Press Centre
Media resources for journalists and editors.
Press releases, leadership bios, company background, and direct media contact. We respond within 24 hours.
18
Communities
8
Conferences
25,000+
Members
Global
Reach
Who We Are
Communities are infrastructure. The systems supporting them are not.
The Value
Technical communities and third-sector organisations move knowledge, build careers, and reach the people public services and markets miss. They generate substantial economic and social value.
The Gap
Yet the systems they depend on are fragile by default. Organisers run critical communities on fragmented tooling. When a platform shifts terms or a volunteer steps back, the community absorbs the loss.
Our Response
Community Stack exists to close that gap. We operate the communities. We build the platforms. We steward the standards that allow this layer of social infrastructure to function with the seriousness it has always deserved.
For Coverage
About Community Stack
Community Stack is a stewardship-led portfolio operator for community infrastructure, founded in Barnsley in May 2025 by Ethan Sumner and Mercedes Moxon Greenfield. The company operates 18 practitioner technical communities reaching more than 25,000 members across the UK, North America, and India, alongside a 2026 programme of eight flagship conferences. It also builds the platforms this work depends on. Community Engine supports technical communities, and Community Switchboard provides the discovery and participation layer for the third sector. Community Stack treats community work as long-term infrastructure, with the governance, continuity, and reinvestment that infrastructure requires.
Community Stack operates 18 practitioner technical communities and 25,000+ members across the UK, North America, and India, and builds the platforms behind them. Community Engine supports technical communities and Community Switchboard supports the third sector. Founded in Barnsley in May 2025, it treats community work as long-term infrastructure.
Community Stack is a stewardship-led operator of community infrastructure, running 18 practitioner technical communities, eight flagship conferences, and the platforms the technical and third sectors depend on.
Quotes
Quotes available for use
Communities are infrastructure. They move knowledge, build careers, and reach the people public services and markets miss. The systems supporting them shouldn't be fragile by default.
Ethan Sumner
Co-Founder & CEO
We don't run events. We operate communities as long-term infrastructure, with the governance, continuity, and stewardship that infrastructure demands.
Ethan Sumner
Co-Founder & CEO
Stewardship before scale isn't a slogan. It's the operating constraint that determines which communities we take on, how we grow, and what we refuse to do.
Ethan Sumner
Co-Founder & CEO
The people who most need community support are often the same people excluded by complicated technology. If our platforms aren't usable by them, we haven't built infrastructure — we've built a barrier.
Mercedes Moxon Greenfield
Co-Founder & CTO
Accessibility isn't about ticking boxes or meeting legal requirements. It's structural. Communities are only as inclusive as the systems running them.
Mercedes Moxon Greenfield
Co-Founder & CTO
Story Ideas
Story angles we can speak to
Our founders are available for commentary, interviews, and background on these themes. We can also connect journalists with community organisers, sponsors, and practitioners across the portfolio.
The infrastructure-first approach to community building
Why the dominant growth-led model produces fragile communities, and what stewardship-led operation looks like in practice.
The post-Meetup landscape
What happens when the dominant community platform shifts terms, and why organisers need infrastructure they can trust.
The platform engineering, cloud, and AI practitioner landscape
Insight from operating 18 communities and 25,000+ practitioners across AWS, Azure, GCP, Kubernetes, DevOps, and AI.
Northern tech and regional ecosystem building
Building national infrastructure from Barnsley, and what the South Yorkshire tech scene reveals about regional digital economies.
Accessibility-first product design
Why most 'accessible' technology fails the people it's meant to serve, and what designing for low digital confidence actually requires.
Acquisition and stewardship of community assets
The mechanics of acquiring communities like Cloud Platform Engineering London and the GCP London User Group, and why traditional M&A frameworks don't fit.
The civic case for community infrastructure
Why technical and third-sector communities sit on the same infrastructure problem, and the campaigns Community Stack is running on it.
Timeline
Milestones
May 2025
Community Stack founded in Barnsley by Ethan Sumner.
July 2025
Mercedes Moxon Greenfield appointed Co-Founder & CTO.
August 2025
Community Switchboard announced.
December 2025
Acquired Cloud Platform Engineering London (~2,000 members) from Appvia.
January 2026
Overmind announced as Global Ecosystem Platinum Sponsor.
February 2026
Expanded into APAC with three Bangalore community acquisitions; surpassed 24,000 members.
March 2026
2026 conference programme announced; three national campaigns launched; Community Engine announced.
April 2026
Acquired GCP London User Group; launched Cloud & Platform Security Global Conference; surpassed 25,000 members.
April 2026
Community Switchboard national launch; Barnsley HQ and Advanced Accessibility R&D Lab announced.
September 2026 (upcoming)
Community Engine launches.
The Stack
Six pillars. One coherent system.
Each pillar operates a different layer of community infrastructure, from the communities themselves to the platforms, discovery, and standards that hold them together.
Ecosystem
We own and operate practitioner communities as long-term infrastructure, not as events.
Engine
The operating system for technical communities, events, sponsorship, memberships, and analytics in one platform.
Switchboard
The discovery layer for the third sector. Free, accessible websites and a directory that people can actually search.
Intelligence
Insight drawn from the network, used to support communities, never to direct or extract from them.
Enterprise
Internal community infrastructure for organisations, engineering guilds, communities of practice, and advocate programmes at scale.
Labs
Applied research and national campaigns on digital inclusion, accessibility, and the future of community infrastructure.
Ecosystem Portfolio
18 communities across 5 domains
Practitioner communities, leadership networks, and technical ecosystems spanning Data & AI, Cloud, DevOps, Cloud Native, and Startups.
Data & AI
Applied AI, GenAI, data platforms, MLOps, analytics, and leadership networks.
Cloud
Cloud platforms, architecture, operations across AWS, Azure, and GCP.
DevOps & Platform Engineering
SRE, reliability, CI/CD, internal developer platforms, DevEx.
Cloud Native & Open Source
Kubernetes, CNCF tooling, OSS maintainers, cloud native engineering.
Startups, Ventures & Operators
Founders, operators, investors, and ecosystem builders.
2026 Conference Programme
8 flagship conferences
Practitioner-led conferences spanning DevOps, Cloud Native, AI, Data, and Security — in-person and virtual, across the UK and globally.
Campaigns
Civic campaigns
We run a portfolio of civic campaigns operating at the intersection of community infrastructure, digital inclusion, and accessibility — targeting systemic gaps in how underserved communities access support, participate in public life, and find trusted services.
#NoCommunityLeftOffline
A national campaign ensuring rural, isolated, and digitally excluded communities can access support and participate online regardless of location, connectivity, or digital confidence.
Press Releases
Latest announcements
Leadership
Available for interview and commentary
Our founders are available across community infrastructure, digital inclusion, ecosystem operating models, and accessibility-first technology.
Ethan Sumner
Co-Founder & CEO
Community organiser and technologist from Barnsley
Community organiser and technologist from Barnsley. Ethan has spent years running grassroots meetups across Yorkshire, and has worked at Microsoft, Mastercard, and global consultancies, where he saw both how technology can transform careers and how digital exclusion can leave whole communities behind. He leads strategy, partnerships, and the operational model.
Topics Ethan can speak on:
Community infrastructure, Ecosystem operating models, Digital inclusion, Platform engineering communities, Trust and sustainability in communities
Mercedes Moxon Greenfield
Co-Founder & CTO
UK Robotics Champion, accessibility advocate, and engineer from Sheffield
UK Robotics Champion, accessibility advocate, and engineer from Sheffield. Mercedes leads platform delivery with an accessibility-first, inclusion-led approach, because the people who most need community support are often the same people excluded by complicated technology. She is responsible for Engine, Switchboard, and the technical standards that hold the portfolio together.
Topics Mercedes can speak on:
Accessibility-first product design, Inclusive technology, Offline access pathways, Assistive AI (non-directive), Designing for low digital confidence
Founders
Ethan Sumner (CEO) and Mercedes Moxon Greenfield (CTO) founded Community Stack to build the infrastructure that enables communities to function as critical, measurable, and trusted systems. They bring together community organising experience, technical expertise, and a shared commitment to accessibility-first design.
Resources
Press resources
Direct downloads
Primary logo, alternate marks, colour and mono variants
Available on request
Response within 24 hours
- Founder headshots
- Company factsheet
- Joint founder photo
- Event imagery and b-roll
- Custom imagery or video
- Background briefings
press@communitystack.io
Coverage
Cover the work, not just the announcements
Community Stack is building infrastructure that helps ecosystems endure — across practitioner communities, governance layers, and third-sector participation.