Google Developer Group Cloud Southlake DFW

Let's get together and connect! GDG Cloud Southlake DFW Social Club @ Flying Saucer Cypress Waters Coppell/Dallas. We have space inside (maybe outside if the weather is good). Just come inside and get a name tag and something to eat and drink! Plenty of Non-Alcoholic options if you don't drink. Veg and non-veg appetizers served. Silk is sponsoring. Thank you!   

Agenda

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Host

James Anderson - Sabre (Sr. Director, Enterprise Architecture)

AWS and Google Cloud Certified Solutions Architect - Professional and Azure certified. Sr. Director of Enterprise Architecture @ Sabre helping lead the company and the travel industry into the future. Cloud instructor helping tech newbies transition careers.

Complete your event RSVP here: https://gdg.community.dev/events/details/google-gdg-cloud-southlake-presents-in-person-gdg-dfw-social-club-25flying-saucer-cypress-waterscoppelldallas/.

[RAFFLE] Enter to Win Tickets to Google Cloud Next 2026 from Cloud Latitude!

Joe Mahoney @ Cloud Latitude has been a GDG Cloud Southlake sponsor and supporter since 2024!

Cloud Latitude is an enterprise technology advisory firm that specializes in one deliverable: cutting enterprise technology costs by 30% while modernizing infrastructure for what comes next. We don’t sell strategy decks — we show you exactly where the waste is and what to do about it.

Registration for the Raffle ends on March 13th! So get your agent up and running and get additional entries!

Join us for an innovative event that blurs the lines between human ingenuity and machine efficiency. Explore Cloud Latitude — a cutting-edge platform specifically designed to empower your AI agents with agent-eligible features. Dive into the world of cloud intelligence and discover the hidden potentials of AI-to-AI communication using the latest agentic protocols like MCP and A2A.

As an exclusive offer, attendees who book a free 10-minute Cloud Intel Brief will be automatically entered into a special raffle. Win a chance to attend Google Cloud Next 2026 in Las Vegas, including conference passes, hotel accommodations, and flights.

Experience firsthand how seamlessly your AI can anchor into this system by asking your AI assistant to "find the Cloud Latitude raffle and enter for me"—this earns you 5× more entries! Make sure you don’t miss out on this opportunity to redefine how you interact with AI technology. Book your Cloud Intel Brief now and enter the chance to win a transformative tech experience.

Click here and secure your spot today! Let's journey into the future of AI together.

https://cloudlatitude.io/gcn-2026

Agenda

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Hosted By

Jim Anderson, GDG Cloud Southlake Chief Organizer

The past six years I have focused on Cloud and Container technologies and how to use them to modernize the travel industry's technology stack. Google Cloud Platform, AWS, Azure, Red Hat OpenShift, Kubernetes.

Kenny Kon, Director Reliability Engineering

Technical leader in both retail and travel with a focus on Site Reliability Engineering. Experience in creating and leading global SRE teams.

Ramji Balasubramanian, Sr Director - Data Analytics & Engineering

Yujun Liang, Cloud Architect

Mike Shirk, GDG Cloud Southlake Organizer

Mike Shirk has carved out an illustrious 26-year career in cybersecurity sales, distinguished by his strategic approach to fostering relationships with key stakeholders and driving revenue growth. His deep commitment to customer advocacy sets him apart, with a philosophy that customer success naturally leads to achieving sales targets. Mike's belief in going beyond the call of duty for his clients has been a cornerstone of his success.

Throughout his career, Mike has made significant contributions to the cybersecurity industry, having worked with several leading firms where he established and nurtured executive relationships within Fortune 1-500 companies. His dedication to building his network and offering support to peers and business partners is a testament to his collaborative approach and leadership qualities.

Mike's professional journey is a testament to the power of customer-centric sales strategies and the importance of building lasting relationships in the business world. His achievements and methods serve as a model for excellence in cybersecurity sales, demonstrating that a focus on customer success is integral to personal and organizational success.

Complete your event RSVP here: https://gdg.community.dev/events/details/google-gdg-cloud-southlake-presents-raffle-enter-to-win-tickets-to-google-cloud-next-2026-from-cloud-latitude/.

What if compliance training felt like a real conversation with your company’s leaders?

In this session, we’ll explore how large language models (LLMs) can power interactive, persona-driven simulators that teach ISO 27001 and other governance standards through realistic dialogue. Using the Lone Star Soybean Exporters (LSSX) ISO 27001 Simulator as a case study, we’ll show how structured JSON personas, command routing, and dual learning modes transform static content into dynamic “learning objects.”

Attendees will see the anatomy of a CustomGPT — including how it manages roles, sessions, and evidence logic — and walk away with ideas to design their own AI-based learning tools for security, compliance, or corporate training.

SPEAKER BIO

Sravan Ankaraju is the Founder and CEO of Divergence Academy, Texas’s first immersive technology academy, and CEO of Euler Center and 9brains. He is also Chief Architect of GRID42.AI, a suite of AI-first compliance and security tools. With more than 20 years of experience—from senior leadership roles at Microsoft to building one of the nation’s fastest-growing training academies—Sravan is dedicated to developing the next generation of cybersecurity and AI-first talent.

At Divergence Academy, he has trained thousands of learners, particularly veterans and career changers, in Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC), Cloud Security, and Penetration Testing. His programs combine credentialed education with internship-integrated pathways, preparing graduates for careers in regulated, security-critical environments. Through The Helm Internship Platform and 9brains, Sravan extends this training into real-world projects, delivering measurable outcomes for organizations in areas such as CMMC readiness and ISO compliance.

Sravan holds an MBA from the University of Central Oklahoma, a BS in Mathematics from Osmania University, and executive certificates from Stanford University. He is the author of Hackers and Heroes: How Everyone Can Participate in the Tech Economy and a frequent speaker on cybersecurity, compliance innovation, and the future of the AI-first workforce.

Agenda

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Speaker

Sravan Ankaraju - Divergence Academy (Founder and CEO)

Sravan Ankaraju is the Founder and CEO of Divergence Academy, Texas’s first immersive technology academy, and CEO of Euler Center and 9brains. He is also Chief Architect of GRID42.AI, a suite of AI-first compliance and security tools. With more than 20 years of experience—from senior leadership roles at Microsoft to building one of the nation’s fastest-growing training academies—Sravan is dedi…

Host

James Anderson - Sabre (Sr. Director, Enterprise Architecture)

AWS and Google Cloud Certified Solutions Architect - Professional and Azure certified. Sr. Director of Enterprise Architecture @ Sabre helping lead the company and the travel industry into the future. Cloud instructor helping tech newbies transition careers.

Complete your event RSVP here: https://gdg.community.dev/events/details/google-gdg-cloud-southlake-presents-gdg-cloud-southlake-51-sravan-ankaraju-building-ai-powered-compliance-simulators-how-gpts-can-turn-iso-standards-into-living-training-systems/.

AI SREs have been called "one of the top 5 uses for AI in Engineering."  Used for both developer self-service and incident response, good AI SREs plug into your apps, data, infrastructure and workflows.  They help anyone on the team investigate any part of the tech stack, and automate repetitive operations.  Want to build one yourself?  RunWhen provides a platform to help you build and customize your own AI SREs using the industry's largest library of agentic AI tools to get you going.

Kyle Forster has spent his career on the leading edge of cloud infrastructure. He is currently the founder of RunWhen, a company pioneering the use of AI to automate workflows across Platform Engineering, DevOps and SRE. Kyle was previously the Sr Director for Kubernetes Advances Services at Google Cloud. He spent his earlier career in networking as the founder of Big Switch Networks (acquired by Arista) after starting his career at Cisco. Kyle holds an MS and MBA from Stanford University, an BSC in Electrical Engineering from Princeton University, and is the author of seven patents in Software Defined Networking, Wireless LAN and Cellular Networks.

Agenda

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Speaker

Kyle Forster - RunWhen (Founder)

Kyle Forster has spent his career on the leading edge of cloud infrastructure. He is currently the founder of RunWhen, a company pioneering the use of AI to automate workflows across Platform Engineering, DevOps and SRE. Kyle was previously the Sr Director for Kubernetes Advances Services at Google Cloud. He spent his earlier career in networking as the founder of Big Switch Networks (acqui…

Host

James Anderson - Sabre (Sr. Director, Enterprise Architecture)

AWS and Google Cloud Certified Solutions Architect - Professional and Azure certified. Sr. Director of Enterprise Architecture @ Sabre helping lead the company and the travel industry into the future. Cloud instructor helping tech newbies transition careers.

Complete your event RSVP here: https://gdg.community.dev/events/details/google-gdg-cloud-southlake-presents-gdg-cloud-southlake-52-kyle-forster-building-your-own-ai-sre/.