Talks & Media

I like talking about cloud careers, AWS architecture, and building with AI, especially with students and early-career engineers. If you’d like me to speak at your school, meetup, or team, bug me on LinkedIn.

Speaker kit

Organizing an event? Everything you need to promote a talk is here.

Short bio

Luke Little is Head of Intelligent Data and Cloud at Ippon Technologies, where he leads cloud, data, and AI infrastructure work. He is the lead organizer of the Richmond AWS User Group and an MBA candidate at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business.

Longer bio

Luke Little is Head of Intelligent Data and Cloud at Ippon Technologies, where he leads cloud, data, and AI infrastructure work, much of it for banking and capital markets. His career runs from baking to banking to cloud consulting, and he writes at lukelittle.com about building regulated systems on AWS and running AI safely in production. Luke is the lead organizer of the Richmond AWS User Group, hosted Season 4 of Ippon’s podcast The Data Pour, and regularly speaks to computing students about breaking into cloud careers. He serves on the UNC Charlotte Alumni Board of Directors and is pursuing an MBA at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business.

Topics I speak on

• Cracking the Cloud. How students and early-career engineers can stand out with certifications, real projects, and relationships, even in a tough market.
• AI guardrails and governance. How to run generative AI safely in regulated industries: guardrails, governance design, and audit trails.
• Agentic AI on AWS. Building and operating AI agents with MCP and Amazon Bedrock, usually as a live demo.
• Regulated systems on AWS. Streaming architectures for SEC and FINRA rules like market access controls and margin monitoring.

Talks

Cracking the Cloud (2026 edition)
UNC Charlotte · September 2026
Back at UNC Charlotte, this time as a member of the alumni board, on how students can stand out in a tough market with certifications, projects, and relationships.

AI guardrails and governance in regulated industries
Richmond AWS User Group · August 2026
How guardrails wrap model invocations, and how to design governance strategies for AI where compliance matters.

Cracking the Cloud: How AWS Certifications Can Launch Your Career
Virginia Commonwealth University, Department of Computer Science · March 2026
A session for CS seniors on standing out with certifications, self-directed projects, and real relationships.
Write-up

FastMCP on AWS: a live demo
Richmond AWS User Group · February 2026
An unrehearsed, AI-assisted build of an MCP server on AWS, hiccups included.
Write-up · Code and prompt

Cracking the Cloud: Preparing Students to Build in a Tougher Job Market
UNC Charlotte, Computer Science · December 2025
A 30-60-90 day plan for students to get hands-on cloud experience before their first job.
Write-up · Materials

Podcast: The Data Pour (Season 4 host)

I hosted Season 4 of Ippon’s The Data Pour: real conversations about cloud, data, and AI with the people who build it.

Community

I’m the lead organizer of the Richmond AWS User Group. Recent meetups include AI guardrails and governance (August 2026), FastMCP on AWS and a session on Kiro.