Board

President: Gordon Leary

Gordon is the IT Manager of AMPORTS, Inc. and has been involved with the IBM midrange community since 1987. AMPORTS is an automotive port processor with locations in the US and Mexico. Gordon has attended COMMON conferences since 1988, and in the last several years, he has participated on several committees including Communications and Networking, Volunteer Recruitment and the GoTo Market task force. Gordon earned his degree in Computer Science from Towson State University.

Term: Re-elected Spring 2019; term ends Spring 2022.

Treasurer: Pete Helgren

Pete is Java Developer/Team Lead at Bible Study Fellowship International. Pete is an experienced programmer in the ILE RPG, PHP, Java, JavaScript, Ruby, C++ and C# languages with over 30 years of system 3X/AS400/iSeries/IBM i experience. He holds certifications as a GIAC certified Secure Software Programmer-Java and as an MCSE. He held several positions on the COMMON Board of Directors and has been active on several COMMON committees. His passion has always been in system integration and he focuses on Open Source applications and integration activities on IBM i. Pete is a speaker/trainer in RPG modernization, open source integration, mobile application development, Java programming and PHP and actively blogs at petesworkshop.com.

Term: Re-Elected Spring 2021; term ends Spring 2024.

Immediate Past President: Larry Bolhuis

Larry Bolhuis has a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Calvin College in 1982. He started working on IBM midrange equipment with the S/34 and S/36 in 1984 and the AS/400 at its introduction In 1988. Larry Spent many years as a developer before transitioning into the system design and administration role. Larry attended his first COMMON Conference in 1988 and has been a volunteer since that very first conference. He has volunteered as session manager, registration volunteer, SME, CET and Speaker. Larry also provides the lab servers for the annual conference.

Term: Re-elected Spring 2017; term ended Spring 2020, but stays on as Immediate Past President.

Director: Pete Massiello

Pete Massiello has been working with the IBM i since 1989, focusing on systems management and technical support. He has held numerous technical positions through out his career. He is the President of iTech Solutions Group, an IBM Gold Business Partner delivering solutions and services to IBM i shops throughout the world. He is a member of IBM’s certification test writing team. Pete has a BS in Computer Science from Hofstra University, and an MBA from the University of New Haven. He was President of COMMON from 2010 to 2012, and again in 2014. In 2011 IBM established the Champions award for Power Systems, Pete was one of the first recipients. In 2017 he was made the first Power Systems Lifetime Champion, an honor he continues to hold.

Term: Elected Spring 2020; eligible for re-election Spring 2023.

Director: Marina Schwenk

Marina started her career in January 2015 at Everbrite LLC in Greenfield, WI after graduating from Gateway Technical College in May of 2014 with an Associate’s degree in IT Software Development. Marina works as a developer in both RPG and Java and she also is one of two IBM i admins at Everbrite. Marina earned her Bachelor’s degree in Computer Information Systems Software Development from Bellevue University in June of 2017. Marina is currently the Vice President for the Wisconsin Midrange Computer Professional Association (WMCPA) users group, a member of COMMON’S Young i Professionals (Yips) committee, a member of COMMON America Advisory Council (CAAC), a private tutor in English and Programming for students at an associates or bachelor’s degree level, a public speaker on topics ranging from RPG, SQL standards and unit testing, and was named a IBM fresh face for 2019. 

Term: Elected Spring 2021; eligible for re-election Spring 2024.

IBM Liaison: Alison Butterill

Alison Butterill is the World-Wide Product Manager for IBM i. In this role, she works with the entire IBM i team to define the future of IBM i including the content for releases and technology refreshes. Her responsibilities include working with the IBM i sales, marketing, development and clients and partners to ensure that the IBM i Operating System and associated software products reflect their requirements. Alison is therefore the ideal person to tell us about the very latest trends and directions on the i platform.

Executive Vice President: Dawn May

Dawn May is a leading authority on work management, systems management, performance, and diagnostics, with intimate knowledge of the IBM i operating system developed through her distinguished career with IBM. Today, as an independent consultant, she focuses her skills on helping companies troubleshoot issues and plan for the future while teaching them how to get the most out of their IBM i systems. Dawn is the author of the “i Can” blog and a frequent speaker. In her spare time, Dawn enjoys photography, sewing, baking bread, and playing the piano.

Term: Elected Spring 2019; eligible for re-election Spring 2022.

Secretary: Floyd DelMuro

Floyd Del Muro is currently the Director of Business Development for SenecaGlobal.  Floyd is extensively involved in helping companies from planning stages through delivery of strategic legacy modernization and refactoring projects. His expertise in hybrid application development and hybrid cloud makes him a trusted advisor for companies in software delivery and DevOps methods and tooling. Floyd is a global speaker on the subjects of DevOps, Version Control, Continuous Integration, Release Management, Modernization, and Hybrid Cloud.  Floyd has volunteered for COMMON and The Omni User Board.  Floyd earned his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Illinois in 1981.

Term: Elected Spring 2020; eligible for re-election Spring 2023.

Director: Scott Klement

Scott is the Director of Product Development and Support at Profound Logic Software. He has worked in the IBM i environment since he was a young man and loves sharing his knowledge with other people. This passion has lead him to write numerous articles, presentations and open source projects. Scott has won more than a dozen awards in the IBM i industry and is an IBM Champion for Power Systems.

Term: Re-Elected Spring 2021; term ends Spring 2024.

Director: Steve Pitcher

Steve Pitcher is an IBM i Specialist for iTech Solutions Group and an Industry Analyst at MC Press Online. He’s been a specialist in IBM i solutions since 2000 with an emphasis on modernization, security and collaboration products. Steve has been an IBM Champion for IBM Collaboration Solutions for the last five years.

Term: Re-elected Spring 2019; term ends Spring 2022.

Executive Director: Manzoor Siddiqui

Manzoor Siddiqui has been with COMMON since 2006, having served in the role of Marketing Communications Manager, where he led all marketing and sales initiatives for the organization. He has over 20 years of multi-disciplinary business, marketing, and IT experience across a broad range of industries, including Associations, Pharmaceutical, Biotechnology, and Insurance organizations. He has served as a subject matter expert on several panels through Association Forum and LFGSM. Manzoor holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management from National-Louis University, and an MBA from Lake Forest Graduate School of Management, where his focus was on Marketing and International Business Management.

Learn more about the board and their role in COMMON.