Keynotes sure to inspire

Erica has been working for Rabobank for 20 years now. She has a strong profile in people leadership with excellent execution skills, as she is always open to innovative solutions and ways of working.

At the moment, Erica is responsible for the business unit Financial Economic Crime (FEC) Tech, in which models, data, and software reside related to FEC detection and workflow management.

The main focus points in the FEC strategy are: future-proof and innovative FEC solutions, and transformation toward a mature and scaled agile environment for tech development. Erica has led the FEC Tech department to grow rapidly in the last two years, providing an open and inclusive environment, high-performing data science, and engineering teams with strong delivery predictability. A great example of innovative solutions is that FEC Tech is building and rolling out gen AI solutions together with Pega.

Before being Global Head of FEC Tech, Erica was responsible for the IT domain payment solutions, changing and running all payment features and payment processing. The IT domain payment solutions were processing more than 6 billion transactions yearly. She led the transformation to a scaled agile organization, in which the IT4IT was radically automated and facilitated an innovative engineering culture, while staying always-on and in control.

Born in Brazil, Francis holds a degree as a Mechanical Engineer and an MBA. Francis joined Unilever as a management trainee in 2000 and built his career in technology, holding different leadership positions in Brazil, Latin America, and most recently in the UK.

Francis led global technology implementations at Unilever, using diverse platforms like ERPs, logistics systems, CRM, ecommerce marketplaces, and AI. As Global Head of Customer Operations Technology, Francis is responsible for the largest end to end digital transformation program at Unilever and one of the largest in the industry. Focused on improving customer experience, covering all aspects of the journey, from shelf to supplier, this program is transforming supply chain at Unilever, enabling better execution and decisions-making. Francis' most recent projects are focused on AI to foster customer collaboration and productivity in Unilever customer operations.

He has lived in five different countries, is married to Barbara, is father of Raul and Bruna, and is a passionate Formula 1 fan, literature and traveling.

Vivek serves as Senior Vice President (SVP) and Chief Information Officer (CIO) for Verizon Global Services (VGS), overseeing the consumer and business organization. His team focuses on delivering cutting-edge digital solutions to customers and frontline employees, leveraging technology to drive innovation, growth, and exceptional customer experiences. Vivek provides strategic direction and thought leadership to the senior team, while also remaining actively engaged in daily operations. He firmly believes that staying at the forefront of technology is crucial, enabling his team to provide customers with the latest advancements while achieving business objectives.

Vivek has spearheaded numerous transformative programs and solutions across various departments, including wireline, wireless, and corporate finance. His team has consistently delivered groundbreaking initiatives, particularly by integrating AI capabilities to revolutionize employee workflows and enhance customer experiences.

While business growth remains his primary focus, Vivek prioritizes cultivating a strong and empowered team. He is a dedicated mentor, recognizing that a company’s success stems from its capable and motivated workforce. His leadership fosters an environment where team members are encouraged to make decisions, contribute innovative ideas, and advance their careers. This culture of growth and development has not only benefited individuals but has also resulted in a more engaged and productive workforce, directly contributing to the company’s overall success.

In recent years, Vivek has prioritized transforming his organization’s culture and operational approaches. He has spearheaded the transition to a high-performing engineering team that embraces agile processes and new software delivery technologies. He firmly believes in continuous self-disruption within the technology field to ensure his team remains at the forefront of innovation and supports business growth.

Alan Trefler is the Founder and CEO of Pegasystems Inc., (NASDAQ: PEGA), pioneering the future of enterprise AI transformation. A visionary leader who combines strategic innovation with practical execution, Alan has guided Pega from its founding to its position as a global leader in AI-powered enterprise solutions.

His unique journey from chess master to tech pioneer began with tying for first place in the 1975 World Open Chess Championship. His strategic mindset, combined with software engineering expertise from Dartmouth College, led to his developing early AI systems that taught computers to play chess and laid the foundation for Pega's innovative approach to enterprise technology.

Under Alan's leadership, Pega has emerged as a vanguard in the enterprise AI revolution. The company's breakthrough innovations in generative AI, intelligent automation, and AI-powered decisioning are enabling the world's leading organizations to achieve unprecedented business outcomes – from real-time personalization at global scale to autonomous operations that continuously optimize themselves.

Alan's contributions to technology and business have earned him numerous accolades, and his best-selling book, "Build for Change," reflects his vision for business transformation in the digital age.

Together with his wife Pam, Alan extends his transformative vision through the Trefler Foundation, which creates lasting positive change through initiatives in education, workforce development, and community health, particularly in underserved communities.

Kerim is responsible for delivering Pega’s full suite of products built on Pega Infinity™. He leads the company’s 1,000+ team of engineers, product managers, designers, and architects, building best-in-class solutions across 1:1 customer engagement, customer service, and intelligent automation.

Kerim is focused on leveraging the latest technologies and development approaches, such as low code, AI, robotics, and cloud to support business users. He is an advocate for building software that makes the underlying technology transparent and serves the needs of the business. This focus on business impact has contributed significantly to the company being recognized as a leader in the major product and technology categories important to clients, including low code, customer relationship management (CRM), case management, intelligent automation, real-time analytics, and business process management (BPM).

Kerim began his career at Pega developing applications for customers in financial services and insurance, and he put his customer-centric perspective to work in establishing the company’s product management function. Early in the company’s history, Kerim recognized the power of connecting back-end operations to front-end, customer-facing applications. He continues to focus the product team on developing applications that allow business visionaries to innovate how their organizations interact with customers and help employees get work done more effectively.

Kerim holds a BS in Mathematics and Computer Science from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

Don Schuerman is CTO at Pegasystems. He's a techie, a lucky husband, a proud and exhausted father, an avid bike commuter, and a recovering improv comic. He has 20 years' experience delivering enterprise software solutions for Fortune 500 organizations, with a focus on digital transformation, mobility, analytics, business process management, cloud, and CRM. Don has led enterprise software implementations and provided technology and architecture consulting to senior business and technology executives from Fortune 500 organizations, including American Express, Citibank, JP Morgan Chase, and the U.S. government. Don holds a BS in Physics and Philosophy from Boston College.

Dr. Rob F. Walker is the GM for 1:1 Customer Engagement at Pegasystems. Rob is responsible for driving Pega’s 1:1 Customer Engagement offering across sales, delivery, marketing, and product development, as well as implementing its strategic direction. Rob’s vision for next best action and 1:1 customer engagement has gained broad market acceptance and adoption among some of the world’s leading brands. He is frequently called upon to speak with global audiences, the media, and Fortune 1000 executives about using data to optimize the customer experience and customer value through real-time personalization. As one of the world’s foremost experts in the area of enterprise decisioning, Rob is also at the forefront of advocating for responsible AI in business. Prior to the acquisition of Chordiant by Pegasystems in April 2010, Rob was responsible for managing the strategic direction and development of Chordiant’s industry-leading predictive decisioning technologies. As a member of the office of the CTO, Rob also provided support to Chordiant’s global sales activities and partnership initiatives. He joined Chordiant when the company he co-founded in 2000, KiQ Ltd., was acquired by Chordiant in December of 2004. KiQ was a specialist provider of decision management and predictive analytics software. Prior to KiQ, Rob spent eight years in positions of increasing responsibility with leading global information technology consulting firm Capgemini. From 1999–2000, he served as Program Director for Capgemini during which time he was responsible for the creation, development, and evangelization of technological innovations in the areas of business intelligence and predictive analytics. Rob holds a PhD in AI from the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, Netherlands.