ACGSV Top 5 Tech Trends 2026

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Ashley Tarver, Data, AI & Cloud Evangelist @ Microsoft

Ashley Tarver is technologist and entrepreneur based in San Francisco, CA. He works as a Data & AI evangelist at Microsoft, advising major Silicon Valley companies on AI adoption technology trends. 

Ashley is the board president of the Association of Corporate Growth – Silicon Valley Chapter and has successfully founded and exited three start-ups. He also serves as a board advisor and frequently speaks on topics involving AI, digital assistants, data privacy, autonomous technologies, and cloud strategy.

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James Yin, CTO & Co-Lead @ TechForGood Basecamp

James Yin is a Staff Machine Learning Engineer at Ontra, where he builds and scales AI systems that transform complex legal and financial documents into structured, actionable intelligence for the private markets. Particularly, James leads the development of Ontra's document search and contract automation solutions.

Beyond his industry work, James serves as CTO and co-lead of TechForGood Basecamp, a Silicon Valley nonprofit that brings together engineers, designers, and nonprofit leaders to rapidly prototype AI solutions for real-world social challenges. The program has mobilized cross-functional teams to deliver impactful tools for organizations ranging from healthcare to education within just a few days of collaboration.

James' work sits at the intersection of applied AI, product systems, and social impact. He is particularly interested in how advances in large language models and production ML can be translated into reliable, high-leverage tools, both in enterprise settings and in mission-driven contexts.

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Leo Chen, Director of US Operations @ Engineered Arts
Since the first time he watched R2-D2 trundle across the screen in Star Wars, Leo’s wanted to build robots. He started his high school FIRST Robotics team back in 2006. He spent much of his college trying to build a robotic cockroach out of carbon fiber and also secured an NSF grant to build out a robotic eel with realistic anguillaform motion.

Leo’s first career stop was at Linear Technologies (acquired by Analog Devices in 2017) as an application engineer. He was lucky enough to be able to help some of Silicon Valley’s best and brightest on their projects working on projects like the 1st generation Tesla Roadster, the 1st generation iPhone and the 1st generation iPad. Getting tired of solving other peoples’ problems instead of his own, Leo made his way over to Google’s applied science arm [X] in 2014 where he helped them design and build giant 75 foot tall and 150 foot tall balloon launching robots for Project Loon. After the wind-down of Loon in 2021, Leo led the Electrical Engineering team at Verdant Robotics where he and his team designed and built a multi-action autonomous agricultural robot that enabled Verdant to secure their first commercial contracts while also closing over $46 million dollars in a series A round in 2022.

In 2023, Leo somehow managed to convince the powers that be that he was qualified enough to build out the humanoid robotics company, Engineered Arts’, first international expansion. He was tasked with building out the US office, which not only became profitable within 6 months, but also allowed Engineered Arts to expand their service area and footprint.
Leo’s just a guy who’s lucky enough to be able to live out his childhood dream. He believes that robotics has the potential to bring benefits to humanity much beyond just stacking boxes in a dark warehouse or building cars in a dangerous factory.
When he’s not nerding out robots, Leo can be found outside punting himself down mountains on a bike or trying to get his new puppy, Grayson to listen to him.

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Luke Nixon, Head of Product Growth, SAP Research & Innovation, SAP Labs Silicon Valley

Luke Nixon leads Product Growth for SAP’s Research & Innovation unit, where he identifies emerging technology trends and applies them to critical business opportunities for SAP customers. His role focuses on technologies that are expected to impact the market in the next three years, allowing him to combine strategic thinking with extensive experience in driving growth across various business lines at SAP. Luke is dedicated to enabling innovators at SAP to focus on the most important opportunities for customers.

Previously, Luke served as COO for SAP Labs US, overseeing strategy and operations for over 4,000 development employees across more than 20 offices in the US. He has held various strategy and operations roles within SAP, including Head of Center of Excellence for SAP Ariba in China, Customer Success Director for the SAP Ariba President’s Office, and was a member of the IMPACT rotational program, where he worked in corporate strategy and solution management. Before moving to the US in 2012, Luke worked as an econometric researcher in commercial real estate across the Asia Pacific region, developing subscription services for industry data.

Luke holds a bachelor’s degree in real estate economics from Western Sydney University and an MBA from Temple University’s Fox School of Business.

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Sijung Yun, CEO & Co-Founder @ Predictiv Care

Sijung Yun is the Co-Founder and CEO of Predictiv Care, Inc., a health-tech company advancing AI-driven precision medicine to proactively predict, prevent, and optimize human health. He also serves as faculty at Johns Hopkins University, where his work focuses on integrating multi-omics data with clinical insights to enable personalized healthcare at scale.

Sijung’s research and entrepreneurial efforts center on developing Predictiv's digital twin platforms that translate complex biological data into actionable clinical decisions. His work spans applications in chronic disease prevention, longevity medicine, and advanced therapeutics such as CAR-T cell therapy optimization. Through Predictiv Care’s flagship platform, he aims to reduce healthcare costs while improving patient outcomes by enabling earlier detection of organ dysfunction and individualized treatment strategies.

Recognized for innovation at CES 2026 in Digital Health, Sijung is actively collaborating with healthcare providers, biopharma, and large self-insured employers to bring precision wellbeing solutions into real-world practice. His vision is to transform healthcare from reactive treatment to proactive, data-driven longevity management.

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MODERATOR: Mark Niu is a technology reporter and an award-winning screenwriter and playwright. He is a correspondent and podcast host for the brain health site Being Patient and serves as a guest panelist on NBC Bay Area’s Press Here TV show. Mark is a regular contributor for Global Business, a news show on international TV station CGTN America. He’s always on the lookout for innovation, covering such events as CES, Game Developer’s Conference, RSA, and a flurry of startup demo days.

For more than three decades, Mark has been a journalist covering global events, providing in depth reporting on the 1997 Hong Kong handover, traveling to North Korea twice where he crossed the DMZ, and interviewing world leaders including the presidents of Taiwan and the Philippines. He was awarded a Foreign Correspondents Human Rights Press Award from Amnesty International for his investigative report on corporal punishment in Indian schools. Mark has helped produce programs for CBS 60 Minutes, Fox News, The NBC Nightly News, The National Geographic Channel, and the Nightly Business Report on PBS. He was a familiar face in Hong Kong where he anchored and reported for the territory’s largest broadcasters, including TVB, Star TV, and Asia Television. Prior to that, Mark served as reporter and anchor at local NBC and ABC affiliates in Wisconsin. 
 
Mark’s play, Juche Rules, based on his travels to North Korea, was staged at East West Players Theater in Los Angeles and published in the Southern California Review. His short films and documentaries have screened at numerous festivals, including winning best writing and directing awards at the Moondance and Poppy Jasper International film festivals.