Æva Black is an international thought leader on open source software security, with over 25 years of experience building digital infrastructure, leading open source projects, and advising on cybersecurity policy.

— “Technical Luminary” — Wired

After leading OSS Security Programs first in the Azure Office of the CTO and then at the U.S. Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Agency, Æva founded Null Point Studio, a boutique cybersecurity consulting firm in the Netherlands, to continue supporting the sustainability and security of free and open source software.

— “child prodigy turned creative genius” — CISA

A veteran of the first dot-com bubble, Æva’s signature red-and-black aesthetic has darkened conference stages around the world since 2005. When not behind a computer screen, they can be found on a motorcycle or looking for new ways to support their local queer community.

Amir Montazery is the Managing Director and Cofounder of Open Source Technology Improvement Fund, Inc (OSTIF). OSTIF is a Chicago-based organization focused on directly helping open-source software projects improve their security posture. Amir comes from a background in Finance, IT and Internal Auditing, applying years of experience to help develop OSTIF’s processes and partnerships. Furthermore, Amir is responsible for negotiating and organizing over 12,000 hours of security-focused work for organizations like Google and Amazon Web Services along with groups like Mozilla Foundation and Open Source Security Foundation (OpenSSF).

Andrew Nesbitt is a UK-based software engineer specializing in package management, open source discovery, and sustainability. He created and maintains Ecosyste.ms, a free infrastructure tracking millions of packages across dozens of ecosystems with completely open APIs.

Building on his earlier work with Libraries.io, he focuses on making dependencies visible, enabling proper attribution across package ecosystems, and helping researchers and maintainers understand the critical infrastructure that underpins open source.

His work centers on solving discovery problems in open source: surfacing hidden dependencies, mapping transitive relationships between projects, and identifying which software truly matters for sustainability efforts. Andrew also created Octobox for managing GitHub notifications and 24 Pull Requests to encourage contribution culture.

He's passionate about package management systems, dependency analysis, and building the data infrastructure needed to support healthier open source ecosystems. When not working on open source sustainability, he's wrangling his five mini poodles and modifying Japanese sports cars.

Head of Communications at Mastodon

UX Designer driven by the complexity behind what feels simple, how systems and stories shape the way people experience technology. My work explores how design can make technical depth feel intuitive and clear. Published research author on privacy-preserving UX patterns, with its primary artifact being a UI/UX Privacy Pattern Catalog to help designers embed such patterns into everyday interfaces.

Ben started working with Andrew Nesbitt following the Heartbleed vulnerability in 2014. In the decade since they’ve built the world’s most comprehensive and accurate dataset about open source production and use… twice.

Their latest project Ecosyste.ms tracks 230m repos and 11m packages from thousands of data sources, mapping 19 billion dependencies between them. Ecosyste.ms provides a free set of tools and data for developers, researchers, and policymakers to help identify, secure, and sustain open source software.

Ben is also Strategic Director at Open Source Collective, Director of Open Finance Consortium, and the creator of a boardgame or two.

Human. Artist. Hacker.

I care about free and open-source software(F/LOSS), cybersecurity, ethical design, privacy, and technology. 20+ experience in technology. 40+ in being human. I encourage people to become better humans with heavy metal and technologies. I also promote technologies to be considerate of humans. Let's see how it goes!

N.B " Бого" Is in Bulgarian, and it's read as Bogo.
Connect with me on Fediverse: https://hapyyr.com/@bogo

Cassie Jiun Seo is a technology practitioner working on digital interventions in humanitarian, development, and migration contexts. She consults for the World Health Organization and is an affiliate researcher at Cambridge University’s Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy.

Chan-jo Jun (*1974) ist Geschäftsführer der Rechtsanwaltskanzlei JUN Legal GmbH für IT-Recht in Würzburg. Bekannt wurde er durch sein juristisches Engagement gegen Hasskriminalität auf Facebook, mit dem er Ermittlungsverfahren gegen Mark Zuckerberg und andere Facebook-Manager ins Rollen und Facebook vor Gericht brachte. Mit seinem Team arbeitet Jun am Einsatz von künstlicher Intelligenz zur Lösung rechtlicher Aufgaben in Rechtsabteilungen. Eine besondere Spezialität liegt im Bereich des Software-Lizenzrechts, insbesondere bei Open Source Software. Zu seinen Mandanten gehören sowohl mittelständische Softwareunternehmen, als auch Automobilhersteller; ein Teil der Arbeitszeit im Team ist jedoch für unbezahltes gesellschaftliches Engagement reserviert.

Cornelius Schumacher is a long-time contributor and leader in the open source community. He has worked on a variety of projects, from volunteer-driven to enterprise. Originally a developer, he has moved into topics of governance, open source compliance, and how to run open source projects well. Cornelius Schumacher works as Open Source Steward in the CTO team of DB Systel helping teams to successfully use and contribute to open source at Deutsche Bahn.

Cynthia Udoh is a no-code open source contributor and community manager passionate about making open source more inclusive. She manages communities and newsletters reaching thousands, driving engagement through storytelling, growth strategies, and accessible practices.

Dr. Dawn Foster provides consulting services around open source strategy, contributor strategy, improving project governance, and similar topics. She also works as the Director of Data Science for the CHAOSS project where she is a board member, working group lead, and maintainer. Dawn is an OpenUK board member, and was previously a co-chair of the CNCF Contributor Strategy Technical Advisory Group. She has 20+ years of experience at companies like VMware and Intel with expertise in community, strategy, governance, metrics, and more. She has spoken at over 100 industry events and has a BS in computer science, an MBA, and a PhD. In her spare time she enjoys reading science fiction, running, 3D printing, and traveling.

Dr. Andreas Kotulla is the founder and managing director of Bitsea GmbH, a company specializing in the technical analysis of software systems. Bitsea supports companies in the introduction and implementation of holistic open source strategies – from governance, processes, and tool chains to the provision of an Open Source Program Office (OSPO) and scanning as a managed service.
As a graduate computer scientist with over 30 years of experience in IT, Dr. Kotulla is a proven expert in software engineering, software quality, and open source management. He spent twelve years in management positions at international telecommunications providers and now shares his knowledge in workshops and lectures. Dr. Kotulla is an active member of the Linux Foundation's OpenChain project and the Open Source Working Group of Bitkom e.V. He is also the author of frequent blogs, several books and publications on IT and software topics.

Dr. Daniel Gerber holds a doctorate in computer science. As CTO at Targomo GmbH, he was responsible for global IT services before joining the Saxon State Parliament in 2019, where he advocated for digital sovereignty. Since 2025, he has continued his commitment to free software at ALASCA e.V. and as deputy managing director of the Open Source Business Alliance.

Drew DeVault is a prolific author of free software, founding and building communities around projects including aerc, Hare, Sway, SourceHut, wlroots, and dozens more, as well as a prolific writer and advocate both for free software generally and for a just free software movement that we can be proud of participating in.

Dr Lina Böcker is an experienced information technology (IT) lawyer and one of the few experts in the field of open source software (OSS) compliance and artificial intelligence. She is a partner at Osborne Clarke Germany. For more than ten years, she has been advising a wide range of clients, from software developers to international OEMs and public research institutions, on all aspects of artificial intelligence, licensing law and general IT law. She received her doctorate in open source law in 2009 and writes regularly for the newspaper "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" on digital topics.

Dr. Wolfgang Gehring is an Ambassador for Open and Inner Source and has been working on enabling and spreading the idea within Mercedes-Benz. A software engineer by trade, Wolfgang’s goal is to help enable Mercedes-Benz to fully embrace FOSS and become a true Open Source company. He has a passion for communities, leads Mercedes-Benz Tech Innovation’s Open Source Program Office, is a member of the Mercedes-Benz FOSS Center of Competence, and a Director of the Eclipse Foundation.

In his free time, Wolfgang likes to engage in conversations about soccer and is an avid traveler and scuba diver. He calls Albert Einstein’s birth city of Ulm his home in Southern Germany.

Elio Qoshi founded Ura Design, a small studio that examines complex digital tools through usability forensics and whole-systems research. Before that, he worked as a User Experience Designer at Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu. With over twelve years of experience, Elio focuses on making complex digital tools more understandable and secure through user-centered research and design.

Emily Omier is a consultant who helps founders use their involvement in open source as a competitive advantage. She is the co-founder of Open Source Founders Summit and the host of The Business of Open Source podcast.

Eriol has been working as a designer for 15+ years working in for-profits and then NGO’s and open-source software organisations, working on complex problems like sustainable food systems, peace-building and crisis response technology. They now work as a product designer at the Open Home Foundation working on Smart Home OSS technologies.

Eriol was studying a Comp Sci PhD looking at how designers participate in humanitarian and human rights focussed open-source software projects and is looking for a new home for this research.

They are also part of the core maintainer team at Open Source Design (http://opensourcedesign.net/) and the Sustain UX & Design working group (https://sustainoss.org/working-groups/design-and-ux/) and is a host for the podcast about open source and design (https://sosdesign.sustainoss.org/)

Eriol is a non-binary, queer person who uses they/them pronouns.

Florent has been involved (both personally and professionally) in the FLOSS community since 1999. Professionally, Florent has worked for nearly 20 years in a consulting company as a Open Source advisor for large companies, helping them with software quality, Open Source governance, licensing, Innersource, as well as change management. Today, as Open Source Services Team Lead, he's helping (new) Eclipse members and projects better understand, manage and master Open Source. He's also an active participant in the OSPO Alliance and the Good Governance Initiative. On his personal side, he's an administrator and board member at LinuxFr.org (reference french-speaking, community driven website about Free and Open Source software).

Gregor - Little Detritus - Bransky is a c-base member and german digital rights activist.

Core of his activist work is striving for public intrest tech that impowers people instead of surveiling them, for the last five years he has been trying to find buisness models for public digital infrastructures.

He will guide you through the 700 square meters c-base accessible to humans. He works on privacy preserving digital platforms and infrastructures which empower users to make data-based decisions.

Jan is an advocate for openness and collaboration. He is running the company Open By Default where he helps other organizations on their journey to becoming more open. He has a history of working with open source at the Foundation for Public Code, open knowledge at and with Wikimedia and open data at Creative Commons.

Jan Lehnardt is a developer and businessperson from Berlin. He’s the project lead for Apache CouchDB and PouchDB as well as a CEO at Neighbourhoodie Software where he oversees the FOSS work for the Sovereign Tech Agency.

Jochen Topf is a freelance software developer and consultant who has written Open Source software for more than 25 years. He joined the OpenStreetMap project early on and has contributed data and software, talked and written about it, and helped organize the community. He works part-time for the German chapter of the OpenStreetMap Foundation, the FOSSGIS e.V.

Johannes Näder is part of the Free Software Foundation Europe's (FSFE) policy team, where he coordinates the "Public Money? Public Code!" initiative. He holds an M.A. in Literature and History. Before joining the FSFE, Johannes worked as a net politics adviser to Members of Parliament, focusing on digital freedom, privacy, and Free Software. He has also published a book on Open Access and free licensing in the scientific community and is experienced in historical-political education.

User experience designer at Canonical, he is part of the team behind Ubuntu Desktop. Interested in accessibility and the impact of technology on society. Based in Madrid.

Judith Fassbender is a researcher in the field of public interest technology and has been responsible for the research of the Prototype Fund since 2025. She is an associate researcher at the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society and is looking participatory data governance practices in her dissertation at the University of St Andrews.

Justin Mclean is a highly experienced professional with over 30 years in application development, education, and community work, and he is an active contributor to open source software. Justin is a renowned conference speaker worldwide and currently serves as the Community Manager at Datastrato. He mentors projects at the Apache Software Foundation, serves as VP of the ASF Incubator, and is an ASF board member.

Klaus 'klml' Mueller is Head of the OSPO of the City of Munich, which was founded in 2024. Before that, he and his team built the Kubernetes Platform, a world in which FOSS is already standard. Klaus has been a stable FOSS enthusiast since Linux kernel 2.6.0.

Director of Policy, DPGA

Leia is a UX designer at Canonical and a member of the Open Design working group. Driven by a mission to create positive societal impact through accessible technology, she advocates for incorporating non-code contributions and user feedback into open-source projects.

Madalin is currently working as an EU Policy Advisor at OpenSSF with a focus on cybersecurity and open-source software. He serves as a bridge between OpenSSF (and its community), other technical communities and policymakers, helping position OpenSSF as a trusted resource within the global and European policy landscape.

His journey into this space began with a technical background in R&D and innovation, where he contributed to several commercial and R&D&I projects, EU-funded initiatives and international standardization efforts. Over the years, he has had the opportunity to work across technical, managerial, and research roles, always with a strong focus on openness, interoperability, and the societal value of technology.

Maximilian Kroker is an attorney focusing on IT and data protection law and a computer scientist. This interdisciplinary background combines legal expertise with deep technical understanding—a combination of particular value to technology-oriented companies. His professional focus is on the legal support of digital business models, especially in dealing with software products, open-source components, cloud infrastructures, and regulatory requirements such as the GDPR, the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA), or the AI Act.

photo: Thomas Hedrich

Max Mehl has been dedicated to Open Source for many years, in various roles and contributing from different perspectives. He deals with all aspects of Open Source at Deutsche Bahn, Europe’s largest railway operator and infrastructure owner. In this role, he supports in both using and contributing to Open Source in a professional manner. Previously, he worked for the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE), where he coordinated initiatives such as “Public Money? Public Code!” and REUSE.

Miaolai Zhou is an Open Source Program Manager at AWS, where she focuses on strengthening open source security and sustainability. She serves as an organizer of PGConf NYC, manager of the PostgreSQL NYC User Group, and Chair of the Marketing Advisory Council at the OpenSSF. Passionate about building and connecting open source communities, Miaolai works to measure the real-world impact of funding on open source security and long-term project health. Her experience bridges community engagement, strategic investment, and data-driven advocacy for a more secure and sustainable open source ecosystem.

Michael Weinberg is the Executive Director of the Engelberg Center on Innovation Law and Policy at the NYU School of Law. His research centers on open source, open access, and innovation. He is also the Co-Director of the glam-e lab, a project that uses direct representation to develop model policies and terms for cultural institutions that are creating open access programs.

Before joining the Center he served as General Counsel at Shapeways, a 3D printing marketplace and service company, where he also oversaw strategic partnerships and developed new business initiatives such as the “Design with Shapeways” design services division. Prior to Shapeways, Weinberg held a number of roles at Public Knowledge, a nonprofit public interest advocacy organization dedicated to representing consumers in technology policy debates in Washington, DC. He is also a long-time board member of the Open Source Hardware Association, where he oversees the open source hardware certification project.

Mick is a Program Coordinator with Giga, where he supports the strategy, operations, and technology of the Giga Mapping and Tech team. He brings over a decade of experience leading cross-functional teams and developing digital infrastructure for education and training in low-connectivity environments. Mick was previously the co-founder Tunapanda Institute (2012-2024), a Nairobi-based educational nonprofit delivering technology, design, and business training in East Africa. He also co-founded and led Asha (2018-2024), a SaaS company that built tools for strategic goal setting and project delivery. He has designed and led programs focused on digital skills training, education, connectivity, open-source software, and digital literacy, in partnership with governments, NGOs, international development agencies, and private enterprises. Mick has lived and worked across Europe, East Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. He holds a B.S. in Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology from Emory University.

I'm a UX Designer at Canonical and an active contributor to our Open Design Initiative. Coming from a computing background and then to design at university, I'm always merging my creative/technical sides into an adaptable approach to solving the right user problems, curious to learn more, and placing people at the centre of any task.

Mirko Boehm contributes to free and open source software as a community builder, licensing expert and researcher. His work spans major projects including the KDE Desktop, the Open Invention Network and the Open Source Initiative. He holds a PhD in innovation economics and serves as visiting lecturer and researcher on open source software at the Technical University of Berlin.
His professional background encompasses entrepreneurship, executive management, software development and service as a German Air Force officer. Since joining the Linux Foundation in June 2023 as senior director for community development at Linux Foundation Europe, he drives engagement and collaboration among European open source stakeholders. He is fluent in English and German and resides in the Berlin area.

Mustapha Rufai is a software engineer who loves teaching. As co-host of Write the Docs EMEA, he builds programs that lower barriers for contributors. He has trained over 2,000 learners across Africa and Europe, turning classroom experience into practical pathways for growing open source communities.

https://sessionize.com/mustapha-rufai

Nicole is a senior staff product designer at Mozilla, where she shapes the experience of Firefox mobile with a focus on clarity, trust, and joy. Before Mozilla, she worked at Ableton, designing tools that support creativity and collaboration.

Political scientist specializing in public policy, democratic participation, and technological sovereignty. He is currently the Director of the Technical Office at the Decidim Association and a member of Decidim's Product Team.

Sebastian Schuberth is an Open Source evangelist and automation enthusiast. He has more than 20 years of experience with contributions to and maintenance of Open Source projects on the one hand, and crafting proprietary software on the other hand.

Consequently, Sebastian aims to bridge the gap between the Open Source and commercial worlds by working with companies to properly make use of Open Source software, contributing back, and applying Inner Source principles. As a founder of the OSS Review Toolkit project, a central part of his work at Double Open is to provide a SaaS solution to automate software compliance checks to fulfill requirements like those from the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) and other regulations.

I am a Stanford-certified health data scientist with a global recognition for driving innovation in the open-source ecosystem, particularly Git.

Head of Operations @ Open Finance Consortium the non-profit stewarding the Open Collective Platform.

Shauna Gordon-McKeon is a writer, programmer and consultant who works at the intersection of technology and governance. She specializes in working with open communities (think open source software, open science, and open government) to collaboratively build and nourish a rich commons. You can find her work at relational-tech.com.

I’m Tara Tarakiyee, a public interest technologist and a supporter of human rights, free and open internet, and open source software. I strive in my work to not only help protect those that need it the most from technological harms of pervasive surveillence and censorship, but as well to unlock the transformational potential of information technology as an enabler of human rights and as a tool to liberate societies from systemic oppression​.

Tom Sadler is a Senior Principal Software Engineer at the BBC, working with a number of teams on open source and industry engagement. He has led multiple teams working on the BBC’s Connected TV applications, with a focus on cross team collaboration. Tom has been a regular speaker on open source and InnerSource. He is also a Member of the InnerSource Commons Foundation, and currently serves as Assistant Treasurer.

Victoria Nduka is a UX designer who built her design career through open source. She’s passionate about making community-driven projects more usable and inclusive, and has contributed to accessibility and design efforts across several OSS communities.

Zainab Daodu is a Senior Technical Writer with a background in software engineering and DevOps, known for transforming complex tech into clear, impactful documentation. She has contributed to global platforms like Google, Cisco, Tealium, Jenkins, and the Wikimedia Foundation, enhancing developer experiences and driving product adoption.

Through her work with She Code Africa, she has empowered over 500 African women in tech and continues to champion diversity in open source. As the founder of WriteTech Hub, she mentors the next generation of technical writers and leads a team that delivers high-quality technical documentation services to organizations.