Asif Kabani is a seasoned professional with over 25 years of experience in the Manufacturing and Industrial Sector, with a specialized focus on Sustainability and Technology. As a public speaker, he shares his expertise at world-leading AI and IoT events and in recent years served as a keynote speaker for EMSA in Europe in his capacity as the Executive Director of the SDG Centre, Geneva. His experience also includes serving as a Head of Research and an international consultant, where he has provided guidance to ministries of industries, innovation, and production for various international organisations, business and governments globally to advance Sustainable Development initiative for Smart Manufacturing using AI and IOT.
Ben Corbett is a Solutions Engineer at InfluxData. He has been working in the real-time solutions space since graduating with a 1st class Masters from the University of Bath in Mechanical Engineering, putting his love for connecting the digital and physical worlds into practice through developing many IoT platforms and real-time applications across the Energy, Manufacturing, Agriculture, Construction, Smart Building, and Electric Vehicle sectors. Since joining InfluxData, Ben has worked with our EMEA and APAC customers to understand and demonstrate the value of InfluxDB as applied to their specific use case or time series challenges.
Aron Semle is the Chief Technology Officer of HighByte, focused on guiding the company’s product strategy through research and development and technical evangelism. His areas of responsibility include engineering and product development and validation.
Aron has more than 15 years of experience in industrial technology. He previously worked at Kepware and PTC from 2008 until 2018 in a variety of roles including software engineer, product manager, R&D lead, and director of solutions management, helping to shape the company’s strategy in the manufacturing operations market.
Aron received a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering from the University of Maine.
Chris Huff is a growth-focused tech and SaaS executive with a proven track record in scaling enterprise software companies backed by private equity and venture capital. He’s known for building strong teams and driving value through operational efficiency, revenue growth, and product innovation. Prior to joining Adlib, Chris was CEO at Base64.ai and Chief Strategy & Growth Officer at Tungsten Automation (formerly Kofax), where he led strategy, product, AI, GTM, marketing, and partnerships. He also co-led Deloitte’s U.S. Public Sector Intelligent Automation practice and served as a Major in the U.S. Marine Corps. Chris brings deep expertise in AI, automation, and digital transformation—and a clear vision to expand Adlib’s impact across regulated industries.
Anthony has 20+ years of experience in Business Workflow and Intelligent Document Processing segment with prior roles at Kofax, Nuance, Notable Solutions (NSi), and Xerox. Anthony brings a well-rounded set of experiences with solution-related roles in Product Management, Alliance and Partner Management, and Product Development. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Master’s Degree in Information Technology, both from the Rochester Institute of Technology.
Jan Burian, a global manufacturing industry analyst, serves as the Head of Industry Insights at Trask. His expertise spans digital transformation, management, leadership, and the geopolitical influences shaping manufacturing and global supply chains. Prior to his role at Trask, Jan led Manufacturing Insights Europe at IDC and held consulting positions at EY and Deloitte.
Hamish Mackenzie operates as a Fractional Chief of Staff to space and deep-tech startup/scaleup CEOs, providing the focus, clarity, and execution leverage they need to turn complex technology into reliable growth — without adding full-time headcount.
With 20+ years in B2B technology and GTM strategy, he helps founders align their teams, sharpen their message, and build predictable momentum — by combining strategic GTM support with AI-enhanced operating systems that unlock leadership capacity across the business.
Senior executive with extensive business development/management experience in manufacturing operations enterprise software, including services, sales, marketing, software implementation, professional services and design and development of complex software solutions. An executive with the ability to apply people management skills, strong writing skills, software development expertise and business acumen to work collaboratively with customers in solving complex business process problems.
„AI isn’t just a dream - it is a decision!“
As a serial entrepreneur and co-founder of SwissCognitive, I bridge global AI expertise with business innovation. Passionate about empowering startups, I advise and invest in early-stage AI ventures while guiding C-suite leaders to kickstart their AI journey and unlock the transformative potential of their companies.
Let’s connect to explore the future of #AI in business.
I’m passionate about #ArtificialIntelligence and its impact on society, ethical aspects and unleashing new business potentials.
Peggy Smedley hosts The Peggy Smedley Show where she facilitates meaningful discussions on enterprise technology adoption. Since its inception in 2008, The Peggy Smedley Show has been rated the #1 digital transformation podcast.
After moving to Columbia, SC, post-COVID, Smedley continues to advocate for citizens and communities on topics like the future workforce, resilience, and future of work, education, energy and sustainability initiatives. She serves on the board of inSkill.ai, and PITSCO, and has participated in the SC Home Energy Labeling Working Group, IFT, and IoT working groups.
Dr. Raunak Bhinge, a visionary in the field of smart manufacturing and digital technologies, embarked on an innovative journey with Infinite Uptime. With a decade of experience in predictive maintenance and industrial IoT, Dr. Bhinge's goal was clear: to transform the traditional manufacturing industry through cutting-edge technology. His academic background, including a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Master’s degree in Automotive Design from IIT Madras, laid a solid foundation for his venture into revolutionizing plant reliability and maintenance.
As President and COO of aicas, Johannes M. Biermann has a clear vision: to scale the company in order to take full advantage of aicas’ technological expertise in the embedded sector. One significant milestone illustrates his success: aicas solutions connect 31M+ embedded edge devices and vehicles in 2025. He is also driving aicas to be firmly integrated into the fast-paced embedded tech ecosystem, engaging with senior leaders of customers and partners to identify and capture value through go-to-market and technology collaboration.
Johannes possesses extensive leadership experience in transforming organizations to reach for more and enabling their teams to achieve sustainable business success. He previously held leadership roles at Hewlett Packard, Palo Alto and Roseville, California, as well as at Siemens AG in Munich, Germany. His professional tenure of almost 30 years in technology markets covers corporate strategy, management consulting, product management, marketing, and operational roles.
Johannes’ professional and pro bono affiliations include the American Council on Germany (ACG) where he served as the director of the San Francisco Eric M. Warburg Chapter for over ten years. He also was an advisory board member of the Institute of European Studies (IES) at the University of California in Berkeley, as well as member of the German American Business Association (GABA), Northern California, and the American Chamber of Commerce Germany in Berlin.
John Dyck was appointed CEO of CESMII – The Smart Manufacturing Institute in June of 2018. CESMII is a public/private partnership committed to transforming the U.S. manufacturing market and increasing global competitiveness through the application of smart manufacturing technologies. John brings a highly pragmatic perspective to CESMII, and a crisp focus on outcomes that will benefit the nation’s energy and economic security by sharing existing resources and investing to accelerate development and commercial deployment of innovative smart manufacturing capabilities.
John is an execution-oriented visionary with a passion for driving the actualization of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. He’s known globally as a domain expert on both technology and business management in the nexus that often separates IT and Operations, and for the past 10 years, he has been at the vanguard of how innovations like Cloud and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) impact manufacturing. He has pioneered the application of these technologies in a wide range of manufacturing industries and supply chains. John was recently awarded a number of patents for the application of IIoT and analytics in manufacturing workflows and business processes.
John was recognized by the Society of Manufacturing Engineering (SME) in 2020 as one of ‘30 Leaders Transforming Manufacturing in the USA.
Prior to joining CESMII, John held senior leadership positions in large corporations like GE and Rockwell Automation, and was effective in raising VC funding and building a successful software startup called Activplant.
John currently serves as the past Chairman of MESA International’s (Manufacturing Enterprise Solutions Association) Board of Directors. Mr. Dyck holds a degree in Electronics Engineering from Conestoga College.
