Joe Houghes is a co-leader of the Denver VMware & PowerShell User Groups and is currently a Senior Solutions Architect with Pure Storage. He focuses on automating us out of our IT operations while freeing us to perform higher-level tasks.

Joe has been the #1 speaker internationally for VMUG from 2020 to 2023 for both virtual and in-person events. He works to encourage the next community speaker(s) to take his place and is always helping get them started.

Joe believes automation should be a focus for admins & engineers, although it requires in-depth thinking beyond performing a task once. Even though it is not always someone's default method, the result is repeatable and consistent.

Joe tries to help others understand why we should do the easy tasks better, and he challenges everyone to push themselves outside of their comfort zone and learn more about any topic of interest.

He's a collector of communities as a leader for 2 User Groups, Microsoft MVP, vExpert Pro, Cisco Champion, Veeam Vanguard, Tanzu Vanguard, plus he helps host vBrownBag. He tells people not to let fear keep them from sharing their knowledge with others and teaching from their unique perspective.

You can spot him by the bright hat, big grin, and the loud "Howdy Y'all."