Ralf Klis
Despite running the WordPress Agency FutureLab Ralf is still enjoying programming. Originally backend Perl and PHP developer Ralf has been with WordPress since 2009. As one of the organisers of Auckland Meetup and WordCamp Auckland Ralf tries to attend as many WordCamps in the region as possible.
Rachel McAlpine
I first saw a web page in 1995 and jumped right in, boots and all. As a writer, I instantly saw that the World Wide Web (as we quaintly called it) was a game-changer for all communications, first for business and government and eventually even for literature. Along the way I wrote Web Word Wizardry, Write Me A Web Page, Elsie! etc. as well as novels, plays and poems.
When I retired from business (Contented.com) at 75, I turned my attention to writing for non-commercial reasons. Then it dawned on me that I still had a couple of decades of life ahead, so I did one-person year-long “boot camp for the bonus years”. Consequently I entered a true community of old people blogging away merrily and, most significantly, interacting with each other. WordPress makes this easy… but I’m wondering, could it be even better?
Mike Eastwood
Mike Eastwood designed and developed his first website, in 1994, for the Arts Marketing Board of Aotearoa (AMBA). Since then he’s worked with clients in Europe, America, Australia and New Zealand.
After working on hundreds of websites Mike realised “nobody really wants a website – what they really want is more traffic, more leads and more customers”.
Mike’s business Webalite is a Certified HubSpot Partner Agency that creates custom Themes and Plugins to extend WordPress websites (yes, you still need a website).
Brendan Woods
Brendan works as a Team Lead with XWP, managing large-scale WordPress solutions, though Brendan has also had substantial experience in the Product Owner role.
With a keen interest in data analysis (currently completing a Masters of Data Analytics), Brendan has quickly become one of XWP’s resident GDPR experts, working with companies to assess the impact the incoming legislation will have for how technology companies operate in the EU.
Outside of work, Brendan is (sadly) a Lakers fan and loves playing streetball at his local.
Haley Brown
HI. I’M HALEY.
And I’m straight-shooting head honcho of Brand Shack. Your guru in all things design and branding, on a mission to create cutting edge design that knocks your socks off.
Armed with a passion for UX-focused design, I deliver fantastic websites that not only cut the mustard design-wise but also deliver outstanding results that grow your business. As your personal project manager, I embrace new technology to deliver creative business design solutions that get cracking results.
When I’m not backstroking in branding, I love nothing more than travelling the globe on my quest to find the perfect pina colada.
Talia Carbis
Talia Carbis is a teacher, artist and mother from Brisbane, Australia.
She has been using WordPress since 2005 in many capacities including blogging (personally and professionally) and consulting.
Talia loves open source, sustainability, travelling and videography.
Hannah Malcolm
Hannah loves pixels and code. She can usually be found in front of a screen, researching front end techniques, or embarking on a new digital project. When she isn’t in front of a screen, she loves exploring national parks with her family and travels everywhere with a notebook for sketching out ideas, or scribbling down thoughts.
Fun fact: Hannah is originally from Christchurch, New Zealand! But has been living in Aussie for the last 10 years, applying the number 8 wire approach to web design and development.
Caelan Huntress
Caelan Huntress is the creative director of Stellar Platforms. As a digital producer at the intersection of artist and geek, he creates websites, content marketing campaigns, and videos that connect dramatically with an audience. Over the last eight years he has worked from many locations around the world, from mountain tops in Costa Rica to cafes in the United States. He travels around the world with his wife and three children, running his WordPress freelancing business from anywhere he can find wifi and caffeine. Over the past year of living in New Zealand, he has been a panelist at the National Digital Forum at Te Papa and a presenter at TechWeekNZ.
Tarei King
Tarei King is a WordPress engineer at Human Made. WordPress as a software project, community and philosophy has become a guiding part of his life.
While working on enterprise level projects now, his humble beginnings mirrors most engineers; beginning with a WordPress theme, some horrible customisations and cowboy coding.
Having learned from these experiences, largely by working with a global team of contributors, colleagues and friends, Tarei still loves developing and creating awesomeness for clients and the community as a whole.
When not working, you’ll find Tarei in a cocktail bar, playing computer games or generally relaxing with family and friends somewhere in New Zealand.
Peter Mahoney
SEO expert, web developer & designer, all-round nice guy, and ravenous information devourer.
After BBSs I simply got hooked on the web. I’ve been homebrewing sites since 1995, and making them professionally since 1996.
In the early 00s I started blogging with a system called b2, which was forked into WordPress and I followed suit.
My focus over the past decade has been on SEO (although it’s been a feature I’ve offered since the late 90s), while making sure I keep my typing fingers in the site creation pie too.
(Oh yeah, and I ran off to the UK in 2004 and just came back last year – Kia ora Aotearoa!)
Ricky Blacker
Ricky is a self-taught web professional who found and fell in love with WordPress, and the community behind it while looking for a CMS platform to build websites for clients.
He originally built his own web design business after being made redundant from a factory job in 2013, but now works for WP Engine as a Pre Sales Engineer, providing a Digital Experience Platform for WordPress.
He is a Co-Organizer for the Sunshine Coast & Brisbane WordPress Meetup Groups, as well as the Brisbane Web Design Meetup group, and was one of the amazing team who put together the Sunshine Coast WordCamp in 2016 and WordCamp Brisbane in 2017.
Dee Teal
Dee has been using WordPress as a blogger since 2008, as a web developer since 2009 and has transitioned to being a Project Manager for large scale WordPress projects as a ‘Human’ with Human Made where she also leads their team of PMs.
Dee is a huge fan of the WordPress community, organises WordPress events in Australia, and speaks at them where she gets the opportunity, both at home and around the world.
Dee is an expatriate Kiwi, drives an English Classic Car, owns a Burmese cat with a huge personality, drinks black coffee and even after nearly 20 years in Australia, still supports the All Blacks in the Rugby.
Luke Carbis
Luke is a trained teacher who decided to trade moody teenagers for programming. After joining a startup in 2014, he was exposed to the fast-paced, no-sleep, dent-the-world realm of startup culture.
Noticing a downward spiral, this experience motivated Luke’s search for more sustainable models. Today, he works to foster diversity, community, and possibility at XWP.
Lana Gibson
Lana (lanalytics.co.nz) has worked in digital for more than a decade and spent over half that time using Google Analytics and SEO data to improve websites. She worked on GOV.UK for three years from the beta phase, creating a data culture across different teams to make sure they got content to users as quickly and simply as possible. She now turns numbers and graphs into plain English to make websites like Te Papa, BNZ, Radio NZ and Kiwibank measurably better.
Lana is a big advocate for the idea that it’s not user stupidity, but design failure that causes many users to get frustrated with websites. She helps organisations – big and small – design with data to make their digital products user-friendly.