MacAD.UK 2024 Speakers
We’re currently finalising the 2024 agenda and are in the process of announcing our speakers. Keep coming back for more great talks in the coming weeks.
Principal PM Manager
Microsoft
Speaker Bio
Andy is the PM Manager for Intune Apple Device Management. His team is focused on making Intune the best management solution for Apple devices. He has been at Microsoft for 12 years and the MDM lead for ~6. Before taking over the MDM space he was focused on launching their MAM Only solution.
His nights and weekends are spent at a gym or field watching his two kids play their sports.
Intune macOS Management. Why it's time for a second look
Intune macOS Management. Why it’s time for a second look – This session will focus on all of the latest and greatest features we have delivered for macOS management. If you haven’t tried out Intune macOS management, we will show you all of our great features and talk about how we are ready to manage all of your macOS devices. If you tried out Intune in the past, even as recently as 6 months ago, we are going to show you why you need to take another look.
Sr. Consulting Engineer
Jamf
Speaker Bio
Armin Briegel, who works as Consulting Engineer for the EMEIA region at Jamf, has years of experience managing Macs and their users. He has developed a strong knowledge through multiple technical roles, including his WebObjects and Server Consulting Engineer role at Apple in Germany and the US and his System Administrator role at University of Southern California. Armin is passionate about tech and also writes books and blogs for Apple Administrators – check out his weblogs, scriptingosx.com and macadmins.news.
Down the Rabbit Hole: How to set the Computer Name
Down the Rabbit Hole: How to set the Computer Name –
Using the example of a deceptively simple and seemingly straightforward task, this session will dive into the hidden, unforeseen, and often surprising implications.
We will consider the consequences for privacy and security and explore multiple approaches to automate the problem. We will evaluate their benefits and disadvantages and look at useful features in macOS and Jamf. Furthermore, we will experience how “ancient” computing history is influencing modern choices for deployment. We will follow this rabbit hole to the very end.
Product Manager
Microsoft
Speaker Bio
Ben is part of the Intune – Apple MDM product team where he focuses on their admin configuration experiences. Previously, he worked in the field as an Intune field engineer helping customers succeed with Intune.
He spends most of his time drinking too much coffee and being a free agent goalkeeper for local football (soccer) leagues.
Intune macOS Management. Why it's time for a second look
Intune macOS Management. Why it’s time for a second look – This session will focus on all of the latest and greatest features we have delivered for macOS management. If you haven’t tried out Intune macOS management, we will show you all of our great features and talk about how we are ready to manage all of your macOS devices. If you tried out Intune in the past, even as recently as 6 months ago, we are going to show you why you need to take another look.
Principal Software Engineer
Jamf
Speaker Bio
Ben Toms (aka macmule), has been in the Apple Admin space since before the iPhone. He’s spoken at a number of Apple Admin conferences globally and every macad.uk so far.
TCC, PPPC, PPPCP… OMGWTFBBQ!
TCC, PPPC, PPPCP… OMGWTFBBQ! – Since macOS Mojave Apple Admins have had to deal with the plethora of prompts generated by TCC. This talk will cover the history of TCC, what Apple Admins can do via PPPC, how to find the correct information to build out PPPCP’s and the delivery of these settings via their MDM. (And yes, the acronyms will be explained).
DevSecOps Manager
Jigsaw24
Speaker Bio
Bob is a technology evangelist focused on automation and delivering user-focused solutions. He believes automation can not only speed up work but provide a better experience for everyone involved; this has been borne out during his career in both small businesses and large enterprise environments.
Prior to Jigsaw24 Bob worked in the media industry delivering workplace solutions. He’s worked at Jigsaw24 for 2 years now heading up the DevSecOps team where he’s manager and architect, designing solutions, overseeing work carried out by other teams to ensure it is secure and helping to drive security at the heart of all that we do.
A firm believer in “The right tool for the right job” and if that tool doesn’t exist, we should make it; this has led to innovation in many areas and looking to deliver better products and services, both at work and in life!
Unlocking the Endpoint Security Framework
Unlocking the Endpoint Security Framework – Way back in macOS Catalina and developed on every macOS version since, Apple introduced the Endpoint Security Framework. But, why should you care? What does it do? HOW do you even see what its doing? Our talk dives into the API available for approved developers to answer these questions.
During our presentation we will present redacted to give the ability and insight into Endpoint Security Framework events. Help organisations and admins understand what’s going on, the type of data security developers can see and help take informed decisions. Oh, we forgot to mention it’ll be free for the Mac Admin community!
IT Support Analyst
City of Glasgow College
Speaker Bio
Cat has been working with the end user computing team in the City of Glasgow College for 8 years, with a specialty in macOS. She has been through various changes from the death of imaging to the retirement of macOS server. Previously she worked in Nursing, which while different taught her to believe in a more user friendly, user centric approach. She wishes to help other admins to try and find a way for users to be more in control and yet keep devices safe and up to date through use of promoting a more positive culture for both parties.
When it all goes wrong
When it all goes wrong – The talk will go through how to communicate effectively to clients the issues you’re facing. Using MDM to help a quick recovery. Educating users to prevent their own disasters and also useful tips to reduce the likelihood of major accidents in the future. This talk will go through a real life example that we went through and how we went through it mostly unscathed. Themes of the talk include business continuity, communication, scripting, and MDM usage.
DevSecOps Engineer
Jigsaw24
Speaker Bio
With over 20 years of experience in the Mac world, Craig is a seasoned DevSecOps engineer at Jigsaw24. Craig started his journey at Jigsaw24 10 years ago as a professional services engineer and Jamf Integrator, delivering high-quality Mac deployments and integrations for various clients. Craig later transitioned to a technical consultant role for managed services, where he provided expert guidance and support for customers’ IT needs. Now, as part of a DevSecOps team, Craig engineers innovative solutions for internal teams and customers, with a focus on automation, security, and efficiency. Craig is also passionate about leveraging the latest technologies and best practices to create value and solve problems.
Unlocking the Endpoint Security Framework
Unlocking the Endpoint Security Framework – Way back in macOS Catalina and developed on every macOS version since, Apple introduced the Endpoint Security Framework. But, why should you care? What does it do? HOW do you even see what its doing? Our talk dives into the API available for approved developers to answer these questions.
During our presentation we will present redacted to give the ability and insight into Endpoint Security Framework events. Help organisations and admins understand what’s going on, the type of data security developers can see and help take informed decisions. Oh, we forgot to mention it’ll be free for the Mac Admin community!
Solutions Architect - Wireless
Natilik
Speaker Bio
Apple Wi-Fi Guy, working at Natilik as a Solutions Architect for Wireless (Not just Wi-Fi). He’s helped troubleshoot and design some cool Wi-Fi networks, including Wimbledon, McLaren, Red Bull Racing, Williams F1 and the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
10 ways to ensure your Wi-Fi network won’t work
The certainties in life: Death, Taxes and macOS Updates! – No one needs Wi-Fi nowadays… Here’s how you can ensure it’s as bad as possible!
A collection of sarcastic ‘fixes’ for good Wi-Fi.
I hope no one can say, ‘Oh dear… that’s how our Wi-Fi is set up at the office…’ but I suspect there’ll be a few in there that most companies fall foul of. At least you’ll be able to laugh about it as you quickly fix the mistake before anyone watches this presentation back on YouTube!
Lead IT Systems Engineer
10x Banking
Speaker Bio
Darren Wallace (aka Daz) will speak at MacAD.UK in ’24 for the third time. Starting as a hardware tech on iBook G3s, Daz joined an MSP team and became a highly valued Technical Consultant. Following over 12 years as a Lead Consultant and Lead Systems Engineer for various MSPs designing complex customer technical solutions, he has turned his hand to an in-house IT role, working as a Lead IT Systems Engineer in the Fintech sector. Daz is also one of the London Apple Admin organisers, helping to run meet-ups through the year for Apple Administrators in and around London.
The certainties in life: Death, Taxes and macOS Updates!
The certainties in life: Death, Taxes and macOS Updates! – We’re now firmly into the yearly release cycle from Apple and with the onward march of frequent changes, MacAdmins still struggle with keeping pace. With these updates including important security fixes, there is an increased need from the business to get these out as quickly as possible. How can you roll out these updates and upgrades quickly, without losing confidence? How can you share the burden of testing with junior members of the team? Testing Plans!
Senior Systems Engineer
DQ Solutions
Speaker Bio
David is located in Chur, Switzerland working for 6 years at DQ Solutions. He started as a Mac and iOS Technician and is now member of their MDM Specialist team as a Senior System Engineer. They are mainly focused on Jamf Products but also have customers with other MDM solutions such as Filewave. They provide solutions for all kind of customers like schools, Higher Education, Health, Architecture and many more. David is a father of three wonderful kids and therefore engaged in different sport club activities.
DQ Automate
DQ Automate – As DQ Solutions support many customers with different MDM solutions and licence models (MSP, customer owned) they needed a tool which helps them monitor all the relevant topics such as licence use and Token expiration dates (APNS, ADE, VPP). They also use it as a repository for scripts and specialised applications that all the team members can easily access. To also provide the patch management of those apps they are deploying them via recipes (where possible) to always provide the latest version.
Senior Client Systems Engineer
Netflix
Speaker Bio
Elliot Jordan has secured and automated Mac management at a diverse range of companies up and down the U.S. West Coast. A frequent open source contributor and collaborator, Elliot is a member of the AutoPkg core maintainers, co-created Recipe Robot, and helped create and maintain the AutoPkgr app. He works on the Client Systems Engineering team at Netflix and lives in beautiful Washington State.
Escrow Buddy: A tool for escrowing missing FileVault recovery keys
Escrow Buddy: A tool for escrowing missing FileVault recovery keys – Escrow Buddy is an open-source tool for Mac IT and security administrators who escrow FileVault personal recovery keys to their MDM. For Macs that do not have a valid recovery key in escrow, Escrow Buddy securely and transparently generates a new key during the standard macOS login process and triggers its escrow. In this session, Elliot Jordan will cover the reasons FileVault recovery keys might be missing from your MDM, share context on the pitfalls of existing password-prompt workflows aimed at solving the problem, and explain why Escrow Buddy offers a more evolved and scalable solution for modern Mac admins.Using Netflix’s large fleet of managed Macs as a case study, you’ll learn how simple it can be to simultaneously fulfill the competing needs of information security and user convenience. We’ll dive into some technical aspects of how Escrow Buddy does its work, but rest assured that you don’t need to be a developer to simply deploy and reap the benefits in your own organisation.
TechOps Solutions Specialist
Monzo
Speaker Bio
Erik is a Solutions Specialist in the TechOps, looking after everything from Network and AV infrastructure in Monzo’s offices to device management, identity and automation. Having been at Monzo for 3 and a half years, Erik has helped scale Monzo from ~1500 to ~3500 staff and led various projects such as our record fast MDM migration. Erik started off his career working for a Kullander, a Manager Service Provider and Jamf Gold Partner in south Sweden. After completing a bachelor in computer engineering at Edinburgh Napier University, Erik joined Monzo in November 2020.
Zero Trust Access at Monzo
Zero Trust Access at Monzo – A story of how the TechOps and Security teams at Monzo worked together to bring a tailored Zero Trust Access solution to Monzo using a blend of In House, Vendor and Open Source software – bringing both improvements to Security, User Experience, but also reducing some of our largest support drivers. We’ll cover how we seamlessly rolled out the new experience, including onboarding new vendors, such as JAMF, building automated device enrolment flows and encouraged Monzonauts to solve Security and Technical issues themselves by using OSQuery. Not only bringing improvements to our Security posture, reducing support drivers such as VPN and Password resets, whilst further enhancing Monzo’s remote friendly culture.
Co-founder, Consultant
zentral.com
Speaker Bio
Henry is a platform engineer and former MSP from Hamburg, Germany, who co-founded Zentral in 2015. Zentral is an open-source platform that vertically integrates best-in-class macOS tools, streamlining configuration, hardening, patch management, inventory, change tracking, compliance, and app control into an event-driven system. This enhances transparency and accountability in IT.
Win back time and trust with a tight integration of MDM+IdP
Win back time and trust with a tight integration of MDM+IdP – Join us to explore the role of strong user-device association in device management. Discover how leveraging Apple platform management mechanisms and advanced automation capabilities will enable improved scoping and customization. This approach ensures overall more secure processes while proving that a device is managed and compliant. Our goal is to achieve faster setup, remediation and configuration scoping, driven by IdP associations. This is all based on the ability to synchronise IdP information with the device management platform.
Head of Neurodiversity Consulting and Cyber Research, Stott and May
Speaker Bio
Holly is an award winning, international speaker and thought leader in neurodiversity in cyber. Holly champions neuroinclusion within the cyber security industry, promoting best practice and furthering research in to understanding neurodiversity and the critical role it plays in cyber security. Holly started her career in defence and holds a first-class degree in Criminology and Cybercrime, she carved her career in specialising in neurodiversity and cyber. Holly supports organisations on how to understand neurodiversity through training and awareness and ultimately become more neuroinclusive. Holly also leads the Portsmouth Digital Drive Team in cyber, supporting the city and it’s schools in cybersecurity awareness and supporting students to understand digital citizenship.
Holly is currently researching how neurodiversity impacts cyber security and risk management with the outcome to support overall cyber security posture. Holly works tirelessly to ensure the inclusion of neurodivergent individuals in cyber, promoting the importance of mental wellbeing and reducing burnout.
Embracing Neurodiversity: Building an Inclusive Future in the Technology Industry
Embracing Neurodiversity: Building an Inclusive Future in the Technology Industry – In today’s rapidly evolving technology landscape, fostering diversity and inclusion is not just a moral imperative but also a strategic advantage. As the industry continues to innovate and push boundaries, it becomes increasingly evident that diverse perspectives are essential for driving creativity, innovation, and problem-solving. However, one aspect of diversity that often goes overlooked is neurodiversity.
Neurodiversity encompasses the natural variation in the human brain, including individuals with conditions such as autism, ADHD, dyslexia, and other neurological differences. While traditionally marginalised in the workplace, neurodiverse individuals possess unique talents and perspectives that can greatly benefit the technology industry.
This presentation aims to shed light on the untapped potential of this often overlooked talent pool. By exploring the strengths and challenges of neurodivergent individuals, we aim to debunk myths and misconceptions surrounding their capabilities.
Chief Product Officer - Intune
Microsoft
Speaker Bio
Peter is the Chief Product Officer for Intune, where he helps set their product strategy and direction for Intune. He has 10+ years in the device management space starting with the introduction of mobile devices. In his free time you’ll find him chasing his 5 year and 8 year old sons across one sports field or another.
Intune macOS Management. Why it's time for a second look
Intune macOS Management. Why it’s time for a second look – This session will focus on all of the latest and greatest features we have delivered for macOS management. If you haven’t tried out Intune macOS management, we will show you all of our great features and talk about how we are ready to manage all of your macOS devices. If you tried out Intune in the past, even as recently as 6 months ago, we are going to show you why you need to take another look.
Senior Software
Engineer
Speaker Bio
Jeffery Abbott is the creator of Xavier, an open source full stack application that complements MicroMDM and/or NanoMDM to create a complete device management solution. He was the founder and CEO of Cerebra, which was a small startup that built an MDM SaaS application. Xavier is a light-weight extension of the defunct Cerebra project.
Jeff has experience building internal IT tools to manage large fleets of macOS and iOS devices. He was the Sr. Client Platform Engineer at Nutanix where he utilised several open source applications to manage approximately 6,000 devices. He was also a client platform engineer at Robinhood where he replaced a commercial MDM solution with a combination of open source software and his own internal applications.
Open source MDM gets gooey
Open source MDM gets gooey – Open source MDM gets gooey (or GUI to be precise). This talk will demonstrate Xavier, an open source full stack application that complements MicroMDM and/or NanoMDM to create a complete device management solution. We will go over initial setup and a tour of how to use Xavier to manage Macs, iPads and iPhones. Topics covered include configuration profile installation, application installation, and an overview of techniques to visualise the current state of your endpoint fleet.
Senior Backend Engineer
Monzo
Speaker Bio
Liam is a Senior Backend Engineer and Tech Lead of Monzo’s Staff Security & Detection squad. Since joining Monzo in 2017, Liam has worked on a number of projects to both scale the company from less than 100 people, improve access to Monzo systems, levelling up Monzo’s Endpoint Security using open source tooling such as OSQuery and Google Santa as well as advocating for a Zero Trust architecture across the organisation.
Zero Trust Access at Monzo
Zero Trust Access at Monzo – A story of how the TechOps and Security teams at Monzo worked together to bring a tailored Zero Trust Access solution to Monzo using a blend of In House, Vendor and Open Source software – bringing both improvements to Security, User Experience, but also reducing some of our largest support drivers. We’ll cover how we seamlessly rolled out the new experience, including onboarding new vendors, such as JAMF, building automated device enrolment flows and encouraged Monzonauts to solve Security and Technical issues themselves by using OSQuery. Not only bringing improvements to our Security posture, reducing support drivers such as VPN and Password resets, whilst further enhancing Monzo’s remote friendly culture.
Intune Business Group Sr. Manager
Microsoft
Speaker Bio
Lior is the the Microsoft Intune Core Business Group Owner and has been with Microsoft for ~7 years with prior management consulting experience. He spends his free time at his micro brewery making beer.
Intune macOS Management. Why it's time for a second look
Intune macOS Management. Why it’s time for a second look – This session will focus on all of the latest and greatest features we have delivered for macOS management. If you haven’t tried out Intune macOS management, we will show you all of our great features and talk about how we are ready to manage all of your macOS devices. If you tried out Intune in the past, even as recently as 6 months ago, we are going to show you why you need to take another look.
Accessibility Consultant
Nexer Digital
Speaker Bio
Molly is a deafblind speaker and accessibility consultant who aims to raise awareness of a variety of access needs. She uses her own experiences to help designers, developers, and many other roles to understand the importance of inclusion.
As someone passionate about user-centred design, combatting stereotypes and getting organisations to better understand the variety of users help them create better services, better end user experiences and in turn – invite more users to use/ attend/ join an experience, environment, a job or a service.
Her experiences as someone who uses assistive technology also help attendees understand the complexities, however how simple it can be to help cater to a variety of needs. Molly is not asking for experts, but for people to listen and to in turn build better experiences for everybody.
Whether web design, recruiting, building an environment, or delivering a service – all organisations have an obligation to consider inclusion in their day to day. The more inclusive, the more accessible, the more users, the better. Why not be the next to set an example?
How to Develop and Design Inclusively
How to Develop and Design Inclusively – Usher Syndrome is a progressive condition and to date there is no cure. It not only affects hearing and sight but also causes considerable difficulty with mobility and communication.
Molly will begin this session by talking openly about her progression with Usher Syndrome and share her views and experiences on how technology can be better designed and configured to enhance life for everyone and not just those with Usher Syndrome. Although this is a specific condition, at some point in our lives we might all suffer from an impairment that will limit our abilities to interact with the world around us. This could be temporary or longer-term but as we grow older we are all likely to go through changes that will affect our sight, our hearing, and our overall mobility.
We also need to consider the impact that poorly designed digital products and services can have on people’s confidence and independence. Rather than see it as a test before product release, accessibility should be built into your design and development approach from the start.
Molly will guide you through the various challenges and obstacles that commonly prevent users from engaging with digital services and show you some easy to implement accessibility principles that will help you ensure you are providing the best possible experience for the widest range of abilities. Through focusing on how to design for people with specific visual, auditory, cognitive and mobility needs, after this session you will have a better appreciation of how you and your team can deliver fully inclusive solutions.
Global IT Systems Administrator
Cloudfare Inc.
Speaker Bio
Naya has been configuring, managing and scaling up Cloudflare’s Apple fleet for the last 5 1/2 years. Before that, she worked in Media and Publishing, and helped editors publish the most important story. Happiness is, not have to push changes on a Friday.
Security at Cloudflare
Security at Cloudflare – In this session Naya will cover implementation of security controls on Macs and other easily implementable security measures to make the fleet more robust.
Principal Product Manager
Microsoft
Speaker Bio
Neil is part of the Intune CXE team focused on macOS. He has been part of the furniture at Microsoft since 2006 and a member of the Intune team since 2016.
In his spare time you can usually find him photographing live music or fast jets with my trusty MacBook Pro tucked in his bag.
Intune macOS Management. Why it's time for a second look
Intune macOS Management. Why it’s time for a second look – This session will focus on all of the latest and greatest features we have delivered for macOS management. If you haven’t tried out Intune macOS management, we will show you all of our great features and talk about how we are ready to manage all of your macOS devices. If you tried out Intune in the past, even as recently as 6 months ago, we are going to show you why you need to take another look.
Founder & Managing Director
C&R
Speaker Bio
Raymond Wong is the founder and managing director of C&R Wise AI Limited. An ardent software developer at heart, Mr. Wong masterfully steers his team towards developing cutting-edge software solutions, tackling complex business problems head-on. His insightful perspective on AI-based computer vision utilizing Apple hardware has made him a sought-after speaker in numerous industry forums. Adding to his impressive credentials, Mr. Wong is a holder of an Executive Certificate in Artificial Intelligence from the MIT Sloan School of Management. He also possesses a Master of Philosophy Degree in Computer Science, along with a Bachelor of Engineering Degree (First Class Honors) in Computer Engineering, both from the University of Hong Kong. Through his extensive expertise and progressive approach, Raymond Wong continues to spearhead innovation and inspire future generations in the world of technology and artificial intelligence.
Private Generative AI LLM: Use Cases, Performance, and Manageability on Mac Devices
Private Generative AI LLM: Use Cases, Performance, and Manageability on Mac Devices – In this enlightening presentation titled “Private Generative AI LLM: Use Cases, Performance, and Manageability on Mac Devices”, attendees will be introduced to the fascinating world of Private Generative AI LLMs. The talk focuses on their implementation within schools and enterprises, highlighting how organizations can effectively manage their own LLMs with an emphasis on high reliability, safety, and confidentiality. This presentation will delve into the intricacies of using the latest Apple Silicon for running these systems, illustrating its remarkable capabilities and benefits. In addition, it will discuss practical strategies for managing these systems at scale, providing invaluable insights for those interested in leveraging this technology for their own establishments. Given the rising interest in AI technology and its applications, this presentation is poised to be of immense value to professionals and enthusiasts alike in this field. It promises to not only expand their understanding of the subject but also provide them with actionable insights to harness the full potential of Private Generative AI LLMs in their own domains.
Mac Wrangler
Thoughtworks
Speaker Bio
Steve Quirke has been wrangling Macs professionally since 2004, when he joined Imperial College in London as a second line support Tech. For the last decade he’s been driving the direction of Mac technology at global technology consultancy Thoughtworks.
Outside of work, he loves nothing better than a big European road trip in a tiny, slow and elderly French car.
He lives in the unfashionable bit of East London with his wife, son, cat and far more broken cars and motorcycles than he knows what to do with.
2023: A Patch Odyssey
2023: A Patch Odyssey – Back in 2018, I came to talk to MacAD.UK in London about bringing device management to a company that really didn’t want to be managed.
In 2024, we bring you the story of bringing operating system patch management to the same company…
…a tale of graphs, science, broken promises, more graphs and eventual win.
Including 80% of devices on Sonoma within a couple of months of release…
(Caution, may contain traces of Nudge….)
Director of Product Management
JumpCloud
Speaker Bio
Tom Bridge is the Director of Product Management for Devices at JumpCloud. He has spent 25 years in Apple-facing IT, and has the DNS-based scars to prove it. He is the Co-Chair of the Mac Admins Foundation, and the Producer of the Mac Admins Podcast. He lives in Washington, DC with his family.
Federation for Managed Apple IDs
Federation for Managed Apple IDs –Managed Apple IDs have gotten a major upgrade in the last year, and now it’s more important than ever to have a plan for managing Apple IDs at work. From Federation to your Identity Provider, to a Capability Review, to the future of this key technology, this talk will help de-mystify Managed Apple IDs.
SVP, Community
Kandji
Speaker Bio
Weldon Dodd started his career running the Mac lab and the NeXT lab at the University of California Santa Barbara, and then spent time in KPMG’s telecom vertical where he led the product management practice and developed the partnerships with Cisco on directory-enabled networks, and Microsoft on Active Directory integration. After a break from IT to teach high school and coach a Colorado state champion soccer program, Weldon spent 10 years in professional services automating large Apple deployments and running the Apple Training Center in Colorado. Weldon joined Kandji in 2020 where he built the sales engineering and solutions engineering teams, and now leads the product management team.