Speaker Profiles
Adriana Rojas
SAS Global Academic Program Manager
Adriana Rojas leads the SAS Academic Program for Iberia, supporting universities in integrating analytics and AI into their curricula. With a background in Business Administration and professional experience at IBM, Lenovo, Symantec, and SAS, she is passionate about preparing students for data-driven careers. Adriana works to bridge the gap between academia and industry through certification, hands-on learning, and strategic collaboration.
Glyn Townsend
Sr. Director, Education & Academic Services, SAS EMEA
Glyn Townsend is the Senior Director of Education and Academic Services at SAS, where he leads the company’s training and academic initiatives across the EMEA region. Glyn collaborates with customers, governments, and universities to deliver impactful, large-scale skills programmes in AI and data science. His work is helping to redefine how economies prepare for the demands of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, driving digital transformation, promoting ethical AI, and expanding inclusive access to future-critical careers.
Paul Ridge
Director, Financial Services at SAS
With more than 10 years’ experience helping retail financial services customers exploit the value of advanced analytics, Paul has experience in marketing, fraud, risk and other domains.
The last four years of his career have been focused on the UK insurance industry, working with customers to embrace new data sources, data management best practice and new analytical techniques.
Paul has a particular interest in the internet of things, and its potential to change the societies we live in and support a new wave of innovation. Paul Ridge's focus is helping organisations to exploit the power of AI in an ethical way. He has a particularly strong knowledge of the financial sector, especially insurance.
Anselmo Marmonti
Vice President - Risk, Fraud & Compliance Solutions at SAS
Anselmo Marmonti leads the Global Risk and Finance Advisory practice within SAS’ Risk Research and Quantitative Solutions division, shaping the vision and strategy for integrated risk solutions across banking and insurance. With deep expertise in risk and finance management, compliance, and governance, he is a recognized industry voice who supports institutions worldwide on their risk transformation journeys. Since joining SAS in 2001, Anselmo has held roles spanning consulting, business development, and regional leadership, contributing to major regulatory and transformation programs including Basel II/III, Solvency II, BCBS 239, IFRS 9, IFRS 17, and enterprise stress testing. He holds a degree in Financial Markets and Institutions Economics from Bocconi University and is certified in financial risk management by GARP.
Sandra Sorza Hernandez
Global Risk Consultant at SAS
Sandra Sonza Hernandez is a Global Risk Consultant at SAS with more than 13 years of experience in the financial sector. She specializes in the credit lifecycle, risk models, and decisioning, working with banks, fintechs, and telcos across multiple countries. Passionate about data and technology, she focuses on building innovative, analytics driven solutions that strengthen risk infrastructure and deliver measurable business impact.
Martim Rocha
Risk & Finance Management Expert
Martim Rocha brings more than 25 years of experience in Risk and Finance Management, Business Analytics, and Business Intelligence across the financial services industry, as well as telecom, public sector, and services. He has led major initiatives in risk management, performance management, financial management, forecasting analytics, and data mining. His expertise spans risk management, forecasting, data mining, financial intelligence, data warehousing, business intelligence, and Balanced Scorecard methodologies.
Diego Senso
Risk Management Specialist at SAS
Diego Senso works at the intersection of AI, Risk Management, and global regulation, driving the adoption of Responsible AI. He helps organizations build transparent and trustworthy decisioning systems aligned with frameworks such as the EU AI Act. Since joining SAS in 2021, he has advanced into a key role supporting France, Benelux, and Iberia, advising on AI Governance, Risk Modeling, and regulatory compliance. With a background in Data Science for Finance and a double degree in Law and Business Administration, he bridges technical insight and commercial strategy to support international stakeholders in scaling ethical, resilient AI.
Grégoire de Lassence
Data Scientist, Big Data Analyst at SAS, Associate Professor
Grégoire de Lassence has extensive experience teaching SAS, analytics, and data science at leading universities and business schools in France and internationally, delivering more than 100 teaching days per year, primarily at Master’s level. His expertise includes business analytics, decision support systems, marketing analytics, AI, and operational use of SAS technologies. Passionate about education and innovation, he is recognized for helping bridge the gap between academic research and practical business applications.
Jos van der Velden
Global Academic Program Manager, Data Scientist at SAS
Jos focuses on strengthening collaboration between SAS and the academic community. Originally trained in horticulture before transitioning into IT, he has been with SAS since 1996, working first in the Netherlands and later in Portugal. Jos also teaches at several universities in Spain and Portugal, where he supports the development of future talents. His work centers on building academic partnerships, expanding learning and research opportunities, and promoting ethical approaches to AI and digital transformation. He is a strong advocate for curiosity, lifelong learning, and closing the global data science skills gap.
Alina Luchian
Education and Academic Territory Leader for Southeast Europe, SAS
Alina Luchian is an expert in consulting, education services, sales and marketing, in the IT field, with over 21 years of experience in the industry. She is a graduate of the Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies and holds an INSEAD Master in 2008 in the field of Business Administration. She graduated from IBM Global Business School in 2005, and IBM Top Gun in 2006. She is also a Professional Coach with a degree from Barret Values in 2018.
Currently she occupies the position of Academic and Education Territory Lead Southeast Europe at SAS, covering over 14 countries. Since 2024, Alina has been also a Ph.D. student, having AI as a research thesis and she is a lecturer at Bucharest University of Economic Studies, too.