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: Art Pittman

Session Title: Solution Focused Approach for Leaders and Teams

Art is a leadership coach and a coach trainer based out of Raleigh, NC. He’s had his own coaching business for the last dozen years where he focuses on a variety of 21st Century leadership skills like authenticity, accountability, and agility. For many of Art’s most successful clients he uses a solutions-focused approach where clients spend far less time diagnosing problems and far more energy identifying outcomes and trying out the behaviors they want instead. His personal mission and passion is to support people to “act more human” at work. Better humans make better leaders

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.

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: Catherine Louis

Panel Title: Bridging the Gap: How the Disappearance of Women in Tech Affects Product Development

Catherine Louis focuses on Product Strategy, Lean Innovation, and Business Agility: nurturing an innovation culture helping teams to rapidly sense and respond. She is a Certified Scrum Trainer®, a Certified Reinvention Professional, an independent Agile coach, founder of CLL-group and co-founder of the #PoDojo. Catherine is a founding member of TechLadies®, runs AgileRTP, one of the largest Agile meetup groups in the US, and she is a volunteer Search and Rescue professional with WCSAR, working with her K9 partner Viga.

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: David Rasch

Session Title: Scrum isn’t the problem; it’s you!

David thrives on seeing others make connections, learn, and iterate. By helping teams find their rhythm, learn their strengths, and embrace the growth mindset, all problems become tractable and fun.

He served as both CTO and Chief Architect at email marketing company iContact, and grew from a technology team to over 80 people. He’s also grown and led teams at ReverbNation, 3 Birds Marketing, Infinia ML, and Edward Jones. Finally, he spends a lot of time advising and coaching growing leaders especially in technology.

David lives in the Research Triangle in NC and grew up in St. Louis.

Presenter: Dan Parsons

Session Title: Disrupting complexity through conversation

In a world where we are conditioned to “doing”, Dan creates a space where people can think and be heard. Dan believes we gain new awareness by challenging assumptions and limiting beliefs. Being curious is key to helping shape our approach to leading teams and organizations.

Dan works with leaders and their teams in helping them align to their organization’s goals. The best solutions emerge when there is alignment and connection.  

Presenter: David Frink

Session Title:  The Two Questions Leaders Should Be Asking To Guarantee Team Performance

David Frink is an executive coach and facilitator with 25 years of experience in product development and technology leadership. He partners with executives, leaders, teams, and individuals to help them navigate complex challenges, uncover opportunities, and move to the next level of performance. With a deep understanding of both technology and people dynamics, David helps unlock untapped potential in leaders and organizations.

David’s career spans a variety of industries, including Financial Services & Technology, Marketing Operations, and E-Procurement. His expertise lies in helping leaders and teams enhance collaboration, analyze and make tough decisions, work through productive conflict, and lead from strengths.

A Certified Executive Coach, ICF-PCC certified coach, and Gallup-certified Strengths Coach, David integrates strengths-based coaching to help individuals and teams amplify their unique capabilities and drive high-impact results. His coaching approach is rooted in partnership, curiosity, and exploration….all in service of helping leaders and organizations achieve their goals, increase engagement, and create sustainable success.

Presenter: Diana Kirkova

Session Title:  The Next Evolution: AI and the Future of Agility

Diana Kirkova is a seasoned professional with extensive experience in strategic leadership and business transformation. She has worked across various industries, driving innovation and operational excellence. Her career spans key roles in business strategy, digital transformation, and operational efficiency, where she has successfully led high-impact projects. Passionate about continuous learning and leadership, she thrives in fast-paced, global environments, shaping the future of business through expertise and strategic vision.

Presenter:  Diane O’Connell

Session Title: Preventing and Curing Disgruntled Worker Syndrome: How to create workplace engagement that’s contagious

Diane O’Connell, a workplace culture strategist leveraging her experience as a small business owner, international business development and risk management attorney, and mediator, pioneers innovative workplace culture strategies focusing on approaches that intersect business considerations with employee needs. Her journey through toxic work environments and Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) fuels her mission. Through compassionate speaking, training and coaching, Diane empowers businesses and employees to find the middle ground that satisfies both sides of the equation. Diane advocates globally to eliminate the stigmas surrounding mental health by increasing awareness & empathy. She’s also renovated several houses and can do both plumbing and electrical wiring! 

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.

Presenter: Gary Cohen 

Session Title: Turning Uncertainty into Opportunity: Evolving Product Development Practices for a Changing World

Gary Cohen is a software development leader and organizational change consultant specializing in cultivating high performance / high agility organizations, building healthy organizational culture, and leveraging customer feedback in all aspects of the product development lifecycle. He focuses on generating evolutionary change, catalyzing continuous product discovery, and empowering people to become internal change makers in the organizations he works with. Gary is the Owner and Principal Consultant at Practical Agility LLC. Gary can be contacted at gary@practical-agility.com.

Presenter: George Hack 

Session Title: To Become Agile, You Have to Go Beyond Agile

George Hack transforms organizations by emphasizing culture over conformity while maximizing business value. From software engineer to team leader, product engineering executive, and enterprise coach, he has consistently prioritized people, operations, and strategy. George champions high-performing teams, forging strategic coalitions and dismantling barriers to achieve common goals.

With over 20 years of technical and leadership experience, George excels in solving complex business problems while fostering collaboration. He has led transformations across industries—including retail, cloud, finance, telecom, and transportation—and specializes in building high-performance teams, culture transformation, agile development, and product discovery. He is dedicated to driving employee growth and engagement.

In a rapidly evolving tech and business landscape, George thrives on guiding teams through change and innovation, ensuring they not only keep pace but set the pace. For him, making a tangible impact and creating solutions that truly matter isn’t just work—it’s his passion.

Presenter: George Harter

Session Title: How Product Managers can have the Right work ready for every sprint

George Harter is an expert product leader, trainer and author who has directed products and teams for companies from venture-backed startups to Fortune 500 firms. He has managed products through the entire lifecycle, from concept through growth, and retirement, supporting thousands of client companies. His product lines have crossed industries and markets. Customers have spanned the globe with products in more than a dozen languages.

Combined with experience in marketing and sales, he has a uniquely broad view of customers and product users, George’s advice tenabling him to better understand target audiences.

To interview and survey users often, is obvious, yet practical. This simple approach to effective market research gives a product manager unique knowledge and therefore unique powers.

Presenter: Israel Pattison

Session Title: Reimagining Professional Development: How AI Empowers Agile Coaches to Evolve Faster

Israel Pattison is a seasoned Agile Coach, Scrum Master, and organizational development practitioner, with over 20 years of experience in technology, Agile project management, and software engineering. Currently a Scrum Master at SoftPro, Inc., Israel specializes in Agile team facilitation, coaching, and team development. He has previously held key roles at RBC Bank, Deutsche Bank, Oracle, and IBM, providing leadership in Agile transformation, DevOps, and AI-driven coaching methodologies.

Israel likes to explore how AI-driven tools can enhance coaching effectiveness, personalize learning, and provide real-time feedback. His expertise spans team dynamics, AI-powered professional development, and continuous learning strategies for Agile coaches.

Israel holds an M.S. in Talent and Organization Development from Queens University of Charlotte and an M.S. in Business Analytics from Elon University. His certifications include ICP-ATF (Agile Team Facilitation), ICP-ACC (Agile Coaching), and ICP-FDO (Foundations of DevOps).

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: Josh Anderson

Session Title: Agile – There Is No Spoon, And There NEVER Was…

Josh Anderson is a proven technology leader with over two decades of experience transforming organizations through thoughtful, decisive leadership. He helps companies build resilient, high-performing teams that adapt to changing conditions and deliver exceptional results.

Josh’s approach combines deep technical knowledge with practical leadership wisdom, focusing on creating environments where teams can make effective decisions and embrace continuous improvement. His experience spans startups to enterprise organizations, where he’s repeatedly built cultures that balance autonomy with accountability.

A sought-after speaker and coach, Josh cuts through industry noise to deliver actionable insights on leadership, team building, and organizational transformation. He is known for his authentic, no-nonsense style that challenges leaders to move beyond buzzwords and build genuinely collaborative teams that deliver lasting impact.

For Josh’s insights on effective leadership and team transformation, follow his content online where he regularly shares practical guidance drawn from real-world experience.

Presenter: Katrin Schulz

Session Title: 5 Ways to Operationalize AI at Scale

Katrin Schulz is leading the Technology Governance & Insights for S&P Dow Jones Indices. She is responsible for developing, implementing and governing the operational framework across the end to end software development lifecycle, as well as providing data driven insights to make informed decisions. Katrin is passionate about creating a positive and high performing work environment to meet business needs. She has been part of the AI enablement efforts for S&P Global Commodity Insights and now in her role within S&P Dow Jones Indices. As a strong advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion, she serves as VP for S&P Global´s PRG WINS Northeast and is an active member of the Women’s Bond Club, committed to advancing women in financial services. Katrin holds a Bachelor’s in Business Administration and a Master’s in International Management. She has lived in Germany, US, France, and Ireland before relocating to the US permanently.

Presenter: Ken Pugh

Session Title:  Different Strokes for Different Folks – What’s in Your Context?

Ken Pugh helps companies develop software effectively by applying lean-agile principles and practices. He concentrates on delivering business value quickly by removing waste and delays in value streams; building in quality with Acceptance Test-Driven Development / Behavior Driven Development; creating a collaborative environment; and evaluating return-on-investment. He has written several software development books including the 2006 Jolt Award winner Prefactoring: Extreme Abstraction, Extreme Separation, Extreme Readability and his latest: Lean-Agile Acceptance Test-Driven Development: Better Software Through Collaboration. He is the co-creator of the SAFe® Agile Software Engineering course. Ken has helped clients and presented at conferences from London to Boston to Sydney to Beijing to Hyderabad. Clients’ industries include financial, energy, electronics, process control, manufacturing, transportation, and retail.

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.

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.

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.

Presenter: Matt Phillips

Session Title: Breaking the Process Trap: Rethinking How We Improve Business Outcomes

Matt Phillips is an ORSC-certified coach and Business Agility expert with extensive experience guiding leaders through organizational change. While his work includes process transformation, his focus is primarily on meeting people where they are, revealing the underlying system, aligning on what’s important now, and co-creating outcomes to drive success.

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: Una Stevenson

Session Title: Embracing AI in Agile: Transformative Approaches for Modern Organizations

With a career rooted in leadership, strategy, and technology, Una Stevenson thrives at the intersection of business transformation, Agile methodologies, and AI integration.

Her expertise spans Agile transformation, product management, AI integration, and business strategy. She has a rich history of helping organizations adapt, scale, and drive meaningful change. She has led teams through complex operational shifts, aligning technology with business goals to optimize efficiency and innovation. Her experience extends to market strategy, leadership development, and workflow optimization.

Beyond execution, Una is passionate about empowering individuals and teams to embrace change, refine their vision, and maximize their potential. Whether guiding leaders or teams through Agile adoption, leveraging AI to enhance decision-making, or shaping the future of work, she is committed to making transformation accessible and actionable.

A lifelong learner and problem solver, Una blends strategic insight, hands-on experience, and a people-first approach—helping organizations navigate today’s challenges while preparing for the future.