Product + Tech: Healthy Tension in the Age of AI
About this Event
Join PMA.LA and the CTO Forum for an insightful evening exploring what happens when Product and Engineering don't immediately agree, and why that tension can sometimes lead to better outcomes.
Through real-world examples and case studies, we'll explore how productive tension, healthy debate, and adversarial collaboration can strengthen decision-making and help teams build better products.
You'll hear examples of moments when the Product and Engineering partnership was challenged to reach a better outcome, along with the processes, conversations, and lessons that helped teams move forward with a shared vision.
During the conversation, we'll explore:
- How Product and Engineering teams can work together to bring roadmaps to life.
- How leaders balance demand management with executive communication and storytelling.
- The productive tension between business priorities and technical realities.
- How ‘shared visioning’ can help Product, Engineering, Business, and IT leaders align around better outcomes.
Come ready for a practical conversation about navigating disagreement, building stronger partnerships, and turning productive tension into better products.
Panel
- Bernadette Irizarry, VP Product & Design - Platform Experience
- Julia King, Senior Vice President, Technology for Marketing and Distribution
- Saydulu Kolasani, Chief Digital and Technology Officer at AXS
Moderator
- Oded Noy, Founder and CEO of Contega, Sr Operating Partner at Bloom Equity Partners
Bios
Bernadette Irizarry is a digital innovator and transformational leader with over 20 years of experience across the media, non-profit, and tech sectors. Currently leading the Platform Experience team at Sony Pictures Entertainment, she specializes in UX, business strategy, and data-driven, customer-centric design. Bernadette is also an editor, frequent conference speaker, and board member dedicated to championing diversity and inclusion within design and technology.
Julia King is the SVP of Marketing & Distribution Technology at Sony Pictures Entertainment. A veteran of digital operations and strategy, she has led large-scale consumer experiences for global brands including Nike, Warner Bros., and MTV. Julia oversees teams focused on enterprise digital marketing platforms and focuses on the strategic deployment of emerging platform technologies to bridge the gap between creative vision and technical execution.
Saydulu is the Chief Digital and Technology Officer at AXS, a global leader in ticketing. At AXS, Saydulu is leading technology, product, data, and AI strategy; transforming a fragmented landscape built through 10+ acquisitions into a unified marketing, commerce, data, and enterprise platform foundation while driving the carve-out from AEG and building mission-critical technology for the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games
Oded Noy is a technology leader, founder, and investor. He is Founder and CEO of Contega, which is building the context layer that powers how teams work in the age of AI. He co-founded TrueCar and was CTO of Crexi for many years. As Senior Operating Partner at Bloom Equity Partners, a private equity firm that invests in mid-market software, he works with executive teams and boards and has taken part in several acquisitions and exits. He is also Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Amplify.LA, a pre-seed venture fund, and co-founder and chairman of the CTO Forum. He holds seven technology patents
Our Sponsors
We’re grateful to Mission Cloud, Terminal, and QA Wolf for their generous support in making this event possible. Your partnership helps us bring the community together and drive meaningful impact.
Mission Cloud, a CDW Company, is a leading AWS Premier Tier Services Partner specializing in cloud migration, modernization, and generative AI. As an elite, born-in-the-cloud managed services provider, Mission Cloud serves as an external engineering arm for businesses looking to optimize their AWS infrastructure, reduce cloud spend, and accelerate digital transformation.
QA Wolf is an innovative AI-native QA platform and service that helps software teams ship better applications faster by taking automated testing completely off their plate. Combining autonomous AI agents with an ultra-fast parallel infrastructure, QA Wolf delivers 100% flake-free, end-to-end test coverage for web and mobile apps, allowing engineering teams to deploy code with total confidence.
, is a platform that helps fast-growing companies source, hire, and retain elite global engineering talent across geographic borders. The company combines AI-powered technology with recruiting, HR, and global infrastructure—often acting as an Employer of Record (EOR)—to streamline payroll, benefits, and local compliance. By eliminating geographical barriers, Terminal empowers remote-first engineering teams to build world-class products together.
Agenda
🕑: 06:00 PM - 07:00 PM
Networking (6:00 PM - 6:45 PM)
🕑: 07:00 PM - 08:00 PM
Panel Discussion & Q&A
🕑: 08:00 PM - 09:00 PM
Post-Event Networking
Where is it happening?
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
USD 21.05 to USD 28.52
