John Engates
AI Researcher & Technology Innovator
Current Focus
- • Agentic AI deployment for enterprise automation and decision-making
- • Agentic coding with tools like Claude Code, OpenAI Codex, Cursor, and Google Antigravity
- • Multi-agent orchestration, swarm architectures, and emergent collaboration
- • Local LLMs with tools and models like Ollama, LM Studio, GPT-OSS, and Qwen3
- • Image generation with Google Nano Banana, FLUX.2, SDXL, and Z-Image
Open to collaborations on agent research — DM me on X or connect on LinkedIn
John Engates builds AI agent systems that coordinate multiple autonomous agents to solve problems single agents can't. Over 30 years he's co-founded one of Texas's first ISPs, built hosting infrastructure for early YouTube, and created the distributed storage system that became OpenStack Swift. Now he's focused on how AI agents collaborate at scale.
At Rackspace (CTO, 2000-2018), John's team built and managed the infrastructure that kept YouTube running as it grew from startup to billion-user platform acquired by Google. His team scaled "Fanatical Support"—24/7 expert help that became the company's identity. The Intensive Hosting division he ran supported some of the web's most demanding workloads when "the cloud" meant actual servers in actual data centers.
In 2009, when a Facebook engineer asked about open-sourcing data center hardware, John committed Rackspace as a founding member of the Open Compute Project. That same year, his team built the distributed storage system that became OpenStack Swift. It now runs at CERN, Wikimedia, and hundreds of deployments worldwide.
The White House called in 2013 when Healthcare.gov's launch crisis needed infrastructure expertise. He sat in the Situation Room with heads of HHS and CMS, explaining what went wrong. At Cloudflare (Field CTO, 2021-2025), he guided enterprise AI and security deployments. Today he serves on the boards of Frost Bank (NYSE: CFR) and James Avery Craftsman, mentors Techstars companies, and leads SIM San Antonio.
Key Achievements
Open Source Pioneer
Led the team at Rackspace that created OpenStack Swift and helped launch the Open Compute Project. Swift now runs at CERN, Wikimedia, and hundreds of other deployments worldwide.
Scale Achievement
Built infrastructure supporting platforms like YouTube and GitHub through critical growth phases, serving billions of users worldwide.
Crisis Leadership
Called to the White House to help stabilize and secure Healthcare.gov during its 2013 launch crisis.
Current Roles
President
SIM San Antonio
Independent Director
Frost Bank (NYSE: CFR)
Board Member
James Avery Artisan Jewelry
Mentor & Investor
Techstars
Career
Field CTO
Cloudflare
2021 – 2025Led Field CTO team guiding 100+ global enterprises through AI and zero-trust security transformations.
CTO & VP Operations
Rackspace
2000 – 2018 · 18 yearsBuilt cloud infrastructure supporting platforms serving billions of users, including YouTube. Co-created OpenStack Swift, now powering 500+ global deployments.
Co-founder
Internet Direct — One of Texas's first ISPs
1995 – 2000Pioneered commercial Internet access in Texas during the early days of the web.
Speaking & Media
John is a frequent keynote speaker on the future of AI, cloud security, and digital transformation. He has appeared in major tech publications and on stage at global conferences.