Igor Repeta is the CEO of Empat Tech, a Kyiv-based software development and outsourcing firm with nearly 200 engineers serving clients across 17 countries. He rose from Project Manager to Chief Executive Officer in four years, formally taking the helm in February 2026 after co-authoring the company's operational playbook as COO. Empat ranked #5 globally on the Clutch 100 Fastest-Growing Companies list in 2026 and holds back-to-back #1 Best IT Employer rankings in Ukraine (DOU 2024 and 2025). Beyond commercial growth, Repeta launched two civic tech projects during Russia's invasion of Ukraine: RevengeFor, a military fundraising platform channeling funds to ComeBackAlive, and HealUA, a peer-to-peer medical consultation platform for Ukrainian doctors.
Dave Anderson spent 12+ years climbing Amazon's ladder from entry-level development manager to Technology Director and General Manager, then briefly served as the first CTO of Bezos Academy before achieving financial independence at 40 and walking away. Today he runs Scarlet Ink, a newsletter with 72,000+ subscribers offering rare insider perspective on big-tech careers, Amazon's leadership principles, and the mechanics of getting promoted without losing your mind.
Dr. James Stanier is a computer science PhD turned engineering leader, author of three books on engineering management, and the mind behind The Engineering Manager newsletter with nearly 30,000 subscribers. He scaled Brandwatch's engineering team from startup to a $450M acquisition, led hundreds of engineers at Shopify, and now serves as CTO for the veterinary division at Nordhealth. His work distills what it actually takes to go from writing code to running organizations - without losing the technical edge.