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As the Chief Technology Officer at SilverTech, Derek leads the team that helps businesses…
Articles by Derek
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Derek Barka shared thisLove running with partners and colleagues - whether it's Dominik and the Kentico MVPs, Janus Boye and the Boye and Co running group, or connecting with old friends like Nicole Rogers at ai12z when traveling... always a great time and great conversations.Derek Barka shared thisSome of the strongest relationships I have in this industry were built at a running pace. It goes back to a conference where we saw a group run for the first time. We tried it. Then, because a few of us couldn't leave it there, we started entering real races. Bratislava. Luxembourg last year, which I missed after getting sick right before the trip. Brian McKeiver, Andy Thompson and I got it going. None of us planned for it to become a tradition. We recently wrapped our MVP Summit, and the run is still the part people talk about most. Not because of the distance, but because of who's next to you: Derek Barka, Michael Eustace Joe Peschardt #Kentico #MVPSummit #RunningCommunity #OnTheMove
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Derek Barka shared thisLove this! Strong momentum heading into the second half of the year! Lots of great things happening!Derek Barka shared thisThis month, the team at Silvertech achieved the best month in our long history. What is most inspiring is not just what we achieved, but how we achieved it. Our teams maintain a relentless focus on helping our clients succeed. They work hard, exhibit passion, and concentrate on delivering the business results our customers and partners desire. There is no ego here. Thank you to all of the terrific employees we have. SilverTech, Inc.
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Derek Barka shared thisGreat write up from Dominik Pinter. It's only a matter of time before this is universal. In a year from now (or sooner), not being able to effectively use AI to do your job will be akin to not being able to use a PC, Office apps, browsers, etc. It's just a basic job requirement.Derek Barka shared thisAI adoption isn't a training problem. It's a leadership problem. 🎯 So here's a question worth sitting with. You give your team the best AI tools out there tomorrow. Can they tell you where it actually adds value? And where it doesn't? 🤔 In his latest piece, Kentico CEO Dominik Pinter explains why he made AI fluency a hiring and promotion requirement at Kentico. No single company-wide test. Each team lead defines what fluency means for their own function. His point is simple. Every leader says AI matters. Far fewer run their hiring like it does. Where does your company sit on that? Read Dominik's full take here 👉 https://lnkd.in/dZxXaVgx #AIAdoption #Leadership #AIFluency #Kentico
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Derek Barka shared thisMy AI is now talking to itself about me, in front of me. How am I supposed to feel about this? 🤣
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Derek Barka shared thisLove how Joe boiled this down. As AI advances and grows and is able to take over much of the mundane day to day tasks, what we do becomes more and more about the people. AI can't replace relationships or create the strategies that evoke emotion and want us to be part of a brand or something bigger. It was clear last week that Kentico gets that and their vision is to build AI into the product to take the mundane away so Marketers can focus on what matters - the people.
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Derek Barka shared thisJust returned from the Kentico MVP Summit in Brno. It's my second year as a Kentico MVP and I'm extremely grateful to Kentico and my fellow MVPs for an amazing experience. Five days immersed in product roadmap discussions, honest conversations with agencies from around the world, and a front-row view of where the platform is headed. The agentic CMS era is not theoretical. Kentico's roadmap is pointed squarely at making AI a native part of the marketer and developer experience. The direction around KentiCopilot and agentic workflows isn't about replacing people; it's about removing the friction that slows them down. Watching that vision take shape in the hands of a team that genuinely understands the content and delivery space was exciting. For me, the conversations with the other MVPs are also some of the most valuable and rewarding parts of the trip. Sitting across the table from peers at different points in the AI adoption journey — comparing what's working, what failed, and how teams are actually growing with these tools — was worth the trip alone. No polished case studies. Just real talk about where we all are. Huge shout out to Andy and Liam for sharing two great examples they just wrapped up. A fun activity was the Galaxy Brain Experiences workshop with David Komárek and Brian McKeiver - "A day in the life of a marketer in 2028". We built out a full agentic "faux" demo of a marketer saving the world (obviously) through agentic marketing - all built with claude. 🚀 The gap between imagining something and building it has never been smaller. For agencies, for marketers, for developers — the opportunity is real and it's here. A huge thank you to Dominik Pinter for having us, kicking off the week, and making us run further than he promised... Debbie for an inspiring roadmap presentation, and Sean Wright for pulling it all together. To the PM team — Martina Škantárová, David Komárek , David Slavík, and Martin Králík — thank you for the product insights, conversations, and spending your week with us. To my fellow MVPs: the collaboration, candor, and good company made the week. 🍻 Andy Thompson, Ben Quinlan, Joe Peschardt, Wesley McChristian, Mike Wills, Jeroen Fürst, Roel Kuik, Brian McKeiver, Liam Goldfinch, and Michael Eustace
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Derek Barka shared thisDerek Barka shared thisLast week marked the conclusion of my co-op with Liberty Mutual Insurance’s Global Internal Audit Cybersecurity & Technology team. Over the past six months, I had the opportunity to contribute to audits and assessments focused on cybersecurity, cloud technologies, identity and access management, change management, logging and monitoring, and third-party risk management. Through this work, I gained experience performing control evaluations, analyzing technical and business risks, reviewing evidence, and supporting the development of audit observations and recommendations. One of the most rewarding aspects of the experience was collaborating with professionals across audit, cybersecurity, engineering, and business teams to better understand how effective controls help organizations manage risk while enabling innovation. I am grateful to the team for their mentorship, support, and willingness to share their knowledge throughout my co-op. This experience strengthened my understanding of cybersecurity and technology risk and provided valuable insight into the role of internal audit within a large global organization. Thank you to everyone who contributed to a meaningful and impactful experience.
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Derek Barka shared thisI'm in Brno this week at the Kentico MVP Summit and have been fortunate to see the latest and greatest vision around Kentico's Agentic Marketing Suite. Its already come a long way in a short period of time and its not slowing down. AI isn't replacing marketers, but agentic orchestration is going to quickly become their best friend as they strive to do more, better, and faster.Derek Barka shared this⚽ Kentico is aiming to score with its AIRA Agentic Marketing Suite, and rolling out an “AI Dream Team” of agents to win the cup. We meet this team of four new agents – a Content Strategist, Customer Journey Specialist, Campaign Manager, and SEO & GEO Specialist – and the talents they bring to the new game of marketing. As CMS and DXP platforms race to adopt agentic systems, value is on the line. Learn how Kentico’s squad of “AI teammates” is helping marketers become champions by putting them in control. Read it here 👉 https://lnkd.in/e4t9ZVpg #kentico #aira #airaagenticmarketingsuite #dxp #digitalexperienceplatform #ai #artificialintelligence #agenticai #aiagents #marketers
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Derek Barka shared thisA year ago I argued that 'DXP is a misnomer' — it's not a product, it's an assembled set of technologies. Fast forward and Salesforce bought Contentful and assembled one in real time. Great for some customers, and a strong signal for the rest of us.Salesforce Bought the Content Layer. It Also Made the Case for Composability.Salesforce Bought the Content Layer. It Also Made the Case for Composability.
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1mo
Gideon Aniechi Yes! 🤣
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Derek Barka liked thisDerek Barka liked thisWhat an incredible experience this summer! Thank you SilverTech, Inc. https://lnkd.in/etjnzbxq
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Derek Barka liked thisDerek Barka liked thisI'm a little late to the party due to some travel over the last few weeks, but I'm incredibly grateful to share that I've once again been recognized as a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) in Microsoft Azure. This renewal is meaningful because it marks my 5th consecutive renewal as an MVP. Looking at the new award sitting here, I have to admit the blue 5 Years ring on the trophy feels like a pretty cool milestone. The award itself is appreciated, but what it really represents is something much bigger. It's the opportunity to learn, speak, write, and contribute to the developer community. I've connected with so many talented people around the world because of it. I'm thankful to everyone at Microsoft, the MVP program team, my fellow MVPs, my team at BizStream, and everyone who has attended a session, read a blog post, or laughed at my terrible jokes while presenting about Azure, .NET, and #AI. Here's to year five, and to continuing to learn, grow, and share! #MVPBuzz #Tech
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Derek Barka liked thisDerek Barka liked thisAI handles the repetitive work. The thinking stays human. That's the balance. Most businesses have it wrong, and the research is starting to show the cost. The people using AI the most are burning out the fastest. 88% of the most productive AI-enabled workers report burnout. Twice as likely to be looking for another job. Harvard Business Review has a name for it now. AI brain fry. The cause isn't AI. It's how it was introduced into the business. Nobody redesigned the work. People got ten tools and now spend the day managing them instead of doing the job. The repetitive work didn't go to the machines. It multiplied. We use AI every day at Devotion. It's in the research, the development, the testing, the reporting. Timelines are shorter and budgets go further because of it. But the thinking is ours. It's not in the strategy. Not in the creative direction. And it's not the person who picks up the phone when something breaks. Get the balance right and AI carries the load while your people do their best work. Get it wrong and your best people spend their days babysitting tools. AI handles the repetitive work. The thinking stays human. It's that simple. #AI #DigitalStrategy
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Derek Barka reacted on thisDerek Barka reacted on this10 years to the day my father's been gone. This is my favorite pic of him. The Chief of Police, not pictured, got down on one knee and kissed my father's hand. My father was the "Guardian of St. Peter" for an annual Italian festival, much like you'd see in The Godfather or in many Little Italy religious processions. He was a grand figure with a lot of clout, a status that belied who he really was: a man with Black Bear strength and a Teddy Bear's disposition. And here's one of my favorite stories: He was my Little League coach. We lost Game 2 of the 1989 best-of-three World Series. My father didn't come home with us immediately that night. I found out later he took out the losing pitcher of our team for an ice cream. Just my Dad and the pitcher. That same player caught the next day, and we won the series, 2-1. My father always reminded us it was only a game. "You bunch of bums," he'd say after a loss, getting us to smile as the tears rolled down our impressionable 9, 10, 11 and 12-year-old faces. It became his catchphrase, really. That moment with the ice cream and the losing pitcher. THAT was my dad. The titles and the respect people showed him were nice. But this was the part of his legacy that mattered most: He paid special attention to the kids whose dads and moms weren't in the stands. He'd give them rides home, bring them over to our house and simply make sure they knew someone cared. One of his former players wrote this the day my father died: "As a kid, I had a great father, but many friends around me grew up with no dad, or one that was not there very often. A handful of those kids were lucky enough, in the late 80's/early 90's, to have received a call from Donny Nicastro, to come play Little League Baseball for the Braves. For a few baseball seasons, those kids had a dad...a role model...someone that taught them much more than the game of baseball. Teamwork, respect and how to have fun. Great men are remembered for how they affect the lives of others. They leave behind a legacy that will never be forgotten. I've always said that one of the greatest times in my life was playing LL baseball. This man was the reason for those positive memories." ⚾
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Derek Barka liked thisDerek Barka liked thisOne of my clients graduated today 👏 🎓 When we started working together, they had two major goals: grow revenue by 30% and successfully launch a new line of business. They accomplished both. We had a great conversation today about everything the team has achieved, what they have learned, and where the business goes from here. So I said, "I think its time for you to graduate" and could not be happier for them. The goal of my business is not to work with the same client forever. It is to help them the clarity through people, processes, systems (and I'll now add *confidence*) they need to keep moving forward. Because of this graduation, I now have availability in my client roster for the end of the summer and into the fall. I’m looking to work with businesses that: - Want to make meaningful, lasting changes in how their business operates. - Are ready to grow, but need help identifying what is keeping them stuck. - Want to increase revenue without immediately increasing the size of their team. - Want to create greater efficiency by improving how work gets done and how their people, processes, and systems work together. - Believe in putting people first and treating their employees well, even when the business is changing. - Are willing to take the time to make thoughtful changes, involve their team, and build something that will last. Tactically, I also have a full service line focused on AI, including AI strategy and implementation, figuring out where your AI priorities are, building custom agents, automating workflows, and helping teams use AI in practical ways that improve how the business operates. If this sounds like your team , I’d love to talk. Send me a message, and let’s see if working together might be the right fit. And if this made you think of someone, I would be grateful if you shared it with them 💫
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Derek Barka liked thisDerek Barka liked thisI have come to accept that my greatest skill in life is flying to another country, forgetting to bring a power adapter, buying yet another one, then bringing it home and adding it to my shameful collection.
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Derek Barka liked thisDerek Barka liked thisLobster rolls. Boat cruise. Exciting Optimizely + SilverTech, Inc. partnership. New England summer done right. Thank you, SilverTech for a great time! Partner meetings should look like this more often. ⚓️☀️🦞 Chris Crombie Katie Dawson Jeff McPherson Chad Campbell Marco Echeverria Meghan Eddy Crombie Robert Anderson Nick Soggu
Experience & Education
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SilverTech, Inc.
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Volunteer Experience
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Chairman, School Board
Litchfield School District
- 6 years 1 month
Education
Elected official tasked with managing school district's $20m budget and defining district policies.
Work closely with Superintendent to define School Board agenda and run meetings.
Negotiated with collective bargaining unit to secure a contract agreement.
Worked with collective bargaining unit and district leadership to educate community and successfully secure voter support of new contract.
Projects
Honors & Awards
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Leadership New Hampshire, Class of 2016
Leadership New Hampshire
Making a difference: that’s what Leadership New Hampshire is all about. We fulfill this mission annually by gathering a select cohort of talented and accomplished individuals and then providing them with an opportunity to learn about the complex issues facing our state; to connect with one another; and to serve their communities and our state in positions of leadership and responsibility.
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New Hampshire Union Leader "40 Under Forty"
The Union Leader
The Union Leader’s 40 Under Forty program recognizes some of the state’s brightest young achievers who have a record of professional and volunteer accomplishments in New Hampshire.
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Leadership Greater Manchester, Class of 2015
Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce
This program strives to cultivate leadership resources within the greater Manchester community by giving potential leaders a well-rounded, in-depth look at issues facing the region and the opportunities that exist to guide us into the future on solid ground.
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