Meet the Second Round of Into the Box 2026 Speakers
Every conference is more than just what happens on stage; it’s also about the people working behind the scenes to bring it all together.
Following the excitement of our initial lineup, we are thrilled to spotlight the second round of speakers joining the Into the Box 2026 experience! From longtime community contributors to hands-on practitioners and members of the Ortus team, this group brings decades of practical expertise in CFML, BoxLang, JVM modernization, testing, AI, and cloud-native development.
In this series, you’ll discover the stories behind the sessions, who these speakers are, what drives them, and what they’ll be presenting in Washington, DC.
Let’s dive in and meet our second round of speakers.
George Murphy - Software Design Engineer at SERCO
Senior web application developer and project manager with strong leadership and solutions design experience, successfully delivering enterprise projects on time. Skilled in managing teams and full project lifecycles, from design to implementation, with expertise in both front-end and back-office systems.
Jon Clausen - Senior Developer AT ORTUS SOLUTIONS
Jon is a Michigan-based Senior Software Developer at Ortus with nearly 20 years of experience in CFML and full-stack development. After founding his own consulting firm in 2004, he joined Ortus full-time in 2018 and works across multiple languages and databases, with a strong interest in Elasticsearch, the ELK stack, and containerization. Outside of tech, he enjoys theatre, fishing on the Great Lakes, and being a proud “horse show Dad.”
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Eric Peterson - Senior Developer at Ortus Solution
Eric Peterson (@_elpete) is a CFML and javascript developer at Ortus Solutions (ColdBox, CommandBox, etc.). He is a prolific module developer and the creator of projects like QB, Quick, and ColdBox Elixir. In his spare time, he enjoys spending time with his family, playing geeky card and board games, and participating in theatre.
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Curt Gratz - System Architect / Co-Owner, Computer Know How
Curt is the Co-Owner of Computer Know How, a Wisconsin-based technology firm. He has worked with technology systems since 1997 in software development, architecture, and system design. He’s also a husband, father of three, coach, and system architect by day.
Brad Wood - Senior Developer, Ortus Solutions
Brad has been programming ColdFusion since around 2002 and has used nearly every version since 4.5. He lives in Kansas City with his wife and three daughters, enjoys international food, and loves the outdoors. Brad first fell in love with CFML as a way to easily connect databases to websites and build dynamic applications.
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Guust Nieuwenhuis - Senior Managing Partner We Are North
Guust Nieuwenhuis is a Full Stack developer and Lead Maintainer of Masa CMS, known for building modern, high-performance web solutions through his agency, We Are North. He combines technical precision with creativity, bringing a unique perspective to web architecture and development.
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Uma Ghotikar - Principal Software Application Engineer
Uma Ghotikar is a Principal Engineer at ICF, Virginia, with 15+ years of experience in secure, scalable IT solutions. She transitioned from CFML developer to Solutions Architect and DevSecOps Engineer, specializing in AWS, cloud-native architectures, CI/CD, and infrastructure as code. A 4x AWS Certified and HashiCorp Certified professional, she also speaks at international conferences and enjoys photography and nature.
Annette Liskey - Web Developer AT UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA
Annette began using ColdFusion when working for a startup company in the early 2000s. Since then, her career path has integrated business, technology and education. Her current role merges her rekindled ColdFusion skills with project management and business process analysis in support of research compliance at the University of Virginia.
Jaime Ramirez - Senior Developer, Ortus Solutions
Jaime is a Computer Engineer from Sonsonate, El Salvador, specializing in Vue.js, Quasar, TypeScript, CFML, ColdBox, and ContentBox. He is passionate about building reliable, modern web applications.
Luis Majano - CEO at Ortus Solutions
Luis is a Computer Engineer, author, and creator of ColdBox and BoxLang. He has been building software since 2000 and is a long-time leader in the CFML and JVM communities.
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Jacob Beers - Senior Software Development at Ortus Solutions
Jacob is a Senior Developer at Ortus Solutions with 10 years of programming experience. His background includes 3D animation, game design, fine art, special education, and running a survival swim school, giving him a unique and pragmatic perspective on software development.
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Did You Miss Round 1?
We’ve already announced an incredible lineup of speakers and sessions in our first wave! If you haven't caught up on our initial announcements yet, make sure to read all about them here:
What’s Next?
With our second round of speakers and sessions officially announced, the agenda is really taking shape. But we aren't done yet—more announcements, additional workshops, and hands-on training details are coming soon!
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