Bryan Kirschner is Vice President, Strategy at DataStax. For more than 20 years he has helped large organizations build and execute strategy when they are seeking new ways forward and a future materially different from their past. He specializes in removing fear, uncertainty, and doubt from strategic decision-making through empirical data and market sensing.

In 2006, he was named the first Director of Open Source Strategy in the history of Microsoft. The company’s reorientation toward constructive engagement with Open Source developers, users, and buyers drove significant advances in business results, engagement with customers, and standing with regulators. Later he was instrumental in a task force that resulted in then-CEO Steve Ballmer’s 2010 landmark speech declaring that Microsoft was “all in” on cloud computing.

Bryan founded the Apigee Institute in 2013, bringing Apigee customers, world-class experts, and groundbreaking research together to help enterprises accelerate digital transformation. Following the company’s acquisition by Google, he led research and strategy for Google Cloud Developer Relations and DevOps Platform.

A frequent speaker at industry events on digital transformation and platform strategy, he has cultivated strong relationships with leading academic researchers on these topics for over a decade.

He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from Yale University and lives in Seattle, Washington.