Sebastiano is an engineering leader passionate about helping others grow in their careers. Sebastiano is currently a Director of Engineering at Upwork, and over the years, he has led multiple teams at companies like Pinterest, Paypal, Snap, and Spotify in domains ranging from shopping and crypto to messaging, video creation, and ads. Sebastiano is an avid listener of leadership, management, and wellness podcasts.
Sebastiano received an MS in Software Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Milan and an Executive MBA from the Quantic School of Business and Technology.

Sebastiano is an engineering leader passionate about helping others grow in their careers. Sebastiano is currently a Director of Engineering at Upwork, and over the years, he has led multiple teams at companies like Pinterest, Paypal, Snap, and Spoti... Show more

Natalie Cook is the founder of Finance Fight Club, an Outsourced CFO & Financial Services firm dedicated to empowering small business owners with financial clarity and strategic guidance. With extensive experience in financial management, Natalie has guided over 50 small businesses to transform their operations, achieve sustainable profitability, and build confidence in their financial decisions. Specializing in cash flow optimization, strategic planning, and due diligence for business transactions, she brings a unique blend of expertise and accessibility to her work.

A passionate speaker and educator, Natalie is known for breaking down complex financial concepts into practical, actionable insights for entrepreneurs and business leaders. Her recent engagements include workshops like the Small Business KPI Workshop and live sessions on cash flow management. As a trusted advisor, she helps business owners move beyond gut feelings to data-driven decisions.

Natalie is committed to making finance approachable, often drawing from her deep industry knowledge across professional services, construction, SaaS, and manufacturing. Outside of her professional life, she is dedicated to supporting small business communities and fostering financial literacy.

Natalie Cook is the founder of Finance Fight Club, an Outsourced CFO & Financial Services firm dedicated to empowering small business owners with financial clarity and strategic guidance. With extensive experience in financial management, Natalie has... Show more

Jo Colontonio is an award-winning global executive leadership and organizational development consultant, coach, and educator who ignites high-performance leaders, teams, and cultures that consistently outperform the competition. With over two decades of experience, Jo has worked with organizations across industries to drive transformative leadership and lasting organizational growth. She’s the Founder of the Ignite Coaching Institute, an ICF-accredited coach certification program. Jo is setting the gold standard in coach education and leadership development. She brings a powerful blend of academic rigor and real-world impact, holding dual degrees in Economics and Business, an MBA in Marketing, and advanced certifications in Executive Coaching, Change Management, Team Performance, and Leadership Development.

A Titan 100 CEO, business builder, leadership developer, problem solver, disruptor, change agent, and unapologetic personal growth junkie, Jo Colontonio is passionate about challenging the status quo to build high-energy organizations powered by extraordinary people, vibrant cultures, enlightened leadership, and cutting-edge strategies that deliver real results. Her bold approach drives empowered leaders, engaged employees, high-performing teams, and measurable growth in performance and profits. Together with her team, Jo ignites champions and sparks powerful, positive change—from the inside out.

Jo Colontonio is an award-winning global executive leadership and organizational development consultant, coach, and educator who ignites high-performance leaders, teams, and cultures that consistently outperform the competition. With over two decades... 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

Dr. Patrick Drechsler is a software developer at MATHEMA GmbH. His current focus is on Testing, TDD, Domain-Driven Design and Functional Programming. You have a good chance of meeting him at regional software crafting events such as Softwerkskammer or other local meetups.

Dr. Patrick Drechsler is a software developer at MATHEMA GmbH. His current focus is on Testing, TDD, Domain-Driven Design and Functional Programming. You have a good chance of meeting him at regional software crafting events such as Softwerkskammer ... Show more

Azure is a Senior Consultant at Hitachi in the Washington, DC area. Prior to joining tech consulting in 2022, she spent in pharmaceutical manufacturing, discovering Power Automate in late 2019.

Passionate about people and hoping to assume her final form as a bot, she's on a mission to educate and enable more women and underrepresented groups into tech, one Flow at a time.

Azure is a Senior Consultant at Hitachi in the Washington, DC area. Prior to joining tech consulting in 2022, she spent in pharmaceutical manufacturing, discovering Power Automate in late 2019. Passionate about people and hoping to assume her fina... Show more

Nat Girish has been an Agile Practitioner since 2010, and has worked with some of the best Agile Coaches, to transform teams that build Products and Services for Ford's Order Fulfilment domain. He is an avid adopter of an Experimentation Mindset to deliver business value.

Nat Girish has been an Agile Practitioner since 2010, and has worked with some of the best Agile Coaches, to transform teams that build Products and Services for Ford's Order Fulfilment domain. He is an avid adopter of an Experimentation Mindset to d... Show more

Raised in a no-tech farming community in rural Arizona, Dr. Amanda Martin discovered the transformative power of technology and the world of possibilities it opens. This revelation came in college when open-source software became her catalyst for personal growth, reshaping her perspective on how technology can democratize access, empower collaboration, and provide solutions to pressing global issues.

With her Doctorate in Computer Science, Dr. Martin passionately embraced the ethos of open-source endeavors and now serves as the Director of Program Management at the Linux Foundation. Currently, within the Open Source Security Foundation (OpenSSF), championing open-source security and global collaboration.

Never forgetting her roots, Dr. Martin continues to propagate her lifelong commitment to education, teaching subjects ranging from technology to physics. Yet, it's her sustained awe for science and technology and her passion to share this wonder with as many individuals as possible that truly make her an inspirational figure.

In essence, Dr. Amanda Martin stands as a testament to the transformative power of open-source technology, continually inspiring others to explore the remarkable potentials of this realm.

Raised in a no-tech farming community in rural Arizona, Dr. Amanda Martin discovered the transformative power of technology and the world of possibilities it opens. This revelation came in college when open-source software became her catalyst for per... Show more

I am an embedded software engineer and multimedia tech lead at NXP, where I have worked for the past four years. I am also an active contributor to the Zephyr open-source project, where I help maintain the video and mpipe (multimedia pipeline) subsystems.
I am particularly passionate about imaging and video, a field I have worked in for about 25 years across both research and industry. Over that time, I have covered topics such as image processing, computer vision, human-computer interaction, camera and digital rights management on Linux, Android and more recently Zephyr RTOS, spanning algorithm design, low-level drivers, and high-level applications.

I am an embedded software engineer and multimedia tech lead at NXP, where I have worked for the past four years. I am also an active contributor to the Zephyr open-source project, where I help maintain the video and mpipe (multimedia pipeline) subsys... Show more

Davide Vecchia is a research fellow at the University of Trento, where he earned his M.Sc. (2018) and Ph.D. (2022). His research focuses on ultra-wideband (UWB) communication and localization in large-scale multihop networks. Within the OpenSTX Foundation, a Linux Foundation initiative, he has served as Chair of the RAL Working Group since 2025 and Technical Chair since 2026.

Davide Vecchia is a research fellow at the University of Trento, where he earned his M.Sc. (2018) and Ph.D. (2022). His research focuses on ultra-wideband (UWB) communication and localization in large-scale multihop networks. Within the OpenSTX Found... Show more

Brian is a skilled data professional with a strong academic background. During his career, he has always dealt with data in some way or the other. With a degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences (Utrecht University), he originally focused on developing drug discovery tools but shifted his focus to data analytics.

During his PhD at KU Leuven Brian developed 3D-printed chips that allowed to grow of stem cells on a chip, that could further be analyzed using state-of-the-art sequencing tools. He had to integrate many different types of data (microscopy images, genetic sequencing, etc.) to be able to validate the results. He often used scripting tools (R, Python) to develop and integrate these pipelines.

He always had an affinity with information technology and he decided to follow his passion for data with a focus on data engineering. Brian worked on multiple projects since then with Immoweb, Accenture, and Orange Business to grow further in data engineering. He implemented orchestration tools for ELT client workflows and co-developed a prediction application.

Brian has experience in Microsoft Azure, extensive expertise in open-source tooling (Python, R, Airflow, Kubernetes, etc.), and is a (AWS) certified cloud practitioner.

He enjoys spending time outdoors, climbing, and playing his bass guitar outside of work.

Brian is a skilled data professional with a strong academic background. During his career, he has always dealt with data in some way or the other. With a degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences (Utrecht University), he originally focused on developing drug... Show more

Software engineer focused on boosting developer productivity with generative AI. Actively engaged in tech communities and passionate about sharing knowledge.

Software engineer focused on boosting developer productivity with generative AI. Actively engaged in tech communities and passionate about sharing knowledge. Show more

Dr. Andrei Cuenca is an Aerospace Autonomy Engineer at Censys Technologies Corporation, where he leads GNC development for autonomous UAS. He holds a PhD and MS in Aerospace Engineering from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and dual BS degrees in Mechanical and Electronics Engineering. His research focuses on geomagnetic navigation, with multiple publications and a granted U.S. patent in geomagnetic-aided navigation. He has contributed to FAA and Air Force funded research programs.

Dr. Andrei Cuenca is an Aerospace Autonomy Engineer at Censys Technologies Corporation, where he leads GNC development for autonomous UAS. He holds a PhD and MS in Aerospace Engineering from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and dual BS degrees in... Show more

Drawing from a scientific background and over 20 years of experience in higher education and sustainability as an educator, researcher, and staff member, Daita has a profound interest in education programs that foster improved human connections, communication, and learning on a broad scale. In her current role as a Senior Education Manager, she is responsible for developing, innovating and advancing AASHE’s education vision and strategy, overseeing professional learning initiatives encompassing virtual and in-person workshops, webinars, and other educational programs. Prior to joining AASHE, Daita was the first Interim Sustainability Coordinator for the University of Hawai‘i System, and also taught courses and integrated sustainability in the curriculum at the University of Hawai‘i. Daita is a LEED Green Associate, an ISSP Sustainability Excellence Professional (SEP), and holds a BS degree in Molecular Biology and Biosciences from the University of Bucharest, Romania and MA, MPhil and PhD degrees in Biological Sciences from Columbia University in the City of New York.

Drawing from a scientific background and over 20 years of experience in higher education and sustainability as an educator, researcher, and staff member, Daita has a profound interest in education programs that foster improved human connections, comm... Show more

La tecnología y la biología son mis grandes pasiones combinar las dos cosas me llevó a descubrir diferentes formas de hacer ciencia, una de ella son las actividades de riesgo, como la espeleología para encontrar organismos extremófilos que pueden dar respuesta a diferentes preguntas como si es posible la vida en otros planetas o la búsqueda de la cura del cancer. Como espeleólogo aplicar los conocimientos en biotecnología me llevó a descubrir las diferentes formas de hacer ciencia más allá del laboratorio. La naturaleza hay que vivirla en forma práctica para el desarrollo de la ciencia.

La tecnología y la biología son mis grandes pasiones combinar las dos cosas me llevó a descubrir diferentes formas de hacer ciencia, una de ella son las actividades de riesgo, como la espeleología para encontrar organismos extremófilos que pueden dar... Show more

Dr. Elise A. Simmons is an Assistant Professor of Mathematics at Albany State University and a mathematics educator and researcher whose work centers on mathematics education, STEM education, and student success. With more than 25 years of experience in secondary and higher education, her foundational work in mathematics education, STEM student success, and academic support began at Florida A&M University. Her scholarship focuses on gateway mathematics, course redesign, instructional technology, and student success within HBCU contexts. Her work emphasizes evidence-informed teaching, curriculum improvement, and scalable approaches that strengthen student learning, persistence, and success.

Dr. Elise A. Simmons is an Assistant Professor of Mathematics at Albany State University and a mathematics educator and researcher whose work centers on mathematics education, STEM education, and student success. With more than 25 years of experience... Show more

Tim Sumner is a Project Manager with Crawford, Murphy & Tilly, Inc. in their Springfield, Illinois, headquarters. He has worked in the Water Resources Business Unit since graduating from Bradley University in 1991 with a B.S. in Civil Engineering. His work includes planning, assessment, modeling, and design of water, wastewater and storm water system maintenance, renewal and improvement projects. Tim is a Licensed PE in Illinois and Indiana, as well as a Certified Floodplain Manager and Certified Stormwater Manager.

Tim Sumner is a Project Manager with Crawford, Murphy & Tilly, Inc. in their Springfield, Illinois, headquarters. He has worked in the Water Resources Business Unit since graduating from Bradley University in 1991 with a B.S. in Civil Engineering. ... Show more

Andoni Dharma is an organisational consultant, trainer and facilitator based in Mallorca, Spain. He works with companies that can feel something wearing their teams down long before it shows up in the numbers: tension in the room, leaders stuck in firefighting, people quietly leaving.

His path started inside the corporate world, as a digital marketing director, and moved into human development in 2009. Between 2015 and 2019 he lived and worked across India, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Indonesia, facilitating more than 200 workshops and over 100 retreats with leaders and teams in the middle of pressure and change.

Today he brings both worlds together. He is accredited by the World Happiness Foundation for the Workplace Wellbeing Certification, audited by AENOR, and works with his own method, the Magnetic Ecosystem™, built on six dimensions: Culture, Leadership and Trust in the organisation, and Balance, Care and Connection in its people.

On stage he speaks about conscious leadership, burnout and energy at work, and what it really takes to build teams people do not want to leave. No theory delivered from a distance: he talks about what he has seen in the room.

Andoni Dharma is an organisational consultant, trainer and facilitator based in Mallorca, Spain. He works with companies that can feel something wearing their teams down long before it shows up in the numbers: tension in the room, leaders stuck in fi... Show more

Estudiante de Ingeniería Electrónica con Orientación en Sistemas Digitales, con titulo de Técnico Electromecánico. Poseo un perfil fuertemente orientado a los sistemas embebidos, hardware hacking y ciberseguridad. Me desempeño activamente como Team Leader en el Ekogroup San Luis, comunidad de hacking ético y ciberseguridad; como el Vice Chair de la Rama Estudiantil IEEE UNSL-FCFMyN, y como un radioaficionado en el Radio Club San Luis.

Estudiante de Ingeniería Electrónica con Orientación en Sistemas Digitales, con titulo de Técnico Electromecánico. Poseo un perfil fuertemente orientado a los sistemas embebidos, hardware hacking y ciberseguridad. Me desempeño activamente como Team L... Show more

Sydney (she/her) works across departments as part of the Green Labs team, developing professional relationships with research personnel. She supports labs and promotes sustainability at the individual programming level through Green Lab Certification, Shut the Sash Competition, and International Freezer Challenge.

She holds a Bachelor of Science in Marine Science (Biological Oceanography Concentration) from NC State University and has 5 years of laboratory research experience. Outside of work she spends time rock climbing, kayaking, and hiking with her pup and enjoys a sunny afternoon in a hammock with a book.

Sydney (she/her) works across departments as part of the Green Labs team, developing professional relationships with research personnel. She supports labs and promotes sustainability at the individual programming level through Green Lab Certification... Show more

Dr. Maren Kuhne ist wiss. Mitarbeiterin im Studiengang Humanmedizin an der MSB. Ihre Passion liegt in der Konzeption innovativer Lehrkonzepte. Sie schafft es, durch ihre eigene Begeisterung für biochemische Themen und den Einsatz modernster didaktischer Methoden die Studierenden mitzureißen. Aktuell vertieft sie ihr Wissen im Bereich Bildungswissenschaften durch das Studium „Medical & Health Education“ an der MSH.
Neben der Lehre in der Humanmedizin und Biotechnologie liegt ihr wissenschaftlicher Schwerpunkt in der immunologisch-zellbiologischen Grundlagenforschung. Sie kann jahrelange Forschungstätigkeit im Bereich der Herstellung monoklonaler Antikörper sowie eine Promotion an der FU Berlin/Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin auf dem Gebiet der T-Zell-Immunologie nachweisen.

Dr. Maren Kuhne ist wiss. Mitarbeiterin im Studiengang Humanmedizin an der MSB. Ihre Passion liegt in der Konzeption innovativer Lehrkonzepte. Sie schafft es, durch ihre eigene Begeisterung für biochemische Themen und den Einsatz modernster didaktisc... Show more

Farees Fathima is a Global Responsible AI Leader and AI Governance Strategist at Carlsberg Group, where she drives the practical operationalisation of Responsible AI, AI risk management, assurance, and literacy across the global enterprise. With over 13 years of experience across Carlsberg, HSBC, Boston Scientific, and Accenture, she bridges the gap between high-level AI principles and high-velocity business execution.

At Carlsberg, Farees established and operationalised a lightweight AI Risk Management Framework that reduced assessment friction by 70% and accelerated safe AI adoption across eight global business units. She leads end-to-end lifecycle governance from ideation and experimentation to deployment and continuous monitoring with a strong focus on Generative AI, Agentic AI, and human oversight in increasingly autonomous systems.

An ISO/IEC 42001 Lead Implementer and EXIN AI Certified Professional (AICP), Farees advises CIOs, CTOs, Legal, Privacy, and Risk leaders on translating emerging global regulations including the EU AI Act, NIST AI RMF, and ISO/IEC 42001 into actionable enterprise frameworks. As an active industry speaker and mentor, she empowers organizations and founders to build trustworthy, scalable AI systems that deliver tangible business value.

Farees Fathima is a Global Responsible AI Leader and AI Governance Strategist at Carlsberg Group, where she drives the practical operationalisation of Responsible AI, AI risk management, assurance, and literacy across the global enterprise. With over... Show more

Rupak Bose is a Research Scientist developing foundation models and Vision-Language-Action models for OpenArm at Enactic, Reazon Holdings Inc. Previously, he developed parametric models for edge deployment in Earth observation at Qen Labs Inc., US. Prior to that, he worked on multimodal diffusion models for medical imaging at IHU, France.

In this talk, he addresses how complex-valued neural networks can be used to compress spaceborne radar data natively in PyTorch.

Rupak Bose is a Research Scientist developing foundation models and Vision-Language-Action models for OpenArm at Enactic, Reazon Holdings Inc. Previously, he developed parametric models for edge deployment in Earth observation at Qen Labs Inc., US. P... Show more

Devansh Pandey is a PhD candidate in the Department of Integrative Biology at The University of Texas at Austin, working in the lab of Dr. Vagheesh Narasimhan. His research combines large-scale medical imaging, statistical genetics, and machine learning to understand and predict cardiovascular disease. His current work develops a multimodal AI framework for precision preventive cardiology that integrates deep-learning representations of multi-organ MRI with polygenic risk scores to predict coronary artery disease in the UK Biobank. His broader work spans genome-wide association studies, Mendelian randomization, and deep learning on cardiac imaging, with the goal of translating population-scale biobank data into individualized tools for preventive cardiology.

Devansh Pandey is a PhD candidate in the Department of Integrative Biology at The University of Texas at Austin, working in the lab of Dr. Vagheesh Narasimhan. His research combines large-scale medical imaging, statistical genetics, and machine learn... Show more

Tech, Finance, Team Outcomes, Diversity, Product, People First

Tech, Finance, Team Outcomes, Diversity, Product, People First Show more

Takudzwa R. Chiyaka is a software engineer and AI architect based in Zimbabwe, specializing in low-level systems engineering and artificial intelligence infrastructure. My work bridges the gap between bare-metal compute and advanced machine learning, with a focus on custom Unikernels, CPU-driven parallel processing, and high-performance local AI runtimes. We have recently architected the underlying infrastructure for Covalent-0, a synthetic biology platform leveraging generative AI for molecular simulation, as well as the low-level computing frameworks for Curator. A strong advocate for sovereign, offline-first AI execution, I have assisted in the design of multi-agent enterprise operating systems and LLM architectures for constrained environments. I am currently also spearheading the formation of the Artificial Intelligence Safety Council in Zimbabwe.

Takudzwa R. Chiyaka is a software engineer and AI architect based in Zimbabwe, specializing in low-level systems engineering and artificial intelligence infrastructure. My work bridges the gap between bare-metal compute and advanced machine learning,... Show more

Platform Engineer at Puzzle ITC with a passion for CI/CD, automation, and cloud-native technologies.
I am committed to create scalable and secure software delivery pipelines for our customers. I love to implement modern, cutting-edge technologies such as Kubernetes and Dagger are driving the current innovations in software development and deployment processes.

Platform Engineer at Puzzle ITC with a passion for CI/CD, automation, and cloud-native technologies. I am committed to create scalable and secure software delivery pipelines for our customers. I love to implement modern, cutting-edge technologies su... Show more

Sam Rajamanickam, AIA, WELL AP, is a Principal at Design Collective who focuses on student housing and campus life facilities. Over 30 years, he has partnered with institutions including Marquette University, Rutgers University, Johns Hopkins University, University of Idaho and Towson University to plan and deliver student life environments that support belonging, wellness, and connection.

Sam became interested in Third Place theory while observing a persistent challenge: students living in close proximity yet feeling increasingly lonely. This paradox led him to explore how Ray Oldenburg's sociological framework could become a practical tool for housing professionals to evaluate and strengthen campus environments.

His approach emphasizes that physical design, programming, and policy must work together as an integrated system. As a WELL Accredited Professional, he brings wellness expertise to creating spaces that serve all students, with particular attention to equity, accessibility, and psychological safety—empowering housing officers to audit existing spaces and intentionally design environments where students naturally connect.

Sam Rajamanickam, AIA, WELL AP, is a Principal at Design Collective who focuses on student housing and campus life facilities. Over 30 years, he has partnered with institutions including Marquette University, Rutgers University, Johns Hopkins Univers... Show more

-Researcher in the field of neuro-cardiology, focused on quantitative molecular imaging in the heart-brain axis via PET/CT at Hannover Medical School.
-Research and development scientist at Cardior Pharmaceuticals GmbH, developing inhibitors targeting microRNA's in cardiac diseases.
-Member of the Technology Transfer Office's patent team at Leibniz University Hannover.

-Researcher in the field of neuro-cardiology, focused on quantitative molecular imaging in the heart-brain axis via PET/CT at Hannover Medical School. -Research and development scientist at Cardior Pharmaceuticals GmbH, developing inhibitors targeti... Show more

Course developer and lecturer for Service-Learning and Civic Engagement of the Transdisciplinary Course Program at the University of Tübingen. Doctorate in geosciences with a focus on natural hazards and disaster risk. Currently serves as the executive editor for Geoscience Communication and is the chair of the European Geosciences Union’s Outreach Committee. Personal website: solmazmohadjer.com

Course developer and lecturer for Service-Learning and Civic Engagement of the Transdisciplinary Course Program at the University of Tübingen. Doctorate in geosciences with a focus on natural hazards and disaster risk. Currently serves as the executi... Show more