology
•Sociology (Group Dynamics)

Education:

•Bachelor of Science degree; Criminology (Ball State University, 1994).

•Master’s degree; Forensic Psychology (Walden University, 2012).

•Currently, a Ph.D. Candidate (Forensic Psychology) at Walden University

CRUX IS AN EXPERT ANALYST ON CBS, THE REAL CSI: MIAMI. Click The Link To See Crux in The Real CSI: MIAMI https://youtu.be/UsVswWyyFZg?si=L9lca4H98xypbGRz&t=49 Crux resides in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and has over 20 years of law enforcement experi... Show more

I am a DBA since 1997 and have worked with SQL6, 6,5 and upwards. My interest are merely platform based, but also interested in performance and monitoring. With the requirements changing I am working in DevSEcOps for SQL for my employer. Security is getting more focus. That means I am trying to setup builds that are secure by designed and securely designed. Tools help with that.

I am a DBA since 1997 and have worked with SQL6, 6,5 and upwards. My interest are merely platform based, but also interested in performance and monitoring. With the requirements changing I am working in DevSEcOps for SQL for my employer. Security is ... Show more

After a decade in social work, Magali decided to change course and became a web developper. She tries to find a delicate balance between the technical aspects of the job (fun !), the creativity (fun too !) and trying to follow her ethics and change the culture of the industry (the less fun aspects of it anyway) by being an advocate and an activist. She recently chose to specialize in web accessibility by joining Access42.

She is co-founder and president of Compositech, an organization advocating for the inclusion of women and non-binary people in tech. She also is the founder and president of La Première Ligne, a feminist magazine created by tech women and non-binary people. She has a dog, Trufa and talks either way too much about her (according to people) or way not enough (according to herself).

After a decade in social work, Magali decided to change course and became a web developper. She tries to find a delicate balance between the technical aspects of the job (fun !), the creativity (fun too !) and trying to follow her ethics and change t... Show more

Developing since the early 2000s, my passion for networking has led me to manage work teams, projects and training courses. Geek to the core, I am constantly on the lookout for tech news.

Developing since the early 2000s, my passion for networking has led me to manage work teams, projects and training courses. Geek to the core, I am constantly on the lookout for tech news. Show more

Brittney is a proud first-generation college graduate and serves as the Associate Director for Academic Connections at the University of Michigan. She holds two Master's degrees: Cultural Studies from Dartmouth College & Higher Education Administration from Tiffin University. She earned her Bachelor's degree in Spanish Education from Malone University. With over a decade of experience in Student Affairs and K-12 Education, Brittney has a proven track record of fostering student success. She has effectively managed various residential communities and developed innovative living-learning programs that enhance the student experience. Passionate about inclusivity and student development, Brittney is dedicated to empowering students and colleagues from diverse backgrounds and utilizes authentic storytelling to create a sense of belonging within the campus community.

Brittney is a proud first-generation college graduate and serves as the Associate Director for Academic Connections at the University of Michigan. She holds two Master's degrees: Cultural Studies from Dartmouth College & Higher Education Administrati... Show more

Caleb is a Principal AI Red Team Engineer at Ethos Life, a publicly traded life insurance company, where he attacks production AI deployments and the identity infrastructure underneath them. Before Ethos he spent four years on the red team at BILL, running authorized engagements against critical financial infrastructure and the company's AI support platform, with a focus on prompt injection, tool abuse, and credential exposure in LLM pipelines.

Earlier in his career Caleb spent three years with Cylance Professional Services delivering full-scope red team engagements for clients in every business sector. Before consulting he was a senior malware analyst at Cylance and The Media Trust, doing deep file analysis, reverse engineering, and incident reconstruction, and serving as a research associate on the whitepaper "Influence Sketching: Finding Influential Samples in Large-Scale Regressions." With over 14 years in offensive security, he brings a practitioner's instinct to every layer of the stack, from physical entry and social engineering to AI red teaming and ML research.

Caleb is a Principal AI Red Team Engineer at Ethos Life, a publicly traded life insurance company, where he attacks production AI deployments and the identity infrastructure underneath them. Before Ethos he spent four years on the red team at BILL, r... Show more

Janine Rosado is a UX and strategy leader, educator, and writer with over 15 years of experience designing products and services across healthcare, financial services, government, and emerging technologies. Drawing from behavioral economics, cognitive psychology, and human-centered design, her work explores how people learn, make decisions, and interact with technology.

Janine Rosado is a UX and strategy leader, educator, and writer with over 15 years of experience designing products and services across healthcare, financial services, government, and emerging technologies. Drawing from behavioral economics, cognitiv... Show more

Tessel is a consultant in data & AI at Info Support, specialized in interpretable AI. In her daily work, she applies AI-augmented engineering to build and evaluate intelligent systems, or gives trainings about AI. She is known as an enthusiastic knowledge source and an insatiably curious lifelong learner. Outside of work, she channels her strategic thinking into board games (with a soft spot for complex strategy games) and escapes into fantasy novels. With an MSc in Artificial Intelligence, an MSc in Computer Science, and an MA in Linguistics, she combines a strong technical foundation with a deep interest in language and reasoning.

Tessel is a consultant in data & AI at Info Support, specialized in interpretable AI. In her daily work, she applies AI-augmented engineering to build and evaluate intelligent systems, or gives trainings about AI. She is known as an enthusiastic know... Show more

Computer Engineer. Independent professional. I have more than 20 years dedicated to the world of data as a BI Trainer and Consultant. Currently immersed in the world of Power Platform - Power BI.

Computer Engineer. Independent professional. I have more than 20 years dedicated to the world of data as a BI Trainer and Consultant. Currently immersed in the world of Power Platform - Power BI. Show more

Bonaventure Saturday is a researcher and project manager with over ten years of experience working at the intersection of digital rights, AI governance, data governance, gender justice, and civic engagement in Africa. His work focuses on online safety for women in public life, technology-facilitated gender-based violence, digital public infrastructure, responsible and inclusive AI, and the governance of emerging technologies. He has extensive experience managing and evaluating donor-funded programmes, conducting policy-relevant research, needs assessments, and stakeholder consultations, and convening multistakeholder actors across government, civil society, academia, the private sector, and regional institutions. He contributes evidence-based perspectives to debates on AI, platform governance, digital inclusion, data protection, and public interest technology. He is committed to advancing digital policies and systems that are inclusive, accountable, safe, and rights-respecting, particularly for women, girls, and historically underrepresented communities across Africa.

Bonaventure Saturday is a researcher and project manager with over ten years of experience working at the intersection of digital rights, AI governance, data governance, gender justice, and civic engagement in Africa. His work focuses on online safet... Show more

Mehdi is a senior software developer and system architect who has been designing and building production systems since 2000. Across that time he has delivered solutions in office automation, CRM, healthcare management, and industrial and logistics automation, working primarily on the .NET platform and with a strong commitment to clean, object-oriented design.

Since 2016 his work has centered on cloud computing and cloud-native architecture. More recently his main focus has become AI engineering: integrating large language models into real .NET applications through function calling and tool use, building retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) pipelines, and combining vector search with graph databases such as ArangoDB and NebulaGraph for semantic discovery and reasoning. He also applies these techniques to production problems such as AI-driven root-cause analysis in observability systems.

He writes and speaks about .NET, Azure, practical LLM integration, function calling, vector and semantic search, and graph databases, sharing much of this hands-on work at dotnet-talk.com.

Mehdi is a senior software developer and system architect who has been designing and building production systems since 2000. Across that time he has delivered solutions in office automation, CRM, healthcare management, and industrial and logistics au... Show more

Complex UX Expert, uso l'AI consapevolmente per progettare e progetto esperienze con feature AI-based.

Complex UX Expert, uso l'AI consapevolmente per progettare e progetto esperienze con feature AI-based. Show more

Alex has over 20 years’ Human Resource experience in a number of industries globally, with the last 5 being in Tech and Financial Services. Her strengths lie in coaching, facilitating and accentuating 'people’ in People & Culture. With her life and work, Alex has learnt that people thrive the most when they are allowed to bring their most authentic selves to the table.

Being a corporate hippie at heart, she is passionate about supporting managers to be more holistic in their approach. Alex actively works with leaders at all levels to consider leadership from a different lens, bringing out super powers they didn’t know existed; consequently improving relationships with their employees and the performance of their teams.

Whether she's in a boardroom or on a beanbag, Alex brings the same energy: insightful, passionate, and always deeply connected with the people in the room.

Alex has over 20 years’ Human Resource experience in a number of industries globally, with the last 5 being in Tech and Financial Services. Her strengths lie in coaching, facilitating and accentuating 'people’ in People & Culture. With her life and w... Show more

Dr. Tajah M. Gross is Founder & CEO of Ethilect, an AI governance, risk, and decision intelligence firm helping organizations confront the hidden human risks inside artificial intelligence systems. A recognized voice in responsible AI, escalation architecture, and operational oversight, she is known for translating complex AI risk into practical governance strategies leaders can actually use.

Her expertise spans agentic AI, autonomous decision systems, human oversight design, AI governance, and enterprise risk visibility. Through her signature frameworks, Question Everything and ReasonGate, Dr. Gross challenges organizations to rethink how AI decisions are monitored, escalated, interrupted, and trusted at scale.

Blending executive strategy with real-world implementation, she helps institutions design AI systems that remain observable, accountable, and human-centered under pressure—not just efficient. Dr. Gross has delivered high-impact sessions for nationally recognized venues including AI in the New Era, Nashville Microsoft Community Day, UN Blockchain Week, North Carolina A&T University, and Morgan State University.

Dr. Tajah M. Gross is Founder & CEO of Ethilect, an AI governance, risk, and decision intelligence firm helping organizations confront the hidden human risks inside artificial intelligence systems. A recognized voice in responsible AI, escalation arc... Show more

Kevin has been wrangling data and dodging dirty reads for over 15 years — back when SQL Server 6.5 was considered "modern" and query tuning meant praying to the optimizer gods.

His journey began as an "Accidental DBA" — one misfired report and suddenly he was deep in sys.objects, pretending sp_who2 was an actual plan. Since then, he's played nearly every role in the SQL Server ecosystem: SQL Developer, BI Associate, Production DBA, and now a Data Architect with a mission.

These days, Kevin spends his time normalizing chaos, denormalizing silos, and preaching the gospel of clean, well-modeled data. He’s been known to pivot on the fly, avoid Cartesian relationships, and bring deadlocks back to life — all while gently reminding teams that SELECT * is a cry for help.

If it involves data, Kevin's in — tuning queries, architecting solutions, or just nerding out about why surrogate keys are misunderstood. He’s not just passionate about data — he’s got a clustered index on it.

Kevin has been wrangling data and dodging dirty reads for over 15 years — back when SQL Server 6.5 was considered "modern" and query tuning meant praying to the optimizer gods. His journey began as an "Accidental DBA" — one misfired report and sud... Show more

Shavana Peynado is a multi-award winning Software Developer, public speaker, DEI advocate. Coming from an Finance and Modern Languages background, learning to program during the pandemic, Shav is dedicated to giving back to the community, fostering psychologically safe spaces for women in tech and is actively involved in mentoring.

Shavana Peynado is a multi-award winning Software Developer, public speaker, DEI advocate. Coming from an Finance and Modern Languages background, learning to program during the pandemic, Shav is dedicated to giving back to the community, fostering p... Show more

Kashif Khan is a co-chair of CNCF TAG Infrastructure and maintainer of the CNCF project Metal3.io for 7 years. He works as an Principal open source Architect for Ericsson Software Technology, Finland. He holds a PhD in Computer Science. Kashif is a research and open source enthusiast and his current area of interest is kubernetes deployments on baremetal systems in distributed cloud scenarios.

Kashif Khan is a co-chair of CNCF TAG Infrastructure and maintainer of the CNCF project Metal3.io for 7 years. He works as an Principal open source Architect for Ericsson Software Technology, Finland. He holds a PhD in Computer Science. Kashif is a r... Show more

Xiaoya Xia studies how open-source communities and infrastructure evolve around emerging AI workloads and agent infra. At Ant Group, she uses ecosystem data to connect project activity with changes in AI technology and adoption. Her recent work includes the Agentic AI Landscape and research based on OpenDigger. She is a co-chair of KubeCon China 2026 and served on the Program Committees for Open Source Summit North America and Open Source Summit Japan in 2025.

Xiaoya Xia studies how open-source communities and infrastructure evolve around emerging AI workloads and agent infra. At Ant Group, she uses ecosystem data to connect project activity with changes in AI technology and adoption. Her recent work inclu... Show more

I’m a Research Ireland funded PhD candidate at Trinity College Dublin researching AI accountability standards and semantic web technology. An SPDX core contributor, I co-lead its AI working group, review specification, and maintain the NTIA Conformance Checker, spdx-python-model, and SPDX online tools.

I also created Pitloom, an AI SBOM generator creating SPDX 3 SBOM from Python projects and various AI model formats. Alongside my regulatory technology research, I volunteer with the Thai Netizen Network, a Bangkok-based digital rights group.

I’m a Research Ireland funded PhD candidate at Trinity College Dublin researching AI accountability standards and semantic web technology. An SPDX core contributor, I co-lead its AI working group, review specification, and maintain the NTIA Conforman... Show more

Osama Okunbo is a Security and Software Engineer who consults with startups and scaleups on cloud-native security, Kubernetes, and compliance. Before working in tech he competed as a professional Judoka and studied Sports Science, eventually transitioning into software engineering through game development before finding his way into cloud security and DevSecOps. He leads security engineering at Immibuddy, a Canadian immigration SaaS platform, and holds consulting clients in fintech and retail. He is the author of Hello Fraud: Why You Feel Like an Impostor in Tech and How to Fix It and holds an MSc in Cybersecurity from the University of Suffolk. He spoke at Manchester Tech Festival 2025 on agentic AI in cybersecurity.

Osama Okunbo is a Security and Software Engineer who consults with startups and scaleups on cloud-native security, Kubernetes, and compliance. Before working in tech he competed as a professional Judoka and studied Sports Science, eventually transit... Show more

Pierre E. Neis is a French‑German organizational transformation consultant, agile coach, and executive coach who has supported more than 200 organizations worldwide in their agile journeys across finance, industry, IT, the public sector, and hospitality. He is the creator of the AO (Agile Organizations) Method, a systems‑based approach that treats “Agile” as a dynamic of the organization rather than a team‑level process, and helps leaders answer the question: “What kind of Agile is your Agile?”

Author of The New Normal: AO Concepts and Patterns of 21st‑Century Agile Organizations and Swarming X4, Pierre designs adaptive, people‑centric operating models that increase coherence, cohesion, and responsiveness without burning people out. Over the last decade, he has created several practice‑oriented frameworks and serious‑game formats, including the AO transformation patterns, Swarming practices, and the Agile Animal Farm and PLöRK leadership‑through‑games workshops, which have been used by Swiss SMEs to global players.

Pierre speaks regularly at conferences such as Agile Tour, CAS (Conferencia Agile Spain), PMI Switzerland events, and other European communities, where he focuses on agile systems dynamics, AO transformation journeys, and practical patterns for moving from “doing Agile” to designing truly agile organizations. He works today as Agile Org Coach & Supervisor at Menschgeist GmbH in Switzerland, helping leadership teams, HR, and coaches design viable structures, clarify roles, and build transformations that are measurable through five experience‑based AO metrics.

Pierre E. Neis is a French‑German organizational transformation consultant, agile coach, and executive coach who has supported more than 200 organizations worldwide in their agile journeys across finance, industry, IT, the public sector, and hospital... Show more

Nizzar Ben Chekroune is a Brand Strategist and Founder of Quantum Branding, working across Brand × AI × Business. His work focuses on the decisions underneath brands, products, marketing and technology: what should change, what matters, and what deserves to exist. Through Quantum Branding, he works across brand and positioning, marketing, digital experiences, AI systems, intelligent tools and organizational adoption. His career has moved across brands, institutions, culture and emerging technology, including a deep Web3/blockchain chapter and speaking appearances at international technology and innovation events. In 2025, he worked with Africa Business School / UM6P on a strategic marketing and emerging-technology engagement involving practical AI applications and internal workshops across several operational teams. He is also the creator of BrandOS, a product built from the Quantum Branding practice.

Nizzar Ben Chekroune is a Brand Strategist and Founder of Quantum Branding, working across Brand × AI × Business. His work focuses on the decisions underneath brands, products, marketing and technology: what should change, what matters, and what dese... Show more

Mala Mahadevan is a senior database professional with over 20 years of experience working with data, primarily in SQL Server and related technologies. She has been volunteering with SQL Server community for the past 15 years and is also a recipient of the PASSion award for being an outstanding volunteer. She is a featured blogger on sqlservercentral.com and also blogs infrequently at curiousaboutdata.com.

Mala Mahadevan is a senior database professional with over 20 years of experience working with data, primarily in SQL Server and related technologies. She has been volunteering with SQL Server community for the past 15 years and is also a recipient o... Show more

Ingeniero de Software con formación académica en antropología y ciencias sociales. Interesado en las posibilidades que ofrece la inteligencia artificial generativa y el desarrollo de aplicaciones orientadas mejorar la experiencia de los seres humanos con los sistemas computacionales.

Ingeniero de Software con formación académica en antropología y ciencias sociales. Interesado en las posibilidades que ofrece la inteligencia artificial generativa y el desarrollo de aplicaciones orientadas mejorar la experiencia de los seres humanos... Show more

I'm a comic artist from Toronto who draws a lot of gay positive comics, and self publish my work! I'm also the suiter of MarshmallowMaw!

I'm a comic artist from Toronto who draws a lot of gay positive comics, and self publish my work! I'm also the suiter of MarshmallowMaw! Show more

Sana Talwar is a Product Security Engineer at ServiceNow. She works in application security and AI risk, and has experience in offensive security and penetration testing. She focuses on improving how teams build secure software at scale. Sana also teaches and mentors new talent through talks, workshops, and community work. She supports students, early career engineers, and security teams working toward stronger and more inclusive practices.

Sana Talwar is a Product Security Engineer at ServiceNow. She works in application security and AI risk, and has experience in offensive security and penetration testing. She focuses on improving how teams build secure software at scale. Sana also te... Show more

Wiebke Apitzsch is a German expert in artificial intelligence (AI), data-driven transformation, and strategic change in business and industry. She has extensive experience in designing and implementing AI initiatives at the intersection of business, technology, and organizational development, with deep experience in AI Ethics. As co-founder and CTO of the consulting firm AI.IMPACT, she supports organizations across industries in strategically embedding AI solutions and making them operationally effective.

Previously, she held leadership roles at Boston Consulting Group, TTE Strategy, and StatSoft, with a focus on data-driven decision-making models, change management, and translating analytical potential into sustainable business value. Wiebke Apitzsch is a certified Executive Coach (INSEAD), an MBA student in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at LMU Munich, and a sought-after speaker at conferences and podcasts. She is also committed to promoting diversity in the tech sector and advocates for greater visibility of women in technology-driven industries.

Wiebke Apitzsch is a German expert in artificial intelligence (AI), data-driven transformation, and strategic change in business and industry. She has extensive experience in designing and implementing AI initiatives at the intersection of business, ... Show more