AI in Production Mini Conference, July 2025
This is the second installation of the AI in Production Mini Conference.
While AI is hyped up everywhere around us, it's not easy to know what's actually going on in production. The goal of this mini-conference is to understand what's happening in real life scenarios.
We're also super excited to have a judged demo day for the first time ever. We are featuring nearly 20 judges from various industry backgrounds, each with in-depth technical knowledge and expertise in their fields.
Agenda (tentative)
1:30 - 2:00: Arrival
2:00 - 2:40: Panel 1
2:45 - 3:25: Panel 2
3:30 - 4:30: Exhibitor Showcase
CopilotKit
4:35 - 5:00: Keynote
5:00 - 7:00: Demo day featuring judges from various tech leadership positions (with prize)! Apply to Demo Here
ArcBlock
Ockam, Mrinal Wadhwa
ContextQA, Deep Barot
SampleApp AI, Jun Liang Lee
Tramlines, Abilash Raghuram
7:20 - 7:30: Awards
7:30 - 8:00: Networking
Code of Conduct: You must follow the AWS Community Codes of Conduct and agree to the AWS Event Terms and Conditions.
Judges
Rakesh Pullayikodi is a Staff Software Engineer with 15+ years of experience in architecting scalable, secure data platforms and real-time streaming systems across healthcare, e-commerce, and cybersecurity domains. His work includes building high-performance streaming data platform to standardize EHR data and incorporating machine learning models for clinical decision support. Rakesh is passionate about mentoring emerging talent and evaluating cutting-edge solutions that drive real-world impact.
Sarnab Poddar, Engineering Manager , Meta [ Leading Audience Platform for Meta AI and Ads], Founding Engineering Leader, Director , Twin Health [ helped build the Precision AI in Health Tech , part of Series A to Series D], Master in Computer Science [Applied Intelligence, Machine Learning] , Georgia Tech.
Kelvin Ngoc Nguyen is a Staff Software Engineer at Knoetic, where he leads production-grade AI initiatives, including a multi-agent, RAG-powered answer engine that achieves millisecond latencies. Previously, he built and operated large-scale data and ML platforms at Apple, Zuellig Pharma, Lynx Analytics, and abillion, gaining deep end-to-end experience spanning from petabyte-scale Spark pipelines to Kubernetes-based MLOps. Drawing on this background, he will judge demo teams on technical rigor, scalability, and real-world impact.
Goutham Bandapati is a Senior Cloud Solutions Architect at Microsoft, specializing in Azure Cloud and AI. He has deep expertise in AI governance, cloud resiliency, and security frameworks, helping enterprises build robust and scalable architectures. His work focuses on integrating AI workloads with secure cloud environments while driving innovation in cloud infrastructure readiness.
Yulai Bi s a Senior Software Engineer at Meta, where she was an initial member of the Business AI organization, helping build Meta’s AI Agent for merchants from the ground up. She has over five years of experience developing and scaling AI systems in production. Her work focuses on applied AI, infrastructure, and real-world product delivery.
Ashay Satav is a seasoned product leader with around 18 years of experience in the Fintech, SaaS and e-commerce spaces. He has a consistent track record of delivering innovative and groundbreaking products in AI, APIs and platform space for several companies, including eBay, Intuit, and Blackhawk Network, creating immense customer value. As a Director of Product Management at eBay, he leads the charter to use the power of generative AI and supercharge listing tools for small businesses to list inventory with minimal hassle and modernizing APIs and platform for scale and efficiency.
Vasanthi Jangala has over a decade of experience in software engineering, she specializes in building scalable systems that span full-stack development, real-time 3D rendering, and machine learning. Her work includes engineering immersive AR/VR experiences, developing AI-powered features, and deploying cloud-native architectures across AWS and Azure.
Maya Kalyan is a biomedical engineer and AI-driven product leader with over a decade of experience in molecular diagnostics, algorithm verification, and regulated software development. At Thermo Fisher Scientific, she leads the verification and clinical analytics of machine learning algorithms powering qPCR assays used in infectious disease diagnostics. With expertise spanning FDA/IVDR submissions, data science, and agile project leadership, Maya brings a deep understanding of translating complex AI systems into high-impact healthcare solutions.
Bhavin Modi is a Member of Technical Staff at OpenAI, where he works on financial engineering systems that support the company’s AI-driven products and infrastructure. Previously, he held key engineering roles at Meta, PhonePe, and TaxBit, leading initiatives across fintech, XR, and developer platforms. His expertise spans distributed systems, real-time data pipelines, mobile and backend development, and end-to-end product engineering. Bhavin has built scalable platforms handling billions of transactions, developed infrastructure for AR/VR operating systems, and led teams through 0-to-1 product launches.
Vaishnavi Gudur is a Senior Software Engineer at Microsoft, where she
specializes in full-stack development and AI-driven systems
optimization. With a strong foundation in both engineering and
research, Vaishnavi is passionate about transforming traditional
software practices through the integration of emerging technologies
like artificial intelligence, explainable models, and predictive
analytics.
Sidharth Thapar is an AI Manager at Staples, where he leads enterprise-scale AI initiatives focused on semantic search, product retrieval, and pricing optimization—driving over $150M in business impact. Previously at FINRA and Stanley Black & Decker, he has built production-grade ML systems across finance, retail, ecommerce, and manufacturing. A U.S. National Interest Waiver recipient and multiple company innovation award winner, Sidharth brings deep expertise in applied AI, with a sharp focus on technical rigor, scalability, and business impact.
other judges (bios coming soon): Vashishtha Patil Banani Mohapatra Amit Ghorawat Andronica Klaas Nik Kale Vasanthi Jangala