ESTEVAN - A former Estevan resident will be returning home to be part of the upcoming Innovation Conference for Economic Development in Rural Areas (ICED).
Jeff Sandquist will speak at a supper event on Sept. 11 at the Â鶹ÊÓƵeast College's Estevan campus. The event, which has the title of Big Tech Unplugged, will start at 6:30 p.m. He will be interviewed by former Saskatchewan radio host John Gormley.
Sandquist will share his journey from Estevan to the forefront of the technology sector.
"He has had a front-row seat to the world of technology, rising to executive leadership roles at Microsoft, Twitter and Automattic," states a press release for the event.
Sandquist is the vice-president of product at Automattic, the company behind WordPress, which powers more than 43.5 per cent of all websites globally, according to an announcement for Sandquist's appearance in Estevan.
Before joining Automattic, Sandquist held senior roles at Microsoft, where he served as corporate vice-president for Cloud + AI, and at Twitter, where he was senior director of developer relations.
Gormley spent 25 years as the host of John Gormley Live until he stepped away from the show last November.
Sandquist and Gormley will take the audience on a journey through Sandquist's path from Estevan to the executive suites of big tech.
The TechHub has a limited number of tickets available for $50 each for those who cannot attend the conference but want to be there for Sandquist's dinner. Tickets can be purchased on the Eventbrite website.
Remaining tickets have to be held back for conference attendees, as their admission to the dinner is included in the conference fee.
The ICED conference is slated to occur from Sept. 10-12 at the Â鶹ÊÓƵeast College's Estevan campus.