Mary Poppendieck has had a diverse career, starting out as a process control programmer and eventually becoming a department manager in product development. She thought about retiring, but instead ended up managing a government software project where she encountered the term "waterfall." She saw that the prevailing opinions on managing software projects did not align with her own successful experiences in software development, leading her to write the award-winning book, Lean Software Development: An Agile Toolkit, in 2003. This explains how the lean principles from manufacturing can offer a better approach to software development.

Mary and her husband Tom continue to teach classes and write books based on their ongoing learning. They have written several books together, including Implementing Lean Software Development: From Concept to Cash in 2006, Leading Lean Software Development: Results are Not the Point in 2009, and The Lean Mindset: Ask the Right Questions in 2013. Mary is known for her writing and speaking on software development, bringing fresh perspectives to the field.

Felix Lin is the CIO and founder of Konfidently, a company that aims to help businesses create a culture and leadership environment that empowers and drives employees to achieve their best. He believes that every person has an "A player" in them, and it's the leader's job to find it and help them stay in that zone. Felix emphasizes the need for individualized leadership training and coaching resources to mentor leaders, which is often missing in small to medium-sized companies. Konfidently offers a set of tools called the Konfident Fit that leaders can use to up their own game and produce elite-level results.

Aside from his work at Konfidently, Felix is a Breakthrough Speaker for the Leadership Academy at Robbins Research International, where he delivers the final breakthrough experience for over 1,000 people. He is also a guest speaker at USC Viterbi School of Engineering and Draper University, where he teaches the Konfident Fit methodology to students to help them understand the kind of organization and leadership where they will thrive. Through his work, Felix is committed to helping people find their "A leader" inside them and achieve their full potential.

Mishkin Berteig is a co-founder of BERTEIG, committed to transforming individuals, teams, and organizations to achieve Real AgilityTM since 1995. Mishkin has helped various organizations to adopt Agile methods (Scrum, Lean, Kanban, OpenAgile), change management, culture change, executive management coaching, Agile product, project and operations management, Agile teamwork, and Agile engineering practices. He has authored several books and articles on Agile and management. Mishkin has delivered Agile training worldwide, from three-hour intensive seminars to five-day immersive boot camps for over 20,000 people, including junior team members to senior executives of Fortune 50 organizations.

Mishkin has been a Certified Scrum Trainer since 2005, and the longest-standing CST in Canada. He has advised and trained executives and senior leaders in various organizations, including Charles Schwab, Capital One, Siemens, RBC, and Schlumberger. Mishkin also received Leadership Circle Profile CertificationTM.

Kanban University which was founded in 2010 by David J Anderson and a group of trusted Kanban enthusiasts, some of whom are still Accredited Kanban Consultants and Trainers today, is the proud “Home” of the Kanban Method! Over the last decade we have grown into an amazing Kanban community that has evolved to over 80 Accredited Kanban Consultants and 340+ Accredited Kanban Trainers who coach and or/teach organizations, teams, and students the Kanban Method globally. To date, over 90,000 students have been certified in the Kanban Method through Kanban University!

The Kanban Method as taught in the Kanban University curriculum is based on Kanban: Successful Evolutionary Change for Your Technology Business, by David J Anderson. With the motivation to manage and improve professional service businesses as well as providing humane change method, the roots of the method are found in Lean Manufacturing. However, Kanban is meant to be used to manage knowledge work resulting in intangible and virtual goods and services.

Doug Allen is a best-selling author, internationally known speaker, and multi-million dollar business consultant. A graduate of Carnegie-Mellon University with degrees in Biomedical and Electrical Engineering, Allen worked for the Dept. of Energy developing pattern recognition software for the U.S. Navy's nuclear fleet - including the U.S.S. Enterprise aircraft carrier. Allen then used his skills as a software engineer to develop propriety trading algorithms and launched his own $100 million dollar hedge fund complex - making over 100% returns for his 214 accredited investor clients - without a losing year.

Allen has appeared at Date With Destiny & Wealth Mastery with Anthony Robbins, Harvard University, TEDx, numerous hedge fund and financial conferences, and has been a featured guest on national broadcast networks, including MSNBC, FOX and CNBC. Allen is the incredibly proud father of three daughters, and travels between NYC, San Diego Columbus and Puerto Rico.

David J. Anderson is the originator of the Kanban Method, and co-creator of the Kanban Maturity Model, the Fit-for-Purpose Framework and Enterprise Services Planning. Focused on management training and leadership development in professional services, intangible goods industries: Helping improve service delivery, strategy, fitness for purpose, operational management and governance of modern businesses.

Management trainer and consultant. Author of six books: Kanban Maturity Model - Evolving Fit For Purpose Organizations; Fit For Purpose - Synthesizing strategy & customer experience for accelerated business results; Essential Kanban Condensed; Lessons in Agile Management; Kanban - Successful Evolutionary Change for your Technology Business; and Agile Management for Software Engineering.

Alexei is the Founder and Principal Consultant of Lean A-to-Z, Inc. He founded the firm to bring Lean product development and Kanban to intellectual organizations who seek these modern management ideas and pragmatic guidance to improve their high-technology businesses.

As the firm's principal consultant, Alexei has consulted and trained professionals, managers, executives and coaches on five continents. His clients represent a wide range of industries. Alexei thrives in complex environments, helping leaders and teams find their unique improvement paths.