Justin Loera is the Lead Strategic Search Industry Advisor at Coveo, where he helps organizations navigate the evolving world of search and knowledge experiences. With more than 15 years of expertise in findability, taxonomy design, and knowledge management, Justin has dedicated his career to making information easier to discover, understand, and use.

In his role at Coveo, Justin partners closely with customers to help their organizations meet evolving user needs while also influencing product development and R&D in a rapidly changing search landscape.

Before joining Coveo, Justin spent a decade at Dell Technologies developing search strategies that improved user experience and strengthened enterprise knowledge ecosystems. During his tenure, he led initiatives that enhanced findability and made information more accessible and actionable across the organization.

Justin’s academic foundation in Business Administration, combined with certifications in KMI, KCS v6 Practices, and Taxonomy Design, shapes his practical, user‑centered approach to solving complex information challenges.

Matt Lacy is a senior practitioner at the forefront of applying AI to customer experience and support transformation. With more than 20 years at Blackbaud, he has led the design and implementation of predictive and generative AI solutions across self-service, agent productivity, and customer support operations, achieving significant gains in containment rates, response times, and customer satisfaction. Matt brings a rare combination of technical depth and operational leadership, grounded in real-world deployment of agentic AI at scale. His insights are especially valuable for organizations seeking to modernize service experiences while maintaining trust, efficiency, and measurable impact.

Andy Patel is the Vice President of E-commerce, Marketing, and Product Development at Hercules Sealing Products, where he leads the company’s digital growth strategy across AI-powered search, merchandising, product development, and customer acquisition. He oversees the integration of technology, data, and product development to create a scalable, performance-driven commercial engine within industrial distribution.

In his role, Andy has guided the modernization of Hercules e-commerce platform, aligning AI search, paid media, and new product introduction into a unified growth system that converts high-intent demand into measurable revenue. His leadership centers on cross-functional alignment, disciplined execution, and accelerating speed to market while maintaining a customer-first mindset.

An active contributor to the industry, Andy serves as an NFPA Leader, ConExpo 2026 committee member, NFPA Industrial Technology Task Force member, and Digital Marketing Advisory Board member at the University of South Florida. He is passionate about leveraging emerging technologies to future-proof industrial businesses and drive sustainable competitive advantage.

Karl is Vice President of Data Strategy at Kantar, where he leads business intelligence for two syndicated platforms: Kantar Retail IQ and MONITOR. He leads the design and governance of enterprise data architecture and analytics, enabling the organization to make informed decisions about AI implementation, content strategy, product innovation, and commercial success. Karl also leads a data-driven retailer forecasting product that helps the world’s leading CPGs define global growth strategy, investments, and customer segmentation.

In his 11 years at Kantar, Karl has held leadership roles in custom client solutions, enterprise client relationship management, and market research execution. He currently serves on Centers of Excellence focused on AI integration, automation, business efficiency, and continuous improvement across Kantar.

Priscila Garcia ist SVP für Global Account Management bei Coveo. Mit über zwei Jahrzehnten Erfahrung im Bereich Unternehmenssoftware kann sie eine Erfolgsbilanz bei der Förderung erheblichen Wachstums bei gleichzeitiger Aufrechterhaltung außergewöhnlicher Kundenzufriedenheit vorweisen. Vor ihrem Wechsel zu Coveo war sie bei PTC tätig, wo sie ein globales Kundenportfolio im Wert von über 350 Mio. USD verantwortete. Zudem leitete sie die Akquise neuer Kunden für das internationale SLM-Geschäft. Bei ServiceMax arbeitete sie als VP of Global Account Management und war für die Teams für Kundenerfolg, Kundenbindung und -expansion verantwortlich. Zu ihren früheren Positionen zählen Führungspositionen bei GE Digital und Alfresco, wo sie ihre Expertise in den Bereichen Verkaufsstrategie, digitale Transformation und interkulturelle Teamführung verfeinerte.

Peter Curran ist der General Manager of Commerce bei Coveo. Im Laufe der Jahre hat er mit verschiedenen E-Commerce-Geschäftsmodellen, Kategorien und Unternehmensgrößen gearbeitet. Er war Mitgründer sowie President und Head of Sales von Cirrus10, einem Beratungsunternehmen für Web-Content-Management und E-Commerce-Technologie. Cirrus10 wurde 2019 von Lucidworks übernommen. Bei Lucidworks war er als General Manager of Commerce, Senior Vice President Go to Market und Chief Revenue Officer tätig. Anschließend leitete er seine eigene strategische Beratungsfirma, die Constructor.io und OpenSearch implementierte und optimierte. Mit 30 Jahren Erfahrung in Unternehmenstechnologie hat er sich in den letzten 15 Jahren auf die Verbesserung der Produktsuche über verschiedenste Branchen, Anwendungsfälle und Plattformen hinweg konzentriert.

Sébastien Paquet obtained his Ph.D. in Artificial Intelligence at Laval University in 2006. Subsequently, he worked as a computer consultant for 8 years, mainly on research and development projects in the field of military intelligence. He worked on several types of technologies related to knowledge management and decision making: natural language processing, machine learning, operations research, and automated reasoning. Since 2014, Mr. Paquet is leading the machine learning team at Coveo developing algorithms to improve information retrieval, recommendations, and personalization. His recent interests and work are in the areas of machine learning, large-scale usage data analysis, and natural language processing.