Vijay Soni is an Expert Architect & Engineer at Discover's business technology department. He architected and designed Discover's cloud native Open banking and Click to Pay ecommerce Digital Wallet Payments platforms. He is seasoned software engineer and passionate about solving complex emerging finance, digital payment, identity and payment product problems using scalable, secure, future-proof and innovative approach. Vijay also led multiple EMVCo, eCommerce, Mobile SE/HCE Payments technology initiatives as lead architect and engineer. Vijay has worked on large industry led financial services & payments technology integration projects including Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay, Click to Pay and FDX Open Banking integrations, Pay with Rewards, Contactless Mass Transit acceptance etc.

Vijay Soni is an Expert Architect & Engineer at Discover's business technology department. He architected and designed Discover's cloud native Open banking and Click to Pay ecommerce Digital Wallet Payments platforms. He is seasoned software engineer... Show more

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

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

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

Lazetta Rainey Braxton, MBA, CFP® is a high-impact, solution-oriented founder with a proven track record of building successful entrepreneurial ventures, driving innovation, and navigating the complexity of cultural competency in the financial services industry.

As Founder and Principal of The Real Wealth Coterie, a financial planning and wealth management firm, and Lazetta & Associates, a speaking and business consulting firm, Lazetta equips individuals and leaders to align their finances with their vision and values and achieve sustainable wealth. She is passionate about amplifying culture, talent, life, and money, and extends her expertise through public speaking, writing, consulting, and coaching.

Lazetta was named one of Crain's New York Business Notable Black Leaders and Executives and one of the top 10 of Investopedia’s 100 Top Financial Advisors for three consecutive years. Lazetta's national media presence includes TV appearances on NBC, CNBC, and CheddarNews and mentions in the WSJ, NY Times, LA Times, and Black Enterprise.

Lazetta Rainey Braxton, MBA, CFP® is a high-impact, solution-oriented founder with a proven track record of building successful entrepreneurial ventures, driving innovation, and navigating the complexity of cultural competency in the financial servic... 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

Erick Bourgeois is a platform engineering specialist focused on Kubernetes operators and infrastructure automation for regulated industries. Creator of Bindy, an open-source DNS controller built in Rust, Erick brings expertise in cloud-native architecture, compliance frameworks (SOX, NIST), and building production-grade Kubernetes operators for enterprise environments.

Erick Bourgeois is a platform engineering specialist focused on Kubernetes operators and infrastructure automation for regulated industries. Creator of Bindy, an open-source DNS controller built in Rust, Erick brings expertise in cloud-native archite... Show more

My background combines entrepreneurship, capital markets, research, and working with institutional GPs. In 2020, I founded a company focused on tokenized investment syndication. The experience eventually became a thesis: the development of private markets depends on the quality of the information, governance, and infrastructure supporting them.

I've authored multiple research publications, hold NGO Board positions, and advise companies developing digital infrastructure. In each, my interest is how PropTech, AI, Big Data or Tokenization can improve the management and allocation of capital.

As an international speaker and lecturer, I engage with industry leaders, investors, entrepreneurs, and policymakers on the evolution of real estate and private markets. I also host Code and Concrete, a podcast about real estate, technology, and other exciting innovations.

My background combines entrepreneurship, capital markets, research, and working with institutional GPs. In 2020, I founded a company focused on tokenized investment syndication. The experience eventually became a thesis: the development of private ma... 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

Yukti Lnu is a Lead Software Architect specializing in Agentic AI, AI/ML systems, cybersecurity, and cloud-native enterprise architecture. With deep expertise in .NET (Core/6+), C#, React, and Microsoft Azure, she designs and delivers scalable, secure, full-stack solutions that integrate machine learning models, LLM orchestration, and autonomous Agentic AI workflows into production-grade environments. Her work focuses on building intelligent systems that combine multi-model reasoning, secure API ecosystems, and Zero-Trust security principles to drive operational efficiency, risk intelligence, and data-driven decision-making—particularly within regulated industries such as insurance and healthcare.

A strong advocate for responsible and secure AI deployment, Yukti emphasizes governance, compliance alignment (including HIPAA and NIST CSF), model observability, and cybersecurity-by-design across all stages of development. She has authored and published research papers in AI/ML, fraud detection, graph-based analytics, and AI-driven cybersecurity, contributing to the advancement of applied artificial intelligence in enterprise systems. As an IEEE member and contributor, she actively engages with the professional community through research collaboration and technical discourse.

Beyond her engineering leadership, Yukti contributes to the broader innovation ecosystem as a keynote and panel speaker on Agentic AI, AI governance, and enterprise AI architecture, and as a national hackathon judge evaluating advanced AI/ML and cybersecurity solutions across U.S. institutions. She also mentors students through academic lectures and workshops, helping cultivate the next generation of AI engineers. Her multidisciplinary expertise across full-stack development, cloud infrastructure, cybersecurity, and autonomous AI systems positions her as a trusted voice in the evolving landscape of intelligent, secure digital transformation.

Yukti Lnu is a Lead Software Architect specializing in Agentic AI, AI/ML systems, cybersecurity, and cloud-native enterprise architecture. With deep expertise in .NET (Core/6+), C#, React, and Microsoft Azure, she designs and delivers scalable, secur... Show more

Rashi Dashore is a Docker Captain, AWS Community Builder, and Software Engineer in the fintech space, where she leads engineering decisions for high-reliability, mission-critical systems. Her technical core lies at the intersection of cloud-native infrastructure, Kubernetes, container ecosystems, CI/CD pipelines, and emerging AI workloads.

Deeply rooted in the open-source community, Rashi actively mentors emerging talent and advocates for women in engineering. She frequently speaks on cloud computing, open-source adoption, and modern developer tooling—bringing real-world fintech pressure, practical system architecture insights, and contagious curiosity to every stage.

Rashi Dashore is a Docker Captain, AWS Community Builder, and Software Engineer in the fintech space, where she leads engineering decisions for high-reliability, mission-critical systems. Her technical core lies at the intersection of cloud-native in... Show more

Cybersecurity Engineer

EXECUTIVE BIO
Leonard Ikediuba is a dynamic cybersecurity leader and critical infrastructure specialist with deep expertise in securing enterprise banking environments, digital fintech platforms, and connected industrial systems. Bridging the gap between hands-on application security, risk governance, and enterprise architecture, Leonard protects modern digital economies against sophisticated cyber threats and emerging AI-driven attacks.

Alongside his corporate leadership roles, he is a passionate advocate for digital hygiene and industry mentorship. As the founder of CyberSecHaven, he actively equips the next generation of tech talent with practical security skills, translating complex technical controls into actionable strategies for businesses and everyday users alike.

SIGNATURE TALK TOPICS & EXPERTISE
AI & Automated Cyber Fraud: Unpacking how cybercriminals weaponize artificial intelligence, deepfakes, and social engineering—and how organizations can build robust defensive shields.

Fintech & API Resilience: Securing high-volume microservices and cloud banking architectures against sophisticated threat actors.

Critical Infrastructure Security: Examining the cybersecurity implications of connecting industrial hardware, solar microgrids, and IoT energy stations to enterprise networks.

Corporate Governance & Compliance: Demystifying regulatory frameworks (like ISO 27001 and data privacy laws) to help businesses turn compliance into a competitive advantage.

CREDENTIALS & INDUSTRY STANDING:

Advanced Industry Certifications: APIsec Certified Practitioner (ACP), Certified AppSec Practitioner (CAP), Certified ScrumMaster (CSM), and Certified in Critical Infrastructure Protection.

Ecosystem Leadership: Founder and Community Lead at CyberSecHaven, driving technical training cohorts and security awareness across the region.

Cybersecurity Engineer EXECUTIVE BIO Leonard Ikediuba is a dynamic cybersecurity leader and critical infrastructure specialist with deep expertise in securing enterprise banking environments, digital fintech platforms, and connected industrial sy... Show more

John DesJardins is senior principal solution architect, focused on data and AI, at Rocket Software. He has been a hands-on CTO and Fractional CTO, driving innovation in real-time data and AI. His career includes leadership roles at Hazelcast, Cloudera, Software AG, and webMethods, partnering with Global 2000 firms such as HSBC, BNP Paribas, Morgan Stanley, Visa, Target, Walmart, Honeywell, GE, and many others to innovate with real-time data integration, analytics, and AI/ML systems with zero downtime. He has extensive experience with payments and trading systems, as well as Internet of Things.
As Hazelcast Chief Technology Officer, he directed engineering strategy to create a leader in real-time processing capable of billions of events per second with a 10X performance advantage over Flink or Spark and introduce a unified SQL API that simultaneously processes streaming and stored data. He also spearheaded an OEM partnership with IBM including working closely with their Cloud and IBM z Platform teams, and was named an IBM Champion in 2022. John also drove co-engineering work with Red Hat and Intel.

John DesJardins is senior principal solution architect, focused on data and AI, at Rocket Software. He has been a hands-on CTO and Fractional CTO, driving innovation in real-time data and AI. His career includes leadership roles at Hazelcast, Clouder... Show more

Abhishek Kakkar is a director-level Senior Technical Program Manager with over 2 decades of experience leading enterprise technology, data modernization, analytical transformation, and governance initiatives across financial services, healthcare, retail, and pharma. He has spent much of his career leading global GRC SaaS platform (MetricStream GRC) implementations, large-scale data modernization (to Snowflake) & analytics enablement, data modelling, and AI governance frameworks for regulated industries. He spent nearly a decade at MetricStream, leading global GRC implementations for Fortune 500 clients in a highly regulated environment. Abhishek is a Certified Scrum Master (CSM), passionate about harnessing AI to make GRC proactive rather than reactive. Abhishek writes about the intersection of AI, data governance, and financial services risk management, drawing on his experience helping organizations improve operational resilience and decision-making, and build the governance foundations AI needs to be trusted at scale.

Abhishek Kakkar is a director-level Senior Technical Program Manager with over 2 decades of experience leading enterprise technology, data modernization, analytical transformation, and governance initiatives across financial services, healthcare, ret... Show more

With more than a decade across data engineering and cybersecurity, Niladri is a security engineering leader currently serving as Manager, Threat Detection and Applied Intelligence at StoneX Group, a Fortune 50 financial services firm. He owns the strategy, roadmap, and delivery for how the organization detects, investigates, and responds to threats — strengthening cyber defense, deepening observability, and building secure, scalable data and AI systems. His career spans global organizations including Cognizant, Eli Lilly, Accenture, and KPMG, where he led initiatives across eDiscovery, digital forensics, GRC, security engineering, and cloud engineering.

Blending deep technical expertise with strategic direction, he works at the intersection of data, threat operations, and governance — turning security operations from a manual, alert-driven function into an AI-native, evidence-driven discipline. His recent work spans synthetic media abuse and deepfake detection, adversarial AI in enterprise settings, and the production of machine-learning models and real-world AI systems that solve tangible business problems — underpinned by strong command of AI guardrails and model-exploitation protection, built human-in-the-loop and governed to OWASP LLM Top 10 and NIST AI RMF.

With more than a decade across data engineering and cybersecurity, Niladri is a security engineering leader currently serving as Manager, Threat Detection and Applied Intelligence at StoneX Group, a Fortune 50 financial services firm. He owns the str... Show more

Ana Luiza Primo is a Site Reliability Engineer at B2B Soft, one of most important telco and finantial transaction companies in US, where she drives observability adoption across teams. Over 7+ years in banking, payments and a U.S. telecom, she has been on call, built monitoring with Kubernetes, Prometheus and OpenTelemetry, and is AWS and FinOps certified. An active community member, she speaks at tech events, writes articles and mentors engineers breaking into SRE.

Ana Luiza Primo is a Site Reliability Engineer at B2B Soft, one of most important telco and finantial transaction companies in US, where she drives observability adoption across teams. Over 7+ years in banking, payments and a U.S. telecom, she has b... 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

Surya Rao Rayarao is a Lead Software Engineer at SS&C Technologies, where he leads engineering for the RICC/TRAC retirement-plan platform, a system managing over $1B in assets under management across 4,000+ retirement plans. He holds Senior Member grade in IEEE and has served as a judge or peer reviewer at 15+ technical venues, including an ACM SIGKDD-affiliated review and formally-refereed academic peer review (ICCASEET2025, with signed conflict-of-interest and ethics attestations). His talks draw on hands-on experience building and operating fintech infrastructure at scale, leading engineering teams, and evaluating technical work as a competition judge and peer reviewer.

Surya Rao Rayarao is a Lead Software Engineer at SS&C Technologies, where he leads engineering for the RICC/TRAC retirement-plan platform, a system managing over $1B in assets under management across 4,000+ retirement plans. He holds Senior Member gr... 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

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

Experienced engineering leader with a strong interest in distributed, highly-scalable and cloud-based systems.

Worked for years in Technical Leadership roles, focused on infrastructure management and Cloud on the 3 major public cloud providers. Experienced in the finance sector, specifically on high-performance payment platforms and systems compliance.
Regular speaker at conferences and meetups.
Federico holds an MSc in Software Engineering from City University London

Experienced engineering leader with a strong interest in distributed, highly-scalable and cloud-based systems. Worked for years in Technical Leadership roles, focused on infrastructure management and Cloud on the 3 major public cloud providers. Ex... 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

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