ONUG names Debbie Holmgren vice president of sales

ONUG said July 21, 2026 that Debbie Holmgren has joined as vice president of sales to lead sponsorship, partner, and event revenue across the company’s AI networking programs. Her first major test will be ONUG’s Fall 2026 AI Networking Summit in New York City.

Why it matters: - ONUG is expanding its revenue effort as enterprise buyers push for more options in hybrid AI infrastructure. - Holmgren will help the company reach a broader set of vendors and sponsors around ONUG’s practitioner community. - The hire comes ahead of ONUG’s Fall 2026 AI Networking Summit, a key event for the company’s growth plans.

What happened: - ONUG announced that Debbie Holmgren joined as vice president of sales, effective July 20, 2026. - Holmgren will lead the revenue organization. - Her remit includes sponsorship sales, partner relationships, and the sales team for ONUG’s two annual AI Networking Summits. - Holmgren will also oversee sales support for ONUG’s year-round Collaborative and Connect programs.

The details: - Holmgren brings more than 15 years of sales and business development leadership in technology media and events. - She started in 2009 as vice president of business development and partnerships at VentureBeat. - Holmgren later led sponsorship and content marketing sales at O'Reilly Media across DevOps, security, and IoT conference portfolios. - She also held senior sales leadership roles at TDWI, a division of 1105 Media, where she directed event sponsorship sales. - At NetLine, an Informa Tech company, Holmgren led B2B demand generation. - Most recently, Holmgren served as sales director at Manning Publications, where she led corporate sponsorship sales initiatives. - Nick Lippis, co-founder and co-chairman of ONUG, said Holmgren brings the sponsor relationship depth and team leadership ONUG needs for its most ambitious event yet. - Lippis said sponsors are investing in access to IT executives building the Enterprise AI Fabric. - Holmgren said ONUG sits at the center of enterprise IT’s most important conversation. - Holmgren said she wants to help sponsors and partners connect with practitioners defining how AI gets built, secured, and operated at scale. - ONUG describes itself as a 100,000-member community of enterprise infrastructure and security professionals governed by an IT executive board drawn from the Global 2000. - ONUG says its summits, Collaborative, and Connect programs help define enterprise requirements and drive adoption of open, interoperable infrastructure for the AI era. - More information is available at ONUG's website.

Between the lines: - The hire suggests ONUG is betting on a more commercial, sponsor-driven model as AI infrastructure spending becomes more competitive. - Holmgren’s background in conference sponsorships and B2B demand generation fits a company trying to translate industry attention into recurring event and partner revenue.

What's next: - Holmgren’s first major milestone will be the ONUG Fall 2026 AI Networking Summit, “Build the Fabric: The Enterprise AI Fabric.” - The summit is scheduled for October 28-29 in New York City’s PENN District. - ONUG will likely use the event to deepen sponsor relationships and showcase its position in the enterprise AI infrastructure market.

The bottom line: - ONUG is staffing up for a bigger push into enterprise AI networking, and Holmgren is now central to that effort.