2026 Schedule

Monday, May 11 • Grand Rapids, MI

Daniel and Pamella DeVos Center for Interprofessional Health
333 Michigan St NE, Grand Rapids, MI 49503

Merge is where product managers, designers, and developers come together to explore overlaps between disciplines and build exceptional software as one team

7:00am

7:30am — Registration / Check-in Opens

8:00am

8:00am — Breakfast

8:45am — Introduction and Welcome with SoftwareGR

9:00am

9:00 - 9:45am - AI at the Speed of Live: How to Lead Your Digital Ensemble

(45min)

Josh Penzell

9:45 - 10:00am — 15 Minute Break

10:00am

10:00 - 10:45am - Stop the Slop: Vibe Coding to Agentic Engineering

(45min)

Drew Colthorp

10:00 - 10:45am - The AI Polyglot: When Design, Dev, and Product Speak the Same Language

(45min)

J.R. Innes

10:45 - 10:55am — 10 Minute Break

10:55am

10:55 - 11:40am - My AI Just Upgraded Itself

(45min)

Sandhya Subramani

10:55 - 11:40am - Corporate Greed Made Me a Generalist. AI Made It Worth It

(45min)

Coe Lacy

11:40 - 11:50am — 10 Minute Break

11:50am

11:50 - 12:35pm - TDD is Dead! Quality Code in the Age of AI

(45min)

Jon Fazzaro

11:50 - 12:35pm - From Jargon to Value: How to Win Your Next AI Pitch

(45min)

David Crawford

12:35pm

12:35 - 1:30pm — Lunch

1:30pm

1:30 - 2:15pm - Debugging the Woods: Edge AI Wildlife Station with Agents & Jetson

(45min)

Scott Carroll

1:30 - 2:15pm - Knights, Castles, and Clouds: Rapid Illustration Concepting with AI

(45min)

Rex Rainey

2:15 - 2:25pm — 10 Minute Break

2:25pm

2:25 - 3:10pm - Using the Tools Without Losing Your Soul: Agentic Coding for the Reluctant

(45min)

Rachael McQuater

2:25 - 3:10pm - Data-Driven Design in the Age of AI

(45min)

Hannah Bronkema

3:10 - 3:30pm — 20 Minute Break with Ice Cream Social

3:30pm

3:30 - 4:15pm - AI-Assisted Architecture the Simplicity-First Way

(45min)

Chris Woody Woodruff

3:30 - 4:15pm - Shipping with Sensemaking: A Human-Centered AI Maturity Model for Software Teams

(45min)

Mary Brown

4:15 - 4:30pm — Closing Remarks

4:30pm

4:30 - 6:00pm — Rooftop Deck Reception