Hi colleagues!

I’m Vladimir Afanasev, a database professional with over 10 years of experience in database development, performance optimization, and team leadership. Currently, I lead a team of DB experts at Barclays. I thrive on solving complex challenges like enhancing performance monitoring, optimizing workflows, and mitigating risks, while also fostering a collaborative and motivated team environment.

Sharing knowledge is something I’m deeply passionate about. With my expertise in SQL Server, Oracle, and cloud platforms like Microsoft Azure and GCP, I love exploring advanced topics and making them accessible and actionable for others.

I’m excited about the opportunity to be a speaker at your event. I enjoy engaging with like-minded professionals and delivering sessions that combine real-world insights with technical depth. I look forward to contributing to the learning experience and sparking great discussions about SQL Server’s advanced capabilities.

Hi colleagues! I’m Vladimir Afanasev, a database professional with over 10 years of experience in database development, performance optimization, and team leadership. Currently, I lead a team of DB experts at Barclays. I thrive on solving complex ... Show more

I am a Senior Researcher at Bruno Kessler Foundation and Chief Scientific Officer at Pulse.io. I obtained my PhD in November 2023 from the Faculty of Computer Science at the Free University of Bolzano. During my PhD, I was a Visitor Researcher at MIT Connection Science and a Visiting Ph.D. Student at CSIC-IFISC. I am currently working on socially aware foundation models, human-intelligent agents cooperation and spatially-aware deep learning for urban, transportation and mobility.

I am a Senior Researcher at Bruno Kessler Foundation and Chief Scientific Officer at Pulse.io. I obtained my PhD in November 2023 from the Faculty of Computer Science at the Free University of Bolzano. During my PhD, I was a Visitor Researcher at MI... Show more

En 25 ans de travail dans l'IT, j'ai rapidement migré du DEV COBOL (reconversion en 1999, après Master 2 en Océanologie Biologique) vers la collaboration avec le client, en tant que BA et MOA puis PO. Quelques missions en analyse fonctionnelle, audit organisation et pas mal de conduite du changement. En 2021, retour en agilité avec le rôle de PO et actuellement en analyse fonctionnelle pour modélisation BPM / workflow.

En 25 ans de travail dans l'IT, j'ai rapidement migré du DEV COBOL (reconversion en 1999, après Master 2 en Océanologie Biologique) vers la collaboration avec le client, en tant que BA et MOA puis PO. Quelques missions en analyse fonctionnelle, audit... Show more

Erica is currently an AI cybersecurity architect and consultant, and was a software engineer and cybersecurity hobbyist for several years before becoming an application security red-teamer in 2018. Since then, she has been earning bug bounties, releasing new CVEs and original exploit techniques, training penetration testers and conducting R&D projects as a cybersecurity technical lead. Erica organizes 2600, a local offensive cybersecurity meetup, and has spoken about hacking, bot writing, and various hacking topics at many conferences and meetups, including DC207, IC2, Tyler Connect, as well as SkyTalks, CactusCon, Live360! and DEFCON, the world's largest hacker conference. She has also volunteered at Red Team Village at DEFCON in Vegas. Erica holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the University of Southern Maine.

Erica is currently an AI cybersecurity architect and consultant, and was a software engineer and cybersecurity hobbyist for several years before becoming an application security red-teamer in 2018. Since then, she has been earning bug bounties, relea... Show more

Shreya Gupta is a AI Solutions Architect at NVIDIA, where she partners with cloud providers and enterprise customers to design resilient, scalable training and inference workloads. With deep experience across the ML lifecycle, Shreya helps organizations optimize infrastructure to balance performance, cost, and reliability — from single-GPU prototyping to hyperscale distributed training.

She holds an M.S. in Symbolic Systems from Stanford University with research spanning deep learning, natural language processing, and real-time neural decoding. Previously, Shreya was a founding ML engineer at Lamini AI, building fine-tuning pipelines for large language models used by industry leaders such as AMD, iFit and Instacart. Her background also includes impactful research at Google Translate and Stanford’s Vision and Learning Lab with Prof. Fei-Fei Li, blending theory with hands-on systems work.

Shreya Gupta is a AI Solutions Architect at NVIDIA, where she partners with cloud providers and enterprise customers to design resilient, scalable training and inference workloads. With deep experience across the ML lifecycle, Shreya helps organizati... Show more

Chris Leonard is a speaker and business coach who builds high-performing teams around complex problems and helps leaders do the same.
Drawing from Agile, LeanStartup, EOS, and more, Chris gives his clients the right skills to meet their goals. He founded No Impediments in 2023 where he serves clients in higher ed, retail, life sciences, and more.
Chris came to coaching as a second career after 10years on the road in the music industry. He lives in Nashville, Tennessee with his wife, two kids, a dog and a cat.

Chris Leonard is a speaker and business coach who builds high-performing teams around complex problems and helps leaders do the same. Drawing from Agile, LeanStartup, EOS, and more, Chris gives his clients the right skills to meet their goals. He fo... Show more

Constantinos Patsakis received his B.Sc. in Mathematics from the University of Athens, Greece, his M.Sc. in Information Security from Royal Holloway, University of London, and his Ph.D. in Cryptography and Malware from the University of Piraeus. He has previously held research positions at the UNESCO Chair in Data Privacy at Rovira i Virgili University, Trinity College Dublin, and the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology. He is currently a Professor at the University of Piraeus and an Adjunct Researcher at the Athena Research and Innovation Center. Dr. Patsakis has authored more than 150 publications in leading peer-reviewed international conferences and journals and has participated in numerous national and European research and development projects. His primary research interests include cryptography, security, privacy, blockchain technologies, and cybercrime.

Constantinos Patsakis received his B.Sc. in Mathematics from the University of Athens, Greece, his M.Sc. in Information Security from Royal Holloway, University of London, and his Ph.D. in Cryptography and Malware from the University of Piraeus. He h... Show more

Yusheng Zheng is an open-source maintainer and researcher focused on improving complex systems through comprehensive understanding and strategic, small-scale modifications. As the co-founder of the eunomia-bpf open-source community and a PhD student, Yusheng is at the forefront of integrating eBPF and AI technologies to enhance large-scale systems like the Linux kernel. Her work also extends the flexibility and power of eBPF into userspace. Yusheng is a frequent speaker at leading industry conferences, including KubeCon, Linux Plumbers, and OSS Summit, where she shares insights on the evolving roles of eBPF and AI in modern systems.

Yusheng Zheng is an open-source maintainer and researcher focused on improving complex systems through comprehensive understanding and strategic, small-scale modifications. As the co-founder of the eunomia-bpf open-source community and a PhD student,... Show more

Ceri is an interactions specialist, chaologist and trainee neuroscientist, adept at helping teams at all levels to work together more effectively. With a background in teaching, she is here to make evidence-based research accessible and useful to technical professionals.

As a qualified coach, and a team dynamics consultant with a decade of hands-on experience, Ceri finds joy in creating lightbulb moments and turning assumptions on their heads, as well as reading everything she possibly can (because ADHD).

Tea in hand, Ceri works alongside leaders and teams globally and is continually delighted to speak with audiences worldwide, mostly about the beautiful intermingling of behavioural science and agility.

Ceri also loves brains, but not in a weird way.

Ceri is an interactions specialist, chaologist and trainee neuroscientist, adept at helping teams at all levels to work together more effectively. With a background in teaching, she is here to make evidence-based research accessible and useful to tec... Show more

Specializes in CPython internals, optimization, and high-performance computing. Driven by GPU acceleration, CPU vectorization. Evolved from ML systems to CPython core research engineer. 8+ years leading teams in AI, maths, and physics. PyCon speaker: Free Threading: Future of CPython. Lecturer at Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology – top 1 Russian university. Open to talks and collaboration.

Specializes in CPython internals, optimization, and high-performance computing. Driven by GPU acceleration, CPU vectorization. Evolved from ML systems to CPython core research engineer. 8+ years leading teams in AI, maths, and physics. PyCon speaker:... Show more

Jelena Miodragovic is M.Eng(IT) and Software Engineer, with focus on FrontEnd technologies. She is regional speaker and MVP - Microsoft Most Valuable Professional in Developer Technologies category. CO-leader of BLbit user group in Banja Luka and CO-organizer of IT conference INIT.

Jelena Miodragovic is M.Eng(IT) and Software Engineer, with focus on FrontEnd technologies. She is regional speaker and MVP - Microsoft Most Valuable Professional in Developer Technologies category. CO-leader of BLbit user group in Banja Luka and CO-... Show more

Accidental Application Security Architect!

Accidental Application Security Architect! Show more

Dr. Margaret Alabi
I'm the pharmaceutical executive who learned that the most powerful career moves happen when you stop conforming and start pivoting authentically.
By day, I champion patient voices as a Global Dermatology Patient Advocacy executive. By night, I lead The Pivot Consulting Group, guiding executives from Wells Fargo, Genentech, and Eli Lilly through strategic transformations that honor their true selves, the teams they lead, and the organizations they serve.

My unconventional path: PharmD from Xavier University → MBA from Yale → 36,000+ coaching hours → Professional Certified Coach with the International Coaching Federation.
The Pivot: Despite my pharmacy doctorate, I've never actually dispensed medications. Instead, I've spent my career proving that authenticity yields boundless progress.
Core belief: You don't have to choose between success and authenticity. The most resilient leaders and innovative companies emerge when we show up with courage.

When I'm not helping executives pivot, I'm practicing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, singing, or walking in Brooklyn with my standard poodles, Belle and Beau.
Here, I share insights on: Strategic career pivoting, authentic leadership, healthcare equity, and building resilient cultures.

Ready to pivot from potential to purpose?

Dr. Margaret Alabi I'm the pharmaceutical executive who learned that the most powerful career moves happen when you stop conforming and start pivoting authentically. By day, I champion patient voices as a Global Dermatology Patient Advocacy executi... Show more

Senior Microsoft Data Platform Professional with a masters in business analytics, and multiple Microsoft/AWS certifications. Kristina has provided Leadership and Data Solutions for over 20 years for domestic and global organizations with a special passion in health informatics, finance, and manufacturing. Nicknamed "Data Generalist" for her ability to quickly pivot, Kristina has held data roles across the spectrum including Data Architect, Data Engineer, DBA, Developer, BI Specialist, Consultant, Data Analyst, Database Manager, Coach, and more. Her current role is Lead Data Architect for Kent Corporation's Global Divisions Data and the Analytics & Data Management Team, as well as serving on their Center of Cloud Excellence (CCoE) board. Her current technical passion is Microsoft Fabric and Machine Learning Technologies.

In her free time, Kristina runs the Kansas City SQL Server User Group and was a lead organizer for SQL Saturday Atlanta (7+ years). She has spoken at large conferences and small user groups both internationally and here in the US on topics including AI, the Microsoft Data Platform, and neurodiversity.

Senior Microsoft Data Platform Professional with a masters in business analytics, and multiple Microsoft/AWS certifications. Kristina has provided Leadership and Data Solutions for over 20 years for domestic and global organizations with a special pa... Show more

Java developer for 25 years, Frontend (React and Angular) developer for 5 years. Fan of Test Driven Development. Cycling fan.

Java developer for 25 years, Frontend (React and Angular) developer for 5 years. Fan of Test Driven Development. Cycling fan. Show more

Long time AI enthusiast from Prolog to Copilot, via MS-ML and several other stops.
Hands-on experience with various AI platforms, currently researching AI systems for deployment at SFU.
Educator: Taught at UBC, Langara and many schools around North America. Delivered dev/admin and user training as an MCT, around the globe.
Geek: Software architect, developer by training with over 30 years of hands-on expertise in Microsoft technologies, specializing in M365, Azure, data platforms, and analytics.
Over 20 years of SharePoint, many years of years of Teams, Power tools, SQL Server, and Viva stack experience.
Proficient in migrations, configuration, customization, and development.
Holds MCSE/MCSD certifications for SharePoint and Apps, MCSE SharePoint, and MCSE Data and analytics, Viva practitioner.

Long time AI enthusiast from Prolog to Copilot, via MS-ML and several other stops. Hands-on experience with various AI platforms, currently researching AI systems for deployment at SFU. Educator: Taught at UBC, Langara and many schools around Nort... Show more

Danique Motzheim is a visionary founder, author, and global entrepreneur who refuses to accept a world where mental wellbeing is a privilege.

She is the CEO of BYOU, a wellbeing platform connecting people worldwide to holistic health, beauty, and mental health services, and the founder of the BYOU Impact Foundation, which provides free support for those who need it most.

Her journey began after personally experiencing how broken and slow today’s healthcare systems are. Instead of waiting for change, she set out to build it herself, accessible for all, global from the start, and rooted in our own Human Rights.

Her bestselling book, The Global Thought Leader Mindset, inspired thousands to shift their thinking and step into their own power.

Today, her work goes beyond mindset. She is leading a worldwide movement that breaks down barriers, challenges outdated healthcare systems, and proves that one vision, backed with relentless drive, can scale into global change.

Known for her raw honesty and bold presence, Danique speaks and writes with the urgency of someone who has lived what she is fighting for.

When she isn’t building BYOU, she is mentoring, speaking to the next generation of leaders, or recharging in nature with her dog, Noa.

Danique Motzheim is a visionary founder, author, and global entrepreneur who refuses to accept a world where mental wellbeing is a privilege. She is the CEO of BYOU, a wellbeing platform connecting people worldwide to holistic health, beauty, and... Show more

Sinchan Banerjee is currently a Director of Enterprise Architecture at UST who architects and drives delivery of enterprise-grade data platforms, large-scale data migrations, and digital transformations for the US healthcare industry. With over 15 years of hands-on experience, he has architected, implemented, and delivered data engineering solutions for both batch and streaming workloads with terabytes of data in cloud and on-premises environments.He develops data strategy of next generation products, leads research on how Generative AI can augment data engineering and drives delivery of enterprise-grade data platforms, large-scale data migrations, and digital transformations for the US healthcare industry.His research interests include Agentic AI, data engineering automation, and intelligent data applications.

An expert in scalable data architectures, AWS and Azure stack, service-oriented architectures, and various big data and streaming tools. For his decade long expertise in building data engineering solution, Packt invited him to author their flagship book on data engineering - “Scalable Data Architecture with Java”. He is also lead author of a patent on Predictive analytics and has published several research papers.

Sinchan Banerjee is currently a Director of Enterprise Architecture at UST who architects and drives delivery of enterprise-grade data platforms, large-scale data migrations, and digital transformations for the US healthcare industry. With over 15 y... Show more

Kayla Taylor is an Enterprise Solutions Architect at Amazon Web Services (AWS) based out of Northern Virginia. Her expertise and passion for learning has enabled her to support enterprise customers in the north-eastern region. Kayla has a background in bioinformatics where she has done extensive STEM cell, metabolic, and genomic research. Kayla has worked on a number of AI/ML projects, including Amazon Q: AWS’s Gen-AI chat bot. Outside of work, she likes to play with her puppy and container garden.

Kayla Taylor is an Enterprise Solutions Architect at Amazon Web Services (AWS) based out of Northern Virginia. Her expertise and passion for learning has enabled her to support enterprise customers in the north-eastern region. Kayla has a background... Show more

I'm Josh Grant, a test automation professional with over 13 years experience. I've worked at all levels of the test automation pyramid and have worked with customer-facing teams and engineering teams. I currently reside in lovely Toronto, Ontario.

I'm Josh Grant, a test automation professional with over 13 years experience. I've worked at all levels of the test automation pyramid and have worked with customer-facing teams and engineering teams. I currently reside in lovely Toronto, Ontario. Show more

At the age of 34, Danielle Delbridge made a bold decision to retire from her twelve-year nursing career to pursue a path of entrepreneurship. Danielle Farley is a passionate entrepreneur, speaker, and personal development coach dedicated to helping individuals break free from limiting beliefs and create a life of abundance. After leaving her nursing career in 2020 to pursue entrepreneurship full-time, Danielle discovered the power of mindset transformation, financial education, and strategic networking. Her journey of overcoming personal and financial struggles has fueled her mission to empower others with the tools and mindset needed for success.

As the founder of Abundant Brain Builders, LLC, Danielle leads a dynamic coaching company that provides in-person retreats, virtual mentorship, and community-based growth opportunities. Through transformative workshops, such as The Abundant Living for Women & Abundant Living for Men, she helps individuals develop the skills and mindset necessary to achieve personal, financial, and business success. Her coaching focuses on neuroscience-backed personal development, financial literacy, effective communication, and overcoming mental roadblocks.

Danielle’s mission is to equip people with faith-driven success principles, guiding them to build wealth, confidence, and a legacy that lasts. Whether through her coaching, public speaking, or mentorship programs, she is committed to helping others turn challenges into stepping stones for abundance..

At the age of 34, Danielle Delbridge made a bold decision to retire from her twelve-year nursing career to pursue a path of entrepreneurship. Danielle Farley is a passionate entrepreneur, speaker, and personal development coach dedicated to helping i... Show more

Beto has been writing open-source software for more than 2 decades, with open-source serving as the unifying theme across their diverse career. This includes their work as a climate scientist with a PhD in oceanography running global simulations for the IPCC, as an instructor and speaker at Facebook/Meta passionate about data tools and best practices, as a software engineer working daily on Apache Superset, and as a musician using open hardware and open-source plugins to compose and produce their songs.

The tools and libraries that Beto has created or worked on are used daily by thousands of companies and countless users, focusing on making data access seamless and switching the spotlight to the user experience instead. Their first big project was Pydap, a server for climate data developed during the Google Summer of Code in 2005. Pydap was used by the IPCC to distribute their simulations when they won their 2007 Nobel Prize, and also by the Danish Navy when removing chemical weapons from Syria.

Since 2017, Beto has been working daily on Apache Superset, a modern and modular business intelligence web application that is the number 1 Apache project in terms of GitHub stars. This work has led to the creation of an ecosystem of products: DataJunction, a semantic layer that has been adopted by data teams at Netflix; Shillelagh, a Python library that makes any kind of data easily queryable via SQL; and Cantrip, a magical semantic layer that lives in the database itself, requiring no additional resources. All of these projects focus on empowering users to answer their questions in an effortless way.

Additionally, Beto is also a prolific musician, having written over 500 songs in the past decade. They are an avid participant in the February Writing Album Month challenge, which has the goal of composing 14 new songs in 28 days, and is also part of both the small development team and moderation team. Their songs are written using an open-source digital audio workstation (DAW) with open-source plugins, and all the hardware they use is also based on open-source code.

Beto has been writing open-source software for more than 2 decades, with open-source serving as the unifying theme across their diverse career. This includes their work as a climate scientist with a PhD in oceanography running global simulations for ... Show more

Steve is a Dad, Partner, Son, and Principal Community Architect focused on AI. He can teach you about Data Analysis, Computer Vision, AI, Kubernetes, Java, Python, and PostgreSQL. He has deep subject area expertise in GIS/Spatial, Statistics, and Ecology. Before Red Hat, Steve was a developer Advocate for Crunchy Data, DigitalGlobe, VMWare, LinkedIn, deCarta, and ESRI. Steve has a Ph.D. in Ecology and can easily be bribed with offers of bird watching or fly fishing.

Steve is a Dad, Partner, Son, and Principal Community Architect focused on AI. He can teach you about Data Analysis, Computer Vision, AI, Kubernetes, Java, Python, and PostgreSQL. He has deep subject area expertise in GIS/Spatial, Statistics, and Eco... Show more

Anu is a Senior Software Engineer in the PRIMO team at Microsoft, with a passion for helping organizations build powerful analytics solutions on Azure.

With years of experience in the field, Anu has a strong understanding of the latest trends and technologies in Azure data and analytics. She has worked with several organizations to help them leverage the power of Azure for their data needs.

As a passionate advocate for Azure data and analytics products, Anu is always eager to share her knowledge and insights with others.

Anu is a Senior Software Engineer in the PRIMO team at Microsoft, with a passion for helping organizations build powerful analytics solutions on Azure. With years of experience in the field, Anu has a strong understanding of the latest trends and ... Show more

Josh Universe is a scientist-astronaut candidate, science communicator, biohacker, and CEO of Astrochain. Josh Universe is a sophomore at Florida Institute of Technology studying a Bachelor of Science in Astronomy and Astrophysics. Additionally, Josh Universe is taking graduate classes in Commercial Enterprise in Space at Florida Institute of Technology. Josh Universe is also pursing Applied Astronautics at the International Institute of Astronautical science. Josh Universe's primary interests are in astronomy, astrophysics, space law(mainly DAO applications for space law), and human spaceflight exploration. You can reach Josh Universe on his LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/univ/

Josh Universe is a scientist-astronaut candidate, science communicator, biohacker, and CEO of Astrochain. Josh Universe is a sophomore at Florida Institute of Technology studying a Bachelor of Science in Astronomy and Astrophysics. Additionally, Josh... Show more

Jennifer has shared her insights at conferences around the world, both in-person and virtually, covering topics like communication, change management, and work-life balance. She loves to inspire people to be a positive influence in their teams by sharing her personal experiences. She describes herself as “annoyingly optimistic” (but she is also human so she has her moments of being less than optimistic).

Jennifer enjoys viewing the world from multiple perspectives, a trait that likely contributed to her career progression in her younger years and her ability to find connections in almost any situation.

Jennifer has shared her insights at conferences around the world, both in-person and virtually, covering topics like communication, change management, and work-life balance. She loves to inspire people to be a positive influence in their teams by sha... Show more

Julian is a developer and consultant, who helps people organize data, turning messy information and chaotic processes into beautiful databases that blend smoothly with how people actually work. Prior to 29 years in software, Julian received a Bachelor of Journalism and Philosophy. In 2003, he co-founded Freeform Solutions, a non-profit that helps other non-profits use technology more effectively. Julian is a Zend Certified Engineer, and is responsible for the Formulize open source project.

Julian is a developer and consultant, who helps people organize data, turning messy information and chaotic processes into beautiful databases that blend smoothly with how people actually work. Prior to 29 years in software, Julian received a Bachelo... Show more

Nikita Kibitkin is a Senior Java Engineer and Tech Lead with 8 years designing high-throughput, event-driven payment platforms. He has successfully delivered financial systems for both the European and Asian markets. At Ducatpay, he leads the event-driven payments team, processing over 5 million transactions per year. Nikita combines modeling based on discrete mathematics with a classic high-load tech stack to build fault-tolerant, predictable, and cost-efficient distributed systems under extreme spikes.

Nikita Kibitkin is a Senior Java Engineer and Tech Lead with 8 years designing high-throughput, event-driven payment platforms. He has successfully delivered financial systems for both the European and Asian markets. At Ducatpay, he leads the event-d... Show more

I am a passionate cloud developer on the cutting edge of research in the genetics of disease. I'm originally from Canada and have been in the Boston area for the past 10 years working as a software engineer and volunteering with educational organizations, GDG being one of them. I'm always happy to connect and share my skills and experiences with others to support them on their journey through the technology space, be it locally or globally.

I am a passionate cloud developer on the cutting edge of research in the genetics of disease. I'm originally from Canada and have been in the Boston area for the past 10 years working as a software engineer and volunteering with educational organizat... Show more

Hey! I’m Ozgun (aka ozzy), a 25-year-old security researcher. By day, I’m trying to live as a penetration tester. By night? Well, it’s a mix—sometimes hunting web bugs, sometimes sneaking around in red team ops, and sometimes just trying not to lose all my chips at poker.

I’ve spoken at several conferences, including Hacktivity, BsidesPrague, and DEFCON. Lately, I’ve picked up a new hobby—studying LLMs and AI. Not the hype, but the scientific magic side of things. I’ve been exploring how to blend them into cybersecurity in smarter, more effective ways.

Hey! I’m Ozgun (aka ozzy), a 25-year-old security researcher. By day, I’m trying to live as a penetration tester. By night? Well, it’s a mix—sometimes hunting web bugs, sometimes sneaking around in red team ops, and sometimes just trying not to lose ... Show more