With over 15 years of career in IT, Ilya has worked with Oracle, DB2, mySQL Server, MySQL and PostgreSQL.
His experience spans across high availability web, telecommunications and mission critical applications with large legacy.

Ilya is a strong believer that stellar DBA expertise is key in addressing ever-increasing performance and reliability demands across database platforms. It also secures optimal system performance and highest standard of user experience.

Ilya founded Data Egret in order to raise the bar in DBA support for PostgreSQL and to secure a reliable database performance for our clients.

Ilya takes an active role in the PostgreSQL community and has been recognised by the community as PostgreSQL contributor. He served on several boards (Code of Conduct Committee, Sponsorship Committee of PostgreSQL Project), is a co-organizer of local usergroups and meetups in Germany (PostgreSQL User group Frankfurt-am-Main, DevOpsSaar meetup) and is one of the organisers for several community conferences.

• Focus: PostgreSQL troubleshooting, system configuration and IO optimisation, migration, Linux and Oracle.
• Industry experience: web, telecom, OSS/BSS, architecture and strategy.
• He is also: a keen photographer, superb cook and loves cycling.

Stefan brings to Data Egret close to 15 years of expertise in the database space, boasting extensive experience in client support, maintenance, and architectural consulting. His impact on Postgres development is significant, notably as one of the contributors to pgBackRest, a reliable backup and restore solution for PostgreSQL. Stefan is a familiar face at Postgres community events, including FOSDEM, pgDay France, and PGconf.EU, where he draws inspiration for his upcoming development projects. Based in Belgium, Stefan not only excels in the database world but also finds joy in the art of cooking and in badminton.

Focus: backup and recovery, pgBackRest, Patroni, containerisation, PostgreSQL troubleshooting, system configuration and IO optimisation.

Industry experience: health-care industry, PostgreSQL development

He is also: an avid badminton player and often assumes the role of a referee.

Thom Brown is a seasoned technology professional with over 20 years of industry experience and a strong focus on databases, open-source solutions, and client support. With deep expertise in PostgreSQL, he has guided countless organisations through their PostgreSQL journey—helping them build stable, high-availability systems for business-critical applications.

In his previous roles, Thom has worked across a wide spectrum of responsibilities, from resolving critical system incidents and functionality issues to leading development planning for enterprise-grade software. He has managed engineering projects, coordinated cross-functional teams, and ensured the timely delivery of high-quality solutions.

Beyond engineering and support, Thom has been deeply involved in PostgreSQL training, consultancy, and community engagement. His hands-on experience and broad perspective give him a well-rounded understanding of the database technology landscape and the needs of modern data-driven businesses.

PostgreSQL: Development, Support, Training, Consultancy
Performance & Architecture: Tuning, Design, Replication, High Availability, Diagnostics
Programming & Scripting: Python, Bash
Operating Systems: Linux (Debian, CentOS)
Version Control: Git
Open Source Advocacy: Committed to open-source technologies and community growth

With over 12 years of database experience in the finance, telecom, and retail sectors, Marat has in-depth experience in developing solutions that require high availability and geo-distribution. He possesses extensive know-how in monitoring solutions such as Zabbix, Prometheus and Grafana.
A keen photographer, he enjoys hiking Serbian mountains and savouring the fresh air while writing his next blog post or helping clients unleash the full potential of PostgreSQL.

Zabbix, Grafana, Prometheus, Ansible, Neo4J, Golang

Daria Nikolaenko is a database specialist with a strong focus on monitoring, high availability, performance tuning, and scalable system architecture. She has hands-on experience with PostgreSQL exporters and metric analysis, and brings deep expertise in building robust data infrastructures.
With a background in fintech, and telecommunications, Daria combines technical precision with real-world reliability. She believes that great database administration is a craft — structured, deliberate, and thoughtfully designed.

Focus: monitoring, high availability, performance tuning, data archiving and retention, bloat

Industry experience: banking, fintech, and telecommunications

She is also: A curious sewist and certified tattoo artist with extensive photography experience.

Natalia is the key contact for our clients when it comes to administrative and operational questions. With broad experience in communications and strategic management she assists our clients in maximising the integration of our DBA team in their business processes. 

Natalia is an invaluable team member, who connects our client’s database expectations and application growth plans to our DBA know-how in order to secure high availability, increased DB performance and long-term stability of their business critical applications.

Focus: operations, product development and client relationships.

Industry experience: communications and marketing in IT, advertising and  telecom

She also: runs sociology and communications trainings at summer camps and is a keen swimmer.

Valeria is an active member of the PostgreSQL community, recognised as a PostgreSQL Contributor. She chairs the PgUS User Group Committee, supporting grassroots adoption through local community initiatives, and serves on the PostgreSQL Europe Diversity Task Force.

Valeria is one of the organisers of PGConf.EU — the largest PostgreSQL community conference in Europe — and a founding member of the Open Alliance for PostgreSQL Education, an initiative working to establish an industry-wide certification standard.

Through her community work and leadership at Data Egret, she is committed to strengthening the global Postgres ecosystem and promoting its adoption across industries by ensuring reliable, high-quality remote database administration services.

Focus: company marketing, sales and client relationship.

Industry experience: with background in marketing Valeria brings communication side into PostgreSQL community. Fostering the adoption of the software on a global as well as local level.

She is also: a passionate cook and an avid martial arts practitioner.