Jesse James Garrett (San Jose - April 24, 2006)
Father of "AJAX" Who Coined the Term in 2005 Jesse James Garrett is the Director of User Experience Strategy and a founding partner of Adaptive Path, the world's premier user experience consulting company. He is author of The Elements of User Experience (New Riders), and is recognized as a pioneer in the field of information architecture. Jesse's clients include AT&T, Intel, Crayola, Hewlett-Packard, Motorola, and National Public Radio. Since starting in the Internet industry in 1995, Jesse has had a hands-on role in almost every aspect of Web development, from interface design and programming to content development and high-level strategy. Today, information architects around the world depend on the tools and concepts he has developed, including the widely acclaimed "Elements of User Experience" model. He is co-founder of the Information Architecture Institute, the only professional organization dedicated to information architecture. He is also a frequent speaker and writer whose work has appeared in numerous publications, including New Architect, Digital Web, and Boxes and Arrows.

Adam Bosworth (San Jose - April 24, 2006)
Vice President of Engineering, Google
One of the Fathers of XML and Creator of Microsoft Access Adam Bosworth is Vice President of Engineering, Google. He joined Google in 2005 from BEA Systems, where he was Chief Architect & Senior VP of Advanced Development. Prior to joining BEA, Bosworth co-founded Crossgain, a software development firm acquired by BEA. Known as one of the pioneers of XML, he previously held various senior management positions at Microsoft, including General Manager of the WebData group, a team focused on defining and driving XML strategy. While at Microsoft he was also responsible for designing and delivering the Microsoft Access PC Database product and assembling and driving the team that developed the HTML engine of Internet Explorer 4.0.

Christophe Coenraets (San Jose - April 24, 2006)
Senior Technical Evangelist, Adobe
AJAX/Flex Integration Guru Christophe Coenraets (Chris Live from Times Square!) currently works as a Senior Technical Evangelist at Adobe. Before joining Adobe, Christophe was an evangelist at Macromedia, focusing on Rich Internet Applications and Enterprise integration. Prior to Macromedia, Christophe was the head of Java and J2EE Technical Evangelism at Sybase, where he started working on Java Enterprise projects in 1996. Before joining Sybase in the US, Christophe held different positions at Powersoft in Belgium, including Principal Consultant for PowerBuilder, and Manager of the Professional Services organization. Before joining Powersoft, Christophe worked as a developer and architect on several retail and BPM projects. Christophe has been a regular speaker at conferences worldwide for the last 10 years.

Paul Rademacher (San Jose - April 24, 2006)
Google, Creator of HousingMaps.com Paul Rademacher is the creator of HousingMaps.com, which combined Craigslist and Google Maps for the first web mashup. Paul holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from UNC-Chapel Hill, and worked as an R&D Engineer at Dreamworks Animation on such movies as Shrek 2 and Madagascar. Since creating HousingMaps, Paul is now at Google.

Eric Miraglia, Ph.D. (San Jose - April 24, 2006)
Yahoo!, Presentation Platform Team
Leading Expert on "Advanced JavaScript Utilities and Widgets" Eric Miraglia, one of the world's leading experts on "advanced JavaScript utilities and widgets" works for Yahoo!'s Presentation Platform Team. He plays a critical role in helping product teams realize their forward-reaching development goals. He also teaches regular classes for Yahoo web developers. Eric has been involved in the creation of social web applications since 1995, when he began developing interactive writing spaces for universities; his Speakeasy Studio & Café was used by more than 100 universities between 1997 and 2004. Since 2003, he has been a part of Yahoo!'s web development community. When he's not trying to convince pixels to do what they're told, he can sometimes be found at Stanford University, where he teaches writing as a visiting lecturer. He holds a Ph.D. in the strange hybrid discipline of Technology and Rhetoric.

Jouk Pleiter (San Jose - April 24, 2006)
Co-Founder & CEO of Backbase
Leading Rich Internet Apps + AJAX Software Company Jouk Pleiter is the CEO of Backbase, a leader in the field of Rich Internet Applications and AJAX development software. Backbase's clients include ING, ABN AMRO, TNT, KPN, Comsys and Heineken. Backbase operates globally with offices in San Mateo (North America) and Amsterdam (Europe). Since 1995, Jouk has been an entrepreneur: he founded three successful software companies. Prior to Backbase, Jouk was part of the founding team at the web content management company Tridion, where he led the product management operations, and was driving the company's efforts to become a leader in the European WCM software market. Jouk previously was part of the founding team at the Interactive Agency Twinspark where he grew the company to a leading market position in Europe and was instrumental in the sale of Twinspark to Agency.com. He has an MBA from the University of Groningen.

Kevin Hakman (San Jose - April 24, 2006)
Director of Product Marketing, TIBCO General Interface
Award winning Rich Internet Apps + AJAX Framework and Toolkit Kevin Hakman is the director of product marketing for TIBCO General Interface, the award winning AJAX and Rich Internet Application framework and toolkit. Kevin Hakman pioneered AJAX in the enterprise co-founding General Interface in 2001. Since that time General Interface (aka 'GI') has been powering Web applications that look, feel and perform like desktop applications, but run in the browser at Fortune 500 and U.S. Government organizations. General Interface was also the first to use its own toolkit to provide full visual tooling for AJAX when it released it's 2.0 Version in 2003. TIBCO acquired General Interface in 2004 to extend its vision for service oriented applications to the end user. Kevin is a contributor to the SOA Web Services Journal and the AJAX Developer's Journal.

Shanku Niyogi (San Jose - April 24, 2006)
Product Unit Manager, Microsoft UI Framework and Services
User Experience Guru - ASP.NET, Atlas, Windows Forms Shanku is Product Unit Manager of the UI Framework and Services (UiFX) team, which is responsible for delivering high-productivity UI framework technologies for the .NET platform, including ASP.NET, Atlas, Windows Forms, and frameworks for smart clients. Prior to his current role, Shanku was Group Program Manager of the Web Platform and Tools team on the Whidbey release of ASP.NET and Visual Web Developer. Shanku joined Microsoft in 1998 as a developer, having spent several years shipping products in the Windows ISV industry. Shanku holds a Bachelor of Mathematics degree in Computer Science from the University of Waterloo.

Alex Russell (San Jose - April 24, 2006)
President, Dojo Foundation
Project Lead, Dojo Toolkit Alex Russell is Project Lead for the Dojo Toolkit, President of the Dojo Foundation, and a Sr. Software Engineer at JotSpot -- the Application-Wiki company. Alex has been fighting browsers since the late 90's and together with a growing group of contributors is helping to build the Dojo Toolkit into the preferred way to engineer dynamic web application interfaces.

Eric Pascarello (San Jose - April 24, 2006)
Co-author of the bestselling book "Ajax in Action"
Moderator of the HTML and JavaScript forum at JavaRanch Eric Pascarello, an Ajax expert, is the co-author of Ajax in Action, the bestselling Ajax book in the market and the author of JavaScript: Your Visual Blueprint for Building Dynamic Web Pages (2nd edition). Eric is the moderator of the HTML and JavaScript forum at JavaRanch and maintains an Ajax-based blog at radio.javaranch.com/pascarello

Dion Hinchcliffe (San Jose - April 24, 2006)
Cofounder & CTO, Sphere of Influence Inc.
Editor-in-Chief, Web 2.0 Journal Dion Hinchcliffe, newly appointed editor-in-chief of SYS-CON's pioneering Web 2.0 Journal, is cofounder and chief technology officer for the enterprise architecture firm Sphere of Influence Inc., in McLean, Virginia. A veteran of software development, Dion works with leading-edge technologies to accelerate project schedules and raise the bar for software quality. He is highly experienced with enterprise technologies and he designs, consults, and writes prolifically. Dion actively consults with enterprise IT clients in the federal government and Fortune 1000. He is a frequent speaker on AJAX, Web 2.0 and SOA and is currently the top-read SYS-CON.com blogger.

David Temkin (San Jose - April 24, 2006)
CTO & Founder, Laszlo Systems
A Globally Recognized Pioneer of Rich Internet Applications David Temkin is CTO & Founder of Laszlo Systems. In this role, he has positioned the company to become the next technology standard for rich Internet applications. Under his direction, Laszlo developed its patent-pending open-source product suite and extended operations to both coasts of the United States. Before founding Laszlo, Temkin was senior director of Engineering at Excite@Home where he led a team of 55 engineers, designers and technical writers responsible for developing the company's consumer software. Prior to Excite@Home, he was an engineering manager in the Newton division at Apple Computer and developed enterprise software at EDS. He graduated from Brown University with a double major in Computer Science and History, and is named on four software patents.

Vassil Terziev (San Jose - April 24, 2006)
Co-CEO & Founder, telerik
Vassil Terziev is Co-CEO & Founder of telerik. Prior to starting telerik in 2002, Terziev worked as an IT consultant and Project Manager for several years. Deciding to make a shift to product development, telerik was founded to be a quality organization with a focus and passion for perfection and innovation. Founded in 2002, telerik Corporation is a leading vendor of ASP.NET UI components, content management solutions and add-ons for MCMS 2002 and SharePoint. Building on our expertise in interface development and the potential of AJAX, telerik helps customers take the richness and responsiveness of desktop applications to the web. telerik is a privately-held corporation with offices in Boston, Massachusetts and Sofia, Bulgaria.

Jeremy Geelan (San Jose - April 24, 2006)
Conference Chair
Group Publisher & Editorial Director, SYS-CON Media Jeremy Geelan is group publisher and editorial director of SYS-CON Media, and is responsible for all print titles and online i-technology portals for the firm. He regularly hosts SYS-CON.TV, is executive producer of the "Power Panels with Jeremy Geelan" iTV series, and represents SYS-CON at conferences and trade shows, speaking to technology audiences both in North America and overseas. His i-Technology Blog is at jeremy.linuxworld.com and he is conference chair of the upcoming iTVcon - "Internet TV Conference & Expo 2006".