The Localization Institute is excited to offer several interactive seminars and round tables as part of the upcoming Global Toolbox Day at LocWorld55 in Dublin, Ireland, on Tuesday June 9 2026. These sessions will each take place at the Clayton Hotel Burlington Road. As a co-organizer of the LocWorld Conference, the Localization Institute offers these seminars and round tables as separate, stand-alone events. Registration for LocWorld Dublin is not required to attend a Global Toolbox session.
Please Note: Global Toolbox sessions have size limits that cannot be exceeded – register now to reserve your seat!
Full Day Sessions – Lunch Included
GTB1 – Multilingual AI Roundtable
Tuesday, June 9 from 9:00am – 5:00pm
Registration Fee: €750 + VAT – full day price (lunch included).
10% discount for 3 or more students from the same company – please contact jill@
Event description: From General LLMs to Specialized Agents: Adopting AI Across Verticals
AI adoption in localization no longer relies on a one-size-fits-all approach.
While general-purpose LLMs have accelerated experimentation across industries, organizations are now facing vertical-specific challenges. To put AI in action, we need more targeted, governed, and intelligent solutions that balance human perspective and control with productivity, scalability and profitability.
This roundtable explores how multilingual AI tech stacks enable intelligent workflows, amid the shift from monolithic models to compound AI systems. It
enables user communities to better shape solutions for their specific vertical needs.
Roundtable Session Agenda:
- Plugging LLM Electricity into Localization – OpenAI – Kathy Mok, Shawn O’Mara, and Brandon Ramirez
- From QE Outputs to Business Decisions: Evaluating Systems for Real-World Localization – Dr. Alon Lavie and Evelyn Yang Garland
- The more things change, the more they stay the same: the multi-model dilemma – Dr. John Tinsley
- Orchestrating Agents: Governance, Risk, and Quality – Bruno Bitter
- Cultural Intelligence as the Next Frontier of Localization AI – Dr. Marina Pantcheva
- Future of Commercial Providers of Multilingual AI Tech Stacks – Olga Beregovaya
- Roundtable discussion, Q&A, and inspiration – Dr. Peng Wang and all
By joining this round table, you will:
- Enable innovative localization workflows with AI technologies
- Understand what AI technologies can and cannot do
- Gather insights to apply and manage AI at the enterprise level
- Discuss industry best practices to manage people, AI technologies and data
- Consider future trends in the AI space
- Develop valuable connections with industry peers
This round table is for:
- Decision-makers who aim to leverage AI on both strategic and operational levels
- Buyers who want to implement Multilingual AI
- Project Managers tasked with implementing an MT/AI solution
- Vendors who want to leverage MT/AI to meet their clients’ needs
- IT professionals involved in MT/AI implementation
- Content Managers responsible for global content
Roundtable moderator/organizer:
- Peng Wang, The Localization Institute
Advisory board members:
- Alon Lavie, Phrase/CMU
- Olga Beregovaya, Smartling
- Georg Kirchner, Dell
- Marina Pantcheva, RWS
Speakers:
- John Tinsley, Translated
- Bruno Bitter, Blackbird.io
- Evelyn Yang Garland, Acta-Transphere
- Brandon Ramirez, OpenAI
- Kathy Mok, OpenAI
- Shawn O’Mara, OpenAI
Please note:
The Round Table’s success depends on people being willing to share information and experiences freely. To encourage that, the sessions are not recorded or republished and no formal minutes or records are kept. Attendees are free to keep their own notes.
Dr. Peng Wang has taught, researched and practiced translation and localization on three continents. She is the convener for EDUinLOC, the chair of the automation/AI track for LocWorld conferences and a part-time professor at the University of Ottawa. Previously, she was the CAT Tools Coordinator at the University of Maryland.
Dr. Wang has rich research experience on NLP AI, having worked as a linguistic researcher at the Corpus Research Lab at Northern Arizona University, a domain expert for data mining projects at the University of Maryland and an honorary research fellow on automatic discourse analysis tools at the University of Liverpool. Her current research and practice focus on human learning vs. machine learning, machine translation, terminology and multilingual corpus analysis.
Dr. Wang has published about 30 articles and two books. She is an expert in approaching technology in the context of culture and humanities. She embraces linguistic and cultural diversity in her classrooms, with students aged from 18 to over 70, in over 10 language combinations, coming from UAE, China, Italy, Spain, Germany, Morocco, Colombia, Mexico, and Haiti, to name just a few.
Alon Lavie is the VP of AI Research at Phrase, where he leads the development of the company’s AI strategy and manages its AI research team in Pittsburgh and Prague. Concurrently, Alon is an adjunct Consulting Professor at the Language Technologies Institute at CMU, where he has been a member of the faculty for 26 years. Prior to joining Phrase, he was the VP of Language Technologies at Unbabel. Prior to Unbabel, Alon was a senior manager at Amazon, where he led and managed the Amazon Machine Translation R&D group in Pittsburgh. Prior to that, Alon was the co-founder, President and CTO of “Safaba Translation Solutions”, an enterprise MT solutions technology startup, acquired by Amazon. Alon is a well-known expert in MT and translation evaluation, and spearheaded the development of the METEOR and COMET metrics. Other research interests and activities include MT adaptation approaches with and without human feedback, translation Quality Estimation, and methods for multi-engine MT system combination.
Alon served as the President of the International Association for Machine Translation (IAMT) (2013-2015). Prior to that, he was president of the Association for Machine Translation in the Americas (AMTA) (2008-2012), and was General Chair of the AMTA 2010 and 2012 conferences. He is also a member of the Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL), where he was president of SIGParse – ACL’s special interest group on parsing (2008-2013). In August 2021, at the 18th biennial Machine Translation Summit conference, Alon was honored to be awarded with the 2021 Makoto Nagao IAMT Award of Honour for his contributions to the field of Machine Translation.
Connect with Alon on LinkedIn.
Olga Beregovaya – Vice President of AI and Machine Translation – Smartling. Olga Beregovaya has over 20 years of experience in Language Technology, NLP, Machine Learning, Global Content Transformation and AI Data development and is passionate about growing businesses through driving change and innovation. Olga started her career in language technology building lexicons and rules for Rule-based machine translation, gradually expanding her expertise into other broader applications of NLP and Machine Learning to enterprise translation workflows. Olga has also served as President of AMTA, currently serves as a Board member of Women in Localization and as an Advisor for Engineering Leadership at California State University, Chico. Olga received her MA, Linguistics/Germanic Studies at UC- Berkeley and MA/BA in Linguistics from St. Petersburg State University.
Georg Kirchner – Machine Translation Program Manager – Dell. Georg Kirchner oversees the Machine Translation program at Dell Technologies. In this capacity, he assists both end users and translators from within the Global Translation Team, a shared services organization. Before shifting his focus to Machine Translation and related machine learning technologies, Georg was responsible for Translation Management Systems. Georg started his localization career in production, spending 17 years in various roles, including staff translator, project & program manager, and PMO lead.
Marina Pantcheva – Director Linguistic AI Services – RWS. Marina is a linguist and polyglot with experience in academic pursuits as well as management, leadership and innovation. Marina holds a PhD degree in Theoretical Linguistics. Her academic work centered around the exploration of the elementary particles of language within the framework of Nanosyntax. In 2014, Marina transitioned to the world of Localization. For several years, she developed processes and solutions for crowd-based localization, covering technology, BI, linguistic quality, Community management and more. Currently, Marina is heading the Linguistic AI Services Center of Excellence at RWS, dedicating her efforts to the development and implementation of linguistic AI solutions.
John Tinsley – VP of AI Solutions – Translated. John Tinsley is the VP of AI Solutions at Translated. He’s a computer scientist with more than
15 years experience in the localization industry. Prior to Translated, he founded Iconic Translation Machines, an award-winning language technology software business which pioneered the commercial deployment of Neural Machine Translation technology. John led the business for almost a decade before selling it to RWS in 2020 in one of the largest technology deals in the language industry. He holds a PhD in Computer Science and a degree in Applied Computational Linguistics, and is a regular public speaker on topics related to language, translation, and business.
Bruno Bitter – Co-founder and CEO – Blackbird.io. Bruno Bitter is the co-founder and CEO of Blackbird.io, a ContentOps platform for multilingual workflow orchestration and process automation. A Canadian-Hungarian dual citizen and serial entrepreneur, he previously founded and led an award-winning digital marketing agency, pioneering innovative brand experiences. He also co-founded a text-to-animation AI startup, advancing AI-driven content creation, and served as CMO and COO at memoQ Translation Technologies from 2017 to 2020.
In 2023, Bruno won the Process Innovation Challenge at LocWorld49 in Malmö in recognition of his contributions to analytics-driven decision automation. Passionate about AI, automation, and business process optimization, he is a frequent speaker at global conferences, sharing insights on technology’s role in transforming ContentOps and AI-driven workflows.
Bruno is an alumnus of MIT, Utrecht University, ELTE, and The Berlin School of Creative Leadership. He currently lives in Budapest with his wife and two children.
Kathy Mok – Head of Internationalization and Localization – OpenAI.
Kathy Mok leads internationalization and localization at OpenAI, where she focuses on building scalable systems that enable products and content to reach global audiences effectively. With a background spanning technology, media, and global platforms—including roles at Apple, Disney, Uber, and Coinbase—she has extensive experience shaping localization strategy, quality frameworks, and multilingual product launches. Kathy’s work centers on applying AI-driven approaches to translation and international growth while maintaining high standards for linguistic and cultural quality. She joins LocWorld to share lessons from building AI-first localization systems and to explore how the industry can rethink translation quality in the era of generative AI.
GTB2 – Bigger, Better, Faster Round Table: Real-Life AI Adventures: From Imagination to Integration
Staying in the Driver’s Seat: Practical Strategies for Localization Leaders in the Age of AI
Tuesday, June 9 from 9:00am – 5:00pm
Registration Fee: €750 + VAT – full day price (lunch included).
10% discount for 3 or more students from the same company – please contact jill@
Session Description:
AI has shifted the conversation around localization – but how do we translate that shift into actionable leadership? This roundtable focuses on practical approaches for maintaining control and credibility when everyone thinks translation is solved. We’ll explore concrete strategies: how localization managers can speak the language of technical writers, engineers, and marketers to build internal advocacy; how to work with TPMs to deploy AI tools that strengthen rather than sideline your role; and what LSPs and tech providers can do to support loc managers in managing both workflows and stakeholder expectations. Come ready to share real examples of what’s worked (and what hasn’t) in setting realistic expectations, demonstrating the skilled work behind “automatic” outputs, and positioning localization as a strategic function, not a checkbox.
Target Audience: Everyone
Attendee Experience Level: Beginner to advanced
Round Table Organizers:
- Daniel Goldschmidt
Advisory Board Members:
- Antoine Rey, Argos Multilingual
- Oleksandr Pysaryuk, GitLab
- Christiane Bark, Localization Consultant
Speakers:
- Chiara Pacella, Meta
- Lorna Whelan, Klaviyo
- Kevin O’Donnell, Global10x
- Roberto Silva
Please note:
The Round Table’s success depends on people being willing to share information and experiences freely. To encourage that, we ask the attendees not to record or republish the session. No formal minutes or records are kept, but attendees are free to keep their own notes.
Daniel Goldschmidt – Collaborator – LocWorld. Daniel is a consultant in software internalization and localization. Prior to that, he served as a senior internationalization project manager at Microsoft in the Cloud and Enterprise Division and led the internationalization team. Before joining Microsoft, Daniel cofounded RIGI Localization Solutions, a venture in the domain of visual localization, and he served as a senior software engineer for the Google internationalization team. He serves as vice-chair of the LocWorld program committee and as a member of the Internationalization and Unicode Conference review committee. Daniel presents frequently at international events. He holds a BS in computer science and mathematics (cum laude) and an MS in computer science, both from the Hebrew University, Jerusalem.
Antoine Rey – SVP, Customer Development – Argos Multilingual. Antoine Rey started his career in localization in 1997 and has held various technical, sales, and management roles in the industry. His main area of focus is to consult, develop, and implement mature operational and business globalization models with clients across various industries. Antoine is a French native and holds a MS in information technology and a BA in international business and communications. He lives in Dublin, Ireland.
Oleksandr Pysaryuk – Senior Manager, Globalization Technology – GitLab. Oleksandr is a localization leader with experience in building and growing successful teams and disciplines focused on internationalization software development, localization and internationalization technical program management, and global product management in sports technology, telecommunications, consumer technology, human capital management, ecommerce and engineering organizations.
Christiane Bark –Localization Consultant. Christiane Bark discovered her passion for localization as a volunteer translator for Plan International and decided to make a career of it. She holds a diploma in translation and has worked in both freelance and in-house roles. Formerly a lead localization manager at Busuu, Christiane took over the content team and implemented a new localization process, bringing the quality of both the source content and translated copy to a whole new level.
Chiara Pacella – Lead in Language Management – Meta. Chiara Pacella is a lead in language management at META where she covers a series of roles that span from linguistic support, translation quality assurance (QA), vendor management, training and crowd management. After an initial career as an in-house, vendor-side marketing and technical translator, linguistic tester and freelancer, she became involved in the broader localization industry then joined the Facebook team in early 2010 moving to the client-side. Chiara is now focusing on translation QA and language management and is still actively involved in crowd management at META. In the past, Chiara was involved as a partner in the EU-funded MultilingualWeb Thematic Network, where she also acted as a speaker during their workshops. She holds a BA in translation and interpreting (Italian with English, Spanish and Portuguese) from the University of Trieste and an MA in applied translation studies from the University of Leeds (Italian with English and French).
Half Day Session
GTB4 – Global Program Management: Influencing in the Age of AI
Tuesday, June 9 from 1:00pm – 5:00pm
Registration Fee: €350 + VAT – afternoon half day (lunch NOT included).
10% discount for 3 or more students from the same company – please contact jill@
Event description:
As AI commoditizes technical knowledge, human-centric leadership becomes the primary differentiator for organizational success. Human leadership and influencing skills are even more critical in the age of AI. While AI excels at processing data, humans must lead by fostering, connecting, motivating and influencing for change. These uniquely human skills are essential for navigating complex, nuanced situations and ensuring technology aligns with human values, the needs of the customers and the needs of the business.
This workshop is part of the Global Program Management series. It will teach you a practical, 7-step process of how to influence individuals or teams across and above in your organization as well as outside of it.
Topics to be discussed:
1. Navigating corporate dynamics to influence change
2. Relationship management – building, diagnosing, managing relationships
3. Business alignment – your goals versus their goals
4. Exchanging different types of “currencies” – how to give others what they want in exchange for what you need
5. Six sources of influence you can build in your professional toolkit
6. Six universal truths of influence you can use as influencing techniques
7. Simple 4-step approach for how to connect with and persuade others built on all the above
By joining this workshop, you will:
- Learn how to navigate corporate dynamics and build strong networks
- Enhance your understanding of relationship management
- Understand how to align the needs of your team or enterprise to the larger business needs of your stakeholders or clients
- Be able to offer the right “currencies” to give others what they want in exchange for what you need
- Identify six different sources of influence you can build
- Harness the science of persuasion through six universal influencing techniques
- Persuade others using a simple 4-step approach built on all the above
This workshop is for:
- Anyone at any level of organizations on the buyer or supplier side who want to learn how to influence people and teams across the organization, above in the organization as well as outside of their organization.
Roundtable moderator/organizer:
- Eva Klaudinyova, The Middlebury Institute of International Studies/The Localization Institute
Eva Klaudinyova -The Middlebury Institute of International Studies/The Localization Institute.
Eva Klaudinyova has been working in the localization industry since 2000, leading localization teams and implementing new strategies in some of the most well-known companies in Silicon Valley. She has a linguistic background with experience in translation, review and QA; project and program management experience on the supplier side (Medialocate); as well as experience managing localization teams and programs of all sizes on the buyer side. She has built the marketing localization program at VeriSign from scratch, she has run the worldwide Globalization Operations program at VMware, and she has also built a world-class quality and supplier management program for multiple localization departments at Apple.
Eva is also a co-founder and Advisory Board member of Women in Localization. She is currently the Program Chair of the Translation and Localization Management department at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, imparting her knowledge and longstanding localization and leadership experience to graduate students. She is from Slovakia, is multilingual, and holds MAs in Foreign Language Teaching and in Translation.
