Retired Tech Entrepreneur Navigating a Successful Tech Career: Understanding the Tradeoffs of Each Decision Abstract If at first you don't succeed, fail fast — and learn from your mistakes. Drew will share lessons learned from more than two decades in Silicon Valley, marked by bold ideas and spectacular failures. He later applied those lessons to…

Co-founder of the Berryville Institute of Machine Learning Security Engineering for Machine Learning Abstract Machine learning has made impressive progress across a wide range of tasks including image classification, machine translation, autonomous vehicle control and playing complex games like chess, Go and Atari video games. This progress has fueled breathless media coverage of artificial intelligence…

Software Engineer and Google Cloud Leader, Google Google Cloud Networking Takeoff in RDU Abstract Transition to cloud computing is the most democratizing change in the industry this generation.  The Raleigh-Durham (RDU) area is going to play a significant role in this transformation as it has incredible growth potential. The talk outlines how Google is investing…

Chief Information Officer, BCBS of NC Rethinking the IT Organization in the Digital Economy Abstract Digital disruption is everywhere. “Success” is a fast-moving target. The pace of business continues to accelerate, yet decision-making structures in many corporate and government organizations remain slow. In many cases, organizations themselves are their biggest barrier to surviving and thriving.…

Engineering Fellow and VP Core Media Technology, Disney Streaming Video Processing Through the Decades; Why Innovation Never Ends Abstract Thirty years ago, Scott started his career focused on video processing and never imagined that decades later he would still be transforming the domain, continuing to file multiple patents a year, authoring new industry standards and…

Founder and CEO, Addison Interactive & Eventuall Inc Creative Passion + Computer Science = Endless Possibilities Abstract In today’s world, software powers nearly everything around us. In 1982, when software was mostly confined to small, boxy computers, Scott Addison Clay coded his first interactive game — and discovered that you could tell stories through code.…

Director of Stanford's Deep Data Research Computing Center at Stanford University Deep Data Needs and Challenges in Precision Medicine Abstract We are currently at the beginning stages of a generation-defining revolution in biology. For the past two decades, breakthroughs in our understanding of genetics and genomics, coupled with those in AI and machine learning, have presented us with opportunities to radically improve healthcare…

Chief Product Officer, Pendo Leveraging Your Technical Degree on the Path to the C-Suite Abstract Conventional wisdom tells us that ambitious business majors make their way into boardrooms and aspiring technical folks lead R&D teams, but Trisha Price’s journey from engineer to the C-suite proves that business and technology are not mutually exclusive. In fact,…

Vice President, Technology and Engineering, Peraton Space 2.0 – The Future of Space and Overcoming Critical Technology Challenges – “Engineering the Future to Infinity & Beyond” Abstract:NASA's Artemis I mission launched on November 16, 2022, sending a crew-capable spacecraft on a 25-day journey to the Moon. The mission successfully concluded with a splashdown after traveling…

Founder and CEO, JupiterOne From Security Practitioner to CEO: Building a $1B Security Company Abstract: Not Marketing. Not Sales. Nobody knows the needs of practitioners more than the practitioners themselves. When the tools and technology on the market don’t meet all of their needs, that’s not a problem — that’s a business opportunity. Erkang Zheng found…

Co-founder and Chief Design Officer, BioMojo, LLC Abstract: The artificial intelligence (AI) revolution that has now been set in motion will not stop. Humanity is in the middle of the greatest global disruption in the modern history of the workforce and warfare. Operating environments are becoming more complex, competitive, lethal, networked, data centric and geographically…

Founder and Senior Advisor, Z Technology Solutions PHEAR Advantage™ - A Recipe To Transform Your Life! Abstract: Now more than ever, we are bombarded by the world around us and our attention is being pulled in so many different directions. We feel burned out, not seen nor heard, undervalued, and unappreciated. We find ourselves moving through each day on…