About the Author

David Chappell is Principal of Chappell & Associates in San Francisco, California. Through his speaking, writing, and consulting he helps information technology professionals around the world understand, use, and make better decisions about enterprise software.

David has been the keynote speaker for dozens of events and conferences in the U.S., Europe, Asia, and Latin America. His popular seminars have been attended by tens of thousands of developers, architects, and decision makers in 40 countries. He has also spoken at many universities, including the National University of Singapore, Moscow State University, and Sweden's Uppsala University.

David's books on enterprise software technologies have been published in ten languages and used in courses at MIT, ETH Zurich, and other educational institutions. He has been a columnist for several publications, and more than 100 of his articles have appeared in print. In his consulting practice, David has helped Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Microsoft, Stanford University, Target Corporation, and others adopt new technologies, create business plans, market new products, and train their sales staffs.

David's comments have appeared in the New York Times, on CNN.com, and in many other publications. Earlier in his career, David wrote networking software for supercomputers, chaired a U.S. national standardization group, and played keyboards on National Public Radio with the Peabody-award-winning Children's Radio Theater. David holds a B.S. in economics and an M.S. in computer science, both from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.