Speakers of New York ColdFusion User Group

Past Speakers

Ben Forta

Speaker, NYCFUG
Senior Technical Evangelist, Adobe
www.forta.com

I am Adobe Systems Inc's Director of Platform Evangelism. In that capacity I get to spend a considerable amount of time talking and writing about Adobe products (with an emphasis on ColdFusion and Flex), and providing feedback to help shape the future direction of the products. By the way, if you are not yet a ColdFusion user, you should be. It is an incredible product, and is truly deserving of all the praise it has been receiving. In a prior life I was a ColdFusion customer (I wrote one of the first large high visibility web sites using the product) and was so impressed I ended up working for the company that created it (Allaire).

I am also the author of books on ColdFusion, SQL, Windows 2000, JSP, WAP, Regular Expressions, and more. My books page has details on these, many of which have been translated into 15 languages. And I have several new books on the way - stay tuned for more info (or join my mailing list and I'll let you know when new books ship).

Raymond Camden

Speaker, NYCFUG
Owner of Camden Media, Inc.
www.coldfusionjedi.com

Raymond Camden is the owner of Camden Media, Inc, a web development and training company. A long time ColdFusion user, Raymond has worked on numerous ColdFusion books including the ColdFusion Web Application Construction Kit and has contributed to the Fusion Authority Quarterly Update and the ColdFusion Developers Journal. He also presents at numerous conferences and contributes to online webzines. He founded many community web sites including CFLib.org, ColdFusionPortal.org, ColdFusionCookbook.org and is the author of open source applications, including the popular BlogCFC ( www.blogcfc.com) blogging application.

Raymond can be reached at his blog (www.coldfusionjedi.com) or via email atray@camdenfamily.com. He is the happily married proud father of three kids and is somewhat of a Star Wars nut.

Adam Wayne Lehman

Speaker, NYCFUG
Adobe Platform Evangelist, Adobe
Adobe Systems Inc.

Adam Lehman is the Product Manager for ColdFusion at Adobe Systems based out of Washington, DC. Prior to joining Adobe, Adam developed enterprise applications for the US Department of State and Johns Hopkins University. Adam has spoken at over 100 events on topics ranging from web development to application security. You can find Adam blogging at http://www.adrocknaphobia.com or follow him on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/adrocknaphobia.

Ben Nadel

Speaker & Manager, NYCFUG
www.bennadel.com
ben@bennadel.com

Ben Nadel is the chief software engineer at Epicenter Consulting, a boutique software company in New York City that specialized in developing high-end, customized business solutions with a focus on company extranets. There, he designs and develops rich, web-based software using Interface-Driven Architecture (IDA) - a development methodology that he evangelizes as the one true way to ensure software success. Ben Nadel is also an Adobe Community Expert as well as a certified Adobe ColdFusion developer. As part of his "community expert" duties, he is manager of the New York City ColdFusion user group and authors www.bennadel.com, one of the more popular ColdFusion development blogs.

Mark Drew

Speaker, NYCFUG
CEO, Railo UK
www.markdrew.co.uk

Mark Drew is a ColdFusion developer and the CEO of Railo UK.

Josh Adams

Speaker, NYCFUG
Senior Solutions Engineer - ColdFusion
Adobe Systems Incorporated

Josh Adams is Senior Solutions Engineer for ColdFusion at Adobe Systems Incorporated. In this role, Josh supports the ColdFusion sales team throughout North America. Josh is passionate about ColdFusion and the ColdFusion community: he presents regularly to User Groups and conferences throughout North America and is a longtime member, past President, and current Director of the Atlanta ColdFusion User Group.Â

Peter Bell

Speaker, NYCFUG
CEO/CTO of SystemsForge
www.pbell.com

Peter Bell is CEO/CTO of SystemsForge and writes and presents internationally on code generation and OO design patterns. He also writes the popular Application Generation blog at www.pbell.com.

Michael Dinowitz

President, House of Fusion
Speaker, NYCFUG
Fusion Authority

Michael Dinowitz has been programming in ColdFusion since early 1995 and it doesn't look like he's stopping any time soon. His accomplishments include: President and Head of RT&T (Research, Training & TroubleShooting) at House of Fusion, a ColdFusion consulting shop; Hosting the high volume CF-Talk list (as well as others) out of House of Fusion
(www.houseoffusion.com); Publishing Fusion Authority, the House of Fusion Technical Magazine (www.fusionauthority.com); and many more activities that strengthen and advance the ColdFusion community.

Rob Gonda

Speaker, NYCFUG
CTO for iChameleon Group
www.ichameleongroup.com

Rob Gonda is the CTO for iChameleon Group and former Editor-in-Chief of the AJAX Developer's Journal. He is an Advanced Certified Coldfusion Developer, member of the Adobe Community Experts, frequent contributor to the CFDJ and ADJ, frequent speaker at IT and developer conferences nationwide, co-author of Real-World Ajax, author of ajaxCFC, holds a BS in computer science and engineering, and an MBA with a specialization in entrepreneurship. He specializes in Rich Internet Applications and object-oriented architecture. Rob's mission is to develop forward-thinking expertise that will ensure clients are always on par with rapidly changing technologies and maintain it's ethos of evolving.

Aaron Foss

Speaker, NYCFUG
Owner, Alegean
Alegean

Aaron Foss started Alegean in 2003 after getting frustrated with the slow development speed in large organizations. For the past 6 years, he has been developing ColdFusion applications for both large and small clients. Aaron recently won the 140html contest sponsored by Sawhorse Media.

Rachel Appel

Speaker, NYCFUG
Microsoft Developer Evangelist
http://rachelappel.com/

Rachel works as a developer evangelist for Microsoft based in the NYC Metro area. Previous to joining Microsoft, Rachel has worked with a variety of languages, technologies and systems. She has developed software products of all sizes, from small desktop programs to large scale enterprise applications at some of the world's leading companies. Rachel's expertise lies within developing solutions that align business and technology using the Microsoft .NET family of products, particularly ASP.NET & SQL Server. She is also a recognized speaker who can be found giving talks at national conferences such as DevConnections, MIX, CodeStock and others. Rachel is also an alumni of the Microsoft MVP award program and INETA Speakers Bureau.

Jeff Coughlin

Speaker, NYCFUG
Owner, Versatile Internet Solutions
www.versatileinternet.com

Jeff Coughlin is the owner of Versatile Internet Solutions, a web application solutions provider. At Versatile Internet Jeff manages and develops applications primarily in the healthcare industry to meet clients' needs using Adobebased products such as ColdFusion and Flex. A Certified FarCry Instructor and a Certified Advanced ColdFusion Developer, Jeff is the Hartford Connecticut Adobe User Group manager and is an active member in multiple ColdFusion and FarCry mailing lists. He has written several ColdFusion and FarCry framework tutorials. Read more about information about Jeff, his tutorials, and blog at http://jeffcoughlin.com.

Gert Franz

Speaker, NYCFUG
CEO of Railo
www.railo-technologies.com

Gert Franz was born in 1967 and lives in Switzerland since 1998, somewhere next to Zurich. He's one of the founders of Railo Technologies GmbH and accompanied the development from when it started back in 2001. Next to the development of Railo he worked as a system architect, engineer and DBA where one of his favorite web projects was for instance www.zinodavidoff.com. He's addicted to problem solving, performance and database tuning (especially SQL Server). Gert is a father of three and boyfriend of one. He studied Physics in Munich some (many :-)) years ago...

Pete Freitag

Speaker, NYCFUG
Owner of Foundeo, Inc.
www.foundeo.com

Pete Freitag has over ten years of experience web applications with ColdFusion. In 2006 he started Foundeo Inc, a ColdFusion consulting and products company. Pete helps clients develop and architect custom ColdFusion applications, as well as increasing the performance and security of existing applications. He has also built several products ranging from a ColdFusion Spell Checker to a Web Application Firewall for ColdFusion. Pete holds a BS in Software Engineering from Clarkson University.

Blog: www.petefreitag.com

Javier Julio

Speaker, NYCFUG
Software Developer
www.javier-julio.com

Javier is a software developer specializing in Flex, AIR and ColdFusion development now working in Midtown Manhattan. He loves to cook, enjoys working out and is a soccer fanatic.

Jim Harris

Speaker, NYCFUG
Vice President, Applications & Product Development for LT Online Corp.
www.lawtrac.com

Jim has used ColdFusion since 1998 and has been developing web-based applications every since. After his retirement from the army he accepted an offer from NYU to be the lead programmer for the NYUOnline.com project which brought him to New York. Since the year 2000 he has worked in his current capacity as the lead developer for LAWTRAC, an application which supports the in-house legal counsel of major corporations. Jim received his Bachelors degree in Computer Technology while in the army (University of Maryland) and subsequently completed his Masters degree from Duke University.

Matt Levine

Speaker, NYCFUG
Lead Developer, Architect of Mura CMS, Blue River Interactive Group
Blue River Interactive Group

Matt is also the architect of and lead developer of Mura CMS. Matt's expertise lies in best-practice, object-oriented programming. He leads the technology team at Blue River as CTO, blending a pragmatic approach with robust, scalable frameworks to create top solutions for Blue River clients.

John Mason

Speaker, NYCFUG
Fusion Link

John Mason works at FusionLink, a ColdFusion and Flex hosting company based in Atlanta, Georgia. He has been programming with ColdFusion since 1996 and Flash since 2001. John was a contributor to the CFDJ and actively posts on several ColdFusion, Flash and Flex related lists. He holds an Adobe ColdFusion Advance Certification and also MBA from Georgia Southern University. Currently, he enjoys working on his Flex certification and building beta applications in AIR.

Sean Schroeder

Speaker, NYCFUG
Mura Product Manager, Blue River Interactive Group
Blue River Interactive Group

After starting his own Internet services company six years ago (Studio Squared Inc.) with Blue River's Matt Levine, award-winning designer Sean Schroeder joined Blue River with a unique focus on solid design principles applied to the user experience. In collaboration with Matt, Sean is the founder and developer of Mura CMS, Blue River's popular open source content management system.

Michael Smith

Speaker, NYCFUG
CEO of TeraTech, Inc.
www.teratech.com

Michael Smith is the President of TeraTech, a 17-year old Rockville, Maryland consulting company that specializes in web and database development. TeraTech has developed sophisticated data-driven web sites for a wide range of organizations, from corporations to government agencies. In addition to ColdFusion, the TeraTech staff also have extensive experience in SQL databases, ASP, HTML, Access, Foxpro, Visual Basic and more. Michael has been programming for over 25 years and has been coding in ColdFusion since version 1.5 ten years ago. He obtained his MA and BA from Cambridge University, England and graduated in the top 10 of his year. Michael runs the Maryland ColdFusion User Group and organized many very successful CF events including CFUNITED-05 with over 800 attendees. Michael volunteers at ByteBack, a non-profit organization provides computer training for unemployed and under-employed inner city residents. He also is a frequent contributor to Fusion Authority, the ColdFusion Developer Journal and the CPCUG monitor.

Brett Suwyn

Speaker, NYCFUG
Senior Programmer of Pro Bono Net
www.probono.net

Brett Suwyn is senior programmer of Pro Bono Net. He specializes in building large-scale content management systems.

Andy Matthews

Speaker, NYCFUG
Senior Web Developer for Dealerskins
www.commadelimited.com

Andy Matthews is currently Senior Web Developer for Dealerskins, an enterprise shop focusing on professional websites for the automotive space. He is the author of several open source ColdFusion libraries on RIAForge.org and has developed multiple AIR applications with Flex, as well as HTML/JS. Andy loves designing rich user interfaces as well as writing the back end code to support them. He tweets; he blogs; and he lives in Nashville, TN with his wife, two children, and two dogs.

Speakers at New York ColdFusion User Group, NYCFUG

Speakers of NYCFUG