Main Stage

Staying Ahead Amidst AI Revolution

As AI continues to advance at a rapid pace, staying current with these developments is a critical challenge for engineering leaders. This session, features are really well rounded panel. Maria and Anu are at the forefront of building AI; Jocelyn is investing in AI and haa a front row seat to what's coming. And in Shibani, most of us who are operators who are working on leveraging all these AI advancements!

This discussion will focus on how to stay informed about the latest advancements and ensure that your team is equipped with upto date knowledge and skills.

Additionally, the panelists will address how to balance the risks associated with integrating new AI technologies into your roadmap and platform. They will share insights on managing the complexities of adopting cutting-edge solutions while mitigating potential drawbacks. This session aims to provide practical advice for leading in an environment where AI is transforming industry norms and expectations.

SPEAKER
SPEAKER

Maria Alvarez

VP OF EXPERIMENTATION MICROSOFT

Maria currently serves as VP, AI Platform, Cloud and AI Division at Microsoft Corporation, a technology company, and has served in senior roles at Microsoft since 2011, including as General Manager, Shared Engineering Services, AI & Research Group. Before joining Microsoft. She served as Chief Technology Officer and Product Head at Panda Security, and she previously held senior roles at Yahoo! Inc., Hewlett Packard Company, and Symantec Corporation.

Currently Maria serves as an independent board member in two companies: 1) Alkami Technology Inc., is a public, leading cloud-based digital banking solutions provider for financial institutions in the United States, and 2) BB Imaging, a private company that offers diagnostic ultrasound services, delivering accessible care for at-risk patients and turn-key solutions to providers as well as two non-profit Advisory Boards: 1) Steam:Coders, an organization that teaches underserved and underrepresented students the fundamentals of STEAM education. 2) Code the Spectrum which provides IT Education and Career Pathway for Neurodivergent People.

SPEAKER
SPEAKER

Jocelyn Goldfein

PARTNER ZETTA VENTURES

Jocelyn Goldfein is a Managing Director at Zetta Venture Partners, where she invests seed capital in AI-native startups with B2B business models.

Jocelyn is a widely recognized industry expert on product strategy, infrastructure and fast operational scaling. Her career as an engineering leader spans from early stage startups to high-growth years at Facebook and VMware.

During her tenure at Facebook, she helped convert News Feed to Machine Learning and spearheaded the transition to a ‘mobile first' product organization. As an early engineer at VMware, she built core virtualization technology and ultimately created and led VMware’s Desktop Business Unit. Jocelyn also held engineering and leadership roles at startups Datify, MessageOne and Trilogy/pcOrder.

Jocelyn has a passion for STEM Education. She currently lectures at Stanford University where she received her BS in Computer Science and has served as vice chair of the board at Harvey Mudd College.

SPEAKER
SPEAKER

Shibani Sanan

CTO LADDER

Shibani is Ladder’s CTO, overseeing engineering, IT, and security. She has spent the last 25 years at tech companies large and small, delivering scalable, high-impact products through her deep technical expertise and robust leadership. Her background includes leading a 1000+ engineering organization as VP of Engineering at Google, and serving as the Head of Engineering at Plaid. She brings a wealth of expertise and experience in scaling massive organizations. Shibani is a graduate of Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology.

Fun fact: Shibani’s no fan of cooking and claims to take lots of shortcuts, but her dishes get raves from her friends and family, so she must be doing it right.

SPEAKER
SPEAKER

Anuradha Gali

DIRECTOR ENGINEERING APPLE

A creative, award-winning, and accomplished leader in technology and product development in both consumer and enterprise product/services with 20+ years in increasingly more responsible roles. Strong balance of Engineering, Leadership, Product and Business savviness that has led to successes in a number of initiatives. Experience includes building great engineering teams from the ground-up, integrating Acqui-hires, and delivering large-scale projects across various technologies and fields with a unique grasp of end-to-end systems to deliver impactful customer experience and sustained revenue growth.