Announcing TechArena’s 2025–2026 Voices of Innovation Fellows
At TechArena, we believe innovation doesn’t happen in isolation—it happens when bold ideas find the right platform and the right audience. This was a foundation of the establishment of the platform in 2022 and a guiding force in establishing our Voices of Innovation program. Today, we’re excited to introduce the 2025–2026 Voices of Innovation Fellowship cohort, a group of tech leaders shaping the future of AI era computing.
The Voices of Innovation Fellowship is a TechArena-sponsored program that amplifies practitioner perspectives across the most critical areas of computing. In a time when the industry is driving innovation at unprecedented pace, too many brilliant practitioners still struggle to have their insights heard. Our Fellowship exists to close that gap.
Meet the 2025–2026 Voices of Innovation Fellows
This year’s fellows represent a diverse range of expertise and leadership across technology and infrastructure:
Srija Reddy Allam, Fortinet
Srija Reddy Allam is a cloud security architect at Fortinet, where she partners with global customers to design, architect, and deploy Fortinet’s full suite of security solutions in public cloud environments. In this role, she engages directly with enterprises across industries, guiding them on securing critical workloads, applications, and data as they scale and modernize in the cloud. Her work spans the Fortinet portfolio, ensuring customers adopt solutions that align with both their business goals and regulatory requirements.
Matty Bakkeren, Momenthesis
Matty Bakkeren is a senior technology executive with a rare blend of deep technical expertise and strategic sales & marketing leadership, honed through years of managing high-stakes B2B partnerships at Intel with global leaders like Red Hat and Accenture across EMEA. As founder of Momenthesis, he helps accelerate datacenter transformation by scaling growth, driving innovation, and aligning technical solutions with business needs. His collaborative approach and ability to simplify complexity make him a valued advisor in technology and business.
Robert Bielby, Automotive Expert
Robert Bielby is a semiconductor and automotive tech leader with four decades of experience across hardware design, system architecture, product marketing, and P&L. He’s helped define markets in memory, ASICs, FPGAs, and AI, bridging lab innovation to scaled business. A hands-on educator, he champions practical, power-aware design and demystifies auto tech.
Tejas Chopra, Netflix
Tejas Chopra is an advocate of sustainable computing—AI and Cloud—and an active speaker on the topics of AI, Cloud Computing, Distributed Storage Systems and Engineering Culture. At Netflix, his role centers on advancing the company’s machine learning platform infrastructure. As a means to give back to the community, Tejas co-founded GoEB1 with a mission to build thought leadership for immigrants. It has now evolved into EnsolAI, a self-serve subscription platform for finding relevant opportunities to build brand and impact.
Lynn Comp, Intel
Lynn Comp is a global strategy, marketing, and product management executive with deep experience in the technology industry. She has a passion for creating and delivering solutions that address customer needs and unlock new business value and leverages this passion in driving broad customer adoption of Intel architecture solutions for the data center. She is also a board member at NeuReality, a startup that develops AI solutions, bringing her expertise in cloud, enterprise IT, software, 5G, product marketing, ecosystem development, and strategy.
Sean Grimaldi, Cybersecurity Expert
Sean Grimaldi is a seasoned digital engineering leader and innovator with a proven track record of driving technological advancements and strategic growth. Holding active clearances, Sean brings extensive experience in cloud computing, cybersecurity, and emerging technologies. He has held leadership roles at Anduril Industries, VectorZero.ai (as Co-Founder and CTO), the CIA, and Microsoft, consistently delivering impactful results.
Mark Grodzinsky, Network and Edge Expert
Mark Grodzinsky is a product and market leader who has spent his career at the intersection of semiconductors, wireless, SaaS, and AI. From early startup roles to Fortune 500 leadership, he has built ecosystems that turned Wi-Fi, IoT, and cloud innovations into global platforms. Most recently, he led an AI-first shift in network observability. He is passionate about bridging deep technology with real-world adoption to drive the next wave of innovation.
Tannu Jiwnani, Threat Detection Expert
Tannu Jiwnani is a principal security program manager at Microsoft and a global leader in cybersecurity. She drives innovation in identity security, leads high-impact incident response, mentors women worldwide, and serves on advisory boards. Through her leadership and advocacy, she is shaping a safer, more inclusive future in technology.
Banani Mohapatra, Walmart
Banani Mohapatra is a seasoned AI/ML leader with 13+ years of experience at the intersection of data science, product management, and enterprise innovation. As a senior data science leader at Walmart, she builds scalable AI/ML systems powering e-commerce personalization for millions of customers, delivering measurable business impact through AI-driven product lifecycle solutions. She has published applied AI research with IEEE in areas such as Generative AI, Agentic AI, causal inference, and experimentation platforms, and is a frequent speaker at global AI summits on responsible and enterprise-scale AI adoption.
Anusha Nerella, Financial Services Expert
Anusha Nerella is a senior principal software engineer and a seasoned leader in AI/ML, DevOps, big data, and automation. She has advanced trading platforms and enterprise systems at Barclays, Citibank, and USPTO, while driving AI-powered innovation. A mentor and researcher, she champions knowledge sharing and inspires the next generation of tech leaders.
Gina Rosenthal, Cloud Computing Expert
Gina Rosenthal is the founder of Digital Sunshine Solutions and a senior product marketing leader with deep expertise in cloud, virtualization, and data security. She has driven product launches, brand growth, and multi-million–dollar impact at VMware and beyond. A Pragmatic Institute Ambassador and Tech Field Day Delegate, she shares insights on AI, cloud, and edge across global platforms.
Niv Sundaram, Robotics, AI and Data Center Expert
Niv Sundaram is the chief strategy officer at Machani Robotics. Prior to this role, Niv spent 15 years at Intel in engineering and leadership positions spanning datacenter, AI, cloud infrastructure, content-protection & video conferencing solutions, contributing to $15B+ in annual server and client revenue. Now focused on the intersection of advanced AI orchestration and human-centered experiences, she applies her deep technical expertise to develop AI systems that understand and respond to human needs with genuine intelligence and emotional awareness. Niv is based in Oregon and holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, two issued patents, and several peer-reviewed publications. A strong advocate for women in tech, she also creates comics about women in technology to inspire the next generation @saywhatcomics.
Ryan Tabrah, Data Center and AI Expert
Ryan Tabrah is founder and CEO of SkillsForge AI, building adaptive learning technology that helps people and companies upskill faster and stay competitive in the AI era. He is former VP and general manager for Xeon and Compute Products at Intel, where he led a multi-billion-dollar portfolio of high-performance, energy-efficient solutions. With more than two decades of experience across AI, cloud, and data infrastructure, Ryan combines technical depth with business strategy while championing sustainability and diversity in tech.
Vivek Venkatesan, Data Engineering & AI Expert
Vivek Venkatesan is a lead data engineer at Vanguard and a senior member of IEEE with 15+ years of experience in data engineering, cloud architecture, and applied AI. He has delivered solutions ranging from a COVID-19 workforce safety platform to cost-saving enterprise data architectures, and contributes as a mentor, speaker, and author in the global data and AI community.
Bhanvish Walia, Amazon
Bhavnish Walia is a senior risk manager, AI/ML at Amazon in New York, where he leads global initiatives in risk management, responsible AI governance, compliance automation, and fraud detection. With over 13 years of experience spanning e-commerce, fintech, and banking, he has built frameworks for LLM risk governance, deployed Generative and Agentic AI for enterprise innovation, and automated anti-money laundering workflows that have delivered millions in annual savings.
Why It Matters
The Fellowship embodies TechArena’s brand promise: to deliver original takes from across the tech landscape on the pulse of tech innovation and deliver insights from those who are defining tech’s future. Their publications ensure that insights reach the audiences who can act on them—industry decision-makers, innovators, and the broader tech community.
Throughout 2025–2026, readers can expect thought-provoking articles, Q&As, and features from this group of innovators.
We’re thrilled to welcome this year’s cohort and can’t wait to share their stories. We’ll begin next week with introductory posts from each Voice.
At TechArena, we believe innovation doesn’t happen in isolation—it happens when bold ideas find the right platform and the right audience. This was a foundation of the establishment of the platform in 2022 and a guiding force in establishing our Voices of Innovation program. Today, we’re excited to introduce the 2025–2026 Voices of Innovation Fellowship cohort, a group of tech leaders shaping the future of AI era computing.
The Voices of Innovation Fellowship is a TechArena-sponsored program that amplifies practitioner perspectives across the most critical areas of computing. In a time when the industry is driving innovation at unprecedented pace, too many brilliant practitioners still struggle to have their insights heard. Our Fellowship exists to close that gap.
Meet the 2025–2026 Voices of Innovation Fellows
This year’s fellows represent a diverse range of expertise and leadership across technology and infrastructure:
Srija Reddy Allam, Fortinet
Srija Reddy Allam is a cloud security architect at Fortinet, where she partners with global customers to design, architect, and deploy Fortinet’s full suite of security solutions in public cloud environments. In this role, she engages directly with enterprises across industries, guiding them on securing critical workloads, applications, and data as they scale and modernize in the cloud. Her work spans the Fortinet portfolio, ensuring customers adopt solutions that align with both their business goals and regulatory requirements.
Matty Bakkeren, Momenthesis
Matty Bakkeren is a senior technology executive with a rare blend of deep technical expertise and strategic sales & marketing leadership, honed through years of managing high-stakes B2B partnerships at Intel with global leaders like Red Hat and Accenture across EMEA. As founder of Momenthesis, he helps accelerate datacenter transformation by scaling growth, driving innovation, and aligning technical solutions with business needs. His collaborative approach and ability to simplify complexity make him a valued advisor in technology and business.
Robert Bielby, Automotive Expert
Robert Bielby is a semiconductor and automotive tech leader with four decades of experience across hardware design, system architecture, product marketing, and P&L. He’s helped define markets in memory, ASICs, FPGAs, and AI, bridging lab innovation to scaled business. A hands-on educator, he champions practical, power-aware design and demystifies auto tech.
Tejas Chopra, Netflix
Tejas Chopra is an advocate of sustainable computing—AI and Cloud—and an active speaker on the topics of AI, Cloud Computing, Distributed Storage Systems and Engineering Culture. At Netflix, his role centers on advancing the company’s machine learning platform infrastructure. As a means to give back to the community, Tejas co-founded GoEB1 with a mission to build thought leadership for immigrants. It has now evolved into EnsolAI, a self-serve subscription platform for finding relevant opportunities to build brand and impact.
Lynn Comp, Intel
Lynn Comp is a global strategy, marketing, and product management executive with deep experience in the technology industry. She has a passion for creating and delivering solutions that address customer needs and unlock new business value and leverages this passion in driving broad customer adoption of Intel architecture solutions for the data center. She is also a board member at NeuReality, a startup that develops AI solutions, bringing her expertise in cloud, enterprise IT, software, 5G, product marketing, ecosystem development, and strategy.
Sean Grimaldi, Cybersecurity Expert
Sean Grimaldi is a seasoned digital engineering leader and innovator with a proven track record of driving technological advancements and strategic growth. Holding active clearances, Sean brings extensive experience in cloud computing, cybersecurity, and emerging technologies. He has held leadership roles at Anduril Industries, VectorZero.ai (as Co-Founder and CTO), the CIA, and Microsoft, consistently delivering impactful results.
Mark Grodzinsky, Network and Edge Expert
Mark Grodzinsky is a product and market leader who has spent his career at the intersection of semiconductors, wireless, SaaS, and AI. From early startup roles to Fortune 500 leadership, he has built ecosystems that turned Wi-Fi, IoT, and cloud innovations into global platforms. Most recently, he led an AI-first shift in network observability. He is passionate about bridging deep technology with real-world adoption to drive the next wave of innovation.
Tannu Jiwnani, Threat Detection Expert
Tannu Jiwnani is a principal security program manager at Microsoft and a global leader in cybersecurity. She drives innovation in identity security, leads high-impact incident response, mentors women worldwide, and serves on advisory boards. Through her leadership and advocacy, she is shaping a safer, more inclusive future in technology.
Banani Mohapatra, Walmart
Banani Mohapatra is a seasoned AI/ML leader with 13+ years of experience at the intersection of data science, product management, and enterprise innovation. As a senior data science leader at Walmart, she builds scalable AI/ML systems powering e-commerce personalization for millions of customers, delivering measurable business impact through AI-driven product lifecycle solutions. She has published applied AI research with IEEE in areas such as Generative AI, Agentic AI, causal inference, and experimentation platforms, and is a frequent speaker at global AI summits on responsible and enterprise-scale AI adoption.
Anusha Nerella, Financial Services Expert
Anusha Nerella is a senior principal software engineer and a seasoned leader in AI/ML, DevOps, big data, and automation. She has advanced trading platforms and enterprise systems at Barclays, Citibank, and USPTO, while driving AI-powered innovation. A mentor and researcher, she champions knowledge sharing and inspires the next generation of tech leaders.
Gina Rosenthal, Cloud Computing Expert
Gina Rosenthal is the founder of Digital Sunshine Solutions and a senior product marketing leader with deep expertise in cloud, virtualization, and data security. She has driven product launches, brand growth, and multi-million–dollar impact at VMware and beyond. A Pragmatic Institute Ambassador and Tech Field Day Delegate, she shares insights on AI, cloud, and edge across global platforms.
Niv Sundaram, Robotics, AI and Data Center Expert
Niv Sundaram is the chief strategy officer at Machani Robotics. Prior to this role, Niv spent 15 years at Intel in engineering and leadership positions spanning datacenter, AI, cloud infrastructure, content-protection & video conferencing solutions, contributing to $15B+ in annual server and client revenue. Now focused on the intersection of advanced AI orchestration and human-centered experiences, she applies her deep technical expertise to develop AI systems that understand and respond to human needs with genuine intelligence and emotional awareness. Niv is based in Oregon and holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, two issued patents, and several peer-reviewed publications. A strong advocate for women in tech, she also creates comics about women in technology to inspire the next generation @saywhatcomics.
Ryan Tabrah, Data Center and AI Expert
Ryan Tabrah is founder and CEO of SkillsForge AI, building adaptive learning technology that helps people and companies upskill faster and stay competitive in the AI era. He is former VP and general manager for Xeon and Compute Products at Intel, where he led a multi-billion-dollar portfolio of high-performance, energy-efficient solutions. With more than two decades of experience across AI, cloud, and data infrastructure, Ryan combines technical depth with business strategy while championing sustainability and diversity in tech.
Vivek Venkatesan, Data Engineering & AI Expert
Vivek Venkatesan is a lead data engineer at Vanguard and a senior member of IEEE with 15+ years of experience in data engineering, cloud architecture, and applied AI. He has delivered solutions ranging from a COVID-19 workforce safety platform to cost-saving enterprise data architectures, and contributes as a mentor, speaker, and author in the global data and AI community.
Bhanvish Walia, Amazon
Bhavnish Walia is a senior risk manager, AI/ML at Amazon in New York, where he leads global initiatives in risk management, responsible AI governance, compliance automation, and fraud detection. With over 13 years of experience spanning e-commerce, fintech, and banking, he has built frameworks for LLM risk governance, deployed Generative and Agentic AI for enterprise innovation, and automated anti-money laundering workflows that have delivered millions in annual savings.
Why It Matters
The Fellowship embodies TechArena’s brand promise: to deliver original takes from across the tech landscape on the pulse of tech innovation and deliver insights from those who are defining tech’s future. Their publications ensure that insights reach the audiences who can act on them—industry decision-makers, innovators, and the broader tech community.
Throughout 2025–2026, readers can expect thought-provoking articles, Q&As, and features from this group of innovators.
We’re thrilled to welcome this year’s cohort and can’t wait to share their stories. We’ll begin next week with introductory posts from each Voice.
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