Sunil Belgaonkar
Software Engineering Architect

Sunil Belgaonkar is a lead Architect responsible for defining, designing and development of OpenEdge Architect, the new generation OpenEdge development tools based on the Eclipse platform. Sunil has been with Progress since 2002 and has a strong background in architecture and in the design of tools and business applications in ABL, Java and Web technologies. Prior to joining Progress, Sunil worked for various companies in a wide range of areas including CRM, MRP, Salesforce automation. He has extensive experience with application infrastructures such as ABL, EJBs and web technologies.

Gus Bjorklund
VP of Technology

Gus Bjorklund is a geek who has been at Progress Software since 1989. Currently Vice President of Technology in the Corporate Strategy and Business Development group, Gus has worked on many different parts of the OpenEdge product over the years, starting with version 4.2N. A popular speaker at many Progress and user group sponsored conferences, Gus is well-known in the OpenEdge community.

His main interest is in database technology and he believes that the OpenEdge RDBMS is "the best RDBMS on the third planet from the sun" and likes using Linux and Mac OS X. Though he has heard that there are other programming languages, he prefers the 4GL but still refuses to call it by its current name, the OpenEdge ABL.

Brian Bowman
Sr. Solutions Engineer

Brian Bowman, a Sr. Solutions Engineer at Progress Software, has worked in the computer industry for 19 years. He currently works supporting Application Partners and their end users. His career has spanned roles in application development, technical support, consulting, systems engineering, product development and product management. With Progress for 15 years, he has worked worldwide for Progress focusing on performance tuning, Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Planning for the Progress database and the OpenEdge environment.

Shelley Chase
Development Architect

Shelley is a development architect working with OpenEdge division products. She joined Progress Software Corporation in 1995 and brought her experience in enterprise application development and object-oriented programming on both UNIX and Windows. Shelley has focused on creating an open SOA interface for OpenEdge and on enhancing the Advanced Business Language (ABL). She also has been an integral part of the development, design, and architecture of many features within OpenEdge including: ActiveX, Web Services, Open Clients (COM, Java and .NET), Object-Oriented extensions to the ABL and, most recently, the OpenEdge Advanced GUI.

Mike Ormerod
Architect, SaaS & Cloud Computing Strategy

Mike Ormerod is an Architect in the Applied Architecture & Strategy team responsible for SaaS & Cloud Computing. In this role, Mike is responsible for defining the SaaS & Cloud Computing Architecture Best Practices & Strategy for both internal and external customers & partners.

Mike joined Progress in 2004, initially in Europe as an Architect helping customers & partners implement Best Practices around the OpenEdge platform. Since moving to the US in 2007, Mike has lead the team responsible for the OpenEdge Reference Architecture (OERA) and other Best Practice initiatives within Progress. Prior to joining Progress, Mike was CTO of an award winning Progress Application Partner in the UK for 13 years.

Bob Palumbo
VP of Application Partner Development

Bob is the VP of Product Management, Product Marketing & Partner Development for the Application Platform Division of Progress Software. In this role he is responsible for the go-to-market strategy ISV channel business. He joined Progress in 2000 to lead their Software as a Service business. Before joining Progress, Palumbo worked as Vice President of strategy, marketing and business development for various Internet start-ups and product marketing for Digital equipment. He holds an MBA from Babson College

John Sadd
Progress Fellow

John has been with Progress for over 20 years in a wide variety of roles both as a manager and individual contributor. He created the Progress product's first SQL support in Version 5, managed much of the development process through version 7, was a key member of the original ADM and SmartObjects design team for Version 8, and created the ADM2 with a reworked set of SmartObjects and supporting Progress language features in Version 9. In OpenEdge 10 he contributed to the design of ProDataSets. Along the way he has written several books as part of the Expert Series, as well as with many white papers, and he has given many presentations at Exchange and various user meetings. He was awarded the "Progress Fellow" title and is now a member of the Applied Technology team where he is engaged in creating supporting materials on a variety of topics relating especially to Service-Oriented Architecture and OpenEdge.

Colleen Smith
Director of SaaS

Colleen Smith joined Progress Software in 2005 with over 20 years of software and technology experience. She develops key strategies and business opportunities for Progress Software around all of the firm's SaaS Channel and business initiatives. Colleen is a former AMR Research analyst and is an accomplished industry speaker. She has garnered numerous industry accolades for her channel leadership and role in developing the SaaS market. She was named in 2007 and 2008 as a CRN "Channel Chief" as well as a Rising Star among ChannelWeb's 2007 "Women of the Channel" list.

Ken Wilner
Vice President of Technology, OpenEdge

Ken Wilner is responsible for defining the technical strategy for the OpenEdge platform, ensuring that products are technically sound, and are architecturally consistent with customer and partners needs. Wilner has had a major impact on Progress' product family, specifically focusing on AppServer,WebSpeed, Open Client, Web Client and Web Services capabilities within the OpenEdge platform. Prior to joining Progress, Wilner worked for several companies in a wide range of areas including distributed databases, distributed object systems, SQL, salesforce automation and aircraft engine simulation.