Tech in Motion: DC is back and are happy to announce our next event which is all about Big Data.



We will be hosting a panel discussion surrounding Big Data featuring tech professionals from across the DC area. Big Data is quite the hot topic in today's tech market and lately we've been seeing it everywhere. Tools and technologies are evolving the uses of Big Data as much as today's evolving needs create the development of new tech tools around the world. The DC area is no different; in fact, DC is home to some of the leading companies in the space. Come join Tech in Motion for a night with some of the area’s leading practitioners to discuss Big Data's current uses, it's issues of scale, and how to make BIG data SMART data.



We will be serving light food and free beer! Come join us at 1776dc (http://1776dc.com) for a great night of networking and insightful conversation. We hope to see you there!



Tentative Schedule:



6:30-7:15p: Network, food & drinks



7:15-8:15p: Panel Discussion



8:15-8:30p: Q&A



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Panel:



Matt Abrams is the VP of Data and Operations at AddThis (http://Addthis.com) where he builds large scale distributed systems. Prior to joining AddThis, Matt held positions at Quantum Retail, Booz Allen Hamilton, and GE Global Research. His interests include probabilistic data structures, high performance computing and machine learning. Matt received his MS in Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.



Elaine Harvey, Vice President of Engineering at Resonate Insights (http://www.resonateinsights.com/), leads the technology team that built the industry’s first comprehensive marketing intelligence platform. This platform combines Resonate’s unique, primary research with large scale machine-learning that ingests hundreds of terabytes of data to understand the minds and motivations of consumers.



Prior to Resonate, Elaine was Vice President of Engineering at Parature, evolving the platform that powers customer support at hundreds of companies, serving 16 million end-users. Earlier Elaine led the Secure Software Development practice at Verizon Business/Netsec, co-inventing a patented wireless intrusion detection system and a secure, one-way, network bridging technology used in by the U.S. intelligence community.



Elaine is a co-organizer of the Nation Capital Area Google Technology User’s Group and is a Certified Scrum Master.



Seth Grimes is the leading industry analyst covering the confluence of text analytics, sentiment analysis, social intelligence, and BI. He founded Washington DC based Alta Plana Corporation, an information technology strategy consultancy, in 1997 and is longtime TechWeb contributor. Seth created and organizes the twice-yearly Sentiment Analysis Symposium and is founding chair of the Text Analytics Summit [masked]). He consults, writes, and speaks on business intelligence, data management and analysis systems, text mining, visualization, and related topics. Follow Seth, #5 on Big Data Republic's list of "must-follow" tweeters, on Twitter at @sethgrimes (http://twitter.com/sethgrimes).



Chris Mehrabi: Chris Mehrabi leads newBrandAnalytics (http://www.newbrandanalytics.com/)’ Analytics and Reporting team, where he is responsible for Algorithms, Data Analysis, Business Intelligence reporting, advanced analytics services and quantitative research. In his role, Mr. Mehrabi leads a team of Data Scientists who create actionable intelligence and market leading research for our customers combining text analytics with other disparate data sources.



Farzad Aref: Farzad runs Product and Services at Zoomdata (http://zoomdata.com), a start-up focused on tactically solving real time data visualization challenges. Farzad has over 10 years of experience in successfully building high performing teams and managing complex Business Intelligence and Text Analytics solutions for Fortune 500 companies. Prior to joining Zoomdata, Farzad ran the Business Insights and EMEA consulting groups for Clarabridge, a leading provider of Text Analytics solutions. He was previously a consulting manager at Deloitte and IBM, managing various global roll outs focused on Enterprise Data Warehouse, Business Planning and Corporate Performance Management. Farzad holds a Systems Engineering degree from University of Virginia where he graduated with distinction.



Ed Peters will act as moderator as well as offer his insights. He is the Senior Director of Architecture for Opower, a 300+ person technology company headquarted in Arlington, Virginia. At Opower, our purpose is to engage the millions of people who are in the dark about their energy use. Ed coordinates technical design and strategy for our product teams, which use data analytics and behavioral science to produce customized print and digital communications for millions of utility customers worldwide every month. He also provides engineering support to a number of cross-functional teams working to unlock new business opportunities.



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We would like to thank our sponsors, Jobspring Partners (http://jobspringpartners.com), Workbridge Associates (http://Workbridgeassociates.com), and Zoomdata (http://zoomdata.com).