Meet your Cloud Native Ambassadors (CNAs)!
Ambassadors are an extension of CNCF, furthering the mission of “making cloud native ubiquitous” through community leadership and mentorship.
Get the latest news on the program by following CNCF Ambassadors on Twitter!
Interested in becoming an Ambassador?
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January 16, 2025CNCF Ambassadors
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Showing 9 of 272 Ambassadors
(He/Him)
Wizigo Inc. (SRE engineer) / Tzu Chi University (Graduate Student)
ChengHao Yang
(He/Him)
Wizigo Inc. (SRE engineer) / Tzu Chi University (Graduate Student)
- Location: Hualien, Taiwan
- Project Experience: Backstage, Contour, Jaeger, KEDA, Knative, KubeArmor, Kubernetes, Meshery, Metal³, MetalLB
ChengHao is a co-organizer of the Cloud Native Taiwan User Group (CNTUG), assisting in organizing monthly meetups and guiding new community members to contribute. He is interested in exploring each CNCF project and regularly helps resolve issues. Occasionally, he writes technical articles on Kubernetes/CNCF on his blog. Feel free to visit!
(He/Him)
Tencent
Jesse Meng
(He/Him)
Tencent
- Location: Shanghai, China
- Project Experience: Argo, Cilium, CloudEvents, containerd, Contour, CoreDNS, Envoy, etcd, gRPC, Harbor, Helm, Istio, Karmada, KEDA, Knative, KubeEdge, Kubernetes, OpenCost, Operator Framework, Prometheus, Rook, Serverless Devs, SPIFFE, SPIRE, Virtual Kubelet, Volcano
I am a cloud native believer and advocator with over 15 years of experience in cloud computing. I was an early contributor to Kubernetes and led its adoption at eBay for six years. I am currently working as a product and development owner of cloud native FinOps at Tencent Cloud, where I founded the open-source project Crane, which helps users optimize their cloud costs. I am also auther of “The Journey of Kubernetes Production Adoption Success”, translator of “Cloud FinOps”, and speaker on various cloud native topics including Cloud Native Campus in geektime.
Why I am excited to be an ambassador: I am excited to be an ambassador because I love cloud native and I want to share my passion and knowledge with others. I think cloud native is the future of software development and it can bring many benefits to users, developers, and businesses. I want to help the cloud native community grow and thrive by contributing to open-source projects, writing books and articles, and organizing events. Being an ambassador will give me more opportunities to connect with other cloud native enthusiasts and learn from their experiences. I hope to inspire more people to join the cloud native journey and make a positive impact on the world.
(He/Him)
Apple
Kohei Ota
(He/Him)
Apple
- Location: Japan
- Languages: English, Japanese
- Project Experience: Argo, cert-manager, Cilium, containerd, Contour, CRI-O, Envoy, etcd, external-secrets, Falco, Fluentd, gRPC, Harbor, Helm, Jaeger, KEDA, Kubernetes, KubeVirt, Lima, Longhorn, OpenTelemetry, Pixie, Prometheus, Telepresence, Tinkerbell
Kohei Ota is a Senior Field Engineer at Apple. He is a CNCF Ambassador and contributes to Kubernetes SIG Docs as the Japanese localization owner in the CNCF communities. He also organizes Docker Meetup Tokyo and CloudNative Days Tokyo; some of the biggest “container/cloud native” communities and conferences in Japan.
Why I am excited to be an ambassador: I’ve been involved with local cloud native community based in Japan. Unfortunately not many folks from Japan have tightened relationship with international community. I’m excited to be part of organizers of both sides and would love to help local experts become part of the international community!
(He/Him)
Desotech
Nicola Marco Decandia
(He/Him)
Desotech
- Location: Altamura, Italy
- Project Experience: Antrea, Carvel, CDK for Kubernetes (CDK8s), cert-manager, Cilium, Container Network Interface (CNI), containerd, Contour, CoreDNS, Dex, Envoy, etcd, Falco, Fluentd, Flux, Harbor, Helm, Istio, Jaeger, k3s, KEDA, Kubernetes, Kyverno, Longhorn, Open Policy Agent (OPA), OpenEBS, OpenELB, rkt, Rook, Vitess
I am a seasoned cloud-native professional with over 20 years of experience in the industry, specializing in Kubernetes, containerization, and DevOps practices. As the founder and organizer of the Bari and Matera CNCF Cloud-Native Meetup, I have fostered a strong local community committed to sharing knowledge and best practices. My technical expertise spans across multiple CNCF projects, including Prometheus, Envoy, and Helm. I regularly share my insights and experiences on my blog at www.tanzu.eu, where I explore emerging trends and innovative solutions in the cloud-native ecosystem. Passionate about continuous learning and collaboration, I am excited to contribute to the community as a CNCF Ambassador.
Why I am excited to be an ambassador: I am thrilled to be an Ambassador because it allows me to actively contribute to the growth and development of the cloud-native ecosystem, which I am truly passionate about. This role provides a unique platform to engage with a diverse and talented community, enabling the exchange of knowledge and ideas that drive innovation. Furthermore, being an Ambassador presents the opportunity to mentor and inspire others while learning from the collective experiences of fellow professionals. It is an honor to serve as a bridge between the CNCF and the broader community, fostering collaboration and mutual support.
(He/Him)
SUSE
Orlin Vasilev
(He/Him)
SUSE
- Location: Sofia, Bulgaria
- Project Experience: Argo, Carvel, Contour, Crossplane, Harbor, Helm, k3s, Knative, Kubernetes, Kubewarden, Linkerd, Open Policy Agent (OPA), Prometheus
Orlin Vasilev aka Orlix is a Principal Technology Advocate at SUSE. Also running the communities and maintainer for Project Harbor. CNCF Ambassador and driving the biggest Meetup Group ~1700 members in Bulgaria. Multiple times KubeCon CfP review board member and co-chair. SysAdmin/Dev/SRE/System engineering roles for over 15 years! Located in Bulgaria, Europe! Father of two – a fantastic girl and a boy! Passionate snowboarder, DIY and semi-professional BBQ Pitmaster and baker!
Why I am excited to be an ambassador: Being ambassador makes your part of the most fantastic crowd in the Tech World these days. As Ambassador v1 allowed me to drive the meetup and many other local activities with universities and helping put people in general with Cloud Native technologies.
(He/Him)
San Carlos of Guatemala University
Sergio Méndez
(He/Him)
San Carlos of Guatemala University
- Location: Guatemala
- Project Experience: Argo, Backstage, cert-manager, Chaos Mesh, Contour, Flux, gRPC, Harbor, Helm, Jaeger, k3s, KEDA, Keptn, Knative, Kubernetes, Linkerd, Longhorn, NATS, OpenTelemetry, Prometheus, Strimzi
Sergio Méndez is a DevOps Engineer at 8gears and professor of operating systems at USAC university. He is getting involved students into the CNCF Ecosystem and hosting a Cloud Native Community group and KCDs in Guatemala. He has been a speaker at several conferences such as KubeCon, WTFisCloudNative, and Kubernetes Community Days. He is also a Linkerd Ambassador and author of the book Edge Computing with Kubernetes with Packt. His website is https://sergiops.xyz.
Why I am excited to be an ambassador: I am excited because I can help others to learn new technologies and getting involved to participate, also gives me the opportunity to help Latinamerican people to participate in the CNCF ecosystem and students to start contributing in open source. As an Ambassador I can reduce the gap of language creating content in Spanish.
(He/Him)
ITQ
Stéphane Este-Gracias
(He/Him)
ITQ
- Location: Luxembourg
- Project Experience: Antrea, Artifact Hub, Backstage, Buildpacks, Carvel, cert-manager, Cilium, containerd, Contour, Distribution, Flux, Harbor, Helm, Kubernetes, Kured, Lima, OpenGitOps, OpenTelemetry, Operator Framework, Prometheus, Teller, zot
For many years now, I have been a strong advocate for the development and promotion of free and open-source software. My passion for this cause has led me to actively participate in various initiatives, such as organizing the Cloud Native Luxembourg meetups and being part of the French localization team of CNCF Glossary. I’m dedicated to promoting the benefits of open-source software, believing it to be more secure, reliable, and conducive to innovation. Additionally, I leverage my expertise to help teams harness cloud-native technologies, fostering a culture of collaboration and continuous improvement.
Why I am excited to be an ambassador: Drawing from my passion for open-source, I will strive to promote the ethos of collaboration, emphasizing the merits of open-source projects within the CNCF landscape and encouraging more entities to contribute and participate. I am committed to guiding the next generation of cloud native enthusiasts. Through mentorship programs and hands-on training sessions, I aim to reduce the learning curve for newcomers and ensure they have the necessary tools and knowledge to thrive within the ecosystem. In essence, as a CNCF Ambassador, my overarching goal is to be a catalyst for growth, learning, and innovation within the Cloud Native community, ensuring that it remains at the forefront of technological progress while upholding the values of collaboration, inclusivity, and open-source spirit.
(He/Him)
Thomas Vitale
(He/Him)
- Location: Aarhus, Denmark
- Languages: Danish, English, Italian
- Project Experience: Backstage, Buildpacks, Carvel, cert-manager, Contour, Crossplane, Flux, Keycloak, Knative, Kubernetes, Kyverno, Microcks, OpenTelemetry, Prometheus
Thomas Vitale is a software engineer with a focus on building cloud native solutions, currently working at Systematic in Denmark. He is the author of the “Cloud Native Spring in Action” book and plays an active role in the cloud native ecosystem as a CNCF Ambassador, Co-Chair of the CNCF Application Development Working Group, Oracle ACE Pro, and Testcontainers Community Champion.
A strong advocate of open source collaboration, Thomas contributes to various projects in the Java and cloud-native space, including Spring AI, Testcontainers, Carvel, Dapr, and Buildpacks. He is also passionate about sharing his expertise with the community through talks, workshops, and writing on technical topics.
(She/Her)
Tiffany Jernigan
(She/Her)
- Location: Renton, WA USA
- Project Experience: Argo, Buildpacks, Carvel, cert-manager, Cilium, Contour, Harbor, Helm, Istio, Jaeger, Knative, Kubernetes, OpenTelemetry, Prometheus
Tiffany is a CNCF Ambassador, seasoned technologist and content creator in the Cloud Native space. She most recently was a senior developer advocate at VMware. She also formerly worked as a software developer and developer advocate at Amazon, Docker, and Intel. Prior to that, she graduated from Georgia Tech with a degree in electrical engineering. You can find her at tiffanyfay.dev (and for Bluesky).