Osita Ifezue is a researcher, international keynote speaker, and storytelling strategist. He is the founder of Njiko Storytelling, with over 25 years of experience training individuals and developing storytelling strategies. He has created the Storyboard Backcasting and Origin Story-Loop Strategic Frameworks, strategic storytelling tools designed to enhance learning in the storytelling process. Beyond entrepreneurship, Osita founded Entergrate, an NGO in Finland that focuses on social inclusion, and he hosts the podcast Think About It! With Osita Ifezue.

Osita Ifezue is a researcher, international keynote speaker, and storytelling strategist. He is the founder of Njiko Storytelling, with over 25 years of experience training individuals and developing storytelling strategies. He has created the Storyb... Show more

Hi, I’m Kathrin Borchert, a Microsoft Data Platform MVP specializing in Power BI and Fabric—the only woman in Germany with this title. With over 9 years of experience in Power BI, I’ve worked with both small businesses and enterprise customers, helping them transform data into actionable insights. As Managing Partner at YoDaBI, I support organizations in leveraging Power BI and Microsoft Fabric to drive data-driven decisions. I’m passionate about sharing knowledge, which is why I organize the Female Fabricator User Group MeetUps as well as write on my blog YoDaBI.com, and engage with the community on LinkedIN and YouTube.

Hi, I’m Kathrin Borchert, a Microsoft Data Platform MVP specializing in Power BI and Fabric—the only woman in Germany with this title. With over 9 years of experience in Power BI, I’ve worked with both small businesses and enterprise customers, help... Show more

Helping organizations unlock the true business value of their data—from robust database foundations to cutting-edge AI integration. Microsoft 2006-2026, Google 2026-

Helping organizations unlock the true business value of their data—from robust database foundations to cutting-edge AI integration. Microsoft 2006-2026, Google 2026- Show more

Miroslav Panevski is a seasoned PMP-certified project manager specializing in large-scale ERP projects and program implementations. Renowned for his adaptability, leadership, and problem-solving skills, Miroslav has successfully led ERP implementations and Agile transformations, managed large teams, and recovered complex projects across various industries for over 16 years.
Miroslav's approach is characterized by his commitment to delivering value, strategic thinking, and the ability to navigate complex project landscapes with ease. His expertise spans Traditional project management, Agile methodologies, Dynamics 365, and more, making him a versatile and highly skilled professional.
In every project he undertakes, Miroslav brings a blend of strategic planning, meticulous organization, and a genuine passion for delivering value. His story is one of dedication, adaptability, and unwavering commitment to excellence in project management.

Linkedin : https://www.linkedin.com/in/miroslavpanevski/

Miroslav Panevski is a seasoned PMP-certified project manager specializing in large-scale ERP projects and program implementations. Renowned for his adaptability, leadership, and problem-solving skills, Miroslav has successfully led ERP implementatio... Show more

Eve Pardi is a Microsoft AI MVP and Senior Engineer in GenAI Tech Enablement at The LEGO Group, where she builds and scales AI and agentic systems across the organization. With more than a decade of experience in data science, NLP, and Azure-based AI engineering, she focuses on designing practical, responsible, and production‑ready AI solutions.

As a long‑time community leader and international speaker, Eve shares insights on generative AI, agentic architectures, and applied machine learning at conferences and meetups around the world.

Her mission is to make advanced AI accessible, reliable, and impactful, empowering both organizations and individuals to build the next generation of intelligent systems.

Eve Pardi is a Microsoft AI MVP and Senior Engineer in GenAI Tech Enablement at The LEGO Group, where she builds and scales AI and agentic systems across the organization. With more than a decade of experience in data science, NLP, and Azure-based AI... Show more

Driven by courage, curiosity, and compassion, Becca "Bex" Hiller knows valued people deliver value. She also knows ideas supply focus and fuel, while ACTION drives goals forward toward success.

Bex helps humans reach agility potential, and her own agility shines through sharpened improv skills, a mighty pen, a hungry brain, and a passion for teaching and coaching. She has spent over two decades in product, project, and people growth spaces helping folks articulate their mission, then take mission-critical action to DELIVER. She puts growth and connection at the helm and enables, engages, and expands forward momentum, stoking peak performance (without sacrificing values, vision, or voice).

Her mission: Uncover your purpose. Pivot when life happens. Dare to deliver.
Her top interests: connection, community building, purposeful creativity, and potatoes.

Bex is currently based in Rochester, NY.

Driven by courage, curiosity, and compassion, Becca "Bex" Hiller knows valued people deliver value. She also knows ideas supply focus and fuel, while ACTION drives goals forward toward success. Bex helps humans reach agility potential, and her own... Show more

William is a CNCF Ambassador and Linkerd Ambassador currently working at Mirantis as Global Field CTO. He’s focused on helping customers designing, building, and running their initiatives on Edge, AI and Platform Engineering. He wore many hats in the IT world, Engineering, Pre-Post sales, Product Owner and Consulting. from HPC, Storage to Distributed Systems.
William enjoys volunteering in several Cloud Native groups and organizing the KCD Netherlands events.

William is a CNCF Ambassador and Linkerd Ambassador currently working at Mirantis as Global Field CTO. He’s focused on helping customers designing, building, and running their initiatives on Edge, AI and Platform Engineering. He wore many hats in the... Show more

Currently, I am working as a senior cybersecurity engineer and a database security subject matter expert at Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield, having more than seven years of experience and expertise in the secure safeguarding and securing of data in a big and regulated business environment.

I have devised and implemented various methods for encrypting and securing data in critical health infrastructure and millions of consumer data assets. He specializes in AI-driven security controls, adaptive encryption schemes, real-time threat detection and prevention, and securing data on next-generation data platforms.

I have participated in a number of technical review sessions and done a lot of research on several different things related to data security and AI and cloud computing.

Currently, I am working as a senior cybersecurity engineer and a database security subject matter expert at Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield, having more than seven years of experience and expertise in the secure safeguarding and securing of data in a ... Show more

Dr. Sheila Volante holds a doctorate in Philosophy with an emphasis on Innovation and Strategy and has spent two decades at the intersection of strategy, technology, and human systems advising C-suite executives across healthcare, government, and private sector organizations navigating transformational change.

Her work is built on a foundational conviction: technology alone never transforms an organization people do. From Federally Qualified Health Centers to major health systems to public sector agencies, she has guided leaders through the most complex moments of institutional reinvention with clarity, precision, and a bias toward lasting results.

As a sought-after thought leader and speaker, Dr. Volante brings the academic rigor of her doctorate together with the hard-won instincts of a practitioner who has sat in the room when the stakes were highest. Her voice on digital transformation leadership, AI readiness, and organizational culture has made her a trusted presence on stages across the country.

Dr. Sheila Volante holds a doctorate in Philosophy with an emphasis on Innovation and Strategy and has spent two decades at the intersection of strategy, technology, and human systems advising C-suite executives across healthcare, government, and pri... Show more

Roberto Luna Rojas is a Sr Developer Advocate for Valkey based in the USA, originally from Mexico. He tries to get the most out of in-memory databases one bit at the time, been around developing software since the mid 90s focused on performance and scalability. When not in front of the computer, he loves spending time with his family, listening to music, and watching movies, TV shows, and sports.

Roberto Luna Rojas is a Sr Developer Advocate for Valkey based in the USA, originally from Mexico. He tries to get the most out of in-memory databases one bit at the time, been around developing software since the mid 90s focused on performance and s... Show more

Melanie Howitt is the Director of Revenue Cycle Data and Technology Solutions at In2itive Business Solutions with more than 25 years of experience in analytics and business intelligence and 16 years in healthcare revenue cycle operations.

Her career began in the early days of enterprise analytics, building reporting and operational insights from flat systems, exported data, and spreadsheets long before modern cloud data platforms existed. Over the years she has helped organizations evolve from manual reporting environments into modern data architectures that support real-time operational decision making.

Today Melanie focuses on designing AI-ready operational systems using technologies such as Microsoft Fabric, Dataverse, and Power Platform. Her work centers on translating complex healthcare workflows, particularly in ambulatory surgery centers, into structured operational data models that enable automation, analytics, and AI copilots.

She specializes in bridging the gap between healthcare operations and modern data architecture, helping organizations move from fragmented data environments to systems that support practical AI applications in production.

Melanie Howitt is the Director of Revenue Cycle Data and Technology Solutions at In2itive Business Solutions with more than 25 years of experience in analytics and business intelligence and 16 years in healthcare revenue cycle operations. Her care... Show more

Tom Scott Short Bio
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-scott-7172386/
Thomas Scott (Tom) is the CEO and Founder of CyberSherpas, a virtual Chief Information Security Officer (vCISO) cybersecurity consulting firm. He currently serves as the Executive Director of the South Carolina Cybersecurity Association and Foundation. As the inaugural Director of the SC Cyber Consortium, he has been a key leader in the cyber education, cyber workforce development, and cyber protection efforts in both South Carolina and across the Nation.
With over 30 years of cybersecurity experience in both Florida and South Carolina, Tom has developed a wealth of knowledge and experience in protecting critical infrastructure and cyber assets. He currently holds certifications in information security, information auditing, security leadership, critical infrastructure protection, and project management – he is also recognized a FEMA Continuity of Operations Planning (COOP) Practitioner.
Tom is a member of the FBI’s InfraGard program and serves as an advisory board member for the Dutch Fork High School Cyber program. He has actively participated as a member of the MS-ISAC’s Executive Committee as well as the USC School of Law Cybersecurity Task Force. Tom currently serves the academic community through board service to the Industry Advisory Board for the USC Integrated IT program, and at Florence-Darlington Tech and Aiken Tech.

Tom Scott Short Bio LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-scott-7172386/ Thomas Scott (Tom) is the CEO and Founder of CyberSherpas, a virtual Chief Information Security Officer (vCISO) cybersecurity consulting firm. He currently serves as th... Show more

Leon Adato is a Developer Relations Advocate and has held multiple industry certifications over his 36 years in IT including Cisco, Microsoft, A+, and more. His experience spans financial, healthcare, food and beverage, and other industries.

Leon has been speaking, blogging, and creating content in the monitoring and observability space for almost a decade. His expertise in IT began in 1989 and has led him through roles in classroom training, desktop support, server support, network engineering and systems automation before landing in monitoring and observability over 27 years ago.

Leon Adato is a Developer Relations Advocate and has held multiple industry certifications over his 36 years in IT including Cisco, Microsoft, A+, and more. His experience spans financial, healthcare, food and beverage, and other industries. Leon ... Show more

Michel Schildmeijer began his career in the pharmaceutical industry before moving into IT. He worked as a solutions and IT architect across multiple sectors and currently serves as an Enterprise Architect for the Dutch government. Michel regularly speaks at international conferences on cloud-native platforms and delivery engineering. He contributes to open source initiatives around containers and CI/CD and is the author of CI/CD Design Patterns.

Michel Schildmeijer began his career in the pharmaceutical industry before moving into IT. He worked as a solutions and IT architect across multiple sectors and currently serves as an Enterprise Architect for the Dutch government. Michel regularly sp... Show more

I am passionate about empowering Women in Technology, a champion of Neurodiversity, Accessibility, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, and improving culture in the workplace. I love supporting women in technology and working towards creating impact and giving back to their communities in a small way.

I am passionate about empowering Women in Technology, a champion of Neurodiversity, Accessibility, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, and improving culture in the workplace. I love supporting women in technology and working towards creating impact and gi... Show more

Michael serves as the head of the Professional Services organization at NowSecure, which supplies mobile app penetration testing, compliance assessments, security education, automation engineering, security research and consulting to customers in healthcare, financial, state and federal government and other regulated spaces. Michael's background is heavily focused in offensive security testing and security accreditation, having spent much of his career supporting the US Department of Defense and Intelligence Community. Using his combined 20+ years security engineering and app development expertise, Michael now focuses his attention on evaluating mobile, medical, automotive, and cloud systems for use in wireless, cellular, and high-threat environments. Michael is also an avid security and privacy standards advocate and has contributed to efforts by OWASP, NIST, App Defense Alliance MASA, and NIAP.

Michael serves as the head of the Professional Services organization at NowSecure, which supplies mobile app penetration testing, compliance assessments, security education, automation engineering, security research and consulting to customers in hea... Show more

Paul Innella, CEO of TDI, is a globally recognized cybersecurity executive with over 30 years of experience advising critical infrastructure, government, and enterprise organizations. He pioneered Cybersecurity Performance Management (CPM), a strategic approach to measuring cybersecurity effectiveness in operational environments. Paul has guided top institutions including DARPA, the U.S. Navy, Deutsche Bank, and the IMF. His insights have appeared in Forbes, Financial Times, CNBC, and ABC News. He holds CISSP-ISSMP, CISM, and NSA IAM certifications and completed executive programs at Cambridge, IMD, and Edinburgh Business School. He also chairs White Hat USA, supporting Children’s National Medical Center.

Paul Innella, CEO of TDI, is a globally recognized cybersecurity executive with over 30 years of experience advising critical infrastructure, government, and enterprise organizations. He pioneered Cybersecurity Performance Management (CPM), a strateg... 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

Christina Aldan is a brand strategy consultant, keynote speaker, trainer, and mentor. She offers businesses brand consulting and creative content for everyday media. With over 18 years of experience in the digital realm, Christina is highly regarded for her approach to business, partnering with clients to find unique strategies that ensure their goals are met. She recently became a Licensed Massage Therapist and opened her own bodywork business.

Christina has delivered talks on all 7 continents, presenting training workshops for the Microsoft MVP community, Las Vegas Raiders, Yale School of Public Health, international corporations, and conferences worldwide. Christina uses her charisma and expertise to inspire others by mentoring women in business like herself. She also has sat on state and local boards supporting women in tech, entrepreneurship, mental health, and children with learning disabilities.

She is the recipient of the Las Vegas Women in Tech Community Service Award, the Distinguished Woman of the Year Award in STEM. Learn more at: Luckygirliegirl.com.

Christina Aldan is a brand strategy consultant, keynote speaker, trainer, and mentor. She offers businesses brand consulting and creative content for everyday media. With over 18 years of experience in the digital realm, Christina is highly regarded ... Show more

I'm a graduate of Biomedical Engineering at Wrocław University of Technology. During my studies, I fell in love with programming, especially creating Android apps. I have over 4 years of commercial experience and in my spare time I'm maintaining multiple open-source libraries with over 1000 monthly users.

I'm a graduate of Biomedical Engineering at Wrocław University of Technology. During my studies, I fell in love with programming, especially creating Android apps. I have over 4 years of commercial experience and in my spare time I'm maintaining mult... Show more

I have been working with Microsoft AI tools for over three years now and delivered over 20 sessions so far in the field of AI and Copilot

I have been working with Microsoft AI tools for over three years now and delivered over 20 sessions so far in the field of AI and Copilot Show more

I am an AI Engineer and Architect specializing in Agentic systems, production-grade GenAI, and Responsible AI design. As a GenAI Developer/Advocate at AWS, I work at the intersection of building multi-agent architectures, observability, and real-world AI deployment to helping developers move from demos to scalable, trustworthy systems.
Previously innovating and architecting KnowRA+, a hybrid RAG + GenAI platform that won multiple awards and generated $10M+ in value. I specialize in LLM architecture, NLP, and scalable ML solutions across BFSI, Travel, Healthcare, and Retail domains, with 8+ granted USPTO patents.

I am an AI Engineer and Architect specializing in Agentic systems, production-grade GenAI, and Responsible AI design. As a GenAI Developer/Advocate at AWS, I work at the intersection of building multi-agent architectures, observability, and real-worl... Show more

With 15+ years in full-stack engineering and architecture, I’ve led teams across e-commerce, finance, and healthcare. At Quantiphi, I will be working on technical architecture, and cloud adoption—using AWS, Python, Angular, React and open-source tools to deliver scalable and cost effective solutions.

Beyond work, I’m an AWS Community Builder, blogger, and speaker, sharing lessons on building smarter, cost-efficient products. My goal is to combine technical depth with product vision—helping teams build systems that scale while keeping costs in check.

I believe in learning together and growing together—and in using technology to drive meaningful change. I also create educational content on InternetKatta.com and @LearnWithAvinashDalvi to simplify complex topics through storytelling.

With 15+ years in full-stack engineering and architecture, I’ve led teams across e-commerce, finance, and healthcare. At Quantiphi, I will be working on technical architecture, and cloud adoption—using AWS, Python, Angular, React and open-source tool... Show more

Joinal is an experienced Data Science professional with a interest on building solutions with quick prototypes, community engagements and influencing technology adoption. Brings strong technical understanding, experienced in managing cross functional teams of data scientists, data engineers, backend developers and SRE delivering end-to-end ML projects, recruiting and mentoring engineers across levels, streamlining ML & Data workflows for high performing teams, setting up best practices, and developing highly performant and reliable MLOps & Data platforms supporting end to end ml projects and analytics usecases.

Joinal is an experienced Data Science professional with a interest on building solutions with quick prototypes, community engagements and influencing technology adoption. Brings strong technical understanding, experienced in managing cross functional... Show more

I am Pavan Mani Deep with over 10 plus years of experience working on Dynamics 365, Power Platform, Azure.

I am Pavan Mani Deep with over 10 plus years of experience working on Dynamics 365, Power Platform, Azure. Show more

Chris McGraw is Lorien's Director of STEM Talent Solutions, with 15 year's experience building high-performance Technology, Life Sciences and Engineering teams for clients of all sizes and industries. Skilled at identifying, assessing, and recruiting executive talent to lead enterprise data-driven security strategies and cloud infrastructure.

Chris has been a guest speaker in several Podcasts and speaks frequently at virtual and technology conferences. Chris' passion for mentoring transitioning veterans extends to causes like the Fisher House, RWB and The American Legion. He holds professional membership in the Cincinnati & Mid-Tennessee chapters of the Information Systems Security Association and The Circuit, a Cincinnati Technology Professional Organization.

Chris McGraw is Lorien's Director of STEM Talent Solutions, with 15 year's experience building high-performance Technology, Life Sciences and Engineering teams for clients of all sizes and industries. Skilled at identifying, assessing, and recruiting... Show more

Senior Full-Stack Engineer with 6+ years building cloud-native platforms in Biotech/Pharma - from event-driven microservices to Kubernetes-based data pipelines.

Senior Full-Stack Engineer with 6+ years building cloud-native platforms in Biotech/Pharma - from event-driven microservices to Kubernetes-based data pipelines. Show more

Abhimanyu "Chitra" Selvan is the founder of diabhey.com, helping AI-native startups win customers. Before that, he led developer advocacy at DigitalOcean, driving product activation and building technical partnerships. His engineering background spans safety-critical systems: cockpit software for Boeing 787 simulators, automated guided vehicles, and FDA-approved medical IoT. When not building, he's running marathons or trying to stay upright on a paddleboard.

Abhimanyu "Chitra" Selvan is the founder of diabhey.com, helping AI-native startups win customers. Before that, he led developer advocacy at DigitalOcean, driving product activation and building technical partnerships. His engineering background span... Show more

I’m a Senior Solution Engineer in the Global Black Belt team in EMEA, focussed on the Application Modernization space. This is a highly specialized team of people that help customers adopt cutting edge technologies, practices and Frameworks, while at the same time bringing important structured feedback directly from the field to Engineering teams on what needs to change in products to match customer's real need. Previously I was the National Innovation Officer for Microsoft Portugal, responsible for helping companies grow and accelerate the innovation impact that we can have in Portugal, having worked in Tech innovation for many years. I was also a Senior Cloud Solution Architect with many years of experience in the Telco Industry. As a Cloud Solution Architect my work was to challenge my customers with new ideas and new ways for them to use cloud technologies, and I love it.

I got my Engineering Degree in Computer Engineering from FEUP, specializing in Artificial Intelligence and Computer Graphics, which are all areas I love. I’m part of the AI Ambassador team at Microsoft so I’m tasked with the mission of empowering people to leverage AI more and achieve more with it. I’m a professional speaker for many years, and I teach some AI/ML classes at ISEG in Lisbon. I also host and founder of the “AI Portugal Podcast”, the "The Innovation Office Webshow" and the “DICE Podcast”, and the blog "Tech Alchemy".

I’m a Senior Solution Engineer in the Global Black Belt team in EMEA, focussed on the Application Modernization space. This is a highly specialized team of people that help customers adopt cutting edge technologies, practices and Frameworks, while at... Show more

Alex Eze is the creator of Orkestra, a declarative runtime for Kubernetes operators. A former clinical pharmacist, currently an Infrastructure Engineer with the NHS. He taught himself to code after a job interview revealed a gap in his Kubernetes operator knowledge — and spent the following years closing that gap, not just for himself but for every engineer who has looked at operator boilerplate and walked away. Orkestra is the result: a runtime built on the idea that your CRD is enough.

Alex Eze is the creator of Orkestra, a declarative runtime for Kubernetes operators. A former clinical pharmacist, currently an Infrastructure Engineer with the NHS. He taught himself to code after a job interview revealed a gap in his Kubernetes ope... Show more