Community

Kong Champions

Community is the DNA of Kong. As we continue to grow, we are committed to fostering a strong community and creating opportunities for our customers and all Kong users to interact, to learn, and to share their expertise. Kong is driven by our community, and we are devoted to helping our customers to learn, grow, and be successful.

The Kong Champions program is our way of acknowledging and celebrating customers for being our, well, champions! From special opportunities to share your expertise, to early product access – not to mention the exclusive swag – there’s a ton to be gained by joining the inner circle of Champions.

Kong Champions

Who are our champions?

Our Champions are our top advocates who play a key role in engaging and growing Kong’s global presence. They share their expertise and passion through forum discussions, blogs, video testimonials, webinars, or speaking at events. They are the core foundation of our community.

We have Champions all around the world, representing customers of all sizes and stages, as well as representatives of our open source user community and our partner ecosystem.

Why become a champion?

  • Professional Development: Show off your expertise and build your brand through created content, webinars & user calls, and speaking opportunities, like at our API Summit.

  • First Look: Get early access to new product features and be the first to share your feedback. You’ll have the chance to shape the future of our Kong products.

  • Connect with Peers: Meet your fellow Kong enthusiasts from around the world to share your wins (and problem-solve your challenges). Attend exclusive Kong Champion-only events curated specifically for this group. 

And yes, there will also be extra-special swag!

What are the expectations?

As a Champion, you’ll tell us about your interests, goals, and your specific areas of expertise. We’ll share opportunities for ways you can contribute, as well as the rewards and swag that you can earn through these contributions. We ask all of our Champions to be active in our community and participate in at least 1 activity per quarter. Here are some examples of ways you can contribute:

  • Showcase your achievements through a technical blog post or co-hosted webinar/user call
  • Influence the future of Kong through product feedback or writing a review
  • Speak at an event (like API Summit by Kong) – or host a Meetup or other event
  • Record a video about your use of Kong, participate in a customer success story, or be featured in media/press
  • Have a confidential conversation with an analyst or a future Kong customer
  • What are the perks?

    As part of the Champions program, we offer a wide range of perks. Some of these include:

    • Access to a private, Champions-only group

    • Direct links to our Product and Engineering teams to provide feedback

    • Recognition for your expertise in the broader market

    • Connection with other Kong users and industry leaders

    • The opportunity to shape the future of Kong and our products

    • Access to exclusive, Champions-only events

    • The ability to earn exclusive swag

    Apply to Become a Kong Champion

    Want to join our global network of passionate Kong users? Apply to become a Kong Champion today.

    Our review committee evaluates applications on a monthly basis.

    Kong Champions

    Stuti

    Technical Architect, Cognizant

    Kong Champion - Mert Akemlek

    Mert Akemlek

    Senior Consultant , adesso SE

    Kong Champion - Nagashree Balasundaram

    Nagashree Balasundaram

    Principal Architect , LPL Financial

    Stephani Bazata

    Founder and Principal, Bazata Tech LLC

    Vincent Behar

    Senior Engineer, Ubisoft

    Sven Bernhardt Chief Architect OPITZ CONSULTING

    Sven Bernhardt

    Chief Integration Evangelist / Chief Architect, OPITZ CONSULTING Deutschland GmbH

    Benjamin Bertow

    Senior Technical Lead, Mercedes-Benz Tech Innovation

    Kong Champion - Aniket Bhat

    Aniket Bhat

    Manager, Blue Altair

    Nitya Bourdel

    Tech Lead, API Management

    Kong Champion 2022

    Samuele Chiocca

    Senior Solutions Engineer, SIGHUP

    Frederico Dionisio

    Senior Integration Consultant, Link Consulting

    Ervis Duraj

    Principal Software Engineer, MMS Technology

    Kong Champion - Jason Ehmke

    Jason Ehmke

    CTO, DevGrid

    João Esperancinha

    João Esperancinha

    Software Engineer, Vereniging COIN

    Alvin Estrada

    Enterprise Solutions Architect, Walmart

    André Fernandes

    Founder & Chief Product Officer, Vertigo Tecnologia

    Kong Champion - Anderson Gama

    Anderson Gama

    SRE, Gama Technology

    Sachin Ghumbre

    Technical Architect , Cognizant

    Kong Champion - Derric Gilling

    Derric Gilling

    CEO, Moesif

    Vinita Gulati Dargan

    Head, API and Microservices, Tata Consultancy Services

    Fabian Hardt

    Fabian Hardt

    Senior Consultant, OPITZ CONSULTING Deutschland GmbH

    João Henriques

    Technical Leader, Link Consulting

    Patrick Huck

    Senior Computer Systems Engineer, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL)

    Kong Champion -Daksh Jain

    Daksh Jain

    Senior SRE, Zscaler

    Akshay Jha

    CTO, Appdate

    Pavan Keshavamurthy

    Founder & CTO, Platformatory

    Andrew Kew Director QuadCorps Ltd

    Andrew Kew

    CTO / Head of Platform, QuadCorps Ltd

    Soumil Khandelwal

    DevOps Engineer, Zepto

    Kong Champion - Shishir Khandelwal

    Shishir Khandelwal

    DevOps Engineer, PhysicsWallah

    Raweed Khatri

    Enterprise Technical Architect, Accenture

    Martin Kölbel

    Principal Solutions Architect, Mercedes-Benz Group AG

    Pablo

    Pablo Loschi

    Principal Systems Engineer, Verve

    Denis Magda

    Director Developer Relations, Yugabyte

    Kong Champion -Musalannagari Manoj Kumar

    Musalannagari Manoj Kumar

    DevOps Lead, MakoITLab

    Daniel Matos

    DevOps Engineer , Siemens

    Saurabh Mishra

    DevOps Lead , Global Payments

    Kong Champion - Sangameshwar Mokampalle

    Sangameshwar Mokampalle

    Analyst, Blue Altair

    Guilherme Oliveira

    Site Reliability Engineering L5, PicPay

    Amrutha Paladugu

    Kong API Engineer, Kenvue Inc

    Deepanshu Pandey

    Associate Staff Engineer, Nagarro

    Kong Champion - Akshay Pandey

    Akshay Pandey

    Senior Associate , Cognizant

    Kong Champion - Ketaki Pandit

    Ketaki Pandit

    Senior Consultant , Blue Altair

    Ludovic Pourrat

    Ludovic Pourrat

    API Architect & API Catalyst

    Gautham R V

    Senior Associate , Cognizant

    Raja Ravi Varman

    Engineering Manager, CloudBees

    Siddharth Saikumar

    Cloud Security Engineering, Vanguard

    Kong Champion - Vishwasrao Salunkhe

    Vishwasrao Salunkhe

    Senior Product Software Engineer, Wolters Kluwer

    Ayush Senapati

    Ayush Senapati

    Software Engineer, Maersk

    Aakash Sengupta

    Senior API Developer , IDFC FIRST BANK

    Kong Champ

    Mert Simsek

    Senior Software Engineer, Beyn Tech

    Kong Champion - Gursimar Singh

    Gursimar Singh

    Consultant, Independent

    Aleksandr Skubi

    IT Architect, Enefit

    Alexander Suchier

    Senior Managing Technical Consultant, NTT DATA Deutschland

    Ragunath Sudalaimuthu

    Senior Digital Engineer, CVSHealth

    Kong Champion - Akhil Sukhnani

    Akhil Sukhnani

    Platform Engineer , Netskope

    Madan Thangavelu

    Sr.Director of Engineering, Uber

    Avinash Upadhyaya

    Senior Consultant, Platformatory

    John Williams S P

    Technology Architect, Accenture

    Adam Zareba

    Senior Software Engineer, Raiffeisen Bank International AG