Keynotes | API & AI Summit 2026 | Sep 30–Oct 1

_01/ SEPT 30_

**Wednesday, September 30**

Augusto Marietti, Kong's CEO & President, opens the morning with "No AI without APIs," arguing that every agentic system running in production sits on the same layer of infrastructure. Alex Drag, Kong's Head of Product Marketing, then leads a quick flyby with Nvidia's Narimane Hennouni, Segment AI Solutions Architect.

Marco Palladino, Kong's CTO, and Sean Keever, Senior Software Engineer at Kong, take the stage next to introduce what's coming. Reza Shafii, SVP Product Management, follows with a keynote on what's shipping next, then stays on stage for a fireside chat with FanDuel's Jonathan Kindberg, Sr. Director of AI Platform & Ops, on what it actually takes to run AI in production with real money behind it, not another pilot. Ken Kim closes the morning with Accenture, walking through what they're seeing play out across the enterprise, and the room heads into lunch still talking about it.

_02/ OCT 1_

**Thursday, October 1**

Kallol Dutta, Group Head of AI at Ericsson, opens day two with how they're building AI at a scale most organizations won't see for years. The Kong Build Sprint winner is named live in front of the teams they beat. Dell and Prudential take the stage together to get honest about what actually broke when they got there first, and what they're still working through.

Senior Gartner Analyst, Nicholas Carter, follows with their POV on the state of API and AI systems in production — the kind of analysis that usually costs a lot more than a summit ticket. The QR code winner announcement keeps the room moving into the Women in Tech panel, where Patricia Papadaki and Oshin D'Souza sit down with PolyAI, TSB Bank, and Siemens Energy, before Kong closes out the technical program with Customer Awards and sends everyone into the afternoon.

The room fills. Kong CEO Augusto Marietti opens with the question every AI team is actually asking right now — not "can we build this," but "can we run this." SVP of Product Reza Shafii answers part of it, live, with a first look at what Kong's building next. Then the mic goes to the people who've already lived through it: Dell, Prudential, and CVS, comparing notes on what actually breaks when AI hits production. Our Diamond sponsor Accenture closes the morning with a fireside on what they're seeing across the enterprise.

By lunch, you'll know exactly why everyone cleared their calendar for this.

Kong CTO Marco Palladino opens day two from the builder's seat — where APIs and AI infrastructure are actually headed, not the version on a slide. Minutes later, the Kong Build Sprint hackathon winner gets named live, in the room. Spotify takes the stage next with their own story, then Gartner Senior Director Analyst Andrew Humphreys puts a number on what the industry's actually doing versus what it says it's doing. The Women in Tech panel closes the technical program before Customer Awards send everyone into the evening.

Day one sets the stakes. Day two is where it pays off.