Kern Sibbald is the project founder and lead developer on the OpenSource Bacula network backup project.

He obtained a PhD degree in Solid State Physics from the University of Maryland (UOM), but has worked his whole professional life in the Computer Science (IT) field, first as an Computer Sciences Instructor at UOM, then as a mainframe Computer Analyst in the UOM data center. He moved on to work as a Computer Purchasing and Performance Manager for a large engineering and construction firm (Bechtel). In 1982, he became one of the founders of Autodesk and worked on AutoCAD until 1995. Since 1999 he has devoted full time to Open Source projects, first with apcupsd (UPS management program), then with Bacula (network backup).

His work experience is spread across University teaching, University administration, commercial, a successful start-up, and Free/Open Source.