What does real transformation look like when the stakes are high? Todd Smitala, Technology Solutions Architect at the Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA), shares how his journey of modernizing data system support 27,000 union members.

With the legacy infrastructure crumbling under peak traffic during a high-volume union vote, Todd’s team turned to cloud-based real-time streaming with Apache Kafka® on Confluent Cloud. The result? A more reliable, scalable system that delivered immediate impact, ensuring every vote counted. In this episode, Todd walks through the technical decisions and leadership alignment that made it possible.

You’ll learn:

How real-time infrastructure solved a high-stakes voting challenge
What it took to modernize under pressure and bring leadership on board
How to frame cost, reliability, and system ownership to drive successful change

If you're leading a data streaming initiative and need a blueprint for impact, this episode is for you.

About the Guest:
As a Technology Solutions Architect at APFA, Todd Smitala brings over 10 years of experience as a flight attendant and 20 years in IT, allowing Todd to bridge the gap between technology and the needs of flight attendants. He’s passionate about leveraging technology to create meaningful change, support union members, and enforce contractual legalities. This combination of industry insight and technical expertise empowers Todd to deliver innovations that make a real difference. Outside of work, Todd enjoys scuba diving, adventure travel, hiking, playing music, and dancing at Carnaval in Brazil.

Guest Highlight:
“We all agreed that Confluent Cloud would be the way we want to go because of how it does host. It does really handle all of the background stuff. I'm not a Java developer… We didn't have the time to invest in all of that so Confluent Cloud is actually perfect for this type of thing.”

Episode Timestamps:
*(01:22) - How APFA Is Using Data Streaming to Empower Members
*(20:39) - The Runbook: Tools & Tactics
*(26:45) - Data Streaming Street Cred: Improve Data Streaming Adoption
*(28:30) - Quick Bytes
*(33:36) - Joseph’s Top 3 Takeaways

Dive Deeper into Data Streaming:

Links & Resources:

Connect with Joseph: @thedatagiant
Joseph’s LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/thedatagiant
Todd’s LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/tsmitala
Learn more at Confluent.io

Our Sponsor:

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Ep 7 - Streaming for Impact: APFA's Real-Time Journey