Meet the people who work hard to make WCSD happen. 

Kim is the owner and lead developer of Alpha Webworks. She enjoys building websites in WordPress and learning about the latest web trends and techniques. She attends the popular AWP Meetup group regularly, where there is always a topic of interest. Kim was an organizer for WCSD 2016 and 2017 and is honored to be back leading the team for 2018.

Away from the computer, you’ll find Kim planning a new route for her run club or attending a good play.

Devin Walker is the creator of several highly rated and award winning WordPress plugins. His work is actively being used by millions of websites and has been featured in Product Hunt, WP Tavern, Torque, and several other widely regarded online publications.

As an advocate for open source, Walker has given back extensively to the WordPress community in the form of code contributions, WordCamp and Meetup organization and speaking efforts, and fostering and supporting popular online groups like Advanced WordPress (AWP) and WordPress for Nonprofits.

As a business owner, Walker founded his WordPress company WordImpress and has grown it to a team of more than 15-employees within two years of incorporation. Popular plugins include GiveWP, the top-rated donation and fundraising platform for WordPress, WP Rollback, Google Maps Builder, Yelp Widget Pro and WooCommerce Quick Checkout.

Outside of work, Devin enjoys traveling the world, going to concerts, and a leisurely round of golf.

Mike is a Salt Lake City transplant to San Diego who has been working with WordPress since 2008. He is deeply involved in the WordPress Community, and loves to see WordPress used as more than a blogging platform. Currently, Mike is the Web Development Manager at VITRO, an organizer for the Advanced WordPress Meetup, and for WordCamp San Diego 2018.

Mandie Shaner is a “wearer of many hats” at ZenThree – a WordPress-centric website development and consulting shop based in San Diego, CA. Her team has been creatively solving problems and providing fully managed WordPress hosting for a decade, focusing on the needs of small and midsize businesses.

When she’s not WordPress-ing you can find her at our local Bitcoin Meetup.

Joel Williams is an England native, and now San Diego based Happiness Engineer at Automattic. He previously owned Blog Tech Guy for over seven years, one of the first WordPress.org customization services.

I am Trish Daugherty. I’ve been working in WordPress for many years now, but my background is in Graphic Design, including many years designing signage and wayfinding systems for hospitals and other large ‘campus’ and building systems. I have done some product development and lots of marketing related and branding along the way.

My current projects involve environmental issues, working with a group that is developing food and energy security. My job is the website and related marketing components of the projects, but I get to learn about things like Ultra High-Temperature Pyrolysis® (for waste-to-energy plants, where garbage,  plastic, even toxic waste is safely converted to useful energy called Syngas) while doing so.

I look forward to meeting you at WordCamp in April. Contact me on Twitter (@trish_daugherty) if you want to connect before then!

AJ Zane has been building websites since the days before flash loading screens and you couldn’t expect your users to have “JavaScript Enabled” in their browsers.

Although his day-to-day no longer revolves around WordPress (he works as a Software Developer at Veyo Logistics, changing the way healthcare is provided for those who need it), he enjoys strengthening the community around WordPress through helping out with wordcamps, being an admin of the Advanced WordPress FaceBook group, and engaging with community.

Say hi to him on Twitter (@azanebrain), in the WordPress Slack group (also @azanebrain), or in person at a WordCamp.

In 2012 Chris spoke at her first WordCamp (right here in San Diego). Since then she’s spoken in San Diego, Orange County, Los Angeles, Chicago and Baltimore. She’s a project manager at Reaktiv Studios, a WordPress VIP partner, where she works with an extremely talented team of developers who make me look good 🙂

When she isn’t in Asana or reading up on the lastest productivity hacks she’s probably hanging out with her wife, dog, and guitar (and possibly a craft beer or three. It is San Diego.)