Speakers
Jessica Talisman
Founder, Ontology Pipeline
Jessica Talisman is an information architect, semantic strategist, and lifelong student of systems, meaning, and human understanding. For over 25 years, she’s worked at the intersection of knowledge frameworks and digital infrastructures—helping both large organizations and cultural institutions build information systems that support clarity, interoperability, and long-term value.
Jessica has designed semantic information and knowledge architectures across a wide range of industries and institutions, from enterprise tech to public service to the arts. She has held roles at Overstock.com, Pluralsight, GDIT, Amazon, System1, Battelle, the Oregon Health Authority, and the US Department of Justice, and most recently, Adobe.
Throughout the years, Jessica has worked with GLAM organizations (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums), including the Smithsonian Institution, The Shoah Foundation for Visual History, Twinka Thiebaud and the Art of the Pose, Nritya Mandala Mahavihara, the Shogren Museum, Shock the System, and the Oregon College of Art and Craft.
Jessica has her undergraduate degree in History, a Master's in Teaching (MAT), and a Master’s in Information and Library Science (MLS). She lives in Santa Cruz, California.
shane Gibson
Co-Founder, AgileData.io
Shane Gibson is the creator of the Information Product Canvas and the author of the Agile Data Guide series, beginning with An Agile Data Guide To Information Product Canvas.
With over 35 years of experience in data strategy, architecture, and consulting, and more than a decade of coaching data teams, Shane is a recognised Agile Data Coach who helps data teams and organisations change how they work.
Known for his practical, no-nonsense approach, Shane focuses on simplifying complex data challenges and bridging the gap between technical data teams and stakeholders. He empowers data professionals by providing actionable patterns and pattern templates, enabling them to deliver value faster, reduce waste, and have more fun.
Shane’s extensive background includes roles as an Agile Data Coach, Consultant, Enterprise Architect, Data Architect, Product Manager, and founder of multiple data companies. He is also the host of the AgileData Podcast and has authored courses focused on practical data practices, including the popular “Gather data requirements in 30 minutes using a shared language”. His work, drawing inspiration from the Agile Data Way of Working, provides a proven toolkit for navigating the complexities of modern data delivery.
Shane is passionate about helping others succeed in data and analytics and sharing patterns that allow teams to become “data and business translators” and build trust with stakeholders, ensuring data work actually gets used.
Mark Freeman
Head of DevRel, Gable
Mark Freeman is a data scientist-turned-data engineer with a deep obsession with data quality. He is the co-author of the O’Reilly book, Data Contracts: Developing Production-Grade Pipelines at Scale, in which he shares insights and best practices on ensuring reliable, high-quality data flows within organizations.
Mark has worked within numerous startups where he has put machine learning models into production, integrated data analytics into products, and led migrations to improve data infrastructure. His current focus is on applying the principles of data contracts to autonomous coding agents to ensure generative AI is trustworthy, reliable, and auditable.
Winfried Etzel
Senior Specialist Data Management, Equinor
Winfried Adalbert Etzel is a key figure in the Nordic data community, known for his strong contributions to professional forums and his commitment to promoting data governance, data strategy, and organizational design for data teams.
Winfried has dedicated his career to emphasizing the importance of information and data management, as well as to a strategic, holistic approach to treating information and data as a valuable asset for organizations.
Through his work with the #MetaDAMA podcast and his voluntary engagement in the Nordic data community, he has been a driving force for innovation and has helped build a strong data community while promoting professional development across the Nordic region.
Winfried is currently working on his book, under the working title Data Governance in the Wild, in which he explores how Data Governance needs to change to adapt to distributed landscapes and AI.
Amy Raygada
Principal Data & AI Strategist - Data Governance Lead, Thoughtworks
With over 20 years of experience, she specializes in data strategy, governance, and data product design, working at the intersection of business and technology. Her focus is on helping companies move away from one-off data projects and toward scalable, product-driven approaches that actually deliver value.
Amy has worked with organizations across industries to modernize their data ecosystems, improve data quality, and make AI initiatives work in practice, not just in theory. She’s known for her practical, no-nonsense approach and her ability to translate complex data challenges into clear, actionable strategies.
She’s also an international speaker and an active voice in the data community, passionate about cutting through the noise around AI and focusing on what really matters: strong data foundations, clear ownership, and execution that delivers.
Amy’s book Data Products Volume 1: From Projects to Products: Ownership, Governance, and Business Value was published earlier in 2026.
OLE OLESEN-BAGNEUX
VP, Chief Evangelist, Actian
Ole rethinks data, AI, and tech by providing perspectives from Library and Information Science. He serves as the Chief Evangelist for Actian and is a praised O'Reilly author.
He is currently writing the 2nd ed. of The Enterprise Data Catalog (O'Reilly, 1st ed. 2023). The book established him as a globally recognized thought leader on data catalogs and enterprise data management. The reason for the second edition is pretty simple: AI has changed data catalogs, and we are facing a positive revolution of data governance.
In his book Fundamentals of Metadata Management (O'Reilly, 2025), he proposed a completely new architecture for metadata, which he calls the Meta Grid.
Ole consults and advises numerous companies, mostly large, European companies with significant technical complexity. Ole holds a BA, an MA, and a PhD in Library and Information Science from the University of Copenhagen.
Oskari Heikkinen
Data Analytics Architect, Datablinc
Oskari Heikkinen is a Data Analytics Architect, founder of Datablinc, and a Microsoft Data Platform MVP with over a decade of experience building data solutions on Microsoft's cloud data stack at scale. He has designed and delivered data platforms and analytics architectures for some of the largest organizations in the Nordics, helping them turn complex data landscapes into practical, high-impact solutions.
Building upon this foundation, Oskari is known for his hands-on, pragmatic approach, combining deep technical expertise with a strong focus on real-world outcomes. His work spans modern data platforms, Microsoft Fabric, and end-to-end analytics solutions, with a particular passion for helping teams build robust, scalable foundations that actually deliver business value.
Beyond his consulting work, Oskari is a Microsoft Certified Trainer and an active community speaker who regularly shares his knowledge through events, workshops, and training sessions. He holds the relevant certifications, including Azure Solutions Architect, Fabric Analytics Engineer, and Fabric Data Engineer, and is widely recognized for his ability to make complex data concepts clear, approachable, and actionable.
Vesa Tikkanen
Data Platform Architect, Qumio
Vesa Tikkanen is a Microsoft Certified Master and Microsoft Data Platform MVP who helps organizations get measurable value from their Microsoft data investments. He has been developing on top of the Microsoft stack since the SQL Server 2000 days, giving him a career history long enough to remember when today’s “modern data platform” patterns were still being assembled one server, cube, and stored procedure at a time.
Vesa has worked with Qumio since 2012. Before that, he founded and ran a company focused on marketing automation and measurement, combining business outcomes with data-driven systems long before “data-driven” became a mandatory slide title. Across roles, his focus has remained the same: build practical Microsoft-based solutions that make data platforms easier to build, operate, and trust.
An agile-oriented architect at heart, Vesa works exclusively within the Microsoft ecosystem and has a long-standing passion for BI development, with a focus on tabular models, performance, and sharing what he learns with the community. Lately, his AI work has focused on the backend: vector search optimization, embedding acceleration, LLM performance tuning, and tool development.
And yes, Vesa knows what Copilot is—he just refuses to guarantee which letters should be uppercase, whether there is a space in the product name, or what the “how to write Copilot this week” guidance says by the time this bio is published.