Anna has made waves in the tech industry, having entered software engineering following a professional career as an opera singer. As a technical speaker and a Google Women Techmakers Ambassador, Anna prides herself in taking technical topics and making them easy to understand for people from all walks of life: be it for her own colleagues; at events and conferences; or for corporate clients. From software engineering and generative AI, to technical careers and DEI. Her book “You Belong in Tech: How to Go From Zero Programming Experience to Hired” was published in June 2022, and quickly became a #1 Bestselling New Release Career Guide on Amazon. She now works as Director, of Product and Engineering (Projects and Organisation) for the tech subsidiary of Europe’s largest media publisher, Axel Springer National Media & Tech, based in Berlin, Germany.

Maria is a leader and technology enthusiast currently serving as the VP of Product, Platform at SoundCloud since 2023. Maria’s leadership and expertise continue to make a significant impact in the tech industry, building on her previous role as the Senior Director of Business Planning at HERE Technologies, where she orchestrated the development framework and product strategy for the HERE platform, benefiting a 250 developers and product managers, both internal and external.

Simana is Global VP of Engineering for Risk & Compliance at SumUp. Simana is also an executive board director and champion of AI across the company. In parallel with her current role, she is also a member of the Forbes Technology Council. Simana strongly believes that leadership is a privilege and an opportunity which she will continue to champion more equity and diversity in the industry.

Stephen Ballot is a people-first Product and Engineering leader with 15+ years of experience in leading empowered teams. His career includes leadership positions at Heycar and OLX GROUP among others. He is currently Chief Product and Technology Officer at CareerFoundry, looking into how Generative AI can help people change careers into technology roles.

Bhuvana’s been working in Tech for the last 21 years. She’s held leadership positions at some of the biggest tech giants in the world including Google, and Zalando. A mother of three, Bhuvana says “Equality starts at home” and that she teaches her boys to judge someone based on their capabilities.

Elisabeth’s educational background is in theoretical physics, she transitioned to Data Science after early experiences in statistical modeling at a consultancy. Joining Zalando in 2015, she tackled pricing and forecasting problems, marking the beginning of her journey into the field. In 2020, Elisabeth became the Lead Data Scientist at SumUp, where she expanded Data Science teams in Risk and Compliance, implementing machine learning for fraud prevention and regulatory compliance. She founded the Data Science Chapter, fostering collaboration and knowledge-sharing across SumUp. Elisabeth is passionate about empowering women in STEM and D&I champion.

Shauna is a product-focused engineering leader currently working as the Engineering Group Lead for Internal Tools at Trade Republic. Over the last seven years, she has worked in a combination of engineering, product and design roles spanning IoT, edtech, healthtech before finding her home in fintech in Berlin. She switched over to the leadership track two years ago, and has since had the pleasure to grow and lead diverse teams to build platforms and products that help make markets and wealth creation more accessible for millions of Europeans.

Oleksii Ishchenko, VP of Engineering at Elopage (B2B, SaaS, Fintech), began his career as a Software Engineer over 20 years ago, and moved to Senior Management roles. His extensive experience includes:

15+ years building and leading development teams
10+ years in startup environments
Managed 100+ FTE teams
Expertise in Fintech, SaaS, Insurtech, Healthcare, Gaming and Real Estate domains

Oleksii is passionate about mentorship, eagerly sharing his leadership and architectural knowledge

Elena is the Swiss Army knife of an engineer. With expertise spanning backend and data engineering, MLOps, and DevOps, she has excelled in these areas on a large scale. As of this writing, she thrives in her role as a Staff Software Engineer at Delivery Hero’s Developer Platform, skillfully navigating both technical and organisational complexities. Her passions include exploring exotic programming and natural languages, developing more efficient and streamlined distributed systems, and enjoying hikes in the great northern outdoors.