Coffee and Open Source

Keith Townsend is an independent CTO advisor and infrastructure practitioner focused on how enterprises actually adopt AI, cloud, and open-source platforms at scale. He’s the founder of The Advisor Bench and the voice behind The CTO Advisor, where he helps CIOs and CTOs navigate hard infrastructure decisions around hybrid cloud, AI systems, and platform architecture.Keith has spent his career inside large enterprises and alongside vendors—working as an enterprise architect, consultant, and analyst—bridging the gap between engineering reality and executive decision-making. He’s known for translating complex systems into plain English and for challenging hype with operational truth.Today, Keith advises enterprise IT leaders, moderates closed-door executive forums, and builds real AI systems himself—using open source not as ideology, but as a practical tool for control, portability, and long-term leverage.You can find Keith on the following sites:BlogYouTubeLinkedInXPLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCASTSpotifyApple PodcastsYouTube MusicAmazon MusicRSS FeedYou can check out more episodes of Coffee and Open Source on https://www.coffeeandopensource.comCoffee and Open Source is hosted by Isaac Levin

Jan combines the precision of his background in luxury watchmaking with deep experience in platform engineering and open source. As a GitHub Star and Microsoft MVP, he has demonstrated impact in the community and with companies worldwide. He led teams of dozens of engineers at NIKE EMEA, built the popular cross-platform prompt theme engine Oh My Posh, and guides organizations in their transformation toward AI-native software development. Jan helps companies scale, modernize, and align their technical strategy with business goals—always with craftsmanship and attention to detail.You can find Jan on the following sites: LinkedIn GitHub Bluesky Here are some links provided by Jan: Oh My Posh PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST Spotify Apple Podcasts YouTube Music Amazon Music RSS Feed You can check out more episodes of Coffee and Open Source on https://www.coffeeandopensource.comCoffee and Open Source is hosted by Isaac Levin

Kat is the Head of Developer Advocacy at Minimus, focused on the growth and nurturing of open source through authentic contribution. In particular, her specialties are approachable 101-level content and deep dives on the history of technology, with a focus on DevOps and cloud native. She was the Kubernetes Release Lead for 1.30 Uwubernetes, and currently serves as a member of the Kubernetes Steering Committee, the Release Team Subproject Lead, and a SIG Docs Tech Lead.When she’s not at a conference, she spends her time playing video games, watching horror movies, or reading science fiction, but her current hyperfixation is film photography. She lives in Colorado with her cat, Espresso, who is the real brains behind the operation and actually ghostwriting all of her posts.You can find Kat on the following sites:BlueskyLinktreeHere are some links provided by Kat:MinimusPLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCASTSpotifyApple PodcastsYouTube MusicAmazon MusicRSS FeedYou can check out more episodes of Coffee and Open Source on https://www.coffeeandopensource.comCoffee and Open Source is hosted by Isaac Levin

Once described on Reddit as “technically challenged”, Sarah is a Principal Security Advocate working at Microsoft. She has lived all over the place but currently calls Melbourne home.Sarah has been working in cyber security since before it was cool, has previously spoken at many security conferences including Black Hat and has co-authored a few Microsoft Press technical books. She is an active supporter of security communities across the globe and a co-host of the Microsoft Azure Security Podcast.Sarah spends most of her spare time gaming, taking part in Melbourne's official sport of brunching, taking high tea and spending a disproportionate amount of her income on her dogs.You can find Sarah on the following sites:WebsiteLinkedInGitHubBlueskyXPLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCASTSpotifyApple PodcastsYouTube MusicAmazon MusicRSS FeedYou can check out more episodes of Coffee and Open Source on https://www.coffeeandopensource.comCoffee and Open Source is hosted by Isaac Levin

Jeff Williams is the Co-Founder and CTO of Contrast Security, where he leads innovation in runtime-based application security. A pioneer in modern AppSec and co-founder of OWASP, Jeff has spent more than two decades helping organizations understand and manage software risk through instrumentation, context, and continuous learning.You can find Jeff on the following sites:LinkedInXHere are some links provided by Jeff:Contrast SecurityContrast Security X PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCASTSpotifyApple PodcastsYouTube MusicAmazon MusicRSS FeedYou can check out more episodes of Coffee and Open Source on https://www.coffeeandopensource.comCoffee and Open Source is hosted by Isaac Levin

Sydnee leads AI product initiatives at Cribl, the data engine for IT & Security. Prior to joining Cribl, Sydnee was leading hyperscale inference within the CoreAI group at Microsoft. Sydnee is passionate about helping individuals learn and adopt AI safely and responsibly.You can find Sydnee on the following sites:LinkedInPLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCASTSpotifyApple PodcastsYouTube MusicAmazon MusicRSS FeedYou can check out more episodes of Coffee and Open Source on https://www.coffeeandopensource.comCoffee and Open Source is hosted by Isaac Levin

Adriana is a CNCF Ambassador, blogger, host of the Geeking Out Podcast, and a maintainer of the OpenTelemetry End User SIG. By day, she's a Principal Developer Advocate at Dynatrace, focusing on Observability and OpenTelemetry. By night, she climbs walls. She also loves capybaras, because they make her happy.You can find Adriana on the following sites:BlueskyBlogLinkedInGitHubMastodonYouTubePLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCASTSpotifyApple PodcastsYouTube MusicAmazon MusicRSS FeedYou can check out more episodes of Coffee and Open Source on https://www.coffeeandopensource.comCoffee and Open Source is hosted by Isaac Levin

Phil Nash is a developer relations engineer for Langflow at IBM. Sometimes he writes code on stage in front of a crowd, hoping everything just works. Sometimes he writes open source code, which is much less stressful because if it is wrong someone else can correct it. He writes code in tweets or toots sometimes, but not much fits.You can find Phil on the following sites:WebsiteLinkedInGitHubBlueskyXHere are some links provided by Phil:LangflowPLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCASTSpotifyApple PodcastsYouTube MusicAmazon MusicRSS FeedYou can check out more episodes of Coffee and Open Source on https://www.coffeeandopensource.comCoffee and Open Source is hosted by Isaac Levin

Mark Techson, an award-winning university instructor and senior software engineer, has two decades of experience developing tech solutions. Passionate about creating meaningful learning experiences and demystifying coding, he currently works as DevRel Lead on the Angular Team at Google.You can find Mark on the following sites:WebsiteLinkedInGitHubBlueskyXYouTubePLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCASTSpotifyApple PodcastsYouTube MusicAmazon MusicRSS FeedYou can check out more episodes of Coffee and Open Source on https://www.coffeeandopensource.comCoffee and Open Source is hosted by Isaac Levin

Brian Pontarelli is a technology entrepreneur currently solving login, registration, and user management challenges with FusionAuth. Brian started programming at the age of 8 and studied Computer Engineering at CU Boulder. During his early career, Brian worked as a software engineer at companies such as BEA and Orbitz. He started working on his own products nights and weekends and quit his day job after selling to a few large companies. He bootstrapped the company for 16 years before selling a majority share to Updata Partners. Brian still codes, but spends most of his time focusing on growing FusionAuth and helping customers solve their auth problems.You can find Brian on the following sites:XLinkedInGitHubHere are some links provided by Brian:FusionAuthPLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCASTSpotifyApple PodcastsYouTube MusicAmazon MusicRSS FeedYou can check out more episodes of Coffee and Open Source on https://www.coffeeandopensource.comCoffee and Open Source is hosted by Isaac Levin