Keynote Speakers

Lynn Root

Lynn Root is a Staff Engineer at Spotify and an adjunct professor at Columbia University's Graduate School of Engineering. She is a seasoned speaker on building and maintaining distributed systems & developer tooling, and is a tech lead on Spotify's ML/AI platform. She likes to refer to herself as an "engineer's engineer".

Lynn has been active in the Python community since 2012. She is the Chair of the PyLadies Global Council, a former Director and current fellow of the Python Software Foundation, and a global leader of diversity in the Python community. She is the author & maintainer (when she can) of the `interrogate` package.

When her hands are not on a keyboard, they are usually fussing with houseplants, holding a bass guitar, or trying to finish one of her many knitting projects.

Cory Doctorow

Cory Doctorow (craphound.com) is a science fiction author, activist and journalist. He is the author of many books, most recently PICKS AND SHOVELS and THE BEZZLE (followups to RED TEAM BLUES) and THE LOST CAUSE, a solarpunk science fiction novel of hope amidst the climate emergency. His most recent nonfiction book is THE INTERNET CON: HOW TO SEIZE THE MEANS OF COMPUTATION, a Big Tech disassembly manual. Other recent books include RED TEAM BLUES, a science fiction crime thriller; CHOKEPOINT CAPITALISM, nonfiction about monopoly and creative labor markets; the LITTLE BROTHER series for young adults; IN REAL LIFE, a graphic novel; and the picture book POESY THE MONSTER SLAYER.

He maintains a daily blog at Pluralistic.net. He works for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, is a MIT Media Lab Research Affiliate, is a Visiting Professor of Computer Science at Open University, a Visiting Professor of Practice at the University of North Carolina’s School of Library and Information Science and co-founded the UK Open Rights Group. Born in Toronto, Canada, he now lives in Los Angeles. In 2020, he was inducted into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame. In 2022, he earned the Sir Arthur Clarke Imagination in Service to Society Awardee for lifetime achievement. In 2024, the Media Ecology Association awarded him the Neil Postman Award for Career Achievement in Public Intellectual Activity. York University (Canada) made him an Honourary Doctor of Laws; and the Open University (UK) made him an Honourary Doctor of Computer Science.

Dr. Kari L. Jordan

Dr. Kari L. Jordan, is a leading figure in data science education, serving as the Executive Director for The Carpentries, a globally recognized nonprofit organization. Upon completing Bachelor's and Master’s degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Michigan Technological University, she pursued a Ph.D. in Engineering Education at The Ohio State University, specializing in interventions to enhance belonging for people of color in STEM. Dr. Jordan's visionary leadership has propelled The Carpentries' mission worldwide, fostering exponential growth and impact across academia, industry, and government sectors. A sought-after speaker and advocate for diversity and inclusion, she champions accessible data literacy and bridges the digital skills gap through strategic initiatives and international collaboration. Dr. Jordan's dedication to empowering individuals and fostering inclusive learning environments has earned her widespread recognition and respect, shaping the future of data literacy for societal betterment.

Geoff Hing

Geoff Hing is a data reporter for The Marshall Project. He has worked as part of investigative, data and news applications teams in a number of newsrooms. At The Arizona Republic, Geoff covered demographic change in the state and contributed data reporting to enterprise projects on water use and prison labor. At APM Reports, he covered voting rights and analyzed police use-of-force data and records as part of a team investigating the efficacy of Tasers. And while at The Chicago Tribune, Geoff helped analyze and visualize police accountability and shooting data.

Tom Meagher

Tom Meagher is an investigative data journalist and a senior editor at The Marshall Project, the nonprofit newsroom covering the criminal justice system in the United States. For more than a decade, Tom has used Python, Django, pandas and other libraries in his reporting, including stories on long delays plaguing executions and how prison officers evade accountability for abusing incarcerated people in their custody. As an editor he oversees The Marshall Project's coverage of prisons, jails and the death penalty. Before joining The Marshall Project, he led an interactive team for the Digital First Media newspaper chain and was the data editor at the Star-Ledger in Newark, N.J.. He got his start in journalism covering night cops for a small daily paper in Kansas.