KX Meetup
Boston

The first week of May saw FD, EPAM, and their partner KX kick off KX’s first Meetup of 2026 at EPAM’s impressive, warehouse-converted flagship office in Boston’s Seaport district. Representing FD as one of three featured speakers alongside Nick Sansone of KX, the author shared the stage with Jianwen Luo from OneTick, who expertly broke down large-scale options analytics, and Sam Duffy from MFS, who wowed the crowd by demonstrating how Claude Skills manage Kubernetes for high-scale quant workflows. Taking an unconventional, slide-free approach, the author instead led a dynamic, room-wide conversation that sparked lively debate on market volatility, kdb+ robustness, AI cognitive processing, and surveillance use cases, drawing direct insights from self-taught students, an advanced OLCP database AI firm, and FD’s own Kent Devolin on AI’s rising appetite in wealth management. The high-energy audience participation smoothly transitioned into a successful networking reception filled with collaborative buzz, drawing talented students from across Massachusetts and leaving the author feeling immense gratitude toward the host, the attendees, and the supporting FD team—Victoria Shanks, Henry Lamb, and Kent Devolin—while reflecting on the inspiring trip during the Amtrak ride back to NYC.