Meet the 2026 Speakers
Samantha Beaver
Samantha Beaver is a Linguist. She received her Master’s Degree in Applied English Linguistics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Sociolinguistics, Pragmatics, and Conversation Analysis are her areas of linguistic expertise, and her favorite topics to explore are language & faith, language equity, language & gender, and language & power. When she’s not doing linguistic work for other people, she is at home fostering the language development of her two young sons, Simon and Louis.
https://www.memralanguageservices.com/
Misha Behei
Misha is a developer at heart and solutions engineer during the day. He holds a Bachelors degree from San Jose State University majoring in Computer Science. Having lived in San Francisco Bay Area for over 10 years, he recently moved to the Milwaukee area where he lives with his wife, a 3-year old daughter, a 7-year old golden retriever, and a 4-year old orange cat.
Ashlie Crooks
Ashlie Crooks is a Madison-based software engineer who taught herself to code through freeCodeCamp after years in retail. Over the past 6 years she's built for the web across startups and agencies, most recently in Ruby on Rails — and she's now reinventing herself as an AI workflow engineer, using tools like Claude Code to ship real applications and to run the day-to-day operating system of her own life.
Amber Field
Amber Field is a start-up advisor, the Computer Science Capstone Director at University of Wisconsin-Madison, and author of the book, Agile Discovery & Delivery: A Survival Guide for New Software Engineers & Tech Entrepreneurs. She has been an executive leader in tech, agile proponent, and engineer for her entire career at a number of organizations including IBM, National Geographic, Oracle Utilities (formerly Opower), Capital One, and Singlewire Software. Amber frequently speaks at conferences and blogs at amberrfield.com. She lives in Madison, WI.
Carie Fisher
Carie Fisher is a Sr. Accessibility Program Manager at GitHub, helping make products accessible and usable for everyone. With 15+ years in accessibility and digital inclusion, she leads programs that integrate accessibility and user-centered design into development, leverages AI to scale accessibility, and helps teams create experiences that empower users.
Ian Evanoff
Ian Evanoff is a software engineer and co-founder of Rootwork Labs, where he helps teams build better developer experiences. Over the past two decades, he's worked up and down the stack at organizations of every size—from massive companies to tiny startups—with a particular interest in the human side of software development. When he's away from the keyboard, he's usually spoiling his two ridiculous rescue dogs, planning the next road trip, or listening to the KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack (again).
Elspeth Stalter -Clouse
After a long and storied career as a violinist, Elspeth Stalter-Clouse dove headfirst into the world of software development and never looked back. She has always been passionate about learning and making useful things in service of a better world, and is fortunate to be achieving both goals as a full-stack developer at Forj. A perennial wearer of many hand-knitted hats, Elspeth enjoys building accessible UIs just as much as she loves designing backend architecture or shepherding small fleets of microservices in the cloud.
Piha Patel
Piha Patel is a Computer Science and Data Science student at University of Wisconsin–Madison pursuing certificates in Entrepreneurship and Digital Studies. She is interested in the intersection of AI, product design, and human-centered technology, with experience building projects focused on usability, accessibility, and community impact. Piha is also involved in student organizations and creative storytelling initiatives on campus, where she enjoys exploring how thoughtful design can make technology feel more approachable and inclusive.
Shelcia David Raj
Shelcia David is a Frontend Engineer at Nimble Robotics in San Francisco, where she builds event-driven tracking platforms for next-generation robotics logistics. She previously worked as a Senior Software Developer at Nasdaq in Bengaluru, India, shipping UI components and API integrations for Nasdaq.com. She holds a Master's in Information Science from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where she led development of an accessible, WCAG 2.1 AA-compliant climate-impact data visualization platform and served as UX Club President. Shelcia has mentored 40+ developers and been recognized as a Top Front-End Dev Voice on LinkedIn. She's passionate about building inclusive products across cultural and geographic boundaries.
Emilie Steinmann
Emilie Steinmann is a brand strategist and web designer based in the Madison area, helping entrepreneurs and small business owners build brands and websites that are as strategic as they are beautiful. Through her studio, Emilie Steinmann Creative, she works with founders who are ready to show up professionally online — and reach more of the people who need them. She has taught web accessibility to entrepreneurs across the country and believes that inclusive design isn't a constraint on great work. It's indicative of great work.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/emiliesteinmann/
https://www.instagram.com/emiliesteinmann
Ruben Rotteveel
Ruben Rotteveel is Technical Director of AI at nvisia, where he helps enterprise clients across manufacturing, engineering, and financial sectors navigate AI strategy and implementation. With a background in physics, he brings a first-principles approach to generative AI architecture and cognitive agent systems. He is currently building Sherlock an autonomous agent system designed to reason and operate across time, not just within a single interaction.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rubenrotteveel
Bo Wang
Mixed‑methods research leader with 15+ years of experience shaping product strategy, portfolio decisions, and clinical outcomes across digital health, AI‑powered experiences, and enterprise consumer products. Expert in discovery, evaluative, and longitudinal research; ethnography; survey design; and behavioral science. Known for anticipating user needs, validating new product opportunities, and delivering rapid, high‑quality insights that guide executives and cross‑functional teams. Research impact spans 1M+ chronic care patients and 40M+ consumer electronics users, with a track record of improving engagement, care quality, and business performance. PhD in Cultural Anthropology from UW Madison and postdoc training in Switzerland. Experienced speaker in alternative career paths for Social Science PhDs.
Naveen VK
Naveen VK, Technical Director at nvisia, has 25+ years of professional experience developing bespoke applications both on-premises and in the cloud. She is now deeply passionate about AI and ML. She enjoys sharing her technical expertise and insights at meetups and conferences. She is the organizer for GDG Madison, a WTM Ambassador and a co-organizer for Madison Women In Tech.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/naveenvkm/