The Short Version
For over two decades, I’ve helped companies navigate the shift to open source: building strategies, growing communities, and showing organizations how collaborative development creates real business value. As a keynote speaker, I take those lessons to the stage, helping audiences understand not just why open source matters, but how to make it work in practice.
What I Bring to the Stage
Everything I talk about on stage comes from experience. I’ve helped organizations navigate the open source journey firsthand, and that’s what I bring to every talk.
At Hewlett-Packard, I helped the company understand whether to use open source in their products and how to contribute back, founding their Open Source Program Office in the process. At Mozilla, I worked to connect developers to the mission of keeping the web open and accessible to everyone. At Microsoft, I helped 30,000+ developers learn to consume and contribute to open source effectively. At GitHub, I led the teams responsible for developer relations, education, and community programs, helping millions of developers collaborate more effectively.
When I’m on stage talking about how to build an OSPO, or how to get your first open source contribution accepted, or how AI is reshaping collaborative development, I’m drawing on situations I’ve actually navigated.
What I Talk About
The questions I care most about right now sit at the intersection of AI and open source. How is AI changing the way we build software together? What happens to open source communities when AI can generate code faster than humans can review it? Are we training the next generation of contributors, or just training models?
But my topics span the full range of open source strategy: building and sustaining developer communities, creating effective InnerSource programs, launching open source program offices, and helping executives understand why open source is a strategic advantage, not just a cost-saving measure.
Every talk is customized. I work with event organizers to understand their audience and the problem they’re trying to solve, and I build from there.
My Background
My career in open source started at Hewlett-Packard, where I founded the Open Source Program Office. From there, I went on to lead the GNOME Foundation, run developer relations at Mozilla and the Cloud Foundry Foundation, manage community teams at Red Hat, build the Open Source Programs Office at Microsoft, and serve as VP of Communities at GitHub. Today, I’m the Head of Open Source Strategy & Marketing at Amazon Web Services.
Along the way, I’ve delivered hundreds of talks on five continents and in two languages, including keynotes at PyCon, OSCON, GitHub Universe, linux.conf.au, LinuxCon, and WeAreDevelopers World Congress, and presentations to the United Nations and European Union on open source policy.
Beyond the Day Job
I’m a co-founder of Kids on Computers, a nonprofit that sets up computer labs in developing countries. I volunteer giving historical tours of the French Quarter in New Orleans. I share what I’m learning about open source, AI, and leadership through my blog, YouTube channel and talks.
I live in Colorado and New Orleans. I graduated from Rice University with a B.A. in Computer Science.
For Event Planners
Need a bio for your program? Here are three versions.
One-liner
Stormy Peters is the Head of Open Source Strategy & Marketing at Amazon Web Services and a keynote speaker and community strategist with 20+ years of executive experience at AWS, GitHub, Microsoft, Red Hat, Mozilla, and the GNOME Foundation.
Short Bio (75 words)
Stormy Peters is the Head of Open Source Strategy & Marketing at Amazon Web Services. She is a keynote speaker and open source strategy leader with over two decades of experience, including serving as VP of Communities at GitHub, Director of the Open Source Programs Office at Microsoft, and Executive Director of the GNOME Foundation. She has keynoted PyCon, OSCON, GitHub Universe, and WeAreDevelopers World Congress, and has addressed the United Nations and European Union. She co-founded Kids on Computers.
Full Bio (150 words)
Stormy Peters is the Head of Open Source Strategy & Marketing at Amazon Web Services. She is a keynote speaker, community strategist, and open source executive with over twenty years of leadership experience. Previously, she served as VP of Communities at GitHub, Director of the Open Source Programs Office at Microsoft, Head of Developer Relations at Mozilla, Executive Director of the GNOME Foundation, and community lead at Red Hat and the Cloud Foundry Foundation.
Stormy has delivered keynotes at major conferences worldwide, including PyCon, OSCON, GitHub Universe, LinuxCon, WeAreDevelopers World Congress, and linux.conf.au, and has addressed the United Nations and European Union on open source policy. Her talks combine strategic vision with real world stories, helping audiences understand both why open source matters and how to make it work in practice.
Stormy holds a B.A. in Computer Science from Rice University, and lives in Colorado and New Orleans.
Headshots
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