Data Con LA

Joe Devon is a serial entrepreneur with a strong focus on community and the bleeding edge of technology. Joe is CoFounder of Diamond, a leading Digital Agency that works with companies such as Fox, Disney & the NFL. He also CoFounded Global Accessibility Awareness Day aka #GAAD. It is now a viral event that the major tech companies publicly celebrate each May, with a Twitter reach of 165 Million unique users. Joe has founding roles in LA Media Lab, a new initiative in the mold of MIT and NY's Media Labs and Television Four, a Broadband TV Production Company backed by Warner Bros & Sky TV. He is an advisor at USC's IT Program, Cross Campus, Dock, Cloud CMS, Empowertech & LAX Coastal Chamber of Commerce. He has served as Program Advisor for leading industry conferences such as DataConLA, Semtech Biz & Zendcon.

Anthony Rose is a lead data scientist and software engineer at SpaceX, where he is building data and engineering teams focused on developing both business and flight software. Prior to joining SpaceX, he spent several years at Uber doing data science and machine learning, including building out a team to solve problems in some of the more complex environments for the product, such as airports and major events. Before entering industry his PhD and post-doctoral research was performed at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, where he focused on searches for new physics (specifically evidence of supersymmetric particles) and the Higgs boson discovery.

Keila is an inspirational inner city Los Angeles teenager that is an international speaker, programmer and entrepreneur. Probably best know for her viral Youtube video of her “Undefinable Me” Keynote speech at OSCON 2015 Portland wowing a crowd of 4000 she is more than just a one trick pony. At age 12 winning the Young Entrepreneur of the year award usually awarded to high school seniors she's shown her affinity to audiences of both tech and business. Check her inspirational videos here and here

As the leader of Headspace’s technology team, Paddy Hannon is responsible for overseeing the company’s Software Engineering, Product, Data Engineering, DevOps, Data Analytics and Data Science teams.  Under his leadership, his team helps Headspace expand beyond guided meditation to become a full service, personalized health and wellness company, all supported by a highly scalable web services platform and an increasingly complex technology organization.  Hannon is also responsible for rapidly scaling the engineering team as he continues building Headspace as a best-in-class technology organization.

Ani Okkasian is a communications professional who seeks to close the gap between consumer data and consumer behavior by leveraging an academic background in interdisciplinary research to gain strategic insights that inform brand building, communication planning and creative solutions. Currently, Ani leads the Los Angeles based innovation unit within OMD, the 2019 Global Media Agency of the Year (Adweek), where she focuses on research & development and experimental activations. Ani is also adjunct professor of Interdisciplinary Research Methods and Future Studies at Woodbury University.

Elizabeth Owen holds a PhD in Digital Media (School of Education, UW-Madison) focused in game-based learning analytics. Currently Director of Learning and Data Science at Age of Learning, she’s committed to leveraging machine learning to optimize adaptive, engaging learning systems. Previously a data scientist with GlassLab Games, LRNG, and Metacog, Elizabeth’s doctoral roots lie with Games+Learning+Society research and game development lab. Collaborators include EA, Zynga, and Popcap games, and Dr. Ryan Baker at UPenn in ongoing Educational Data Mining. Prior to graduate school, Dr. Owen was a K-12 educator for a decade, and founding teacher at an L.A. charter school (LAAAE.org).

Ron Galperin is the 19th Controller of the City of Los Angeles, elected in 2013 and again in 2017. He serves as the watchdog for taxpayers at City Hall, making sure public dollars are spent efficiently and effectively. He is also the paymaster, auditor and chief accounting officer for the City of Los Angeles. Galperin oversees a team that conducts independent audits, manages the City’s payroll and spending, reports on the City’s finances, pursues fraud and waste, and works to create a more transparent, accountable and modern city for residents. Read more about him here.