Anju Gupta is vice president of artificial intelligence at Northwestern Mutual. In this role, she is accountable for providing technical leadership, guiding the company’s AI roadmap and collaborating with cross-functional teams to deliver business-driven AI solutions. Anju joined the company in October 2020 and has been instrumental in helping to shape Northwestern Mutual’s AI initiatives, including building an ethical framework for implementing AI products. She is also a member of the Northwestern Mutual Data Science Institute executive steering team, which is a partnership that contributes to the formation of a technology ecosystem and advances southeastern Wisconsin as a national hub for technology. Anju also serves on the AI advisory board for LIMRA/LOMA, the Milky Way Tech Hub Coalition and a few AI startups. She has been recognized as the 2023 Women of Influence by Marquis and has also been awarded the 2024 Top 100 AI professionals in the U.S.
With over ten years of work experience in software engineering and architecture, I am a passionate and skilled developer who strives to deliver high-quality solutions for complex business problems. I currently work as a Software Engineer at JPMorgan Chase, where I leverage my AWS, and Apigee certifications to design, develop, and deploy scalable and secure APIs for various financial applications. Previously, I was an Architecture Lead Analyst at Citi, where I led a team of developers and analysts to implement a API gateway framework. I also have experience as a Senior Software Engineer at Fannie Mae, where I worked on several web development projects using Hugo, a static site generator and service mesh for micro service integration. My core competencies include API management, service mesh, web development, cloud computing, and agile methodologies. I am always eager to learn new technologies and best practices, and to collaborate with diverse and talented teams. My mission is to use my expertise in software engineering and architecture to create innovative and impactful solutions that improve the lives of millions of people.
Awais Sher Bajwa is a leader in Data and AI banking, as well as a tech entrepreneur and angel investor. With a career spanning over 15 years, Awais has led over 60 strategic deals, including IPOs, M&A, and capital raises, with a total value exceeding $60 billion. Awais founded Bank of America’s global AI banking practice in Palo Alto. His unique insights into AI adoption within financial institutions as well as the broader AI landscape position him as a distinguished strategic advisor on AI. Prior to his current role, Awais established the software investment banking practice at Bank of America and the digital infrastructure banking practice at Barclays in London.
Awais holds a Master’s degree in Engineering from the University of Oxford.
Data science leader with years of hands-on and leadership experience in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, & Natural Language Processing (NLP). Proven track of successes with developing and implementing impactful AI solutions in both large tech and start-up settings. Currently leading Merck’s flag-ship Gen-AI product in human health. Ex-Meta research data scientist tech lead in AI Infra. Ex-start-up founder in the space of NLP.
Renn Turiano is Chief Product Officer for Gannett Media. He is an established product leader with 30+ years delivering successful customer experiences. He has deep operational experience and expertise in organizational leadership and end-to-end product development. Previously, Renn served as VP of Product and Design at NBCUniversal where he helped incubate and launch the Peacock streaming service. Prior to Peacock, Renn was at Amazon where he built and led multiple teams, driving the creation of numerous successful products and features. Additionally, he has held product and design roles at RAPP, HTC, McKinsey, Goldman Sachs, among others.
Yulia Pavlova, PhD, is the Head of Applied Innovation Lab at Reuters. At Reuters she is leveraging AI technology to revolutionize the news and media landscape, focusing on enhancing accessibility and discoverability of multimedia news content. Yulia Pavlova is a strategic leader with 15+ years of experience in ML and cloud-based AI technology advancement, driving innovation through strategic research, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and product development. Her team brings value through translating complex scientific concepts into commercially viable AI products, enhancing customer experience, and driving market growth. She has PhD is Scientific Computing, and Applied Mathematics and Cybernetics.
Rob Katz is Vice President of Product Management in Salesforce's Office of Ethical and Humane Use of Technology. Rob leads the Responsible AI & Tech team, which ensures that Salesforce's products, software, and services are designed, developed, and delivered responsibly. Prior to Salesforce, Rob worked for Amazon Alexa, Acumen Fund, and the World Resources Institute. He holds a BA from Georgetown and MBA from Stanford.
Bala Maddali is a strategist, influencer, innovator, story-teller, insights-driven product leader who is passionate about the convergence of people, products, experience, and technology.We live in an algorithmic digital world that craves for humanness. He strongly believes human-centered Ai is the secret sauce that blends the digital and the human behavior to humanize the experiences. He leads the Conversational Ai Channels, Product & Customer Experience for the Verizon Consumer group. He has a proven track record in leading and driving strategy, transformation and, commercialization of next-generation Digital experiences, Conceptualizing and enabling industry best and first products to delight customers and enable sustainable growth and value. He is a curious speaker at multiple industry leading customer experience & Ai forums.He has 12 patents in the area of mobile and TV second screen convergence experience, social TV and voice & gesture-based app interactions.
Noelle Russell is a multi-award-winning technologist with an entrepreneurial spirit who specializes in helping companies with emerging technology, Generative AI, and LLMs. She has led teams at NPR, Microsoft, IBM, AWS and Amazon Alexa, and is a consistent champion for Data and AI literacy.
She is a Senior Practice Manager that started and led customer engagement globally on Responsible AI. Diya leads discussions organizations in various industries on taking intentional action to build trust in AI by uncovering potential unintended impacts, and mitigating risks related to its development, deployment and use. She also meets with legislators and policy makers globally to provide perspective to influence imminent regulation and policy on AI. For the first 15 years of her career, she worked in early-stage companies in consulting and in roles focused on scaling their products for acquisition. She is an international speaker; has been awarded and recognized in the industry for her work in Responsible AI; serves on non-profit boards; mentors through multiple organizations; and guest lectures on responsible and inclusive technology.
Jay is a manager of Content and Conversation Design at Capital One. With 15 years experience supporting Contact Centers, Jay is passionate about building connected experiences across user journeys.
Jessica Davis is VP of News Automation & AI Product at Gannett, which owns USA TODAY and 200+ local news sites across the United States. Jessica also co-chairs Gannett’s AI Council, which governs responsible, ethical and safe use of AI across the company.
She led the launch of AI assisted key points earlier this year by using generative AI to accurately summarize highlights at the top of USA TODAY stories, leading to an increase in average engaged time.
Internationally renowned Cloud Adoption, DevOps/DevSecOps Transformation, and Data Modernization Executive. Industry Analyst, Thought Leader, Technology and Strategy Advisor, Startup Advisor, Keynote Speaker, Blogger, Podcaster, YouTuber and bestselling Author. Author of ‘The DevOps Adoption Playbook’, and ‘DevOps For Dummies, IBM Edition’. Keynote speaker at global IT conferences.
After years working in software development and quality assurance, Gillian decided to pursue a career in UX based on her passion for understanding and helping users. She obtained a degree in Human-Computer Interaction and Design from UC-Irvine and has since worked in the conversational design field, building voice and chat solutions for FinTech companies and now General Motors.
Steve Keller is the Sonic Strategy Director for Studio Resonate, SiriusXM Media’s in-house audio-first creative consultancy, offering support to brands that advertise on the Pandora, SiriusXM, and Soundcloud platforms. He is recognized as one of the world’s leading authorities on sonic strategy and identity, blending art and science into award winning creative content and sonic systems for a variety of global agencies and brands. His research explores the ways music, sound, and voice influence perception and behavior and can be found in the Journal of Advertising Research, Journal of Psychology and Marketing, Frontiers in Psychology, WARC, Expert Journal of Marketing, Music and Medicine, Journal of Multisensory Research, Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science, and Journal of Food Quality and Preference.
Roya is a research scientist working on advancing artificial intelligence technologies. She has a PhD in Electrical Engineering, is a US patent holder, and has multiple publications in primary journals on electrical engineering, mathematics, and artificial intelligence. Her primary research interests are generative AI, computer vision, and pattern recognition. Roya has developed machine learning solutions for various applications, including healthcare, assistive technologies, and security.
She is enthusiastic about advancing science and passionate about women’s rights. She is a Google Developer Expert and Cloud Champion in AI/ML, a Google Woman’s Techmaker Ambassador, and a Google Developer Group co-organizer (Cloud Boston). She uses these platforms to enhance women’s confidence in the workplace and advocate for women's and non-binary individuals' rights.
Melissa Porter is the VP of Customer Solutions at Tailored Brands, Inc. She is a transformational and dynamic leader rooted in relationship building and leveraging technology to drive unforgettable B2C, B2B, contact center, and social customer experiences. Yoga instructor and lifelong proliferator of good vibes.
Jubin Thomas is a Technical Architect at Signet Jewelers with over 14 years of experience in the IT and retail sectors, residing in Philadelphia, USA. He has a proven track record of leading transformative technology initiatives and is also an Independent Researcher focusing on Machine Learning and Supply Chain integrations.
As a senior member of IEEE, Jubin is a frequent technical speaker, having presented at major conferences like LambdaConf 2024 , Conf42 Machine Learning conference and BlackIsTech Conference 2024. He has been honored with the prestigious GRA Award and the Titan Business Award in the field of eCommerce, and is a well regarded distinguished judge in several hackathons including IEEE hackathon.
Alex Swartsel is managing director of Jobs for the Future (JFF) Labs's new Insights practice, a growing team that helps decision-makers across the education-to-career landscape understand and prepare for the emerging trends, technologies, and innovations shaping the future of work and learning. JFFLabs’s rapid insights process and transformative trends research agenda focus on core areas impacting the future of work and learning—including AI, the metaverse, climate resilience, lifelong learning, aerospace, robotics, and other emerging fields. Alex is also leading the launch of JFF’s new Center for Artificial Intelligence & the Future of Work.
Alex chairs the board of directors of Capital City Symphony and is also a longtime member and former chorus president of the Choral Arts Society of Washington. She holds a BA summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa from Wellesley College and an MBA from the Yale School of Management.
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