Featured Speakers

Mr. Aayush Bhatnagar is the Chief Technology Development Officer at Jio Platforms Limited, leading the design and deployment of India’s most advanced AI platforms, including JioBrain, 5G Standalone, and cloud-native telecom platforms at national and global scale.

He has played a pivotal role in building the world’s largest 5G SA cloud-native combo core, integrating 5G FWA, wireline, and UBR core, along with Jio’s end-to-end IMS, OSS, and BSS platforms powering VoLTE and VoNR services.

Currently, Aayush is driving next-generation innovation across 6G, Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN), and AI-native telecom architectures, shaping India’s future digital infrastructure through large-scale, software-defined, and intelligence-led networks.

Arpit Joshipura is an executive leader and open source software evangelist across carriers, cloud and enterprise IT – spanning networking, orchestrations, operating systems, security, AI, edge, hardware and silicon. He was recently voted among the Top 5 Movers and Shakers in the Telecom Industry. At the Linux Foundation, Arpit leads open source networking, orchestration & edge/IOT, including LF Networking projects (ONAP, OPNFV, ODL, FDIO, OvS, DPDK, OpenSwitch, Akraino/Edge/IOT, etc.) as well as major industry disruptions including VNFs to CNFs (Cloud Native Network functions), 5G, AI, etc.

Arpit brings 30 years of networking expertise and vision to The Linux Foundation, with both technical depth and business breadth. He has orchestrated and led major industry disruptions across enterprises, carriers, and cloud architectures, including IP, broadband, optical, mobile, routing, switching, L4-7, cloud, disaggregation, SDN/NFV, and open networking, and has been an early evangelist for open source. Arpit has served in CMO, VP, and Engineering roles within both startups and larger enterprises.

Dirk is the Founder of DH Consulting. Prior to that, Dirk was VMware’s Chief Open Source Officer, where he lead the company’s Open Source Program Office, directing the efforts and strategy around use of and contribution to open-source projects and driving common values and processes across the company for VMware’s interaction with the open-source communities. Before joining VMware, Dirk spent almost 15 years as Intel’s Chief Linux and Open Source Technologist. Before that, among other roles, he worked as Chief Technology Officer of SuSE and Unix Architect of Deutsche Bank.

Dirk has been an active developer and contributor in several dozen open source projects since the early 1990s, today most of his work is on the Subsurface dive log project and many of the related open source projects around that. Dirk holds a degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from the University of Würzburg, Germany. He lives in Portland, OR.

With 27+ years of experience shaping enterprise technology strategy, I serve as Technical Community Leader for IBM India & South Asia, where I lead cross-functional teams across technical pre-sales, client engineering, and customer success. My remit spans IBM’s core technology portfolio—Data & AI, Automation, Hybrid Cloud, and Infrastructure Platforms—driving best-in-class client experiences from first engagement through successful deployment and adoption.

I am deeply committed to building and nurturing high-performing teams in complex solution-selling environments. My leadership philosophy is rooted in a people-first approach: fostering safe, inclusive spaces where innovation flourishes and individuals thrive.

After an earlier rewarding chapter at IBM, I returned as a “boomerang” enriched by my tenure at Microsoft (2019–2022), where I led ISV and Modern Work businesses. These roles sharpened my ability to scale organizations, deepen ecosystem engagement, and broaden my strategic lens.

My contributions have been recognized by NASSCOM as an AI Influencer , CXOTV as one of India’s Top 20 Women CIOs, CTOs & Tech Leaders (2024–25) and MIT SMR India’s Women Who Lead/50 2026 as Top 50 women in India, whose work is transforming companies, markets and institutions.

Beyond my professional role, I actively champion inclusive tech cultures through Women@IBM, mentor future trailblazers with Aspire For Her, and am beginning to focus on elderly care as an area of personal and social impact.

Greg Kroah-Hartman is among a distinguished group of software developers who maintain Linux at the kernel level. In his role as a Linux Foundation Fellow, he continues his work as the maintainer for the Linux stable kernel branch and a variety of subsystems while working in a fully neutral environment. He also works closely with Linux Foundation members and projects, and on key initiatives to advance Linux.

Greg created and maintains the Linux Driver Project. He is also currently the maintainer for the Linux stable kernel branch and a variety of different subsystems that include USB, staging, driver core, tty, and sysfs, among others. Most recently, he was a Fellow at SUSE.

Greg is an adviser to Oregon State University’s Open Source Lab and a member of The Linux Foundation’s Technical Advisory Board. He has delivered a variety of keynote addresses at developer and industry events, and has authored two books covering Linux device drivers and Linux kernel development.

As VP, Asia Pacific and Middle East, for LF Decentralized Trust, Julian Gordon works with business leaders and technologists across the region to drive development and deployment of a growing ecosystem of open source blockchain, ledger, identity, cryptographic, and related technologies. Julian started his career working in technology at HSBC, Lloyds Bank, and Kleinwort Benson. He has also held leadership roles with leading technology companies including HP, Cisco and Sun Microsystems.

Linus was born on December 28, 1969, in Helsinki, Finland. He enrolled at the University of Helsinki in 1988, graduating with a master’s degree in computer science. His M.Sc. thesis was titled “Linux: A Portable Operating System” and was the genesis for what would become the most important collaborative software project in history. In August 1991, Linus announced that he was developing the Linux kernel, proclaiming, “it won’t be big and professional.” Never in the history of technology has someone been so wrong. In spite of his humble proclamation, Linux has become the world’s most pervasive operating system. Today the Linux kernel forms the basis of the Linux operating system and powers billions of Android devices, powers ChromeOS, and has permeated almost every industry and form factor. Smartphones, TVs, appliances, cars, nuclear submarines, air traffic control, stock exchanges, and scientific research all run Linux. Linux also provides the underpinnings of the internet and the cloud computing industry. In 2005, citing a lack of free and open-source version control tools that met his needs for performance and scale, Linus famously created Git in only 10 days. Today Git is widely used in software development and for other version-control tasks such as configuration management and has become popular as an integral part of the DevOps culture. In 2000, Linus was listed by Time Magazine as Number 17 in the Time 100: Most Important People of the Century. Again, in 2004, Time Magazine named him one of the Most Influential People in the world. He was honored in 2008 with the Millennium Technology Prize by the Technology Academy Finland, “in recognition of his creation of a new open-source operating system for computers leading to the widely used Linux kernel.” He is also the recipient of the 2014 IEEE Computer Society Computer Pioneer Award. A true tech titan, he was admitted to the Computer History Museum Hall of Fellows, joining the ranks of the tech elite including Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper, Tim Berners-Lee, Gordon Moore, Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Steve Wozniak, and others. Torvalds remains the ultimate authority on what new code is incorporated into the standard Linux kernel.

Radha is the Chief Operating Officer at NFH, where she champions technology as a scalable public good that expands access and empowers businesses & individuals. She brings deep engineering, venture investing , and operating experience. Earlier, she held engineering and product roles at Motorola R&D and Texas Instruments, later was a venture investor with Unitus Ventures (Capria), partnering with 30+ startups. She most recently helped build a profitable consumer brands startup in Indonesia.

Mr. Suresh Khadakbhavi is the Chief Executive Officer of Digi Yatra Foundation, a pioneering organization transforming the landscape of air travel in India. The foundation’s flagship initiative, the Digi Yatra Service, is built on a decentralized ecosystem that leverages Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) and single-token face biometric technology to offer passengers a seamless and hassle-free travel experience.

As CEO, Suresh leads the foundation’s operations, business development, and strategic direction, bringing visionary leadership to its mission of digital innovation in aviation. With over 20 years of professional experience, Suresh holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Electronics and Communication from Karnataka University. His career spans significant roles across the Telecom, IT, and Aviation sectors, giving him a well-rounded expertise in telecommunications, digital transformation, and strategic IT leadership.

Under his leadership, the Digi Yatra Foundation has emerged as the driving force behind India’s National Air Travel Programme, widely known as Digi Yatra. This groundbreaking program uses facial biometrics as a single token to streamline airport processes, significantly enhancing both passenger convenience and security. Suresh’s strategic foresight and technical acumen have helped position Digi Yatra as a trailblazer in the aviation sector, setting new standards for efficiency and passenger satisfaction.

A passionate advocate for digital transformation, Suresh envisions a dynamic future for India’s aviation and technology sectors. He is committed to scaling Digi Yatra’s impact—both nationally and globally—through innovation and collaboration.

Outside of his professional endeavors, Suresh enjoys playing cricket and lawn tennis, and is an avid reader on topics of innovation and digital transformation. His personal interests reflect his commitment to continuous learning, which he seamlessly integrates into his leadership style to foster sustainable growth.

Toddy Mladenov has over 25 years of experience in software engineering and design, consulting, and product management for companies like Microsoft, T-Mobile, and SAP. He started his cloud journey 14 years ago as part of the Azure team. Since then, Toddy worked on large-scale cloud implementations using Azure and AWS by utilizing cloud-native technologies. Now, he is part of the Azure Cloud Native and Ecosystem team and is responsible for container supply chain security for Azure services and customers.