Staff

Conference Chair

Nicole Allen aka "Nixie Pixel" has been a tech media personality, producer and early adopter of a little known platform at the time called YouTube. 10 years later, she’s grown her brand by educating, entertaining and helping new users make the switch to Linux. She was the first person to bring Linux to the Discovery Channel Network, and prior to that, was a show host for Tech TV. In 2017, she created her own open source community, GeekBeacon - a fellowship of Geeks that share her open source values and dedication toward social good.

Conference Chair

Samir Faci, aka "csgeek", is a software engineer with a passion for backend, big data and Linux ever since he was first introduced to Linux with Caldera (before they became 'evil').  He's been involved with conferences as an attendee and volunteering his time to help start Flourish many years ago.  He's the co-founder of GeekBeacon, the parent organization helping get this event off the ground.

Strategic partnership manager

Marcello Lagosh is a multi-talented and experienced marketing professional with a passion for video games and technology. He has experience in product marketing, influencer marketing, email marketing, market research analysis, and more. He is someone that is enthusiastic about working with different teams to accomplish goals, developing plans and executing them and developing partnerships with parties that have matching goals.

Mental Health Track Lead

Anthony Randall aka RimWulf has always liked using Linux, Android, open-source and freeware and is fascinated with tech, research, security, and automation. Over 10  years of photography experience. After being misdiagnosed with various disorders he was finally diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder making him very passionate about learning more about neurobiversity and overall mental and medical health.

Accessibility Track Lead

Jerry Bischof has spent his career as a senior software engineer and design engineer creating advanced devices, automated test systems and systems for data analysis and reporting at several large tech companies. He has always led the effort to make things both easy and enjoyable for employees and customers alike. Jerry also has a background in business management and marketing and has always enjoyed working with people and building creative solutions for a more efficient and enjoyable workplace community. He has long been a proponent of all things Open Source and is proud to be a part of the Geek Beacon and GBFest 2021 families offering technical and design support to all our efforts

Technical Lead

Chris Fairbanks, aka "Holler" is our technical lead.  He's an avid fan of Linux and open source.  Much of the platform choices and decisions were made with his invaluable help and time in evaluating the right solutions to allow us to connect everyone and share our expert's invaluable knowledge with the world at large.