Arie Van Bennekum is co-author of the Agile Manifesto, the founding document for agile software development. He is a pragmatist who anchors his pragmatism in structure, discipline and common sense, as well as an expert in the field of Agile Project Management, Agile at its core and user involvement. Agile according to Arie is primarily structured common sense focused on interactions. As a member of the board of DSDM Consortium Benelux and accredited as a DSDM-practitioner, DSDM-trainer, DSDM-consultant and IAF Certified Professional Facilitator (CPF) his passion for Agile methods is based on delivering to customers what they really need in a way that suits end-users and business. As facilitated sessions are very important within the DSDM method and his passion for group processes and human behaviour, he is involved in large scale Enterprise Agile transformations across the world. Among other areas, just as his teaching activities at the Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences, Arie has over 30 years of experience in implementing Agile / Lean. His latest ICT developments are innovative projects, involving optimization of business processes completely intertwined in Agile/Lean, creating value. At TrueAgile, he acts as the Thoughtleader of the institute, a position he also holds at Wemanity, and is co-responsible for the Agile Coach module as the leading SME. In his freetime Arie tries to travel a lot to get to in touch with other cultures and countries all around the globe.

Fernando Pinciroli is of Argentinian and Italian nationality, but lives in Argentina. The current President of Solus S.A. started his academic career with a degree in Systems Engineering and Computer Science from the Universidad Catolica Argentina, followed by a PhD in Computer Science from the National University of San Juan. As Professor of Economics and Technology at Universidad Champagnat, he published more than 70 scientific articles and was a member of academic committees at various congresses in the United States, Europe and several Latin American countries. He has been a software development consultant since 1993 and has provided services, consulting and training in software development, project management and enterprise architecture to more than 25 companies in designated regions and in four languages (Spanish, English, Portuguese and Italian). In addition to his position at Solus S.A., Fernando has led the quality and Agile transformation strategies of Aconcagua Software Factory S.A. in Argentina, the United States, Chile and Spain since 2005 and has been President of Sparx Systems Argentina since 2003. As Board member of Agnostic Agile, founder of the Argentine community of “The Heart of Agile” together with Alistair Cockburn, and Certified Scrum Master as well as IATM Assessor Fernando also brings countless core competencies in the field of Agility. Trained by various authors of the Agile manifesto, he has worked with them on countless Agile transformations in Europe and Latin America, provided Agile coaching for international teams and given several talks on Agile thinking and techniques. Agile versed, but also with an extensive past in software development and especially teaching, Fernando is an important SME in the expert circle of our Agile Coach module at TrueAgile. In his freetime, he enjoys astronomy and playing chess.

Sam is based in Melbourne Australia, and his hometown is London UK. The certified Change Management Practitioner (APMG-International) and ICAgile Certified professional Agile Team Facilitator (ICP-ATF) specializes in Agile delivery and strategic transformation initiatives as well as Agile Coaching, Consulting and Training. Sam completed his classical academic career in 2002 with two different Bachelor’s degrees in Computer Science and Film Studies. After that, the Agile thinker began his professional career in various positions as a technical and non-technical project manager and consultant at various companies such as Fujutsu Services, Capgemini and Mircrosoft. Although Sam had already had a lot of exposure to Agile project management, transformation and delivery before, it is clear from looking at his career that from 2010 onwards his role was increasingly shaped by consultancy and training in this area. While working as an Acting Director on the development of Agile and Lean project and programme management processes, templates, governance structures and delivery mechanisms, and the creation of a tailored software development lifecycle (SDLC) at GLG Group Ltd in London in 2012, he led large scale, multi-team Agile delivery on Aimia’s strategic and most critical product development roadmap in 2015, which specifically involved implementing SAFe and providing a variety of Lean and Agile training. Further details of his extensive and varied career can be found on his LinkedIn profile. In 2016, Sam founded Agnostic Agile, which has become a global non-profit movement that has steadily grown since then and advocates for an agnostic approach to Agility, as opposed to a dogmatic one. He is also a director of Agilica, a company founded in London and continued in Melbourne, which focuses on servicing Agile corporate journey, particularly through services such as advisory, consultancy, training, coaching, delivery services. With his extensive, diverse and cross-industry practical experience in Agile project management, teaching and transformation, Sam is a key member of AC’s expert group. He sees himself as an Agile Coach, because he has always believed that Agile Coaching is a role that one may assume as part of their daily functional duties. In all the roles of his career an element of Agile Coaching has been necessary, and this is where Sam picks up the Agile Coach role and links it to other day-to-day functional roles designed to deliver pragmatic and practical results. Sam’s hobbies include technology, travel and hiking, as well as theatre and film, although it is worth noting in particular that Sam is also a professional theatre and film actor and has appeared in a number of Melbourne productions.

Oscar, settled in Xiamen, China, is an experienced Scrum Master Trainer by EXIN, certified Management 3.0 Trainer as well as Agile Transformation and Erickson Team Coach. The first time he got in touch with Agile was in 2003, after completing his Master of Software Engineering at FuDan University, and he started practicing Scrum and XP in 2006. At that time, he worked as Director of the Product and Technology Center at Xiamen 35.com Technology Co. Ltd. and as Advance Director of Project Management at NetDragon Websoft Inc., gaining countless experiences in the fields of Organizational Changes, Objectives & Key Results (OKRs) and Agile Transformation. After successfully monitoring its introduction at two emerging start-ups, the also certified Alibaba YunXiao Devops Trainer decided in 2015 to specialize primarily in OKR. As an expert in the implementation, management and practical application of the Leadership Framework, Oscar has written literature in this field, holds seminars and acts as an OKR Consultant and Trainer. In this role, he has delivered over 100 trainings on OKR and has helped countless companies successfully implement OKRs. These implementations have particularly involved digital-driven companies in the software, internet, banking & gaming sector. In addition, Oscar is the Core Organizer of the China Agile Community as well as of China Devops, and he is Author and Trainer of “Agile Performance Leadership”, a special programme that integrates coaching, facilitation and visualisation. When asked, however, he now describes OKRs as core tool of his daily work. While he believes that linking vision, mission and goals is extremely important to obtain the best possible development results, he describes himself as a mission-driven person who uses OKRs intelligently and individually to drive development.