Information & Communications Technology

Seasoned technologists, digital innovators, and other ICT experts, dedicated to advancing the field of information and communications technology

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

Derek Smith

Derek Smith

Derek Smith works as the Chief Architect of Cloud and Infrastructure at Apex Systems. As part of the Service Delivery Organization, he engages with clients to provide insights into the technology landscape, guidance on digital transformations and strategy for cloud and infrastructure. Additionally, Derek also regularly serves within the Azure Community as a Mentor, Public Speaker, Content Creator, and Enthusiast for all things Microsoft Cloud.

Derek Smith works as the Chief Architect of Cloud and Infrastructure at Apex Systems. As part of the Service Delivery Organization, he engages with clients to provide insights into the technology landscape, guidance on digital transformations and str... Show more

Jimmy Bogard

Jimmy Bogard

Jimmy is the creator and maintainer of the popular OSS libraries AutoMapper and MediatR, and the originator of Vertical Slice Architecture. Jimmy is an independent software consultant based in Austin, TX. Jimmy has received the "Microsoft Most Valuable Professional" (MVP) award every year since 2009.

Jimmy is the creator and maintainer of the popular OSS libraries AutoMapper and MediatR, and the originator of Vertical Slice Architecture. Jimmy is an independent software consultant based in Austin, TX. Jimmy has received the "Microsoft Most Valuab... Show more

Peter Carson

Peter Carson

Peter Carson is President of Envision IT, a 17-time Microsoft MVP with dual awards in M365 and Security, and organizer of the Toronto M365 User Group. He has led Envision IT as a Microsoft partner for 30 years and has worked with SharePoint since before its first release through to today’s work across Microsoft 365, Entra, Purview, Azure, Fabric and AI. He speaks regularly at user group meetings, conferences, and Microsoft events.

Peter Carson is President of Envision IT, a 17-time Microsoft MVP with dual awards in M365 and Security, and organizer of the Toronto M365 User Group. He has led Envision IT as a Microsoft partner for 30 years and has worked with SharePoint since bef... Show more

Nicola Guglielmi

Nicola Guglielmi

I operate at the intersection of bold vision and brilliant teams. As a Principal Cloud & AI Strategist and Fractional CTO, I partner with companies to architect future-proof cloud solutions and build the high-performing engineering teams needed to execute them.

With over a decade of hands-on experience in Digital Transformation, I specialize in Google Cloud Platform, Generative AI (Vertex AI), and complex multi-cloud architectures. I don't just talk theory, I have built Cloud Business Units from scratch and led mission-critical migrations in fast-paced sectors like Oil & Gas.
My philosophy is simple: an elite strategy is useless without an elite team to execute it, so I build the team first, knowing that the results will follow.
As a passionate advocate for open knowledge, I am a Google Cloud Authorized Trainer, a Google Developer Expert (GDE) for Cloud, and the Community Lead for GDG Campobasso.
Whether I am live-coding a Gen AI agent or sharing insights on the dynamics of engineering leadership, I bring energy, clarity, and deep real-world experience to the stage. I love connecting with people who are eager to challenge the status quo and push the boundaries of what technology can solve.

I operate at the intersection of bold vision and brilliant teams. As a Principal Cloud & AI Strategist and Fractional CTO, I partner with companies to architect future-proof cloud solutions and build the high-performing engineering teams needed to ex... 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

Louis Davidson

Louis Davidson

Louis, also known as drsql (despite the lack of any post-graduate education) is a database design fanatic and has been for over 25 years when he started writing his first book on the topic. He has been a blogger, writer, editor, speaker, and champion of the idea that if you start any project with a firm foundation, it will serve you well for years and years. You can find out more on his website at drsql.link.

Louis, also known as drsql (despite the lack of any post-graduate education) is a database design fanatic and has been for over 25 years when he started writing his first book on the topic. He has been a blogger, writer, editor, speaker, and champion... Show more

Danica Fine

Danica Fine

Danica began her career as a software engineer in financial services and pivoted to developer relations, where she focussed primarily on open source technologies such as Apache Kafka® and Apache Flink®. She now leads the open source advocacy efforts at Snowflake, supporting Apache Iceberg™ and Apache Polaris™, serves as a Jupyter Foundation Board member, and is a member of the Apache Software Foundation.

She can be found on X (Bluesky and Mastodon) @TheDanicaFine.

Danica began her career as a software engineer in financial services and pivoted to developer relations, where she focussed primarily on open source technologies such as Apache Kafka® and Apache Flink®. She now leads the open source advocacy efforts ... Show more

Henrik Rexed

Henrik Rexed

Henrik is a Cloud Native Advocate at Dynatrace, the leading Observability platform. Prior to Dynatrace, Henrik has worked more than 15 years, as Performance Engineer. Henrik Rexed Is Also one of the Organizer of the conferences named WOPR, KCD Austria and the owner of the Youtube Channel IsitObservable.

Henrik is a Cloud Native Advocate at Dynatrace, the leading Observability platform. Prior to Dynatrace, Henrik has worked more than 15 years, as Performance Engineer. Henrik Rexed Is Also one of the Organizer of the conferences named WOPR, KCD Austri... Show more

Jonathan Manrique

Jonathan Manrique

I am a digital transformation and Microsoft Business Applications professional with over 10 years of experience helping organizations improve the way they work through Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365 CRM, and Power Platform.

My focus is on turning business challenges into scalable, practical, and user-centered digital solutions. I have supported clients from multiple industries in the design and implementation of applications, process automation, CRM solutions, collaboration platforms, and low-code initiatives that drive productivity, efficiency, and business impact.

My expertise combines business process analysis, solution architecture, low-code development, team leadership, user adoption, training, and pre-sales consulting. This allows me to connect business strategy with technology execution, helping organizations not only implement solutions, but also adopt them successfully.

I am passionate about continuous learning, innovation, and community. I actively contribute to the Power Platform Community as a Super User and I am part of the Power Platform Barcelona User Group, where I collaborate, share knowledge, and support the growth of the Microsoft ecosystem.

I am a digital transformation and Microsoft Business Applications professional with over 10 years of experience helping organizations improve the way they work through Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365 CRM, and Power Platform. My focus is on turning bus... Show more

Stijn Wynants

Stijn Wynants

Stijn Wynants is the owner of Mind the Facts, where he helps organisations design and build data platforms on Microsoft Fabric and Azure. Before that, he was a Senior Product Manager for Fabric Warehouse at Microsoft, where he created and hosted the Fabric Espresso video series on YouTube. Prior to joining Microsoft, he was a Data Platform MVP. Stijn is a regular international speaker at user groups and conferences and has been active in the data community for years, including through DataMinds. He shares practical, hands-on lessons from real-world data platform projects, from warehouse design to metadata-driven architectures.

Stijn Wynants is the owner of Mind the Facts, where he helps organisations design and build data platforms on Microsoft Fabric and Azure. Before that, he was a Senior Product Manager for Fabric Warehouse at Microsoft, where he created and hosted the ... Show more

Brendan O'Leary

Brendan O'Leary

Brendan O'Leary is a Developer Relations Engineer at Kilo Code (kilocode.ai), on a mission to help people leverage AI effectively in their workflows, and is an advisor to various startups. Having worked in software his entire career, Brendan has had the privilege of working with many customers. Previously at Prefect, GitLab and a board member of the CNCF – it is clear, every company is a software company. That means every company needs software and AI operational excellence. Outside of work, you'll find Brendan with 1 to 4 kids hanging off of him at any given time or occasionally finding a moment alone to build something in his workshop.

Brendan O'Leary is a Developer Relations Engineer at Kilo Code (kilocode.ai), on a mission to help people leverage AI effectively in their workflows, and is an advisor to various startups. Having worked in software his entire career, Brendan has had ... Show more

Marko Bevc

Marko Bevc

Marko is a Principal Solutions Engineer at Kosli. He has worked in the IT industry for more than two decades and engaged with many different technologies. He currently working bridging a gap between the product and customer implementations, helping customers to automate their governance and security of SDLC. Being passionate about community diversity, equality, automation, Cloud Native and Open Source, you can also find him speaking and participating at DevOps, Cloud Native/Kubernetes and HashiCorp events. He’s an open source maintainer/contributor, problem solver, HashiCorp Ambassador, OpenUK Ambassador, AWS Community Builder and enthusiastic about emerging technologies. In his free time Marko enjoys hiking and travelling.

Marko is a Principal Solutions Engineer at Kosli. He has worked in the IT industry for more than two decades and engaged with many different technologies. He currently working bridging a gap between the product and customer implementations, helping c... Show more

Becky Bertram

Becky Bertram

Becky is the owner of Savvy Technical Solutions, a consulting company based in the St. Louis area. She helps her clients build custom solutions on the Microsoft platform of products including Microsoft 365 and the Power Platform. She's a 17-time SharePoint MVP, Microsoft Certified Trainer, and has authored numerous on-demand courses as well as Microsoft exams. Becky is married with 3 children in elementary, middle and high school. Her primary hobby is taking kids to and from after-school activities.

Becky is the owner of Savvy Technical Solutions, a consulting company based in the St. Louis area. She helps her clients build custom solutions on the Microsoft platform of products including Microsoft 365 and the Power Platform. She's a 17-time Shar... Show more

Jean Joseph

Jean Joseph

Jean Joseph is a seasoned consultant and senior technical trainer specializing in data engineering and artificial intelligence. With a strong background in database design, administration, and cutting-edge data technologies including machine learning and generative AI.

He helps organizations build secure, scalable solutions across both legacy systems and modern cloud platforms. Formerly recognized as a Microsoft MVP and senior technical trainer at Microsoft, Jean brings deep technical insight and a passion for teaching.

He’s also a dynamic speaker, mentor, and the founder of the Cloud Data Driven User Group and the Future Data Driven Summit, where he champions innovation and promotes responsible use of emerging tech within the data community.

Jean Joseph is a seasoned consultant and senior technical trainer specializing in data engineering and artificial intelligence. With a strong background in database design, administration, and cutting-edge data technologies including machine learning... Show more

Lisa Hoving

Lisa Hoving

Your friendly neighbourhood Data Engineer. My background is in Finance, but I have had the pleasure to be working in IT for the past 8 or so years. In my daily life, I design and build scalable data solutions in the Azure cloud.

Your friendly neighbourhood Data Engineer. My background is in Finance, but I have had the pleasure to be working in IT for the past 8 or so years. In my daily life, I design and build scalable data solutions in the Azure cloud. Show more

Manuel Sanchez

Manuel Sanchez

Global Chief Technology Officer of the Microsoft Alliance at NTT DATA Corp. | Microsoft MVP Azure & AI Platform.
Passionate about new technologies, highlighting Netcore , Microsoft Azure, IA, Agents 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 Chief Technology Officer of the Microsoft Alliance at NTT DATA Corp. | Microsoft MVP Azure & AI Platform. Passionate about new technologies, highlighting Netcore , Microsoft Azure, IA, Agents and ASP.NET. Passionate about team management. I ... Show more

Pascal Kiefer

Pascal Kiefer

Founder of BI Samurai and Co-Founder of Embedsy, two Switzerland-based Data & BI companies.

At BI Samurai, we specialize in all things Microsoft Fabric, with a strong focus on Power BI. Our mission is to help clients unlock the full potential of their data through innovative and effective BI solutions.

At Embedsy, we develop cutting-edge Embedded Analytics solutions using Power BI Embedded technology. After over 8 years with BI Samurai, I co-founded this software development company to take my passion for BI to the next level.

I enjoy presenting Power BI hacks—the kind of tricks and solutions that people wouldn’t believe are possible with Power BI—and showcasing some of the coolest Power BI Embedded innovations.

Founder of BI Samurai and Co-Founder of Embedsy, two Switzerland-based Data & BI companies. At BI Samurai, we specialize in all things Microsoft Fabric, with a strong focus on Power BI. Our mission is to help clients unlock the full potential of t... Show more

Vijaykumar Jangamashetti

Vijaykumar Jangamashetti

Vijaykumar Jangamashetti (VJ), is a seasoned professional with 18 years of experience in Data Analytics, Cloud, and AI. Currently a Trusted Advisor, Staff Cloud Consulting Architect, and Program Manager at Google, he specializes in guiding customers through their digital transformation journeys. VJ's expertise lies in helping customers design, architect, migrate, and modernize their infrastructure, data warehouses, and applications on Google Cloud, enabling them to fully harness the power of cloud computing. Furthermore, VJ offers valuable insights into AI and Generative AI (GenAI), empowering customers to explore new opportunities and achieve success with their AI endeavours. VJ is also a Startups Mentor in Google For Startups Accelerator (GFSA) programmme and holds Google Cloud 13X certifications.

Vijaykumar Jangamashetti (VJ), is a seasoned professional with 18 years of experience in Data Analytics, Cloud, and AI. Currently a Trusted Advisor, Staff Cloud Consulting Architect, and Program Manager at Google, he specializes in guiding customers ... Show more

Marisol Steinau

Marisol Steinau

I am a Data Solution Architect with a strong background in Microsoft technologies, specializing in data architecture, data engineering, and DevOps. Over the years, I have worked extensively with various Microsoft ERP systems, and in recent years, I have primarily focused on Dynamics 365 FSCM & CE. I am passionate about designing scalable and efficient data architectures, integrating enterprise data platforms, and optimizing data workflows. My experience spans across on-premises and cloud-based solutions,
with a deep focus on Microsoft Fabric, Azure, and modern data platforms. I love sharing my knowledge through speaking engagements and helping organizations unlock the full potential of their data.

I am a Data Solution Architect with a strong background in Microsoft technologies, specializing in data architecture, data engineering, and DevOps. Over the years, I have worked extensively with various Microsoft ERP systems, and in recent years, I h... Show more

Michael Collier

Michael Collier

Michael Collier is a Principal Architect at Centric Consulting with over 20 years of experience designing and delivering scalable, cloud-native solutions. A Microsoft MVP and recognized expert in Microsoft Azure, Michael brings deep expertise in solution architecture, technical leadership, and improving the developer experience. He thrives at the intersection of architecture, engineering, and strategy, helping teams navigate complexity, adopt modern cloud practices, and deliver impact at scale.

Michael Collier is a Principal Architect at Centric Consulting with over 20 years of experience designing and delivering scalable, cloud-native solutions. A Microsoft MVP and recognized expert in Microsoft Azure, Michael brings deep expertise in solu... 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

Hussein Loubani

Hussein Loubani

I am an AI Engineer at CIAD, where I build AI systems designed to hold up outside a demo, from real-time perception for autonomous vehicles to agentic workflows wired into real tools and data. The part of AI I care about most is what happens after the prototype, when a model meets messy input, tight deadlines, and users who expect it to work every time.

I speak internationally on AI agents, reliability, evaluation, and designing APIs and tools machines can use correctly. Recent and upcoming stages include Build Stuff in Vilnius, FOST Paris by Apidays, Apidays Munich, Voxxed Days Luxembourg, DutchAICon, IEEE ICRA in Vienna, and JCON OpenBlend in Slovenia. Every talk I give comes from systems I built and broke myself, so the content stays practical, honest, and useful for people who ship.

I also co-organize Google Developer Group communities in France, where I run hands-on AI code labs helping beginners build their first working AI project.

I am an AI Engineer at CIAD, where I build AI systems designed to hold up outside a demo, from real-time perception for autonomous vehicles to agentic workflows wired into real tools and data. The part of AI I care about most is what happens after th... Show more

Ben Dechrai

Ben Dechrai

Ben has spent more than 20 years helping companies improve how they build software, more recently including the practical aspects of agentic engineering: getting tools like Claude Code to deliver production-quality work rather than demos, structuring repos, prompts and workflows so the output is effective, resilient, and secure. Underpinning this is his personal experience in building and shipping product, from decades of work in application security and identity, to being an early creator of autonomous development processes with agents that have shared memory and evals processes that provide guardrails. He's worked with companies like Virgin Australia, Hanes, Auth0, and Sonar, is a Microsoft MVP and has given 100+ talks on six continents, including DEF CON.

Ben has spent more than 20 years helping companies improve how they build software, more recently including the practical aspects of agentic engineering: getting tools like Claude Code to deliver production-quality work rather than demos, structuring... Show more

Maik van der Gaag

Maik van der Gaag

Maik van der Gaag is the Head of Technology - Microsoft at Databalance, an experienced consultancy and MSP company with a strong focus on the Microsoft. He has over 20 years of experience providing architecture, development, training, and design expertise. During this, he has worked in various projects ranging from Cloud Transformations to DevOps implementations.

He loves to share knowledge, is a public speaker, writes blogs, and organizes events. Microsoft has recognized him as a Microsoft Azure MVP.

If you want to learn more about him or his expertise, check out his blog (https://msftplayground.com).

Maik van der Gaag is the Head of Technology - Microsoft at Databalance, an experienced consultancy and MSP company with a strong focus on the Microsoft. He has over 20 years of experience providing architecture, development, training, and design expe... Show more

Chris Woody Woodruff

Chris Woody Woodruff

Chris “Woody” Woodruff has spent more than 25 years making complex software simpler. A Microsoft MVP in .NET and Web Development (first awarded 2008, re-awarded 2025) and a director on the .NET Foundation board, he has architected distributed systems for companies from startups to Rocket Mortgage, served as a software forensics expert witness, and taught thousands of developers through 50+ conference talks across North America and Europe.

He is the author of ASP.NET Core Reimagined with htmx and is writing a second book on network programming with C# and .NET. He co-hosts The Breakpoint Show podcast and publishes The Simplicity-First Review, a newsletter on architecture judgment in the age of AI.

Today, Woody works as a fractional architect and leads the emerging practice of Agentic Relations™, helping companies make their APIs, documentation, and SDKs legible to AI coding agents like Claude, Copilot, and Cursor. His thesis is constant across all of it: as AI writes more of the world’s software, the scarce skill is knowing what not to build. He lives in West Michigan and takes his bourbon neat

Chris “Woody” Woodruff has spent more than 25 years making complex software simpler. A Microsoft MVP in .NET and Web Development (first awarded 2008, re-awarded 2025) and a director on the .NET Foundation board, he has architected distributed systems... Show more

Kathryn Grayson Nanz

Kathryn Grayson Nanz

In 2013, I graduated with a BFA and took my first job as a Junior Graphic Designer at a small, boutique ad agency. While there, my Creative Director warned me to never let anyone find out I could code, because if I did I'd be stuck doing it forever. I ignored his warning; it turns out he was completely right, but I've never been happier.

I currently work as a developer advocate on a wonderful team where I help people build web applications in React, design and maintain their UI component libraries, and desperately attempt to stop back-end devs from writing any more CSS.

In 2013, I graduated with a BFA and took my first job as a Junior Graphic Designer at a small, boutique ad agency. While there, my Creative Director warned me to never let anyone find out I could code, because if I did I'd be stuck doing it forever. ... Show more

Lemon 🍋

Lemon 🍋

With a lifelong passion for the weirdness of the internet and a day job as a development lead for whoever hired him, Lemon spends his professional time making websites for money and his free time making websites for no money.

He's created a number of stupid things for the internet, like all the games on kinda.fun, the wikiHow guessing game damn.dog, the Google Autocomplete game idiots.win, and a bunch of other things of questionable use. He also hosts a podcast that looks at some of the internet's weirder subcultures. It is not safe for your work, unless you work somewhere really cool.

With a lifelong passion for the weirdness of the internet and a day job as a development lead for whoever hired him, Lemon spends his professional time making websites for money and his free time making websites for no money. He's created a number... Show more

Jeremy Meiss

Jeremy Meiss

Jeremy is an international speaker and is a Technical Solution Architect, AI Native, at WWT, previously leading Developer Advocacy at OneStream Software, CircleCI, Solace, and Auth0. He has spent over 30 years in Tech, covering just about every functional area, including support, system and database administration, application and web development, project management, program management, and systems analysis. Jeremy is active in the DevRel and DevOps communities, a co-creator of DevOpsPartyGames, and an organizer for DevOpsDays Kansas City and CommunityDays KC. A lover of all things coffee, community, open source, and tech, he’s also house-broken, and (generally) plays well with others.

Jeremy is an international speaker and is a Technical Solution Architect, AI Native, at WWT, previously leading Developer Advocacy at OneStream Software, CircleCI, Solace, and Auth0. He has spent over 30 years in Tech, covering just about every funct... Show more

Leonardo Cavagnis

Leonardo Cavagnis

Since 2023, I have been working as a firmware engineer at Arduino, contributing to the development of innovative hardware and software solutions.
I hold a Master's Degree in Computer Engineering from Politecnico di Milano, specializing in embedded systems. Before joining Arduino, I gained experience in various fields, including industrial, automotive, and green mobility.
Passionate about technical writing and traveling, I am always seeking new experiences and knowledge.

Since 2023, I have been working as a firmware engineer at Arduino, contributing to the development of innovative hardware and software solutions. I hold a Master's Degree in Computer Engineering from Politecnico di Milano, specializing in embedded s... Show more

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