Product & Service Awards Judging Committee 

Chair: 
Kais Hassan, PhD, Co-Founder & CDS 
arabot, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Kais Hassan is the Co-Founder and Chief Data Scientist of arabot, a high-tech company which offers seamless online solutions and services of cutting-edge AI technology that aim to automate business processes and improve the quality of Customer Experience (CX) through Intelligent Arabic/English chatbots and LLMs.

Kais has held a number of high-tech senior management positions in international and regional companies over the past eighteen years. Prior to arabot, Kais was the Chief Data Officer at Altibbi, where he established the Data Science Department that transformed Altibbi to a data-driven organization. Previously, he was the Data Science Consultant at Atbaki.com, where he improved the relevancy of the Solr based search solution and created a BI/Big Data platform based on Azure Power BI/HDInsight. Prior to joining Atbaki.com, Kais was Middleware Consultant of UNRWA and was responsible for designing and implementing a Middleware layer to extract and decrypt millions of refugee images that were stored encrypted. In 2011, he co-founded Ddad IT, a research-oriented technology provider specialized in creating sophisticated solutions for the Arabic Language. Previously, as Technical Consultant at Autographics, Kais led the planning and designing of the next generation of Autographics’ DM/ECM solutions.

From 2009 to 2014, Kais served as an Assistant Professor at Princess Sumaya University for Technology in Amman, Jordan. His previous technical positions include Software Developer at PACSis Limited in the UK and Software Developer/IT Manager at Autographics.  Kais holds a PhD in Computer Science in the field of AI from the University of Hull in England and a BSc in Computer Science from Princess Sumaya University for Technology. He has published extensively and notably in the field of artificial intelligence.


Committee:

Shrimanth Reddy Adla, Director- Credit Risk Analytics
Comcast, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

Diana Akchurina, Founder and CEO
Easy Communications, Barcelona, Spain
Diana Akchurina is the founder of Easy Communications, a marketing communications agency established in 2016. She is a professional in business development and marketing communications, with over 17 years of experience in business growth, social media marketing, public relations, and influencer marketing, primarily within the high-tech industry.
 

Awais Sher Bajwa, Global Head of Data & AI Investment Banking
Bank of America, Palo Alto, California, United States
Awais is a leader in Software and AI banking, having led more than $60bn of M&A and capital markets transactions. He established BofA’s Data and AI banking practice in the Bay Area and software banking practice in London. He holds a Master of Engineering degree from the University of Oxford.
 

Shikhar Bhushan, Founder
Bandar Systems Inc., Guelph, Ontario, Canada
Shikhar is the founder of an early-stage startup on a mission to make streams a cloud storage primitive with S2, the Stream Store. He has 15 years of industry experience as a software engineer, with previous stints at Etsy, Meta, Confluent, and Bloomberg.

Antara Dave, Lead Product Designer
Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, Washington, United States
Antara is a Product Designer with a unique blend of skills in Data Analytics and Visualization with her passion for product design. Antara, with over four years of experience, has contributed to multinational corporations like Microsoft and The Home Depot, utilizing her expertise in data visualization to bridge the gap between Design and Data.

Akshay Dixit, Senior Director, Strategy and Operations
Cisco, Dublin, California, United States
Akshay is a seasoned 15+ year business leader and has driven transformative impact across strategy, operations, and product at renowned technology companies. Leading growth initiatives at firms like Cisco and LinkedIn, he has devised pricing strategies for AI products, developed frameworks to double multi-billion dollar ARR, and defined company-wide North Star metrics. 

Naga Vinod Duggirala, Chief Security Architect 
Visa Inc., Austin, Texas, United States
Vinod, a highly experienced Chief Security Architect at Visa, possesses two decades of expertise in Security Product Architecture. With a proven track record at companies like RSA and Samsung, he excels at implementing robust security solutions. Vinod's contribution to industry standards underscores his commitment to advancing cyber security practices globally.

Alberto Elias, Founder
Senku, Madrid, Spain
Alberto is the Founder of Senku, a full-stack developer, and project manager with over 10 years of experience building complex Web applications. Notable experience includes developing Web3 clients at Polygon, a component system at The Financial Times, and founding two startups. Passionate about VR/AR, Web3, and decentralized technologies.
 

Dedeepya Sai (Datta) Gondi, CTO
Simplyturn Technologies, Princeton, Texas, United States
Dedeepya Sai Gondi is a seasoned Lead AI/ML expert with 10 years of experience and CTO of Simplyturn Technologies. As a healthcare researcher and senior IEEE and AAAI member, Dedeepya has authored two books. He is focused on building new solutions and creating young entrepreneurs.

Sravani Gurijala, Director, Mobile Applications
Align Technology Inc, Morrisville, North Carolina, United States
As a Director of Mobile Applications at Align Technology Inc., Sravani has a wealth of experience in leading the development and implementation of innovative mobile solutions. Her role involves strategic oversight of the mobile application landscape, ensuring that Align Technology's offerings meet the highest standards of quality and innovation.

Dr. Danny Ha, CEO and Chairman
OneNet of Academy of Professional Certification, York, North Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Dr. Danny Ha has more than 38 years of solid working experience in Enterprise Risk Management (ERM), ISO Certification Implementation/Audit, ESG System Implementation/Audit, Information & Cyber Security System Implementation/Teaching/Audit, Startup Nurture/Advisory, Data Privacy, AI Business Software Design/Development, and Arts Cultural Risk Management.

Kartick Kalaimani, Vice President - Global Contract to Cash Value Stream Lead
DENTSU, New York City, New York, United States
Kartick is an experienced digital transformation leader with a proven track record of driving successful projects for clients across diverse industries by optimizing operations through process transformation and automation. He is Lean Six Sigma black belt certified and recognized for building innovative strategies, exceptional client relationships, and driving transformative change.

Franklin Kamnang Ngansop, Cofounder and Certified Business Coach
Vitamin CS Coaching, Douala, Littoral, Cameroon
Franklin, an energetic Startup and Business Coach whose mission is to unlock the immense potential within entrepreneurs and businesses. His expertise in business strategy and innovation, coupled with a profound understanding of industry dynamics, makes him a powerhouse for nurturing growth in budding enterprises. Franklin has a commendable history of assisting startups.

Sattvik Kansal, Head of Engineering & Co-Founder            
Rome Protocol, Oak Park, California, United States
Sattvik is the co-founder and head of engineering at Rome Protocol. He has deep expertise in developing infrastructure for financial technology. He has built and led payment systems for the European and US markets, with products used by brand-name customers such as Western Union.

Mahrou Kharazi, Head of Marketing
Philips, Waalre, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands
Mahrou Kharazi drives impactful innovation, advocating for cutting-edge technology and sustainable business models. With a cum laude MSc in Economics and Business and experience spanning the USA, Europe, and Africa, she is a leader in advancing the future of healthcare.

Rohit Kulkarni, Associate Director
Merck, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Rohit has over 18 years of work experience in Financial Trading, Educational Research, Data Analytics and Pharma industries with globally known companies such as Thomson Reuters, McKinsey and Merck. He is responsible for creating FAIR data products and making them available on demand to scientists at Merck to accelerate the drug discovery process.

Samant Kumar, Portfolio Manager
Capgemini, Houston, Texas, United States
Samant, SAFe SPC, ICP-ACC, A-CSM, CSPO is an Agile Program Manager/Portfolio Manager with Capgemini and an Ex-IBMer. He is an agile champion with 20+ years of experience in the end-to-end Agile Program/Project Management and delivery of software solutions across various domains. He brings onboard unique wisdom and experience in understanding and solving problems. 

Kannamangalam Chakaravarthi Lakshminarasimham, Director, Program ManagementExpediagroup, San Francisco, California, United States
Kannamangalam is a program management leader with two decades of experience in portfolio, program, and project change management, leading high-performing teams that manage complex, cross-functional, and the company's top business and transformative initiatives. Leader of managers across business, product, operations, engineering, and technology.
 

Mai Luong, CEO
XLD International, Nam Dinh City, Nam Dinh, Vietnam
Mai Luong is a tech-savvy business strategist with extensive experience in the advanced technology space. She excels in driving go-to-market success and fostering global communities for AI, robotics, and blockchain products. Mai has helped US companies expand internationally, building partnerships with industry leaders and tech communities in the US and Asia.

Nitish Mahajan, Director
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Irving, Texas, United States
Nitish is a Director at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC's) Advisory - Cloud and Digital Platform specializing in Oracle Cloud-enabled finance transformation engagements focused on financial services clients. He leads the delivery of Finance Transformation and Enterprise Performance Management solutions and has significant experience helping CFOs improve the efficiency and effectiveness of finance and Accounting.

Murali Murugan, Director of Engineering
Macy's Inc, Atlanta, Georgia, United States
Murali is a results-oriented leader with a background in business analysis, solution architecture, and driving business and technical transformations. He has experience in advanced software solutions and products and has led centers of excellence for different organizations. Currently, Murali serves as the Director of Engineering at Macy's, where he is responsible for designing.

Narasimhan Nagarajan, Director - Cybersecurity, Risk and Regulatory
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Dallas, Texas, United States
Narasimhan Nagarajan is a seasoned Cybersecurity leader with over 15 years of experience in the Cyber Security space. Currently, he is serving as a Director in PwC's Cyber Security, Risk and Regulatory practice, responsible for solving critical security problems at large enterprises and bringing in strong operational and leadership experience.

Ramnath Natarajan, Director, Intelligent Automation CoE
Johnson Controls, Irving, Texas, United States
Ramnath is a results-driven leader renowned for pioneering Intelligent Automation and Power Platform initiatives at Johnson Controls. His strategic focus on optimizing operations and delivery has significantly enhanced efficiency and made a tangible business impact. With 18+ years of experience, he is a prominent voice in digital transformation, change management, and process automation. 

Avishkar Nikum, CEO and Founder
TechnoTronic Pvt Ltd., Salt Lake City, Utah, United States
Avi is a cybersecurity leader with over 12 years of experience, specializing in cybersecurity program management and regulatory consulting. As a Senior Manager at PwC, he led numerous cybersecurity strategy engagements for Fortune 500 companies. Avi is the Founder and CEO of TechnoTronic Pvt. Ltd. and an angel investor who mentors professionals and startups.

Benjamin Sisima Ofuru, Head, Corporate Planning Division
National Bureau of Statistics, Abuja, Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria
Benjamin is a product and service specialist, multiple award winner, including the gold prize for Best Partner for exceptional customer service delivery and quality compliance, 2011 and 2012, and Best walk-in center customer service delivery south-south 2011, Highest revenue/turnover; Outstanding award for innovation; Distinguished award for leadership, integrity, and team building.

Dr. Satish Padmanabhan, Head, Financial Markets Metadata and Data Quality Delivery
Standard Chartered Bank, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
Dr. Satish is a seasoned product development and delivery leader with 22+ years of experience in banking and financial services. As Head of FM Metadata and Data Quality Delivery at Standard Chartered Bank, he leads a team maintaining a metadata repository platform for regulatory compliance, data governance, and quality management. 

Jwala Khan Pathan, CEO
GrabAgile Inc, Cheyenne, Wyoming, United States
Jwala Khan, CEO of GrabAgile Inc., specializes in transformative leadership and strategic development. With a background in technology and business management, he spearheads innovative projects like EventCope. Committed to fostering a collaborative environment, JwalaKhan excels in operational excellence and continuous improvement, driving impactful growth in the tech industry.

Gireesh Patil, Director, Platform Products
ServiceNow, McKinney, Texas, United States
Gireesh is a visionary and leader in creating customer-centric products with 17 years of experience. He uses his industry expertise to translate narratives into impactful products that put the customer at the heart of everything. At ServiceNow, he leads the DT Platform Product team and focuses on creating no-code, low-code products by orchestrating AI, machine learning, and AR. 

Raghav Puri, Senior Technical Program Manager
Microsoft, Redmond, Washington, United States
Raghav currently leads the Windows Engineering systems at Microsoft. With over 13 years of experience in the tech industry, Raghav had the privilege of leading teams that build engineering systems for Azure, Windows, and Xbox. These platforms are renowned for their speed and ease of use and have significantly boosted productivity and efficiency.

Ramakrishnan Rajagopal, General Manager, Operations  
Amazon, Mountain House, California, United States
With 15+ years of Supply Chain and Operations experience, Ramakrishnan Rajagopal is a General Manager, Operations at Amazon. He leads a team of 100+ engineers and operations leaders to optimize the inbound supply chain in North America. Ramakrishnan received his MBA from Pennsylvania State University in Supply Chain Management and Finance. 

Piyush Ranjan, Assistant Vice President
Barclays, Edison, New Jersey, United States
Piyush is an accomplished technology professional with 18 years of industry experience. Currently serving as an Assistant Vice President at a reputed firm in the USA, Piyush has established himself as a leader in the technology sector. Piyush, an IEEE member, is passionate about writing and reviewing scholarly articles on various forums.
 

Lakshdeep Singh, Senior Principal
IQVIA, South Amboy, New Jersey, United States
Lakshdeep Singh is a seasoned Life Sciences Executive with 16 years of expertise in marketing, sales force efficiency, and advanced analytics. He excels in innovative strategies and leading high-impact teams, bringing visionary insights to the industry. Lakshdeep is known for his ability to drive impactful business solutions.

Mohnish Kumar Singh, Associate Director
ValueLabs, San Diego, California, United States
An accomplished product management leader with over 16 years of global experience in insurance technology, employee benefits, and financial services. Recognized for driving value innovation and customer satisfaction through strategic initiatives, particularly in AI and analytics-focused products, shaping industry evolution.

Taranjeet Singh, CEO
Embedchain Inc., San Francisco, California, United States
Taranjeet is co-founder and CEO of Embedchain (YC-backed). He joined Khatabook (YC, Sequoia backed) as the first growth engineer and rapidly transitioned to Senior PM. He began his software engineering career at Paytm (India's Paypal). He built an AI-powered tutoring app that was featured at Google I/O.

Rignesh Soni, Director Strategic Development
SPPLUS (Metropolis), Monmouth Junction, New Jersey, United States
With over 20 years of global leadership and technology engineering experience, I excel as the Director of Strategic Management at SP+ (now Metropolis). My career highlights include CTO for the revolutionary Roker Technology and driving strategic development and smart infrastructure solutions, advancing smart city technologies.

Haruka Takamori, Founder & CEO
Syval, Inc., San Francisco, California, United States
Haruka, founder and CEO of Syval, was an investment banker at SMBC and a VC at Plug and Play and STRIVE. She founded Tokyo's Startup Co-Creation and mentors at Founder Institute Japan and Vietnam, and Women's Startup Lab, with experience in consumer and hard tech startups.

Karan Virani, Head of Product Marketing
Yelp, San Francisco, California, United States
He completed his undergrad from IIT and MBA from UNC. He worked with Oracle and Amazon and is currently at Yelp. At Yelp, he's been promoted twice in the last 4 years, leads a team and contributed $20M in incremental revenue by launching innovative attribution models.

Rahul Deo Vishwakarma, Machine Learning Engineer
California State University Long Beach, Long Beach, California, United States
Rahul (Senior Member, IEEE) received his Bachelor of Technology degree in computer science from the SRM Institute of Science and Technology in 2009. He completed his M.S. degree in computer science at California State University Long Beach in 2024. He worked at Hewlett-Packard Enterprise (HPE), where he designed reference architectures for ConvergedSystem.

Share