Speakers
Vikram Kolar
Senior Vice President, Data and AI Platform Technology
Visa
Vikram Kolar serves Visa as SVP, Technology, Data and AI Platform (DAP). In DAP, he is the global technology leader for Data Platform as a Service (DPaaS), which includes responsibility for building Visa’s Big Data Platform (Hadoop). Additionally, he is the Site Leader for Visa’s Bengaluru Technology Center, which builds and operates technology platforms for Visa’s global customer base. With over 25 years of experience in building and running high scale, fault tolerant and secure technology platforms for the world’s leading companies, Vikram joined Visa in June 2022.
Before joining Visa, Vikram worked as Vice-President, Engineering at Sabre Inc. a travel technology company, headquartered in Dallas, TX. This company builds and operates software for the world’s leading airlines, travel agencies and hoteliers and Vikram was leading the modernization and operations of Airline Ticketing and Check-in technology platforms, managing billions of transactions annually. He also served Sabre as their Bengaluru Site Leader for about 1.5 years.
Prior to his role at Sabre, Vikram served as SVP, Technology at Myntra, India’s leading online fashion retailer. He led technology for Myntra, through a hyper-growth phase of the startup, modernizing customer-facing applications and integrating AI and ML into supply chain management. Before joining Myntra, Vikram held significant positions in several global companies. He was based in Shanghai, China, where he helped Sephora, a leading retail giant in cosmetics and fragrances, establish its eCommerce platforms for the China market. Earlier, he was in the San Francisco Bay Area, contributing to Walmart Inc’s international eCommerce presence and setting up their technology center in Bengaluru, India. Before Walmart, he was part of Oracle Inc, assisting in the development of their CRM application suite.
During his career, Vikram has championed programs focused on acquiring early career talent from India’s leading technology universities. He has helped drive talent upskilling programs, and programs that foster diversity and inclusion within his organizations. He has sponsored initiatives that elevate the role of his employers in supporting the communities they operate in. His passion for employer branding is evident in his regular LinkedIn posts, where he actively promotes his organizations and employees. His articles have been published in leading trade magazines. He also speaks and blogs about technology and leadership at technology conferences and on social media.
Alok B. Lall
Chief Operating Officer
India and South Asia Microsoft Corporation
As the COO for Microsoft India and South Asia, Alok leads the strategy, marketing and operations for the region. He is part of the senior leadership team, and drives the region’s long-term growth goals for Microsoft to be the most trusted and innovative AI partner in India and South Asia. He leads a team of marketing and operations leaders who work to build awareness with customer stakeholders and improve sales performance within Microsoft and through its partner ecosystem.
Alok also works closely with the product engineering teams to bring customer, partner and developer feedback into the innovation process in the region. Alok cares deeply about Accessibility and Sustainability and has spoken for Microsoft in several industry and business forums on these topics. He has over twenty-six years of experience as a technology and business leader, twenty-four at Microsoft India, where he has demonstrated impact across a diversity of business and technical roles. Alok has a B.E. (Honours) in Electronics & Telecom from the National Institute of Technology, Silchar, Assam. He enjoys listening to music and travelling with his wife, Ritu and daughter, Shreya in his spare time
Varun Thamba
Regional Director, Business AI
SAP Asia Pacific & Japan
Varun is a regional technology leader at SAP, the digital transformation partner for some of the largest and most innovative organisations globally. He has over 10 years of experience in leading digital transformations across industries, powered by best of breed and emerging technologies.
In his current role, Varun leads the Business GTM and strategic programs in the Asia Pacific and Japan region, bringing cutting edge Artificial Intelligence capabilities via both out of the box AI features as well as bespoke AI via the SAP Business Technology Platform into core business processes impacting top, bottom and green line. He also leads strategic customer programs, working closely with industry leaders, product engineering, partner ecosystem and academia to ensure value realisation. Varun holds multiple certifications from SAP and is an accomplished keynote speaker, a business mentor and a guest faculty at some leading B-schools.
C D Athuruliya
Co-founder and Lead ML Engineer
ConscientAI
CD Athuraliya is a co-founder of ConscientAI, an award-winning AI technology company, and a research fellow at LIRNEasia, an ICT policy and regulation think tank working in the Asia-Pacific. He is also a visiting lecturer in machine learning. Prior to his current positions, he was a member of the WSO2 Machine Learner team and a big data researcher at LIRNEasia. In 2015, he founded the first AI meetup in Sri Lanka. He has research published at top-tier AI conferences and he was an invited participant at AI events organized by Google and OpenAI.
Dinesh Asanka
Senior Lecturer,
Department of Industrial Management, Faculty of Science
University of Kelaniya
Dinesh Asanka is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Industrial Management, Faculty of Science, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, holding an MPhil from the University of Moratuwa. With expertise in Artificial Intelligence (AI), Data Science, and Machine Learning (ML), he is dedicated to teaching and inspiring the next generation of professionals in these fields.
Sadee Gamhewa
Founder and CEO
Velou Inc.
Sadee Gamhewa is the Founder and CEO of Velou, an AI-powered retail startup. He has 22 years of industry experience in product and engineering with expertise in data science, AI/ML and e-commerce. Sadee Gamhewa previously led product, innovation, machine learning, AI strategy and engineering at several start-ups and Fortune 100 companies including Sysco, Accenture and Fujitsu. He holds patents in e-commerce and has published research papers on machine learning and AI. He received his BSc in Computer Science with honors from Edith Cowan University, Australia.
Dr Lahiru Ariyasinghe
Associate Architect – Data Science
Axiata Digital Labs
Dr. Lahiru Ariyasinghe currently serves as an Associate Architect – Data Science at
Axiata Digital Labs (ADL). He possesses a diverse background in software development
for research and commercial purposes, teaching computer science at the university level
and conducting original research in computer systems. With over 12 years of
experience, he has held various positions, including Lecturer, Research Scholar,
Research Software Engineer (RSE), and founding tec startups in Sri Lanka and New
Zealand. His main areas of interest are Distributed Systems, Data Science, and Full-
Stack Development. He has previously worked on Web Caching, Content Delivery
Networks, OTT Video Delivery, and Network Resource Management. Being a dual
scholarship holder, he obtained his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of
Otago, New Zealand, and a BSc (Hons) in IT with First Class from the Sri Lanka
Institute of Information Technology (SLIIT).
Harsha Randeny
Country Manager
Microsoft Sri Lanka and Maldives
Harsha Randeny is the Country Manager for Sri Lanka and the Maldives. He focus on accelerating digital transformation for public and private sector businesses, SMEs, communities, and industry verticals, collaborating with our extensive partner ecosystem. He holds a Master of Science degree in Strategic IT Management from the University of Wolverhampton. He is also a Director of the American Chamber of Commerce in Sri Lanka (AMCHAM).
Antony Marishan
Lead Data Scientist
EngenuityAI
Antony Marishan is a Lead Data Scientist at EngenuityAI, leading teams who work on projects mainly in artificial intelligence and Data science based solutions for various industries including healthcare, finance, supply-chain and Environment.
Prior to his current position he was driving the AI development team in Vega Innovations.
He also actively collaborates with researchers in EU and South-America to develop solutions in the domain of logistics and Environment.
Antony holds B.Eng. in Electrical Engineering and B.Sc. in Computer Science from the University of New South Wales, Australia.
Dr Srinath Perera
Chief Architect
WSO2 Inc.
Srinath is the chief architect at WSO2, a co-founder of the Apache Axis2 project, and a member of the Apache Software Foundation. He has co-architected a dozen real-world distributed systems, including Apache Axis2, Apache Airvatha, and Siddhi Complex Event Processing Engine. He is the author of the book “Software Architecture and Decision-Making” and 40+ peer reviewed research papers.
He received his Ph.D. from Indiana University, USA, in 2009
Vaisakh Rajeevan
CEO and Founder
Prophaze Technologies
Vaisakh T R brings over 20 years of experience to the table, having mastered various aspects of product development and security. His expertise spans product architecture, DevOps methodologies, and comprehensive security solutions like SecOps, Cloud Security, and Container Security. Vaisakh is also a skilled programmer with a strong foundation in Kubernetes/Docker technologies and even possesses experience in reverse engineering. His educational background includes a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Electronics & Communications.
Lakshmi Das
Co Founder & COO
Prophaze Technologies
Lakshmi Das brings over 14 years of experience in the dynamic field of DevOps. She has successfully navigated diverse industries like Banking, Healthcare, Cybersecurity, and more. Lakshmi is a specialist in Data Security and International Regulations. Her dedication to security extends to her academic background, with a Master’s degree in Cybersecurity from the prestigious MIT.
Anura De Alwis
Senior Vice President
Fortude
With over 30 years of experience in the corporate arena, Anura is a highly acclaimed business and digital transformation strategist with a penchant for digital renovation, maximizing an organization’s ROI and delivering augmented shareholder value.
A firm believer in the need for businesses to attain organizational maturity, Anura is passionate about building leaders and helping them unleash their true potential.
Armed with experience in strategy, advisory, business transformation and governance functions across Asia Pacific, Europe and North America, Anura has served many multinational corporations, including Pearson, EY, Telstra, HP, Nokia, Tabcorp, BT, Verizon, Singapore Power and Virtusa. He has spearheaded the growth of global organizations from start-ups to large enterprises, and has helped set up three technology start-ups successfully, inspired their growth and enabled them to successful M&A exits.
Anura is also an leaderpreneur, innovator, speaker, board advisor, career coach, husband, and proud father to his three children, and an individual who practices balanced optimization across all facets of life.
Avanthi Colambage
Country Manager
Visa Sri Lanka & Maldives
Avanthi is the Country Manager for Sri Lanka and Maldives and is responsible for
Visa’s business in these markets, including strategy development and execution of
its business priorities. She is also charged with building and strengthening partnerships with key decision makers and stakeholders among Visa’s clients, merchants and fintechs as well as regulatory authorities and governments.
Avanthi joined Visa in 2017 and was responsible for client relationships and driving business growth for Visa and its clients, where she managed various long-term clients, forged new partnerships and engaged with fintechs across the market. Prior to joining Visa, Avanthi was with HSBC for 17 years in various roles spanning commercial transactional banking, card products and loyalty, direct channels and digital banking. She also led the cash management vertical in the Maldives. During her stint at HSBC, Colombage was also Head of the Issuing Forum of the PCIASL (Payment Card Industry Association of Sri Lanka).
Avanthi holds a Master of Business Administration from the Edith Cowan University of Australia. In her leisure time, Avanthi likes to travel, watch sports and paint.
Sonal Biyani
Founding Partner
Basic Roots Consulting
Sonal is a leading voice on Bloomberg Asia in the start up ecosystem. Founded Multiple Ventures across sectors – Investment Banking, Co-working, B2B Fabrics Business.
Operating Experience in starting and scaling textiles trading and manufacturing business from scratch in Surat, the textile hub of the country. Now being managed by a professional team.
Also, started co-working space and created a thriving co-working community in a virgin market (Surat). Deep understanding of Tier-2 markets and their potential and drawbacks.
Worked with global teams, Advisory and execution work for Seed level to IPO level, M&A deals. Angel Investor for Consumer, Fintech, B2B Commerce sectors.
Passionate about bringing and empowering more women in the workforce.
Received “Emerging Female Entrepreneur” Award from Mrs. Smriti Irani, Union Minister
Fund Raising, M&A, Strategic Advisory for Technology backed StartUps, and SMEs.