An international speaker, Microsoft MVP, ASPInsider, MCSD, CSM, and CSP, and a passionate member of the developer community, Phil Japikse has been working with .NET since the first betas, developing software for over 30 years, and heavily involved in the agile community since 2005. Phil is co-author of best selling "C# and the .NET 4.6 Framework", the Lead Director for the Cincinnati .NET User’s Group and the Cincinnati Software Architect Group, co-hosts the Hallway Conversations podcast, founded the Cincinnati Day of Agile, and volunteers for the National Ski Patrol. Phil is also a published author with LinkedIn Learning. During the day, Phil works as an Enterprise Consultant and Agile Coach for large to medium firms throughout the US. Phil enjoys to learn new tech and is always striving to improve his craft. You can follow Phil on his blog, or on Twitter @skimedic.
Kevin Grossnicklaus At one point in his career Kevin was the youngster on most development teams. He got his start developing with Visual Studio and managed .NET code during the early beta cycles in 2001. In 2009, Kevin started his own software product development firm called ArchitectNow (www.architectnow.net). At ArchitectNow, Kevin and his team specialize in a wide variety of tools while delivering applications across a variety of cloud and mobile platforms. Born in rural Nebraska, Kevin has spent the last 20 years in St. Louis, Missouri where he lives with his wife Lynda and their three daughters: Alexis, Emily, and Hanna. He is an avid guitar player, fly fisherman, home brewer, and gamer (including everything from retro arcade games, to board games, to role playing games). When not spending time on any of those hobbies he waits patiently for a second season of Firefly.
Ben Dewey is a former Microsoft MVP, and published author with over 18 years of experience writing applications and continually striving to create SOLID applications of the highest craftsmanship while paying special attention to clean User Experiences (UX). Ben is currently Creative Director at Tallan, Inc. and consults regularly in New York City and around the country on web- and cloud-based technologies. He has also worked to deploy numerous high-quality, engaging apps to the Windows Store. When he’s not consulting, Ben is busy training, mentoring, blogging, and speaking at various conferences and community events around the country. Outside of work, Ben spends most of his time playing with his three young kids, working around the house, or, if it’s windy, kite surfing. You can find Ben online on Twitter (@bendewey), StackOverflow, GitHub, or on his blog at http://bendewey.com/.