Marian Phelan is a founder and the sole owner of Hashrocket, a world-class application development consultancy that specializes in Ruby on Rails and iOS development. An ardent supporter of the tech community, Marian has funded and overseen several technology conferences, including Bizconf, which focused on fostering relationships between tech industry owners, managers, and thought leaders.
In April 2013, she and her team at Hashrocket founded the first annual Ancient City Ruby Conference in St. Augustine, Florida. Ancient City Ruby is a single-track conference designed to closely connect Ruby developers with luminaries in the open source community. Additionally, her commitment to open source development is evident in Hashrocket’s work policies: 15 percent of employees’ paid time each week is set aside for open source instruction, learning, and contributions.
Marian is an entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience building and operating successful businesses in multiple markets, including hospitality, real estate, and the Web. She believes in flat organizations, team-oriented structure, and environments where collaboration can flourish. She studied to become a Chartered Certified Accountant in Ireland before moving to the US with her husband in 1990. She has three teenage children and lives in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. In her spare time, she and her family enjoy boating and traveling together.