Recruiting & Hiring

**Welcome to Miss Bachata & Miss Salsa!** As the winter season wraps our city in its gentle sparkle, our community shines even brighter. This time of year reminds us how meaningful it feels to step into a space filled with warmth, laughter, music, and friendly faces—exactly the kind of energy we create together every Monday. While the world outside cools down, our dance floor becomes a cozy haven of joy, connection, and beautifully shared moments. Every Monday feels like a touch of winter magic… only with a whole lot more rhythm. My objective has always been to create a different kind of social gathering—one that is open, non-judgmental, non-salacious, and safe. A place where you can meet people just like you, where socializing and dancing come together to help build community and tear down the walls that separate us. Here, we make new friends, feel a sense of belonging, and enjoy the calmness that comes from knowing we are in a safe and welcoming space. Many times, I have been asked, “Why host an event on Monday night?” Many people escape on the weekend and dread Mondays when they return to work. I believe that if you dance and socialize on a Monday, you infuse your week with joy and positive energy, giving your life balance and helping you face your challenges with enthusiasm and confidence. We’re also thrilled to announce that our trial of advanced Bachata lessons, which began last September, has been a resounding success! Building on this momentum, we’re excited to offer an enhanced schedule for 2025. Our dance evenings will now feature three hours of classes: one hour of beginner to intermediate Bachata, one hour of advanced Bachata, and one hour of beginner to intermediate Salsa. As always, the entrance fee remains $15 for a night of 2 lessons and social dancing. For those interested in the advanced Bachata lessons, there will be an additional $5 fee. Here’s our updated schedule: **Miss Bachata – Main Ballroom** ❄️ 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm: Beginner to Intermediate Bachata Lesson (No partner required) ❄️ 8:00 pm – 12:00 am: Social Dancing **Miss Salsa – Round Room** ❄️ 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm: Advanced Bachata Lesson (+$5) NEW ❄️ 8:00 pm – 9:00 pm: Beginner to Intermediate Salsa Lesson ❄️ 9:00 pm – 12:00 am: Social Dancing **Additional Details:** ❄️ Free Parking ❄️ Full Bar (Free Water, Beer: $5.75) Over the past decade, organizing Latin dancing events in Mississauga has been a labor of love. Our mission has always been to foster a sense of community, proving that the connections we share are far stronger than the differences that divide us. Loneliness is a growing concern, with over half of U.S. adults and many Canadians experiencing its effects. The COVID-19 pandemic has only heightened this issue. Harvard University's long-term study on happiness, which began in 1938, highlights the detrimental impact of loneliness on health. People with strong social connections experience slower mental and physical decline and greater overall happiness compared to those who are isolated. Here are some key findings from the study: • Close ties help delay mental and physical decline more than money, fame, social class, IQ, or genetics. • Relationship satisfaction is a better predictor of aging well than cholesterol levels in middle age. • A strong sense of community improves memory function. • Loneliness can be as harmful to health as smoking or alcoholism. There’s hope! Strengthening our relationships and supporting community initiatives can build healthier, happier lives. Miss Bachata & Miss Salsa provides a wonderful opportunity to make new friends, expand your social circle, and enjoy a safe, welcoming, authentic environment. Bring your open heart and a smile, and we’ll take care of the rest. **Cheers to building an authentic, joyful, and connected community!** **Anna G.** https://www.meetup.com/LatinDanceMeetup https://www.facebook.com/groups/1871491806494168/ https://www.facebook.com/EventsByAnnaG

| March 9, 2026 | | ---------------- | | Send me an email to let me know you are joining us at: | pcalleri@thegaap\.net \| **The CPA Toronto Accounting Group Presents a Casual Get Together** for a few of us to get together, network, learn, have a few laughs, share ideas, make new friends. become more successful etc. I will put a very casual agenda together, but the goal is having a good time. I tried to find a venue that is easy to get to. It is near the 401 and DVP. We will meet at: Swiss Chalet **[Address](https://www.google.ca/search?sca_esv=197713b87bf2beb1&sca_upv=1&sxsrf=ADLYWIKmSo8ztb94J6BUHqec-EeQUWwHRw:1725296229930&q=the+queens+head+pub+scarborough+address&ludocid=4250126838100046784&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiS46qn3aSIAxUS5ckDHbw5GJQQ6BN6BAgrEAI):** 2555 Victoria Park Ave, Scarborough Our reservation is made under Paul. I look forward to seeing you. PS Seats are limited, let me know you are attending; quickly. Send me an email to let me know you are joining us. pcalleri@thegaap.net Sincerely yours, Paul Calleri, Founder of TheGAAP.net, TheGAAP.netCareers, and the CPA Toronto Accounting Group

We are a men's group where you can expect a frank and confidential space to speak personally, engage in interesting conversations or get support for your personal goals. This new team meets weekly on the East side of Toronto. Our group is part of Mentor Discover Inspire (MDI). This group prefers to meet outdoors but occasionally on Zoom. Guests are welcome but it's pretty casual so make sure you are expected in case we move locations. You can rsvp via meetup or call Tim @ 416-278-3058 to confirm this week’s location. The MDI Mission: To cause greatness by mentoring men to live with excellence and, as mature masculine leaders, create successful families, careers and communities. From MDI website[: https://goo.gl/3DQ6](https://goo.gl/3DQ6aY)aY From Toronto Sta[r: https://goo.gl/oDH](https://goo.gl/oDH3uX)3uX

**Beginner Drop-In Pickleball at the Miles Nadal JCC** New to pickleball? We’ve got the perfect session for you! Join us for **Beginner Drop-In Pickleball** at the Miles Nadal JCC — a welcoming and supportive environment for those just getting started with the game. Whether you're still learning the rules or building confidence on the court, this is a great opportunity to play, practice, and meet fellow beginners. *** 🏓 **Event Details:** **Location:** 750 Spadina Ave. (enter through the Spadina doors) **Check-In:** Please check in with security and stop by the front desk upon arrival. *** 🏓 **Registration & Payment (Required in Advance):** RSVP on Meetup does *not* guarantee your spot. To play, you must register and pay in advance through our registration system. 👉 **[Register online](https://app.amilia.com/store/en/miles-nadal-jcc/api/Activity/Detail?activityId=x5X7aDV)** 📞 Or call: 416-924-6211 **Limited to 18 players.** Once full, no additional players will be admitted. *** 🏓 **What to Expect:** * Designed for **beginner-level players** with some familiarity with the rules and scoring * Equipment available: borrow paddles and balls with a $20 cash deposit + valid ID * Friendly rotations so everyone gets a chance to play * Supportive and inclusive environment — no pressure, just fun and learning! *** Come ready to move, meet new people, and improve your game one rally at a time. We look forward to seeing you on the court!

**Set goals.** **Be accountable for them.** **Move your life forward with purpose.** Our goal is to cause greatness by mentoring men to live with excellence and, as mature masculine leaders, create successful families, careers and communities. If you have the desire to work on being the man that your legacy demands that you be (which means being the best you can be, we can work on what your legacy demands with you later) and the man you always wanted to be then we look forward to you attending. Our group is part of Mentor Discover Inspire (MDI). This group meets Mondays, North of Finch Avenue, usually indoors, outdoors in the summer but occasionally on Zoom. To confirm this week's location, please rsvp to Ricardo, call/text (647) 880-1488, or email ricardophilip@hotmail.com From MDI website[: https://goo.gl/3DQ6](https://goo.gl/3DQ6aY)aY From Toronto Sta[r: https://goo.gl/oDH](https://goo.gl/oDH3uX)3uX Regular attendees do not always RSVP, expect 6-8 men to be present.

**Drop-In Pickleball at the Miles Nadal JCC** Come play one of the fastest-growing sports in North America — right in the heart of the Annex! Join us for friendly, active Pickleball at the Miles Nadal JCC, just steps from Spadina Station. It’s a great way to stay active, meet new people, and have some fun! \*\*\* **🏓 Event Details:** **Location:** 750 Spadina Ave. (enter through the Spadina doors) **Check-In:** Stop by security and check in at the front desk when you arrive. \*\*\* **🏓 Registration & Payment (Required in Advance):** **RSVP on Meetup does *not* reserve your spot.** To participate in Drop-In Play, you must register and pay in advance via our registration system. 👉 **[Register online](https://app.amilia.com/store/en/miles-nadal-jcc/api/Activity/Detail?activityId=yKE8jJG)** 📞 Or register by phone: 416-924-6211 Space is limited to **6 players** on a first-come, first-served basis. Once full, no additional participants can be accommodated. \*\*\* **🏓 Other Info:** * Paddles and balls are available for loan at the front desk with a **$20 cash deposit and valid ID** * This session is intended for **intermediate players and above** — participants should have a solid understanding of Pickleball rules, scoring, and gameplay, and be comfortable with consistent rallies and court positioning * Courts are rotated regularly so everyone gets a chance to play * Welcoming, inclusive environment \*\*\* Come ready to rally, socialize, and have a great time on the court. We can’t wait to see you there!

Join Us for a Cashflow 101 Game Night! Come, meet new people, and learn valuable life skills while having fun! Whether you’re a seasoned player or completely new to the game, Cashflow 101 is a fantastic way to improve your financial literacy in a relaxed, social setting. Beginners are welcome — no prior experience needed. Let’s roll the dice, strategize, and make our way out of the rat race together!

I have to reserve the restaurant so please RSVP before the event so l can know for how much Guest. Drinking at your own discretion please use Uber or Taxi if you will be drinking. Please drink responsible. Food and drink no limit you pay for your food and beverage of choice. A $5 deposit so l know you will show up i/o no show. You will get back in cash. Step into Evviva and experience a space where comfort meets style. The Ontario locations blends modern design with a welcoming, lively energy, perfect for brunch with friends, family gatherings, or casual business meetings. Natural light, cozy seating, and upbeat music create the ideal backdrop for great conversations and even better food. Whether you’re visiting for your morning latte or a weekend brunch, Evviva’s inviting atmosphere makes every visit feel like home.

We're excited to bring the community together for an evening of learning and connection! Come support your fellow developers, learn something new, and meet others who are passionate about search, observability, and security. **Date and Time:** Thursday, March, 12th from 5:30-7:30 pm **Agenda:** * 5:30 pm: Doors open; say hi, grab a seat, and eat some food. * 6:00 pm: Building Agentic AI on ELK stack, by **Gleb Gadyatskiy**, Principal Engineer at PointClickCare * 6:30 pm: Q&A * 6:40 pm: "One Does Not Simply Query a Stream", by **Viktor Gamov** is a Principal Developer Advocate at Confluent * 7:10 pm: Q&A * 7:20-7:30 pm: Networking & refreshments **Talk Abstracts:** **"Building Agentic AI on ELK stack"** Story how I built AI Agent using pure ELK + LLM to automate incidents investigations 1. What is AI Agent, ELK and why I decided to build AI Agent using only ELK 2. Building simple AI Agent using pure Logstash pipelines 3. Building advance AI Agent using Ruby plugin 4. Connecting AI Agent to Elastic AI Assistant **Gleb Gadyatskiy** is a Principal Engineer at PointClickCare. He is a part of the Infrastructure Architecture team and describes his role as “the first line in attack and the last line in defense”. Gleb provides support for all teams to aggregate logs from various apps into Elasticsearch, use AI to get insights from logs and actively promotes Elastic stack in PointClickCare. Gleb enjoys outdoor traveling with his wife and two kids in a camper. **"One Does Not Simply Query a Stream"** Streaming data with Apache Kafka® has become the backbone of modern applications. While streams are ideal for continuous data flow, they lack built-in querying capabilities. Unlike databases with indexed lookups, Kafka’s append-only logs are designed for high-throughput processing—not for on-demand queries. This necessitates additional infrastructure to query streaming data effectively. Traditional approaches replicate stream data into external stores: relational databases like PostgreSQL for operational queries, object storage like S3 accessed via Flink, Spark, or Trino for analytics, and Elasticsearch for full-text search and log analytics. Each serves a purpose—but they also introduce silos, schema mismatches, freshness issues, and complex ETL pipelines that increase system fragility. In this session, we’ll explore solutions that aim to unify operational, analytical, and search workloads across real-time data. We'll demonstrate stream processing with Kafka Streams, Apache Flink®, and SQL engines; real-time analytics with Apache Pinot®; search capabilities with Elasticsearch; and modern lakehouse approaches using Apache Iceberg® with Tableflow to represent Kafka topics as queryable tables. While there's no one-size-fits-all solution, understanding the tools and trade-offs will help you design more robust and flexible architectures. **Viktor Gamov** is a Principal Developer Advocate at Confluent, founded by the original creators of Apache Kafka®. With a rich background in implementing and advocating for distributed systems and cloud-native architectures, Viktor excels in open-source technologies. He is passionate about assisting architects, developers, and operators in crafting systems that are not only low in latency and scalable but also highly available. As a Java Champion and an esteemed speaker, Viktor is known for his insightful presentations at top industry events like JavaOne, Devoxx, Kafka Summit, and QCon. His expertise spans distributed systems, real-time data streaming, JVM, and DevOps. Viktor has co-authored "Enterprise Web Development" from O'Reilly and "Apache Kafka® in Action" from Manning. Follow Viktor on X - @gamussa to stay updated with Viktor's latest thoughts on technology, his gym and food adventures, and insights into open-source and developer advocacy. **Location:** Improving Office 171 East Liberty St Unit 235 Toronto, Ontario M6K 3P6 **Directions (171 E Liberty St - Suite 235)** **By transit** Streetcars 504 and 509 both travel close to the office (less than 10 minute walk to the office from either), the lakeshore GO train is also a 5 minute walk from the office. **By car/parking** On street parking is available - there are a handful of paid parking spots directly in front of the entrance - with a large city parking lot across the street. **Entrance** The entrance to the office is beside the Bulk Barn entrance facing Hannah Street. There is an Improving logo on the door.

Join your community of fellow Intuitives and MBTI nerds for a casual evening of engaging conversation. We get together every second Sunday – with a mix of regulars and new friends. There is no fee to attend, though we ask that you support the venue by ordering something to eat or drink. **Feel free to contact event host B. via Facebook/Meetup messenger, or text/call 416-712-8635 for directions**. About the venue: The Pint Public House Nearest Subway: Union Station Map / Directions: https://maps.app.goo.gl/G5GfXDSQXeifJ5ot5 We make an effort to find pubs that are quiet and introvert friendly, with a section to ourselves. We make no effort to muffle our extroverts, but should they get out of hand, our resident INTJ will use their death stare, to pull them back in line.

## **Import & Export — Learn the Model, Remove the Risk, Build the Business** **Casual Learning & Support Session \| LeaderSHIFT Community** There is growing interest in import/export as a business — but most people get stuck on the same questions: * Where do I start? * How do I avoid getting burned? * How do I finance deals safely? * How do I find real clients (not tire-kickers)? This session is designed to answer those questions clearly and practically. ### **📌 Format (Two-Part Session)** **First Hour – Foundations (Beginner Friendly)** This is a structured walkthrough for anyone who wants to understand the business from the ground up. We will cover: * How the import/export business actually works * How to structure deals using government programs and banks to reduce or eliminate risk * How financing can be used properly (without putting yourself in danger) * How to find clients and generate deal flow * Common mistakes and traps to avoid All attendees will receive a **free booklet and resource package** with the information needed to begin setting up their own import/export business. **Second Hour – Open Support & Deal Discussion (Optional)** This portion is for: * People already working on deals * Those who understand the model and want deeper discussion * Anyone seeking feedback on a specific roadblock * Individuals who want to offer insight, support, or collaboration It becomes a collaborative, peer-supported environment rather than a formal presentation. ### **☕ Setting** This is a **casual, low-pressure meetup** held at Second Cup (Sheppard Centre, Yonge & Sheppard). Grab a coffee, bring your questions, and engage at your own pace. No pitches. No hype. Just real knowledge, real structure, and real conversation.

Hi everyone! We're doing an afternoon impromptu hangout at Chefs Hall. Location: 111 Richmond St W, Toronto, ON M5H 2G4 A sort walk from Osgoode subway station. head south on University till you reach Richmond St and head east along Richmond St. you should see Chefs Hall on the south side of Richmond. **First time meeting us and still not sure about the vibe?** Check out photos from **[past in-person events of 2023](https://www.meetup.com/artsrecto/photos/34212927/)** Bring your art supplies (mainly dry medium or small watercolour set), and order a warm drink and snacks. Looking forward to meeting you all :) === ================ **Support This Group 🥰🤩** We hope you're enjoying the Arts & Rec events! If you'd like to give support, please consider making a small Ko-fi donation of $5-10 USD at [https://www.ko-fi.com/artsnrectoronto](https://www.ko-fi.com/artsnrectoronto.) . This helps cover meetup and miscellaneous expenses with hosting events! For more inquiries, please PM me for more info! Thank you all so much!

Join us for our first Toronto Fractional Executives Pub Night--a casual, in-person gathering for fractional CXOs and senior operators across the GTA. If you’re a Fractional COO, CFO, CTO, CMO, CHRO, etc., this night is about stepping away from our screens and into a pub for real conversations with peers who actually get the fractional life. What to expect: * Relaxed, pub-style networking (no presentations, no slide decks, no panels); * Thoughtful conversations with experienced operators; * Stories, insights, and lessons learned from fractional work; * Opportunities for referrals, collaborations, and partnerships; Come when you can, grab a drink, and mingle. Who should attend: * Practicing fractional executives (CXOs); * Independent consultants operating at the executive level; * Experienced operators transitioning into fractional roles; * Founders and senior executives with SMBs looking for fractional leadership; * Senior executives with VC/PE firms looking for fractional leadership for their portfolio firms. Logistics: * We're meeting at Pogue Mahone Pub & Kitchen (near Yonge & College); * It's a cash bar and food will also be available for purchase; * Space may be limited, so please RSVP if you plan to attend. Come out and swap stories, talk shop about clients and pricing, and meet great people over a drink.

## Hey Columbus WIP peeps! ## Are you ready for an event that actually gives you what you asked for?? **\-\-\-\-\-\-** **A Small-group coaching conversations for women in product navigating growth, leadership, and career decisions.** **March 10 \| 5:30–8:00 PM** **Rev1 -- NEW SPACE** **330 Rush Alley #100** **Parking Options:** • **Rev1 at The Peninsula** • **Starling St. Garage South** – 377 W. Capital St. • **LAZ Parking (COSI)** – 50 Belle St. • **LAZ Parking Limited** – 375 W. State St. • **Veterans Memorial Lot** – 300 W. Broad St. • **Metered Street Parking** **What moves are you making?** A promotion you’re working toward. A role change you’re considering. A bigger leadership opportunity. A conversation that needs to happen. A decision that’s been sitting in the back of your mind. For our Q1 Women in Product Columbus event, we’re creating space to actually work through those moments. **Making Moves** is an evening of focused, facilitated coaching conversations with experienced mentors from our local product community. This isn’t a panel. It’s not passive networking. It’s small-group dialogue designed to be thoughtful, practical, and worth your time. Here’s how it will work: • You’ll choose a topic that reflects what you’re navigating right now • You’ll join a small coaching circle (5–7 participants) • Each circle is led by a mentor who has lived experience in that area • We’ll run two rounds so you can go deeper or explore a second conversation ### Coaching Topics: • Communicating the Value of Your Work (or Team) • Career Transitions & What’s Next • Growing Into Leadership • Staying Relevant as Technology (and AI) Changes • Getting Alignment and Decisions from Leadership Our goal is simple: you leave with clearer thinking, practical perspective, and at least one next step you feel confident about. Space in each circle will be limited to keep conversations meaningful. If this sounds like the kind of room you’ve been wanting to be in, we’d love to see you on March 10. RSVP here! [https://community.womenpm.org/c/all-local-events/making-moves-a-columbus-wip-event](https://community.womenpm.org/c/all-local-events/making-moves-a-columbus-wip-event "https://community.womenpm.org/c/all-local-events/making-moves-a-columbus-wip-event") *And if you haven't joined the WIP group - do that too, would ya?!?!* — Your Columbus Chapter Leads - Amber, Leah and Liz!

One of the most valuable parts of this community is the opportunity to think out loud with other product professionals. This session is built for exactly that. As we wrap up the quarter, it’s a great time to pause and reflect. What’s on track? What needs adjustment? Where could a small shift create bigger impact? Join fellow product professionals for a focused, interactive conversation designed to help you recalibrate for the next quarter. You’ll have the opportunity to share where you are, hear how others are thinking through similar challenges, and gain fresh perspective you can bring back to your team and organization. We’ll gather at 8:00AM, with discussion starting promptly at 8:15AM. 📍 First Watch - 7227 N High St Located in: The Shops at Worthington Ample parking is available. Food and beverages will be available for purchase. Start your morning with clarity and connection — we hope to see you there! ☀️

We are recruiting new group leaders for virtual men's groups! Our primary groups are outdoor movement groups, but we are launching virtual groups for the state of Ohio and beyond and the groups will move outside in the spring, creating room for men's groups, women's groups and coed groups all over the country. Read below to learn about our groups and click the links at the bottom to apply. ### **What is an Outdoor Empowerment Group?** Our Outdoor Movement & Community Empowerment Groups are simple, guided experiences designed to help people reconnect with nature, themselves, and others. We combine some form of movement (hike, walk, run, bike, yoga, workout) and meaningful conversation within a simple community circle to create a space where individuals can support each other while prioritizing mental and physical well-being. Whether you’re seeking stress relief, personal growth, or community, our groups offer everyone a unique and welcoming environment. ## **Why Join?** * **Improve Mental & Physical Well-Being** – Movement, nature, and supportive conversations reduce stress and promote balance. * **Feel Less Alone** – Build genuine connections with like-minded people in a safe, welcoming space. * **Gain Clarity & Perspective** – Step outside daily routines and into a space designed for personal growth and reflection. ## **The Ideal Group Leader** The ideal group leader * Has a born-in passion for mental health, movement, connecting with nature and building community. * Has 5 extra hours per week to dedicate to a meaningful cause for at least one year. Yes, you can leave any organization at any time and we can also ask you to leave, but we are building with legacy in mind and we need people who can commit and be ALL IN on this mission to build with us. * Is independently financially stable with the ability to volunteer with no expectation of pay. This is a deeply beautiful journey of service that all participants commit to at Speak Your Mind. * An ability to manage groups with high emotional intelligence and desire for human connection. * An ability to self-motivate and market/promote their group on Facebook and other social platforms. * Nature informed therapy or clinical therapists/psychologists a plus. ## **Our Impact**  Since launching, we have helped thousands find support, connection, and healing through our Outdoor Movement Groups. 100% of participants surveyed have reported: * A noticeable improvement in mental clarity and emotional well-being. * An increase in social connection and a sense of belonging. * Said they would return again. We believe mental health should be accessible, community-driven, and rooted in nature. Join us and take the first step toward a more connected, grounded, and supported version of yourself. ### **Why Our Groups are Donation-Based** Our Outdoor Movement Groups are made possible through a donation-based model. This approach allows us to keep our events accessible to everyone, regardless of financial circumstances, while also ensuring that we can continue expanding our reach. It’s a great way to pay it forward and support the growth of this beautiful mission! Every contribution helps us: * **Cover Essential Costs** – Donations allow us to pay essential legal, marketing, insurance, and admin costs as well as nourish the important people who run the organization. * **Grow Our Mission** – With your support, we can bring these healing experiences to thousands more people in the future and execute our long term plan to expand across the USA, affecting up to 500,000 people per year. By choosing to contribute, you’re not just leading an event—you’re helping build a mental health movement that supports long-term well-being and connection for all during a severe mental health epidemic. ## **Come Join Us!** We’d love to have you be part of this growing community of people prioritizing their mental health, movement, and connection. 🔹 **Visit Our Website to Learn More:** https://speakyourmind.men/joinusoutside 🔹 **Apply Here to Lead Your Own Group!** – https://form.jotform.com/taketimespeakyourmind/sym-group-leader-application 🔹 **Support the mission**: If you resonate with the mission and want to support, feel free to join a group before applying or donate to help us reach our goals to help more people! You can donate here: https://secure.givelively.org/donate/angels-for-angels/speak-your-mind Please text Mario with any questions: (808) 855-8831

Discover Kiro, AWS’s innovative development environment that adapts to your workflow. Whether you prefer specification-driven development or a more intuitive, vibe-based approach, Kiro empowers you to build applications your way. In this session, speakers will explore Kiro’s core functionality and its evolution through re:Invent 2025, along with demonstrations of prompts used to create APIs, hooks, and steering documents. In the latter part of the session, watch as we build a complete example from scratch, showcasing Kiro’s agentic AI workflow in action for spec-driven development and vibe coding. What You'll Learn - Core Kiro concepts and development philosophy Feature evolution: pre and post re:Invent 2025 Practical examples: API creation, hooks, and steering docs Live coding demonstration with real-time problem solving Who Should Attend - Developers, solutions architects, and technical leaders interested in modern AWS development tools and AI-assisted coding workflows. **Speakers Bio:** Matthew Jorat: Matthew Jorat is a Customer Solutions Manager at AWS with nearly three decades of expertise in AI, cloud transformation, migration, modernization, IT, technology, and business. His career spans infrastructure engineer, solutions architect, security auditor, customer success director, support and services director, and operations officer. He was an early adopter of AWS services as a customer, and his current role at AWS uniquely blends his technical and business skills as he partners with executive teams to translate strategic priorities into measurable business outcomes through cloud adoption, AI implementation, and operational excellence. Matt leads end-to-end AI initiatives for enterprise customers, identifying high-impact use cases and maintaining relentless focus on measurable ROI. He holds eight AWS certifications and serves as Adjunct Professor at Franklin University teaching cloud computing and AWS architecture. His expertise encompasses GenAI, agentic AI systems, migration, modernization, and optimization strategies that drive transformation at scale. [https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattjorat/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattjorat/) Girish Bhatia: Girish Bhatia is a seasoned technology delivery leader with deep expertise in cross-domain program management. He holds multiple AWS certifications, including AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate, AWS Certified Developer – Associate, and AWS Generative AI Practitioner, and is also an AWS Community Builder. Girish brings over two decades of experience in the information technology industry. Throughout his career, Girish has led major technology-driven business transformation from modernizing on-premises applications to driving large-scale cloud migrations. His work includes API-based integration platforms, data-center and mainframe modernization, and enterprise cloud adoption initiatives. Based in Columbus, Ohio, Girish works at a tech-forward fintech company. He is passionate about AWS serverless architectures, Generative AI and emerging cloud technologies. An avid learner and builder, he continues to explore and apply the latest innovations in AWS to help organizations accelerate their digital transformation. https://www.linkedin.com/in/girishbhatia/[https://www.linkedin.com/in/girishbhatia/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/girishbhatia/) **THANK YOU** *Franklin University* for hosting our meetup! To learn more about *Franklin University*, please visit their website: https://www.franklin.edu/ **DIRECTIONS** Franklin University Fisher Hall 300 E. Main St, Columbus, OH 43215 Map: https://maps.app.goo.gl/jxjBA2hUmS5qrvhq8 Parking is FREE! Please park in Lot C in front of Fisher Hall. See attached map. NOTE: Map the address only. When mapping with Google Maps it may use the Fisher Hall at OSU, which is NOT correct. **Want to sponsor the pizza and/or bar tab?** Please contact me if you would like to sponsor this meetup's pizza and/or bar tab: angelo@mandato.com

Drake Lundstrom is presenting: Code Anywhere by Talking to your Phone Abstract: Have you heard the trend of people deploying code anywhere from checkout lines to doctors' offices? In this talk, you will learn how to talk to your phone and have an app on Azure to show your friend 5 minutes later. The basic DevOps tools you already know, plus a little bit of AI magic, are all you need! If you want to follow along, the demo will be in Azure with GitHub Actions and GitHub Copilot, and you can have it set up on your phone by the end of the session. Just come in with an Azure account and a GitHub repo. Join us for pizza, drinks, and networking @ Improving's office. Doors open at 5:45.