Co-founder, Humanizing Work
Richard Lawrence is a Scrum Alliance Certified Enterprise Coach and Certified Scrum Trainer who has spent decades helping teams collaborate more effectively. He co-founded Agile For All before launching Humanizing Work, where he trains and coaches product and engineering leaders. His story splitting flowcharts have been downloaded hundreds of thousands of times and are referenced by the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe). He co-authored "BDD with Cucumber" and is widely respected for making complex agile concepts accessible to real-world practitioners.
Global Technology Consultancy
Founded in 1993, Thoughtworks is a pioneering global technology consultancy that helped define modern software delivery practices. With over 10,000 employees across 49 offices in 18 countries, they have consistently championed agile methodologies, continuous delivery, test-driven development, and engineering excellence. Their open-source contributions, Technology Radar, and thought leadership on evolutionary architecture and digital transformation have shaped how the industry builds software. Their AI-first consulting practice and Agentic Development Platform continue to push the boundaries of what technology organizations can achieve.
Chief Scientist, Thoughtworks
Martin Fowler is one of the most influential voices in software architecture and development. As Chief Scientist at Thoughtworks, he authored landmark books including "Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code" and "Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture," which have defined how generations of engineers think about code quality and system design. His website, martinfowler.com, remains an essential reference for software design patterns, domain-driven design, agile methods, and evolutionary architecture. His work on refactoring, microservices, and continuous delivery has had a profound impact on how modern technology organizations operate.
Founder & CEO, 7CTOs
Etienne de Bruin is the founder and CEO of 7CTOs, the premier network and training company dedicated to developing world-class Chief Technology Officers. Through forums, cohort-based training, executive coaching, and peer communities, he has created a global ecosystem where technology leaders learn from one another and grow into strategic executives. A native of South Africa, Etienne also serves as CTO of SynkedUP and co-founded EXE, a coaching practice focused on breakthrough leadership. His leadership masterclasses and appearances on podcasts like Modern CTO and The CTO Playbook have made him a trusted voice in CTO development.
Co-creator of Scrum, Founder of Scrum.org
Ken Schwaber co-developed the Scrum framework with Jeff Sutherland in the early 1990s, creating one of the foundational methodologies of agile software development. As co-author of the Scrum Guide, he established the definitive reference for how teams can deliver complex products through iterative, incremental progress. In 2009, he founded Scrum.org to provide rigorous Scrum training, assessments, and certifications that help individuals and teams master the framework. Over three decades, his work has transformed how organizations approach product development, team autonomy, and empirical process control.