Scrum Alliance Announces New Managing Director

The former CEO and founder of TOR LLC, Farmer recently served as Director - Global Networks for the Association for Competitive Technology (ACT), where she built a global network of regional advisors—senior technology company executives who are experts about the overall high-tech arena. Before joining ACT, Farmer was Executive Director of Vivit, the endorsed users’ group for Hewlett-Packard’s software products, where she led advocacy, communication, and education for the customer community.

"Donna has the experience, expertise, and leadership abilities to position the Scrum Alliance for success in the future and deliver the value expected by its members and broader constituent communities," said Tom Mellor, Chairman of the Scrum Alliance Board of Directors. "It's incredibly fortunate for us to find a person with background in law, expertise in strategic business development, and experience directing multiple international organizations, including non-profits. We're thrilled that Donna has agreed to lead our operations.”

Farmer has spent the majority of her career in strategic development but she also served on the US House of Representatives' Committee on Science as Counsel for the Subcommittee on Technology. In her roles with a wide variety of industries ranging from Congress, to banking, to high-tech non-profits, Farmer has a strong record of success in growing strong organizations that nurture innovation and outreach. 

Farmer had this to say about her new position: “I want to thank the Scrum Alliance Board and current Managing Director Jim Cundiff for providing a strong foundation upon which we will continue to build our legacy of excellence and success. I'm looking forward to leading the Scrum Alliance in what promises to be an exciting time of growth and transition.”  She replaces interim director, James Cundiff, who remained in place to allow the search committee time to consider a broad range of candidates.

Farmer went on to describe how she views the Scrum Alliance’s mission to transform the world of work, “Scrum is by far the most popular agile development framework. As it continues to be more broadly accepted and spreads beyond software, the demands for training, information, and guidance will increase exponentially. With the help of the Board of Directors, the training community, and the experienced scrum professionals who make up our membership, we will work to position ourselves in such a way that we can serve the Scrum community's present-day needs and its future demands as well."

Prior to her tenure at Vivit, was the CEO of the non-profit Smart Card Alliance, the world’s largest smart card oriented non-profit organization, dedicated to stimulating the understanding, adoption, use and widespread acceptance of single and multi-application smart card technology through specific projects such as education programs, market research, advocacy, industry relations and by bringing together, in an open forum, leading users and technologists from both the public and private sectors. Farmer was also the CEO of the Smart Card Forum, and Vice President of Strategic Business Development at CertCo.

“Donna seems to be very purpose driven. I believe her follower-centric leadership style will serve her well with this community," says outgoing Managing Director Jim Cundiff. Cundiff had previously served a two-year term as Managing Director and will be leaving the Scrum Alliance in the coming months to pursue other opportunities. Cundiff will stay long enough to transition the leadership smoothly to Farmer.

Mellor said of Cundiff, “Jim Cundiff contributed significantly to the emergence and growth of the Scrum Alliance during his tenure with the organization. He guided the organization through both challenging and opportune times. We are grateful for his unselfish dedication and strong work ethic, which helped inspire and enable improvements at the Scrum Alliance. We wish him all the best in his future endeavors.”