Physical & Life Sciences

Scholars dedicating their careers to the study of living organisms and non-living systems

Smita Verma

Smita Verma

Smita Verma is a senior technology executive with extensive experience driving innovation in enterprise cybersecurity solutions and healthcare compliance frameworks. Currently serving as a Senior Product Manager at Adobe Inc. in Austin, Texas, she leads Adobe Commerce Security, Compliance & Platform health initiatives, where she has made significant improvements in reducing Magecart attacks and minimizing outdated software risks.
Prior to Adobe, Smita held senior product management role at Dell Technologies, where she spearheaded BIOS and firmware security initiatives, achieving substantial reductions in vulnerabilities through proactive updates. Her experience also includes positions at Symantec Corporation and Thomson Reuters, where she led security engineering teams and developed innovative authentication solutions.
Smita holds an MBA from Brigham Young University's Marriott School of Management, where she specialized in Marketing, Strategy & Analytics. She earned her Bachelor of Engineering in Information Science from P E S Institute of Technology in Bangalore, India. Her technical expertise is complemented by certifications in Software Security, Adobe Security, and Agile Project Management.
Throughout her career, Smita has demonstrated exceptional leadership in developing and implementing market-leading security products that strengthen global cybersecurity standards across Fortune 500 organizations. Her achievements include delivering HIPAA-Ready Adobe Commerce solutions, generating substantial revenue growth, and pioneering AI-driven security solutions. She has consistently shown expertise in safeguarding sensitive data across U.S. healthcare systems and critical infrastructure sectors while fostering secure international digital transformation.

Smita Verma is a senior technology executive with extensive experience driving innovation in enterprise cybersecurity solutions and healthcare compliance frameworks. Currently serving as a Senior Product Manager at Adobe Inc. in Austin, Texas, she le... Show more

Amos Wendorff

Amos Wendorff

I have been part of SAP and working in the cloud field since the SAP Multi-Cloud team was founded in 2017. Since the beginning of 2022, I have been part of the SIEM team within Global Security and am mostly responsible for AWS topics.

I have been part of SAP and working in the cloud field since the SAP Multi-Cloud team was founded in 2017. Since the beginning of 2022, I have been part of the SIEM team within Global Security and am mostly responsible for AWS topics. Show more

Ken Espiritu

Ken Espiritu

Ken Espiritu is passionate about developing personal projects that integrate technologies mainly on AI, machine learning, computer vision, voice technologies, robotics, and automation. With a deep interest in exploring how technology can enhance everyday life, Ken enjoys building innovative solutions that blend multiple disciplines. Outside of tech, Ken loves to travel, meet new people, learn from different perspectives, and immerse in diverse cultures. This blend of curiosity and creativity fuels his dedication to continuous learning and sharing knowledge with others.

Ken Espiritu is passionate about developing personal projects that integrate technologies mainly on AI, machine learning, computer vision, voice technologies, robotics, and automation. With a deep interest in exploring how technology can enhance ever... Show more

Jorge Merino

Jorge Merino

Transformational leader with 20+ years of experience driving corporate IT innovation and modernizing software engineering practices. I've delivered high-impact solutions on time, driving business outcomes through effective leadership and collaboration. I'm excited to share my insights on building high-performing teams.

Transformational leader with 20+ years of experience driving corporate IT innovation and modernizing software engineering practices. I've delivered high-impact solutions on time, driving business outcomes through effective leadership and collaboratio... Show more

Marius Muench

Marius Muench

Marius is an assistant professor at the University of Birmingham. His research interests cover (in-)security of embedded systems, binary & microarchitectural exploitation, and defenses. He obtained his PhD from Sorbonne University in cooperation with EURECOM and worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. He developed and maintains FirmWire, an emulation and fuzzing platform for cellular basebands, as well as avatar2, a framework for analyzing embedded systems firmware.

Throughout his career, Marius publicly shared his findings and presented at venues such as Black Hat, REcon, and Hardwear.io.

Marius is an assistant professor at the University of Birmingham. His research interests cover (in-)security of embedded systems, binary & microarchitectural exploitation, and defenses. He obtained his PhD from Sorbonne University in cooperation with... Show more

Suresh Neethirajan

Suresh Neethirajan

Dr. Suresh Neethirajan is a renowned expert in animal welfare science and the application of cutting-edge technologies in livestock management. He holds the position of Professor and University Research Chair at Dalhousie University, Canada, with cross-appointments in the Faculties of Agriculture and Computer Science. His groundbreaking research integrates artificial intelligence (AI) and precision livestock farming to enhance the well-being of farm animals by decoding emotions, detecting pain early, and promoting humane practices.

With over two decades of experience, Dr. Neethirajan has worked at top-tier institutions such as Wageningen University in the Netherlands and the University of Guelph, Canada. His innovative work includes AI-powered facial recognition systems to analyze emotional states in cows and pigs, and natural language processing techniques to translate the vocalizations of chickens. These technological advancements allow for real-time welfare monitoring and timely interventions that improve animal care. Dr. Neethirajan's contributions are transforming the field of animal welfare by aligning scientific innovation with ethical standards and societal expectations.

Dr. Suresh Neethirajan is a renowned expert in animal welfare science and the application of cutting-edge technologies in livestock management. He holds the position of Professor and University Research Chair at Dalhousie University, Canada, with cro... Show more

Sebastian Bassi

Sebastian Bassi

Sebastián Bassi is a Biotechnologist with experience both in software development and bioinformatics research. He worked in a leading biotech company doing molecular marker database curation and in a national research institute helping with the bioinformatics support of the international effort to sequence the Tomato Genome. Both positions involved Python development and intensive data manipulation. He made a web application to query a micro RNA database, which was published at BMC Plant Biology. He also worked on the first Linux distribution for bioinformatics (DNALinux). He is an AWS Certified Solutions Architect and is frequently invited to Python conferences. He is the author of Python for Bioinformatics (https://www.py3.us/)

Sebastián Bassi is a Biotechnologist with experience both in software development and bioinformatics research. He worked in a leading biotech company doing molecular marker database curation and in a national research institute helping with the bioin... Show more

Marcello Marrocos

Marcello Marrocos

Marcello Marrocos is a passionate and advocate for DevOps and Cloud, with +20 years of experience in development and architecture of solutions.

Natural from Brazil, have worked on consulting companies like Avanade and Accenture attending clients on different areas.

He is now living in Washington, DC, working for IDB Invest, where he believes that his work is part of a bigger effort to improve lives on countries of Latin America.

He proudly contributed to "97 Things Every Cloud Engineer Should Known", and it is very important to mention that he is becoming addicted to DevOps Days events!

Marcello Marrocos is a passionate and advocate for DevOps and Cloud, with +20 years of experience in development and architecture of solutions. Natural from Brazil, have worked on consulting companies like Avanade and Accenture attending clients o... Show more

Lorena Abad

Lorena Abad

Doctoral researcher at the Department of Geoinformatics - Z_GIS of the University of Salzburg. Part of the research groups Risk, Hazard and Climate and EO Analytics. I focus on the analysis of big Earth observation data to map and monitor landscape dynamics and I am researching the bridge between EO data cubes and temporal GIS for spatio-temporal analyses. I use R for spatial data handling and analysis, automate EO workflows and for scientific writing and visualization.

Doctoral researcher at the Department of Geoinformatics - Z_GIS of the University of Salzburg. Part of the research groups Risk, Hazard and Climate and EO Analytics. I focus on the analysis of big Earth observation data to map and monitor landscape d... Show more

Abbey Trent

Abbey Trent

Abbey joined Alias in the summer of 2021 as Executive Assistant after spending 7 years working in the nonprofit sector. Since that time, she has transitioned into Alias’ Chief of Staff to include Operations (overseeing construction and the move into our new HQ!), Human Relations, Sales, Communications, and Marketing. She oversees Alias’ daily operations and contributes to the planning and execution of strategic goals.

Abbey joined Alias in the summer of 2021 as Executive Assistant after spending 7 years working in the nonprofit sector. Since that time, she has transitioned into Alias’ Chief of Staff to include Operations (overseeing construction and the move into ... Show more

Daniel Laird

Daniel Laird

Daniel is a Software Manager with OVO - leading the Developer Platforms team as they enable over 400 engineers to work more effectively, with greater guidance and guardrails, lowering their cognitive load and improving their everyday lived experience.
The overall goal being to increase engineering productivity, staff retention and ensure OVO is considered a great place to work.

Daniel is a former Head of Engineering leading 50+ engineers. Over 5 years they transformed from being an Embedded Software team delivering Custom Hardware solutions to being software focused, developing primarily for the Cloud. To achieve this they transformed teams, ways of working, adopted Cloud platforms with CI and CD pipelines and looked at adopting a full DevOps model.

Daniel strongly believes in empowered teams, and ensuring that they have the freedom to innovate both in process and tooling.

Daniel believes that People, Process and Tech are the key to success, and in that order.

Daniel is a Software Manager with OVO - leading the Developer Platforms team as they enable over 400 engineers to work more effectively, with greater guidance and guardrails, lowering their cognitive load and improving their everyday lived experience... Show more

Akram Sheriff

Akram Sheriff

Akram Sheriff is an Senior AI_ML IoT Software Engineering leader / Product leader/ Technologist with the Cisco IoT BU. Akram holds 30+ software patents, both granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), and currently pending review at USPTO and in the Germany/EU region.

He specializes on different wireless protocols, IoT software stacks, and technologies for IoT products, and leads various product series. He is also an active peer reviewer of IEEE publications in areas related to WiFi, BLE, Wireless networking trends, AI/Machine learning, Enterprise WiFi, IoT architectures, Edge computing and the Cloud networking domain.

Akram is also an active member in some IETF working groups related to 6LoWPAN, RAW related to different low power wireless technologies.

Akram is also a frequent presenter in many Internal Cisco Live, Devnet, APJC SecCon -2020 and external conferences in topics related to AI/ML, Wireless Networking, IoT, and Cloud technologies.

You can also follow Akram on Medium.

Akram Sheriff is an Senior AI_ML IoT Software Engineering leader / Product leader/ Technologist with the Cisco IoT BU. Akram holds 30+ software patents, both granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), and currently pending r... Show more

Pawel Jasionowski

Pawel Jasionowski

Pawel Jasionowski is Senior Data Scientist in Kyndryl Cybersecurity Risk Department. He hold The Open Group Master Data Scientist and MS Azure Data Scientist Associate certifications. His current role is mainly focused on Cybersecurity Risk and Cybersecurity Risk Management process automation. Moreover, Pawel is a contributor in the Quantum Safe core team, working on new innovative business solutions.
Pawel is Doctor of Computer Science, Master of Science in Mathematics, recognized Speaker and author of numerous patents in Cybersecurity Risk Management, Quantum and Service Excellence areas.

Pawel Jasionowski is Senior Data Scientist in Kyndryl Cybersecurity Risk Department. He hold The Open Group Master Data Scientist and MS Azure Data Scientist Associate certifications. His current role is mainly focused on Cybersecurity Risk and Cyber... Show more

Dr. Chelsea Green

Dr. Chelsea Green

Dr. (Chelsea) “Green Queen” is a forever young pharmacist and a preventative medicine and genetics health consultant. She is the founder of Green Roots Optimized Wellness (GROW) where she works as a genetic genius helping her clients reach sustainable, optimal wellness results utilizing their unique genetic makeup.

Dr. Green is passionate about preventative medicine and is re-writing her story after genetic factors were unveiled. Her goal is to help clients with physical pain, mental strains, and hormone irregularities achieve optimized wellness by uncovering the root causes of their illnesses. Your genetics don’t have to predict your future; learn how to age optimistically through getting to know your genes.

Dr. (Chelsea) “Green Queen” is a forever young pharmacist and a preventative medicine and genetics health consultant. She is the founder of Green Roots Optimized Wellness (GROW) where she works as a genetic genius helping her clients reach sustainab... Show more

John Darrington

John Darrington

John Darrington has been working for the Idaho National Laboratory for the last five years. As the lead architect in the digital engineering department, he works very closely with those seeking to change the world through clean energy. John is a software engineer by trade, and has worked in that field for almost ten years. He has experience in delivering large scale products and leading various sized teams.

John Darrington has been working for the Idaho National Laboratory for the last five years. As the lead architect in the digital engineering department, he works very closely with those seeking to change the world through clean energy. John is a soft... Show more

Gabriel Suppiah

Gabriel Suppiah

Gabriel is university dropout, turned engineers, turned educator of all ages, turned learning experience designer. Yes, he has been around the block a few times and that journey he took, the road less taken, is what he shares with the people of the world. His various experiences made him feel that he had a big role to play in the K12 scene.

He wanted to connect the students globally through learning. Not to learning but through learning. Yes, there is a difference. A decade ago, he started building Score Campus, the learning eco system. Took him a decade but today, Gabriel brings authentic learning experiences to the world.

Gabriel is university dropout, turned engineers, turned educator of all ages, turned learning experience designer. Yes, he has been around the block a few times and that journey he took, the road less taken, is what he shares with the people of the w... Show more

Dipankar Mazumdar

Dipankar Mazumdar

Dipankar is currently a Developer Advocate at Dremio where his primary focus is advocating data engineers/architects/scientists on Dremio’s lakehouse platform & various open-sourced projects such as Apache Iceberg, Arrow, Project Nessie, etc. that helps data teams apply & scale analytics. In his past roles, he worked at the intersection of Machine Learning & Data visualization. Dipankar is a co-author of the upcoming O’Reilly book - ‘Apache Iceberg: The Definitive Guide’. He also holds a Masters degree in Computer Science with a research area focused on ExplainableAI.

Dipankar is currently a Developer Advocate at Dremio where his primary focus is advocating data engineers/architects/scientists on Dremio’s lakehouse platform & various open-sourced projects such as Apache Iceberg, Arrow, Project Nessie, etc. that he... Show more

Laurie Pottmeyer

Laurie Pottmeyer

Community Lead, Microsoft Teams Engineering

Laurie has spent 17 years at Microsoft managing user adoption and pre-release programs for Live Meeting, OCS, Lync, Skype for Business and Teams - helping to build better products and getting people to use them. Laurie's current role as Community Lead within the Microsoft Teams Engineering team is unique and demonstrates the commitment from Teams to understand, listen, and build a high-quality product around the needs of users. She manages the virtual Microsoft Tech Community, creating a robust network of worldwide community events and user groups, and continues to mobilize the MVP Community to share their expertise with community and help shape Microsoft Teams. In 2021, Laurie led the creation of the Women in Teams Community to help support the Women in Technology initiative and bring together experts and passionate Teams users looking to learn and share with others. Laurie's always listening for success stories, looking to make connections, and learning through experience.

@lauriepottmeyer

Community Lead, Microsoft Teams Engineering Laurie has spent 17 years at Microsoft managing user adoption and pre-release programs for Live Meeting, OCS, Lync, Skype for Business and Teams - helping to build better products and getting people to u... Show more

Crhistian Mark Montenegro Valderrama

Crhistian Mark Montenegro Valderrama

Biotechnology student, bioprocess engineering oriented, from Peru, focused on programming applied to make decision, in laboratory.

Biotechnology student, bioprocess engineering oriented, from Peru, focused on programming applied to make decision, in laboratory. Show more

Shalini Thirunilathil

Shalini Thirunilathil

Shalini Thirunilathil is an award-winning technology leader, currently combining two roles at Hargreaves Lansdown - Agile Coach Lead and a Brand and Outreach Lead. She has extensive experience in improving organisational agility, coaching, mentoring, and developing talent in the organisation. Her career has included a diverse range of roles, including Software Developer, Software Tester, Test Manager, Delivery Manager, Scrum Master, and Agile Coach for various top-notch organisations like Civica, Proactis, IBM, SAP, O2, Springer Nature, Lexis Nexis, and IRIS Software Group. Shalini has spoken at 10+ meetup events and panel discussions, including the 'Agile20Reflect Mini Festival' an international meetup event.

In 2021, Shalini won the Team Leader of the Year (SME) at the Computing Women in Tech Excellence awards. On International Women's day 2021, the Synapse QA community recognised her as an inspirational leader. In 2019 and 2021, she was one of the finalists for the Role Model of the Year category in the WIT Excellence awards. Outside work, Shalini enjoys music, travel, and cooking. She is also a trained Indian classical and Bollywood dancer and has taken part in dance performances across the UK.

Shalini Thirunilathil is an award-winning technology leader, currently combining two roles at Hargreaves Lansdown - Agile Coach Lead and a Brand and Outreach Lead. She has extensive experience in improving organisational agility, coaching, mentoring,... Show more

Harshdeep Singh

Harshdeep Singh

I am currently doing my Ph.D. at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, and my area of research includes variational quantum algorithms, tensor networks, and quantum computing. I have plenty of exposure to Python, specifically working with Qiskit, and TensorNetwork. I have already given introductory talks on quantum computing at PyCon Indonesia, Python Ireland, Pycode, Pyjamas, and Scipy India.

I am currently doing my Ph.D. at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, and my area of research includes variational quantum algorithms, tensor networks, and quantum computing. I have plenty of exposure to Python, specifically working with Qi... Show more

Ivanna Rosendal

Ivanna Rosendal

Transformational leader bend on re-inventing life sciences for the benefits of patients. No patient should wait for innovative drugs due to lack of technology adoption.

Transformational leader bend on re-inventing life sciences for the benefits of patients. No patient should wait for innovative drugs due to lack of technology adoption. Show more

Gisli Olafsson

Gisli Olafsson

Gisli Olafsson currently serves as an executive coach to transformational leaders around the world. Prior to that he served as the Chief Technology Officer of One Acre Fund, a social enterprise that is helping bring over 1.2 million small-holder farmers out of extreme poverty.

Prior to joining One Acre Fund, he served as a Humanitarian Advisor to NetHope, a consortium of 60+ leading non-profit organizations around the world, and as the Chief Technology Officer of Beringer Finance, the largest technology focused investment bank in Europe. Gisli has been active in the IT industry for over 30 year, ever since he sold his first program at the age of 14. He worked for 10 years at Microsoft, where he was involved in product development, sales, technical evangelism, and most recently as a trusted advisor to national governments and international organizations on the effective use of technology in their operations.

Gisli’s deep understanding of technology, his long-time software product development expertise, and his extensive network inside and outside of the technology industry enables him to quickly provide value to technology companies. Gisli has also over the past 15 years worked closely with the startup community and is an advisory board member and member of board of directors of numerous startups and venture funds. Gisli is also a sought after mentor for innovation accelerators.

Prior to joining Beringer Finance in 2015, Gisli served as the Emergency Response Director of NetHope. Gisli is one of the leading experts in the world on the use of technology in disaster response and is a sought after speaker, trainer, and advisor on the role technology can play in enhancing the response to large scale natural and man-made disasters.

Prior to joining NetHope, Gisli has over 20 years of experience in the field of disaster management and was an active member of the United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) team, a team of experienced disaster managers which are on stand-by to deploy anywhere in the world on a 6 hour notice to coordinate the first response of the international community to disasters on behalf of the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Gisli has participated in disaster field missions in connections with floods in Ghana (2007), Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar (2008), Hurricane Ike in Texas (2008), Sichuan Earthquake (2008), Pandemic Outbreak (2009), West Sumatra Earthquake (2009), Haiti Earthquake (2010), Japan Earthquake/Tsunami (2011), Horn of Africa Famine (2011), Philippine’s Typhoons (2012 and 2013), West Africa Ebola Outbreak (2014-2015), European Refugee Crisis (2015), Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico (2017), and Tropical Cyclone Idai in Mozambique (2019). Following the devastating earthquake in Haiti 2010, Gisli led the first international rescue team that arrived in the country.

The combination of Gisli’s extensive field experience in disaster management and technology background provides Gisli a deep understanding how technology can be applied to solve the most challenging collaboration issues faced in austere environments. This has led him to be appointed to various advisory boards and committees, such as the US State Department’s sub-committee on the use of technology in international disasters. Gisli was named a UNICEF Humanitarian Innovation Fellow and a Technology Partner Network Advisor to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 2013.

Gisli’s deep experience in leading transformation efforts around the world, made him a sought after executive coach in the field of digital transformations. Leveraging his own experience in leading digital transformation efforts for large organizations, and in serving as a trusted advisor to governments and international organizations, Gisli focuses his executive coaching on working with transformational leaders and helping them tackle the challenges of leading digital transformation journeys.

In 2014, Gisli published the book The Crisis Leader, about the role of leadership in times of crisis, leveraging examples from his missions around the world to provide readers with an insight into the key aspects of leadership critical during chaotic times like disasters. The book has been translated into two languages and been sold worldwide.

Gisli holds Bachelor of Science degrees in Computer Science and Chemistry from Copenhagen University (Denmark 1993), a Diploma in International Development from University of Iceland (2017), and is endlessly writing his Master’s thesis on the use of technology in humanitarian response. Gisli currently lives in Iceland, along with his wife, five children, two grandchildren, dog, and a cat.

Gisli Olafsson currently serves as an executive coach to transformational leaders around the world. Prior to that he served as the Chief Technology Officer of One Acre Fund, a social enterprise that is helping bring over 1.2 million small-holder farm... Show more

Jeremy Georges-Filteau

Jeremy Georges-Filteau

Jeremy obtained a bachelor’s of bioinformatics from Université Laval during which he did an exchange at Université de Strasbourg in the Master’s of Integrative structural biology and bioinformatics and completed an internship at The Hyve developing a user interface prototype for TranSMART. Following this, he completed a Master’s in computer science at McGill University by developing a machine learning algorithm based on phylogenetic networks that has significant advantages over commonly used genetic assignment methods. Jeremy joined The Hyve in 2018 to pursue a PhD within the context of the AiPBAND project and, more generally, his passion for multidisciplinary science.

The aim of this ESR project is to develop a big-data powered diagnostic infrastructure for brain cancer prediction. The platform will be deployed and run on cloud services . The platform will include a data warehouse for integrating clinical and omics data. This includes data generated by innovative biosensors, developed by WP2. The components of the platform will be designed as flexible microservices. Separation of concerns will facilitate high performance, security and scalability. One of these services will be the prediction algorithms, developed in close collaboration with ESR-11 at IC. Patients, clinician and potential industrial client will gain access via any device to their results on an intuitive user interface.

To achieve these goals, large quantities of health data is required at every step. For both simpy software testing or improving machine learning accuracy, quality data remains hard to get. The scientific opportunities locked-in the massive amounts of health data collected are inestimable. The growing concerns towards data privacy will only only complicate the issue.

Anonymization is generally employed to prevent misuse of private data. Anonymization trades data utility for privacy, but does not fully prevent reidentification. This means accessing data requires eminent academic credentials and resources. If real data is lacking for developments, delays and errors can have consequences on critical health informatics. The alternative is to produce synthetic data, thereby avoiding the privacy issues. Rigid and error prone statistical models have long been the only generative algorithms for this purpose.

Recently, generative adversarial networks have demonstrated their ability to produce indistinguishable synthetic data. Synthetic data has been gaining traction rapidly in medical imaging applications. However, due to certain complexities of observational health, the idea is only starting to gain interest. This project will explore GAN methods to produce synthetic health data that address these complexities. In addition to evaluating they gains provided to the development of the diagnostic platform.

Jeremy obtained a bachelor’s of bioinformatics from Université Laval during which he did an exchange at Université de Strasbourg in the Master’s of Integrative structural biology and bioinformatics and completed an internship at The Hyve developing a... Show more

Sushil Shah

Sushil Shah

Sushil is Cloud Solution Architect with Microsoft with specialisation in Data and AI. He specialise in Information Architecture and Data Governance having worked extensively in Financial Services and Life Science Industry.

Sushil is Cloud Solution Architect with Microsoft with specialisation in Data and AI. He specialise in Information Architecture and Data Governance having worked extensively in Financial Services and Life Science Industry. Show more

Bjørn Erling Fløtten

Bjørn Erling Fløtten

Software engineer with a passion for start-ups and information management.

Bjørn Erling Fløtten designs system with efficient use of development resources and simplified architecture facilitating multiple areas of use for every component.

Founder and cofounder of in total six companies, five of them within the area of Information technology. One successful exit (so far).

Currently working with Sikom Connect AS (Remote heating, alarm systems, IoT).

Bjørn consulted for Telenor (a telecommunications company) for 17 years, working with reporting and surveillance systems. Bjørn also has experience with other big organizations in the field of data analysis and reporting.

Software engineer with a passion for start-ups and information management. Bjørn Erling Fløtten designs system with efficient use of development resources and simplified architecture facilitating multiple areas of use for every component. Found... Show more

Somasekharreddy Bogireddy

Somasekharreddy Bogireddy

Somasekhar Reddy Bogireddy is a dynamic SAP Functional Lead with over 11 years of proven expertise in the global retail and consumer goods sectors. He specializes in SAP FICO, SD, MM, CAR, PMR, and POSDM modules, with a distinguished track record of designing, leading, and executing enterprise-wide digital finance transformations that have substantially improved operational efficiency, accuracy, and compliance across multinational organizations.
Currently serving as SAP Functional Lead at Key Food Stores Co-Operative Inc since November 2020, Somasekhar has spearheaded transformative finance initiatives that accelerated month-end closing by 25% and streamlined inter-company reconciliation, reducing manual adjustments by 45%. He architected the integration of SAP PMR with INMAR for real-time tracking of vendor funding across 450+ stores and pioneered a centralized SAP finance reporting dashboard that unified real-time KPIs across finance, operations, and merchandising, significantly improving strategic decision-making capabilities.
Before his current role, Somasekhar served as Senior SAP Functional Analyst at J.Crew Group, Inc. from November 2015 to October 2020, where he directed multi-country SAP FICO rollouts across the UK, Hong Kong, and China, standardizing asset accounting and reducing reconciliation discrepancies by 30%. He designed and executed SAP CAR and POSDM integrations covering over 600 stores and pioneered the integration of Afterpay, Coupa, and Concur systems, reducing manual effort by 50%. His collaboration with SAP Labs on end-to-end encryption (E2EE) processes resulted in functional design inputs that were later adopted by SAP product engineering.
Somasekhar holds a Master of Science in Computer Science from the University of Alabama in Huntsville and a Bachelor of Technology in Electronic and Communication Engineering from JNT University, Hyderabad, India. His core competencies span SAP FICO, SD/MM, CAR/PMR, retail integration, finance automation, global rollouts, EDI integrations, S/4 HANA readiness, and solution architecture. He has been recognized by enterprise leadership for his proactive problem-solving and innovation, receiving formal appreciation from the Vice President of Finance at Key Food Stores for excellence in project execution and finance automation. Beyond his technical expertise, Somasekhar is an accomplished mentor who has conducted over 10 internal trainings and established testing standards that continue to be used across organizations. He is also actively engaged in knowledge dissemination through enterprise architecture discussions, technical presentations, and professional forums focused on large-scale SAP finance and retail systems

Somasekhar Reddy Bogireddy is a dynamic SAP Functional Lead with over 11 years of proven expertise in the global retail and consumer goods sectors. He specializes in SAP FICO, SD, MM, CAR, PMR, and POSDM modules, with a distinguished track record of ... Show more

Abenezer Tafese

Abenezer Tafese

Abenezer Tafese is an MPH student at Thomas Jefferson University and a physician trained in Ethiopia, dedicated to improving cancer care and research in Africa. He spent four years working at the cancer treatment centers of the University of Gondar and Addis Ababa University, where he witnessed the challenges of cancer care and prevention firsthand. His research focuses on cancer prevention and survival disparities, particularly in breast and cervical cancer. Through his work, he aims to bridge gaps in cancer prevention, early detection, and treatment access in Ethiopia, Africa, and other underserved regions.

Abenezer Tafese is an MPH student at Thomas Jefferson University and a physician trained in Ethiopia, dedicated to improving cancer care and research in Africa. He spent four years working at the cancer treatment centers of the University of Gondar a... Show more

Demetrius Tien

Demetrius Tien

Demetrius(They/he) is a third year PhD student in Global and International Studies at UC, Irvine. Their interests are in Asian American Studies, Race, Gender, Sexuality, and Cambodian Studies. They are a recent graduate from California State University, Long Beach, where they received their B.A in History with a minor in Asian American Studies. As an undergrad, Demetrius was a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow and recipient of the Distinguished Undergraduate in History award.

Demetrius(They/he) is a third year PhD student in Global and International Studies at UC, Irvine. Their interests are in Asian American Studies, Race, Gender, Sexuality, and Cambodian Studies. They are a recent graduate from California State Universi... Show more

Sahara Al-Madi

Sahara Al-Madi

Sahara is a computational linguist and AI security researcher dedicated to building culturally coherent, resilient, and trustworthy technology. Currently a Project Lead for AI Data Operations, she focuses on the frontier of "Linguistic Security", synthesizing computational linguistics, adversarial safety, and open-source collaboration. As a technical builder within the NAMAA Arabic NLP community and a UCLA trained linguist, Sahara translates cultural and script specific nuances into defensive frameworks for more secure AI systems. As a first generation Palestinian-Mexican American, she is committed to architecting digital spaces that are safe, accessible, and technically representative of the global communities they serve.

Note: As a first-time BSides speaker, I am excited about working with a mentor to refine this technical briefing for the San Diego security community.

Sahara is a computational linguist and AI security researcher dedicated to building culturally coherent, resilient, and trustworthy technology. Currently a Project Lead for AI Data Operations, she focuses on the frontier of "Linguistic Security", syn... Show more

Please note that Sessionize is not responsible for the accuracy or validity of the data provided by speakers.

Join Speakers Directory

Join our Speakers Directory today and amplify your reach! Showcase your expertise to a global audience hungry for your insights. Let your voice be heard!

Create Profile