Cliff Schmidt manages standards and open source strategy for BEA's WebLogic Workshop product. Through the Java Community Process and other standards organizations, he ensures that the Workshop product complies with existing standards and advances future standards. He has also participated in standards working groups at OASIS and the World Wide Web Consortium, such as the XML Schema Working Group. In addition to working with standards organizations, he is responsible for BEA's relationship with open source communities, including code contributions and ongoing developer involvement. Prior to working at BEA, he managed the XML standards strategy for Microsoft's MSXML, SQLXML, and .NET XML products. He has been working in the software industry since 1987, with the exception of serving six years as a submarine officer for the US Navy.