Deane Barker

This is the personal and professional website of Deane Barker.

Professionally, Deane is:

And here are some past professional activities and pursuits:

Former (and very briefly) Vice-President of Digital Experience Consulting at Valtech
Former Global Director of Content Management at Optimizely
Co-founder and former partner of Blend Interactive
Former instructor of Content Management at FH Joanneum
Former blogger at Gadgetopia. In December 2020, that website was shut down and all content was redirected to the technical blog on this site.
Former publisher of Squirrel Notes
Former board member of Content Management Professionals (now defunct)
Former content curator and MC of the early Now What Conferences (mainly 2013-2015 – less so for the later events)
Co-Host of The Web Project Guide Podcast with Corey Vilhauer

Personally, Deane is:

Husband (to Annie), father (to Alec, Gabrielle, and Isabella), father-in-law (to Taylor), and grandfather (to Sutton)
Relentlessly proud resident of Sioux Falls, South Dakota
New Zealander by birth. I’ve lived in the United States since 1977, and been a US citizen since 2009.
Moderate Democrat (Kennedy Democrat?)
Owner of two cats and one dog
Member of Central Church in Sioux Falls
Occasional coach and struggling, middle-aged athlete at CrossFit Sioux Falls
- I’ve blogged a bit about fitness
- I publish some of my workouts
- CrossFit L1 Certified Trainer (long expired…)
Alumnus of Augustana University
Former Vice-Chairman of the Trustee Board at Sioux Falls Seminary
Former hospital corpsman in the U.S. Naval Reserve
Documentor of fine cheese plates
Maintainer of The Interesting List
Annoyed pundit behind Step Away from the Share Button
Obsessive reader
Lover of bookstores
Former Porsche 911 owner and former president of the Dakota Region Porsche Club of America
Lover of libraries that don’t exist
Stubbornly determined to know all the things