Speakers | The Kalamazoo X Conference

	i tend binary zen gardens.
	Justin Searls has two professional passions: writing great software and sharing what he’s learned in order to help others write even greater software. He recently co-founded a new software studio called Test Double, where he’s currently helping clients build well-crafted user experiences for the web.
	Layla Driscoll is a Senior Program Manager Lead on the Managed Languages team at Microsoft, which means that her and her amazing team is responsible for the C# and VB compilers and Roslyn APIs. She is also the Program Manager for Visual F#. In her time at Microsoft she has worked on the .NET Common Language Runtime, in the cloud (Office Live and Office 365) and on tablets (way before they were cool). Her other past jobs include truly odd jobs like doing electrical work on a proton accelerator. With a BS in Computer Science and a Technology Management MBA, Layla enjoys playing along the line where the human spirit and software development intertwine. Her brain loves to solve complex technical challenges and her heart thrives on helping others grow and discover who they are.
	Jim is a Father. Husband. Geek. Veteran. Around 25 years IT experience. Co-author of “Windows Developer Power Tools.” Coffee Roaster. MVP for C#. Chief Cat Herder of the CodeMash Conference. Diabetic. Runner. Liked 5th grade so much he did it twice. One-time setter, middle blocker, and weakside hitter. Blogger: FrazzledDad. Director of Engineering for Telerik’s Test Studio, an awesome set of tools to help teams deliver better software. Big fan of naps. Contact him directly at [email protected].
	My name is Elizabeth Naramore, and I work as an Event Handler for GitHub. I blog, I speak, I mentor, I write, I edit, I manage events, and in my former years, I wrote code. I live in Cincinnati, Ohio, and I am a huge fan of fantasy football, crafted beer, old books, and Louis CK.
	Jen Myers is a web designer, UI developer and instructor at Dev Bootcamp. She established and organized the beginner coder education program Girl Develop It Columbus in Ohio and regularly speaks about topics related to design, education and diversity in the technology field. She likes good film, comic books and frequently changing her hair color.
	Todd Kaufman is an agent for change at Test Double, a software studio in Central Ohio.
	Michael Wood describes himself as a problem solving, outdoorsy, user group founding, dog-loving, blog writing, solution creating, event planning, married, technology speaking, father of one kind of guy. When he’s not living up to that title he’s an avid reader, (horrible) violinist and gamer. Michael is one of the Founding Directors of the Cincinnati .NET User Group as well as the founder of the Cincinnati Software Architecture Special Interest Group. You can catch up with Mike on his blog at http://mvwood.com/blog and on twitter under the handle @mikewo.
	Suzan is a CMO-For-Hire, organizational strategist, blogger, community builder and all around people person. She’s spent more than 25 years studying and working in the areas of motivation, performance intuition and organizational performance. She’s worked in enterprise with companies like: Accenture, A.T. Kearney, Deloitte & Touche, Gap (Banana Republic) and J.P.Morgan. She got her start in tech during web 1.0 creating strategy and IA for intranets for large companies. She also led the project management department for an interactive agency that built sites for renown companies like MSNBC, Sears and Walmart. In her current role she works with many tech startups and growing businesses. An avid blogger and writer, she’s written a book about intuition and is currently working on another about startups. She loves working with developers and most recently spoke at Rocky Mountain Ruby.
	I’m a passionate husband, father, and software developer in Columbus, OH. I work for a small software company located in Redmond, WA, and spend most of my time building apps.
	Alan Stevens is the Winston Wolfe of software development. He solves problems. He is a partner at NerdHive Industries, LLC in Knoxville, TN where he builds kick-ass mobile and web apps. He is also a jerk on Twitter at @alanstevens.
	Brian H. Prince is the Chief Technical Cloud Evangelist for Microsoft, based in the US. He gets super excited whenever he talks about technology, especially cloud computing, patterns, and practices. His job is to help customers strategically leverage technology, and help them bring their architecture to a super level. In a past life Brian was a part of super startups, super marketing firms, and super consulting firms. Much of his super architecture background includes building super scalable applications, application integration, and award winning web applications. All of them were super. Further, he is a co-founder of the non-profit organization CodeMash (www.codemash.org). He speaks at various international technology conferences. He only wishes his job didn’t require him to say ‘super’ so much. Brian is the co-author of “Azure in Action”, published by Manning Press. Brian holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Computer Science and Physics from Capital University, Columbus, Ohio. He is also a zealous gamer. For example, he is a huge fan of Fallout 3, Portal 2, and pretty much every other game he plays.