Hi folks,

At the recent Global SAFe Summit in Washington, DC, we were delighted to announce the induction of five new Fellows into the SAFe^® Fellow Program: Ken France, Scott Frost, Marc Rix, Joe Vallone, and Dr. Thorsten Janning.

The SAFe Fellow achievement is Scaled Agile’s most prestigious distinction, recognizing individuals who have exhibited the highest level of mastery and thought leadership in the practice of SAFe.

While support from SPCs and SPCTs is critical to implementation success, there are pivotal moments in many significant Lean-Agile transformations when the organization needs guidance from the ‘best of the best.’ As Dean likes to say, “If we are in a challenging situation—whether puzzling over the next-generation framework or struggling to optimize a SAFe implementation—these are the folks we turn to.”

Achieving SAFe Fellow status is a multi-year journey that requires years of practice and contribution. The new inductees have been selected and vetted based on a combination of their ongoing contribution to the evolution of the Framework, their demonstrated success in a broad range of SAFe implementations, and their willingness to share their expertise in the public arena through writing and speaking.

Introducing Five New SAFe Fellows

We congratulate the following outstanding individuals (in alphabetical order):

Ken France, Vice President of Scaled Agile Practice, CPrime, Inc.

One of the first U.S. SPCTs, Ken France has worked with SAFe since its inception and actively contributes to the Framework. With more than 25 years of IT experience, Ken has successfully supported multiple Fortune 100 enterprises throughout their large and complex scaled agile transformations, and has trained and certified over 500 SPCs. Ken’s passion is to empower all levels of the organization to drive sustainable improvements and meaningful change.

Scott Frost, Sr. SAFe Agile Coach, Accenture | SolutionsIQ

Scott Frost has worked on Fortune 50 transformations for companies including FedEx—where he’s trained over 225 SPCs and 70 RTEs—American Express, AmerisourceBergen, AT&T, Discover, ExxonMobil, State Farm, and Verizon. At Accenture | SolutionsIQ, Scott is responsible for growing the SPC/SPCT pipeline, which includes over 10,000 SAFe-trained professionals. Scott contributes to the Framework through his work with courseware and exam development, and by feeding implementation learning back into the SAFe community.

Dr. Thorsten Janning, cofounder and CEO, KEGON AG

As a cofounder and CEO of KEGON AG, Dr. Thorsten Janning evolved the company into the leading Agile transformation partner for large enterprises in the German-speaking market. In 2016, he became the first SPCT in Germany, and has since turned his attention to developing advanced, Lean-Agile portfolio process implementations that enable large enterprises to manage their portfolios as a professional front end to their solution trains.

Marc Rix, DevOps Practice Lead, Icon Agility Services

Marc Rix is a contributor to the Framework, and co-author of the SAFe® DevOps and SAFe® System and Solution Architect courses. He accelerates digital transformations by providing practical coaching and advice designed to deliver ‘order-of-magnitude-gains (OMG) moments’ in product delivery speed, quality, and reliability that force large-scale paradigm shifts in IT culture.

Joe Vallone, Senior Coach and Trainer, Scaled Agile, Inc.

Joe Vallone has been involved in the Lean and Agile communities since 2002. An effective leader and speaker with over 25 years of software development and leadership expertise, Joe has implemented large-scale Agile transformations at several Fortune 100 companies, and is a Certified Scrum Master (CSM), Certified Scrum Professional (CSP), and Certified SAFe Program Consultant Trainer (SPCT).

Learn more about the SAFe Fellows program here, including a full list of SAFe Fellows.

Welcome Ken, Scott, Thorsten, Marc, and Joe to the global network of SAFe Fellows!

Stay SAFe!
—Drew Jemilo
Co-founder, Scaled Agile, Inc.
SAFe Fellow Program Director