TechForward 2026

Conversations in Tech. Now and Beyond.

Two days at Georgia Tech Scheller to see how AI, data, and strategy are reshaping industries, skills, and careers.

TechForward 2026 is a student-led conference hosted by the Georgia Tech Technology Club at the Scheller College of Business. Tech Talks Business opens the event on November 5. On Friday, November 6, students, founders, executives, and practitioners come together for keynotes, panels, skill sessions, and an AI impact hackathon. Build your own day across three lenses: Tech as an Industry, Tech as a Skill, and Tech as a Career.

Event details and Locations

Thursday, November 5 and Friday, November 6, 2026

Thursday, November 5
Tech Talks Business, 5:00–7:00 p.m.
Featuring Claudio Zanardo, President and CEO, Pirelli North America
Scheller Tower, 55 5th Street NW

Friday, November 6
The day runs from a 9:00 a.m. keynote through a networking reception that ends at 7:00 p.m., with up to three sessions at once from 10:00 a.m.
Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business, 800 W. Peachtree St. NW, Atlanta, GA 30308

Tickets
Students $10, general $20.

Three lenses on technology

Every session is tagged to one of three lenses, so you can follow the thread that matters most to you.

Tech as an Industry
See how technology is changing defense and aerospace, data centers and cloud, cybersecurity and AI governance, and venture and startups.
Tech as a Skill
Move from using AI to building with it, work through data workflows, and learn systems thinking from people who apply it daily.
Tech as a Career
Hear from leaders in strategy, product, AI, and human capital about building a career in technology.

What to expect

Two keynotes
Grace Reed Ural of OpenAI opens the day at 9:00 a.m., and Dan Caron of Nasdaq delivers the evening keynote at 4:15 p.m.
CISO fireside
Bhanu Vallabhaneni, Global Chief Information Security Officer at J.M. Huber, headlines the afternoon spotlight.
Parallel sessions
Choose from up to three panels, fireside chats, and skill sessions at a time, with speakers from Google Cloud, Snowflake, Microsoft, Anduril, and more.
Impact Hackathon results
Hear the outcomes just before the evening keynote.
Networking workshop
Brandy Nagel of Georgia Tech Global Innovation Ecosystems leads "How to Start a Conversation and How to Leave One."
Networking reception
Keep the conversations going from 5:15 to 7:00 p.m.

Agenda and Sessions

Fourteen sessions run across the day, up to three at a time from 10:00 a.m. Each is tagged Industry, Skill, or Career, so you can follow one lens or mix them.

	Session 1	Session 2	Session 3
8:00–9:00 a.m.	Breakfast and Badge Pickup
9:00–9:45 a.m.	Morning Keynote
9:45–10:00 a.m.	Break
10:00–10:45 a.m.	Getting an AI Project Past the Pilot Stage Career Tim Sissoko, Senior Manager, Strategy & Transformation, Capgemini Invent; Anjum Afshan, Chief of Staff, Strategy & Operations Leader, Skydance; Azim M., Technology Strategist, Microsoft	Running AI on a Small Team Budget Career Chidi Udeze, Senior Software Engineer, AI & Software Products, Reddit; Shubh Singhi, Founder and Product Strategist, Distilled Strategy; Rahul Parwani, Director of Product Strategy, Airia	How These AI Jobs Got Created and How to Get One Career Analisa Tennant, AI Innovation Manager, Microsoft; DJ Lewis, Director, AI Implementation, The Coca-Cola Company; Adebola Aguda, Product Operations & Strategy Manager, Euna Solutions, and Co-Founder, PlannerHub
10:45–11:00 a.m.	Break
11:00–11:45 a.m.	Your First AI Project: What to Build and What to Buy Skill Dapo Adeshiyan, Global AI Solutions Manager, Google Cloud; Sanjeev Dwivedi, Principal Architect, Forward Deployed Engineering, ServiceNow; Ron Scott, CTO, Enolytics	Which Roles Change First, and What Replaces Them Career Maryam Alavi, Professor and Holder Chair, Information Technology Management, Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business; Samantha Berlinsky, Manager, Human Capital, Deloitte; Maria Guzman, Vice President, HR Technology & Operations, Smurfit Westrock	The Future Has a Familiar Shape Skill Fireside — Wilson Harmond, CFA, Head of Product Commercialization, FIS, and Founder, Financial Rewinds
11:45 a.m.–12:00 p.m.	Break
12:00–12:45 p.m.	Building Your First Data Agent Skill Josh Reini, Senior Developer Advocate, AI & Open Source, Snowflake	Who Approves the AI Tool Your Team Just Started Using Industry Alex Bermudez, Go-to-Market / Sales Leader, Airia; Matt Harless, Chief Information Security Officer, Simpson Strong-Tie; Joseph Campbell, Vice President, Cybersecurity Strategy, Arctiq	How to Start a Conversation and How to Leave One Career Workshop — Brandy Nagel, Program Manager and Research Faculty, Innovation Ecosystems, Georgia Tech Enterprise Innovation Institute
12:45–1:45 p.m.	Lunch
1:45–2:30 p.m.	What to Teach When the Tools Change Every Semester Skill Art Recesso, Leader, AI Workforce and Education Initiatives, Skill Bridge Talent; Michael Rothlisberger, AI and Education Leader, Columbus State University; Savneet Singh, Learning Experience Architect, Trust & Safety, Google, and Guest Instructor, Emory University	Spotlight Fireside Bhanu Vallabhaneni, Chief Information & Security Officer, J.M. Huber	What Investors Are Funding in AI Right Now Industry Allyson Eman, CEO, Venture Atlanta; Nick Fragnito, Founding Partner, Shorewind Capital; Zackary Chapple, Founder & CEO, Zephyr Cloud
2:30–2:45 p.m.	Break
2:45–3:30 p.m.	Autonomy From Research Lab to Production Floor Industry Seth Libby, Manager, Manufacturing Analytics, Anduril Industries; Evangelos Theodorou, Associate Professor, Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology; Bhandan Kumar, AI Strategy & Cloud Operations Leader, Honeywell	The Power, Land and Water Behind Every AI Query Industry Kyle Johnson, Program Manager, Sustainability, QTS Data Centers; Nam K. Pham, EHS Process Safety Program Manager, Microsoft; Andy Nguyen, Vice President, Climate Risk Reporting, Regions Bank
3:30–3:45 p.m.	Break
3:45–4:15 p.m.	Hackathon Results
4:15–5:00 p.m.	Evening Keynote Dan Caron, Nasdaq
5:15–7:00 p.m.	Networking Reception

Speakers

This section shows each speaker's title and company, grouped by the lens of their session.

Dan Caron, Nasdaq (Evening Keynote)
Bhanu Vallabhaneni, Chief Information & Security Officer, J.M. Huber (Spotlight Fireside)
Claudio Zanardo, President and CEO, Pirelli North America (Tech Talks Business, Nov 5)

Alex Bermudez, Go-to-Market / Sales Leader, Airia
Matt Harless, Chief Information Security Officer, Simpson Strong-Tie
Joseph Campbell, Vice President, Cybersecurity Strategy, Arctiq
Allyson Eman, CEO, Venture Atlanta
Nick Fragnito, Founding Partner, Shorewind Capital
Zackary Chapple, Founder & CEO, Zephyr Cloud
Seth Libby, Manager, Manufacturing Analytics, Anduril Industries
Evangelos Theodorou, Associate Professor, Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology
Bhandan Kumar, AI Strategy & Cloud Operations Leader, Honeywell
Kyle Johnson, Program Manager, Sustainability, QTS Data Centers
Nam K. Pham, EHS Process Safety Program Manager, Microsoft
Andy Nguyen, Vice President, Climate Risk Reporting, Regions Bank

Dapo Adeshiyan, Global AI Solutions Manager, Google Cloud
Sanjeev Dwivedi, Principal Architect, Forward Deployed Engineering, ServiceNow
Ron Scott, CTO, Enolytics
Wilson Harmond, CFA, Head of Product Commercialization, FIS, and Founder, Financial Rewinds
Josh Reini, Senior Developer Advocate, AI & Open Source, Snowflake
Art Recesso, Leader, AI Workforce and Education Initiatives, Skill Bridge Talent
Michael Rothlisberger, AI and Education Leader, Columbus State University
Savneet Singh, Learning Experience Architect, Trust & Safety, Google, and Guest Instructor, Emory University

Tim Sissoko, Senior Manager, Strategy & Transformation, Capgemini Invent
Anjum Afshan, Chief of Staff, Strategy & Operations Leader, Skydance
Azim M., Technology Strategist, Microsoft
Chidi Udeze, Senior Software Engineer, AI & Software Products, Reddit
Shubh Singhi, Founder and Product Strategist, Distilled Strategy
Rahul Parwani, Director of Product Strategy, Airia
Analisa Tennant, AI Innovation Manager, Microsoft
DJ Lewis, Director, AI Implementation, The Coca-Cola Company
Adebola Aguda, Product Operations & Strategy Manager, Euna Solutions, and Co-Founder, PlannerHub
Maryam Alavi, Professor and Holder Chair, Information Technology Management, Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business
Samantha Berlinsky, Manager, Human Capital, Deloitte
Maria Guzman, Vice President, HR Technology & Operations, Smurfit Westrock
Brandy Nagel, Program Manager and Research Faculty, Innovation Ecosystems, Georgia Tech Enterprise Innovation Institute

Speaker companies

Our speakers come from: Airia, Anduril Industries, Arctiq, Capgemini Invent, The Coca-Cola Company, Deloitte, Distilled Strategy, Enolytics, Euna Solutions, Financial Rewinds, FIS, Google, Google Cloud, Honeywell, J.M. Huber, Microsoft, Nasdaq, OpenAI, Pirelli North America, PlannerHub, QTS Data Centers, Reddit, Regions Bank, ServiceNow, Shorewind Capital, Simpson Strong-Tie, Skill Bridge Talent, Skydance, Smurfit Westrock, Snowflake, Venture Atlanta, and Zephyr Cloud.

Community partners

TechForward 2026 is hosted by the Georgia Tech Technology Club at the Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business. Thank you to the community partners who help make the conference possible.

Sessions at a Glance

Impact Hackathon

Venue and Parking

Frequently Asked Questions

Past Conference Highlights

TechForward MBA Conference at Scheller Makes a Splash in its Inaugural Year

The first annual TechForward MBA Conference at Scheller was a student-led, two-day event connecting students, alumni, faculty, and business professionals to the Atlanta tech community. The event featured a welcome reception by Cisco, followed by a full day of conference keynotes, panels, and workshops.

Full-time MBA students at the inaugural TechForward MBA Conference

Watch Video Highlights

Video Highlights from the 2024 conference.

Watch Now

Conference Program

Review the program from the 2024 conference.

Read Program

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Adapting to Change: Innovating with AI. Panel discussions with Ankush Singla (FanDuel), Jamal Miller (Mailchimp), Anubhavi Gupta (Nike), Vish Ganapathy (Google)

Dean Anuj Mehrotra fireside chat with Sean Henry, founder and CEO of Stord. TechForward MBA Conference 2024.

Conference founders Brooke Patterson, Rose Espiritu, with Sean Henry, Founder/CEO of Stord, Donald Beamer, City of Atlanta Senior Technology Advisor.

Scheller College of Business MBA students. TechForward MBA Conference 2024.

Networking event at Cisco offices in Tech Square. TechForward MBA Conference 2024.