The 2026 speakers

Dr. Chema Alonso is currently the Vice President and Head of International Development at Cloudflare. He was previously the CDO (Chief Digital Officer), a member of the Executive Committee, and a member of the Cybersecurity Board at Telefonica. He was also a member of the Board of Telefónica Tech and the Board of Telefonica de España. He founded, worked at, and directed ElevenPaths, a Telefónica subsidiary focused on cybersecurity, where he served as CEO. Additionally, he founded, worked at, and directed Informática 64 for 14 years—a company focused on cybersecurity.
He holds a PhD in Computer Security from the Rey Juan Carlos University of Madrid, a Computer Engineering degree from URJC, and a Systems Computer Engineering degree from the Polytechnic University of Madrid, which named him Honorary Ambassador of its School of Computer Science in 2012. In 2020, URJC awarded him an honorary doctorate (Doctor Honoris Causa). You can contact Chema Alonso directly through his public inbox at https://www.mypublicinbox.com/ChemaAlonso, and you can request a virtual meeting with him at https://www.mypublicinbox.com/chemaalonso/videocall. These are the only channels he uses for contact.

I’m a computer scientist with 15+ years of experience in tech, blending a strong technical foundation with deep business acumen. My career has evolved across sales, business development, and artificial intelligence, allowing me to lead complex, cross-functional initiatives with real-world impact.
Currently, I serve as the GenAI Go-to-Market Lead for EMEA at Amazon Web Services, where I help organizations unlock the full potential of AI at scale.

Recognized as one the most influential professionals in AI in Europe and worldwide too, I’m a regular speaker at international conferences and collaborate with academic institutions as a lecturer in master’s and postgraduate programs. I also share insights with a LinkedIn community
of 200,000+ followers, fostering meaningful conversations around GenAI, business strategy, and ecosystem growth.

Jaime de Mora is CTO for Startups & Unicorns at Microsoft EMEA, where he works with the most disruptive companies across Europe to help them scale through AI, cloud, and cutting-edge technology. With over 15 years in the tech industry, he previously served as General Manager of Microsoft for Startups in Western Europe and as VP of Growth at Carto, where he transformed the platform into a global leader in geospatial data analytics. An active startup advisor across Europe, the US, and Latin America, and an MBA professor at IE Business School, Jaime is one of Spain's most connected voices at the intersection of AI, entrepreneurship, and startup ecosystems.

Dra. Jordina Torrents Barrena is a globally recognized AI researcher and senior leader at HP, where she spearheads innovation in generative AI, edge deployment, and computer vision for Large Format Printing. She holds a PhD in deep learning-based segmentation for fetal surgery from Universitat Pompeu Fabra, where she developed computational tools for surgical planning and navigation in Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome. With over 50 scientific publications and multiple patents, Jordina bridges academic excellence with real-world industrial impact. She has been awarded the Google Women Techmakers scholarship (2017), McKinsey's Next Generation Women Leaders (2020), and the Ada Byron Award for Young Technologists (2021). Born in Constantí (1991), she currently teaches at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya and is shaping the future where intelligent systems empower both machines and people.

John Abel is Managing Director in the Office of the CTO at Google Cloud, where he advises enterprises and governments across Europe on modernisation strategies, AI adoption, digital sovereignty, and sustainable software development. A recognized thought leader at the intersection of cloud and AI, he co-authored Google's Go Green Software principles guide and recently headlined AI Week Milan 2026. Beyond his technical influence, John is a Dyslexic Ambassador for the British Dyslexia Association, bringing a distinctly human dimension to his work in technology leadership.

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Shalini Goyal is a distinguished technology and business leader with over two decades of international experience across the financial services, technology, and healthcare sectors. Her career spans leadership roles at Amazon, JP Morgan, Optum Health, and other Fortune 500 companies, where she has led large-scale digital transformation, cloud adoption, and AI-driven initiatives.

Currently serving as an Executive Director at JP Morgan, she also actively advises startups and mentors engineers across global tech communities. A published author and global keynote speaker, Shalini empowers diverse tech communities, being deeply passionate about fostering inclusion in technology. She is preparing individuals and organizations to thrive in an AI-powered future.

Florian Kunzke has spent the last decade at the center of enterprise software's biggest bets.
As Global Director of AI Strategy at SAP, he drives SAP's AI and agent strategy and roadmap, prepares partnering and M&A decisions, and advises executive leadership on where the competitive landscape is heading.
After joining SAP in 2016 through the SAP Innovation Center Network, he helped pioneer technologies like machine learning, blockchain and quantum computing, before becoming instrumental in establishing SAP's platform strategy for Business Technology Platform (BTP).
What makes him a compelling voice on enterprise AI is his ability to look beyond the headlines and spot the nuances that matter: where technology is genuinely going, where enthusiasm outpaces reality, and what it takes for AI to deliver inside a large organization.
He's spoken at re:publica, BigBang KI Festival, AI Summit Kitzbühel, SAP Sapphire, and TRANSFORM, and writes regularly on the future of enterprise AI.

Dael Williamson is the EMEA CTO at Databricks, where he advises C-level executives at some of Europe's largest enterprises on data and AI-led business transformation. Before joining Databricks, he served as Global Data Technology Lead at the Accenture Microsoft Business Group and as European CTO for Data and AI at Avanade. A published data scientist with a background in biochemistry and protein molecular modelling, Dael holds a Master's degree (First Class) from the University of Cape Town and studied Executive Leadership at INSEAD. He sits on the advisory boards of two health and biotech startups and is actively involved in the UK and EU startup ecosystem.

With over 15 years across Amazon, Unilever and P&G, I have directed large-scale digital, financial and operational transformations globally — managing multi million dollar portfolios and leading cross-functional and multinational teams across geographies. I build and scale AI-driven organizations — designing governance frameworks, deploying ML models and building the infrastructure that turns AI strategy into measurable business value.My work sits at the intersection of AI strategy, cloud architecture, ops and finance. Beyond the Corp world, I have experienced building and advising Fintech startups as Tech/AI advisor, and am a private multi-asset class Investor.

Nouamane Tazi is a Machine Learning Engineer at Hugging Face, focused on large-scale distributed LLM training. He is the lead author of the Ultra-Scale Playbook and a core developer of Nanotron, Hugging Face's open-source distributed training library. His work spans projects like StarCoder2, SmolLM3, and Mixture-of-Experts scaling. He is passionate about making large-scale training practical and accessible.

Alia Zafar is Director of HR & Facilities Management at the Commonwealth Secretariat in London, bringing nearly three decades of experience across banking, energy, telecoms, and international development. A certified expert in Business AI from London Business School and Negotiation from Oxford, she is a keynote speaker on AI governance, digital transformation, and DEI at forums including London Tech Week and the Change Now Summit. Beyond her institutional role, Alia made history as the first woman elected to a cricket board in South Asia, and is a social entrepreneur, published author, and one of the global managers of the Hans Wahl Impact Entrepreneurs Community.

I am Aurora Kapo, currently an AI Strategy Manager at HSBC UK, Co-President of Oxford AI Network and Transition Advisory Board member. I love driving innovative AI solutions and data-driven strategies. I hold an MSc in Statistical Science from the University of Oxford, with a strong background in econometrics, data science, and statistical analysis.

Passionate about AI and Innovation, I enjoy sharing insights on AI strategy, data-driven decision-making, and how businesses can navigate the rapidly evolving AI landscape.

My journey — from Oxford, and now to a strategic leadership role in global finance, shows me every day that with dedication and resilience, anything is possible. I strive to embody the spirit of the modern, globally minded professional woman, and learn from other inspiring women around me.

With a commitment to harnessing the transformative power of AI for positive impact, I aim to be an inspiring voice for the future. I want to empower women locally and connect them globally and champion their role in shaping the future of technology.

Senior Market Research Manager at Semrush with 14+ years at the company. I lead Semrush's enterprise MCP pilot program and specialize in AI search intelligence, AEO/GEO, competitive intelligence, and the intersection of generative AI and digital marketing. I speak at 50+ conferences annually across 15+ countries in English, Spanish, and Russian, with media features in CNBC, Bloomberg, and Fox News. My research focuses on four pillars: Search-to-AI Migration, Zero-Click Economy, Global AI Adoption Patterns, and Predictive Commerce.

Hi! I have 10+ years of experience in the startup and scale-up world, focused on GTM. For the past 5 years, I’ve been at Notion, where I’ve built and scaled regional community and partnerships programs, hiring and leading high-performing teams along the way.

Wolf Boone is a customer-facing AI specialist at Microsoft Belgium, twice selected for Microsoft's global Pace Setters program recognizing top performers in customer success. He played a key role in the launch of Microsoft's Belgian Cloud Region and is a regular speaker on enterprise AI adoption, including appearances at the AI Summit New York and the DATA Festival, where he has shared the stage with leading voices on agentic AI and process intelligence. Wolf is a graduate of Ghent University and a former TEDxLeuvenSalon organizer.

Artavazd Mehrabyan is the Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Picsart, a globally recognized unicorn shaping the future of creativity. A technologist with more than 25 years of experience, Artavazd has a track record of building transformative platforms at the intersection of product, engineering, and AI. Since launching Picsart in 2011, he has spearheaded its evolution into a global creative ecosystem, leading international teams, driving AI innovation, and building a modular product platform. Beyond Picsart, he is an angel investor and mentor dedicated to fostering the next wave of technology startups.

Myriam Ben Farhat is VP of People Experience & Inclusion at Chess.com, one of the world's largest digital platforms with 250 million users, where she shapes leadership, culture, and human performance across a fully remote organization of 670 people spanning four continents. Previously Chief People Officer at Play Magnus Group, she built the People function from scratch through rapid international growth and the company's acquisition by Chess.com. An ICF-certified Executive Coach (PCC) and international keynote speaker, Myriam is a leading voice on human-centered leadership, emotional intelligence, and the future of work at the intersection of AI and organizational culture.

Marcos Valera is a Go-to-Market Manager at ElevenLabs, the AI voice and audio platform valued at $11 billion and backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia, and ICONIQ Growth. An entrepreneur since the age of 16, Marcos previously worked at Glovo and ran his own marketing agency before joining ElevenLabs, where he has led over 100 video and content projects. A graduate of Trinity College Dublin, he is a regular speaker and podcast guest on AI go-to-market strategy and the future of voice technology.

UX Director · 20+ yrs in enterprise, finance & gov · Design systems × AI · Speaker · Making coherent products in a world that moves too fast · Barcelona

As Head of Digitalization & IT for the Decarbonization segment, I drive AI-powered transformation and the shift toward agentic organizations. With more than 15 years in executive leadership, I have led global digital initiatives recognized with the Red Dot Design Award 2022 for the world’s best digital product, advancing sustainability and enterprise growth.

A four-time founder and then senior executive for growth-stage companies, Scott has built and led twelve international teams at C-level across product, growth, and marketing and helped deliver exits of $25M, $85M, and $700M, in these roles.

In EdTech, FinTech, and Gaming, Scott has held roles including CEO (ten years), CPO (five years), and CGO/CMO (twelve years),. An active mentor for Microsoft Ventures, Zeroth AI, the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force, and many Techstars cohorts (Seattle, NYC, Paris, London, and Berlin), he lives the “give first” philosophy and helped many companies find PMF and/or their unique growth levers. Companies he has mentored have seen four exits, so far.

A US native, he has lived in Europe since 2013. Currently, the VP of Marketing for Holded, he leads the growth of this iconic Barcelona Brand.

Dr Laura Gilbert is the Senior Director of AI at the Tony Blair Institute, running the TBI AI Innovation Lab. From Sept 2020 to Jan 2025 Laura worked in 10 Downing Street as the founding director of both 10DS, the data science and analytics team, and the Incubator for Artificial Intelligence (i.AI). Laura holds a doctorate in Particle Physics from the University of Oxford, undergraduate degrees from the University of Cambridge, and is a Visiting Professor at LSE.

Sam Jacobs is the Founder & CEO of Pavilion, the leading global community for over 10,000 high-performance go-to-market executives, including CROs, CMOs, CCOs, and Revenue Operations leaders at companies like Salesforce, HubSpot, Stripe, Snowflake, Klaviyo, and Square.

Through Pavilion, Sam helps build elite modern GTM operators by combining tactical peer support, executive education, financial fluency, and AI-powered go-to-market strategy. His work focuses on how leaders can operationalize AI, improve decision-making, and scale efficient growth in an increasingly complex B2B landscape.

Sam also co-hosts the Topline Podcast with AJ Bruno and Asad Zaman, where he explores the future of GTM, leadership, and company building. He is the bestselling author of Kind Folks Finish First, a book on building enduring companies through principled leadership and kindness.

Nicky Verd is a digital futurist, international keynote speaker, bestselling author and a leading voice on human centric AI, digital transformation, adaptability and the future of humanity. She helps organisations, leaders and governments navigate disruption by putting people at the centre of technological change. Through her keynotes, masterclasses, executive sessions and consulting work, Nicky challenges conventional thinking about competence, value creation and relevance in an AI-driven economy. Recognised by Thinkers360 as a Top 50 Global Thought Leader on Digital Disruption and the Future of Work, she is passionate about unlocking human potential and helping people thrive in an age of exponential change.