Matthew Eastwood is Senior Vice President of IDC’s enterprise infrastructure, cloud, telecom, security, developers, channels and enabling technology research groups. Mr. Eastwood and his team research people, process and technology trends affecting the enterprise technology marketplace worldwide. Mr. Eastwood first joined IDC in 2000 as part of the server team and his responsibilities have evolved and expanded during his tenure. In his current role, he leads a team of more than 100 analysts providing insights and analysis to IT suppliers, buyers, investors, and distributors through more than 75 syndicated research programs. Mr. Eastwood also leads IDC’s BuyerView primary research programs which are focused on defining emerging trends in cloud, developers, service providers, edge, AI and security.

Mr. Eastwood joined IDC in 2000. He provides in-depth market analysis, research, and consulting on all aspects of the enterprise infrastructure marketplace to IT professionals, investors, resellers and technology suppliers. During his tenure at IDC, Mr. Eastwood has led IDC primary research focused on emerging trends in enterprise systems and data centers. This primary research allows IDC to make continuous assessments regarding how customers are deploying and using enterprise infrastructure power digital transformation. Recent topics covered in Mr. Eastwood’s research include: Software Defined Infrastructure, Integrated infrastructure, Convergence, Disaggregated Infrastructure, Virtualization & Automation, Cloud Computing, High Availability, Platform Migration and Datacenter Workloads. Mr. Eastwood also serves as IDC’s lead analyst covering Dell and VMware.

Prior to joining IDC, Mr. Eastwood worked for twelve years as a senior project manager and environmental consultant at CDM Smith in Boston. Mr. Eastwood was responsible for managing the planning and design of large environmental infrastructure projects including wastewater collection and treatment facilities. In addition, Mr. Eastwood served as Operations Manager of the firm’s New England practice.

Mr. Eastwood received a bachelor’s degree in Civil/Environmental Engineering from Northeastern University in Boston and earned his MS in Engineering Project Management from WPI in Worcester, MA. He is a Registered Professional Engineer (PE) in Massachusetts.

Dave McCarthy leads IDC’s cloud and infrastructure services global research subdomain with two primary focuses. The first is cloud infrastructure and its related adoption strategies: public, private, hybrid, multicloud, distributed, sovereign and edge. The second is infrastructure services: flexible consumption, deployment, support, and the circular economy. Benefiting both technology suppliers and IT decision makers, Dave’s insights delve into ways in cloud and infrastructure services provide the foundation for both general purpose and AI workloads, enabling organizations to innovate faster, create new revenue streams, and achieve competitive advantages. His research is available via syndicated research programs (subscription services), data products (IDC Trackers) and custom engagements.

BACKGROUND

Previously, Dave served as Vice President, IoT Solutions at Bsquare Corporation, an edge-to-cloud solutions provider where he focused on product strategy, market positioning, and solutions architecture. Dave has also had an extensive career leading global enterprise IT for several high-tech companies.

As a Senior Research Director at IDC, Gina Smith produces research in the IT education and skills sector. Her responsibilities include primary research, analysis, and the production of market insights worldwide.

The New York Times bestselling author of Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak’s memoir, iWoz: How I Invented the Personal Computer (2006/2011) and The Genomics Age (2005), a Barron’s Book of the Year, Gina has more than 25 years of working experience in technology journalism, publishing, and tech startup management. She was CEO of Oracle founder Larry Ellison’s network computer startup in 2000, served ABC News as its first on-air technology correspondent, and was editor-in-chief of BYTE magazine.

Gina Smith earned a PhD in clinical psychology from Saybrook University in 2017. She also has a master’s degree in psychology and a double BA/BS in English and Chemistry from Florida State University. From 2019 to 2022, she was based in Hong Kong, where she led IDC’s DevOps and digital innovation research. She now is based in Seattle.

Tony Olvet is Group Vice President, Worldwide C-suite and Digital Business Research at IDC. His team’s global research focuses on the connection between business transformation and digital investments across enterprises. Tony’s analysis and insights help vendors, IT professionals, and business executives make fact-based decisions on technology strategy and digital business.

Tony has worked with clients across a variety of organizations including global IT manufacturers, enterprise software vendors, telecom service providers, financial institutions and public sector organizations. He has been quoted in major business and industry media including CIO Magazine, The Globe and Mail, CBC and The Financial Post.

He is also a frequent public speaker delivering keynote presentations at conferences, IDC webinars, and virtual events for clients. Tony is member of IDC Canada’s senior leadership team and is based in Toronto, Canada.

Bachar Khawajah is Chief Information Officer for the City of Burnaby, a member of its executive City Leadership Team, and a 2026 CIOCAN CIO of the Year finalist. With more than 25 years of leadership across the public sector, healthcare, and private enterprise, he brings a rare blend of technical depth and executive judgment to complex organizations. He is known for building trust before building systems, holding competing priorities in tension until better solutions emerge, and translating complex decisions into terms that leaders and stakeholders can act on. Alongside his executive role, he is a lifelong teacher, committed to helping others grow as leaders and professionals.

Hariprasad Ashwene is a Principal Account SE at Salesforce, based in Toronto, where he helps enterprises turn AI ambition into action. His session, “The Agentic Enterprise: When AI Starts Deciding,” draws on real-world deployments to unpack what true agentic AI readiness looks like — the clean, governed, and trusted data foundations that let AI agents act autonomously, without a human reviewing every step. Hariprasad works closely with customers navigating this shift, helping them move from piloting AI to scaling it with confidence.

James Bracken is a Senior Territory Account Manager at ESET Canada, where he has dedicated over seven years to delivering cybersecurity solutions tailored to the unique needs of Canadian businesses. With extensive experience in the cybersecurity industry, James combines his deep knowledge of digital security threats with a client-centered approach to help organizations fortify their defenses against evolving cyber risks. Known for his commitment to building strong client relationships, he ensures that each customer receives tailored, forward-thinking security strategies that align with their specific requirements.

James Scott is the Canadian Field Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for Dell Technologies.  His expertise encompasses cloud architecture, modern application design, artificial intelligence, and IT security.

James has been instrumental in assisting clients worldwide with the design, security, and maintenance of multi-cloud environments, and he plays a pivotal role in how organizations are looking to deploy and leverage cloud technology to drive productivity and simplify business operations.

Joanne Koh-Stewart, Director of Product Marketing for SAP Business AI Platform, focuses on identifying and nurturing platform use cases that solve real customer challenges. Her expertise helps organizations maximize value from SAP Business AI Platform to ultimately achieve Autonomous Enterprise.

Jose is a Business Data Cloud (BDC) expert who has been in the BDC team since before its public launch. Prior to that Jose has worked directly with SAP Analytics Cloud, Datasphere, and SAP BTP as a product, marketing, and solution manager. Jose specializes in persona marketing and is working with his team to see how innovations across SAP BDC can help end-users get the most out of their solutions.

Mark Mikhail is a Principal Product Marketing Specialist at BlueCat, where he focuses on helping organizations build trusted, data-driven foundations for AI adoption and digital transformation. He works at the intersection of infrastructure, data quality, and automation, translating complex systems—spanning DNS, DHCP, IPAM, and cloud networking—into practical, business-aligned strategies.

Mark brings a pragmatic perspective to AI, emphasizing that its effectiveness depends on data quality, governance, and human oversight. He has spoken on separating AI hype from reality, advocating for human-in-the-loop approaches, privacy-preserving architectures, and responsible deployment models—particularly for organizations operating under regulatory and security constraints. His work helps enterprise and public-sector leaders operationalize AI as an assistive capability that enhances decision-making, resilience, and trust rather than replacing human expertise.

Tarini is a Senior Solution Architect at NVIDIA, where she leads technical customer and partner engagements in Western Canada, helping them with accelerated computing solutions and adopt NVIDIA technology. She holds a Master’s in Data Science and Earth & Environmental Science. She is actively involved with several organizations to foster a supportive community for women in tech.

Tony Anscombe is the Chief Security Evangelist for ESET. With over 25 years of security industry experience, Tony is an established author, blogger, and speaker on the current threat landscape, security technologies and products, data protection, privacy and trust, and Internet safety. His speaking portfolio includes industry conferences RSAC, Black Hat, VB, CTIA, MEF, Gartner Risk and Security Summit, and the Child Internet Safety Summit. He is regularly quoted in cybersecurity, technology and business media, including BBC, Dark Reading, the Guardian, the New York Times and USA Today, with broadcast appearances on Bloomberg, BBC, CTV, KRON, NBC, and CBS. Tony has previously served on the board of the National Cybersecurity Alliance (NCA), Mobile Ecosystem Forum (MEF) and Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI) and held an executive position with AMTSO.