Keep Moving Forward

Anand Thaker is managing vice president of engineering at Gartner’s Peer Programs, where he draws on his experience as a founder and product builder to lead with clarity, momentum, and a deep understanding of what makes communities thrive.

In this episode of Keep Moving Forward, Anand shares the behind-the-scenes story of launching Pulse, a digital peer network for IT executives. He details how to fundraise without connections, how Y Combinator shaped his leadership, and why doing unscalable work is often the key to growth.

This conversation is essential listening for anyone navigating early-stage leadership, community building, or the fast-moving shift toward AI-enabled development.

Amanda Stapleton leads systems engineering for mission systems at Northrop Grumman, where innovation must meet the highest standards of safety, clarity, and trust.

In this episode of Keep Moving Forward, Amanda shares how she navigates complexity at scale—from guiding digital transformation to building alignment across global teams. She discusses what it takes to lead in a high-stakes environment, why writing things down matters more than ever, and how engineering leaders can create space for experimentation even when failure isn’t an option.

This conversation is a must-listen for anyone working at the intersection of technology, systems thinking, and leadership.

Subbu Allamaraju, Vice President of Engineering at Bill.com, joins Keep Moving Forward to share how decades of experience at companies like Yahoo, eBay, and Expedia have shaped his leadership philosophy. Subbu discusses his evolution from individual contributor to people-focused leader, why building influence matters more than authority, and how he approaches communication and mentorship in a remote-first world. He also explains his idea of “manufacturing willingness,” and why the most successful engineering leaders focus on trust, clarity, and shared purpose to drive positive change across teams.

Nir Orman, Director of E-commerce Engineering at Wix, joins Keep Moving Forward to share how she built her career by stepping into leadership before it was offered. In this episode, Nir talks about what she learned from the military, how she cultivates engineering culture in distributed teams, and why the best leaders focus on action, not approval. She also discusses hard calls around tech debt, mentoring through global conflict, and her approach to continuous learning at scale.

How do you lead with empathy while building systems designed for the cutting edge of the internet? In this episode, we sit down with Miros Milenkovic, Project Manager at Privado ID, to explore how his journey through front-end development, remote team leadership, and decentralized identity has shaped a uniquely human approach to engineering culture.

Miros shares hard-earned lessons from aligning values-driven teams, navigating cultural differences, and designing collaborative processes during moments of massive change. He reflects on the importance of listening to both what is said and what is left unsaid, and why understanding bias, behavior, and happiness is essential for leaders shaping the future of Web3.

How do you effectively scale global tech teams while navigating cross-cultural complexities and fast-moving AI innovations? In this episode, we talk to Marin Sarbulescu, Senior Vice President of Technology at CJ, about his journey from building websites in Romania to leading high-impact, international engineering organizations.

Marin shares why relationship-building matters more than talent alone, how transparency helps developers become strategic architects, and what generative AI means for the future of software engineering.

What does it take to lead innovative engineering teams in a rapidly evolving AI landscape? In this episode, we talk to Shobana Radhakrishnan, Senior Director of Engineering at Google TV, about her journey across startups and tech giants, her people-first leadership philosophy and how her team is using AI to transform the television experience. Shobana shares how hiring for passion and purpose, empowering teams through autonomy and staying close to the user can lead to more impactful, scalable products. She also discusses the role of continuous learning, the future of AI in entertainment and why democratizing access to knowledge is key to long-term innovation.

Startups don’t grow in a straight line. Travis Kupsche joined AssemblyAI when its teams were small and flexible. Now, he’s navigating the challenges of scaling while keeping knowledge flowing and silos from forming.

In this episode of Keep Moving Forward, Travis breaks down the biggest challenges of rapid scaling, from maintaining alignment across teams to balancing autonomy and structure in decision-making.

Listen in as Travis shares insights on how AssemblyAI approaches team collaboration, hiring, and engineering culture in an AI-driven world—and what tech leaders need to prioritize as AI reshapes the future of work.

What makes a great engineering leader? It’s not just technical skills—it’s accountability, adaptability, and the ability to connect with your team in a way that fosters ownership and long-term success.

In this episode of Keep Moving Forward, Gregg Altschul, VP of Engineering at FanDuel, explores what it takes to lead a high-performance engineering organization. With years of experience across startups, fintech, and gaming, Gregg has seen firsthand how rapid scaling can strain teams, how hiring ramps can backfire without the right structure, and why fostering ownership at scale requires more than just good intentions.

What does it take to build a culture of reliability at scale? In this episode of Keep Moving Forward, Netflix Staff Site Reliability Engineer Molly Struve joins host Caleb Brown to break down how psychological safety, collaboration, and trust fuel system resilience. Molly shares how embracing failure as a learning tool leads to stronger, more reliable systems, why data alone doesn’t drive change, and how democratizing incident management transformed Netflix’s engineering culture. If you're an engineer or tech leader looking to make reliability a core part of your team’s DNA, you don’t want to miss this conversation.