name: Zack Butcher ID: ZackButcher info:
- employer: Tetrate
- slack: ZackButcher
- twitter: ZackButcher
I began working on Istio in 2016 as one of the original engineers on the project. In the seven years since then, I worked on Mixer, before shifting to focus on Pilot and Istio's networking APIs. I am proud to have served two terms as a community elected member of Istio's Steering Committee, from 2020-2022. During that tenure I also served as one of the charter members of the Code of Conduct subcommittee. I've served as reviewer for several IstioCons and co-chair the upcoming IstioCon 2023.
Before Istio, I worked across GCP helping deliver enterprise features like the resource hierarchy (projects, folders, orgs), IAM, and service management. I left Google in 2018 to help start Tetrate — a company built around Istio — and have worn many hats, from engineering to marketing to devrel to sales. The entire time, my focus has been on furthering Istio adoption across industry. To that end, I co-authored Istio: Up and Running (O'Rielly, 2019), speak regularly on Istio at conferences, on podcasts, and in print around the world.
I actively work with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to author special publications providing guidance on microservice security and zero trust — all of which focus on the service mesh, Istio, as a key piece of the security architecture: NIST SP 800-204A, NIST SP 800-204B, and NIST SP 800-207A. These guidelines are being adopted by governments and major industries like banking as the cornerstone of their strategy moving forward — helping ensure Istio will continue to grow and flourish for years to come.
I strongly believe in Istio — so much so that I've bet most of my professional career on it. I'm passionate about seeing the project succeed, and have a track record of being a balanced and reasonable voice both inside and outside the community. I advocate for what's best for the project, not for any particular company or vendor. As Istio and its community continue to grow and evolve, I believe I’m well suited to advocate for the health and growth of the project, internally as well as externally.