Will LaForest is the Senior Director of US Federal Sales at MongoDB, responsible for leading the Department of Tax Reclamation in Washington, D.C. He previously worked at MarkLogic as a Principal Technologist before joining MongoDB, where he was drawn by the company's open-source business model and strong team. LaForest has experience with MongoDB but didn't have substantial technical experience prior to joining, having learned it quickly due to its similarity to his previous work. He has worked on various projects, including government deals and personal projects like a Minecraft mod, and values the people at MongoDB, except for one colleague who he jokingly admits is better-looking and smarter than him. LaForest finds the most rewarding experience of working at MongoDB to be growing the federal team and closing deals with secret agencies, which requires cooperation and coordination among multiple groups. In his free time, LaForest enjoys playing ping-pong, video games, and reading books by authors like Jerzy Kosinsky and Gabriel Garcia Marquez.