Chris Barton

Founder and Creator of Shazam, Entrepreneur, Inventor, and Tech Investor

Chris’s latest venture, Guard, uses AI to detect drowning in swimming pools – a never-before accomplished effort. Chris’s best-known creation is Shazam, the app that changed the way the world discovers music and laid the groundwork for the consumer AI industry we know today. With over 2 billion downloads, Shazam is a global phenomenon and Apple’s sixth-largest acquisition. The app lets people identify songs out of thin air from anywhere they are, making it nothing short of pure magic. Chris holds 12 patents and played key roles in the early days of Google and Dropbox. He believes his dyslexia helps him uncover novel solutions to obstacles and to achieving audacious goals. In his speeches, Chris shares his Start From Zero thinking method of questioning assumptions and challenging conventional wisdom. His amazing story and storytelling completely captivate audiences and inspires them to make big things happen in their organizations – to create magic in defiance of the obstacles.

Chris grew up with a French mother and British father – both of whom were university professors. However, academics were a struggle for Chris. Chris would come to learn he had undiagnosed dyslexia. Over the years, Chris learned to embrace what he now calls his superpower. Chris believes that dyslexia has allowed him to overcome barriers to achieve his many accomplishments.

Shazam is a great example. Though Chris does not position himself as an expert on the broader future of A.I., his journey as a true A.I. pioneer started when Chris had the idea to identify music using a mobile phone, as no technology existed to achieve his goal. In addition, he was told by Professors at MIT and Stanford that this application of pattern recognition was impossible. Besides inventing a new technology that didn’t yet exist, he had to build a search engine supercomputer from scratch, create the world’s largest music database, and create a user experience on very basic mobile phones. Did Chris ever think maybe the experts were right? “No,” he says.

When Shazam was founded in 2000, it was far ahead of its time. It was three years before iTunes, seven years before the iPhone, and eight years before the App Store. The nascent Shazam struggled in the early days, teetering near bankruptcy for six years waiting for key digital advancements to arrive, allowing Shazam to unleash its full potential on the world.

In 2018, Shazam, and its 200 employees, was acquired by Apple in Apple’s 6th largest acquisition of all-time. Today, Shazam has been downloaded over two billion times and is considered one of the world’s most popular apps. It has become an integral part of our everyday lives, with its ability to instantly identify songs and provide information about the music such as lyrics. Shazam has even become a verb, as in “Can you Shazam this song for me?” In addition to its widespread usage, Shazam has also been the inspiration for a popular game show hosted by Jamie Foxx called “Beat Shazam,” which has aired for four seasons on the Fox Network challenging contestants to recognize songs faster than the Shazam app.

Chris has also played a key role in tech history as a founding member of Google’s Android Partnerships team where he created Android’s mobile operator partnership framework. He also spent four years at Dropbox where he led carrier partnerships and was one of the first 100 people at the company.

Holding 12 patents, including one found within the Google search algorithm that billions of people use, Chris has made significant contributions to the tech industry. He also invests in a wide range of start-ups, including artificial intelligence for heart health and inflammatory disease therapeutics.

Today, Chris spends much of his time building his third startup company, Guard, a system that detects drowning in swimming pools using artificial intelligence.

When he has the time, Chris enjoys speaking at events and sharing lessons learned from his experiences achieving the impossible. He inspires people with stories of the unexpected mindsets that are necessary to overcome challenges and achieve success. Chris gives audiences a new framework for thinking about the obstacles they face and motivates them to take action.

Prior to his audacious technology career, Chris was a strategy consultant and earned two master’s degrees from UC Berkeley and Cambridge University.

When he isn’t working or speaking, you can find Chris enjoying the outdoors and spending time with his son, Jude.

Matthew Guarini

VP, Sr Research Director,
Forrester

Matthew leads Forrester’s research team serving technology executives, including chief information officers, chief technology officers, and chief digital officers, among others. His team focuses on helping technology executives deliver effective technology strategies that win, serve, and retain customers. His team produces cutting-edge, insightful research focused on the most pressing issues for today’s tech executives, including growth, leadership, change management, future operational and organizational models, and emerging technologies and business models. His team leverages its considerable expertise to provide advisory and consulting services to clients.

For more than 25 years, Matthew has worked with leading companies to develop and implement growth strategies. For the past 10 years, Matthew has focused on the use of technology to deliver real value to customers. His experience spans core areas such as application development, infrastructure, business relationship management, and enterprise architecture. He has worked to identify and implement new innovative technologies and business models that leverage emerging concepts in cybersecurity, mobile, internet of things (IoT), AI, and analytics. In addition, Matthew has hands-on experience leading transformational change at the enterprise level for corporate, strategic, and technology initiatives, providing him with the ability to turn ideas into successful actions.

Matthew has a BS in nuclear engineering from the University of Virginia. He also has an MBA from George Mason University.

Leslie Joseph

Principal Analyst,
Forrester

Leslie serves technology executives through research and advisory that focuses on enterprise applications, technology platforms, automation, citizen development, and the future of work. He has extensive experience with helping technology buyers align tech strategies with business goals to make smarter choices around building and running their strategic portfolio of application platforms, crafting effective roadmaps for automation-fueled business transformation, selecting software and services partners, managing vendor relationships, and fostering tech-driven innovation within their organizations.

Leslie is frequently quoted in leading publications including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Bloomberg, CIO Magazine, and TechCrunch.

Maria Necita “GiGi” B. Geronimo

General Manager, Crawford Global Business Services Center

Maria Necita Geronimo, or GiGi, as she prefers to be called, is the General Manager for Crawford & Company’s Global Business Service Center, and concurrent Corporate Board Secretary and Treasurer of Crawford’s various Philippine entities. With a career span of more than 25 years, GiGi has built several Captive Service Centers for various multinational companies driving Operational Excellence in the areas of Information Technology, Finance, Human Capital Management and Operations. As a Business Leader, she is focused on deploying interventions as well as new strategies to optimize productivity and attain desired business results.

GiGi holds an MBA, a Biological Sciences degree and is Certified Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt Professional. She also holds several certifications in the areas of Finance, IT, HR and Operational Excellence. When not busy with work, she enjoys time reading and travelling with her family.

Badri Devalla

Senior Director & Head – AI & Automation Solutions,
EdgeVerve

Badri Devalla is the AVP, AI & Automation Solutions Head at EdgeVerve. Badri is responsible for implementing solutions leveraging AI & RPA products for Enterprise clients. Badri has delivered cognitive automation across Enterprise Operations using AI techniques ranging from Recommendation Engines to Deep Learning-based NLP to redefine customer experience and improve operations efficiency. His current focus is on “Doc to Digital” approaches to pipeline enriched & validated extracts from documents to Enterprise systems supporting business processes for New Business, KYC, Servicing, Claims, Telecom Billing, and Contracts Analysis.

In his 25+ years of experience, he has led teams of systems architects, business process consultants, and Automation experts. He is an alumnus of Texas A&M University with a Master’s in Electrical Engineering (Data Compression & Error Correction) and a PhD in Computer Science (Networking & Real-time Systems).

Karmesh Vaswani

EVP & Global Head Consumer, Retail & Logistics, Infosys Chairman – Infosys BPM, Infosys Consulting,
EdgeVerve

Karmesh Vaswani leads the Global Business Unit of Infosys focusing on Consumer Goods & Tech, Retail and Logistics industries, a role he has played since 2017. He is an integral part of the executive leadership team reporting directly to the Board of Infosys, managing over $3.5Bn (20%) of Infosys revenues. He is also chairman of the board for:

Karmesh oversees the Enterprise Quality Group for Infosys across all industry verticals. He also represents Infosys at the World Economic Forum.

Karmesh engages with the executive leadership teams of our clients to help strategize, plan, and implement next generation business, digital, cloud and AI interventions to drive step-jump in operational efficiencies and enable profitable growth of clients’ business. He has extensive cross-industry expertise in the areas of digital marketing, consumer journeys, sales, supply chain, logistics & transformations, loyalty, finance & HR and has helped several clients setup ‘world-class’ Global Shared Services and Technology functions. He is very actively involved in shaping new ecosystems with innovative startups, select cloud & AI technology providers and the business technology services of Infosys to shape new business models for our clients.

A passionate advocate of Diversity at the workplace, Karmesh leads the global diversity program at Infosys and also helps clients cultivate diversity in their Technology and Business services groups.

Prior to joining Infosys in 2003, he was a senior executive with Accenture for 10 years, and specialized in leading large business and technology transformation programs in Asia Pacific region in the Manufacturing, Logistics and Consumer industries.

Karmesh has received a Bachelors with Honors in Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering from VJTI, University of Mumbai (India) and also Executive Global Leadership Development Program at Stanford University (USA). He is based in London, UK.

Sateesh Seetharamiah

CEO, Edge Platforms,
EdgeVerve

Sateesh Seetharamiah is a Whole-time Director at EdgeVerve. He is the Chief Business Officer and Global Head, Edge Products. A leader with entrepreneurial, management consulting, operational and IT leadership experience spanning over 25 years. He is a strong believer in the immense potential AI and Automation have in transforming enterprises of the future. Sateesh is one of the founding members of EdgeVerve and comes with rich experience in the product and platforms domain. Being a passionate technologist, Sateesh has been instrumental in establishing many foundational technology capabilities that drive todays EdgeVerve strategy.

With deep roots in supply chain, he was one of the pioneers of Internet of Things (IoT) in its early days, went onto establish a lab at MIT focused on defining communication standards and use cases that eventually became household applications. A well-regarded thought leader in the intelligent automation space, Sateesh conceptualized and championed ‘Process Discovery’, a novel concept that uncovers efficiency opportunities for enterprises and humans alike.

Before joining Infosys, Sateesh held various senior management positions consulting for fortune 500 CPG, HealthCare, Retail, Automotive and Logistics companies in North America and Europe. Sateesh has also been active in the start-up community with a few of his own start-up stints in the software and RFID arena. As Director at Brambles limited, Sateesh led the intelligent asset tracking strategy aimed at providing end to end supply chain visibility. He was also part of the advisory councils for many supply chain product firms including SAP, i2 and Manugistics.

Praveen Kombial

Vice President, Global Sales Head,
EdgeVerve

Praveen Kombial Is the Global Product Head of Business Applications at EdgeVerve, an Infosys company. His mandate is to leverage Artificial Intelligence and Emerging technologies to build and launch products solving for specific business problems for industries globally.

At EdgeVerve, Praveen leads a highly talented team of Engineers and Product managers in building an ecosystem of Products addressing industries and functions such Financial Services, Insurance, Consumer Packaged Goods and Supply chains.

Prior to Infosys, Praveen spent many years at GE Capital and GE Money in India and did a gamut of functions and roles across retail finance, corporate leasing and risk management. Among other things, he managed a 500Mn$ Auto portfolio, was instrumental in setting up a fast funding channel in consumer lending and expanded a corporate leasing product. With his background across core Industry domains and the evolving cutting-edge technology landscape, Praveen is on the forefront of driving change and brings a practitioner’s view to translate concepts to reality.

Arvind Sankaran

Founder & MD,
Imaginarium Advisors

Arvind primarily helps institutional fintech investors, global tech leaders and South-East Asian startups accelerate value creation and inclusive impact. He leverages deep operating experience over two decades in multiple Asian markets as a banking leader in retail payments, lending and wealth management. Arvind is currently on secondment by the Singapore Government/Ministry of Finance to the Asian Development Bank. Arvind was previously a Venture Partner at Jungle Venture and is an active investor/board advisor. He is also a senior advisor at McKinsey’s Asia banking practice, advisor to Infosys and a Board Member at AFG Partners, an Asia-focused fintech fund. Arvind serves as a Fellow at raiSE, a Singapore-government supported ecosystem builder for social enterprise startups. He has also been involved in government/industry efforts such as SkillsFuture to help shape career pathways in data science.

Fariba Alim Marvasti

Technology & Digital Transformation Leader,
Aetna

Fariba is a visionary Chief Information Officer and IT strategist with an exceptional track record driving global digital transformation and technology strategies. She is recognized for her clear communication in bridging the gap between business strategy and technology, consistently delivering platform stability amid significant challenges. Fariba brings leadership in fostering innovation, operational excellence, and cultural collaboration coupled with expertise in building high-performing teams and driving business growth.

Fariba held multiple leadership positions during her successful career at CVS Health, Inc. Currently, she is AVP and Chief Information Officer, Aetna International IT for CVS Health, Inc., where she oversees IT planning and strategy for the international subsidiary. She provides leadership and directs all International IT functions, services, and governance for the Americas, Thailand, China, India Health organization, and Rest Of World entities. Fariba is accountable for fiscal management, including annual capital, expense budgets, and compliance management. She leads technology innovation in partnership with Enterprise VPs and enterprise architecture to develop long-term road maps based on emerging trends as applied to International/America business and related digital priorities. Fariba is currently leading an international IT business through significant challenges and consistently delivering platform stability to ride out the business transformation underway.

Lori Zabel

Senior Director, Global Consumer Category,
Intel

Lori Zabel is a recognized expert and leader in retail/wholesale data and retailer collaboration. Her 20+ years of global expertise extends across some of the most recognized brands in the world including Intel, Nike, Disney, and Apple. She has created enterprise and industry capabilities to drive mutually profitable and sustained growth through data collaboration. Lori currently leads Intel’s Strategic Market Insights team and is Senior Director, Global Consumer Category. She holds an Executive Leadership Certificate from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and an M.B.A from the UCLA Anderson School of Management.

Rahul Rasal

Executive Vice President and Retail Banking Segment Head,
Security Bank Corporation

Rahul is responsible for leading the Bank’s Retail Banking Segment to execute strategies and plans, resulting in business growth, operational efficiency, and profitability. Rahul ensures the Bank’s market presence through the delivery of new and refreshed customer-centric value propositions. Rahul has been in senior leadership roles in banking and insurance across India, Japan, Taiwan, the Middle East, and presently the Philippines.

N. Shashidhar

Vice President & Global Platform Head,
EdgeVerve

Shashidhar is an accomplished executive with over 24 years of experience in the software Industry. He is currently Global Platform Head of AssistEdge – Automation suite of products.

He is one of the founding members of EdgeVerve and comes with rich experience in the product and platforms domain. He was part of core team that conceptualized and setup EdgeVerve as product subsidiary of Infosys. He has played key roles across Technology, Client Engagement and Functional leadership at Infosys.

He is passionate about Strategy and Business Transformation. He has played stellar roles in architecting transformations in Engineering Business and subsequently at Products & Platforms business at Infosys.

He is a University Gold Medalist in Engineering and an MBA from Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore

Arvind Rao

Chief Technology Officer (CTO) – Edge Platforms,
EdgeVerve

Arvind Rao is the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Edge Platforms.

Arvind has significant experience leading globally distributed product teams through the entire software development lifecycle for various large-scale, mission-critical products.

Prior to joining EdgeVerve, he was the chief architect of e2open for over two decades. He began his journey with e2open during its early years in the US, followed by Zyme Solutions in India, and back at e2open after they acquired Zyme.

Arvind has also worked briefly for Telus Mobility (Toronto) as an Enterprise Architect leading their Enterprise Architecture initiatives. He started his professional journey with DSET Corporation, NJ, a start-up focused on Telecom Network Management tools and applications.

Arvind holds a BE (Comp Science) from Bangalore University and an MS (Computer Science) from the University of Kentucky.

Swaminathan Natarajan

Platform Head – XtractEdge,
EdgeVerve

Swaminathan is the Platform Head for XtractEdge. He is responsible for strategy and development of the Document AI portfolio of platform and products for EdgeVerve. A technologist and problem solver at heart, Swaminathan loves exploring how emerging technology can help clients to embrace change and continue to improve their business goals. Swaminathan is a BE in Computer Engineering and has over 24 years of professional experience. He comes with a strong product background and was involved in research, development and implementation of cutting edge products and solutions in AIOps, Big Data, Text Analytics and Data Masking.

Suresh Prahlad Bharadwaj

Platform Head – TradeEdge,
EdgeVerve

Suresh is the Platform Head for TradeEdge. Suresh has vast professional experience in product management, strategy and business process consulting in the Retail-CPG industry. He has led successive technology startups to significant value by creating globally recognized products and platforms in the areas of warehouse management, logistics and sales execution. His emerging markets experience has been a key driver in delivering frugal innovation within the consumer goods value chain. A great motivator and mentor, Suresh is an entrepreneur and a co-founder of Manhattan Associates (NASD:MANH), a global leader in supply chain solutions.

Varma Datla

Director Engineering,
Elevance Health, Inc.

Varma has been an engineering leader leveraging cutting edge technologies for business use cases. He anchors AI initiatives as a core team member of the 10x Engineering team at Elevance Health. In his role he anchors and mentors teams in executing new technology strategy to design, develop and operate solutions with significant business impact. He has led various projects within Elevance to digitize and automate the core applications using ML/AI/OCR/NLP technologies from various vendors in marketplace. Some of the recent projects include,

Steve Lewis

Division President,
GXO

Steve Lewis is Division President, at GXO Logistics Inc. Steve is responsible for the operational processes, technological capabilities, and safety standards at more than 120 distribution centers – across numerous verticals and products – including GXO DIRECT, a North America fulfillment network which supports consumer goods, personal technology, and food & beverage. Steve is a retired US Naval Officer, with over twenty years of operations and supply chain experience in the areas of product development, sourcing, production, logistics, and returns management.

Manzur Ali

Senior Director – Products,
EdgeVerve

Manzur is an attentive listener and leader with over 21 years of industry experience in delivering business value using Automation and Artificial Intelligence across business functions such as Social Services Procurement, HR, Procurement, Payroll and Customer Service. In his current role, Manzur leads the Infosys EdgeVerve business in Australia and New Zealand.

Manzur has helped customers across Financial Services, Insurance and Public Sector generate substantial business value from Automation and AI programs. He is currently proud of his team’s involvement in the transformation of health services delivery for a government agency.

Manzur holds a Master’s of Science Degree in Software Systems & Bachelor’s Degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering, apart from a PG Diploma in Quality Management.

Fu’ad Butt

VP, Enterprise Digital Strategy & Optimization,
One America

Fa’ud M Butt serves as vice president for Enterprise Digital Strategy and Optimization for One America* He is responsible for developing and implementing the Digital Roadmap for One America. Butt also manages multiple teams in IT, including Business Relationship Management, Business Analysis and IT Strategy. He possesses over 25 years of experience in strategy, design and implementation across many areas of the Financial Services Industry, including insurance, retirement services. asset management and banking Butt champions a value perspective focusing on financial returns enabled by user experience, data-driven decisions, digital native technologies and human capital empowerment.

Prior to joining OneAmerica, Butt served in an executive role at IBM’s global insurance practice, focused on end-to-end digital transformation programs. Prior to that, he was the practice head for digital consulting at Mindtree, a boutique consultancy. Before that, as Marketing Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Oppenheimer Funds, he bridged the CMO and CIO organizations. Still, most of his career years were clocked at New York Life Insurance, rotating through multiple corporate and line management roles. He started out at PNC Financial working on operational and technology integration projects supporting M&A activities.

Butt remains active in industry trade organizations and has served on committees for LOMA/LIMRA and the Association of National Advertisers. Also active in the nonprofit sector, he has served on the board of the Global Language Project, focusing on equipping disadvantaged public-school students with the skills to compete in a globalized world through foreign language acquisition.

An alum of the Harvard Business School, Butt also holds an International MBA from the University of South Carolina and two bachelor’s degrees (in Finance and Economics) from Virginia Tech. He grew up in Dubai, United Arab Emirates and spent over 25 years living in Now Jersey. Currently Butt resides in Carmel, IN.

David Williams

Associate Vice President, Project Management,
AT&T