GRWebDev: Grand Rapids Web Development Group

Stop by The Factory on the third Thursday of the month at 8:00 AM! Grab a cup of freshly-brewed coffee and get to know your community of peers. It's a great opportunity to share experiences, conspire on new projects, or just geek out on the latest industry developments in West Michigan.

DESCRIPTION
This month, GRWebDev powered by LaFleur Marketing and SoftwareGR have joined forces to bring you a special presentation from Tony Ramos of Bindplane.

All organizations rely heavily on open-source libraries, third-party packages, and external dependencies. In the world of AI, keeping track of the moving parts gets more difficult every day. This session peels back the InfoSec complexities to focus on what developers actually need to know:

• How to model your software supply chain
• Simple habits you can adopt today
• Doing the heavy lifting within your CI/CD pipelines

At the end, we'll look at how AI can monitor your dependencies in the background, ensuring you stay ahead of compromised libraries and gain maximum observability into your Software Supply Chain.

What you'll walk away with:

• The Code You Didn't Write: What the supply chain is and why it matters to your daily commits.
• Quick Wins for Devs: Low-friction, immediate steps to strengthen your dependency chain today.
• Automating the Pain Away: How to bake supply chain management into your CI/CD pipeline.
• Supply Chain Observability: Using AI so you don't fall behind

Join us at 6pm ET on Monday, July 27th at Start Garden in downtown Grand Rapids!

OUR PRESENTER
Tony Ramos is a cybersecurity practitioner and currently heads the security program at Bindplane (now a Dynatrace company). Previously a founding engineer at Level 6 Cybersecurity, Tony brings over a decade of hands-on experience bridging application security, software engineering, and machine learning to drive operational security excellence. Today Tony helps align business practices with rigorous compliance programs like FedRAMP and ISO, while leaning on his engineering roots to architect threat detection systems within Open Telemetry.

SCHEDULE

• 6:00pm - 6:30pm … Refreshments and Networking
• 6:30pm … Opening Announcements + Presentation
• 7:30pm … Q&A + Closing Announcements
• 8:00pm … Event Ends

LOCATION
The Vault at Start Garden is located at the corner of Fulton and Commerce. Enter the Gallery Parking ramp at 8 Commerce and follow the signs to the entrance of the event space.

PARKING
Parking is available in the Gallery Ramp on Commerce just south of Fulton as well as on nearby streets. (Pro tip: Weston, Sheldon, and LaGrave just east of Division are often more easily accessible than busier streets such as Commerce and Division.) Street parking pricing and hours vary depending on location; details can be found on the City of Grand Rapids website.

SPONSORS
This month’s meetup is sponsored by West Michigan Tech Talent. West Michigan Tech Talent connects local employers, educators, community organizations and workforce experts who are invested in creating a strong tech workforce. By sharing best practices, leveraging resources and collaborating on innovative solutions, WMTT is actively addressing the tech talent gap and makes upskilling affordable and accessible. Learn more at westmichigantechtalent.com.

GRWebDev’s venue sponsor is Start Garden. Empowering West Michigan's startup ecosystem through financial, intellectual & social capital, Start Garden provides a neighborhood for startups to grow. No matter where you are on your journey - whether you’re an entrepreneur, a startup or simply a dreamer with a great idea - the Start Garden ecosystem provides a strong community of support to help you get your idea off the ground or move your business to the next level. Learn more at startgarden.com.

GRWebDev's title sponsor is LaFleur Marketing. LaFleur is your forward-thinking digital marketing partner, creating innovative, data-driven marketing strategies and assets for law firms, healthcare organizations, and growing businesses. Learn more about their services on the web at lafleur.marketing.