Data Con LA 2026
August 22, 2026
California State University, Long Beach
AI is reshaping the work. Not theoretically, not eventually — right now. Data engineers are rethinking pipelines. Analysts are questioning what's still worth doing by hand. Data scientists are watching tools do in seconds what used to take weeks. And everyone's trying to figure out where they fit.
Data Con LA 2026 is built around that question — the real, practical, sometimes uncomfortable conversation about what the data profession looks like from here. We're back at CSU Long Beach for our 14th year. Same community, same commitment to substance over hype.
The 2026 lineup is live. Browse the sessions, talks and panels spanning four tracks (AI/ML and data science, data engineering, business analytics, and data careers), and meet the speakers joining us from across the community.
Keynotes
Tracks
Panel Discussions
Speakers
Lucy Abboud
Data Aficionado, Founder and Principal at DataFi Consulting Services
Samah Afifi
CTO at Pitchtape
Jeff Allen
CEO at Flikforge Inc.
Arti Annaswamy
Director, Commercial Analytics & Business Insights at Warner Bros. Discovery Global Consumer Products
Riya Bhatia
Student at California State University, Long Beach
Jake Boggan
Founder at Forgetmenaut
Dusan Bosnjakovic
AI Science - Group Leader at Intuit (presenting independent work)
Randall Chalawsky
Management Consultant at Great Land Media Group
Guang Cheng
Professor at UCLA
Meena Chokkalingam
Principal Software Engineer at Zillow
William Collins-Broza
AI + XR Architect at Companion Intelligence
Joshua Cook
Data Scientist, Lecturer at Independent Consultant, Caltech CTME
Joseph Cox
Sr. Director Data Science and Engineering at Hadrian
Chris Sean Dabatos
Staff Developer Relations Engineer at Fly.io
Suman Debnath
Director, Developer Experience and Product at Crusoe
Pooja Doctor
Analytics Lead at Stellar Development Foundation
Christian Entezari
Founder and Managing Principal at Entezari Management Consulting
Neal Fultz
Data Science Consultant at NJNM, UCLA, Tatari
Jaime Gutierrez
Executive Director at Long Beach Workforce Innovation Network
Saritha Ivaturi
Founder & President at Code For Good
Michael Jenkins
Lead Software Engineer at The Walt Disney Company
Johnathan Joseph
Founder & CEO at Outfitted AI
Christina Karaba
Founder at yourcore corp
Xavier Kochhar
CEO, XKE Capital and Advisory Founder, The Video Genome Project (hulu)
Andrew Kou
Chief Technology Officer at OWL AI
Devyn Miller
Big Data ML Engineer, TP-Link Systems Adjunct Professor, Chapman University
Justin Miller
Senior Software Engineer at LanceDB
Mike Mull
Owner/Engineer at Ekadanta Labs
Michael Neang
Business Analyst at Wintrust Specialty Finance
Brendan Ng
Senior Business Development Manager at Yoh
Katya Ogai
Head of Analytics and BI at builder.io
Reza Rassool
Chair and CEO at Kwaai
Odessa Reyno
Chapter Director at Women In Big Data
Melody Rose
Cofounder at Legal Ark AI
Mahima Sachan
Former Software Engineer at Microsoft
Jyotika Singh
Principal Applied Scientist at Oracle
Heather Sit
Executive Director at AI LA
Therese Suarez
Senior Director, Analytics at Fox Corporation
Rae Wang
Associate Director, Optum Health Analytics at Optum
Also This Year
Lightning Talks. A fast-paced block of short talks, a lot of ideas in a little time.
Resume Review Table. New for 2026: hiring managers and recruiters giving quick, honest takes on resumes. Job hunting? Bring a copy.
Match & Mingle. Opt in at registration to be paired with another attendee — or a small group — based on shared interests and background. A nudge toward connections that outlast the day.
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