Founder and Host
Bob Waltenspiel
Bob Waltenspiel is the original founders and resident “Sales Guy” of the group, working for such tech giants as Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Cisco Systems, and most recently, Slalom Consulting. Bob was awarded the Elite 40 under 40 designation in 2013, he serves on the Tax Increment Finance Authority for the City of Auburn Hills as well as sits on the Board of Directors for the German-American Marksmanship Club.
Bob has over 500 podcast episodes to his credit and won the Audible Feast Top 50 Podcasts of 2017 award.
Co-Host and Producer
Randy Walker
Randy Walker is a geek-of-all-trades who currently works as an elearning developer. He’s been a solutions architect, a database administrator, and a web developer and he has guided implementation of a product lifecycle management solution for an automotive manufacturer, and has written customer documentation for a network software company. In his spare time, he co-organizes the Metro Detroit WordPress Meetup and provides technical assistance to Daily Detroit.
Remembering
David Phillips
David Phillips unfortunately passed away suddenly in March of 2021. He will be missed greatly and will forever be a part of IT in the D.
David Phillips is the geek that’s been pushed into management roles over the span of his career. He’s been a helpdesk jockey, a team lead, a systems architect and even a Vice President over the course of his more than 20 years in information technology for a variety of industries. He’s been profiled by CNN’s Money Magazine for his work with the group, as well as being a regular speaker for the Michigan Shifting Gears program, winning 2013’s “Outstanding Contributor for the Transformation of Careers and Lives”.
Formerly
Nuri Gocay
Nuri Gocay started his career in IT as the guy who blew dust out of computers, told employees to MOVE, and taught himself programming so he could take his call center paperless (in 2001). He’s since spent his IT career in the contact center space, working for giants such as USAA, T-Mobile, Expedia, and Google (as a prime) and working for eLoyalty and Presidio, boutique Call Center consulting companies, providing both engineering and thought leadership. He moved to Michigan from NYC to get involved with Penguicon, a local science fiction and open source convention, where he eventually chaired the event, growing it 30% YOY in his first year of leadership. It was because of this involvement that Nuri met Bob and Dave, and due to some serendipitous timing, Nuri ended up with a permanent spot on the show. Nuri gives talks every year at Penguicon about how to get better jobs in IT, how to be better at social skills, and something he’s most passionate about — vegan meatsticks.