Our Speakers

Coming soon..

Gabriel Velazquez Lopez

Ex-AWS Anthropic Lead (Currently in Stealth Startup)

The One Certification That Works on Every Cloud

L100 (Beginner)

Gabriel Velazquez Lopez

Bio

Gabriel Velazquez is the founder of Antfluent, a Canadian consultancy focused exclusively on Anthropic's Claude. He spent nearly two decades in cloud technology, and was Anthropic's first Applied AI Solutions Architect at AWS, where he led the business relationship that helped scale Anthropic into one of the platform's largest AI partners. After working with organizations around the world, he left to bring that expertise home to Canada.

Talk summary

Every cloud certification you can earn today locks you into a single provider. AWS certs make you an AWS practitioner. Azure certs make you a Microsoft practitioner. But the technology reshaping every cloud platform, AI, now has a certification that travels with you everywhere. In this talk, Gabriel Velazquez shares why he left a global role at AWS to bet his career on Anthropic's Claude ecosystem, why Claude being the only frontier AI model available across AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud changes the certification calculus for cloud practitioners, and what he learned earning the Claude Certified Architect credential. Whether you're choosing your first certification or your next one, this session offers a framework for thinking about where to invest when the industry is moving faster than any single vendor's roadmap.

Jason Mayes

Web AI Lead at Google

Vibing with Antigravity for custom Web AI solutions

L200 (Intermediate)

Jason Mayes

Bio

Web AI Lead, Google (15 years) Jason is Google's Web AI lead, representing teams such as LiteRT.js, DeepMind (Gemma web models), Chrome, TensorFlow.js, and MediaPipe, helping developers globally apply machine learning in JavaScript to the industries that they work within. Jason is the author of the first Web AI courses on Google Developers and EdX, that have enabled over 100,000 developers start their journey with Machine Learning in the browser and is also the creator of the world's first Web AI Summit bringing together top minds in the field. Jason combines his knowledge of the technical and creative worlds to develop innovative prototypes for Google's largest customers and internal teams with 20+ years experience working at the intersection of web engineering and emerging technologies. He holds an MEng in Computer Science, is a member of the British Computing Society, and is a certified information privacy technologist. Jason loves sharing knowledge online which has attracted a global following.

Talk summary

Google's Gemini 3 offers a significant leap forward in its ability to create technically complex solutions when used in conjunction with traditional web engineering workflows. Join Jason Mayes, Web AI Lead at Google, as he shows you how you can maximize your potential using Antigravity with Gemini 3 when combined with your existing knowledge as a seasoned engineer to get the best of both worlds. Save time and turn 10x engineers into 100x. Jason will cover how he's able to create fully functional Web AI examples powered by LiteRT.js, to produce technically complex and functional demos powered by client side AI with minimal effort, while maintaining control, allowing him to focus on the problem he actually wants to solve without needing prior experience with a new library you may not have learnt yet.

Morgan Foster

Snr Principal Engineer

The Illustrated Primer to GenAI Networking

L200 (Intermediate)

Morgan Foster

Bio

Morgan Foster is a Senior Principal Software Engineer in Red Hat's Emerging Technologies group, where she works on making AI agents first-class citizens on Kubernetes. She co-chairs the Kubernetes AI Gateway Working Group under the CNCF and is a core contributor to the Kagenti project. Before Red Hat, Morgan spent a decade in site reliability engineering at Google, Twitter, and Box, and cut her teeth on SpiderMonkey at Mozilla. She lives not far south in Bellingham, WA with her husband and daughter.

Talk summary

AI Gateways are popping up like weeds in the world of distributed computing, but what are they? Why do they exist? Didn't we already have API Gateways? From GuardRails to Semantic Caching, in this talk I'll use my work co-chairing a working group tasked with designing an "AI Gateway" specification for the Kubernetes ecosystem as a way of demonstrating why this new type of network application is necessary, why they're hard to build, and how you might put them to use in your own clusters.

Adina Gray

Founder

Who Adopts AI First and Who Struggles to Keep Up

L100 (Beginner)

Adina Gray

Bio

Adina Gray is the founder of PurpleOwl AI and an international speaker on artificial intelligence, education, and the future of work. Drawing on 20 years of experience in higher education and leadership, she helps organizations build AI literacy and respond strategically to the opportunities and challenges of AI adoption. She has led institutional AI initiatives, organized major AI events, and delivered speaking and training engagements across Canada and internationally. Adina is also the founder of the AI in Education Network of British Columbia, a province wide initiative advancing practical and responsible AI use.

Talk summary

AI is spreading quickly, but adoption is uneven across industries, organizations, and groups. This session looks at why some people and institutions are able to integrate AI into their work while others struggle to keep up, and what this may mean for the future workforce.

Egina Malaj

AI Lead

Simplifying the design and deployment of Agentic AI systems at scale

L200 (Intermediate)

Egina Malaj

Bio

Based in Vancouver, Egina is an AI Architect and a Microsoft AI MVP. She holds a PhD at the intersection of engineering and statistics and brings a strong foundation in machine learning and AI system design. She focuses on building scalable, production-ready AI solutions, including agentic architectures, and works closely with organizations to turn complex problems into practical AI applications. Egina is also actively involved in the AI community across Vancouver, contributing through events, mentoring, and knowledge sharing.

Talk summary

As AI systems evolve from single-model applications to agentic architectures, managing orchestration, state, and workflows becomes increasingly complex. Cloud-based agentic frameworks such as Azure’s Agent Framework for multi-agent handoff orchestration and agentic retrieval capabilities for search systems extend traditional RAG with dynamic, context-aware retrieval and structured coordination between components. This talk will walk you through how these frameworks simplify building and deploying agentic systems in the cloud. It will show how built-in orchestration, tool execution, and state management reduce custom infrastructure, making solutions easier to scale, maintain, and move to production.

Niko Smeds

Staff Software Engineer

The Cloud Bill Nobody Could Explain

L200 (Intermediate)

Niko Smeds

Bio

Niko is a staff software engineer at Grafana Labs, where he helps build and monitor the Kubernetes and cloud platforms. From OpenStack to K8s, he has experience with both private and public cloud infrastructure.

Talk summary

At Grafana Labs, our finance team noticed cloud costs steadily increasing in ways our cost metrics couldn't explain. We declared an incident and started digging. Billing consoles told us NAT gateways and audit logs were expensive, but not why. This talk walks through how we made the invisible visible across AWS and GCP, systematically identifying traffic patterns we didn't need to be paying for. By the end, we'd significantly improved our cloud margin and could finally explain where the money was going.

Kerrie Murray

AWS Enterprise Sales Leader

Panel: Women Shaping the Future of Cloud & AI

L100 (Beginner)

Kerrie Murray

Bio

Accomplished, passionate and highly effective business development and sales professional with 23+ years of experience in global account management, professional services, consulting and achieving market leadership with enterprise customers. I have a results based track record for creating revenue growth through strategic and well developed customer relationships, sharp negotiation skills and driving overall sales excellence through focus, discipline and execution. I have a specific passion for bringing customers the most relevant and experienced professionals to support their most complex business opportunities facing them today.

Talk summary

Join us for an exciting panel on Shaping the Future of Cloud & AI, featuring an exceptional group of women in senior leadership roles at some of the industry’s most impressive companies. This conversation will explore how cloud and AI are reshaping technology, business, and leadership itself, including how leadership is changing today compared with five years ago as AI transforms decision-making, team structures, speed of execution, and the skills organizations value most. Expect a thoughtful, forward-looking discussion with candid insights from leaders who are not just responding to change, but helping define what comes next.

Mency Woo

Practice CTO

Panel: Women Shaping the Future of Cloud & AI

L100 (Beginner)

Mency Woo

Bio

As a hands-on Practice CTO certified in AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud, I build the products and delivery models that turn technical expertise into client success. My passion lies in creating scalable and profitable service offerings by embedding the principles of trustworthy, ethical AI and equitable data into the core of their design.

Talk summary

Inga Seelemann

Principal Director, Tech Strategy & Advisory Lead

Panel: Women Shaping the Future of Cloud & AI

L100 (Beginner)

Inga Seelemann

Bio

Inga is the Principal Director, Tech Strategy & Advisory at Accenture, with more than 28 years of experience leading technology programs across energy, mining, pharmaceuticals, and the public sector. She specializes in helping organizations turn digital transformation from strategy into real-world execution, with a focus on building scalable, governed, production-ready outcomes. Her work spans GenAI at scale, cloud governance and FinOps, and IT/OT integration in complex industrial environments where data is critical not just for business value, but for safety and operational resilience. Having worked on both the client side and the vendor side, she brings a practical operator mindset to every engagement, focused on building solutions that are effective, well-governed, and built to last.

Talk summary

Devon Dander

Technology Director at Lululemon

Panel: Women Shaping the Future of Cloud & AI

L100 (Beginner)

Devon Dander

Bio

Dynamic leader with experience in operational analysis and implementing creative strategies. Proven record of quickly understanding and adapting to business and technology problems, and collaborating cross functionally to achieve timely results. Frequently represents senior leaders to recommend, prioritize, and achieve effective solutions.

Talk summary

Warren Lyne

Cloud Business Development Manager

Emcee (Main Stage)

L100 (Beginner)

Warren Lyne

Bio

Warren brings more than 20 years of experience across enterprise technology, technical sales, and business strategy. He has built and led high-performing teams serving Fortune 500 customers, helping organizations adopt cloud and digital solutions that drive innovation, efficiency, and long-term growth. With expertise spanning cloud, AI, enterprise architecture, and digital transformation, Warren is skilled at turning complex business challenges into practical technology strategies. His background across engineering, pre-sales, account management, and leadership gives him a well-rounded perspective on how to deliver solutions that create real value at scale.

Ntokozo Yende

Enterprise Solutions Manager

Emcee (Community Stage)

L100 (Beginner)

Ntokozo Yende

Bio

Ntokozo is an Enterprise Solutions Manager at KPMG with deep experience in cloud strategy, application modernization, and digital transformation. Prior to relocating to Vancouver, she spent five years at Microsoft in Belgium as a Cloud Solutions Architect, helping organizations adopt and scale modern cloud solutions. She is especially passionate about GenAI, Copilot, app modernization, and cloud economics, and brings a practical perspective on how enterprises can turn emerging technology into meaningful business outcomes. With experience across both Microsoft and KPMG, she offers a strong mix of technical insight, strategic thinking, and real-world execution.

Andrey Barkov

Senior Software Engineer

Emcee (HackerRivals)

L100 (Beginner)

Andrey Barkov

Bio

Andrey is an experienced software engineer with a background in building modern web applications and cloud solutions. Skilled in Angular, React, C#, Node.js, Azure, AWS, and microservices, He brings a practical, hands-on perspective to developing scalable and reliable software. A certified Scrum Master and Azure Developer, Andrey combines strong technical expertise with a focus on modern engineering practices and cloud innovation.

Gillian Cai

Enterprise Account Executive

Panel Moderator

L100 (Beginner)

Gillian Cai

Bio

Complex transformations stall when vision, people, and execution drift apart. My work closes that gap. At AWS, I partner with enterprise leaders to map strategy to action: build an adoption plan, align governance and security, and sequence wins that prove value early. My background blends BD, PR, and program leadership—I’ve led large CSR initiatives, delivered white-paper campaigns, and built industry partnerships—so I’m comfortable navigating stakeholders from the boardroom to delivery teams. I’m also passionate about inclusive culture (co-founder of Asians@Amazon ERG initiative) because sustainable change is a team sport. If you’re modernizing workloads, rethinking data foundations, or moving from pilots to scale, I’m happy to share playbooks that work in the real world.

Derek Liu

AWS Senior Solution Architect

Workshop Facilitator

L100 (Beginner)

Derek Liu

Bio

Derek is a Senior Solutions Architect at AWS with expertise in big data, analytics, and agentic AI. He helps organizations design efficient, resilient, and scalable cloud solutions that deliver strong performance while staying cost-conscious. His background includes supporting AWS enterprise customers across services such as Amazon EMR, Glue, Athena, DynamoDB, Lake Formation, and MWAA, with a focus on data lakes, data warehouses, and large-scale analytics workloads. Prior to AWS, he also worked as an SAP HANA database specialist, giving him deep experience in performance, high availability, and enterprise data platforms.

Daniel Kwok

AWS Senior Solution Architect

Workshop Facilitator

L100 (Beginner)

Daniel Kwok

Bio

Daniel is a Senior Cloud Solutions Architect at AWS, partnering with customers and cross-functional teams across account management, business development, engineering, and product to design scalable, flexible, and resilient cloud architectures. His work focuses on helping organizations solve complex business problems and accelerate cloud adoption with solutions that are practical, effective, and built to last. He brings a strong mix of technical depth and customer focus, with a passion for helping businesses turn cloud strategy into real-world outcomes.