Artificial Intelligence Business Conference is one of South Africa’s largest conference & exhibitions to look at the practical implications of AI for enterprise organisations, the actual solutions that are transforming business productivity.
The quality of our conference exhibition is unrivalled – you will hear exclusive, inspirational presentations from acclaimed speakers representing the world’s leading enterprises. They share a platform that highlights both AI business strategy and technical know-how in a comprehensive agenda that goes beyond the mundane and into deep, actionable insights. This AI Business Conference aims to help the business leader, data scientist and engineer successfully implement their AI projects.
Pieter van Eyssen is a Principal Solution Consultant at Genesys for the South & East Africa region. In this capacity, Pieter collaborates and works closely with Account Executives, Channel Partners and Customers to discover, plan and engineer Genesys solutions to ensure that all business and customer experience objectives are met through the different strategies utilized. With an extensive prior background in Professional Services, wherein his responsibilities included implementation, configuration, integration and support of Genesys solutions, for small and large scale projects within South Africa and Europe and across a range of vertical sectors, Pieter has acquired more than 17 years of experience related to the customer service and experience industry.
Ian Keller is Chief Information Security Officer for SBV Services, where he is responsible for leading SBV’s and diverse information security and IT risk strategy.
Prior to joining SBV, Ian served as Group Chief Information Security Officer for the Discovery Group. In this role, Ian set the Group information security and technology risk vision and strategy in key areas, including governance, policy, awareness, project management, audit, assessment, incident response, operations, technical investigations, business continuity and disaster recovery.
Ian is an active member in the cyber security industry and is brand ambassador for Trend Micro and Fortinet. He in an active member at the CIO Roundtable and CISO Alliance. He is also a CISSP and ISEB ISM member, both in good standing.
Ian began his career in Information Security in the South African Defence Force where he served as Instructor in the Army Intelligence wing at Danie Theron Combat School.
He received his Masters Degree from the University of Liverpool.
Bradley has experience in implementing and scaling bleeding-edge open source technologies at financial institutions. His career in Big Data started at Standard Bank, where he built the largest Hadoop cluster in Africa at the time, enabling the Data Science capability at scale across the organisation.
Bradley has become a thought leader in the field of cybersecurity as it relates to big data, sharing his experiences with other international industry leaders at the 2018 DataWorks Summit in Berlin through a talk titled “Securing and governing a multi-tenant data lake within the financial industry”.
Bradley is currently the Engineering Practice Lead for Data, Analytics and Artificial Intelligence managing several teams, from robotics to personalisation. His responsibilities include defining and executing the strategic roadmap migrating core banking activities to the cloud, as well as enabling artificial intelligence and machine learning use cases, ensuring Standard Bank remains a strong contender in today’s data economy.
Outside of work, Bradley’s interests include track racing and travelling. He believes strongly in youth empowerment and giving graduates in South Africa the platform to showcase their abilities. To that end, Bradley is currently lecturing on “Big Data Analytics and Business Applications” at the School of Consumer Intelligence and Information Systems at the University of Johannesburg.
Abdul Baba is a highly recognised and equally qualified IT practitioner and trusted advisor. Abdul currently consults as an independent consultant in the industry and is also a non-executive director for Computer Aid International and 7 Events Africa. He is currently a member of the Executive global network (EGN), Institute of Director of Southern Africa (IODSA), IT professional’s association as well as the CIO Council of South Africa. His strength lies in setting business and IT strategies, developing large solutions architectures, managing system development, and leading cohesive teams for implementation. Abdul chairs and presents at many Business IT Leadership conferences with a passion on how technology will transform and enable business value. He is a Cybersecurity, Governance, and Dx evangelist, who serves on various boards and IT advisory bodies as part of his contribution to influencing South Africa’s 4IR goals and aspirations
Abdul has started his career in the banking industry, worked extensively within SAP Business Consulting, Insurance, Logistics transportation, Media and Advertising industries respectively. Abdul also has extensive experience in Enterprise IT Architecture where he held various technical technology roles in one of the largest bank in Africa. Abdul served as the CIO of Skynet as well as the Group IT Director of the TBWA Media group prior to his current role. Abdul holds a B.Comm Honours degree in Informatics as well as a Master’s degree in Business Leadership (MBL). Abdul is currently working on his PHD contributing to the 4IR success and body of knowledge in South Africa.
Nathan is a highly recognised and equally qualified cyber security practitioner and trusted advisor. He is the Managing Director of CyberSec and currently consults as a subject matter expert on cyber security, security governance, information privacy and regulatory compliance.
Nathan plays an active role in the cyber security community by facilitating and speaking at numerous conferences and with media, while forming part of specialist panels. He is a leader in ensuring the success of cyber security through a combination of business and technical acumen.
As a leading subject matter expert on cyber security, information risk and hacking, Nathan has been part of the following panels and media discussions, to name a few:
• Expert advisor to the CFO South Africa Editorial Committee;
• World Economic Forum – Cyber Security Author;
• ITWeb Features - Cyber Security Contributor;
• Cyber security Subject Matter Expert on 360 Biz Show on Cliff Central;
• Cyber security Subject Matter Expert on VOW FM;
• Specialist Guest Lecturer at the University of Johannesburg & Witwatersrand on Cyber Security;
• Speaker at the 2014 CISO Summit;
• Speaker at the 2015 Cyber Security in Banking Conference;
• Keynote Speaker at the 2015 CFO South Africa event (Digital Transformation);
• Speaker at the 2015 Retail Cyber Security & Digital Forensics Conference;
• Speaker at the 2016 46th IAFEI World Congress;
• Speaker at the 2016 Finance Indaba;
• Speaker at the 2016 Hackon Africa;
• Speaker at the 2017 Microsoft CIO Council;
• Member of CISO Alliances South Africa;
• Speaker at the 2018 CIO Chapter;
• Speaker at the 2018 Cyber Security Conference;
• Contributor at the ITWeb CISO Roundtables;
• Speaker at the 2019 ITWeb GRC Forum;
Alistair’s purpose is to focus on human-centred design for problem solving that enables exponential positive change.
Alistair has led finance and business functions in both the private and public sectors, at a senior level over the past 20 years. During that time he has steered multiple project engagements, ranging from designing and implementing new large-scale group reporting systems and processes to designing multi-country system solutions and methodologies.
His focus area for the past 10 years has been on the Financial Services industry, around business and operating model transformation related to technologies, processes, people, culture and data - working with clients in South Africa, Africa, UK, Continental Europe, the United States and Latin America.
He is skilled in strategic transformation and building new business capabilities, using cognitive technologies and innovation techniques and has led high performing, multi-disciplinary teams in the ideation, design, development, and execution of impactful, innovative and human-centric portfolios. Alistair was a top finalist out of 300 nominees across PwC Africa's staff complement of 9000+ people for the PwC Africa Values Award.
Alistair has founded 2 companies – one focused on exponential transformation using cognitive technologies and innovation, and the other is focused on genomics, genome sequencing and creating machine learning digital assets to reduce clinical trial costs and failure rates.
He currently devotes the majority of his time helping clients achieve their technology enabled business transformation objectives and provide clients with support across their innovation and digital transformation initiatives.
Alistair holds an Executive Master of Science from HEC Paris and various post-graduate professional certifications from Harvard Business School, Wharton Business School, Yonsei University and the University of Virginia Darden School of Business – with specialisations in disruptive innovation, competitive strategy, design thinking, deep learning for business and digital transformation.
He is a speaker, author and thought leader on Cognitive and Intelligent Automation.
A proud Dad, Technology Consultant & Developer
Officially: Electronic Engineer with a BTECH in IT with a passion for AI
Achievements
Share-Point
A place to share/measure the successes and failures in life, so we can harness the efforts of others to ultimately move forward together.
Personal Site: gregmelson.com
Work: share-point.co.za
Twitter @GregMelson
*I run a Technology Meetup (420+ Members) on AI + SharePoint and Technology today
Working experience
Corporate: 10+ YEARS
Founder: 2+ YEARS
I completed my undergraduate BSc Mathematics and Applied Mathematics degree at the University of Johannesburg and a post graduate qualification in Computational intelligence for industry (Data Science) at the university of Johannesburg. Continued with my passion for data Science at the CSIR.
After CSIR , I join Risk insights and with Risk insights we have built an ESG(Environmental Social and Governance) model using Deep leaning algorithms, few months later with Risk Insights , I was chosen to attend One Young World Summit 2019 in London where young leaders across the world meet in order to collaborate with a goal in solving problems around the world and meeting the UN Sustainable development goals
Marianna Boguslavsky has a decade of digital marketing & strategy experience gained working in a variety of industries ranging from eCommerce, automotive, and publishing to SaaS, media, and property in London, Cape Town, Dubai, and Slovenia. She has worked at small companies, startups and large global agencies. She founded her own digital strategy agency (in UAE & South Africa) and focused on leveraging tech and specialist skills to grow startups and SMEs based regionally and internationally. She is fluent in English and Russian, is passionate about emerging AI innovations, and eats way too much sushi.
Kevin Derman is a Technology and Human Potential Evangelist. His favorite topic being the potential when these two forces are combined. Kevin is the CEO of Kaskade.cloud a cloud technology consultancy with a major focus in AI and machine learning. He has headed up the Partner and Channel Strategy both for Microsoft South Africa and IBM for the Sub Saharan Africa region. He has had various career experiences incorporating global corporates and entrepreneurial start-ups, including co-founding Infointeg, an Internet Start-up and being a motivational and business speaker. His presentations are engaging and deliver an eclectic mix of topics ranging from “the Psychology of Buying and Selling” to “Happiness – the never ending quest”.
Kevin holds the following degrees: BSc Masters, an MBA from UCT’s Graduate School of Business, and is an AWS Associate Cloud Architect.
Joel is a Technology expert at the intersection of health and innovation. Founder of digital health start-up Cenhealth, with a footprint that spans South Africa, Botswana, UK, Nigeria, India and US.
Joel leads Health Link Africa, a digital health technology consortium which is creating a multi-tier Ecosystem that will enable Africa to leverage emerging technologies such as AI, IOT, Robotics, VR and Blockchain.
An advisor and innovation strategist, Joel consults for multi-national corporations, national and Local Government entities, developmental agencies and academia.
Joel holds an MSc Information Systems Development from the London School of Economics(LSE), UK and BSc in Biochemistry. He is also a certified Practitioner in PRINCE2, P3O and COBIT5.
Renée Cummings is a criminologist and international criminal justice consultant who specializes in Artificial Intelligence (AI); ethical AI, diversity, equity and inclusion in AI, algorithmic authenticity and accountability, data integrity and equity, AI for social good and social justice in AI policy and governance.
Foreseeing trends and anticipating disruptions, she’s committed to diverse, equitable and inclusive AI strategy development; using AI to empower and transform communities and cultures; securing full participation in the 4IR, helping companies navigate the AI landscape and developing future AI leaders.
A multicultural cross-connector of multiple fields and an innovative collaborator, her passion is forming connections and unifying people and technologies; enhancing quality of life and economic prosperity.
She’s also a criminal psychologist, therapeutic jurisprudence and rehabilitation specialist, substance abuse therapist, crisis intelligence, crisis communication and media specialist, creative science communicator and journalist.
A sought after thought-leader, inspirational motivational speaker and mentor, Ms. Cummings is also a Columbia University community scholar.
Chris is a tech enthusiast who is passionate about finding cutting edge and innovative solutions to business problems. He has worked for a number of top-tier Advisory firms as a management consultant. A significant portion of his work experience focused on Data Analytics, AI & Data Governance.
He holds an MBA from the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS), Bachelor of Business Administration (Information Systems) and a Management Accounting qualification with CIMA (UK). His broad qualifications and experience have given him versatility which has become a key strength to navigate the unique and rapidly changing characteristics of the business environment.
Chris is a public speaker who is passionate about imparting knowledge and sharing on how to bring the 4th Industrial Revolution from theory into the practical. His talks are designed to provoke insightful discussion about how our world is changing and what part we all have to play in this future.
Derek joined Discovery on 1 February 2018 and is currently the Discovery Group Chief Information Officer. He started his career in 1994 as the Founder Managing Director of Information Security company Trusted Network Solutions. After the merger of Trusted Network Solutions into Internet Solutions in 1995, Derek served in a variety of Executive roles at Internet Solutions, including that of Managing Director from 1998-2001. Subsequent to the acquisition of Internet Solutions by Dimension Data, Derek joined Dimension Data Middle East and Africa as Executive for Strategy in 2001. In 2005 he became the Services Executive. In 2009 Derek returned to Internet Solutions as Managing Director. In 2012 Derek became Chief Executive Officer of Dimension Data Middle East and Africa. In 2015 Derek became the Group Chief Information Officer of Dimension Data Plc. During his tenure at Dimension Data, Derek was a director of various subsidiaries and associates, including 3Fifteen, FibreCo, Plessey and Access Kenya and served on the NTT Group CIO Committee. Derek currently serves on the board of venture funded technology firm Snapt and on the Risk Committee of the Ikusasa Student Financial Aid Program. Derek holds Bachelor of Economic Science and Bachelor of Science Honours degrees from the University of the Witwatersrand and has completed Postgraduate courses in Corporate Finance at the University of London and the Executive Program in Strategy and Organisation at Stanford.
Raul Villamarin Rodriguez, is former Asst. Prof. at Universal Business School, India who holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology, three Master's degrees being an MBA, MHRM, and Master in Big Data and Business Intelligence and is currently pursuing his Ph.D. on Artificial Intelligence and Human Resources.
Fmr. CEO & HR Manager at Irians Research Institute, a research institute specialized in the field of neuromarketing, AI, ML, cybersecurity, market research, behavioural science (with focus on non-verbal communication), social research methods and behavioural engineering. He has also collaborated in the organization of symposiums at several educational institutions including Oxford Brookes University, UK and European Union-government bodies in Brussels, Belgium.
After stepping down from the Institute, he started following his pedagogical & public-speaking passion working as a visiting/adjunct lecturer and mentor at a variety of institutions and an academic consultant at a handful of organizations in relation to his R&D skills and experience in exec. management and new tech, namely AI/ML/DL.
Prof. Rodriguez's specific areas of expertise and interest are Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Natural Language Processing, Data Analytics (Big Data), Cybersecurity Management, Robotic Process Automation, and People Analytics.
He is a registered expert in Artificial intelligence, Intelligent Systems, Multi-agent Systems at the European Commission and nominee for the Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe 2020 list.
Artificial Intelligence enthusiast. Conference speaker, author. Software Quality Engineering professional.
Johan is a business development specialist who has been selling technology products and services in South Africa and in Europe over the last 20 years. During the last decade, his focus turned to the Software Quality Assurance and Testing market. He worked in senior roles for global consulting firms, and at one of the largest banks in South Africa. He is an Artificial Intelligence enthusiast and speaks globally on the Fourth Industrial Revolution and Emerging Technologies.
He is currently with IQBusiness, a management consulting firm.
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