Patrick McFadin — CEO
I design and evolve large-scale distributed systems that need to run continuously, globally, and under real-world operational pressure. My career has been grounded in building data platforms that don’t just scale, they remain reliable when everything around them is failing. As a PMC member and committer for Apache Cassandra®, I help guide the technical direction of one of the most widely used distributed databases in the world. My work focuses on storage engine evolution, replication and consistency strategies, operational resilience, and improving the developer and operator experience. I care deeply about clarity in system design and the operational reality of those who keep systems alive. Much of my work over the past decade has involved partnering with teams running massive, business-critical Cassandra deployments. Helping them model data, plan for failure, and scale across regions and clouds without compromising performance or availability. And funnily enough, make those systems forgettable. They just run in the background, quietly, for years. Most recently, I’ve been contributing to the technical strategy for real-time, vector-aware data systems and the intersection with AI workloads. My focus is on how we design data layers that meet the latency and correctness guarantees that modern retrieval and generative systems demand. It's a solid evolution of the systems we've been building for years. Core beliefs: • Reliability is a design discipline • Observability is non-negotiable • Distributed systems must be understandable to be operable • Open-source communities are strategic infrastructure I co-authored Managing Cloud Native Data on Kubernetes (O’Reilly), reflecting my ongoing interest in making stateful systems first-class in cloud-native environments. If you’re working on: • Next-generation distributed storage or query engines • Large-scale real-time or vector search systems • Database modernization or multi-region availability strategies • Operational maturity for mission-critical platforms I’m always interested in a good technical conversation. Let’s build systems that endure.
Stackforce AI infers this person is a Backend-heavy Fullstack expert in SaaS and distributed systems.
Location: Windsor, California, United States
Experience: 35 yrs 5 mos
Skills
- Apache Cassandra
- Artificial Intelligence (ai)
- Data Strategies
Career Highlights
- Expert in building reliable distributed systems.
- Key contributor to Apache Cassandra's technical direction.
- Co-authored a book on cloud-native data management.
Work Experience
IBM
Principal Technical Strategist (7 mos)
The Apache Software Foundation
Apache Cassandra® Project Management Committee (1 yr 2 mos)
Member at The Apache Software Foundation (2 yrs)
Apache Cassandra Committer (3 yrs 1 mo)
DataStax
Principal Technical Strategist (11 mos)
VP Developer Relations (7 yrs 5 mos)
Chief Evangelist for Apache Cassandra (12 yrs 5 mos)
Principal Solution Architect (4 yrs 7 mos)
CNCF [Cloud Native Computing Foundation]
Technical Oversight Committee (6 yrs 1 mo)
Hobsons
Chief Architect (1 yr 2 mos)
Director of Systems and Architecture (3 yrs 9 mos)
Director of Engineering (2 yrs 7 mos)
Santa Rosa Junior College
Adjunct Faculty (1 yr 10 mos)
Link-11 Systems, Inc
Founder & President (4 yrs)
Independent Software Consultant
Software Engineer (1 yr 9 mos)
Cal Poly
Network Engineer (3 yrs)
US Navy
Data Systems Technician (6 yrs)
Education
BS at California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo
at Santa Rosa Junior College
