Speakers

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Scott Forstie

Scott Forstie is a Senior Technical Staff Member within IBM i development and spends most of his time working as the Db2 for i Business Architect. He has worked on IBM operating system development since joining IBM in 1989.

Scott is a frequently published author, speaker at industry events around the globe and can be found @Forstie_IBMi and forstie@us.ibm.com. Scott is an avid runner and enjoys cooking.

@Forstie_IBM
www.ibm.com/ibmi/techupdates/db2
ibm.biz/Db2foriServices
ibm.biz/IBMi_ACS
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Simon Hutchinson

Simon’s experience with IBM midrange started in the United Kingdom, in a pre-AS/400 world. Since immigrating to the USA he has worked mostly in the western half of the country, and is currently IT manager responsible for the Power servers and IBM i for a large bank in Central Texas.

Simon has been writing his acclaimed IBM i blog, RPGPGM.COM, for almost ten years sharing his knowledge, experience, and giving many detailed examples of the latest RPG, SQL, and CL. He was recognized by IBM as an IBM Champion for Power (2021,2022), and as an IBM i Community Advocate.

Since its founding, in 2020, Simon has been the president of the Central Texas IBM i User Group, CTXiUG.

Dawn May

Dawn May is a leading authority on IBM i performance management, work management, systems management, and general system diagnostics. She has in-depth knowledge of the IBM i operating system developed through her distinguished career with IBM.

A former IBMer, Dawn is now an independent consultant, assisting companies with system performance reviews and recommendations. She also teaches clients on the latest IBM i tools to enable them to get the most out of their IBM i systems.

Dawn is the author of the "i Can" blog published by TechChannel and a frequent speaker at local user group meetings and IBM i conferences around the world.

You may contact Dawn by email at DawnMayiCan@outlook.com, find her on twitter at @DawnMayiCan, or connect on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawnmay/.

Pete Massiello

Pete Massiello has been working with the AS/400, iSeries, 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 Premier Business Partner delivering solutions and services to IBM i shops throughout the world. He is a member of IBM’s certification test writing team, an IBM Certified Systems Expert with certifications in IBM i Design, System Administration, LPAR, Virtualization, Implementation, and HMC management. 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. He is a COMMON Hall of Fame speaker, and a frequent speaker at user groups all over the world. In 2011 IBM established the Champions award for Power Systems, Pete was one of the first recipients. In 2016, they revived the program and he was again made an IBM Power Systems Champion. Lightning struck for the third time in 2017, and that is the year he was also made the first Power Systems Lifetime Champion, an honor he continues to hold.

Mike Pavlak

Mike Pavlak has been working with IBM midrange solutions since 1992 and IBM Mainframes before that. After years of developing applications using RPG, CL and PHP he managed IT development and IT for power protection manufacturer Tripp Lite. Later Mike was instrumental in developing the adoption of PHP as a primary solution for web development on IBM i working with Zend Technologies. Today, as Solutions Engineer with Perforce, Mike helps companies around the world approach the challenges of modernization and open source technologies. In addition to several roles as a volunteer with COMMON the premier IBM midrange user group, Mike also teaches PHP & Python classes part time at Moraine Valley Community College in Suburban Chicago.

Steve Pitcher

Steve Pitcher is a Solutions Expert on Systems Administration and Security with 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 from 2011 to 2016, and an IBM Champion for Power Systems from 2016 to 2018.

Sue Romano

Sue Romano is a technical leader on the Db2 for i development team and has worked on the SQL parser for almost 30 years. She is involved in designing and implementing SQL enhancements and defines new SQL services. Sue represents Db2 for i on IBM’s SQL Language Council, which ensures consistent SQL implementation across the Db2 family.

Marina Schwenk

Marina Schwenk 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 the IBM i admin 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 New to IBM i (N2i) committee, a COMMON board member, 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. She has also completed two open source projects the first is logging in RPG and IBMiUnit, a RPG unit testing framework.

Steven Wolk

Steven Wolk is the Chief Technology Officer for PC Richard & Son, a family owned and operated chain of 66 appliance and electronics superstores located throughout NY, NJ, CT, and PA. Founded in 1909, PC Richard has always been known for honesty, integrity, and reliability throughout it's over 113 year history. Steve joined PC Richard & Son in 1986. In 2000, after working his way through a number of IT related roles, he assumed his current position as the company’s first CTO. As CTO, he considers himself very fortunate to lead a large in-house team of very talented software developers. Together, they bring their combined extensive retail experience to bear in the application of new technologies to improve business processes and efficiency to create a competitive advantage for this unique company. Steve is an IBM i zealot and advocate, and is deeply involved in the IBM i community. He’s very proud to be an IBM Power Systems Champion since 2020. Steve is a long-standing speaker at COMMON conferences, a subject matter expert, a member of COMMON’s Strategic Education Team, and speaks at IBM i related conferences globally. He is also a member of the board of directors for The LUG (Large User Group), a group of over 100 of the world’s largest users of IBM technology, currently serving as the Communications Officer. Steve is also a board member of LISUG, the Long Island Systems User’s Group, and enjoys his role as emcee of LISUG’s monthly educational and networking events.

Patrick Behr

With a career in IT spanning 20+ years, Patrick Behr has been working on IBM i (and its predecessors) for all of it. He spent most of his career working with RPG and Db2, and earned the COMMON ILE RPG Developer Certification. He has also worked in web development and application and database modernization. Patrick is a COMMON Speaker of Merit and has spoken at conferences and user groups across the country.