Scaling AI Without Breaking the Budget

Rob Ferguson is VP of Technology and Strategy at Fireworks, the platform for specialized intelligence enabling companies like Uber and Shopify to train and serve custom models. He's formerly the CTO for Microsoft for Startups and the Global Head of AI/ML for Startups and VC at AWS.

Meryem Arik is the co-founder and CEO of Doubleword, where she works on large-scale LLM inference and production AI systems. Doubleword, backed by the UK government's SovAI fund, is the UK's first dedicated inference lab. She studied theoretical physics and philosophy at the University of Oxford. Meryem is a frequent conference speaker, including a TEDx speaker and a four-time highly rated speaker at QCon conferences. She was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for her work in AI infrastructure.

Nirmal Jingar is Sr. Engineering Leader at Wayfair, where he leads supply chain engineering teams building governed, real-time AI decision systems across inventory, routing, and delivery. His work has delivered over $300 million in savings through platform modernization and generative AI adoption. A Forbes Technology Council member and MIT alumnus, Nirmal advises companies on scaling AI responsibly and speaks widely on practical AI governance in enterprise operations.

Daria Fedechkina is CFO at LexisNexis France, bringing over 18 years of international finance experience across LVMH, AB InBev, Schneider Electric, and Wienerberger AG. Holding CMA and CSCA credentials, with education from the London School of Economics, she is an advocate for AI fluency in finance leadership. Daria is known for pushing organizations to move beyond spreadsheet reconciliation toward AI-automated workflows that drive real operational value.