Andy is a seasoned IBM i professional with over 45 years of developer experience in enterprise systems and modernisation.

He has led multiple initiatives integrating Open Source technologies into IBM i environments, helping organisations bridge the gap between legacy infrastructure and modern development practices.

He helped write the IBM i developer certification and is co-author of the Redbook, IBM Power Modernisation.

He is also an IBM Champion and Royal Navy Veteran.

As world-wide team leader for AI on IBM Power, Sebastian is the main product manager to drive design, development, and market success of the AI portfolio on the IBM Power platform. He is known for bringing the IBM Spyre Accelerator and open-source products such as Kubeflow to IBM Power while creating several success stories together with clients. Sebastian has a 20+ years track record as software engineer (10+ years in AI) with over 30 publications and 2 patents. He holds a doctoral title for his work on making software architects more efficient.

Fabian is a Certified Consulting IT Specialist at IBM Belgium. He holds a M.Sc. in Electronics Engineering. His area of expertise is infrastructure solutions design. He has 25+ years of experience in Power Systems. Fabian wrote the first technical paper about Flash storage & IBM i and developed the FLiP tool to predict Flash storage impact on IBM i workloads. Both earned him worldwide recognition. Often sought by clients as a trusted advisor, he is also a frequent speaker at customer events.

Guy Berlo is the Managing Director for the EMEA region at FalconStor. With over two decades of international leadership and sales experience in the IT and storage industry, he has held senior positions at ProphetStor Data Services, Auspex Systems, debis Systemhaus (now T-Systems), and Evans & Sutherland. In 2001, he successfully established and led FalconStor’s EMEA operations. Guy Berlo holds a degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Stuttgart.

Post Sales Support Engineer - Professional Services at FalconStor Software

Jesse Gorzinski works for the IBM i development lab in Rochester, MN. He is a Senior Business Architect and Senior Technical Staff Member (STSM) responsible for open source technologies on the platform. Jesse, who was doing RPG programming at the age of 18, is an expert on application development on IBM i, as well as system access and modernization.

Jesse Gorzinski is a longtime enthusiast of open source software (OSS). Jesse drives companies to success by leveraging the benefits of both legacy systems and cutting-edge technologies in harmony. He has worked with numerous Fortune 500 companies and also has applied experience in the finance/mortgage industry, where he specialized in data backup/recovery, process optimization, and information integrity. He has a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science as well as a Master of Business Administration degree.

Joris is a passionate IBM professional who thrives on showcasing the power of IBM’s cutting-edge infrastructure technologies. He inspires new audiences through dynamic sessions and hands-on workshops, helping organizations discover innovative solutions tailored to their unique business needs. With a talent for translating complex technology into real-world value, Joris empowers companies to harness IBM’s latest advancements for maximum impact.

Koen Decorte is what happens when you let a philologist accidentally wander into a server room and decide to stay. He abandoned the tranquility of ancient texts for the chaotic thrill of RPGLE debugging!

As the founder of CD-Invest (which stands for "Computers Doing Impressive Stuff" or "Coffee-Driven Innovation" depending on the time of day), Koen has spent years convincing stubborn IBM i systems to embrace modern technology without having existential crises.

Koen strategically positioned offices in both Belgium and Spain – officially for "international business reach," unofficially for escaping Belgian rain.

This IBM Champion since 2018 possesses the rare talent of making executives nod confidently while explaining concepts they absolutely don't understand. As a CEAC member and Common Belgium Treasurer, Koen spends his free time convincing common members that "modernization" doesn't mean "replacing your AS/400 with a houseplant."

"Carpe Datum!" — Seize the data! he proclaims dramatically while rescuing databases that predate most of his developers. As Ovid might observe: "Omnia mutantur, nihil interit" (Everything changes, nothing perishes) – especially your cherished RPG applications under Koen's enlightened guidance.

With unparalleled multilingual proficiency, Koen is uniquely qualified to swear in multiple languages when open-source installations rebel against IBM i integration. Join his sessions where the code is fresh, the demos are live (and therefore guaranteed to fail spectacularly), and the solutions are so innovative that even Koen occasionally whispers "how did that actually work?" when nobody's listening.

Leo Oppenheimer started his career as an IBM i printer specialist in 1989 and founded his own company with Jacob Flik in 1993.
In 1997 they became reseller of the Whiz-Doc suite in the Benelux. Leo now has 30 years of experience implementing Whiz-Doc and creating document management solutions for his clients.
Today Leo will present the Whiz-Doc suite and introduce a new feature that makes the Whiz-Doc output ready for E-invoicing and ready for PEPPOL (Pan European Public Procurement Online).

Ludovic Gasc has been passionate about Open Source, bioinformatics, and hardware for over 20 years. He has worked with various start-ups and scale-ups in Telecom and IoT, and has contributed to several Open Source software projects within the Python, Java, and JavaScript ecosystem. Moreover, he has worked as a DevOps/SRE specialist to deploy and maintain a real-time communication solution in a multi-cloud environment (4 clouds) with the help of Ansible. Currently, he specializes in modernizing the IBM Power platform using the Open Source/RedHat stack and AI.

After having started as a System/38 programmer in 1986, in 1989 the switch was made to system programming and systems management.
Being passionate about systems management he founded van Helvoirt Automatisering in 1993.
Rudi enjoys helping IBM i customers ever since for running their business applications.
He is an early adopter of the IBM i GUI’s, System Object Access that later evolved into System i Navigator and recently Navigator for i.
He has been involved in IBM i BRMS for the past 20 years, helping to improve the backup strategy of IBM i data.
Rudi is member of the COMMON Europe Advisory Council, an IBM and End User Experts strategy think tank for the IBM i.
On top of that IBM made him an IBM Champion since 2020.
In 2020 van Helvoirt Automatisering was acquired by EASI in the Netherlands.
Recently he left Easi Netherlands adding a new chapter to his IBM i career.

My latest work as the Friendly Techie, includes assisting IBM i with the design and testing with IBM i 7.6 as both Beta Tester and Redbook Author, and as assistant in the design and testing of the new IBM i Migrate While Active tool and the AI based RPG Code Assistant.

I have worked in the IBM Business Partner world for over thirty years now and despite IBM's best attempts I still love them ;-) My career started as an RPG developer but for the last twenty years I have specialised in System Design, installation and management. In 2008 I founded my own company (Rowton) and now I and my team spend my time supporting clients or designing new IT solutions using a combination of Power servers, Intel and storage with a little extra cloud magic where it's needed.

When I'm not looking after my own clients, I help run the UK's largest IBM i User Group the i-UG and also serve on the Common Europe Advisory Council (CEAC) to help IBM shape the future of IBM i. In 2019, IBM made me an IBM Champion in recognition of the work I have done to help and evangelise the IBM i platform, Happy Days :-)

I have a love of teaching IBM i and have spent over a decade volunteering to teach at IBM i events around the world. In more recent times, I have been creating my online webinars. I am a firm believer that the more I teach, the more I learn.

Steve Cast, UK based IBM Champion, COMMON Europe Executive Council member, COMMON UK Marketing Director, and technical entrepreneur, will deliver this informative session. Steve is the Practice Director of Fresche Solutions, where he brings his 40 years' experience in IBM midrange technology, together with his more recent experience of AI enabled and AI accelerated modernization tools and methodologies, to enable customers to plan and execute their modernization journey.

Tim Rowe - STSM - is the Business Architect responsible for Application Development and Systems Management for the IBM i operating system. His responsibilities include helping to make sure that the IBM i has what is needed to be successful both today and into the future. He sends much of his time also helping customers understand what is possible on our platform when it comes to modernization. When not helping customers, he can be found on the football (soccer) pitch as an official.

Tonny Bastiaans is World Wide Product manager IBM Power Virtual Server at IBM. Started more than 25 years ago as an engineer on RS6000 systems (the predecessor of Power). He moved via several roles to his current role. With his technical background he is bridging the gap between technic and business and is transforming technical value to business value. He is an experienced and recognized international speaker.
Tonny is married with two kids (boy and girl). With his family he is living in The Netherlands. In his free time, he likes walking with the dog and watching soccer. And to keep fit, you can find him in the gym.

Co-Founder & Chief Visionary Officer, Thinkwise
Victor Klaren co-founded Thinkwise in 2002 and serves as the company’s Chief Visionary Officer. His passion lies in fundamentally improving the way enterprise software is built. With a focus on large-scale business applications that stay up-to-date automatically and modernize legacy applications through AI.
As one of the driving forces behind the Thinkwise Platform for core systems, Victor contributes to the company’s mission to eliminate legacy software once and for all. Today, software built with Thinkwise is used in more than 40 countries worldwide.

Wim Jongman is the Managing Partner/Co-Owner, serving as the Chief Technology Officer at Remain Software. With extensive experience in software development and application lifecycle management, Wim has been instrumental in developing and advancing Remain’s full-stack DevOps solutions. His contributions include overseeing products such as TD/OMS, Gravity, FusionPro, API Studio, and AI Chatbot. Wim also directs the roadmap of Remain Software, ensuring the portfolio evolves and modernizes in line with technological advancements and customer requirements.

Wim is an active member of the open-source community. He frequently shares his expertise at industry conferences, including Common.

Yann-André Roehrig is an expert in OPEN developments on the IBM i platform at Armonie group (Montpellier, France).

He plays a key role in modernizing information systems based on this technology. He regularly speaks at professional events dedicated to the IBM i community, where he shares his expertise on modernization approaches and development best practices.

He will share his latest innovation, PHL MOBILE, during a 25 mn session on Tuesday at 2:20 pm :
"From green screen to touchscreen — your IBM i goes mobile!"