Emma’s story is anchored in two worlds that rarely meet: elite sport and enterprise transformation. While building a professional football career, she developed deep, practical expertise in large-scale programmes for FTSE and global brands. Her grounding across AI, ERP, CRM and HCM ecosystems positions her as a trusted partner to Microsoft, Dayforce and organisations that want to navigate transformation with discipline, risk awareness and genuine quality control.

Her sporting pedigree shapes her perspective. She sees transformation through the same lens as high-performance football: preparation, drills and strategy come first, and shortcuts simply cost you later. She is known for a direct, engaging style that cuts through jargon and gets to the truth of how programmes succeed or fail. Her talks blend sharp insight with authenticity, humour and sports logic, giving both technical and functional audiences something they can use the moment they leave the room.

Emma’s story is anchored in two worlds that rarely meet: elite sport and enterprise transformation. While building a professional football career, she developed deep, practical expertise in large-scale programmes for FTSE and global brands. Her groun... Show more

Microsoft MVP on .NET and AI
Author | Speaker | Senior AI Software Engineer | Trainer

Daniel Costea is a Senior AI Software Engineer with more than 20 years of experience in .NET technologies and artificial intelligence. He has been passionate about C# since its release in 2001 and has delivered over 1,200 hours of training in .NET to more than 700 students worldwide. His expertise in AI engineering is recognized through his Microsoft MVP awards in both AI and .NET since 2019.
As a frequent international speaker, Daniel has presented at major conferences across Europe and the United States for the past eight years. He is the author of *Microsoft Agent Framework in .NET - Build production-ready AI agents and multi-agent systems in C#* and a contributor of technical articles on .NET and AI.

Microsoft MVP on .NET and AI Author | Speaker | Senior AI Software Engineer | Trainer Daniel Costea is a Senior AI Software Engineer with more than 20 years of experience in .NET technologies and artificial intelligence. He has been passionate ab... Show more

Rita Sabri is a cybersecurity educator and researcher working at the intersection of AI security and applied threat modeling. She holds an M.S. in Computer Science from the University of Pennsylvania and teaches Cybersecurity. She is committed to expanding access, awareness, and curriculum development in cybersecurity education across underserved communities, with a long-term interest in supporting the growth of AppSec practice and framework adoption across North Africa, particularly Morocco, and the broader MENA region.

Rita Sabri is a cybersecurity educator and researcher working at the intersection of AI security and applied threat modeling. She holds an M.S. in Computer Science from the University of Pennsylvania and teaches Cybersecurity. She is committed to exp... Show more

Evelien works at the intersection of two urgent challenges in tech: helping Agile teams integrate AI responsibly, and equipping product teams to detect and address gender bias in the systems they build.

She is a Professional Knowledge Sharer at Xebia Academy, Scrum.org PST, and certified Training from the Back of the Room Trainer with 15+ years coaching and training teams at organizations like Rabobank, Philips, Essent, and Unilever. She designs learning experiences that are practical, hands-on, and grounded in what teams actually face.

Evelien co-created the Road2Mastery, wrote the Scrum Master Playbook, and organizes Women in Agile Europe. She is currently writing a book on gender bias in AI.

Evelien works at the intersection of two urgent challenges in tech: helping Agile teams integrate AI responsibly, and equipping product teams to detect and address gender bias in the systems they build. She is a Professional Knowledge Sharer at Xe... Show more

Eriol has been working as a designer for 15+ years working in for-profits and then NGO’s and open-source software organisations, working on complex problems like sustainable food systems, peace-building, censorship circumvention OSS, Human Rights OSS tools and crisis response technology. Eriol now works at The Open Home Foundation on OSS first smart home technology.

Eriol is part of the core teams at Open Source Design (http://opensourcedesign.net/) Sustain UX & Design working group (https://sustainoss.org/working-groups/design-and-ux/) and help hosts podcast about open source and design (https://sosdesign.sustainoss.org/)

Eriol is a non-binary, queer person who uses they/them pronouns.

Eriol was studying a Comp Sci PhD looking at how designers participate in humanitarian and human rights focussed open-source software projects and is looking for a new home for this research.

Eriol has been working as a designer for 15+ years working in for-profits and then NGO’s and open-source software organisations, working on complex problems like sustainable food systems, peace-building, censorship circumvention OSS, Human Rights OSS... Show more

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

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

Holly Bielawa is the head of Product Coaching and Consulting for Jeff Patton and Associates, where she and her team help companies put Product Thinking concepts into practice. As an international tech start-up founder, CPO, and transformational strategist, she brings a unique wealth of experience and industry knowledge to technology product development. She and her team work with organizational leaders and teams to help them evolve to a product-oriented culture that empowers the principles, practices and ways of working that are essential to deliver real business results.

Holly Bielawa is the head of Product Coaching and Consulting for Jeff Patton and Associates, where she and her team help companies put Product Thinking concepts into practice. As an international tech start-up founder, CPO, and transformational strat... Show more

Manasés Jesús has been passionately hacking since high school, mastering various programming languages, tech stacks, and software development methodologies. With a keen ability to architect and implement distributed systems, mobile applications, and cloud-native solutions, he has successfully led projects and delivered innovative software to international corporations across the IT, banking, and IoT sectors. He enjoys giving workshops, connecting with tech communities, empowering developers and discovering new opportunities for innovation and growth.

Manasés Jesús is a recognized thought leader, having spoken at international conferences and contributed to O'Reilly's esteemed publications, "97 Things Every Cloud Engineer Should Know" and "97 Things Every Application Security Professional Should Know." His leadership style is marked by a strong emphasis on emotional intelligence, fostering collaboration, and inspiring others to achieve their best. This combination of technical prowess and empathetic leadership makes him a valuable asset in any technological endeavor.

Manasés Jesús has been passionately hacking since high school, mastering various programming languages, tech stacks, and software development methodologies. With a keen ability to architect and implement distributed systems, mobile applications, and ... Show more

Julien Jakubowski is a Developer Advocate at StreamNative with over 20+ years of experience as a developer, staff engineer, and consultant. He has built several complex systems with distributed, scalable, and event-driven architecture for various industrial sectors such as retail, finance, and manufacturing.



Julien delivers talks at conferences on software engineering, including Devoxx, JCon, Conf42, VoxxedDays, Berlin Buzzwords, and Java User Groups, among others.


Julien is located in France. He's also one of the founders and leaders of the Ch'ti JUG - Java User Group of Lille, France.

Julien Jakubowski is a Developer Advocate at StreamNative with over 20+ years of experience as a developer, staff engineer, and consultant. He has built several complex systems with distributed, scalable, and event-driven architecture for various ind... Show more

Jorans passion involves getting people to love technology and getting technology to play nice. He works as an interaction developer with ♡ for web, tech, science & tinkering with stuff. Focussed on innovation and elevating peer developers. Writes, toots and speaks every now and then.

Jorans passion involves getting people to love technology and getting technology to play nice. He works as an interaction developer with ♡ for web, tech, science & tinkering with stuff. Focussed on innovation and elevating peer developers. Writes, to... Show more

Security Cloud Solution Architect & Consultant with 15+ years designing secure, scalable strategies across Azure and Microsoft 365. Former Microsoft CSA with a track record of leading enterprise security transformations, driving adoption of advanced threat protection, and building data security practices. Recognized speaker, author, and trainer passionate about empowering organizations and communities to stay ahead of evolving cyber threats. Microsoft Security MVP.

Security Cloud Solution Architect & Consultant with 15+ years designing secure, scalable strategies across Azure and Microsoft 365. Former Microsoft CSA with a track record of leading enterprise security transformations, driving adoption of advanced ... Show more

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

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

As a Solution Architect, I bring extensive experience in Microsoft Dynamics NAV/365 Business Central/Power Platform. My journey has evolved from technical consultancy to leadership, guiding businesses through digital transformation and integration with a focus on excellence and innovation.

As a Solution Architect, I bring extensive experience in Microsoft Dynamics NAV/365 Business Central/Power Platform. My journey has evolved from technical consultancy to leadership, guiding businesses through digital transformation and integration wi... Show more

Dalibor is Director of AI at RAYVN, a critical event management platform used in more than 90 countries.
He has twenty years in technology as a developer and team lead, with the last years focusing on generative AI, covering both company-wide adoption and getting AI into production. Before RAYVN he was AI-tools Practice Lead for 700 consultants making sure that all employees and customers get the most out of available AI tools.

In his free time, he writes and creates content teaching people how to adopt AI.

Dalibor is Director of AI at RAYVN, a critical event management platform used in more than 90 countries. He has twenty years in technology as a developer and team lead, with the last years focusing on generative AI, covering both company-wide adopti... Show more

Vishnu Rachapudi is a Cloud & AI Engineer at SUDO Consultants . He holds 14 AWS certifications and has hands-on experience building real-world solutions using Amazon Bedrock, AWS Transform, and AWS Q.

He has spoken at AWS Community Days, GITEX, and various user groups, sharing practical insights on cloud modernization, AI-driven DevOps, and security. Vishnu is passionate about bridging the gap between emerging AWS AI services and real-world engineering challenges.

Vishnu Rachapudi is a Cloud & AI Engineer at SUDO Consultants . He holds 14 AWS certifications and has hands-on experience building real-world solutions using Amazon Bedrock, AWS Transform, and AWS Q. He has spoken at AWS Community Days, GITEX, an... Show more

I have been passionate about development since I was very young, with over eight years of deep involvement in the cloud-native ecosystem.
After applying my expertise at the highest levels of the French government, I joined Qim info as Head of the Cloud & DevOps at Qim info in Switzerland.
My role is to support cultural and technological transformations to overcome the challenges of Cloud and DevOps.

I am the founder of Photon, a globally recognized iPad application for managing lighting in cinema, concerts, and theater.
I combine technical expertise with a strong understanding of artistic needs to deliver innovative and high-performance lighting management solutions.

I have been passionate about development since I was very young, with over eight years of deep involvement in the cloud-native ecosystem. After applying my expertise at the highest levels of the French government, I joined Qim info as Head of the C... Show more

I am a Data & AI Solutions Architect, speaker, and educator specialized in Generative AI, AI agents, data architecture, and cloud platforms.

I currently work at Indra/Minsait, contributing to digital transformation, data modernization, and applied artificial intelligence initiatives for enterprise environments. My work combines solution definition, requirements review, architecture design, and technology adoption for emerging Data & AI solutions.

As a speaker, I cover topics such as AI Agents, RAG, LangChain, LangGraph, Azure AI Foundry, Google Cloud, Cloud Data Platforms, modern data architectures, and strategic AI adoption. My approach focuses on connecting technical depth with real architecture, business, and organizational adoption decisions.

I also lead and contribute to training programs in Data, Cloud, and Generative AI for professionals and teams, using a clear, practical, and results-oriented methodology.

My goal in every session is to help audiences understand how to turn complex concepts into applicable, sustainable, and business-aligned solutions.

I am a Data & AI Solutions Architect, speaker, and educator specialized in Generative AI, AI agents, data architecture, and cloud platforms. I currently work at Indra/Minsait, contributing to digital transformation, data modernization, and applied... Show more

Software Architect at Applied Information Sciences (AIS) with 15+ years of experience delivering enterprise solutions across Microsoft 365, SharePoint, Power Platform, Azure, and AI-powered technologies.
Passionate about helping organizations transform business processes, modernize digital workplaces, and unlock value through innovative technology solutions.
I enjoy exploring emerging technologies, sharing knowledge, and continuously learning as the Microsoft ecosystem evolves.

Software Architect at Applied Information Sciences (AIS) with 15+ years of experience delivering enterprise solutions across Microsoft 365, SharePoint, Power Platform, Azure, and AI-powered technologies. Passionate about helping organizations trans... Show more

Haiko Hertes has been working in the IT industry for more than 20 years, with a strong focus and specialization in Microsoft technologies and platforms. Over the past 10 years, he has concentrated primarily on cloud topics, especially Microsoft Azure. At the same time, hybrid approaches such as Azure Arc and Azure Local continue to play an important role in his work. He shares his knowledge of PowerShell, System Center, Hyper-V, and Microsoft Azure through blogs, videos, and talks.

Haiko Hertes has been working in the IT industry for more than 20 years, with a strong focus and specialization in Microsoft technologies and platforms. Over the past 10 years, he has concentrated primarily on cloud topics, especially Microsoft Azure... Show more

With over 20 years of hands-on experience in programming, Pablo is a well-versed professional who has successfully transitioned into leadership roles, currently serving as an Engineering Manager in Viaplay Group. He is dedicated to fostering collaborative environments and helping individuals discover more effective ways of working together, navigating challenges such as remote team collaboration and conflict resolution. In his talks, Pablo offers a fusion of technical knowledge and leadership insights, based on years of practical experience, exploring the intersection of technology, management, and the human diversity that drives successful teams.

With over 20 years of hands-on experience in programming, Pablo is a well-versed professional who has successfully transitioned into leadership roles, currently serving as an Engineering Manager in Viaplay Group. He is dedicated to fostering collabor... Show more

Flamur is a Senior Specialist Solutions Architect at AWS focused on helping customers with their modernisation journey, from designing and building complex infrastructures to running large scale workloads efficiently. Prior to joining AWS, Flamur spent 4 years at JP Morgan, leading the cloud native transformation and migration of one of their core platforms. He has over 20 years of deep technical expertise working in lead roles encompassing cloud, containers, DevOps and systems engineering.

Flamur is a Senior Specialist Solutions Architect at AWS focused on helping customers with their modernisation journey, from designing and building complex infrastructures to running large scale workloads efficiently. Prior to joining AWS, Flamur spe... Show more

Neha Lagoo Ratnakar is a tiny speaker with a big name and an even bigger message. Her talks are part wakeup call and part kick in the behind.

Neha’s bestselling book, Back on Your Feet (Goodreads 4.5, Amazon 4.7) has helped hundreds of women start their career comeback journey and she’s spent hours directly coaching them.

But throughout her career spanning 8 countries, and her work as the Head of Education at a non-profit in Europe, she was shocked to hear that it was difficult for leaders to bridge the gender numbers despite their best intentions.

So Neha made it her mission to help organisations bridge this gap and support women on their journey.

What she has to say may offend you, could provoke you, but will definitely make you think. If you’re looking for a keynote speaker who can talk from authentic global experiences infused with actionable insights, then Neha is your choice.

Neha Lagoo Ratnakar is a tiny speaker with a big name and an even bigger message. Her talks are part wakeup call and part kick in the behind. Neha’s bestselling book, Back on Your Feet (Goodreads 4.5, Amazon 4.7) has helped hundreds of women star... Show more

With over 15 years of experience, I specialize in designing and delivering transformative solutions leveraging Microsoft Modern Work and Business Applications. As a Cloud Solution Architect at Microsoft, I focus on AI-driven business solutions, utilizing technologies like Power Platform and Copilot Studio to empower organizations to streamline processes, enhance productivity and drive innovation.
My career demonstrates a strong commitment to designing scalable system architectures, fostering collaboration with stakeholders and aligning technology solutions with business goals.
I am passionate about sharing knowledge through technical communities, blogs and user groups to empower others in harnessing Microsoft technologies for impactful digital transformation.

With over 15 years of experience, I specialize in designing and delivering transformative solutions leveraging Microsoft Modern Work and Business Applications. As a Cloud Solution Architect at Microsoft, I focus on AI-driven business solutions, utili... Show more

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

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

Over 20 years experience in software engineering, mostly in the defence domain at Thales. The last few years of this were focused on transformation first to containers then Kubernetes.

After Thales I worked on the cloud native team at Couchbase, working on their Golang-based Kubernetes operator. This included producing a custom Fluent Bit deployment for observability needs.

Calyptia (founded by the Fluent maintainers) then approached me to come work with them building out observability products before we were successfully acquired by Chronosphere. I then led the migration of all our infrastructure and SOC2 compliance before Chronosphere was again successfully acquired by Palo Alto. During this period I also became a core maintainer of the CNCF graduated Fluent project, primarily working on Fluent Bit.

I am now running an OSS consultancy for observability called Telemetry Forge leveraging our knowledge as well as working with customers in the defence domain again.

Over 20 years experience in software engineering, mostly in the defence domain at Thales. The last few years of this were focused on transformation first to containers then Kubernetes. After Thales I worked on the cloud native team at Couchbase, w... Show more

I am passionate about developing technology products that enhance people's experiences as customers of various services, such as healthcare and education. I enjoy learning new things and sharing my knowledge through active involvement in various tech communities, particularly in Peru .NET Development, where I co-founded and organize meetups focused on both Hard-Skills and Soft-Skills topics. Currently, I hold the position of Tech Lead at Enara Health.

I am passionate about developing technology products that enhance people's experiences as customers of various services, such as healthcare and education. I enjoy learning new things and sharing my knowledge through active involvement in various tech... Show more

A PhD and expert in Applied Economics and Strategic Marketing, Andrea Saravalle combines a solid academic career at three leading Italian universities (Bologna, Brescia, Ancona) with extensive consulting work for national brands. Specializing in market analysis and positioning strategies, he helps organizations navigate technological and structural changes through a deep understanding of stakeholders' real needs. He is a member of the "Industry, Territory, Environment" research group at the University of Bologna. As a speaker, he brings to the stage a vision that combines strategy and sustainability, guiding companies towards growth that is both innovative and profitable.

A PhD and expert in Applied Economics and Strategic Marketing, Andrea Saravalle combines a solid academic career at three leading Italian universities (Bologna, Brescia, Ancona) with extensive consulting work for national brands. Specializing in mark... Show more

I design and deliver intelligent data and AI infrastructure, bridging principal-level engineering practice with peer-reviewed research and external technical leadership.

My work focuses on building reliable, governable, and observable systems for scientific and regulated environments—spanning agentic AI, data platforms, control planes, and emerging computational paradigms.

I am active across IEEE publications, conference presentations, technical writing, and open-source prototypes, translating research ideas into practical engineering approaches.

What I work on:

- Agentic AI infrastructure: semantic caching, control planes, lifecycle finite-state machines, and governed autonomy
- Security-critical patterns for autonomous and multi-agent systems
- Strategy and architecture for intelligent data services and Manufacturing Execution Systems
- Near-real-time telemetry, audit, provenance, and decision-record substrates across multi-terabyte environments
- Declarative policy, state, and intent expressed as code through custom resource models, GitOps, and control-plane patterns
- Technical mentorship and cross-functional influence across engineering, MLOps, SRE, and adjacent disciplines

I bring AIOps, MLOps, DevSecOps, and Site Reliability Engineering practices to systems that must remain reliable, explainable, and operable in regulated contexts.

My background spans distributed systems in high-reliability domains: reactive platforms in banking and finance, GxP-aligned pharmaceutical manufacturing systems, and industrial automation for semiconductor manufacturing.

I design and deliver intelligent data and AI infrastructure, bridging principal-level engineering practice with peer-reviewed research and external technical leadership. My work focuses on building reliable, governable, and observable systems for ... Show more

Sumaiya Shrabony is a Technical Program Manager and BI practitioner at the University of Colorado Denver, where she manages enterprise analytics infrastructure across Azure Data Factory, SSAS Tabular models, Power BI, multiple departments, and 500+ users.

Her work sits at the point where ERP systems, data migration, BI reporting, and AI adoption either become useful or break trust. She focuses on the proof layer behind modern analytics: migrated Business Central data, finance balances, semantic models, Power BI reports, governance constraints, and AI workflows that need reliable data before they can be trusted.

Sumaiya speaks on Business Central migration proof, Power BI and Fabric reporting continuity, semantic-layer reliability, and the operator version of AI: not hype, not theory, but the version that has to survive real users, broken dashboards, anxious stakeholders, and workflows that cannot afford confident guessing.

She also writes Ground Truth, a weekly newsletter on practical AI adoption in enterprise data work. Her teaching style is specific, direct, and built for practitioners who need the work to make sense by Monday morning.

Sumaiya Shrabony is a Technical Program Manager and BI practitioner at the University of Colorado Denver, where she manages enterprise analytics infrastructure across Azure Data Factory, SSAS Tabular models, Power BI, multiple departments, and 500+ u... Show more

Francis Akol is a Software Engineer and Head of Engineering focused on building secure, scalable financial technology products. He leads engineering initiatives in digital payments while contributing to Africa's technology ecosystem as a Google Developer Groups (GDG) Jinja Organizer and community mentor. With experience spanning AI, cloud computing, web technologies, and payment systems, Francis regularly speaks at developer conferences, sharing practical approaches to building modern software that creates meaningful impact.

Francis Akol is a Software Engineer and Head of Engineering focused on building secure, scalable financial technology products. He leads engineering initiatives in digital payments while contributing to Africa's technology ecosystem as a Google Devel... Show more