Fowmy Abdulmuttalib is a Microsoft-certified business intelligence professional with extensive experience in finance, accounting and data analytics. Currently, he is employed by McDonald's Saudi Arabia as the Head of ERP and Business Intelligence. Interested in everything data-related, he would like to share his passion and knowledge with the data community.

Fowmy Abdulmuttalib is a Microsoft-certified business intelligence professional with extensive experience in finance, accounting and data analytics. Currently, he is employed by McDonald's Saudi Arabia as the Head of ERP and Business Intelligence. In... Show more

Reid is a seasoned data professional with a wealth of experience in data visualization, Microsoft Power Platform, and artificial intelligence. In his professional capacity, Reid specializes in consulting on IT processes to drive improvement and efficiency. In addition to his role, Reid is deeply involved in developing Power Platform solutions, integrating artificial intelligence, and advocating for enhanced end-user technology experiences.

Before transitioning into tech, Reid built a successful career in the finance industry. From broker and trader to consultant, where he assisted Financial Advisors in scaling and marketing their businesses, while also serving as a trusted expert in investments and strategy.

Reid is a proud graduate of Kansas State University, where he earned his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration specializing in Finance with a minor in Leadership Studies.

Outside of work, Reid enjoys spending quality time with his wife and son. He also enjoys the company of his dogs, Finley and Bentley, and enjoys the occasional lake trip, serving on nonprofit boards, reading, continuous learning, sharing knowledge, and working on side projects.

Four Colors: Green | Gold | Orange | Blue
Myers-Briggs: ISTP

Reid is a seasoned data professional with a wealth of experience in data visualization, Microsoft Power Platform, and artificial intelligence. In his professional capacity, Reid specializes in consulting on IT processes to drive improvement and effic... Show more

Michele Grant is a global M&A integration and enterprise transformation executive with 20+ years of enterprise transformation and 10+ years of M&A integration experience guiding complex transactions, private equity portfolio integrations, and enterprise modernization initiatives across media, technology, consumer goods, and financial services. At Cognizant, she serves as Value Realization Office Lead on a multi-billion-dollar post-acquisition managed services transition for a Fortune 500 fintech client. She has led post-merger integration for landmark transactions including the $30 billion ViacomCBS merger and NBCUniversal's $39 billion Sky acquisition, and established the Integration Management Office for a PE-backed consumer goods merger, coordinating 350+ cross-functional stakeholders to advance a $250M synergy case across operations, supply chain, and technology consolidation.

Michele is the creator of Leading at Scale, a video and article series on M&A integration and enterprise transformation published weekly across YouTube, Substack, Medium, and LinkedIn. Her talks cover integration, change management, risk management, governance, M&A due diligence, the first 100 days, value realization, and AI transformation. She delivered the May 2026 Cornell Tech Business Network Forum keynote on post-merger integration, has spoken at the Women Changemakers Forum and Cornell Johnson School of Management, and is a 2026 recipient of the St. John's University Alumnae Achiever Award.

She is the #1 Amazon bestselling author of The Power Dressers™: A Women's Guide to Professional Style and serves as President of the Cornell Johnson Women's Leadership and Advocacy Network, Chair of the Loughlin Society at St. John's University, and Chair of the Cornell EMC2 Fellows Program. Her credentials include a Cornell Johnson Executive MBA (May 2027), the Wharton M&A and Corporate Development credential, NACD Accelerate, and a B.S. in Computer Science from St. John's University. She is based in the New York metropolitan area and speaks in person and virtually.

Michele Grant is a global M&A integration and enterprise transformation executive with 20+ years of enterprise transformation and 10+ years of M&A integration experience guiding complex transactions, private equity portfolio integrations, and enterpr... Show more

I'm a Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Solution Architect and Chartered Accountant (ACA, ICAEW) based in the UK: a combination that lets me sit on both sides of a finance transformation, the system and the standards it has to honor.

I write bcforfinance.com, an ongoing series on IFRS in Business Central, translating IFRS 15, IFRS 16, IFRS18, IFRS 9 and IAS2 into practical BC configuration with real journal entries. I also speak on the Dynamics user-group circuit, including D365PPUG UK. There's very little finance-first BC architecture content out there, and closing that gap is the work I care most about.

Over 15+ years I've led finance transformations and full BC implementations across manufacturing, construction, financial services and asset finance, public sector and more. I design the accounting logic first, then the configuration, so the numbers are right from day one.

At Mercurius IT I've also architected in-house solutions for CIS, projects and construction, purchase requisitions and commitment accounting, often alongside ISVs like Continia, GYDE 365 and Jet Reports, Yavrio, EMBAT.

ACA (ICAEW) · ICAEW BFP · PMP · Microsoft Certified: BC Functional Consultant and Solution Architect

Working through a finance design question in BC? Message me. Happy to talk it through.

I'm a Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Solution Architect and Chartered Accountant (ACA, ICAEW) based in the UK: a combination that lets me sit on both sides of a finance transformation, the system and the standards it has to honor. I write... Show more

David Taiwo Balogun is a Data Scientist, AI Expert, AI Researcher, and Lead Analyst with over six years of experience building machine learning solutions, credit risk models, and real-time analytics platforms across venture-backed fintechs, financial institutions, edtech, and technology-focused NGOs. He specializes in the intersection of artificial intelligence, financial risk, business intelligence, and data engineering, transforming complex datasets into actionable insights that drive strategic business decisions.

Throughout his career, David has designed and deployed predictive models, automated analytics workflows, and business intelligence solutions that have enhanced operational efficiency, strengthened risk management, and empowered executives to make data-driven decisions. He is experienced in leading end-to-end data projects from data engineering and model development to dashboard design and stakeholder engagement—bridging the gap between technical implementation and business strategy.

Beyond industry, David is an active AI researcher whose work focuses on practical machine learning systems, edge AI, and scalable data infrastructures for resource-constrained environments. His research was presented at the 10th International Conference on Cloud and Big Data Computing (ICCBDC 2026) at the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, where he presented his paper, “Designing a Full-Stack Pipeline: From Data Collection to Edge Deployment in Low-Bandwidth Environment.” He also presented “Crop Disease Detection Using Convolutional Neural Networks in Low-Resource Agricultural Settings” at the Faculty of Computing, University of Ibadan, Nigeria. In addition, David presented his research at the 10th International Conference on Advances in Artificial Intelligence (ICAAI 2026) in London, United Kingdom, with a presentation titled “Chunking and Retrieval Strategies for Reducing Hallucination in Domain-Specific Retrieval-Augmented Generation Pipelines.”

David is equally passionate about developing the next generation of data professionals. He has mentored and trained nearly 3,000 aspiring data scientists and analysts across Europe, Africa, and the United States through technical training, coaching, and community initiatives.

By combining technical excellence, research, and business acumen, David leverages data science, artificial intelligence, and machine learning to solve complex business challenges, advance AI research, and deliver measurable impact for forward-thinking organizations.

David Taiwo Balogun is a Data Scientist, AI Expert, AI Researcher, and Lead Analyst with over six years of experience building machine learning solutions, credit risk models, and real-time analytics platforms across venture-backed fintechs, financial... Show more

Thomas is Head of Data-Driven Applications & Services at GRENKE in Baden-Baden.
GRENKE is a financial solution provider, offering services in more than 30 countries around the world.

His department aims to deliver business value through data and data-related services and applications.
He has spent the last 20 years with data, databases, IT services, and related infrastructure. Before that, he was a paramedic with the German Red Cross.

When he is not pretending to work, you will probably find him on his motorcycle, as far away from paved roads as possible.

Thomas is Head of Data-Driven Applications & Services at GRENKE in Baden-Baden. GRENKE is a financial solution provider, offering services in more than 30 countries around the world. His department aims to deliver business value through data and ... Show more

Matt Fenner is a finance and operations executive with more than 30 years of experience helping entrepreneurs and investors build scalable, high-value businesses. He currently serves as COO of Caplin Ventures, a Jacksonville, Florida investment firm managing 10 operating companies and 20+ passive investments across healthcare staffing, technology, engineering, and professional sports.

Matt is available to speak on topics including: M&A strategy and execution, financial management for growth-stage companies, building and exiting micro-cap businesses, private investment strategy, and operational leadership in diversified portfolios. He holds an MBA in Finance and a BBA in Accounting from the University of North Florida.

Matt Fenner is a finance and operations executive with more than 30 years of experience helping entrepreneurs and investors build scalable, high-value businesses. He currently serves as COO of Caplin Ventures, a Jacksonville, Florida investment firm ... Show more

Rafael works as Software Architect Chapter Lead at ABN AMRO, known for his expertise in Java, backend systems, high-performance applications, DevOps, and software architecture. With over a decade of experience in the industry, he relishes in solving complex problems. In his free time, he enjoys automating his home and is currently exploring the integration of Kafka for controlling lights.

Rafael works as Software Architect Chapter Lead at ABN AMRO, known for his expertise in Java, backend systems, high-performance applications, DevOps, and software architecture. With over a decade of experience in the industry, he relishes in solving ... Show more

Hernan Huwyler is a Global Risk Management Executive and the Academic Director at IE Law and Business School (Executive Education). With a dual background as an MBA and CPA, Hernan specializes in the intersection of Law, Technology, and Quantitative Risk.

He focuses on "translating" complex regulatory frameworks (EU AI Act, GDPR, ISO 42001) into actionable architectures for engineering and business teams. Unlike traditional compliance officers, Hernan advocates for data-driven risk management, moving beyond "heatmaps" to utilize Monte Carlo simulations, convolution models, and Python-based risk quantification.

Hernan has led Risk, Control, and Audit functions for major multinational corporations across Europe and the Americas. He writes and speaks extensively on Adversarial AI, Algorithmic Auditing, and the financial quantification of Cyber Risk. Past keynote venues include Risk Awareness Conferences (>2,000 risk managers), IIA and ISACA Summits, ProcureCom Europe, IKN Madrid, IE University, and closed-door sessions for international organizations and national regulators. Hernan’s talks consistently rank in the top 5% of conference feedback scores because he makes complex security requirements, business needs and regulations feel like a competitive advantage.

Speaking Topics:

AI Governance: Implementing ISO 42001 and navigating the EU AI Act.
Risk Quantification: Why "Impact x Probability" fails and how to use convolution models.
Adversarial AI: Balancing transparency with security to prevent data poisoning.
AI ROI: Risk-adjusted financial modeling for Generative AI deployments.
AI Architecture: Decision-making and planning on how to plan AI developments.

Ready-to-Submit Talk Proposals:

Session 1: The Technical/Quant Talk

Title: Kill the Heatmap: Quantifying AI Risk with Python & Monte Carlo Simulations
Abstract: Most organizations manage AI risk using colorful 5x5 "heatmaps." This is mathematically flawed and dangerous for high-stakes AI deployment. In this talk, we will ditch the gut-check methodology. I will demonstrate how to use convolution and Monte Carlo simulations to model the "tail risk" of AI hallucinations and regulatory fines. You will leave with a method to calculate the actual financial exposure of your models—no expensive GRC software required, just math and logic.

Session 2: The Governance/Security Talk

Title: The Transparency Trap: How to Audit AI Without Creating Vulnerabilities
Abstract: New standards like ISO/IEC 12792 demand AI transparency, but in the age of Adversarial Machine Learning, "oversharing" is a security vector. If you reveal your full architecture and training sources, you invite data poisoning and model inversion attacks. This session outlines a "Tiered Disclosure Architecture." We will discuss how to route specific data to auditors, regulators, and users differently, ensuring compliance with the EU AI Act without handing the keys to bad actors.

Session 3: The Business/Strategy Talk

Title: The Real Cost of Intelligence: A Risk-Adjusted Framework for AI ROI
Abstract: Companies are deploying Generative AI based on productivity hype, but they are ignoring the "OpEx Iceberg"—model drift, inference costs, and liability reserves. This talk presents a financial framework for calculating the true ROI of AI. We will cover how to factor in the "Risk Delta" (new risks vs. automated risks), calculate the Levelized Cost of AI (LCOAI), and determine when to build vs. buy based on process uniqueness. A session for leaders who need to justify the cloud bill to the CFO.

Hernan Huwyler is a Global Risk Management Executive and the Academic Director at IE Law and Business School (Executive Education). With a dual background as an MBA and CPA, Hernan specializes in the intersection of Law, Technology, and Quantitative ... Show more

Constance Etiosa is a Developer Advocate at Moniepoint, where he's building out the Developer Relations function for the Monnify payments API from the ground up covering documentation strategy, developer community outreach, and technical content. He's spent his career at the intersection of developer experience and technical writing, having documented 200+ APIs at VertoFX and led AI-augmented documentation workflows at Nutrient (PSPDFKit). His current focus is on how documentation needs to evolve as AI agents become active consumers of developer content, drawing on hands-on work with llms.txt, semantic Markdown, and AI-native documentation tooling. He also writes TechSpective, a Substack on technical topics.

Constance Etiosa is a Developer Advocate at Moniepoint, where he's building out the Developer Relations function for the Monnify payments API from the ground up covering documentation strategy, developer community outreach, and technical content. He'... Show more

Ishween Kaur is a Senior Software Engineer in Crypto and AI at SoFi, where she works on bringing AI thinking into the crypto space and building AI-native experiences that make her Ops teams' work easier so they can better serve SoFi members.

She was previously a founding engineer on Salesforce's AgentForce, an agentic platform serving 6,000+ enterprise customers across 17+ languages, where she built the harness, memory, guardrails and evaluation that keep agents reliable under real load and debugged them when they failed in ways a prompt could not explain.

She is Communications Lead, Women in AI California and DEIB Lead for Society of Women Engineering, and served as an AI advisor with Cornell Tech's Break Through Tech program. She speaks and runs workshops regularly, and shows working demos rather than slides.

Ishween Kaur is a Senior Software Engineer in Crypto and AI at SoFi, where she works on bringing AI thinking into the crypto space and building AI-native experiences that make her Ops teams' work easier so they can better serve SoFi members. She ... Show more

Business Architect, Financial Services | Trusted AI for Banking, Custody & Insurance | Offerings, Client Relationships, Practice Growth | FINOS Ambassador | Speaker & Author, The Little Book of AI Clarity.

Business Architect, Financial Services | Trusted AI for Banking, Custody & Insurance | Offerings, Client Relationships, Practice Growth | FINOS Ambassador | Speaker & Author, The Little Book of AI Clarity. Show more

Amanda Chestnut, JD, founded Money Mastery LLC to help small-business owners understand how their books, taxes, and decisions fit together. Based in southeastern North Carolina, she helps owners uncover problems, anticipate tax consequences, and make informed choices while there is still time to act. She understands that behind those decisions are families, livelihoods, and people carrying more responsibility than others often see.

An Accredited Business Accountant through the National Society of Accountants and an elite-level Advanced QuickBooks ProAdvisor, Amanda brings more than 20 years of experience. Her bachelor’s degree in social psychology informs her approach: useful advice starts with understanding the person who needs to use it.

Amanda is rethinking how an accounting firm operates, using her own practice as a testing ground for AI. She is building systems that take on reviews, track documents, and support communication, while questioning which processes and software still earn their place. She generously shares what she learns with fellow accountants. Her purpose is to create space for the work that requires human attention: sound judgment, difficult conversations, and helping someone feel understood enough to ask the next question.

A Brunswick County Chamber of Commerce Emerging Entrepreneur Award recipient and NC Project LEAD Entrepreneur Innovator Award nominee, Amanda is a Reframe Society Leader and certified in Exactly What to Say for Accountants.

Amanda Chestnut, JD, founded Money Mastery LLC to help small-business owners understand how their books, taxes, and decisions fit together. Based in southeastern North Carolina, she helps owners uncover problems, anticipate tax consequences, and make... Show more

I am a Flutter Mobile Engineer with over five years of professional experience building production-ready mobile applications. At Payecards, a fintech company offering digital banking and cryptocurrency services, I work on developing secure, scalable, and user-focused mobile solutions used in real-world financial environments.

Over the years, I have built and shipped several applications to both the Google Play Store and Apple App Store, gaining hands-on experience in application architecture, state management, performance optimization, API integrations, and delivering polished user experiences. Beyond writing code, I enjoy sharing knowledge with fellow developers and helping others build confidence in creating high-quality Flutter applications.

I am a Flutter Mobile Engineer with over five years of professional experience building production-ready mobile applications. At Payecards, a fintech company offering digital banking and cryptocurrency services, I work on developing secure, scalable,... Show more

12x Microsoft Azure MVP . Founder of the Polish Microsoft Azure User Group. Cloud Lead and Azure Lead Architect working with enterprises and gov also building Dynamics 365 Managed Environments for large business. Experienced in regulated envs like Banking and Insurance.

12x Microsoft Azure MVP . Founder of the Polish Microsoft Azure User Group. Cloud Lead and Azure Lead Architect working with enterprises and gov also building Dynamics 365 Managed Environments for large business. Experienced in regulated envs like Ba... Show more

Results - driven Cybersecurity Engineer with diverse experience across Healthcare, Banking, Public, and Telecom sectors, cross-functional project guidance and stakeholder support, security architecture strategy, application/ agentic AI security, predictive analytics, and enterprise risk management. Adept at designing and implementing scalable solutions, driving automation, and delivering quantifiable value and innovation.

Results - driven Cybersecurity Engineer with diverse experience across Healthcare, Banking, Public, and Telecom sectors, cross-functional project guidance and stakeholder support, security architecture strategy, application/ agentic AI security, pred... Show more

James first worked in software delivery in the 1990s, when agile and lean were words used to describe gymnasts and pipelines were for carrying oil.

After working in a successful startup for 10 years James drifted into being an ex-software developer while learning about people, processes and systems thinking as a consultant at ThoughtWorks. Following a stint as Head of Platform in a Fintech and VP of Engineering in a Proptech startup, James went back to consultancy with Forrow where he is mainly working on Cyber Security and Post Quantum Cryptography while never drifting too far away from people, systems and delivery of useful outcomes.

James first worked in software delivery in the 1990s, when agile and lean were words used to describe gymnasts and pipelines were for carrying oil. After working in a successful startup for 10 years James drifted into being an ex-software develope... Show more

I am a seasoned Solution Architect with over a decade of experience in delivering technology solutions within the Non-profit, Medical, and Investment firm industries. My expertise spans a mix of consulting and industry-specific roles. In these positions, I have successfully designed and executed numerous projects involving Microsoft products, including Dynamics CRM for Sales, Service, and Marketing, as well as Office 365 Administration. Additionally, I have been actively engaged in the community, contributing my skills and knowledge to further our collective goals.

I am a seasoned Solution Architect with over a decade of experience in delivering technology solutions within the Non-profit, Medical, and Investment firm industries. My expertise spans a mix of consulting and industry-specific roles. In these positi... Show more

Megha Pandey is a Network and Automation Engineer at Wipro, managing two major banking clients, ICICI Bank as a Network Engineer and HDFC Bank as a Storage Area Network (SAN) Automation Engineer. With around four years of experience, she works on building and securing banking infrastructure. She is an active researcher in Post-Quantum Cryptography and Hybrid VLMs for classical systems and is also associated with Women Techmakers (Google) and is a Windows Insider MVP.

Megha Pandey is a Network and Automation Engineer at Wipro, managing two major banking clients, ICICI Bank as a Network Engineer and HDFC Bank as a Storage Area Network (SAN) Automation Engineer. With around four years of experience, she works on bui... Show more

I'm a Senior Product & Brand Designer with 7 years across fintech, B2B SaaS and health-tech; I design complex, high-stakes products end to end and then build many of them in code myself.

Most of my recent work lives at the intersection of design and AI-assisted development. I've been building and shipping live products with AI since mid-2025; and I've kept a steady cadence ever since, with new work going out most weeks. Full-stack apps with real users, dashboards, design systems and landing pages. That means what I hand over isn't a mockup waiting on a developer; it's often a finished, deployed product built with the same eye for craft I bring to every design decision.

My design foundation is deep. I've designed treasury and core banking systems for government and financial institutions, a compliance engine unifying multiple third-party APIs, clinical EMR dashboards validated with practising doctors, and a design system spanning an entire product suite. I care most about the hard, invisible parts; dense workflows, expert users, decisions where getting it wrong actually costs someone something.

I also lead design for FlutterBytes, recognised by Google as Africa's largest Flutter developer community; carrying brand, product and event design across every touchpoint.

Portfolio: design.headfavour.com

4 Products I've built with AI:
www.stampdx.com
www.wordmaths.com
www.moniematch.com
www.magznmaker.com

I'm a Senior Product & Brand Designer with 7 years across fintech, B2B SaaS and health-tech; I design complex, high-stakes products end to end and then build many of them in code myself. Most of my recent work lives at the intersection of design ... Show more

Víctor Aguayo is a Technology Architect at BCP, with more than 20 years of experience in software architecture, cloud computing, distributed systems, and Artificial Intelligence.

He specializes in cloud-native architectures on Kubernetes, microservices with Dapr, and event-driven platforms using Kafka and Apache Flink. He is currently also working on architectures based on Artificial Intelligence, AI agents, MCP, agentic workflows, and durable workflows, exploring how to combine reasoning, automation, resilience, and governance to bring AI solutions into enterprise and mission-critical environments.

At BCP, he leads proofs of concept, defines architectural standards and baselines, and promotes best practices in resilience, observability, portability, security, and cost optimization. His work focuses on connecting cloud-native platforms, distributed systems, and emerging agentic architectures to build scalable and governable solutions.

Previously, he served as a Principal Architect at Cervecería y Maltería Quilmes, working on architectures built on AWS.

He has participated as a speaker at Global Azure Peru 2025 and 2026, GDG DevFest Lima 2025, and Kubernetes Community Days Lima 2026, and is an active member of the Rust Peru community.

Víctor Aguayo is a Technology Architect at BCP, with more than 20 years of experience in software architecture, cloud computing, distributed systems, and Artificial Intelligence. He specializes in cloud-native architectures on Kubernetes, microser... Show more

Muralidharan lakshmanan is a seasoned technology leader, researcher, and software architect with over sixteen years of professional experience designing and delivering large-scale, enterprise-grade systems in the banking, financial services, Healthcare, Supply chain and technology domains. He currently works as a VP, solutions architect in a Fortune 500 company, specializing in cloud-native architectures, distributed systems, and data-driven platforms.

His technical expertise spans cloud native application development, applied AI/ML experience, event-driven systems, cloud platforms such as AWS, and high-performance data processing systems. He has played a key role in building and modernizing mission-critical platforms that handle large transaction volumes while maintaining security, scalability, and reliability.

In parallel with his industry career, Muralidharan is an active researcher and contributor to the global academic and professional community. He has authored and co-authored multiple peer-reviewed research papers focusing on areas such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, AI in Cloud, Cloud Architecture, Agentic AI and large-scale data systems.

He is a frequent speaker and invited presenter at technical conferences, academic forums, and professional meetups, where he shares insights on emerging technologies, data-intensive systems, and responsible AI. Beyond publishing and speaking, Muralidharan actively serves the research community as a peer reviewer and technical program committee member.

Muralidharan is a Senior Member of IEEE and a Fellow-level member of several professional and research organizations, reflecting peer recognition of his technical contributions, leadership, and service.

Through his work in industry, research, and community engagement, Muralidharan remains dedicated to building reliable, scalable systems and supporting the growth of emerging researchers, engineers, and practitioners worldwide.

Muralidharan lakshmanan is a seasoned technology leader, researcher, and software architect with over sixteen years of professional experience designing and delivering large-scale, enterprise-grade systems in the banking, financial services, Healthca... Show more

Ahmad Alsharif is a Cloud Architect and a Google Cloud Authorized Trainer. He specializes in Application modernization, Kubernetes, and enterprise AI, driving the design and implementation of cloud environments and AI products for complex highly-regulated financial workloads. He also leads the Google Developer Group Amman, actively advocating for Cloud-native technologies.

Ahmad Alsharif is a Cloud Architect and a Google Cloud Authorized Trainer. He specializes in Application modernization, Kubernetes, and enterprise AI, driving the design and implementation of cloud environments and AI products for complex highly-regu... Show more

Nithesh Gudipuri is Associate Director of Technology at Raymond James Financial, with 13+ years across financial services, telecommunications, and healthcare. He modernized 100+ services supporting $1.3 trillion in assets, holds two USPTO patents, and leads SEC regulatory implementations ( T1 Settlement, USTC). Named Innovation Champion (top 1% of 1,800 technologists), he advises on blockchain strategy and has presented research at IEEE/ACM conferences.

Nithesh Gudipuri is Associate Director of Technology at Raymond James Financial, with 13+ years across financial services, telecommunications, and healthcare. He modernized 100+ services supporting $1.3 trillion in assets, holds two USPTO patents, an... Show more

I’m a technology leader passionate about building solutions that are not only scalable and efficient but also secure and aligned with business growth. Over the years, I’ve helped organizations transform complex requirements into future-ready systems that deliver measurable results.

Currently serving as CTO in fintech, I focus on shaping technology strategy, leading cross-functional teams, and ensuring that every solution we deliver is resilient, compliant, and aligned with business objectives. My work spans across solution architecture, governance, compliance, and security with a constant drive to balance innovation with stability.

Passionate about strategy, architecture, and security, I bring both a business mindset and a technical edge to every challenge.

I’m a technology leader passionate about building solutions that are not only scalable and efficient but also secure and aligned with business growth. Over the years, I’ve helped organizations transform complex requirements into future-ready systems ... Show more

Senior Solutions Architect at AWS, based in Chicago, with deep expertise in cloud architecture, data and analytics, containers, and application modernization. He partners with financial service industry customers to translate business goals into secure, scalable, and compliant cloud solutions that deliver measurable value. Venu is passionate about using technology to drive innovation and operational excellence.

Senior Solutions Architect at AWS, based in Chicago, with deep expertise in cloud architecture, data and analytics, containers, and application modernization. He partners with financial service industry customers to translate business goals into secu... Show more

"Ram Brij is a Senior Engineering Manager with over 17 years of experience leading the design and delivery of secure, scalable, cloud-native systems within the financial services industry. He specializes in distributed systems, microservices architecture, payments infrastructure, fraud prevention platforms, and compliance-driven enterprise solutions.

Throughout his career, Ram has spearheaded the development and modernization of mission-critical platforms including credit card authorization systems, fraud detection services, secure API ecosystems, and high-throughput transaction processing infrastructures. His work also includes building EMVCo-certified Access Control Server (ACS) platforms for 3-D Secure authentication used in modern digital payment ecosystems.

Ram has extensive experience implementing modern engineering practices such as cloud-native development, CI/CD automation, continuous testing, observability-driven quality engineering, and platform engineering. He is particularly passionate about improving developer productivity, engineering reliability, and software delivery confidence through strong DevOps and quality engineering practices.

Recently, Ram spoke at STAR EAST 2026 and at Capital One’s internal engineering conference, where he shared insights on modern quality engineering, continuous delivery strategies, and the evolving role of AI in software testing.

Currently, Ram is actively focused on advancing Agentic AI contributions within quality engineering ecosystems — exploring how autonomous test agents can be designed, orchestrated, and integrated into CI/CD pipelines to improve testing intelligence, deployment confidence, and engineering productivity in modern software delivery environments.

He is also the inventor of a fluent-style log redaction wrapper currently under patent review, designed to strengthen secure logging practices without compromising developer ergonomics. In parallel, he is exploring a second patent focused on Integration Testing-as-a-Service (ITaaS) — a platform-driven approach for validating multi-service interactions across complex distributed architectures.

Ram is an active Senior Member of IEEE and a contributor to the broader technology community, volunteering as a reviewer for IEEE conferences and technical publications. His talks are known for blending deep technical insights with practical real-world implementation lessons, making him a compelling speaker for engineering, developer, quality engineering, DevOps, and architect audiences alike."

"Ram Brij is a Senior Engineering Manager with over 17 years of experience leading the design and delivery of secure, scalable, cloud-native systems within the financial services industry. He specializes in distributed systems, microservices architec... Show more

Experienced MS Dynamics 365 Business Central Practice Lead with 15+ years of expertise in implementation, upgrades, integrations, and support development projects. Proven success across diverse domains, including Trading, NGOs, Manufacturing, IT, Financial Services, Banking, and Automobile industries. Adept at delivering solutions across multiple geographies, including Australia, the USA, GCC, the UK, and Europe.

Experienced MS Dynamics 365 Business Central Practice Lead with 15+ years of expertise in implementation, upgrades, integrations, and support development projects. Proven success across diverse domains, including Trading, NGOs, Manufacturing, IT, Fin... Show more

Andrea Elliott is the CEO, Founder, and Managing Partner of EMG Advisory, the AI-native governance, risk and strategy practice serving regulated, high-stakes industries including Quantum Computing and Financial Services. She most recently served as Chief Compliance and Ethics Officer at a publicly traded global payments technology company, where she led a global risk and compliance transformation, built the company's AI governance framework, and led the outstanding CFPB & State AG Consent Orders to full regulatory compliance, with zero reportable incidents during her tenure. She also designed and led the GRC technology transformation to drive internal risk intelligence, transparency, and enterprise accountability, providing an end-to-end, 360 perspective on risk throughout the enterprise. With 15-plus years across risk, compliance, governance, ethics, and legal, Andrea brings a foresight practitioner's perspective to AI governance failures and mitigation. She is the author of (1) The Deadline on Implicit Governance, (2) The Proportionality Problem, (3) The Architecture of Intuition, (4) The Quiet Rewiring, (5) Bounded Autonomy, (6) The Compounding Bet, and (7) The Missing Middle. She holds a JD from Emory Law [Bankruptcy Journal & Transactional Certificate], an MBA from UGA [Finance focus with an emphasis in Consulting], and the AIGP credential from IAPP. Her undergraduate studies at Auburn University included Architecture, Industrial Design, and Business Administration.

From Andrea: "AI is rewriting what industries can do, and the leaders who govern it with seriousness and imagination will reshape theirs rather than scramble to catch up. I help those leaders imagine beyond what AI makes possible today, then usher them through the transformation for the betterment of the people their industries serve.

It starts with something deceptively simple: helping organizations make sound AI decisions they can stand behind, quickly and confidently. Done right, that discipline is not a brake on ambition. It is what lets a company reimagine what is possible with AI.

My work sits at the intersection of law, risk, ethics, strategy, and systems design. After 15+ years in risk and compliance roles, most recently as Chief Compliance Officer where I built the company's AI governance framework from the ground up, I founded EMG Advisory on a conviction: AI does not need more hype. It needs structure, accountability, and leaders who treat risk as a strategic discipline.

That is the part most people miss. Governance, Risk, and Compliance, done well, is not what slows AI down. It decides where you can afford to move fast and where you cannot, and it is inseparable from strategy; your AI strategy does not survive without it.

The other half of how I work is AI-native wiring. I think in systems, synthesize fast, and collaborate with AI at the conceptual layer as a cognitive partner, translating complexity into strategic clarity. It is also how EMG itself is built: I practice the responsible, operationalized AI I help my clients deploy.

I work with organizations that want to use AI strategically, responsibly, and with foresight. I help leaders:

Turn AI risk and compliance into strategic advantage
Make defensible AI decisions at the speed of business
Translate regulatory ambiguity into operational clarity
Anticipate second- and third-order effects before they surface
Design governance that works in practice, not just on paper

The regulatory landscape shifts faster than most AI roadmaps, and the patchwork of overlapping laws and standards leaves even willing organizations unsure what they must comply with. Pair that with AI that stalls in committee and governance impeccable on paper that no one operates by, and the gap becomes clear. Closing it is where I do my best work.

But closing the gap is the floor, not the ceiling. The organizations that govern AI with seriousness and imagination will not just keep up; they will transform what their industries can do for the people who depend on them. That is the future I am building toward."

Andrea Elliott is the CEO, Founder, and Managing Partner of EMG Advisory, the AI-native governance, risk and strategy practice serving regulated, high-stakes industries including Quantum Computing and Financial Services. She most recently served as C... Show more

I design and deliver intelligent data and AI infrastructure, bridging principal-level engineering practice with peer-reviewed research and external technical leadership.

My work focuses on building reliable, governable, and observable systems for scientific and regulated environments—spanning agentic AI, data platforms, control planes, and emerging computational paradigms.

I am active across IEEE publications, conference presentations, technical writing, and open-source prototypes, translating research ideas into practical engineering approaches.

What I work on:

- Agentic AI infrastructure: semantic caching, control planes, lifecycle finite-state machines, and governed autonomy
- Security-critical patterns for autonomous and multi-agent systems
- Strategy and architecture for intelligent data services and Manufacturing Execution Systems
- Near-real-time telemetry, audit, provenance, and decision-record substrates across multi-terabyte environments
- Declarative policy, state, and intent expressed as code through custom resource models, GitOps, and control-plane patterns
- Technical mentorship and cross-functional influence across engineering, MLOps, SRE, and adjacent disciplines

I bring AIOps, MLOps, DevSecOps, and Site Reliability Engineering practices to systems that must remain reliable, explainable, and operable in regulated contexts.

My background spans distributed systems in high-reliability domains: reactive platforms in banking and finance, GxP-aligned pharmaceutical manufacturing systems, and industrial automation for semiconductor manufacturing.

I design and deliver intelligent data and AI infrastructure, bridging principal-level engineering practice with peer-reviewed research and external technical leadership. My work focuses on building reliable, governable, and observable systems for ... Show more