Helena Meyer, Software Engineer, Toitware
Helena is a Computer Science graduate from Aarhus University in 2005 and has been working as a software developer and architect at four different IT-companies in Aarhus. She enjoys working with science and technology in general, the creativity in software development, design and architecture, learning new programming languages – but also mentoring girls and women in IT, blogging, attending IT conferences and local meet-up groups in Aarhus. She has previously worked with distributed software in Radar systems, applied cryptography, Android app development and software development for the health care domain. Now, she works with Toitware – a local tech startup where she contributes to building a new programming language and a software platform for small, connected devices.
“It is a great opportunity for the students to participate in The Orbies; to inspire others and be inspired and to present their creative work. I really look forward to being part of The Orbies Panel of Judges as well as to meet and talk to the contestants about technology, possible project outcomes and interesting use cases for their ideas.”
Janne Jul Jensen, Lead UX Designer, Elsevier
Janne specialises in usability and interaction design, and applies her expertise primarily to the Pure system, an administrative system for major research institutions. She is a frequent speaker on UX at international software conferences. For more than a decade, she has worked in academia and the software industry as an expert in all things UX – including three years with LEGO on improving their enterprise systems, and five years with Trifork where she designed apps for leading Danish companies, such as Bilka, DSB, and Danske Bank. She earned her Ph.D. degree in 2009 and an M.Sc. in Software Engineering in 2003 – both from Aalborg University.
“My delight in being on the Panel of Judges for the Orbies is threefold: I am thrilled to be able to shine a light on the importance of UX in all aspects of development, early in the participants’ careers. I am also happy to portray a woman in tech in an attempt to inspire young women to believe that they too can have a place in tech if they want it. And finally, I am glad that I get to represent my employer and their important conquest to empower knowledge in a world that has run rampant with fake news.”
Louise Overgaard, Head of IWDK, Chair Coding Pirates
The core of Louise’s job is the inclusion and democratization of digital and technological development. Everybody needs a larger understanding of the impact, challenges and possibilities of tech. People need the right skills to develop tech, develop businesses in a digital age, but people also need to reflect upon the ethical perspectives and the societal changes. Both when planning the digital festival IWDK and when engaging in Coding Pirates, Louise’s focus is to support learning, reflection and dialogue and to have a human-centered approach to tech. At the same time, her focus is also to connect people, knowledge, interests and materials because it creates stronger groundings for a solid and responsible technological development.
“Tinkering and experimenting are vital. it is important, fun, serious, playful – and essential for learning and innovation. I am honored to be a part of the Panel of Judges at The Orbies and I am looking very much forward to seeing all the students’ ideas and solutions – whoopee!”
Stefan Veis Pennerup, ML & Google Cloud Tech Lead, Trifork
Stefan is a Mechatronics Engineer who has developed his career around software development and deep learning. Known for his ability to introduce Machine Learning in a relatable and fun way to customers and tech enthusiasts alike, Stefan now has a great talk and a long list of digestible ML cases to share.
Having collected considerable cultural experiences from living in South America, Asia and Europe, Stefan has developed a habit of using Brazilian flip-flops during presentations and carries with him a hypothesis that Machine Learning and flip-flops are related – although correlation does not automatically imply causation.
“I’m super excited to see the range of different paths and approaches the students have taken with their projects and innovative applications. I look forward to sharing a bit of my experience and hopefully inspire them to experiment with machine learning on their own.”
Thomas Braad Perret-Gentil, Enterprise Business Unit Technical Leader, IBM
Thomas has been with IBM for almost 15 years, holding a number of different positions. Throughout the years, technology, product development, people and making the world a better place have been at the core for Thomas. As a certified IT Architect, he works with the full stack of solutions. All the way from storage, computing and network to user experience. He has strong opinions about architectural patterns and works intensively with bridging the complexity of legacy systems to more standardized cloud environments.
“The next generation of young talents hang around in the thriving environment in ORBIT Lab. Being an engineering alumnus myself, I would have loved to have access to something like the ORBIT Lab while I was studying. I’m honored to be on the Panel of Judges at The Orbies, and I look forward to seeing the innovative projects of 2019 and help the teams further to build solutions that are both technically and commercially viable.”
Tommy Dejbjerg, Developer Evangelist, Tradeshift
Tommy has worked many years as a coder and has enjoyed being a member of a wide variety of projects and using a bunch of different technologies. He has grown a huge interest in the culture side of tech. Always exploring how to make people work well together, and how to employ new ways of working in the digital world. He is a firm believer in serendipity and keeping an open mind about life.
“I just love the scent of new ideas and the great energy that a good project group or startup team has. ORBIT Lab is a great initiative run by an awesome group of people, and I am very thrilled to be part of The Orbies jury this year.”