SAFe® Auto Talks

SAFe® Auto Talks

SAFe® Auto Talks will foster exchanges and dialogue about the automotive industry’s future.

When:

May 4, 2023, 6:00 pm – May 4, 2023, 7:00 pm ECT

Where:

Zoom

Who:

Agile Coach, Consultant, SAFe Practice Consultant

Event Overview

This online live talk, scheduled for the beginning of May, is dedicated to answering your questions and facilitating a meaningful dialogue on applying agility to address the rapid changes in the sector.

Speakers

Harry Koehnemann Headshot

Harry Koehnemann

SAFe Fellow and Principal Consultant (Scaled Agile, Inc.)

Harry Koehnemann is a SAFe Fellow and Principal Consultant at Scaled Agile, Inc., where he helps organizations build and deliver solutions faster, more predictably, and with high quality. He has spent the past two decades consulting with aerospace, defense, automotive, and other organizations to adopt better engineering practices, including Lean, Agile, MBSE, requirements management, quality management, and the related activities necessary to support compliance. Harry is a regular presenter on Lean-Agile topics and engineering practices at Agile, Systems Engineering, and government conferences.

Jeff Shupack

SAFe Fellow,  President of Advisory Practice (Project & Team)

Jeff Shupack helps organizations deliver some of the world’s most complex virtual and physical products at scale. As a SAFe Fellow & SPCT, he is a sought-after transformation expert focusing on digital enterprise, cyber-physical delivery, and change leadership. Jeff is President of Advisory Practice at Project & Team, specializing in digital transformations within highly regulated and complex environments for the Fortune 100 and government agencies.

Markus Vogg

Global Head of the Business Agility practice (Capgemini Invent)

As Global Head of the Business Agility Practice at Capgemini Invent, Markus has a strong passion for Agile Transformations. In recent years he has focused on helping organizations introduce the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) and is continuously working with (senior) stakeholders to achieve a sustainable Agile transformation based on a fundamental shift in mindset. As a SAFe SPCT, he has coached many different corporations across the globe, combining deep knowledge of SAFe with practical knowledge of Agile@Scale in general.

Event Sponsors

SAFe® 6.0 Ask the Experts

SAFe® 6.0 Ask the Experts

Scaled Agile’s framework and product teams are here to answer your questions about our newest release.

When:

March 31, 2023, 7:00 am – March 31, 2023, 8:00 am MST

Where:

Zoom

Who:

Agile Coach, Consultant, Program or Project Manager, Release Train Engineer, SAFe Practice Consultant, Scrum Master

Event Overview

Since the March launch, you have reviewed SAFe 6.0 and considered how it will affect your enterprise. You likely have thought of questions for the teams working on the updated guidance then. This Ask the Experts session is your chance to ask those questions!

Speakers

Deema Dajani

SAFe Fellow, Product Management Director (Scaled Agile)

A SAFe® Fellow and Product Management Director at Scaled Agile, Deema helps large institutions create the environment to shape disruption like a startup with business agility and Lean Portfolio Management (LPM). Deema has spent the past 2 years in researching LPM implementations across various types of organizations and at different stages, she has been synthesizing the proven patterns into online assets that can help change agents implement and advance their LPM. Co-founder of Women in Agile, a non-profit organization focused on breaking barriers and inclusivity in the agile community.

Alysa Kirkpatrick

Director Product Management (Scaled Agile)

Dean Leffingwell

Co-founder, Chief Methodologist (Scaled Agile)

Recognized as one of the world’s foremost authorities on Lean-Agile best practices, Dean Leffingwell is an entrepreneur and software development methodologist best known for creating SAFe®, the world’s most widely used framework for business agility. His best-selling books, Agile Software Requirements, Scaling Software Agility, and SAFe® Distilled, form much of the basis of modern thinking on Lean-Agile practices and principles. Founder of several successful startups, including Requisite, Inc. (acquired by Rational), Mr. Leffingwell also served as Chief Methodologist to Rally Software, and prior to that, as Sr. Vice President at Rational Software (now part of IBM). He currently serves as Chief Methodologist to Scaled Agile, Inc., which he co-founded in 2011.

Tamara Nation

SAFe® Fellow, Senior Director Product Management (Scaled Agile)

Accelerate Value Flow Workshop

Accelerate Value Flow Workshop

Learn how to apply Flow Accelerators to your context in this workshop to deliver value to your customers
faster. After instruction and work time, you’ll see how your area of flow affects the larger system.

When:

June 28, 2023, 1:00 pm – June 29, 2023, 5:00 pm ECT

Where:

Remote

Who:

Agile Coach, Program or Project Manager, Release Train Engineer, SAFe Practice Consultant

Event Overview

This workshop takes place over two days (June 28 and 29) in four-hour sessions from 1-5 pm (CEST).

We designed this eight-hour workshop over two days to support the range of participants needed to optimize one or many value streams.


Who will benefit:
The workshop supports everyone involved with building solutions with SAFe®. This may include, but is not limited to, the following:
• Cross-functional members of Agile Teams, Agile Release Trains, or Solution Trains running for one PI or longer
• A SAFe Portfolio that has already identified its value streams and begun implementing LPM
• Full Agile Teams across multiple value streams within a single Portfolio

What attendees will learn:
• The flow tools and coaching available to them
• Current usage of SAFe Flow Metrics within their organization
• How each of the SAFe Flow Accelerators applies within their organization
• How to align on actions and create a flow-based improvement backlog
• How improvement items affect the larger flow of the value stream or Portfolio

Prerequisites:
This workshop is designed to support a set of cross-functional attendees from value stream(s) applying SAFe for at least one PI.

What’s included:
• Workshop materials
• Eight hours of facilitation from a SAFe Strategic Advisor or SAFe Fellow
• Three hours of prep time with internal SPCs or leaders

Speakers

Rune Christensen Headshot


Rune Christensen

SPCT, Strategic Advisor (Scaled Agile, Inc.)

Rune has more than 20 years of experience working with software and cyber physical solutions within enterprise and public safety communication, insurance, logistics, and energy. He has supported several Enterprises in transforming their ways of working using lean-agile practices and helped them achieve greater business outcomes.

Harry Koehnemann Headshot


Harry Koehnemann

SAFe Fellow, Methodologist (Scaled Agile, Inc.)

Harry Koehnemann is a Methodologist and SAFe Fellow at Scaled Agile Inc., where he helps organizations deliver solutions faster, more predictably, and with high quality. He has spent the past two decades working with large system builders in aerospace, defense, automotive, and other industries, helping them apply Lean, Agile, and MBSE to their engineering practices.

Why SAFe ® and SAP®? Getting better results with experience from the field

Why SAFe ® and SAP®? Getting better results with experience from the field

In this panel dialogue, we will share our experience at SBB (Swiss Federal Railways) and other SAP S/4 business transformations leveraging SAFe principles and practices to deliver better results.

When:

March 8, 2023, 4:00 pm – March 8, 2023, 5:00 pm ECT

Where:

Zoom

Who:

Agile Coach, Consultant, Director, SAFe Program Consultant

Event Overview

Event Overview:
In this panel dialogue, we will share our experience at Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) and other SAP S/4 business transformations leveraging SAFe principles and practices to deliver better results. Showcase: SBB is harmonizing business processes across seven Portfolios with multiple value streams impacting 20.000 employees, building an Enterprise-wide state-of-the-art SAP S/4HANA. You will discover how to combine the SAFe Framework with an SAP delivery model to realize cross-portfolio initiatives.

We discuss the following topics: 

• How do you manage SAP Cross-Portfolio Initiatives with SAFe – Organize around value and optimize for Flow for better results
• How SAFe helps in achieving harmonization and standardization program objectives?
• What is a State-of-the-Art SAP Delivery Model that accelerates Value Delivery and Organizational Agility?
• What role do SAP Activate and Focused Build play in the State-of-the-Art SAP Delivery Model to realize program ambitions?
• How do you ensure the integration of business concepts, processes, data, and systems, and how does SAFe help to achieve this?
• How do you ensure simplicity, efficiency, and steering ability from a business/expert leadership/governance/program perspective – knowing that trade-offs will be necessary?
• What patterns are helpful in the transition to a portfolio of portfolio SAFe Lean (Enterprise) Portfolio Management (tactical planning events and organizing around value with Value Nodes or Solution Areas)

In our interactive session, we highly welcome your participation in our discussion!

Speakers

Malte Kumlehn

Director and SAFe® Fellow – SAP Delivery Excellence (Project and Team Inc.)

Malte guides complex Ecosystems, People, Cloud, AI and Data powered digital transformations toward Business Agility. He pioneers Intelligent Operating Models for accelerated strategy execution with large solutions as globally the first of 30+ SAFe® Fellows, Executive Advisor & Advisory Board Members in this field. The SAFe® Fellow Program represents an elite class of experts who can help the world’s largest organizations accelerate digital transformation & achieve business agility. The SAFe® Fellow achievement is Scaled Agile’s most prestigious distinction, recognizing individuals who have exhibited the highest level of mastery and thought leadership in the practice and principles of SAFe. His track record includes founding, leading and growing Accenture’s first SAP Agile Delivery Excellence business. In his Business Owner role, he cared for people, revenue, cost, business development & delivery excellence while living Business Agility, applying Lean-Agile at Scale & SAFe daily.

Oliver Lauffer 

Project and Program Manager (SAP)

Oliver Lauffer has been working for more than 20 Years at SAP. He has a long history of leading extensive international Programs and Projects with international Teams. Next to the standard project topics, his focus is on combining agile Methods and Frameworks like SAFe with implementing Standard Software like SAP and connected methodologies like SAP Activate. In addition to his project and program manager role, he has been a highly appreciated, trusted advisor and coach for large, global customer programs. In this role, his extensive experience in Organizational Change Management has been crucial for the success of these programs. Due to his result-oriented, structured working style, good communication skills and high capacity for teamwork, he managed various complex programs and rollouts on time, on budget and with high quality. In Parallel, he is responsible for the Swiss Project Manager Community from an SAP perspective.

Kaya Yumusaklar 

Program Manager S/4 and Managing Director (Swiss Federal Railways)

Kaya Yumusaklar (47) has been leading SBB’s SAP S/4 Program since the beginning of 2022 and the overall SBB IT “Asset & Enterprise” practice since the beginning of 2023. In this role, he is the responsible IT Executive for delivering the ongoing SAP transition to S/4 and for developing and operating the overall application portfolio for rail infrastructure and rolling stock maintenance, real estate facility management, logistics, procurement and finance. Before that, he worked as a Finance Director at SBB and was responsible for strategic, companywide programs for cost management, transformation and carve-out initiatives. Kaya grew up in Konstanz in south of Germany. He later moved to Berlin and graduated from the TU Berlin in engineering and management. Later, before he joined SBB in 2015, he gained a broad experience in various industries as a Management Consultant based in Zürich and Berlin in strategy and organizational development projects and large transformations.

March Launch

March 2023 Launch

We’re unveiling the latest evolution of SAFe® in March. New updates will deepen SAFe’s impact and help reshape the way you approach transformation.

When:

March 15, 2023, 12:00 pm – March 15, 2023, 1:00 pm MST

Where:

Remote

Who:

Agile Coach, Consultant, Product Manager, Product Owner, Release Train Engineer, SAFe Program Consultant, Scrum Master

Event Overview

Join our virtual event on Wednesday, March 15, at 12:00 PM MDT/6:00 PM GMT to see the full launch and learn what it means for your organization. Sign up to receive a reminder one hour before the event to ensure you don’t miss it.

Funding and Reporting Value – How to Enable Empowerment and Hold It Accountable

Funding and Reporting Value – How to Enable Empowerment and Hold It Accountable

The speakers will share real-world examples, and you will have the opportunity to bring all your questions in order to get valuable insight and context for your transformation.

When:

February 28, 2023, 4:00 pm – February 28, 2023, 5:00 pm ECT

Where:

Zoom

Who:

Agile Coach, Consultant, SAFe Program Consultant

Event Overview

One of the key principles within the Scaled Agile Framework is Organise Around Value. In this webinar series, you will hear from the field on how to apply this principle and involve your organisation.

The speakers will share real-world examples, and you will have the opportunity to bring all your questions in order to get valuable insight and context for your transformation.

Over three sessions, the speakers will take you through:
Session 01: Aligning Around Value – Practical Advice From The Field (January 31)

Session 02: Development Value Stream Patterns – Observations from Value Stream Mapping and ART Identification Workshops (February 14)

Session 03: Funding and Reporting Value – How to Enable Empowerment and Hold It Accountable (February 28)

Speakers

Odile Moreau Headshot

Odile Moreau

SAFe® Strategic Advisor and SPCT (Scaled Agile Inc.)

Odile is a SAFe® strategic advisor and SPCT for Scaled Agile Inc. She guides international organisations through adoption of business agility. By combining deep matter expertise with the ability to coach on behaviour and leadership, she has been a highly effective team coach for large organisations. Odile is passionate about Lean Kanban, Scrum, Lean and SAFe, never losing sight of the human factor. With 20+ years of professional experience helping profit and non-profit organisations in the fields of IT Service Management, Business Information Management and Software Engineering across the world, Odile worked for many profit and non-profits making organisations in Europe. The last 10 years her focus has been helping teams adopt the agile mindset, principles and practices at scale and continuous improvement methods.

Brian Tucker Headshot

Brian Tucker

Principal Consultant, SAFe® Fellow and SPCT (Ivar Jacobson International)

Brian was one of the first trainers outside of the Scaled Agile Academy to qualify as a SAFe® Program Consultant Trainer (SPCT) having worked with the framework since its initial inception ten years ago. Brian regularly delivers the SAFe Program Consultant training and has delivered it over a hundred times in the last 8 years; more than anyone else in the world. Brian has been involved in SAFe implementations at numerous companies across Europe including hybris, PZU, Ford, Nordea, NHS Blood + Transplants, Etihad Airlines, Sony Playstation and LV Insurance. Brian is a highly proficient Agile and Scrum coach and trainer with extensive management experience in both corporate and small company situations, backed up with 11 years of software development experience.

Event Partner

Development Value Stream Patterns – Observations from Value Stream Mapping and ART Identification Workshops

Development Value Stream Patterns – Observations from Value Stream Mapping and ART Identification Workshops

Development Value Stream Patterns – Observations from Value Stream Mapping and ART Identification Workshops

The speakers will share real-world examples, and you will have the opportunity to bring all your questions in order to get valuable insight and context for your transformation.

When:

February 14, 2023, 4:00 pm – February 14, 2023, 5:00 pm ECT

Where:

Zoom

Who:

Agile Coach, SAFe Program Consultant

Event Overview

One of the key principles within the Scaled Agile Framework is Organise Around Value. In this webinar series, you will hear from the field on how to apply this principle and involve your organisation. 

The speakers will share real-world examples, and you will have the opportunity to bring all your questions in order to get valuable insight and context for your transformation. 

Over three sessions, the speakers will take you through:
Session 01: Aligning Around Value – Practical Advice From The Field (January 31, 2023) Register

Session 02: Development Value Stream Patterns – Observations from Value Stream Mapping and ART Identification Workshops (February 14, 2023) Register

Session 03: Funding and Reporting Value – How to Enable Empowerment and Hold It Accountable (February 28, 2023) Register

Speakers

Odile Moreau Headshot

Odile Moreau

SAFe® Strategic Advisor and SPCT (Scaled Agile Inc.)

Odile is a SAFe® strategic advisor and SPCT for Scaled Agile Inc. She guides international organisations through adoption of business agility. By combining deep matter expertise with the ability to coach on behaviour and leadership, she has been a highly effective team coach for large organisations. Odile is passionate about Lean Kanban, Scrum, Lean and SAFe, never losing sight of the human factor. With 20+ years of professional experience helping profit and non-profit organisations in the fields of IT Service Management, Business Information Management and Software Engineering across the world, Odile worked for many profit and non-profits making organisations in Europe. The last 10 years her focus has been helping teams adopt the agile mindset, principles and practices at scale and continuous improvement methods.

Brian Tucker Headshot

Brian Tucker

Principal Consultant, SAFe® Fellow, and SPCT (Ivar Jacobson International)

Brian was one of the first trainers outside of the Scaled Agile Academy to qualify as a SAFe® Program Consultant Trainer (SPCT) having worked with the framework since its initial inception ten years ago. Brian regularly delivers the SAFe Program Consultant training and has delivered it over a hundred times in the last 8 years; more than anyone else in the world. Brian has been involved in SAFe implementations at numerous companies across Europe including hybris, PZU, Ford, Nordea, NHS Blood + Transplants, Etihad Airlines, Sony Playstation and LV Insurance. Brian is a highly proficient Agile and Scrum coach and trainer with extensive management experience in both corporate and small company situations, backed up with 11 years of software development experience.

Event Partner

Organising Around Value – Practical Advice and Experience from the Field

Organising Around Value – Practical Advice and Experience from the Field

The speakers will share real-world examples, and you will have the opportunity to bring all your questions in order to get valuable insight and context for your transformation. 

When:

January 31, 2023, 4:00 pm – January 31, 2023, 5:00 pm ECT

Where:

Zoom

Who:

Agile Coach, Consultant, SAFe Program Consultant

Event Overview

One of the key principles within the Scaled Agile Framework is Organise Around Value. In this webinar series, you will hear from the field on how to apply this principle and involve your organisation. 

The speakers will share real-world examples, and you will have the opportunity to bring all your questions in order to get valuable insight and context for your transformation. 

Over three sessions, the speakers will take you through:
Session 01: Aligning Around Value – Practical Advice From The Field (January 31, 2023)

Session 02: Development Value Stream Patterns – Observations from Value Stream Mapping and ART Identification Workshops (February 14, 2023) Register

Session 03: Funding and Reporting Value – How to Enable Empowerment and Hold It Accountable (February 28, 2023) Register

Speakers

Rune Christensen Headshot

Rune Christensen

SPCT & SAFe® Strategic Advisor (Scaled Agile Inc.)

SAFe® Program Consultant Trainer (SPCT) serving the EMEA region as SAFe Strategic Advisor on behalf of Scaled Agile, Inc. 20 years of experience within the software industry working within telecommunication as well as the financial and energy sector. Rune helps to guide organizations in fostering better ways of working using lean-agile practices to achieve increased predictability and faster time to market.

Brian Tucker Headshot

Brian Tucker

Principal Consultant, SAFe® Fellow, SPCT (Ivar Jacobson International)

Brian was one of the first trainers outside of the Scaled Agile Academy to qualify as a SAFe® Program Consultant Trainer (SPCT) having worked with the framework since its initial inception ten years ago. Brian regularly delivers the SAFe Program Consultant training and has delivered it over a hundred times in the last 8 years; more than anyone else in the world. Brian has been involved in SAFe implementations at numerous companies across Europe including hybris, PZU, Ford, Nordea, NHS Blood + Transplants, Etihad Airlines, Sony Playstation and LV Insurance. Brian is a highly proficient Agile and Scrum coach and trainer with extensive management experience in both corporate and small company situations, backed up with 11 years of software development experience.

Event Partner

Business Agility in Banking: How Easy Can It Be?

Events > Webinars > Business Agility in Banking: How Easy Can It Be?

Business Agility in Banking: How Easy Can It Be?


Banking is a highly regulated business, and most of the large banks have traditions that can easily become a major impediment to new ways of working and thinking.

When:

December 7, 2022, 1:00 pm – December 7, 2022, 2:00 pm ECT

Where:

Zoom

Who:

Agile Coach, Consultant, Director

Event Overview

Companies in the financial sector are also extremely aware of risk and financial risk management is one of the very regulated areas one has to take into account when changing the way of working.

In this webinar, Audrey Boydston and Mats will share some experiences in a dialog and discussion, as well as answer your questions.

Speakers

Audrey Boydston

SAFe® Fellow and SPCT (Scaled Agile Inc.)

As an executive management professional, I spent almost 20 years leading and managing projects and process improvement initiatives. After experiencing an agile transformation, I have discovered that it is more than just a methodology for managing product development, and am passionate about helping organizations on their Agile journeys. As an Agile trainer and coach, I have gained a unique perspective that allows me to take my hands on experiences and learnings and weave them into each training session I facilitate. I consider myself a visionary with the ability to establish rapport and facilitate highly collaborative sessions with diverse groups ranging from developers to senior leadership. I hold an array of certifications: SAFe Program Consultant Trainer (SPCT), Training from the BACK of the Room! (TBR-Certified Trainer), Project Management Professional (PMP), Org Mindset Enterprise Coach (OMEC), Certified Scrum Professional (CSP-SM and CSP-PO), SAFe RTE (RTE), ICAgile Certified

Mats Jegebo

Co-Founder and Strategic Advisor (WoW! Agile)

Currently Head Coach and co-founder of WoW! Agile, with 29 years of experience from being a consultant. Real life experience from large projects and organizations is what has given Mats his knowledge and understanding of how you create real business value and benefit. Since 2004 Mats has worked solely with large agile implementations, in leading roles as Project manager, Change control manager, Head coach, strategic advisor, etc. Mats has spent a great deal of his career in regulated businesses and the last 6 in banking.

SAFe European Symposium Series – London

Events > Partner Symposiums > SAFe European Symposium Series – London

SAFe European Symposium Series – London

Atlassian Inc. is proud to present the SAFe® European Symposium Series.

Get ready for a knowledge-packed day featuring customer stories and thought-leadership shared through inspiring speaker sessions.

When:

November 17, 2022, 9:00 am – November 17, 2022, 5:00 pm ECT

Where:

Millennium Gloucester Hotel & Conference Centre London Kensington

Who:

Change Agent, Director

Event Overview

  • Connect with SAFe coaches, industry experts, and change agents
  • Get advice from subject matter experts on setting up a SAFe transformation
  • Network, ask questions, and share best practices with your peers
  • Discover firsthand how British and European organizations use SAFe and Atlassian Solutions to deliver value to customers

Speakers

Tina Behers

VP Enterprise Agility (Adaptavist)

Tina is a Lean-Agile Transformation Professional, and an accomplished Business Leader with a proven ability to successfully create and execute value. Over 20 years of experience in leading organizational improvement initiatives with a strong focus on delivery and business alignment. Her expertise in delivering exceptional value, leading complex high-value technology, and business process improvement initiatives as a trusted advisor is proven in how she provides the right balance of consulting and the hands-on practical expertise.

Aslam Cader

Principal Atlassian Consultant (Valiantys)

Aslam Cader is based in London, and he leads the Agile at Scale practice for the Valiantys North EMEA region. He is an Atlassian Certified Expert and a Scaled Agile specialist with over 10 years of experience working with teams at all levels of scale. He has a Masters’ degree in Information Systems and Technology from City, University of London. He co-authored the book, Scaling Agile with Jira Align: A practical guide to strategically scaling agile across teams, programs, and portfolios in enterprises.

Fiona Chalk

Head of Portfolio Strategy and Funding (Vodafone)

Fiona Chalk is Head of Portfolio Strategy & Funding for the Lean Portfolio Management & Transformation team in Vodafone’s global Digital IT organization. Driven to support the implementation of SAFe for Vodafone by establishing how Digital & can organize to match strategic business priorities with the demand from multiple functions, in line with Lean Portfolio Management. Fiona has over 20 years of experience across Vodafone UK and Group in roles spanning Strategy, Sales, Marketing, Procurement, and Business Management. The last 15 years she managed large global Programmes launching major business products and solutions across multiple markets. Fiona enjoys fostering a culture of collaboration in large virtual teams in order to achieve transformational results. She adopted SAFe in 2017, implementing Lean Portfolio Management in 2019 for her programme. Fiona lives in Newbury, UK, with her husband, son and daughter. Outside work she enjoys time with her family cycling, sailing, skiing and walking the dog, and also supporting the local Scout Group. She can be contacted at Fiona.Chalk@vodafone.com or on LinkedIn.

Rick Cobb

Head of Global Solutions Sales (Atlassian)

Rick Cobb is the Head of Global Solutions Sales for Atlassian, a collaboration software company with a mission to unleash the potential of every team.
Rick is a strategic, high-integrity technology executive and passionate leader with 25 years of experience building innovative, high-growth software companies known for the quality of their employees and commitment to customer success. His background includes deep international expertise in commercial and government sales, customer support, professional services, business development, and marketing, as well as overall technology company operations.

Mary Gagne

Director, Product Owner of SaaS Business Applications (Boston Consulting)

Mary is a sought-after leader and technology expert at Boston Consulting Group. She spearheaded the Atlassian tool implementation as part of the scaled agile transformation. The success of the Atlassian implementations and adoption has positioned Mary as an internal asset for BCG consultants. She advises colleagues on implementation approaches, governance models, technical challenges and best practices for client cases. In her current role, as a Product Owner, she oversees BCG’s Enterprise Business Applications, spanning Adobe suite, WalkMe, Atlassian & others. Prior to BCG, she had over 15 years of Product/Program Management experience within large to medium sized software development firms. Mary’s ability to deeply understand the organization she works for, while having a pulse on the needs of the people, accelerates the success of any transformation that she is part of. She lives in Boston, MA with her boyfriend and their three dogs. Outside of work she coaches individuals to awaken their heart and find their life purpose. She can be contacted at gagne.mary@bcg.com or through LinkedIn at Mary C Gagne.

Raj Heda

Expert Associate Partner (Bain)

Raj leads Bain’s Global Agile and Product coaching practice. Raj has 25+ years of experience in Healthcare, Banking & Finance, Media, Retail, and Education. He has helped dozens of firms across industries and around the world improve the agility and effectiveness of their technology-based innovation.

Raj has co-authored Agile Project Management (2009) and Risk Management (2013). He has published 13 patents. He is an adjunct professor at Boston University. Previously, he was head of Business Agility at BCG. He is also an SPCT (C).

Aaron Monroe

Global Head of Enterprise Agility (Visa)

Aaron is the Global Head of Enterprise Business Agility at Visa. He is a dynamic transformation leader with over 20 years of experience helping Fortune 500 companies build high performing teams, accelerate speed to market, and increase the business value delivered. He has a proven track record of leading successful enterprise transformations, and is capable of defining and implementing high-agility behaviors and practices at scale. He is a senior-level Agilist proficient at leading analytical problem-solving efforts to improve the effectiveness of product development, engineering practices, and business operations. Aaron is a compelling communicator able to motivate leaders at all organizational levels to embrace an Agile mindset, adopt Agile practices, and embrace change.

Odile Moreau Headshot

Odile Moreau

Strategic Advisor and SPCT (Scaled Agile Inc.)

Odile has over 20 years of experience helping profit and non-profit organizations in the fields of IT Service Management, Business Information Management, and Software Engineering across Europe. Over the last 10 years, Odilehas been helping leaders and teams adopt Lean and Agile values, mindset, principles, and practices at scale. Working as a Strategic advisor, Scaled Agile instructor, and consultant, Odile loves inspiring people and helping them develop the necessary skills, competencies, and behaviors in order to take the first step in improving and changing the way they work. By combining deep matter expertise with the ability to coach on behavior and leadership, she has proven to be a highly effective transformation coach for large organizations. Born and raised in France, after spending 27 years abroad (mainly in the UK and The Netherlands), she now works in Paris. When Odile is not working, you will probably find her exploring the world, immersing herself in local history, culture, cuisine, and arts.

Michelle Neilson

People and Practice Executive (The Adaptavist Group (Gravity Works))

As an entrepreneur, IT Professional and Enterprise Agile Coach in Financial Services and Telecommunications, Michelle has more than 16 years experience in developing and implementing progressive technology solutions for leading corporations. Coupled with her outstanding interpersonal and relationship management skills and talent for successfully leading large projects, Michelle thrives on coaching, mentoring, leading teams (across global locations) to deliver beyond expectations. Michelle is a critical thinker, passionate about high-quality, sustainable delivery across all facets of business and technology. Michelle is currently a Founding Member and Director of Gravity Works Business Consultants (part of The Adaptavist Group), a boutique consultancy focused on all facets of organisational and digital transformation in the financial services and telecommunications industry.Previously, Michelle was a Founding Member and Director of Freethinking Business Consultants, a financial services consultancy. Michelle has also held several senior managerial positions within large financial corporations.Her skills and expertise include Agile Methodologies, Six Sigma, Prince 2, ITIL, Release Management, Risk and Compliance Monitoring Solutions, TOGAF.

Andrew Sales Headshot

Andrew Sales

Principal Consultant, SAFe Fellow & Framework PM (Scaled Agile Inc.)

Andrew is a SAFe Program Consultant Trainer (SPCT) and has many years of experience in delivering SAFe implementations across a wide range of different industries. He is an accomplished trainer, regularly delivering Scrum, Kanban, and Certified SAFe courses in both private and public settings.

Andrew possesses an excellent balance of technical and business acumen and has Masters’ degrees in both Philosophy and Software Development, and is part of the MBA program at Warwick Business School.

Sarah Sego

Agile Transformation Consultant (Cprime)

Sarah Sego is an Agile Transformation Consultant with over 10 years’ IT experience. Her career has focused on guiding Agile and Lean practices within large enterprises, both for process (Scrum, Kanban, SAFe, etc.) and tooling (Jira, etc.). Sarah helps enterprises achieve scaling, productivity, speed to market, and customer satisfaction. She champions a hands-on leadership approach, emphasizing transparency, learning, innovation, quality, and continuous improvement within all levels of an organization.

Derek Vaughan

Head of Presales Consulting Northern Europe (Valiantys)

As a member of the Northern Europe Leadership team Derek works closely on Agile at Scale deployment with strategic customers. Derek has a passion for helping customers to achieving their value creation objectives with a combination of digital and organisation transformation. As a SAFe(TM) Agilist Derek takes a hands-on role as Project Director, assisting executive teams steer the enterprise in scaling agile and the deployment of Atlassian tools. He has worked on strategic transformation projects with Booking, Boston Consulting Group, amongst others.

Stephen de Villiers Graaf

Managing Director (The Adaptavist Group (Gravity Works))

Stephen is an inspirational coach, trainer and entrepreneur. He has gained over 20 years of experience in creating environments where people can excel, having held senior leadership roles such as Head of Application Development, Development Manager and Support Manager. Stephen has worked in many different industries from the collar and tie of large corporates, to the hard-hats and steel-caps of manufacturing.As a keen methodologist, Stephen is all about helping people discover new ways of thinking, learning and relearning with a strong emphasis on focus, simplicity and continuous improvement practices. As a talented public speaker and thought leader, Stephen inspires people and organisations to become passionately curious, creative, expressive and collectively responsible.Stephen is currently a Founding Member and Director of Gravity Works Business Consultants (part of The Adaptavist Group), a boutique consultancy focused on all facets of organisational and digital transformation in financial services and telecommunications.

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