As many of you know, The DevOps Collective recently concluded its 7th US event, PowerShell + DevOps Global Summit 2019 in Bellevue, WA. Head to the organization’s YouTube page for the breakout session recordings, which are live.

I mentioned going into it that this Summit would be bittersweet for me, as it’s the last one I’ll be directly involved with. My career’s simply taking me in a new direction, and it’s much less connected to the day-to-day of technology and more connected with business leadership and strategy. I’ll also be stepping back from my involvement with PowerShell.org, and I will not receive a Microsoft MVP Award for this cycle (I’m proud to be one of the few who earned 15 consecutive awards, so I’ve zero complaints, and this is entirely in line with my expectations). I’m stepping back from the “Month of Lunches” and other technical books as well, although I’ve still got plenty of writing in me (many of my Leanpub books are “pay what you think they’re worth and remember I’ve got a mortgage”). I’m going to remain titular President for the DevOps Collective for a year or so while we get all the legal stuff lined up, but I won’t be involved in day-to-day activities. I’ll drop a note later this week on DonJones.com about what’s happening with all “my” stuff.

It’s worth noting that the entire original team for PowerShell.org has now stepped back from daily management of the organization, with only one person remaining active via our new Board. I take that as a huge compliment, and it’s something I’m proud of - we all wanted to build something we could hand off, and that a “next generation” could do even better with. And they are. The new team is amazing. They ran the 2019 Summit essentially on their own, just asking a question now and then - something they’ll still be welcome to do as they move forward.

So with that in mind, let’s meet them.

The Board

The main point of the Board is to provide a semiannual sounding board for the CEO of the organization, and that requires broad, diverse perspectives. They’re also the legal backstop for the organization, and can replace corporate officers. They can expand or contract the Board size as needed (within legal guardrails) and confirm their own members. I think we’ve lined up a great group of volunteers:

**Michael Bender
** Michael’s run The Krewe event at TechEd/Ignite for years, and been a huge community supporter. His experience will provide an invaluable perspective to the incoming officers.

**Jeffrey Hicks
** Jeff’s been a collaborator of mine since the VBScript days, and was one of the original PowerShell.org founders.

**Melissa Jones
** Melissa joined us for our first OnRamp track, and she’ll be a voice for the entry-level folks we’re trying to offer support to. She’s a database administrator, introverted multipotentialite, and avid reader who likes solving problems and figuring out how things work.

Paula Kingsley
Paula has been with Summit pretty much since the beginning, and recently co-starred as an Iron Scripter judge. She’s a long-running PowerShell enthusiast and a real IT expert.

**Rob Reynolds
** Rob runs Chocolatey, and he’s been a big Summit supporter for years. His perspective as a business in our space will be a truly valuable one as we try to further engage a broader community.

**Bonnie Runimas
** Bonnie’s been with Summit since Year 1, and helps run a successful user group in Chicago. She’ll provide valuable input on how the organization can help groups like hers across the world.

The Team

These volunteers run the organization’s day-to-day functions:

Jeffrey Bernt runs logistics for events, including Summit and DevOps Camp.

Missy Januszko & Warren Frame will once again be our co-directors of content for both PowerShell + DevOps Summit as well at our new DevOps + Automation Summit in Nashville TN.

Mike Kanakos will be joining the team as our Director of Community Engagement. He will mainly be focusing on engaging with PowerShell user groups and helping with PowerShell / Automation Saturdays.

Tim Warner is heading up the new OnRamp program, handling all the entry-level education at PowerShell + DevOps Global Summit.

Rob Pleau is running the Scholarship aspect of OnRamp, and will coordinate the process of getting new blood into the community.

Mark Roloff , Robin Dadswell, and Prasoon Karunan V continue to run the “In Case You Missed It” (ICYMI) weekly posts.

Our Forums continue to be moderated by James Ruskin, Alexander Wittig, Prasoon Karunan V, and Wes Stahler.

Harjit Dhaliwal runs the organization’s Social Media accounts, including @PshOrg , @PSHSummit , and @DevOpsOrg

Tommy Maynard will also continue to be a contributing writer to PowerShell.org.

The Officers

Finally, these are the people who are legally accountable for the organization. As I’ve mentioned, I’ll remain as President for some time as we work through the legal paperwork. Also, for the first time, we’ll have a paid CEO. As the organization launches new events (Automation + DevOps Summit 2020 in Nashville, new Automation Saturday events, and more), this is just a full-time job, and having someone in that role gives the organization both flexibility and stability.

James Petty will be that CEO, also formally serving as Vice-President and Treasurer. I anticipate James formally stepping into the President role in the future, and we’ll need to replace both the Vice-President and Treasurer roles to make that happen. Those will remain volunteer, with the Treasurer’s primary job being interfacing with our professional accounting firm.

Warren Frame will step in as Secretary, our fourth legally mandated corporate officer (Nevada permits the Vice-President to hold a dual role, which is what James will do for now).

So That’s All, Folks

So that’s the new team. I strongly encourage you to connect with them on Twitter and GitHub, and lend them your help whenever you can.

In closing, I just want to tell you what an awesome, amazing, kind, supportive group of people you all are. I’ve been doing the PowerShell ’thang’ for 13+ years, and my career as an IT Ops guy goes back to the mid-1990s. For much of that time, you’ve supported me by buying books, coming to conferences, signing up for classes, and (and this really is the bit that helped) just telling me “thank you.” Well, thank you, because it’s been amazing. I’m looking forward to the next chapter in my career, and I hope I’ll still run into some of you from time to time. If they ask, I’ll definitely come up with a session for Summit, if for no other reason than so Chris and I can come hang out with you and all of our other friends for a day or two.

Again, thank you.