Calling all trailblazers

Damian Arbuckle is the Senior Director of Consumer Intelligence at NASCAR. During his six years with the company, Damian helped NASCAR become the first sport back with live fans following the pandemic. Damian’s current role allows him to provide real time insights into pricing strategies and digital fan journeys across 15 different tracks that host over 70 different events each year, including the DAYTONA 500, Rolex 24, and the NASCAR Championships at Phoenix Raceway. Prior to his time at NASCAR, Damian worked in Database Marketing at the Hard Rock Casino, leveraging billions of data points to develop amazing guest experiences.

Mahesh Baral is the Senior Director of Engineering at Priceline, a leader in online travel for over twenty-five years. At Priceline, Mahesh oversees the development of core technology platforms, ensuring seamless and compelling travel experiences for its users. His expertise lies in leveraging first-party data to build and refine advanced tools, optimizing their performance and impact. Working cross-functionally, Mahesh bridges the needs of Marketing, Finance, Web and Data teams to achieve Priceline's long-term, strategic goals.

Brian Himstedt is the VP of Technology & Business Analytics at the Kansas City Royals. In his role, Brian oversees corporate and venue technology, business systems, cybersecurity, and business analytics. Prior to joining the Royals in 2009, Brian held roles leading interactive marketing and client strategy at ad agencies and in consulting at Accenture.

Luke Stenis is the Principal Product Manager of Data & Engineering at CHG Healthcare where he leads the strategy and implementation of large-scale data solutions. Luke has worked in product management and implementation engineering for the last decade. Luke began his career in marketing where he led efforts to optimize SEO and lead generation conversion funnels to drive growth & retention. When not working with technology, Luke spends time with his two boys exploring the world, and plays with his band, Cosmic Fates, around Salt Lake City.

Yasmeen Ahmad is the Managing Director, Product at Google. Yasmeen has worked on executive teams with a focus on defining and leading strategy, driving company-wide digital transformation and growth initiatives, with a particular focus on innovation in the cloud, data and analytics domains. Yasmeen has worked in global roles spanning the Americas, EMEA and APJ, within large tech companies, driving new business value for the largest enterprises across the globe.Yasmeen has a background in data science and analytics, beginning in academia where Yasmeen led the implementation of petabyte scale data pipelines and designed complex AI and ML models for proteomic and genomic systems. Yasmeen earned her PhD at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Gene Regulation and Expression in the UK. She has also studied disruptive innovation and strategic IQ at Harvard Business School. Computing magazine named Yasmeen as one of top 50 data leaders, and she was named a finalist for Innovator of the Year in the Women in IT Awards.

Michelene is the Head of Sports & Music at Snowflake - one of the world's most fast, flexible, and easy-to-use data platforms - and the engine that powers the AI Data Cloud for Sports.  Prior to Snowflake Michelene held roles establishing content licensing and distribution, product integration and innovation, monetization, marketing, and additional digitally-focused strategic partnerships within the sports and music verticals.  Michelene was a strategic business development executive at Amazon, focused on Amazon's music streaming service. Michelene has also served as the VP and Head of Strategic Business Development/Partnerships for Bleacher Report under Warner Bros. Discovery.  Michelene joined Bleacher Report from Yahoo! Sports where she served as the Global Head of Business Development & Strategic Partnerships and closed the first ever NFL deal to distribute a live game exclusively via streaming.