Speakers
Lineup of top experts and thought leaders who are set to deliver invaluable insights and cutting-edge knowledge.
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Meet our executive speakers
Ashish Nadkarni
Group Vice President and General Manager, Global Domain Lead, Enterprise Infrastructure
IDC
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Ashish Nadkarni
Ashish Nadkarni leads IDC’s enterprise infrastructure global research domain. Ashish oversees five global research subdomains: core infrastructure, cloud infrastructure and services, network infrastructure and services, semiconductors and enabling technologies, and digital and datacenter infrastructure and services. Ashish’s coverage spans infrastructure software platforms, cloud and edge services, storage and converged systems, compute infrastructure, service provider trends, enterprise, emerging and performance intensive workloads (AI and HPC).
Ashish draws upon his experience working in the IT industry to take a long view on the lifecycle of infrastructure-related services, deployments, systems, platforms, and technologies. Examples of his research coverage include heterogeneous, accelerated, edge, analog and quantum computing, rackscale, composable/disaggregated architecture, memory, flash and other data persistence technologies, high-speed fabrics and interconnects, operating systems, and software-defined infrastructure.
Event Sessions
Day 0 4:05 pm
IDC Q&A Panel: AI & Data in 2030 – What Leaders Must Prepare For
AI and data will fundamentally redefine competitive dynamics, business models, and workforce expectations. Leaders must anticipate disruptive technological shifts, invest in adaptive strategies, and cultivate organizational resilience to harness the full potential of an AI-driven future.
Tony Olvet
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.
Event Sessions
Day 0 4:05 pm
IDC Q&A Panel: AI & Data in 2030 – What Leaders Must Prepare For
AI and data will fundamentally redefine competitive dynamics, business models, and workforce expectations. Leaders must anticipate disruptive technological shifts, invest in adaptive strategies, and cultivate organizational resilience to harness the full potential of an AI-driven future.
Bob Parker
Senior Vice President, Enterprise Applications, Data Intelligence, Services, and Industry Research
IDC
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Bob Parker
Bob Parker is a Senior Vice President responsible for several areas of research at IDC. Bob leads the global industry research teams which includes coverage of healthcare, government, retail, energy, manufacturing, and financial services as well as a cross industry group looking at emerging topics such as blockchain and robotics. Additionally, Bob leads our teams in the enterprise applications space, services, and the IDC coverage of data intelligence which includes coverage of artificial intelligence.
Bob has been conducting industry research for over twenty years including five years at AMR Research before joining IDC. Prior to entering the research field, Bob spent over fifteen years in various Information Technology and Operational management roles in the manufacturing industry including serving as the Chief Information Officer at Eastern Technologies, a defense contractor.
Event Sessions
Day 0 4:05 pm
IDC Q&A Panel: AI & Data in 2030 – What Leaders Must Prepare For
AI and data will fundamentally redefine competitive dynamics, business models, and workforce expectations. Leaders must anticipate disruptive technological shifts, invest in adaptive strategies, and cultivate organizational resilience to harness the full potential of an AI-driven future.
Day 0 9:50 am
IDC Keynote: Scaling AI for the Agentic Future: Closing the Enterprise Gaps
Enterprises have moved past AI pilots, but scaling agentic AI across the business exposes gaps in governance, talent, data readiness, and infrastructure. This keynote draws on IDC research to show where organizations are stalling and what the leaders are doing differently. CIOs and CTOs will leave with a practical framework for closing those gaps and a clearer view of what it takes to move autonomous, adaptive workflows from experiment to enterprise-wide value.
Stephen Elliot
Stephen Elliot manages multiple programs spanning IT Operations, Enterprise Management, ITSM, Agile and DevOps, Application performance, Virtualization, Multi-Cloud Management and Automation, Log Analytics, Container Management, DaaS, and Software Defined Compute. Mr. Elliot advises Senior IT, Business, and Investment Executives globally in the creation of strategy and operational tactics that drive the execution of Digital Transformation and business growth.
BACKGROUND
Before his current role, Stephen helped build business for IDC’s IT Executive Program, where he advised enterprise IT organizations on DevOps best practices across people, process, and technology strategies and tactics. Prior to IDC, Stephen was Vice President of Strategy for CA Technologies’ Infrastructure Management and Data Center Automation business unit, providing direct strategic and tactical support to customers accelerating their path toward the cloud, software-defined datacenters, and Dev/Ops. He also led product management for CA’s VCE partnership, helping customers better understand the business value of converged fabric. Prior to his work at CA, Stephen was a noted software industry analyst at firms including IDC, Gartner, and Forrester, where he advised IT executives and the financial community on IT operations, virtualization, datacenter automation, and network and application management. He also served as a product marketing manager at Inteq, an early provider of SaaS-based network monitoring and service desk capabilities, helping customers understand the business value of the SaaS delivery model.
Megha Kumar
Megha Kumar heads software and cloud services research at IDC Canada. As a research vice president, Megha is responsible for managing and delivering projects across technology areas such as cloud services, enterprise applications, software and digital transformation for the Canadian market. She manages both the Canadian Software as a Service (SaaS) and Canadian Cloud Platforms (PaaS and IaaS) research programs in Canada
In addition to research, Megha has aided vendors with go-to-market engagements to improve market awareness and provide end users with essential guidance on technology adoption. She regularly interacts with CIOs and IT decision makers regarding their technology preferences, priorities, and concerns.
She originally joined IDC in 2007 covering the Middle East, Africa, and Turkey region, based out of Dubai, U.A.E. In her previous role at IDC, she regularly provided insights on market dynamics, vendor strategies, and end-user trends across the Middle East, Africa, and Turkey for both global and regional ICT firms as well as public sector organizations.
Megha presents at various industry and vendor conferences. She is often quoted in the media, providing opinions on technologies and market dynamics. She holds a Bachelor’s degree with Honors in Marketing from York University, Canada.
Event Sessions
Day 0 4:05 pm
IDC Q&A Panel: AI & Data in 2030 – What Leaders Must Prepare For
AI and data will fundamentally redefine competitive dynamics, business models, and workforce expectations. Leaders must anticipate disruptive technological shifts, invest in adaptive strategies, and cultivate organizational resilience to harness the full potential of an AI-driven future.
Sarah Lee
Sarah Lee is Research Director for IDC Manufacturing Insights responsible for the IT Priorities & Strategies (ITP&S) practice. Sarah’s core research coverage includes IT investments made across the manufacturing industry and manufacturers’ progress with digital transformation. Based on her background covering the manufacturing space, Sarah’s research also includes an emphasis on the technology enablers that help manufacturing executives make better-informed operational decisions.
BACKGROUND
Previously, Sarah has held various roles as an analyst and consultant with The Big Four Technology Strategy Advisory Team where she focused on leveraging data driven insights and research-grounded perspective to inform clients through the delivery and prioritization of technology in their organization. Focused on emerging technologies and organizational transformation, her experience with analyzing and advising on manufacturing trends span across Asset, Brand, Engineering and Technology Oriented Value Chains.
Event Sessions
Day 0 4:05 pm
IDC Q&A Panel: AI & Data in 2030 – What Leaders Must Prepare For
AI and data will fundamentally redefine competitive dynamics, business models, and workforce expectations. Leaders must anticipate disruptive technological shifts, invest in adaptive strategies, and cultivate organizational resilience to harness the full potential of an AI-driven future.
Casey Kindiger
Event Sessions
Day 0 1:40 pm
Fireside Chat: Delegating Outcomes: Trusted Agentic IT Operations
Terry Hickey
Event Sessions
Day 0 2:05 pm
End-User Case Study: Regulated, Not Restricted: How Compliance-Heavy Industries Are Scaling AI
Terry Hickey, Chief Technology Officer at Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP), shares how his organization is bringing AI into a highly regulated environment where trust, data protection, and fiduciary responsibility come first. He explores how OTPP balances innovation with regulatory expectations, which governance practices have helped move AI from pilot to production, and where compliance requirements have shaped technology decisions. Attendees will leave with practical lessons for scaling AI with confidence in their own compliance-heavy industries.