About

My name is Sumner, and I live in Denver, Colorado. I am a Senior Implementation Tech Lead at Can/Am Technologies and I run a business called Nevarro which provides education services such as computer science and mathematics tutoring. I’m also a 4th Degree Black Belt and certified instructor in ATA Taekwondo and a Colorado School of Mines alum (bachelor’s in CS, 2018; masters in CS, 2019).

I like building software which solves difficult and real problems, and I enjoy helping others develop their careers in software. I have had the opportunity to solve many interesting and difficult problems throughout my career. I have also had the opportunity to teach multiple computer science courses at a university level.

In my job at Can/Am I lead the engineering team responsible for building integrations with third-party vendors.

Previously, I worked at Beeper building lots of things related to the Matrix protocol including cryptography libraries¹ and the mautrix bridges. I also started and was a core member of the Hungryserv project which enabled us to scale from hundreds to tens of thousands of users.

Outside of my job, on the technical side, I spend a lot of my free time working on Matrix-related projects. I have written about the technical and community aspects of Matrix on my blog, and I’ve given a few talks related to Matrix at conferences². I was elected to the Matrix Governing Board as an individual member in 2024. My goal is to represent the interests of the community to the Matrix Foundation. You can read my platform which lays out the most important issues that the Foundation has to address moving forward. My DMs are open if you are a member of the Matrix community and have questions or concerns about the Foundation or what we as the Governing Board are doing.

When I’m not programming, I enjoy training in ATA taekwondo under Chief Master Corina Black where I am a 4th Degree Black Belt and certified Level 3 Certified Legacy Instructor. I also enjoy playing soccer, volleyball, and racquetball when I have the chance. During high school, I won the FRCCA Soccer State Championship with Denver Eagles my senior year. I have also won multiple state titles in ATA taekwondo.