10 Years of OpenStack – Gary Kevorkian at Cisco

Storytelling is one of the most powerful means to influence, teach, and inspire the people around us. To celebrate OpenStack’s 10th anniversary, we are spotlighting stories from the individuals in various roles from the community who have helped to make OpenStack and the global Open Infrastructure community successful. 

Here, we’re talking to Gary Kevorkian from Cisco. He tells the community about how he got started with OpenStack and his favorite memory from the last 10 years of OpenStack.

How did you get started working with OpenStack and what are you doing now?

My introduction to OpenStack came when I joined Metacloud in 2013 as an event manager, planning for the Summit in Hong Kong (HK). When I got there, I didn’t know a single person outside of my own team. By the time I left HK, I already started to feel like a part of the family. Since then, I’ve been to 12 more Summits, the most recent having taken place in Shanghai this past November. I’ve been fortunate to travel the world with the OpenStack (and FNtech) team and now can’t imagine life without them.

What is your favorite memory from the last 10 years of OpenStack?

Where do I even begin? The Metacloud party in Paris, the OpenStack party on Rainy Street, speaking on panels, receiving the Community Contributor award in Sydney, and meeting all the amazing people who make up the OpenStack community, just to name a few.

How did you contribute to the OpenStack community?

I’ve been part of Summit programming committees 4 times, spoken at Summits 5 times, and ran the OpenStack Los Angeles user group for 4 years.

What advice do you have for the Stacker community and other growing open source communities based on your experience with OpenStack?

Just dive in…the water’s fine!

If I were to ask you in 2030, what do you think the OpenStack update will be?

Skynet now runs on OpenStack.

Get Involved

If you’re interested in being featured to tell your stories about OpenStack, please email [email protected].

Follow the #10YearsofOpenStack hashtag on Twitter and Facebook and share your favorite memories of OpenStack with us!

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