Keynote Speaker: Cliff Berg 

Keynote:  Agility is needed more than ever. So why is Agile struggling?

Cliff Berg has helped with more than ten Agile or DevOps transformations, and is a DevOps trainer and subject matter expert. In 2020 Cliff assembled the global Agile 2 team to reimagine “Agile”, and was the lead author of the Agile 2 book. Cliff is certified in the Human Synergistics Organizational Culture Inventory® and Organizational Effectiveness Inventory® assessment tools. He has degrees from Cornell University in Operations Research, Nuclear Engineering, and Physics. 

Presenter: Ashish Bhojane

Session Title: Building a Culture of Experimentation

Ashish Bhojane has led multiple Agile and Scaled Agile implementations, fostering true agility in teams and organizations. With 19 years in IT software delivery and 11+ years in Agile coaching, facilitation, and implementation, he specializes in driving operational excellence and strategic transformation. Ashish is a SAFe 6 Practice Consultant (SPC), Professional Scrum Master (PSM I), and Scrum Master Certified (SMC). He has managed large-scale programs, improving delivery efficiency and accelerating release cycles. At Equip Health, he leads Agile practices and champions a culture of experimentation. Ashish also shares insights on Agile and soft skills through his blog at www.leapitup.com/blogs.

Presenter: Charlotte Fouque

Session Title: Into the Chasm of the Unknown: Agile Coaching in the Era of Agile Disillusionment

Charlotte Fouque is an Agile Coach at Fidelity Investments. In her 12+ years leading software development, most of those as a Scrum Master or coach, she’s experienced the highs and lows of coaching teams and organizations. She’s seen Some Stuff, always challenging, many times rewarding. She perseveres because she loves it.

Presenter: Dr. Patrick (Mack) McConnell

Session Title: If Agile is dead, who killed it?

Dr. Patrick (Mack) McConnell is an Agile Coach and Certified Scrum Trainer, and serves as the head of Agile services at Sprightbulb. In a prior life as a social scientist, he specialized in combining diverse forms of data (quantitative, qualitative, and geographic) to explore complex questions of the relationship between humans and their environment. He then brought those skills to work in the public sector in service to some of our nation’s most important missions. Along the way, he became a specialist in small-group patterns of work at enterprise scale, enabling effective facilitation, supporting institutional change, and ensuring the psychological safety of teams.

Presenter: Tanner Wortham

Session Title: What the Corps Calls Leading Marines We Call Agility

Tanner Wortham supports executives, teams, and organizations in turning challenges into opportunities, making decisive choices under pressure, and achieving sustained, impactful results. With over 15 years of experience in software development and leadership roles at industry giants like LinkedIn and Salesforce, coupled with a decade of leadership in the U.S. Marine Corps, he brings a unique blend of strategic insight, operational expertise, and disciplined execution to help clients drive performance and growth.

Throughout his career, he has worked with leaders at all levels to tackle complex problems, streamline decision-making processes, and foster high-performing teams. Tanner’s approach is grounded in the belief that effective leadership starts with clarity, accountability, and the ability to focus on what matters most. He helps leaders sharpen their decision-making skills, reduce friction within their teams, and align their organizations around shared goals—resulting in faster, smarter execution.

Presenter: Jason Schreuder

Session Title: Solution Focused Approach for Leaders and Teams

 From executing airfield seizures in the military to guiding digital transformations in finance, Jason leverages over 15 years of diverse leadership experience to help teams thrive in ambiguity and discover better ways of working. A former US Army officer turned agile and executive leadership coach, he is the owner of Inspired Iterations, an organizational transformation and leadership development company. Jason is a Professional Certified Coach (PCC), Team Coach (ACTC) with the International Coaching Federation, and a Certified Enterprise Coach (CEC) with the Scrum Alliance—credentials that inform his passion for transforming the world of work and future-proofing leaders. A Michigan native, West Point graduate, and lifelong learner, Jason and his wife live in Apex, North Carolina, with their three children. As a mentor to leaders across industries, he combines battlefield-tested strategies with organizational agility to help leaders and teams adapt, innovate, and grow.

Presenter: Jim Grundner

Session Title: Revolutionizing the AI Powered Software Lifecycle

Jim Grundner is results-driven leader with over 25 years of experience as the Head of Software Engineering teams. He has a proven track record of building and leading high-performing teams, resulting in substantial improvements and delivery. His specialty is developing cutting-edge SaaS products for enterprise clients, with a focus on integrating leading AI capabilities. Jim believes that software development is best organized and managed by utilizing key metrics of a software team.

Jim has extensive expertise in diverse industries, including financial services and cybersecurity. As a strategic technologist he holds 6 Patents of which 5 are in Artificial Intelligence and Augmented Reality.

His driving mentality is to be the best team member and leader he can be through the following approach – 1) Be the most positive person you can be every day, 2) Give your best effort in everything you do, and 3) Be 1% better each day.

Presenter: Erick Jefferies

Session Title: Aligning on solving the leader’s challenge – a conversation

Erick Jeffries is a seasoned agile coach and consultant with 10 years of experience in helping teams and organizations optimize how their value flows to customers. Currently serving as an Delivery Consultant at an industry-leading private financial institution, Erick specializes in applying Lean, Agile, and Systems based principles to help organizations deliver value more efficiently. Erick’s expertise is backed by his technical background in software development and various agile certifications (CSM, SPC, S@S). He has a proven track record of successfully helping organizations across various industries, including finance, healthcare, and technology reach their organizational goals.

Erick holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Information Systems from Illinois State University and Teaches A+, N+, and cyber security certification courses at a prominent online university.

Co-Presenter: Leslie Hobbs

Session Title: Aligning on solving the leader’s challenge – a conversation

Leslie Hobbs is a seasoned Product Manager, Owner & Transformation & Product Coach with more than 10 years experience in helping teams deliver delightful products for their customers. 

Throughout her career she’s had a customer first focus – whether she was helping cotton farmers hedge their crop in the commodities market, engineers mine databases for financial and market data, patients navigate their online health records, doctors determining the best patient order for daily rounds, or facility management professionals managing world-wide corporate real estate portfolios, each user has a specific need that needs to be solved in a clear, easy to use, application or software package. 

As a product coach she has a chance to encourage, listen, and frankly point out the elephant in the room as organizations and teams transform from old ways of working into new ways of deriving customer value.

Panel Facilitator: Bob Galen

Panel Title: Exploring the Journey of 4 Women in Agile

Bob Galen is an Agile Practitioner, Trainer & Coach based in Cary, NC. In this role he helps guide companies and teams in their pragmatic adoption and organizational shift towards agile ways of working. Bob has been doing that since the late 1990s, so he’s deeply experienced. He is the Director of Agile Practice at Zenergy Technologies, a leading business agility transformation company. Bob is also President and Head Coach at Agile Moose, a boutique agile consulting firm.

He is a Scrum Alliance Certified Enterprise Coach Emeritus (CECem), an iCAgile authorized trainer, and an active member of the Agile Alliance.

He’s published four agile-centric books: Agile Reflections in 2012, The Three Pillars of Agile

Quality and Testing in 2015, Scrum Product Ownership, 3’rd Edition in 2019, and Extraordinarily Badass Agile Coaching in 2022. He’s also a prolific writer & blogger on Substack and podcaster (at www.meta-cast.com).

Presenter & Panelist: Mary Thorn

Session Title: 5 Ways to Operationalize AI at Scale

Panel Title: Exploring the Journey of 4 Women in Agile

During her more than 20 years of experience with financial, health care, and SaaS-based products, Mary Thorn has held VP, director, and manager-level positions in various software development organizations. A seasoned leader and coach in agile and testing methodologies, Mary has direct experience building and leading teams through large-scale agile transformations. Mary’s expertise is a combination of agile scaling, agile testing, and DevOps, which her clients find incredibly valuable. Mary is also the chief storyteller of the book The Three Pillars of Agile Testing and Quality and an avid keynote and conference speaker on all things agile and agile testing.

Panelist: Kimberly Andrikaitis

Panel Title: Panel: Exploring the Journey of 4 Women in Agile

With over 20 years of experience, self-proclaimed “Agile Dork” Kimberly Andrikaitis brings a unique perspective to coaching. She seamlessly bridges agile and transformational coaching—applying proven frameworks that empower teams to the individual’s journey.

Whether guiding organizations through agile transitions or helping individuals create their ideal lives, Kimberly focuses on identifying current reality, cultivating clear vision, and building practical roadmaps forward. Her coaching transcends professional boundaries to nurture personal, physical, and emotional growth.

A captivating speaker at the Agile Alliance Conference, TriAgile, and Mile High Agile, Kimberly champions breaking free from traditional constraints to drive meaningful change and transformation.

Currently immersed in writing her groundbreaking book, Kimberly is crafting a new narrative for the Scrum Master role. Drawing from her decades of transformational coaching success, this work promises to revolutionize how organizations connect agile practices directly to business outcomes and competitive advantage—bridging the gap between methodology and measurable value.