Humanities & Social Sciences

Esteemed speakers contributing their insights into human culture, behavior, and societal development

Nick Nisi

Nick Nisi

Nick Nisi is an elite software engineer who is a veteran of open source web development, a lover of karaoke, an advocate for diversity in tech, a conference organizer extraordinaire, a lover of new experiences, and a beacon of expertise, kindness and hope for his development team.

Nick Nisi is an elite software engineer who is a veteran of open source web development, a lover of karaoke, an advocate for diversity in tech, a conference organizer extraordinaire, a lover of new experiences, and a beacon of expertise, kindness and... Show more

Damien Douani

Damien Douani

Damien Douani accompagne les organisations dans leurs mutations numériques depuis 25 ans. Il est le confondateur du cabinet topos, dont la promesse est de "Pratice the Future".

Pédagogue des technologies, creative avant-gardiste, il interroge notre rapport aux technologies et ce que cela dit de nous. Fin connaisseur des mécanismes d'innovation et de leurs adoptions (ou de leurs rejets), il utilise la pédagogie pour faire comprendre les enjeux complexes des technologies au plus grand nombre, et conçoit des formats et méthodes pour stimuler le passage à l'action.

Classé parmi les pionniers d'Internet en France dans l'ouvrage "Le Web Français" (Dunod) et dans le top 100 des acteurs du numérique en France, il intervient régulièrement dans Tech&Co (BFM Business), les pocasts Silicon Carne et Les Éclaireurs du Numérique. De nombreux autres médias font appel à son expertise pour éclairer les transformations en cours — avec passion, clarté, et une touche de piquant.

Damien Douani accompagne les organisations dans leurs mutations numériques depuis 25 ans. Il est le confondateur du cabinet topos, dont la promesse est de "Pratice the Future". Pédagogue des technologies, creative avant-gardiste, il interroge not... Show more

Nicole "PxL VxN" Stephan Smith

Nicole "PxL VxN" Stephan Smith

Nicole "Pixel Vixen" Smith is a creative agile production & team development leader with 15+ years speaking, training, and coaching global tech and game teams through the evolving landscape of hybrid delivery and design thinking in games applied anywhere. With roots in AAA multiplayer games publishing, enterprise agile coaching, and live-service operations, Nicole specializes in hands-on partnerships to create customized Agile approaches aligning creative, technical, and organizational goals.

Her work focusing on frequent delivery for user feedback, neuro-inclusive facilitation, and leadership psychological safety has scaled teams' product goals into pixel-sized improvements while building strong team-to-leader feedback loops. Whether facilitating cross-functional alignment or mentoring producers and product managers through ambiguity, Nicole brings clarity, empathy, and a deep belief in meeting teams where they are around the globe...all with some fun nerdy jokes and visualization techniques mixed in.

Nicole holds several IC-Agile and Scrum certifications and is currently completing her Expert-level coaching certification from IC-Agile. Nicole has spoken at several Agile20xx conferences, LEAN Agile Scotland, Global Scrum Gathering Cape Town South Africa, and beyond, receiving high reviews each time.

Nicole mentors aspiring video game producers, artists, product managers, and program managers in her spare time while teaching game, publishing, and creative production strategies in the evenings.

Nicole "Pixel Vixen" Smith is a creative agile production & team development leader with 15+ years speaking, training, and coaching global tech and game teams through the evolving landscape of hybrid delivery and design thinking in games applied anyw... Show more

Kris Manché

Kris Manché

Kris Manche (Dr BC) is a seasoned BC expert with 25 years of continuous experience. Starting in tech support at Navision HQ, Kris became a leading authority in recovering failed implementations at AU’s largest partners. He later founded, grew, and sold a top-performing VAR to a leading European distributor.

Kris has re-engineered hundreds of organizations and has developed & implemented many addons for many industries. Kris has deep technical and functional knowledge of complex business processes, ERP delivery and organizational transformation. Kris founded DIY-ERP to build the ultimate Business Central Implementation Toolkit for partners and customers. The toolkit distils 300+ implementations worth of expertise into configuration templates, quoting tools, data migration processes, scope controls, client training assets, and assisted go-live automation — all designed to remove risk, increase outcomes and value, and make implementations a repeatable, scalable, and value added service for partners.

Our approach empowers partners to focus on value-added outcomes instead of rework, and clients to take ownership of their ERP journey. The result? Better adoption, stronger Microsoft stack utilization (Teams, Power Platform, Power BI, Shopify), and increased partner services in Modern Work and beyond.

Kris Focus is to enable new partners and customers to be instantly successful with Business Central, drastically transforming outcomes and Time to Value, filling the disconnect between vendor and partner support. DIY-ERP aim is to help Microsoft, Partners and Customers globally to change the way BC is implemented for the better. It's time for Change from ERP Implementations designed in the 70's

Kris Manche (Dr BC) is a seasoned BC expert with 25 years of continuous experience. Starting in tech support at Navision HQ, Kris became a leading authority in recovering failed implementations at AU’s largest partners. He later founded, grew, and so... Show more

Benoît Pilorget

Benoît Pilorget

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Who is Benoît?
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤

With 9 years' experience managing complex collaborative projects, including 3 as PO, I know that any project can turn into a Tower of Babel...
I also know that I don't know anything, even though I can forget this fact from time to time :)

So let's hear each other out, let's communicate and together we just might end up creating a cool product!

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Has he ever given any talk?
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤

Yes, I gave a talk at the Agile tour in Lyon and did a Linkedin Live show in 2024.

¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ Who is Benoît? ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ With 9 years' experience managing complex collaborative projects, including 3 as PO, I know that any project can turn into a Tower of Babel... I also know that I don't know anything, even thou... Show more

Elias Mokole

Elias Mokole

Harness the Power of Your Voice to Build Trust, Inspire Action, and Lead with Confidence

Elias Mokole is a keynote speaker, voice coach, and former opera singer with over 800 performances worldwide. With two decades of experience spanning vocal performance, communication strategy, and leadership training, Elias helps professionals develop a powerful, authentic presence that resonates—onstage, on-screen, or in the boardroom.

He works with leaders, analysts, educators, and teams to elevate how they speak, listen, and connect. Whether facilitating high-stakes conversations or leading global workshops, Elias brings together technical voice training and emotional intelligence to help clients communicate with clarity, credibility, and calm.

At the 2025 BA & Beyond Conference in Denmark and the Netherlands, Elias delivered sessions on vocal resilience and presence in change-driven environments, receiving praise for his engaging exercises, real-world voice tools, and memorable delivery.

Elias holds an MFA in Voice & Performance and blends artistic discipline with practical leadership insights. Through interactive keynotes, voice-based coaching, and applied storytelling, he helps people use their voice not just to be heard—but to move others.

Harness the Power of Your Voice to Build Trust, Inspire Action, and Lead with Confidence Elias Mokole is a keynote speaker, voice coach, and former opera singer with over 800 performances worldwide. With two decades of experience spanning vocal pe... Show more

Thomas Scola

Thomas Scola

Thomas Scola, founder and CEO of The Bluefly Collective (Bluefly.io), brings over 20 years of industry expertise to digital solutions in Drupal and AI technologies. A former Acquia leader and pioneer of the Collaborative Impact Model, Thomas merges technical excellence with organizational innovation inspired by open-source principles. Since co-founding the Maine Drupal User Group in 2007, he has championed human-centric approaches that transform both technological implementations and organizational structures.

Thomas Scola, founder and CEO of The Bluefly Collective (Bluefly.io), brings over 20 years of industry expertise to digital solutions in Drupal and AI technologies. A former Acquia leader and pioneer of the Collaborative Impact Model, Thomas merges t... Show more

Nyah Macklin

Nyah Macklin

Nyah Macklin is a Senior Developer Advocate at Neo4j, specializing in GraphRAG, knowledge graphs, and AI-driven developer tooling. An internationally recognized speaker, content creator, and advocate for ethical AI governance, Nyah has built high-impact technical communities and led initiatives that advance a critical understanding of AI and its use cases. They are also the Founder & CTO of Afros in AI, a technical community dedicated to showcasing the multifaceted nature of artificial intelligence. Beyond Nyah's technical expertise, Nyah has a background in government leadership and technology policy, having served as Chief of Staff in the U.S. state government, where they helped shape tech-driven legislative initiatives and equity-driven legislation. When not immersed in their work, Nyah cares about empowering, teaching, and tutoring engineers, live-streaming technical deep dives, and building open-source tools that make software more accessible, explainable, and community-driven.

Nyah Macklin is a Senior Developer Advocate at Neo4j, specializing in GraphRAG, knowledge graphs, and AI-driven developer tooling. An internationally recognized speaker, content creator, and advocate for ethical AI governance, Nyah has built high-imp... Show more

Arne Mertz

Arne Mertz

Arne Mertz has been working with modern and not-so-modern C++ codebases for over 15 years in various kinds of embedded and enterprise contexts. He is a mentor and teacher for clean code and modern C++ for colleagues and customers at Zühlke Engineering. Since 2015 he has written more or less frequently about those topics on his blog "Simplify C++!"

Arne Mertz has been working with modern and not-so-modern C++ codebases for over 15 years in various kinds of embedded and enterprise contexts. He is a mentor and teacher for clean code and modern C++ for colleagues and customers at Zühlke Engineerin... Show more

Omid Motamedisedeh

Omid Motamedisedeh

Phd student in QUT, Australia and author of book : The Ultimate Guide to Functions in Power Query: Turn Raw Data into Actionable Insights

Phd student in QUT, Australia and author of book : The Ultimate Guide to Functions in Power Query: Turn Raw Data into Actionable Insights Show more

Mirek Biňas

Mirek Biňas

Works at TUKE.SK, where he (un)successfully tries to deploy containers directly into the process of automated testing of student assignments and into teaching in the field of the Internet of Things. He also regularly trains new DevOps engineers, whom he attempts (with varying degrees of success) to introduce to the world of containers and orchestration. When he’s had enough of everything and everyone, he grabs a container, throws it on his back, and escapes into the wilderness for a few hours, days, or weeks.

Works at TUKE.SK, where he (un)successfully tries to deploy containers directly into the process of automated testing of student assignments and into teaching in the field of the Internet of Things. He also regularly trains new DevOps engineers, whom... Show more

Brian Alementi

Brian Alementi

Brian Alementi is an acclaimed Inspirational Keynote Speaker, award-winning leader, and certified Master Trainer renowned for engaging presentations that combine inspiration with practical, actionable insights. With a rich background in guiding and elevating teams, Brian brings his experience as a previous leader within a Fortune 500 company’s Hall of Fame learning and development division, where his dedication to growth and excellence shaped high-performing teams across the organization. His impact reaches far and wide, with numerous features on major television networks and invitations to speak on prominent stages, including TEDx. Brian’s influence continues to expand as he empowers audiences to unlock their full potential and achieve remarkable results.

His sessions blend dynamic energy, expertise, and actionable takeaways, making them impactful and memorable. His MVP Performance Model aligns individual drive with team goals, creating a foundation for extraordinary achievement. With his PG3 Leadership Model, Brian cultivates a culture of resilience, collaboration, and growth within organizations. In addition, his inspirational talk focuses on the importance of unleashing the magic within individuals and teams to elevate a positive growth mindset for success. These frameworks enable companies to positively shape their culture to boost productivity, morale, and performance.

With over three decades of public speaking experience, he has empowered audiences by delivering transformative sessions that provide clear, practical strategies for enhancing productivity and connection. Known for his infectious energy and authentic delivery, Brian resonates across industries, making his sessions both unforgettable and actionable.

A testament to his commitment, Brian’s personal life reflects the drive and resilience he talks to. With the accomplishment of completing several marathons, a strong marriage of over twenty years, and the joy of raising two remarkable children, Brian brings a genuine authenticity to every talk, inspiring audiences to pursue their goals with passion and purpose

Brian Alementi is an acclaimed Inspirational Keynote Speaker, award-winning leader, and certified Master Trainer renowned for engaging presentations that combine inspiration with practical, actionable insights. With a rich background in guiding and e... Show more

Manoel Pimentel

Manoel Pimentel

Manoel Pimentel - Possui uma trajetória de pioneirismo com agilidade e complexidade. Teve trabalhos de grande destaque envolvendo a disciplina Agile Coaching, como a publicação do livro The Agile Coaching DNA, e introduzindo o conceito de plasticidade organizacional para comunidades e organizações. Na Austrália, esteve envolvido em iniciativas de transformação nas áreas financeira e de tecnologia de defesa militar, onde utilizou complexidade aplicada como base do seu trabalho. Mais recentemente foi Diretor de Business Agility para Americas da consultoria alemã GFT.

Manoel Pimentel - Possui uma trajetória de pioneirismo com agilidade e complexidade. Teve trabalhos de grande destaque envolvendo a disciplina Agile Coaching, como a publicação do livro The Agile Coaching DNA, e introduzindo o conceito de plasticidad... Show more

Jessica Katz

Jessica Katz

Jessica Katz is passionate about the development of consent-filled environments, accelerating organizational growth, and enhancing effective leadership. She leverages her deep expertise in navigating complex, non-traditional relationships to revolutionize the world of work and champion diversity of thought. Specializing in establishing clear boundaries and effective communication, she provides strategic guidance to leaders tackling challenging workplace dynamics, ensuring mutual respect and maximizing productivity within their teams.

Jessica Katz is passionate about the development of consent-filled environments, accelerating organizational growth, and enhancing effective leadership. She leverages her deep expertise in navigating complex, non-traditional relationships to revoluti... Show more

Eriol Fox

Eriol Fox

Eriol has been working as a designer for 10+ years working in for-profits and then NGO's and open-source software organisations, working on complex problems like sustainable food systems, peace-building and crisis response technology. Eriol now works at Superbloom design, research, open-source and technology projects.

Eriol is a part-time funded PhD researcher at Newcastle University's Open Lab looking at how designers participate in humanitarian and human rights focussed open-source software projects.

They are also part of the core teams at Open Source Design (http://opensourcedesign.net/) and Human Rights Centred Design working group (https://hrcd.pubpub.org/) and Sustain UX & Design working group (https://sustainoss.org/working-groups/design-and-ux/) and help hosts podcast about open source and design (https://sosdesign.sustainoss.org/)

Eriol is a non-binary, queer person who uses they/them pronouns.

Eriol has been working as a designer for 10+ years working in for-profits and then NGO's and open-source software organisations, working on complex problems like sustainable food systems, peace-building and crisis response technology. Eriol now works... Show more

Chanel Adams

Chanel Adams

Chanél D. Adams is the founder of The Borderline Crisis and creator of Healing Pages, a transformative journal designed to help people with complex trauma and borderline personality disorder reconnect with their bodies, stories, and sense of sacred purpose. Through a unique blend of trauma-informed care, depth psychology, and soulful creativity, her work invites others into a safe, expansive space where healing is not just about symptom relief—but soul retrieval.

Certified in Trauma-Informed Coaching through The Centre for Healing, Chanél brings both professional training and lived experience to her work. As someone who has navigated the depths of severe BPD and complex trauma, she guides others with a rare combination of clinical understanding and personal insight. Her writing is deeply informed by somatic practices, archetypal psychology, and positive psychology, helping others reframe their struggles as initiations into deeper meaning and transformation.

She is also a guest contributor for the CPTSD Foundation, where she shares practices that help trauma survivors regulate their nervous systems, rebuild trust with their bodies, and access the healing power of writing. Her journal Healing Pages and upcoming workshop series create sacred containers for people—especially women navigating the aftermath of trauma—to rediscover their creative spirit, establish boundaries with compassion, and return home to themselves.

With a voice that is both grounded and visionary, Chanél offers a much-needed alternative to the pathologizing frameworks of mainstream mental health. Her message is clear: true healing is nonlinear, deeply personal, and always possible when we dare to face our pain with both tenderness and truth.

Chanél D. Adams is the founder of The Borderline Crisis and creator of Healing Pages, a transformative journal designed to help people with complex trauma and borderline personality disorder reconnect with their bodies, stories, and sense of sacred p... Show more

Kolapo Imam

Kolapo Imam

Kolapo Imam is the Founder and Lead Facilitator at Prodcademy, an institute focused on raising the next generation of Product Leaders. He is a Product Manager with experience in building API products that power payments, virtual accounts, and funds transfer across Africa. His work focuses on developer experience, product strategy, and cross-functional delivery of scalable fintech infrastructure.

Prior to this, Kolapo served as a Product Marketing Manager at Nexford University, leading initiatives across product adoption, B2B positioning, and competitive intelligence. He has also worked in product and growth roles at PropertyPro Nigeria, Versus Africa, and through multiple consulting projects.

With a unique background spanning product marketing, technical product management, and tech sales, Kolapo brings a deep understanding of how to build and position business, enterprise and consumer products for growth. In 2022, he was nominated by HackerNoon for Product Management, Business Growth and Strategy.

Kolapo Imam is the Founder and Lead Facilitator at Prodcademy, an institute focused on raising the next generation of Product Leaders. He is a Product Manager with experience in building API products that power payments, virtual accounts, and funds t... Show more

Leontin Čapo Milenić

Leontin Čapo Milenić

Leontin Čapo Milenić, poznat i po autorskom pseudonimu Eric Johansson, hrvatski je književnik, lektor, glazbenik i prevoditelj. Član je Društva hrvatskih književnika, a po struci je magistar hrvatskog jezika, književnosti i povijesti. Sa svojim bendom Lyran Lions je napravio prvu eurovizijsku navijačku himnu kao podršku glazbeniku Baby Lasagni.
Piše i objavljuje fantasy, horor i SF romane i priče, nerijetko s elementima humora, satire i groteske. Objavljuje priče i pjesme u časopisima i zbirkama u Hrvatskoj, Srbiji, Sloveniji, Sjevernoj Makedoniji i Bosni i Hercegovini.
Objavio je žanrovske knjige Kordina šaka (Edicije Božičević, 2011), Izlet smrti (Udruga Krug knjiga, 2019), Kraljevstvo nade (Hangar 7, 2020) i Djeca crnih očiju (Planjax Komerc, 2021), "Kordine kronike - Magija alkohola" (Zagrebačka naklada, 2022), "Posljednji princ Lire" (Planjax Komerc, 2022), Put za nikamo (Planjax Komerc, 2025.)

Leontin Čapo Milenić, poznat i po autorskom pseudonimu Eric Johansson, hrvatski je književnik, lektor, glazbenik i prevoditelj. Član je Društva hrvatskih književnika, a po struci je magistar hrvatskog jezika, književnosti i povijesti. Sa svojim bendo... Show more

Ghizlane Aroussi

Ghizlane Aroussi

Hi there !
For the past five years, I've been on a rewarding journey as an engineering manager—leading teams, learning continuously, and striving to make work just a little more human (and fun!).
Before stepping into management, I rolled up my sleeves as a 3D developer then a full stack engineer, building web and mobile experiences and solving bugs :)

Today, I have the joy (and sometimes the challenge!) of managing both a vibrant team of software engineers and a dynamic group of RPA engineers. My mission? To design reliable and scalable systems and to foster a culture where experimentation is encouraged and where everyone feels they’re in the right place.

People, communication patterns, and the ever-evolving world of work fascinate me. I’m especially intrigued by how AI will reshape our jobs.

At PayFit, I’m currently navigating our transition to Domain-Driven Design while experimenting with team topologies, the 360 impact on the organization business, people and tech wise is fascinating.

I believe in tackling technical debt gracefully and my goal is to do so while delivering business value and empowering teams to take ownership and make decisions.

More than happy to share my learnings and acquire new ideas on the way!

Hi there ! For the past five years, I've been on a rewarding journey as an engineering manager—leading teams, learning continuously, and striving to make work just a little more human (and fun!). Before stepping into management, I rolled up my sl... Show more

Yen Kha

Yen Kha

"Transforming Justice through Applied AI and Legal Innovation"

Highly accomplished technical leader with 10+ years of experience in architecting, delivering, and optimizing large-scale, cloud-native infrastructure that accelerates business growth and innovation. Expertise spans cloud computing, including AWS, Azure, and GCP, as well as a continually growing presence in the AI landscape, with a focus on LLM, NLP, and ongoing education through certifications and courses. A lifelong self-learner with drive and ambition.

Successfully driven numerous greenfield projects from inception to scale, working with organizations ranging from startups to large corporations with 88,000+ employees, focusing on designing, building, and automating data and software architecture platforms in the cloud and AI spaces. Dedicated to fostering inclusive, high-performing teams and advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in tech.

Currently, a Co-Founder of Justice for All (j4all), a legal AI-driven platform revolutionizing the justice ecosystem by expanding access to legal services and transforming equal justice. Also contributing technical expertise to Stanford CodeX's legal AI platform and serving as a core contributor to InnerSource Commons Foundation. Passionate about leveraging AI and technology to drive innovation, create lasting impact, and promote social good

"Transforming Justice through Applied AI and Legal Innovation" Highly accomplished technical leader with 10+ years of experience in architecting, delivering, and optimizing large-scale, cloud-native infrastructure that accelerates business growth ... Show more

Liliana Bermùdez

Liliana Bermùdez

Egresada de la Universidad del Rosario, Colombia. Es consultora, Coach y Trainer. Se radicó en Buenos Aires. Está acreditada como Máster Coach por AACOP, FICOP y el Instituto de Estudios Integrales. Formada en Psicología con orientación en Neurociencia Cognitiva, es Especialista en Docencia Universitaria y Entrenadora de Liderazgo Transformacional certificada. Facilitadora en la Akademia BsAs y se dedica a la transformación personal hace más de 18 años.

Egresada de la Universidad del Rosario, Colombia. Es consultora, Coach y Trainer. Se radicó en Buenos Aires. Está acreditada como Máster Coach por AACOP, FICOP y el Instituto de Estudios Integrales. Formada en Psicología con orientación en Neurocienc... Show more

David Michael

David Michael

Hi, I'm David, working as a Healthcare Manager at Peaceful Home Care. As a Healthcare Manager, I manage the planning and operations of healthcare facilities like clinics, hospitals, and nursing homes. My specific roles include overseeing particular departments like surgery, nursing, or physical therapy, to managing entire organizations. Additionally, I am also responsible for managing budgets, supervising staff, implementing policies, and more.

Hi, I'm David, working as a Healthcare Manager at Peaceful Home Care. As a Healthcare Manager, I manage the planning and operations of healthcare facilities like clinics, hospitals, and nursing homes. My specific roles include overseeing particular d... Show more

Ken Chase

Ken Chase

Ken Chase has over 25 years of experience working with Microsoft technologies related to infrastructure and end user computing. He has worked with and led teams that have spanned multiple geographic areas and whose team members have spanned generational, geographical, and social differences. Ken is married and with his wife shares the joy of raising four daughters. Ken takes joy in being active in his community by supporting the local schools and politics.

Ken Chase has over 25 years of experience working with Microsoft technologies related to infrastructure and end user computing. He has worked with and led teams that have spanned multiple geographic areas and whose team members have spanned generatio... Show more

Jean-Marc Bouillon

Jean-Marc Bouillon

With a background in engineering, management, research and mediation, and 35+ years in industry, I bring a systems approach to complex transitions. My focus lies in low plastic trajectories and in how decentralized technologies foster trust, collaboration, and ethics in industrial ecosystems. This work aligns with my commitment to permaindustry—a regenerative framework inspired by nature to advance sufficiency, circularity, and resilience.

With a background in engineering, management, research and mediation, and 35+ years in industry, I bring a systems approach to complex transitions. My focus lies in low plastic trajectories and in how decentralized technologies foster trust, collabor... Show more

Elayna Fernandez

Elayna Fernandez

Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award recipient for her commitment to empowering people to break cycles, find peace, and feel whole, Dr. Elayna Fernández has been an influential Storyteller and Story Strategist for over 20 years. As a Student of Pain and multiple-trauma survivor, she has spoken on prestigious stages worldwide, including TEDx and the United Nations. She’s the bestselling author of The Gifts of Pain series, creator of the S.T.O.R.Y. System for Transformational Storytellers, and visionary behind the Transformational STORYtellers Community, where she teaches impact-centered leaders how to harness the power of storytelling to invite transformation.

Dr. Elayna’s work has been featured in global media, including FORBES, The Wall Street Journal, Entrepreneur, SUCCESS Magazine, Inc., Authority Magazine, KTLA, NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX, Yahoo!, CNN en Español, the CW, Real Leaders, Entrepreneur on Fire, Reader’s Digest, The Huffington Post, Scary Mommy, Univision, Thrive Global, Telemundo, LATINA, Good Morning America, BRAINZ Magazine, Despierta America, and more! She’s a contributing writer for Entrepreneur.com. She’s also been named one of the Top Latina Influencers in the USA and named one of the Top 125 Impactful Leaders and a Woman of Influence by SUCCESS Magazine.

To learn more, visit thepositivemom.com/ef, connect on LinkedIn, and follow her @thepositivemom.

Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award recipient for her commitment to empowering people to break cycles, find peace, and feel whole, Dr. Elayna Fernández has been an influential Storyteller and Story Strategist for over 20 years. As a Student of Pa... Show more

Phil Ledgerwood

Phil Ledgerwood

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

Tom Ridge

Tom Ridge

Tom Ridge is a father of 4, an engineer, and long time remote worker and leader.

When he does find a scrap of time, he's known to run a D&D game or three.

Tom Ridge is a father of 4, an engineer, and long time remote worker and leader. When he does find a scrap of time, he's known to run a D&D game or three. Show more

Rafael Riva Finatti

Rafael Riva Finatti

Pai da Cecília e do Inácio, esposo da Ana Lúcia, membro da Comunidade de Vida Cristã (CVX), curitibano e sofredor do Coritiba. Desde a pandemia, optou por morar na zona rural de Piraquara (Região Metropolitana da capital paranaense), onde cria galinhas, joga bola com os filhos, colhe amoras, figos e Physalis e está cavando (bem aos poucos!) um pequeno lago para os futuros gansos da família. Jornalista e economista, sempre trabalhou em organizações com forte impacto social. Atualmente, é responsável por ajudar o Grupo Marista, uma instituição de mais de 7 mil colaboradores e com uma história bicentenária, em sua estratégia ESG, articulando iniciativas transversais e proprietárias das Frentes de Missão (unidades de negócio) PUCPR, Saúde, FTD Educação e Centro Marista de Defesa da Infância; e monitorando indicadores e avaliando a evolução da maturidade - sempre procurando nutrir uma mentalidade ágil, com foco nas pessoas, na entrega de valor e na melhoria contínua.

Pai da Cecília e do Inácio, esposo da Ana Lúcia, membro da Comunidade de Vida Cristã (CVX), curitibano e sofredor do Coritiba. Desde a pandemia, optou por morar na zona rural de Piraquara (Região Metropolitana da capital paranaense), onde cria galinh... Show more

Gabriel Vaz

Gabriel Vaz

Husband, Father, Speaker, Coach, Co-author.
Luana's husband for 18 years, the most beautiful woman on earth.
Father of 6 (yes, I have a Squad indoors).
Corporate speaker on Productivity, Career, Agile Methods. (on Agile Trends since 2018)

I have already worked in an Agile Transformation directly developing 26 agilists + 14 leaders and indirectly 160 leaders.

There are more than 9,000 students on Udemy, and many more on Hotmart, Sympla.
Co-author in the Collaborative Journey of the books Product, Remote Work, Career Transition, Lean and others.
He is co-founder of Cocrie.org, agile courses for those who can't afford it.

Apply Scrum / Kanban / Values / Agile Principles since 2010 in all my circles: Shalom Catholic Community, Spread, CAIXA, Homeschooling, Claro, INCRA, Ministry of Education, UNESCO, etc.

ITIL certified in 2010, PSM I in 2014, PMP 2018, PSM II in 2019, PACC Expert, KMP (KSD and KSI), KCP (KMM), OKR (2023).

Husband, Father, Speaker, Coach, Co-author. Luana's husband for 18 years, the most beautiful woman on earth. Father of 6 (yes, I have a Squad indoors). Corporate speaker on Productivity, Career, Agile Methods. (on Agile Trends since 2018) I hav... Show more

Afolake Odubote

Afolake Odubote

As a dynamic Product Designer and Product Owner, I’ve led the end-to-end design and strategy of transformative digital products across Africa, US and in the UK. I previously served as a Product Designer at Torus Mara, where I crafted inclusive fintech and crypto payment experiences that power economic freedom. I also lead product at Lovebox Africa, a tech for good platform reimagining community giving. From scaling early concepts into polished, user-centered platforms to overseeing agile product teams, my work reflects a deep commitment to intentional design, cultural relevance, and high-performance product systems. I’m passionate about creating scalable solutions that solve real-world problems while enabling underserved users to thrive.

I’m also an open-source contributor with Women Coding Community, where I volunteer and collaborate on inclusive tech solutions, and a design mentor at Veet, empowering aspiring designers and product owners across the globe. My prior speaking engagements span product strategy, design systems, tech-for-good, and community-led innovation. I bring fresh, global insight into building cross-cultural, impact-driven digital products, and I’m driven to share this knowledge to inspire the next generation of product leaders. Whether on stage or in workshops, I deliver talks that prompt, equip, and empower audiences to build boldly and build products that solve real life problems.

As a dynamic Product Designer and Product Owner, I’ve led the end-to-end design and strategy of transformative digital products across Africa, US and in the UK. I previously served as a Product Designer at Torus Mara, where I crafted inclusive fintec... Show more

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