# Co-founder and Project Lead, Keycloak

Source: https://startwithidentity.com/experts/stian-thorgersen/
Last updated: 2026-09-20
License: content by Start with Identity. Cite the source URL.

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## Bio

Stian Thorgersen co-founded Keycloak at Red Hat in 2013 and is its project lead and top contributor. He is a senior principal software engineer at Red Hat and co-wrote the book most teams learn Keycloak from.

Profile built from public project, employer, and publication records.

## Where their work shows up

[Keycloak](https://startwithidentity.com/vendors/open-source/keycloak/) is the reason a team can run standards-complete [OpenID Connect](https://startwithidentity.com/standards/openid-connect/), [OAuth 2.0](https://startwithidentity.com/standards/oauth-2-0/), and [SAML 2.0](https://startwithidentity.com/standards/saml-2-0/) without a vendor contract, which matters most where data residency, air-gapped deployment, or budget rules out SaaS. It anchors the open-source end of the market; see the [open-source identity vendors](https://startwithidentity.com/vendors/open-source/) and the [best IAM platforms](https://startwithidentity.com/rankings/best-iam-platforms/) ranking for where self-hosting sits against managed options.