PyData Strategic Committee
The PyData Strategic Committee is a global initiative, approved by the NumFOCUS Board of Directors in the summer of 2025, to strengthen collaboration across the worldwide PyData community. With more than 245 local chapters and hundreds of thousands of members, PyData thrives on shared learning and open exchange—but local groups often face similar challenges in isolation. The committee provides a central framework to connect organizers, share resources, and coordinate community-wide efforts. By fostering communication, supporting educational initiatives, and amplifying our collective impact, the committee helps ensure PyData continues to grow as a unified, inclusive, and sustainable global network.
To get in touch or learn more about the committee’s work, contact us at [email protected]
Committee Members
John Carney
Committee Chair
From Manchester in the UK, John co-founded PyDataMCR in 2018, and along with his team he’s been running it ever since. In 2023 John took on the role of conference co-chair of PyData London for the 2024 conference, and has been doing that ever since.
Since the early days of PyDataMCR, John has been working with other meetups in Manchester and the other PyData communities within the UK, London, Bath, Edinburgh, Lancaster, etc. Since taking on the conference chair role, that has taken an international dimension, leading to more conversations with other PyData leaders and the identification of common problems.
John got his PhD in genetics in 2016, on “Adapting UK Winter Wheat to predicted climate change scenarios”. It was during this research project that he was introduced both to programming and the PyData stack. Nowadays ,his day job is helping organisations build data and AI products as a consultant for PDFTA.
Abby Tse
Northeast US Lead / Representative
Abby Tse has chaired the PyData NYC Meetup group since 2022, leading a community of over 8,000 data professionals. In 2025, she was appointed as the Northeast U.S. representative on the PyData Strategic Committee. Each year, she organizes the PyData NYC/Boston Conference, a three-day event that draws over 600 global attendees to explore the latest developments in data science and AI. At IBM, Abby is a Software Engineer driving the development of AskIBM, an enterprise-wide digital assistant built with watsonx.ai and Granite-class LLMs. Her work focuses on using generative AI to streamline business operations and boost employee productivity.
Abby got her Bachelor’s in Computer Science from Fordham University in 2020. In 2026, she will pursue her Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Columbia University.
Sanket Verma
Board of Directors Representative
Sanket Verma has been an integral part of the NumFOCUS and PyData community for over eight years, championing the growth of PyData culture across India. As the leader of PyData Delhi, he organized India’s first PyData conference in 2017, which catalyzed the formation of numerous PyData chapters across the country. Since then, he has co-chaired six PyData conferences (Delhi and Global), organized over 40 meetups, and raised more than $300,000 to support NumFOCUS projects, earning the NumFOCUS Community Leadership Award in 2022. Currently, Sanket leads open-source initiatives for Zarr, a NumFOCUS-sponsored project, and serves on the SPEC and OSSci steering committees. His extensive experience spans governance, infrastructure support, contributor engagement, and event organization, equipping him to address the challenges of the open-source ecosystem and advance its growth effectively.
Kally Chung
Kally Chung is a data analyst whose journey into the tech world followed a unique path from teaching and entrepreneurship, by owning a small hairdressing salon. With over four years of experience in sectors like food delivery, health tech, and finance, her diverse background gives her a unique perspective on data. She is a passionate advocate for the Python and data communities, serving as the co-chair of PyData Amsterdam since 2025. In this role, she brings the community together by organizing monthly meetups and an annual 3-day conference that attracts over 1,000 people. She also volunteers on #dataforgood projects, helping organizations leverage data and AI for social impact, and fostering knowledge-sharing.
Jim Weiss
NumFOCUS Staff Representative
Jim Weiss joined NumFOCUS in 2017, bringing over seven years of event management experience to the organization. Prior to joining NumFOCUS, Jim worked in Washington, D.C., coordinating congressional hearings for the U.S. House of Representatives and managing events for the U.S. Air Force. Jim hails from Pennsylvania and graduated from Lafayette College.