Teqfocus Presents: Reimagining the Context Layer: Powering the Next Phase of Enterprise AI
Connect. Exchange. Elevate.
An initiative by Teqfocus
The model isn't the differentiator anymore. What sits beneath it — your context layer — is. And most enterprises are one bad architecture decision away from building on sand.
AI agents are only as smart as the context you give them. Enterprise data, domain knowledge, business rules, customer history — structured, governed, and served at the moment of decision. Leaders who get this right are scaling. Everyone else is still running pilots.
What you'll leave with
A clear view of how the context layer is becoming the primary AI moat — and what that means for your platform bets
How CIOs and CDOs are architecting context at scale: RAG, vector stores, knowledge graphs, and enterprise memory
The governance gap — what it takes to trust AI when it's running on your most sensitive enterprise data
Real-world patterns for wiring context into production workflows, not just proofs of concept
Which platform decisions made today will accelerate — or block — your AI roadmap through 2027
Join CXOs, VPs, and tech decision-makers from across the East Bay for a peer-driven conversation on what it actually takes to build an enterprise AI stack that holds.
Host: Jas Kaur
CTO, Teqfocus | AI & Data Strategist | Host, TeqTalk Podcast
Jas Kaur is the CTO at Teqfocus, where she leads AI and data-driven transformation strategies for global enterprises. With a background spanning IBM, Aviva, and Sainsbury’s, she blends technical depth with business insight. As the host of the TeqTalk Podcast, Jas brings bold ideas and real-world AI stories to the forefront of enterprise conversations.
👥 Keynote Speaker:
Prukalpa Sankar
Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Atlan
Prukalpa Sankar is the Founder & Co-CEO of Atlan, the context layer for AI. She's been early to a defining idea of the AI era: context is queen. AI systems are only as good as the business context behind the data they rely on.
Under her leadership, Atlan has become a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrants for both Data & Analytics and Metadata Management, serves 300+ enterprises including Mastercard, GM, JPMorgan Chase, and Nasdaq, and has raised $200M+ from Sequoia, GIC, and Salesforce Ventures. Before Atlan, Prukalpa co-founded SocialCops, the world's largest government data lake powering the UN's SDG monitoring — recognized by the New York Times and the World Economic Forum. She's been featured in Forbes 30 Under 30 and Fortune 40 Under 40.
Speaker:
Dhiraj Sharda
Sr Director, Product
Dhiraj Sharda leads product strategy for payouts, payments, and identity at Blackhawk Network, a $1.8B global branded payments platform operating across 26 countries. His career spans 15+ years across Silicon Valley's most consequential fintech and consumer technology companies — Director of Product at Visa, product leadership at IAC (Expedia, Match, Tinder), AT&T, and Chief Digital Officer at Airtel Payments Bank, where he launched India's first mobile SDK for personal loan origination. He holds patents in actionable notifications and intelligent coupon ranking systems, and an MS from Stanford University. Dhiraj brings the full arc — payments infrastructure, consumer product, and emerging market scale — to every conversation about where AI and fintech intersect.
CXO Panel:
Panel Moderator:
Pranav Shahi
VP, Information Technology, Mozilla
Pranav Shahi leads global IT strategy and infrastructure at Mozilla. His career spans five years across multiple VP roles at Atlassian, Head of Business Technology at ServiceTitan, and Sr. IT Architect at Cisco — giving him a practitioner's view of what it takes to make enterprise AI executable, not just fundable. A 2023 Bay Area ORBIE® Global Finalist and Lumos Top 50 CIO, he also advises the University of San Francisco's Strategic AI Program.
Panel Speaker:
Pari Ambatkar
Head of Enterprise AI
Pari Ambatkar heads Enterprise AI and Platforms at Marvell Technology, building AI platforms that enable secure, governed, and agent-driven architectures at scale. His experience as co-founder and CTO of an AI startup informs his approach to designing and deploying real-world AI systems in the enterprise. Pari has over a decade of experience in core platform engineering, having built and scaled large systems across big data, hybrid cloud, and govtech at Citrix, Cloudera, and OpenGov.
Nishant Arya
Director of AI Engineering, Stryker
Nishant Arya leads engineering at Stryker, one of the world's leading medical technology companies. His 15+ years span VMware — where he drove platform modernization across a $1.1B portfolio and delivered vSphere Trust Authority — through to Crusoe and now Stryker, giving him a practitioner's view of the full arc from legacy enterprise infrastructure to cloud-native AI delivery at scale. His track record includes $1M+ in cloud cost savings, 30% faster delivery through engineering automation, and scaling distributed teams of 40+ engineers across multiple regions.
Hardeep Singh
Sr. Director Enterprise System & AI, Procore Technologies
Hardeep is an AI-native technology executive with over 20 years of experience driving transformation across Fortune 500s and high-growth tech companies. He specializes in translating frontier AI capabilities into enterprise-scale products, platforms, and GTM systems that deliver measurable business outcomes. Most recently, he has been at the forefront of launching a GTM Agent purpose-built for go-to-market use cases — bringing AI-driven automation and intelligence directly into the revenue engine.
Agenda:
East Bay CXO Meetup Agenda
5:00 PM – Registration & Welcome Networking
Arrive, check in, and connect with fellow CXOs over drinks
5:25 PM – Welcome Note
Opening remarks by Jas Kaur
Setting the context for the evening
5:30 PM – Keynote followed by Demo Spotlight: Prukalpa Shankar
5:45 PM – Panel Discussion
Reimagining the Context Layer: Powering the Next Phase of Enterprise AI
6:30 PM – Networking Dinner
Continue the conversation over dinner
Exchange perspectives, contacts, and next steps in a relaxed setting
Just real talk.
Reserve your seat now—space is intentionally limited to keep the conversation intimate. And yes, we’ve got food and drinks covered. We look forward to having you at the table.
Interested in volunteering, sponsoring, or speaking at an upcoming meetup?
The East Bay CXO Meetup– Join the Conversation – Fill out form
Glimpse from past meetups:
East Bay CXO Summit
A community for IT leaders. Built on conversations and powered by connections.
An initiative by Teqfocus
The East Bay CXO Summit is a monthly gathering of senior IT and tech leaders who believe real innovation begins with honest, peer-driven conversations.
Designed to be informal, insightful, and highly interactive, each meetup offers open networking, great food, and candid discussion—no slides, no fluff, just shared experiences and bold ideas.
More than an event, it’s the foundation of a trusted community—fostering collaboration, connection, and continuous leadership growth across East Bay’s technology ecosystem.
Join us at the table. Connect, contribute, and be part of shaping the region’s most trusted CXO network.
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About Teqfocus Consulting LLC:
Teqfocus is a strategic IT services and consulting partner that bridges the gap between technology promises and real business outcomes.
Specializing in Data, AI, and Applications, we help enterprises turn strategy into execution—accelerating transformation through cloud platforms, intelligent automation, data engineering, and modern application development.
Beyond delivery, we’re committed to building communities and sharing insight. Through the East Bay CXO Community and our flagship podcast TeqTalk, we bring senior leaders together to explore what’s next and how to get there.
At Teqfocus, we don’t just implement tech—we enable outcomes that matter.