Kensu Product Advisory Council

Kishore Aradhya

Senior Director of Data Engineering & Advanced Analytics, Stanley Black & Decker, Inc. 

Kishore Aradhya is a transformative, highly innovative senior technology leader, coach, and advisor with over two decades of experience in developing and scaling organizations from startups to large enterprises.

He has demonstrated experience in leading and building out Data Platforms for AI/Machine Learning, Advanced Analytics & BI applications spanning the entire data lifecycle. He has significant industry experience having worked in organizations like Stanley Black & Decker, Bose, Adobe, Staples, Fidelity Investments and edX in building and scaling teams responsible for highly scalable, high-volume enterprise cloud services. This includes Customer and Analytics Data Platforms, Data Engineering, Search, Mobile, and eCommerce services.

He currently sits on the editorial board of CDO Magazine and has been a past speaker and panelist at various data conferences like ODSC, Gartner, and others. He has an MBA and an MS in CS and being a life-long learner has earned various executive and academic credentials over the last two decades. 

Zhamak Dehghani

Chief Executive Officer and Founder,  Nextdata | Founder, Data Mesh

Zhamak Dehghani, works as the CEO and founder of Nextdata reimagining the future of data platforms with Data-Mesh-native technologies to get value from data rapidly, sustainably, and at scale. She founded the concept of Data Mesh in 2018 and since has been implementing the concept and evangelizing it with the wider industry.

Zhamak is the author of Architecture the Hard Parts and Data Mesh O'Reilly books. She serves on multiple tech advisory boards. She has worked as a technologist for over 24 years and has contributed to multiple patents in distributed computing communications. She is an advocate for the decentralization of all things, including architecture, data, and ultimately power.

Mike Ferguson

Leading industry analyst | Conference Chairman, Big Data London 

Mike Ferguson is the Managing Director of Intelligent Business Strategies Limited. As an independent IT industry analyst and consultant, he specializes in BI/analytics and data management. With over 40 years of IT experience, Mike has consulted for dozens of companies on BI/Analytics, data strategy, technology selection, enterprise architecture, and data management.

Mike is also conference chairman of Big Data LDN, the fastest-growing data and analytics conference in Europe. He has spoken at events all over the world and written numerous articles. Formerly he was a principal and co-founder of Codd and Date Limited – the inventors of the Relational Model, a Chief Architect at Teradata on the Teradata DBMS, and European Managing Director of Database Associates. 

Doug Laney

Innovation Fellow - Data & Analytics Strategy, West Monroe

Doug Laney is the Data & Analytics Strategy Innovation Fellow at West Monroe, where he helps clients generate greater value from their information assets. Doug originated the concept of Infonomics and is the best-selling author of "Infonomics: How to Monetize, Manage, and Measure Information as an Asset for Competitive Advantage."

Doug is a former Gartner Distinguished Analyst and three-time Gartner Thought Leadership Award recipient, co-founder of the Deloitte Analytics Institute, adjunct professor at the University of Illinois Gies School of Business, and frequent speaker at industry conferences.

Steve Muskopf

Director of Data and Advanced Analytics, IGS Energy

Steve Muskopf has over two decades of experience in both the Data and Software Engineering fields spanning several industries including Energy, Healthcare, and Government.

Steve is passionate about improving efficiencies and implementing solutions\architecture that provide real value while also building relationships and continuing to learn. Outside of work, he is an amateur triathlete, an assistant scoutmaster, and a dabbler in investment fads.

Veena Nayak

Vice President of Data Strategy and Solutions, University of Phoenix

Veena Nayak is a senior leader in data/AI, product, and technology, with 25+ years of leading and executing successful strategies that drive business growth and competitiveness. Her expertise spans a range of areas, including data and product strategy, data management and governance, AI/machine learning, and software engineering.

Throughout her career, she has been passionate about leveraging data and advanced analytics to solve complex business challenges and drive innovation. She has successfully created business vision that links strategy and execution to build sustainable, scalable, and cohesive solutions that bring the best of data/tech to unlock business value. As a thought leader in the space, she is committed to staying at the forefront of emerging trends and technologies and leverage learnings to create informed and intelligent solutions. Veena holds an MBA from W P Carey School of Business and dual degrees in Physics and Computer Technology from University of Mumbai

Adi Polak

Vice President of DevEx, Treeverse | Author, Machine Learning with Apache Spark

Adi Polak is an open-source technologist who believes in communities, education, and their ability to positively impact the world around us. She is passionate about building a better world through open collaboration and technological innovation.

As a seasoned engineer and Vice President of Developer Experience at Treeverse, Adi shapes the future of data and ML technologies for hands-on builders. She serves on multiple program committees and is an advisor for conferences like Data & AI Summit by Databricks, Current by Confluent, and Scale by the Bay, among others. Adi previously served as a senior manager for Azure at Microsoft, where she helped build advanced analytics systems and modern data architectures. Adi gained experience in machine learning by conducting research for IBM, Deutsche Telekom, and other Fortune 500 companies.

Joe Reis

Co-Author, Fundamentals of Data Engineering

Joe Reis, Co-Founder and CEO of Ternary Data, is a “recovering data scientist,” and a business-minded data nerd who’s worked in the data industry for 20 years. His responsibilities have ranged from statistical modeling, forecasting, machine learning, data engineering, data architecture, and everything else in between.

Joe also teaches at the University of Utah as well as runs several meetups, including The Utah Data Engineering Meetup and SLC Python. When he’s not busy running a company, teaching, or creating content, Joe often finds himself DJing/making music, rock climbing, or trail running in the mountains around Salt Lake City, Utah.

Chris Tabb

Co-Founder - Chief Commercial Officer, LEIT DATA 

Co-Founder & CCO at LEIT DATA (EMEA Snowflake Partner of the year 2022), having started his career as a business analyst at Cognos in the 90’s, Chris became an independent consultant in 1998, then taking on high-profile roles with many enterprise level organizations including being the chief architect at Worldpay, Head of Solution Architecture and Design (DACE) for Sainsbury’s, Head of Architecture at Insure the Box Ltd, before co-founding LEIT Data where he holds the role of Chief Commerical Officer.

Chris is still very much involved in the data and analytics side of things, speaking regularly at trade events and on podcasts sharing his extensive experience and knowledge.  

Wendy Turner-Williams

Former Chief Data Officer, Tableau | Adjunct Faculty, Carnegie Mellon

Adjunct Faculty at Carnegie Mellon, and former CDO as well as a member of several prestigious advisory boards. Wendy has many years of experience working in the high-tech sector with a focus on all things digital and data.

This experience has been gained at various fortune 500 businesses including the likes of WorldCom, Accenture, Nordstrom, Microsoft, Salesforce, and Tableau. Wendy specializes in driving cultural changes that ensure Data as an Asset, Data by Design, and Trusted-Data which are all foundational in the 4th Industrial Revolution and beyond. When not working, Wendy spends time with her family (4 girls), volunteering at local food banks and women's homeless shelters, and developing an educational application for dyslexic children.