01/22/2026
With 2025 in the books, we’re taking a moment to look back at the exceptional lineup of speakers our Learning & Development team brought in to share their expertise across engineering, finance, and beyond. Over the past year, learning how these experts approach hard problems has helped HRTers stay sharp, challenge assumptions, and remain curious.
💻 Wes McKinney, creator of pandas, traced the rise of the composable data stack and how modern columnar formats power high-performance analytics and AI.
📈 Donald MacKenzie, author of Trading at the Speed of Light, spoke in London about how electronic markets have evolved over the last 30 years.
🚀 Bill Ochs, former James Webb Space Telescope project manager, broke down how one of the most complex scientific systems ever built came together under extreme technical constraints.
🪸 Dr. Helen Fox of the Coral Reef Alliance demonstrated how data science is improving coral reef resilience across the world’s oceans.
🏎️ Neil Martin, a pioneer of data analytics in Formula 1, shared how elite F1 teams turn uncertain data into racing strategies.
💵 Bruno Dupire, head of Quantitative Research at Bloomberg, explored multi-leg bundle trading, showing how matching portfolios rather than individual securities can reduce ex*****on risk and improve pricing.
👾 Dan Fu, UCSD professor and VP of Kernels at Together AI, explained how custom GPU kernels drive performance gains.
We appreciate their insights and look forward to even more opportunities to learn in 2026!