As founder, CEO, and editor-in-chief of Techstrong Group, Alan manages a broad array of businesses and brands including Techstrong Media, Techstrong Live, Techstrong Research, Devops.com, Security Boulevard, Techstrong TV, and Techstrong Learning. To do so and succeed, Alan has to be attuned to the world of technology, particularly DevOps, cybersecurity, cloud-native and digital transformation.
With almost 30 years of entrepreneurial experience, Alan has been instrumental in the success of several organizations.
Shimel is an often-cited personality in the security and technology community and is a sought-after speaker at conferences and events. In addition to his writing, his DevOps Chat podcast, TechStrong TV and Digital Anarchist audio and video appearances are widely followed.
Alan attributes his success to the combination of a strong business background and a deep knowledge of technology. His legal background, long experience in the field and New York street smarts combine to form a unique personality.
Mr. Shimel is a graduate of St. John's University with a Bachelor of Arts in Government and Politics, and holds a JD degree from NY Law School.
As chief product officer at CloudBees, Shawn Ahmed embodies the nexus of product engineering and marketing. With a firm hand on the reins of the CloudBees product portfolio, Shawn meticulously crafts product and solutions delivery, pricing, strategic planning, competitive landscape analysis and market management. Shawn masterminded a transformative shift, evolving the company’s culture and operations into a buyer-centric, value-focused DevOps leader.
Prior to CloudBees, Shawn left his mark at industry giants like Splunk and SAP, where he also held senior product roles. He is a two-time CEO, including at Pivotus which he brought to a successful acquisition before joining CloudBees. An alumnus of the prestigious executive management program at UCLA, Shawn now resides in Southern California with his wife and three children. His strategic foresight and relentless drive are instrumental in pivoting the CloudBees product suite into a software delivery platform, tailor-made to address the demanding needs of global enterprises.
As CEO of Accelerance, Andy Hilliard leads and advocates for the globalization and collaboration of great software teams with companies in search of talent, innovation and a globally-distributed extension of their engineering function and culture. Andy founded the ground-breaking nearshore software development services company, Isthmus Costa Rica. He began his global software services career as a division manager at Cognizant during their early formative years.
Andy is originally from Sonoma, CA and has visited more than 60 countries. His passion for global travel, cultural appreciation and cross-border collaboration stems originally from his experience as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Costa Rica in the late 1980’s. Andy holds an MBA in International Business, Finance and Marketing from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern. He received a Bachelor’s degree in Business and Epistemology from the University of Denver after attending Phillips Academy in Andover, MA.
To learn more, visit: https://www.accelerance.com/andy-hilliard-author
Meet Bill Bensing, an enthusiast who discovered the power of Notepad and hasn't stopped fueling the world with tech ever since. He's passionate about creating inclusive environments that allow anyone to develop software. Bill focuses on three main areas: Developing and composing safe systems, bridging the GRC, auditing and tech gaps and AI/ML for everyday organizations.
Bill is a co-author of Investments Unlimited. The book describes automating governance to integrate security, compliance and audits into the software delivery lifecycle. It tackles the organizational problem of bringing people together to achieve this outcome.
Bill's day job is as the founder of Attestify and an evangelist for Governance Engineering. By night, he's a dreamer, researcher and creator of various open-source projects. He thinks of himself as a tech superhero fighting for a better world.
Tracy is an expert in software supply chain management and pipeline DevOps practices with a hyper-focus on microservices and cloud-native architecture. She has served on the OpenSSF Governing Board (2022-23) as a General Member Representative, the OpenSSF Governing Board Committee, and the Continuous Delivery Foundation (CDF) Technology Oversite Committee. She previously served as a founding board member of the CDF and the Eclipse Foundation. She is the Executive Director of the Ortelius Open Source project, an open-source security evidence store.
Tracy is recognized by TechBeacon as one of the top 100 DevOps visionaries and speaks at many professional events such as CDCon, Open Source Summit, and CloudBees DevOps World. She also hosts TechStrong Women TV, where she celebrates amazing technologists who happen to be women.
Richard Shan is a consultant and thought leader in the field of emerging technologies, with extensive experience in enabling organizations to adopt and leverage cutting-edge solutions such as GenAI, RAG, LLMOps, MLOps, EdgeOps, and more. His hands-on expertise and forward-thinking vision help drive and empower businesses to incubate and harness the power of disruptive technologies for growth and acceleration. He is a regular speaker at international conferences, where he shares his insights and best practices on how to strategize and operationalize digital transformation and breakthrough innovation. He is a startup founder, a book author and contributor to trade journals.
Splitting his time between Los Angeles and London, United Kingdom, Jim Stevenson is the founder and CEO of Bletchley Group, a renowned international growth consultancy with 23 years of expertise in strategy, transformation and growth.
He established Bletchley Group with a fundamental belief that while technology is powerful, it should always serve a meaningful purpose.
Jim's unique value stems from his diverse background, having worked in numerous roles across various companies, enabling him to identify growth opportunities and achieve great results for his clients.
Product Marketing Manager
SentinelOne
Amy Pham is currently a Product Marketing Manager at SentinelOne, focusing on analyst experience, security platform, data lake, forensics, and integrations. Amy is passionate about building a safer digital landscape by empowering organizations with innovative solutions to protect themselves from cyber threats. She has great enthusiasm for taking on new challenges, learning about cutting-edge technologies, and distilling complex ideas into everyday conversations.
Architect
Inspire 11
Chris Corriere has been working with data, phones, networks and writing software for over twenty years. His background in mathematics and engineering has allowed him to adapt to new and industry specific technologies and provided many unique consulting opportunities. As a DevOps practitioner, Chris is committed to culture, automation, learning, sharing and having a good time while getting work done. Chris is currently an architect with Inspire 11, focused on complexity science and mapping practices.
BMK is a highly accomplished IT professional with an impressive track record spanning over 25 years. His extensive experience encompasses Software Development and training, Solution Architecture and design, and strategic consulting. Passionate about innovation and perpetual improvement, BMK has established himself as a sought-after advisor for senior IT leadership teams, including executives.
Fueled by strategic technical acumen and leadership prowess, BMK has cultivated enduring relationships, consistently achieving goals while forging collaborations with stakeholders across the spectrum. His global network of thought leaders, influencers, authors, and practitioners underscores his status as a highly respected professional.
BMK's forward-thinking approach, technical mastery, and keen foresight set him apart as an industry trailblazer. His ability to align with vendors and partners complements his proficiency in driving innovation. Widely recognized within the speaker circuit, BMK has graced platforms like DevOps Enterprise Summit, AllDayDevOps, DevOpsWorld, CloudNative Now, and Global SKILUp Days, captivating audiences with his insightful presentations.
Beyond his professional pursuits, BMK is a dedicated mentor and advocate for community engagement. His contributions extend beyond New Zealand as he serves as a CNCF, DevOps Institute, and Continuous Delivery Ambassador. He also takes on the role of a board advisor for the Value Stream Consortium, Team Topologies Advocate, demonstrating his commitment to shaping industry standards."
Papers:
My blog:
https://bmk.nz/
https://bmk.nz/2023/03/07/the-brutal-truth-developer-experience-challenges-in-non-tech-enterprises/
https://bmk.nz/2020/03/16/our-devops-journey-is-incomplete-without-data/
My contribution to the 60th Year of NZ ICT / ITP book chapter: https://history.itp.nz/part-1/lakshminarayan.html
My blog post on InfoQ by an InfoQ analyst: https://www.infoq.com/news/2023/03/devex-nontechnical-enterprises/
With over 15 years of experience in the computer and software security industries, Josh Mayfield is a product marketing leader with 18 years of experience in the software and technology space.
Josh's passion is to create a safer internet by enabling organizations to protect their data and assets from cyber threats. He has a proven track record of leading product marketing and go-to-market strategy for several security solutions and has also contributed to multiple publications on topics such as incident response, purchased service agreements, and IT security.
The vast majority of Michael's career during the past 10 years has been in the Payment and FinTech industry (debit card personalization, issuance, payment processing, etc). At Meta, he built services to proactively detect and enforce on harmful actors on the platform. Building systems to handle large scale processing is very vital in his field as a backend engineer.
Hamish is a consultant with a passion for efficient database & application deployments using DevOps methodologies. He has formed his own company – Morph iT Limited – based in Christchurch, New Zealand and provides consultancy services for many clients in the US, Canada, UK, Australia and NZ. He has 20+ years IT experience in managing and deploying large scale databases as well as the infrastructure underneath using code. He has been living the DevOps dream since 2010 and pragmatic approaches to delivering business value for clients is his career passion. Educating and helping others learn is a driver for Hamish and he is a User Group Leader, International speaker and a repeat guest lecturer at universities.