Speakers

George Kurian is CEO at NetApp and a member of the Board of Directors. George joined the company in 2011, bringing his passion and relentless focus on execution. He was named CEO in June 2015. In his previous role as NetApp executive vice president of Product Operations, George was responsible for the strategy and development of NetApp’s product and solutions portfolio. Before that, George was senior vice president of the Data ONTAP Group, overseeing development of the Data ONTAP operating system. George joined NetApp as senior vice president of the Storage Solutions Group, where he was responsible for the solutions portfolio and joint partner technology integration. Prior to joining NetApp, George was vice president and general manager of the Application Networking and Switching Technology Group at Cisco Systems. George’s diverse background also includes the role of vice president at Akamai Technologies, management consulting at McKinsey & Company, and leading software engineering and product management teams at Oracle Corporation. He is also an independent director on the Board of global health services company Cigna Corporation.

César Cernuda, President of NetApp, has led NetApp’s integrated go-to-market organization since July 2020, delivering on the company’s promise to meet customers wherever they are on their digital-transformation journeys by providing the superior products, specialist skills, and services they need to architect, build, and manage their data fabrics. César joined NetApp following a long career at Microsoft, where he served as president of Microsoft Asia Pacific, president of Microsoft Latin America, and global corporate vice president of the brand. Having walked in the shoes of NetApp’s enterprise customers, he brings a customer-centric perspective to all he does as president. César serves as the Chairman of the ESG committee at Gestamp, an international organization dedicated to the automotive industry; as an advisory board member of Endeavor and AmChamSpain. Cesar also serves as the international advisory board member of IESE Business School – University of Navarra.

Gabie Boko is the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at NetApp, where she is leading the company’s marketing transformation and positioning NetApp as the leader in Intelligent Data Infrastructure. With over 25 years of experience at high-impact technology companies including HPE, SAP, Sage, and Cognos, Gabie brings deep expertise in building markets, driving growth, and steering enterprise transformations.

Since joining NetApp in 2022, Gabie has reshaped the marketing organization into a strategic growth engine, connecting bold brand storytelling with data-driven demand generation. Gabie is recognized for her relentless focus on customers and her ability to anticipate and adapt to disruptive industry shifts. She champions marketing innovation through AI-powered strategies, integrated customer experiences, and cross-functional collaboration that unifies brand, sales, and product execution.

As a visionary leader, Gabie believes marketing is more than product promotion: it is a driver of transformation, creating markets that unlock customer value and shaping the future of business strategy.

Syam Nair is Chief Product Officer at NetApp, where he leads the company’s product and engineering teams to accelerate innovation in hybrid cloud and AI offerings and advance NetApp’s strategic vision for data-driven business growth. Mr. Nair is renowned as a disruptive innovator in the industry, bringing over 25 years of experience in scaling cloud platforms and driving hyper-growth.

Mr. Nair has an exceptional track record in incubating new technologies from the ground up and leading large teams through transformations at scale. During his tenure at Microsoft, Mr. Nair was part of the leadership team that built and expanded globally distributed Azure data services. At Salesforce, his leadership pioneered industry-defining innovations including Salesforce Data Cloud, the next generation Agentic platform.

Prior to joining NetApp, Mr. Nair doubled the scale of the world’s largest inline security cloud as Chief Technology Officer and Executive Vice President of Research & Development at Zscaler.

Mr. Nair holds a master’s degree in computer science and applications engineering from Goa University in India and an MBA in strategy and leadership from Indiana University – Kelley School of Business.

Dallas currently serves as the Chief Commercial Officer at NetApp. He and his team have a very simple and inspiring charter: to drive profitable growth by building a unified, end-to-end GTM model that will make it easier and more effective for customers to secure and use our technology to achieve success in their most important initiatives. Dallas is an accomplished executive with experience in software, sales, mergers & acquisitions, strategy, and operations. He has led large organizations through disruptive and challenging market transitions in the logistics, supply chain, software, healthcare and IT industries.

Previous to NetApp, Dallas Served as the World-Wide Senior Vice-President of GTM Strategy & Revenue Operations. Dallas began his tenure in the WebEx Technology Group where he led software teams for the enterprise, global multi-national and service provider teams producing triple-digit growth for four consecutive years. He then moved into leading strategy & planning for the US Commercial group, where he helped the theater become the largest software-selling team in the company. Dallas then served as COO and Vice President for the Americas where he and his team were responsible for strategy, planning, operations, enablement, engagement, and go-to-market efforts.

Jenni Flinders joined NetApp in July 2021 and serves as SVP of the Worldwide Partner Organization. In this capacity, she advocates on behalf of NetApp’s global partner community and seeks to build a thriving, innovative ecosystem that maximizes value for customers. Whether on-prem or in the cloud, she leads by the maxim that change is good, but digital transformation is better. Jenni’s experience establishing and evolving channel strategy and programs globally helps ensure that her customers reap the benefits of cloud and emerging technologies. At some of the biggest technology companies in the world, she has developed comprehensive partner organizations that unify the power of marketing, sales, and partner development to “sell at scale.” Throughout her career, Jenni has developed and implemented channel strategy, operating models, and programs across all partner business models with emphasis on cloud and hybrid-cloud markets. She brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to NetApp as a tenured leader in the industry. Jenni has received numerous industry awards, including being named among the top 50 most influential women in technology by CRN, and she has also been recognized for her efforts around diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Don Foster is the Chief Technology Officer at NetApp where he leads the GROE Go-To-Market CTO organization. Don's tenured career in technology around data management and storage enables his strong leadership abilities to influence what NetApp builds in products and services, technical excellence in field engineers, grow the business, and align the company with solid GTM execution with customer interests always within focus.

Through his years of experience in the field, Don has built a strong reputation as a natural communicator and respected expert in data management, backup and recovery, and disaster recovery planning. His technical experience and business acumen have provided him with a unique skill set that enables him to successfully address client needs through products, solutions, and content.

As a strong advocate for truth in tech, he understands the importance of effective communication in all facets of the industry, and the role it plays in cultivating effective relationships. From the "techie" to the executive, he’s positioned himself as a “go-to guy” within the industry due to his ability to distill complex technologies into a format that is digestible for audiences at any level.

Sandeep Singh is a driven, passionate, creative business leader with a proven track record of leading business and product strategy, building innovative products, managing high-performance organizations, and delivering business results at startups and Fortune 500 technology companies. Prior to joining NetApp, Sandeep spent four years at Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) in multiple roles, including Vice President of Product Management for Data Infrastructure, Vice President of Marketing for HPE Storage, and CMO for Zerto, an HPE company. Sandeep joined HPE from Pure Storage, where he led product marketing for FlashArray, and helped the company scale from pre-IPO $100M run rate to a public company with greater than $1B in revenue. Prior to Pure, Sandeep led product management and strategy for 3PAR, an enterprise storage company, from pre-revenue to greater than $1B in revenue, including four-year tenure at HP post-3PAR acquisition. Sandeep resides in the Bay Area with his wife, two daughters, and their family dog. He has completed several marathons and ultra-marathons, including a 50-mile race, and his family has backpacked more 75 miles of the John Muir Trail.

Gagan Gulati is SVP and GM of the Data Services business at NetApp, where he leads the product and engineering teams, and the overall P&L responsibilities across the company’s cyber resilience and AI portfolio to drive NetApp’s vision of an intelligent data infrastructure company.

Gagan believes that data is fundamental to every organization’s success and has spent the last 25 years building billion-dollar businesses across data and security – and is now leading the charge at NetApp on its AI journey focused on data and platform. Gagan serves as an advisor to many data, security and AI startups in this space.

Before joining NetApp, Gagan was Chief Product and Technology Officer at Behavox, a data security and financial compliance company where he helped guide the vision, strategy, and roadmap for their product portfolio and helped them triple their revenue in two years. Earlier, at Microsoft Gagan was a leader in the Azure Security division, where he took multiple Data Protection and Governance products from zero to billion-dollar revenues and millions of users including Microsoft Information Protection and Purview.

Pravjit Tiwana is SVP & GM of NetApp’s Cloud Storage and Services business, where he leads strategy, product, engineering, and P&L across first-party hyperscaler services (Azure NetApp Files, Amazon FSx for ONTAP, Google Cloud NetApp Volumes), Cloud Volumes ONTAP, Instaclustr, and NetApp’s broader open source and cloud AI portfolio. A technology executive with more than 24 years of experience, Pravjit has built and scaled platforms from incubation to multi-billion-dollar businesses across cloud infrastructure, storage, SaaS, networking, and Web3.

Before joining NetApp, he served as Global CTO and CEO APAC at Gemini, transforming the company into a product-led engineering organization. Earlier, he spent 15 years at Amazon Web Services and Microsoft, where he launched and scaled multiple zero-to-scale businesses including Amazon CloudFront, AWS Edge Computing, Office 365 Exchange, and OneDrive—platforms now used by millions worldwide.

Pravjit is recognized for combining deep product instinct, disciplined P&L management, and customer obsession to scale high-velocity global organizations and drive sustained growth.

Aaron Amendolia is a recognized industry thought leader and strategist for the adoption of emerging technologies in sports and entertainment. Aaron is currently the Deputy Chief Information Office (CIO) for the National Football League (NFL) where he has worked since 2003. Aaron has been at the center of many of the newest innovation areas at the NFL, leading work in AI, block chain, optical tracking, and fan engagement technology. He is also accountable for the NFL’s PMO, Infrastructure, Engineering, and Event Technology teams. Aaron is a technology board advisor to Human Rights First.

Kari Briski is the Vice President, Generative AI Software for Enterprise at NVIDIA where she oversees strategy, roadmaps and requirements for AI software and services. Briski has over 25 years of experience in software development and 20 years as a leader in technology product management, working at IBM before joining NVIDIA in 2016. Briski holds a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering from the University of Pittsburgh.

Dimitrios Dovas is Head of Product Management for PLM SaaS Cloud offerings at Siemens Digital Industry Software organization, including Teamcenter X. He brings extensive experience in enterprise software and cloud technologies, having held leadership roles in product management, marketing, and strategy at NetApp, Oracle, Sun Microsystems, SAP, and Hewlett Packard. Dimitrios began his career as a management consultant, building a strong foundation in business transformation and technology strategy.

Matt Hull serves as Vice President Global AI Solutions Go-To-Market at NVIDIA, where he and his team are responsible to create the market conditions to allow AI to thrive in the enterprise. He and his team are excited to be working with enterprises all over the world to help them harness the power of AI by building AI Factories. Matt’s organization also houses NVIDIA’s Financial Solutions (NVFS) organization, NVIDIA’s Enterprise Proposal Center (NEPC) team, and NVIDIA’s Data Center (NVDC) partnerships, as well as leading global partner programs.

Prior to joining NVIDIA in 2017, Matt spent 10 years at Hewlett-Packard and then Hewlett Packard Enterprise where he held various management roles in sales, product management and engineering. Prior to Hewlett-Packard, Matt held several management roles at Seagate Technology.

He holds a Bachelor of Communications from The University of Colorado at Boulder and an MBA from The University of Washington Foster School of Business.

Costa Kladianos is in his third season as Executive Vice President, Head of Technology for the San Francisco 49ers and Levi’s Stadium. In his role, he oversees all business technology functions, strategizing and executing initiatives that engage fans, generate revenue and improve internal work efficiencies. His team manages the organization’s IT, cyber security, enterprise applications and other technology projects.

Kladianos is responsible for maintaining Levi’s Stadium’s reputation as one of the most technologically advanced stadiums in the NFL. A true example of innovation in the heart of Silicon Valley, the venue delivers world-class Wi-Fi, mobile connectivity, IPTV, digital displays, HD scoreboards and videoboards, and paperless ticketing. The building is equipped with over 400 miles of data cable, including 70 miles of cable to support in-stadium Wi-Fi. There are also more than 1,300 Wi-Fi access points supporting 2.4 and 5GHz channels and the most current wireless standard including 802.11ac. Wi-Fi is accessible in every location throughout the venue and is free to all.

Prior to joining the 49ers, Kladianos held several technology positions in the sports industry. Most recently, he served as Vice President, Innovation and Technology for Canlan Sports in Toronto, Canada. Before that, he was the Head of Technology for both the Canadian Football League (CFL) and Tennis Canada. At Tennis Canada, he was responsible for launching the first-ever Tech and Tennis Day Conference hosted at the 125th women’s Rogers Cup Tournament, which brought together some of the biggest names in technology, media and sports to discuss the role of technology and innovation in sports.

Alex Patent has over 30 years of IT experience and is currently the Vice President of Technology at NielsenIQ, responsible for leading the infrastructure engineering team. Prior to joining NielsenIQ, Mr. Patent held various IT leadership roles at WellCare Health Plans and Accenture. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and economics, from Colorado State University and a Master of Computer Information Systems and Telecommunication Management degree from the University of Miami.

Tracie Rodburg is currently the Senior Vice President of Global Partnerships at the National Football League. Tracie is responsible for leading the team that drives revenue and initiative support through the global sponsorship business including partnership management, new business and global strategy. This includes working with such Fortune 500 companies as Sony, PepsiCo, Verizon, Microsoft and Procter & Gamble. She leads the activation, sales and renewals for all the partners and new business prospects including their promotion of the league’s high-profile calendar events and authentic integration into the game. As a senior leader of the organization Tracie plays an integral role in cross departmental projects and initiatives focused on the continued growth of the NFL and unique ways to reach fans.

Prior to joining the NFL she previously worked as a Senior Account Supervisor at McCann Erickson on the General Motors account. In this role she represented the national brands and worked with regional dealerships on their planning, advertising and promotions. Tracie began her career in sports working for the New York Yankees in various roles including sponsorship, fan strategy and advertising.

A graduate of George Washington University in Marketing, Tracie also received her MBA from GWU.

Richard Wong is Data Management Architect at Agilent Technologies with over 25 years of experience in technology and IT infrastructure services. His focus is to drive innovative solutions to help manage the company optimize the IT infrastructure, maximize performance, efficiency and uptime, meet global regulatory needs while improving their cyber security posture.