Dirk is VMware's Chief Open Source Officer, leading the company's Open Source Program Office, directing the efforts and strategy around use of and contribution to open source projects and driving common values and processes across the company for VMware's interaction with the open source communities. Before joining VMware, Dirk spent almost 15 years as Intel's Chief Linux and Open Source Technologist. Before that, he worked as Chief Technology Officer of SuSE and Unix Architect of Deutsche Bank. Dirk has been an active developer and contributor to several dozen open source projects since the early 1990s. He currently is a member of the Board of the Linux Foundation. Dirk holds a degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from the University of Würzburg, Germany and lives in Portland, Oregon.