Today is a big day in the neighborhood. What neighborhood, you ask? If you are involved in DevOps, cloud-native, cybersecurity or digital transformation, you are in that neighborhood. Today we launch Techstrong Group. Techstrong Group is a combination of all the companies I have been involved in within this neighborhood. It represents the greatest breadth of brands, services, content and tools to help those in our neighborhood. It is the power source for people and technology.
The combination of MediaOps—the people behind DevOps.com, Security Boulevard, Container Journal, Techstrong TV and more—along with the DevOps Institute, Accelerated Strategies Group and Prospera Events makes Techstrong Group the most comprehensive provider of thought leadership and information to people and companies in our field.
Techstrong Group also represents the coming together of everything I have worked on over the last eight years. When I launched DevOps.com back in 2013, I knew we were at a pivotal point in technology adoption. The internet had changed the world, but another transformation was coming. This digital transformation didn’t start with the COVID-19 pandemic, but it illuminated the fact that if you weren’t transforming digitally, it would be difficult—if not impossible—to thrive in this new normal.
This belief that DevOps would be a catalyst in changing the world was shared with me by Jayne Groll, one of my co-founders at DevOps Institute and now my co-founder at Techstrong Group. Over the last six or seven years, Jayne has worked tirelessly to help the “Humans of DevOps” and now will continue that mission as Chief Strategy Officer at Techstrong Group.
Along the way, I have had a chance to meet and work with some tremendous people. My longtime friend Mitchell Ashley, who was a co-founder at StillSecure with me (along with Rajat Bhargava, who founded StillSecure), founded Accelerated Strategies Group. He is now CTO of Techstrong Group, as well as principal at Techstrong Research, which is where the Accelerated Strategies Group business will operate (more about that in a moment).
Sean Lowery, another friend who founded and runs Prospera Events, the people behind the InnoTech conferences for more than a dozen years, has also joined Techstrong Group, in our Techstrong Live events business unit. We are excited to have Sean and the whole Prospera team as part of Techstrong Group and officially welcome them to the family.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention some other important people in the Techstrong Group team. Parker Yates, our Chief Revenue Officer, has been in this adventure with me since day one. Andre Pino, who joined us from CloudBees, heads up our marketing and operations team as Chief Marketing Officer. He is assisted by Heidi Gilmore who as VP of Marketing has really cranked up our marketing efforts. Charlene O’Hanlon, who started with me at MediaOps more than five years ago as a contract editor, is now Chief Content Officer. Marc Halcrow, who has helped Jayne make DevOps Institute the market leader it is, is now our SVP of Corporate Development and Strategic Partnerships. Finally, our newest executive member, Jason Baum, heads up our Techstrong Association and membership efforts.
Of course, these are just the executive team members. Techstrong Group is more than 50 people strong with dozens of other contributors. We are grateful for every one of them, who have made what we do possible.
But none of this would be possible without you. We believe we serve today’s “Masters of the Universe,” the people who are making our digital world possible. The worlds of DevOps, cloud-native, cybersecurity, which are all part of digital transformation, are remaking the world before our eyes. We know you; we believe we know what you want and how we can help.
It is critical for technology professionals at all levels to understand how technology can improve business processes, revenue, profitability and customer satisfaction. Techstrong Group’s goal is to create a place where technology leaders and practitioners gather to exchange ideas and continually learn, grow and succeed.
To help with this mission, we have organized into several distinct business units:
- Techstrong Media: The business unit with most of the existing MediaOps brands—DevOps.com, Container Journal, Security Boulevard and Techstrong TV.
- Techstrong Associations: The business unit comprised of DevOps Institute and the Humans of DevOps association.
- Techstrong Research: Our analyst and research business, which includes Accelerated Strategies Group.
- Techstrong Live: Our events-focused business unit, which produces both in-person and virtual events.
- Techstrong Education: You will be hearing more about Techstrong Education in the coming weeks and months.
Over the coming weeks and months, you will see more of the full Techstrong Group vision roll out. I hope you find it compelling and will entrust us with the greatest gift you can give: your time. We value you and your time; we know our mission and will continue to try and make sure we live up to our tagline, “The power source for people and technology.”
So, welcome to Techstrong Group. We don’t view today as the culmination of our story; rather, it is the end of our prologue. Now the true adventure begins. Strap in: The world is an exciting place right now and we want to help you get the most out of it.
