Former Microsoft Exec to Headline NWA Tech Summit

The Northwest Arkansas Technology Summit planned for Oct. 7 at the John Q. Hammons Convention Center in Rogers will include more than 40 breakout sessions with about 70 guest speakers, including a former Microsoft executive, organizers say.

Citadel Securities CEO Kevin Turner, the chief operating officer of Microsoft for 11 years before he resigned earlier this year, is the planned keynote speaker for the all-day event, hosted by the NWA Tech Council in conjunction with the Bentonville/Bella Vista Chamber of Commerce.

John Cohn, IBM Fellow, chief scientist for design automation and self-proclaimed “mad scientist,” is the morning speaker, lecturing on the topic of the Internet of Things.

Scott Family Amazeum executive director Sam Dean will present a science experiment and speak on innovation during lunch.

Other key speakers include Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson; Mark Myers, chief technology officer for the state of Arkansas; and Jonathan Goldberg, senior vice president and chief information officer for Arkansas Children’s Hospital; in addition to tech leaders from Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Sam’s Club Inc., Oracle, SAP, Gartner, Garver, Roku, Intel, Digimarc, AT&T, Teradata, Samsung and Rockfish, said Debbie Griffin, vice president of marketing and communication for the chamber.

“What we’re most excited about is the breadth of content and the quality of speakers this year,” said Michael Paladino, event chair and chief technology officer at RevUnit in Bentonville. “We’re going to have great content. It’s deep, and it is applicable to pretty much anyone who touches technology.”

Breakout session topics include innovation in retail, insights on millennials, virtual reality, cybersecurity, drones and technology in health care.

Panel discussions topics include Northwest Arkansas startups on the national scene, women in technology and the relationship between analytics and education.

 “When you have a conference like this, as an organizer you just want to include as much as you can,” Griffin said. “I think this event — as far as tech events in Northwest Arkansas — comes as close as it can to offering something for everyone.”

More than 1,000 individuals have registered for the event so far, Griffin said. The summit also plans to welcome 200 area high school students to participate.

It’s the third year of the summit and attendance has grown from about 800 last year and about 400 the first year, said Griffin, who believes the event is an important networking opportunity.

“Of course we want people to see the latest, cutting-edge things happening in tech, but we also want to connect people,” she said. “I’ve seen tangible results from these events. One year, a local company met someone from St. Louis at one of the vendor booths, and they forged a relationship from there and are now working together.”

Tickets and more event details are available at www.nwatechsummit.com or by contacting Griffin at [email protected] or 479-273-2841.