Foundation models are advancing quarterly, enterprise deployments are moving from pilots to production, regulations are reshaping compliance requirements across regions, and infrastructure investments rare reaching sovereign-scale budgets. Amidst this velocity in the AI and data space, separating signal from noise has never been more critical.
AI & Data Insider exists to deliver that clarity: rigorous, practitioner-focused analysis on the technologies, strategies, and structural shifts reshaping business and society. Our journalism is only as strong as the experts who contribute their time, experience, and hard-earned insights.
AI & Data Insider’s Contributors’ Circle represents the researchers, enterprise leaders, founders, and policymakers who elevated our coverage in 2025—challenging assumptions, providing real-world context, and making our analysis deeper.
As we enter 2026, we honour these contributors—not just for what they’ve taught us, but for their commitment to advancing the conversation beyond hype, helping the industry learn from both successes and missteps, and ensuring that those building the future of AI and data do so with clarity, accountability, and wisdom.
AI & Data Insider’s Contributors’ Circle
Dmitry P.
Founder of emma – Home of multicloud
Dmitry Panenkov is Founder and CEO of emma, the multi-cloud management platform based in Luxembourg, delivering €20M+ annual recurring revenue and powering hybrid/multi-cloud strategies for global enterprises with AI-driven cost optimisation up to 80%. A veteran of Arista Networks, Juniper Networks, and Allot Communications, he pioneered emma’s unique networking backbone that interconnects hyperscalers, niche providers, and sovereign clouds, enabling seamless workload distribution, security, and no-code automation. Backed by RTP Global and ranked among Europe’s top SaaS startups, emma supports AI compute demands and data sovereignty initiatives worldwide.
Panenkov digs deep into the predicted hot topic of 2026, “Data Sovereignty”: Geopatriation for Cloud Sovereignty: Why 75% Are Moving Home by 2030
Levent Ergin
Chief Strategist for Agentic AI, Regulatory Compliance & Sustainability at Informatica
Levent Ergin is Global Chief Strategist for Climate, Sustainability & AI at Informatica, as well as Global Head of ESG Strategic Alliance Partnerships, where he helps enterprises build data foundations to scale agentic AI, ESG reporting and regulatory compliance. A leading voice on responsible agentic AI, he advises financial institutions and global brands on governance-first AI architectures, writes and speaks widely on ESG data strategy and climate resilience, and is a sought-after keynote speaker for CIO and CDO communities worldwide.
Ergin presents a strong front on autonomous agents: The Big AI Conversation at GITEX: From Assistant to Decision-Maker
Surojit Chatterjee
Founder and CEO of Ema Unlimited
Surojit Chatterjee is Founder and CEO of Ema, a universal AI employee platform leveraging agentic AI to automate enterprise tasks and augment human capabilities across customer support, finance, legal, and HR functions. Previously serving as Chief Product Officer at Coinbase, where he guided the company through its landmark 2021 IPO, and as VP and Global Head of Product at Google, where he founded and scaled Mobile Ads and Google Shopping into multi-billion dollar businesses, he is a recognized AI pioneer holding 40 U.S. patents. He earned an MBA from MIT, an MS in Computer Science from SUNY at Buffalo, and a B.Tech from IIT Kharagpur, and currently serves as a Board Member at Meesho, India’s leading social commerce platform.
Chatterjee on why deploying an AI agent without continuous evaluation is a recipe for risk: Are Static Benchmarks for LLMs Giving a False Sense of Security?
Thomas CuvelierPartner, North America and Europe at RTP Global
Thomas Cuvelier is a Partner at RTP Global, a $1 billion early-stage venture capital fund, where he focuses on fintech, SaaS and engineering-first companies across the US and Europe. With deep expertise spanning Global Founders Capital, Headline, and Alven, he has backed breakout companies including Datadog, Lovable and Stoïk, and brings a track record of identifying category-defining founders.
Cuvelier’s investor perspective on AI startups: UX Is the New Moat: Why AI Startups Win on Experience, Not Technology
Rania KhalafChief AI Officer at WSO2
Dr. Rania Khalaf is Chief AI Officer at WSO2, leading enterprise AI strategy and product innovation, with deep expertise spanning artificial intelligence, cloud computing and software development. Previously serving as Chief Information and Data Officer at ag-biotech unicorn Inari and as Distinguished Scientist and Director of AI Engineering at IBM Research, she holds a PhD from the University of Stuttgart and dual degrees from MIT, and is a frequent speaker on AI, cloud and sustainability at leading institutions including Harvard, MIT and Yale.
Khalaf discusses building real accountability: Who Is Held Accountable When AI Agents Fail?
Arturo BuzzalinoChief Innovation Officer & GVP at Epicor
Arturo Buzzalino is Group Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer at Epicor, leading AI-driven ERP transformation for the supply chain industry. With over 15 years building innovative software products across AI, data science, and enterprise systems at companies including SAP, Bossa Nova Robotics and Gecko Robotics, he is a recognised thought leader in AI-augmented business processes and human-centered innovation.
Buzzalino offers a way out to the pilot-to-production crisis: AI’s Real Challenge Isn’t Invention—It’s Execution
Gopinath PolavarapuChief Digital & AI Officer at JAGGAER
Gopinath Polavarapu is Chief Digital & AI Officer at JAGGAER, where he drives AI-driven transformation through agentic AI and intelligent automation. With over 20 years of experience in automation, software, IoT and mobile technologies, he previously served as Chief Solutions Officer at Kore.ai, leading its global AI solutions business, and held product leadership roles at Zebra Technologies, Motorola Solutions and Globecomm Systems. He holds an MBA from Cornell University and a Master’s degree in Telecommunications from NYU.
Polavarapu insists the Agentic Hero needs a human co-star with the cinematic analogy: The AI Hero of Procurement: Keeping Autonomy in Check Before the Credits Roll
Maya MikhailovCEO & Founder of Savvi AI
Maya Mikhailov is CEO and Founder of Savvi AI, a patented platform enabling FinServ and FinTech teams to build and deploy custom AI/ML models and AI agents in minutes, and a winner of the Finovate 2024 Best in Show and Forbes’ “Enterprise AI Democratizer.” An experienced serial entrepreneur, her previous company GPShopper was acquired by Synchrony (NYSE: SYF) in 2017. She served as SVP and General Manager leading AI innovation, and is a sought-after speaker at many renowned tech events.
Mikhailov takes down the blinds on production reality: Know When to “Collect on the Gains” of AI
Chris Shayan
Head of Artificial Intelligence at Backbase
Chris Shayan is Head of Artificial Intelligence at Backbase, where he drives AI strategy, LLM integration and agentic AI innovation across the fintech’s solutions for global banks. With over 20 years of banking and fintech technology leadership, he previously served as Chief Digital Officer at HD Bank, where he led digital transformation that drove 4x customer growth, and as Chief Technology Officer at Techcombank, where he implemented Backbase across retail and business banking in record time, unlocking the bank’s first $1 billion profitable year.
Shayan’s core thesis is that AI isn’t here to replace the human loan officer: How AI is Elevating the Human Loan Officer Experience
His advice on moving from promise to performance: Data, Orchestration, Agility: The Real Foundation for GenAI in Finance
Ella FordhamGroup Chief People Officer at BeyondONE
Ella Fordham is Group Chief People Officer at Beyond ONE, where she shapes culture, talent and employee experience for a fast-growing digital telecom innovator. With a background leading people and culture at regional champions such as Careem, she is known for pioneering progressive, human-centric work models in the Middle East.
Fordham bets on potential over pedigree: Relearning Work: Growing Human Potential in the AI Age
Cathy MauzaizePresident Europe, Middle-East, and Africa at ServiceNow
Cathy Mauzaize is President for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at ServiceNow, guiding strategic growth and digital transformation across the region. With over 25 years in senior roles at Microsoft, SAP, Dell and others, she is recognised for her leadership in enterprise technology and advocacy for diversity and inclusion.
Mauzaize discusses readiness for Embedded AI: Are You Ready for Embedded AI? Four Tests of Enterprise Maturity in the Post-Experimental Phase
Morey HaberChief Security Advisor at BeyondTrust, Author of Attack Vectors: The History of Cybersecurity and four other books
Morey J. Haber is Chief Security Advisor at BeyondTrust, the global provider of privileged access management and identity security. He is an acclaimed author of four books—Identity Attack Vectors, Privileged Attack Vectors, Asset Attack Vectors, and Cloud Attack Vectors—and a recognised thought leader in cyber defense strategies, zero trust security, and modern threat landscapes. A member of the Identity Defined Security Alliance (IDSA) Executive Advisory Board and frequent speaker at leading cybersecurity conferences, Morey brings deep expertise in vulnerability management and identity-based attack prevention.
Save your enterprise from Shadow AI with Haber: What Is Zombie AI, and Why Should Your C-Suite Care?
Rob PurcellGlobal SVP, AI Solutions & Architecture at Endava
Rob Purcell is Global Senior Vice President of AI Solutions & Architecture at Endava, a digital engineering and modernisation company. With extensive experience in IT strategy, technology architecture and delivery acceleration across global organisations, he specialises in designing and scaling AI solutions for enterprise clients and driving technological transformation.
Purcell presents the leader’s guide to ‘bounded autonomy’: Agentic AI at Work: When Enterprise Assistants Need Autonomy—and Permission
Tim Pfaelzer
Senior Vice President & General Manager EMEA at Veeam Software
Tim P. Pfaelzer is Senior Vice President and General Manager, EMEA at Veeam Software, where he drives regional business growth and spearheads the company’s data production and ransomware recovery solutions across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. With over 20 years of enterprise software sales and leadership experience, he previously held senior roles at Salesforce, Dell Technologies, and Theorem Marketing, building high-performing teams and scaling customer success in complex enterprise environments.
Pfaelzer’s thoughts on data resilience and compliance risk under the impact of the EU Data Act: EU Data Act Goes Live—Why Today Marks a Turning Point for Enterprise Strategy
Alex McMullan
CTO, International at Pure Storage
Alex McMullan is VP and CTO, International at Pure Storage, the data-centric AI company, where he leads technology vision and customer engagement strategy globally. With over 30 years of IT infrastructure and systems architecture experience across financial services and Fortune 500 enterprises, he previously headed distributed engineering at Barclays Capital and distributed computing at UBS Investment Bank, and has deep expertise in storage, cloud computing, data warehousing and machine learning systems.
McMullan discusses the insatiable demand for data centre capacity: AI’s Energy Crisis: Can Data Centres Keep Up With a World Demanding More Power?
Siddhartha (Sid) Bhatia
General Manager & Area Vice President Sales (META) at Dataiku
Siddhartha Bhatia is Vice President & General Manager at Dataiku, leading business growth and innovation across the Middle East, Africa and Turkey, where he drives enterprise adoption of AI and machine learning platforms. With 14+ years in financial services at HSBC across product management, data governance and digital transformation, and earlier regional leadership at Dataiku building client relationships with major airlines and financial institutions, he brings deep expertise in AI operationalization and enterprise-scale data science deployment.
Bhatia has the time-tested checklist for Agentic AI success: The First-Mover’s Guide to Agentic AI: A 5-Step Framework for Success
Kevin KlineSr Staff Technical Marketing Manager at SolarWinds, Author of O’Reilly’s SQL in a Nutshell
Kevin Kline is a renowned database expert and software industry veteran with over 30 years of experience in relational database technology, database administration, and cloud migration. A 20-year Microsoft Data Platform MVP and founder of the Professional Association for SQL Server, he is an acclaimed author, top-rated international speaker, and currently Senior Staff Technical Marketing Manager at SolarWinds.
Kline’s advice on onboarding your “digital colleagues”: Onboarding AI Agents: 5 HR Principles That Apply Well
David Boast
Managing Director (MENA) at Endava
David Boast is Managing Director, MENA at Endava, where he leads customer delivery, strategy and operations, driving AI-native transformation and responsible AI adoption. With over 22 years of experience in payments, fintech and enterprise technology leadership, he previously served as Chief Operating Officer at Vocalink (a Mastercard company) and held senior roles at Tesco Bank, Travelex and Christie’s, managing complex transformation programs and critical national infrastructure projects.
Boast draws parallels to the digital-first revolution: The AI-Native Playbook: What We Learned from the Digital-First Era
Vibhu Kapoor
Regional Vice President – Middle East, Africa & India at Epicor
Vibhu Kapoor is Vice President and Regional Leader at Epicor for the Middle East, Africa, and India, where he drives AI-augmented ERP transformation and business growth across emerging markets for the enterprise software leader. With over 20 years of experience building and scaling enterprise technology businesses, he previously served as Regional Vice President at AntWorks, a global AI startup, leading market expansion across MEA, and held senior leadership roles in sales and partner ecosystems at Infor, SAP and Microsoft.
Kapoor asks leaders to not choose between ERP and AI: The Unseen Engine: How ERP Is the True Foundation for AI Success
Antonio Rizzi
Area VP Solution Consulting, South EMEA at ServiceNow
Antonio Rizzi is Area Vice President, Solution Consulting EMEA South at ServiceNow, where he helps enterprises design and scale AI-first, autonomous workflows on the Now Platform. A regular speaker at GITEX and global AI forums, he is recognised for thought leadership on agentic AI, “zero UI” experiences and trusted AI governance that bridges business value, operational resilience and ESG-aligned innovation.
Rizzi emphasizes data and governance as the foundations for autonomy: What Makes Enterprise-Ready Autonomy Possible?
Gregory Hanson
Group Vice President and Head of EMEA North Sales at Informatica
Greg Hanson is Group Vice President, EMEA North and former CTO & VP at Informatica, where he helps enterprises modernise cloud data management and operationalise AI at scale. With more than 22 years at Informatica leading hundreds of data initiatives, he is a widely cited authority on intelligent data management, data catalogs and GenAI readiness, and a frequent keynote speaker on how trusted, well-governed data underpins customer experience and analytics success.
Hanson emphasizes data being an asset for competitive advantage: Building the Foundation for Tomorrow’s Data Economy
Become Part of the Conversation
AI & Data Insider’s Contributors’ Circle grows through the expertise of practitioners working on the hardest problems in AI and data.
We’re always seeking expert voices on:
→ Enterprise AI deployment and scaling challenges
→ Data infrastructure and governance
→ AI policy, regulation, and responsible development
→ Frontier AI research and capabilities
→ Vertical AI applications in regulated industries
If you’re working on these challenges and want to contribute your perspective, we’d love to hear from you.
Get in touch or pitch a story idea: Email us at editorial@aidatainsider.com
