KNIME Spring

Summit 2025

Hokuto Fujii is Yamaha Motor's AI hero and works as a data scientist himself and as a project leader. Hee built a training program with the aim of helping employees use data as a matter of course, and is promoting the use of AI in actual work that Yamaha is promoting.

Marcel Meyer is leading the Data Governance and Management function for CRM Excellence at Siemens Healthineers. With over 20 years of professional experience in various functions such as Supply Chain, Finance, CRM, and Project Management on various levels across a multinational company, he and his team innovate the way data is made available, usable, and accessible in a business-friendly way for sales teams and sales leaders within Siemens Healthineers. Marcel is living and working in the greater area of New York, USA.

Michael Berthold is co-founder and CEO of KNIME, the open analytics platform used by thousands of data experts around the world. Michael has co-authored two successful data analysis text books and is a frequent speaker at both academic and industrial conferences. If time permits he still builds workflows.

Michael Richter, a seasoned professional in Business Intelligence, passionately leverages data-
driven insights to excel in driving business excellence. With 20+ years of experience in the automotive and financial sectors, Michael consistently transforms raw data into actionable strategies, completing the last mile. As an industry leader, he has led successful initiatives, including implementing advanced BI solutions with KNIME and its community.

Kate is a seasoned data-scientist who has been working with Fortune 500s and high-growth startups for over 15 years. She has extensive experience building automated analytics solutions specifically designed to surface marketing inefficiencies, identify key customer segments, and lead experimentation. Her marketing attribution models have been used to optimize billions of marketing dollars globally.

Kate is a KNIME fanatic and uses it for everything – including to power the analytics SaaS she founded and led to MVP, where it had more than 250 users and raised more than $1M in investment.

Shanaka, a tenured Associate Professor at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Pharmacy, excels in metabolomics, lipidomics, and digital health. His Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from VCU underpins his expertise. Dr. Wijesinghe pioneers AI and XR integration in healthcare and education. He's lauded for innovative teaching, notably with "Pharmacists for Digital Health," fostering self-learning and digital healthcare solutions. Instrumental in founding the Digital Health Innovation Lab, he empowers students to create digital health applications. His AI and XR initiatives reshape healthcare and education, bridging technology and practice, and influencing healthcare delivery and education significantly.

As an experienced leader at Siemens Healthineers, Fabiola excels in navigating the complex world of financial process automation. She plays a pivotal role in the Customer Finance department, enhancing operational efficiency through strategic process automation. Her unique understanding of automation tools and financial processes drives productivity within the organization, a success she attributes to her dedicated team. Off-duty, Fabiola enjoys Maryland's vibrant lifestyle, cooking, baking, and spending quality time with her son, Carlo.

ِDr. Behrooz Davazdahemami is an Assistant Professor of Information Technology and Supply Chain Management (IT&SCM) at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. He received his M.S. in Industrial Engineering from University of Tehran and his Ph.D. in Management Science and Information Systems from Oklahoma State University. His research interests include health analytics, business analytics, explainable AI, IT privacy, and technology addiction. He is a member of the Association for Information Systems, The Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS), and the Decision Sciences Institute. He has published in reputable journals such as Decision Support Systems, Journal of Business Research, Information & Management, and Annals of Operations Research, as well as IS conference proceedings such as the Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS) and the International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS).

Dr. Dursun Delen is the holder of Spears Endowed Chair in Business Administration, Patterson Endowed Chair in Business
Analytics, Director of Research for the Center for Health Systems Innovation, and Regents Professor of Management
Science and Information Systems in the Spears School of Business at Oklahoma State University. Prior to his academic
tenure at OSU, he worked for a privately-owned research and consultancy company as a research scientist for five years,
during which he led numerous advanced analytics research projects funded by federal agencies that included Department
of Defense, NASA, NSF, and NIST. Dr. Delen has authored more than 200 peer reviewed articles and 12 books in the broad area of Business Intelligence, Business Analytics, and Data Science.

He is often invited to companies for consultancy engagements and national and international conferences for keynote
addresses. He regularly chairs tracks and minitracks at various business analytics and information systems conferences.
Currently, he serves as Editor-in-Chief, Area Editor, and Associate Editor in more than 10 academic journals. He has
been the recipient of several research and teaching awards including the prestigious eminent faculty of OSU, Fulbright
scholar, regents’ distinguished teacher and researcher, president’s outstanding researcher, and Big Data mentor.

ِChenny Solaiyappan is the Senior Director of Product Management for Cognizant Trizetto’s Government and Quality Solutions, serving as a founding member of the ClaimSphere suite of products. This suite encompasses U.S healthcare quality measurement solutions, including HEDIS®, Stars, and 300+ quality of care metrics, impacting 1 in 10 lives in the country.

As an accomplished Intrapreneur and Lean Startup Practitioner with a Master's in Business Administration in healthcare, Chenny plays a crucial role in shaping the overall product strategy. Additionally, he serves as the HL7 DaVinci Business Co-chair, advocating for health data interoperability.

Chenny's track record includes providing consulting services to over 30 health plans, supporting 30 million member lives nationwide. He has consistently elevated Quality and Star ratings in Medicaid, Medicare, Federal Employees Health Benefits Programs (FEHB), and Commercial health plan sectors.

Recognized for his outstanding leadership and innovative contributions, Chenny has received prestigious awards, including the 2023 Top 20 Global Product Manager Award by Products That Count and the 2021 and 2019 Product of the Year awards by Cognizant Trizetto.

Lee Fader has 18 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry and now holds the role of Vice president of Chemistry at Congruence Therapeutics. Here, he leads small molecule drug discovery efforts from the Intersection of medicinal chemistry, computational chemistry, and artificial intelligence to discover new medicines for patients suffering from rare diseases.

Jerome is an experienced data scientist with over 10 years of expertise working on data science projects in various industries, including energy, medicine, tourism & agriculture. Holding a Master's degree in Business Administration and a Ph.D. in Computer Science specializing in machine learning and image analysis, he offers a unique combination of technical prowess and business insight. Jerome shared his expertise as a lecturer at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Western Switzerland, and is currently employed at Forest Grove in Australia. Proficient in the KNIME platform since 2011, Jerome has spearheaded numerous projects, ranging from ETL to advanced analytics. He is a highly sought-after in the data science world, driving transformative solutions across industries.

Dakshitha Narendra Kiranakankanamage is an Asset Analytics Engineer at ElectraNet, the electricity transmission network service provider of the state of South Australia. Dakshitha holds a Bachelor of Computer Systems Engineering (Hons) from the University of Adelaide.  As member of ElectraNet’s Asset Information team, he works on reporting, workflow automation and data governance whilst engaging with various Principals from multiple disciplines. His interests include business analytics, process improvement, change management and empowering people and community through technology - an ally of continuous improvement and lifelong learning.

He has been driving results at Kuveyt Turk Participation Bank’s Treasury Group since 2011, bringing a deep passion for generating value for all stakeholders. His expertise spans a broad spectrum, from mastering Treasury Marketing Management and navigating the complexities of Big Data & Business Analytics to unlocking potential with Data Science. He is renowned for elevating strategies through Advanced Marketing Analytics, leading the digital and real-time marketing initiatives, and specializing in Capital Markets, FX, and Precious Metals.Outside his professional realm, he serves on the Harvard Business Review Advisory Council,where he enjoys sharing forward-thinking insights on leadership and management's evolving landscape. Beyond his contributions to the leadership and management fields, his personal life is equally vibrant. He expresses his creativity and maintains his productivity through various artistic and physical activities. Whether it's playing the reed flute and piano, craXing poetry, riding a waveboard, skateboarding, swimming, roller-skating, or ice-skating, he embodies a multifaceted approach to life that blends professional excellence with personal passions and hobbies.

Ricardo is a Process Engineer in the Hot Rolling Mill at Benteler Steel/Tube. He graduated from Louisiana Tech University with his Industrial Engineering degree and Six Sigma Black Belt Certification. Leveraging KNIME and his statistical analysis capabilities, Ricardo works at the data-driven, state-of-the-art seamless pipe mill every day to drive performance, reliability, and quality.

John is the Self-Service Analytics (SSA) Owner at Cargill where he leads the global data community by promoting the growth and development of low-code analytics capabilities. In this role, John has grown the SSA community by over 35% and introduced KNIME as Cargill’s newest self-service analytics platform. Prior to leading the SSA capability, John was the analytics coach for North America and a senior analyst in Cargill’s transportation logistics function.

For more than 15 years Iris has been spending her days with KNIME and her evenings in Heidelberg. On her journey to KNIME she studied mathematics and computer science at the University of Konstanz and developed her passion for data science. Iris always enjoyed working on projects such as KNIME Model Factory or the Workflow Coach. While going through various customer facing roles at KNIME, she always kept her passion for data. And so she is now officially our VP Data & Analytics and takes care about all things data at KNIME.

Laura Rutledge, Market Insight Manager at AMD, will be sharing how her team uses KNIME to analyze large amounts of total addressable market (TAM) data and share marketing insights to the broader organization. Her session will be on Tuesday afternoon, "Using KNIME to Produce Total Market Data for Client and Datacenter."

Jennifer Ostyn currently serves as the Senior Vice President of Customer Care .at KNIME. Prior to joining KNIME a year and a half ago, Jennifer operated in a similar role as Senior Vice President of Sales for Equifax Commercial. With over 20 years’ experience in the data, analytics and software space, she is considered an accomplished sales leader with expertise in developing strategic teams and coaching individuals towards their objectives while delivering on results. Adept at vision creation and strategic planning, Jennifer also thrives in high pressure situations and making decisive decisions. Jennifer engages her communication, collaboration, and partnership facilitation skillset across her corporate responsibilities as well as her passion for philanthropic work in numerous organizations. Jennifer has a passion for travel, physical fitness and relishes the opportunity to have a tennis racket in her hand whenever possible!

Rosaria Silipo, PhD, now head of data science evangelism at KNIME, has spent 25+ years in applied AI, predictive analytics and machine learning at Siemens, Viseca, Nuance Communications, and private consulting. Sharing her practical experience in a broad range of industries and deployments, including IoT, customer intelligence, financial services, social media, and cybersecurity, Rosaria has authored 50+ technical publications, including her recent books: "Guide to Intelligent Data Science" (Springer) and "Codeless Deep Learning with KNIME"

With over 25 years' experience, Raoul has focused primarily on the reorganisation of commercial companies, subsidiaries of family groups, as an interim manager. His international assignments have taken him to Germany, Italy, the USA, the Netherlands, and beyond. In the last decade, his focus has shifted to project management and process improvement, leading initiatives that harness the power of KNIME to drive efficiency improvements.

Visiting Fellow at Manchester Metropolitan University and Managing Director of Data, Digital & Technology at Grant Thornton UK, Jamie leads the Digital Centre of Excellence for one of the world's top professional services firms. With over 15 years experience across transformation, innovation, analytics, audit, risk and RegTech, Jamie helps articulate and deliver client-facing digital strategies, offerings, and operating models. He is passionate about making a difference through innovative thinking and building effective teams.

With a strong technical background, Jamie has deep expertise in sanctions compliance, financial crime, data quality, lineages, and model testing. A former schoolteacher and lifelong learner, he serves on the MKU Data Science advisory board and co-authored the GT/BPP Data Apprenticeship program. Jamie is dedicated to strengthening academia-industry collaboration and harnessing education as a force for good.

Edgar is the Chief Data and Analytics Officer at iuvity, a company that has
been serving financial institutions for more than 20 years in the Digital
Banking space. Edgar has more than 25 years of experience in the application of Analytics in the financial industry across Latam, Europe and the US. He holds a BS in Computer Engineering and a PhD in Operations Research from MIT.

He currently serves as part of the Board of Directors and as Co-Chair of the Innovation Committee of FIBA. Edgar is also a recipient of the IEEE Longuet-Higgins Prize for published contribution in the field of
Machine Learning.