Dave McAllister & Hannah Ouellette
NGINX
From product to community, weak teams block success. This talk explores how team unity gets destroyed via bad habits, poor leadership, and more. With humor and practical advice, learn to spot the dysfunction, laugh at it, and build a stronger, trusted team.
Currently providing technical evangelism for NGINX, Dave McAllister works with DevOps, developers and architects to understand the advantages of modern microservice architectures and orchestration to solve large-scale distributed systems challenges, especially with open source and its innovation. Dave has been a champion for open systems and open source from the early days of Linux, through open distributed file systems like XFS, GFS, and GlusterFS to today's world of clouds and containers. He often speaks on topics such as the real-world issues associated with emerging software architectures and practices, on open source software and on creating new technology companies.
Dave has spoken on technical topics like distributed request tracing, modern monitoring practices, open sources projects from both corporations and foundation views, and on how open source innovations powers todays world.
Dave was named as one of the top ten pioneers in open source by Computer Business Review, having cut his teeth on Linux and compilers before the phrase "open source" was coined. Well versed in trivia, he won a Golden Penguin in 2002. When he's not talking, you can find him hiking with his trusty camera, trying to keep up with his wife.
Hannah Ouellette is an experienced community leader and strategist with a strong background in developer relations, event production, and technical community building. Currently serving as Senior Community Manager at NGINX, she brings over three years of experience fostering engagement and scaling global community programs. Prior to this, she led technical community efforts at Postman, where she empowered developers through events, content, and meaningful connections, while also championing DEI initiatives.
With earlier roles at Kong Inc., DroneDeploy, and Take 3 Presents, Hannah has worn many hats—from marketing and demand generation to immersive event production and community policy. Her career reflects a passion for creating inclusive, vibrant spaces where people connect, grow, and contribute meaningfully.
