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Sir Tim Berners-Lee - Inventor, the World Wide Web
Sir Tim Berners-Lee
Inventor, the World Wide Web
Sir Tim Berners-Lee
Inventor, the World Wide Web

Sir Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web in 1989.

He is the co-founder and CTO of Inrupt.com, a tech start-up which uses, promotes and helps develop the open source Solid platform. Solid aims to give people control and agency over their data, questioning many assumptions about how the web has to work. Solid technically is a new level of standard at the web layer, which adds things never put into the original spec, such as global single sign-on, universal access control, and a universal data API so that any app can store data in any storage place. Socially Solid is a movement away from much of the issues with the current WWW, and toward a world in which users are in control, and empowered by large amounts of data, private, shared, and public.

Sir Tim is the Founder, Emeritus Director, and an Honorary Member of the Board of Directors of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), a Web standards organization that he founded in 1994 which develops interoperable technologies (specifications, guidelines, software, and tools) to lead the Web to its full potential. He is a Director of the World Wide Web Foundation which was launched in 2009 to coordinate efforts to further the potential of the Web to benefit humanity.

A graduate of Oxford University, Sir Tim invented the Web while at CERN, the European Particle Physics Laboratory, in 1989. He wrote the first web client and server in 1990. His specifications of URIs, HTTP and HTML were refined as Web technology spread.

He is the Emeritus 3Com Founders Professor of Engineering in the School of Engineering with a joint appointment in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Laboratory for Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence ( CSAIL) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where he founded the Decentralized Information Group (DIG).

The Decentralized Information Group, works on the Solid Project to give people control of their own data and to re-decentralize the Web. He is the co-founder and CTO of inrupt, the company launched to ensure the success of the Solid platform and its open source community, and to build the ecosystem that supports it.

He is also a Professor in the Computer Science Department at the University of Oxford, UK. He is President of and founded the Open Data Institute in London. He is President of London’s Open Data Institute.

In 2001 he became a Fellow of the Royal Society. He has been the recipient of several international awards including the Japan Prize, the Prince of Asturias Foundation Prize, the Millennium Technology Prize and Germany’s Die Quadriga award. In 2004 he was knighted by H.M. Queen Elizabeth and in 2007 he was awarded the Order of Merit. In 2009 he was elected a foreign associate of the National Academy of Sciences. He is the author of “Weaving the Web”.

On March 18 2013, Sir Tim, along with Vinton Cerf, Robert Kahn, Louis Pouzin and Marc Andreesen, was awarded the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering for “ground-breaking innovation in engineering that has been of global benefit to humanity.”

Sir Tim has promoted open government data globally and spends time fighting for rights such as net neutrality, privacy and the openness of the Web.

On 4 April 2017, Sir Tim was awarded the ACM A.M. Turing Prize for inventing the World Wide Web, the first web browser, and the fundamental protocols and algorithms allowing the Web to scale. The Turing Prize, called the “Nobel Prize of Computing” is considered one of the most prestigious awards in Computer Science.

In September 2022, he won the Seoul Peace Prize for his work promoting data sovereignty and leading the movement to “decentralize” the web dominated by tech giants.

Dr. Cynthia Breazeal - Professor of Media Arts and Sciences; MIT Dean for Digital Learning Director
Dr. Cynthia Breazeal
Professor of Media Arts and Sciences; MIT Dean for Digital Learning Director
Dr. Cynthia Breazeal
Professor of Media Arts and Sciences; MIT Dean for Digital Learning Director

Cynthia Breazeal is a professor of media arts and sciences at MIT, where she founded and directs the Personal Robots group at the Media Lab. She is the MIT dean for digital learning, and in this role, she leverages her experience in emerging digital technologies and business, research, and strategic initiatives to lead Open Learning’s business and research & engagement units. She is also the Director of the MIT-wide Initiative on Responsible AI for Social Empowerment and Education (raise.mit.edu). MIT RAISE is a research and outreach effort that advances access and inclusivity in AI education to people of all ages and backgrounds with a focus on K12 and the workforce. She co-founded the consumer social robotics company, Jibo, Inc., where she served as Chief Scientist and Chief Experience Officer.

Breazeal is a pioneer of social robotics and human-robot interaction. Her work balances technical innovation in AI, UX design, and understanding the psychology of engagement to design personified AI technologies that promote human flourishing and personal growth. Her recent work focuses on the theme of “”living with AI”” and understanding the long-term impact of social robots that can build relationships and provide personalized support as helpful companions in daily life. Her research group actively investigates social robots applied to education, pediatrics, health and wellness, and aging. As part of this mission, her group also develops design justice frameworks for human-robot interaction and inclusive AI literacy education for under-served K12 students.

Her seminal book, Designing Sociable Robots, is recognized as a landmark in launching the field of Social Robotics and Human-Robot Interaction. She is a fellow of the AAAI and is an international award-winning innovator, designer, and entrepreneur. She has spoken at prominent venues such as TED, the World Economic Forum, the UN, SXSW, CES, and she has keynoted at numerous top academic conferences. She is a recipient of the National Academy of Engineering’s Gilbreth Lecture Award, Technology Review’s TR35 Award, TIME magazine’s Best Inventions, where her Jibo robot was featured on the cover. She has received numerous design awards, including recognition by the National Design Awards, Fast Company Design Award, and Core 77. She has also been recognized as a rising entrepreneur by Fortune and Entrepreneur Magazine. Breazeal did her graduate work at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab and received her doctorate in 2000 in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT.

Dr. Alex
Dr. Alex “Sandy” Pentland
Founder and Director, MIT Connection Science
Dr. Alex “Sandy” Pentland
Founder and Director, MIT Connection Science

Dr. Alex “Sandy” Pentland directs the MIT Connection Science and Human Dynamics labs and leads the Media Lab Entrepreneurship Program. Previously, he helped create and direct the MIT Media Lab and the Media Lab Asia in India. He is one of the most-cited computational scientists in the world, and Forbes recently declared him one of the “7 most powerful data scientists in the world” along with the Google founders and the Chief Technical Officer of the United States. He is on the Board of the UN Foundations’ Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data, co-led the World Economic Forum discussion in Davos that led to the EU privacy regulation GDPR, and was central in forging the transparency and accountability mechanisms in the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. He has received numerous awards and prizes such as the McKinsey Award from Harvard Business Review, the 40th Anniversary of the Internet from DARPA, and the Brandeis Award for work in privacy.

He is a member of advisory boards for the UN Secretary General and the UN Foundation, and the American Bar Association. Sandy was also a founding member of advisory boards for Google, AT&T, and Nissan. He is a serial entrepreneur who has co-founded more than a dozen companies including social enterprises such as the Harvard-ODI-MIT DataPop Alliance . He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering and leader within the World Economic Forum.

Over the years Sandy has advised more than 70 PhD students. Almost half are now tenured faculty at leading institutions, with another one-quarter leading industry research groups and a final quarter founders of their own companies. Together Sandy and his students have pioneered computational social science, organizational engineering, wearable computing (Google Glass), image understanding, and modern biometrics. His most recent books are “Social Physics,” published by Penguin Press, and “Honest Signals,” published by MIT Press.

Bela Labovitch - Vice President of Engineering, athenahealth
Bela Labovitch
Vice President of Engineering, athenahealth
Bela Labovitch
Vice President of Engineering, athenahealth

Bela Labovitch is a global technology executive with over thirty years’ experience in public, private equity, and start-up companies in the Healthcare, Financial, Publishing and eCommerce industries. She has first-hand experience in technology strategy, product development, operations, transformational leadership, and compliance/risk management.

Bela currently serves as the Vice President of Engineering at athenahealth, a $1.9 billion health technology company that provides cloud-based software and services to providers and health systems. Bela oversees a 400+ member global product engineering organization for the $1.2B+ cloud-based revenue cycle management product, where she has driven significant cost savings and efficiencies and has brought new products to market.

In previous executive engineering and Chief technology officer roles, Bela has successfully hired, scaled, and sustained high performance teams for six organizations. She has successfully brought four new revenue generating products to market and is known for driving growth through operational excellence, change leadership, and technology innovation.

Bela has a track record of transformational leadership and positioning teams for high growth and performance. In her current role, she scaled her team by 50%, doubled productivity, significantly improved customer NPS and is leading a technology modernization journey.

The healthcare industry is undergoing a massive transformation, and Bela has firsthand perspective and experience of payer systems, revenue lifecycle management and emerging business models. She also has experience with corporate governance issues including risk management, regulatory compliance, audit, and cyber security. She currently serves on the Operating Committee of the DaVinci Project – a standards body focused on improving healthcare interoperability and the corporate Cybersecurity risk committee.

Bela currently serves on the board of directors for Parents Helping Parents and serves on the Human resources, technology, and audit committees. She also volunteers as a parental stress counselor, STEM mentor and helps to place women on nonprofit boards. Bela is passionate about bringing more women to technology and is the executive sponsor of Girls Who Code, divisional D&I champion and founded her company’s Women in Technology program.

Bela has a Master’s degree in Computer Science from Northeastern University and a Bachelor’s degree with Honors in Computer Science from Brandeis University. She is a frequent speaker and panelist at engineering forums and conferences. Bela has five patents in her name. In 2019 and 2020 she was named by the Healthcare Technology Report as a Top 25 Women in Healthcare technology and by Venture Fizz as among 24 Impressive Women Leaders in Tech. In 2022 she received a Luminary award from the Healthcare Businesswoman’s Association.

Barbara Goose - Chief Marketing Officer, Rocket Software
Barbara Goose
Chief Marketing Officer, Rocket Software
Barbara Goose
Chief Marketing Officer, Rocket Software

Barbara Goose joined Rocket Software in 2021 as Chief Marketing Officer. Barbara brings over 20 years of experience in the digital marketing space, leading innovative and strategic programs that have built brand equity for national and multi-national brands.

Prior to Rocket, Barbara was CMO at John Hancock where she implemented customer experience programs establishing NPS (net promoter score) activation programs putting customer experience at the center of everything. Barbara also established Brand ROI models at John Hancock to measure the business benefit of brand spend. In the past, Barbara held executive level positions including Global Chief Marketing Officer of Altisource and President of DigitasLBi Boston and Detroit.

Barbara is currently on the advisory Board of GlasswingVentures, a private equity AI Fund. A respected industry thought leader, she was named two years in a row as one of Boston Business Journal’s “Power 50” (a list of the most influential business leaders in Boston) and one of the New England Ad Club’s “100 Women We ADmire”.

Barbara holds an MBA from Harvard University and a BA in Economics, summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, from the University of Pennsylvania. She lives in Boston’s South End with her husband Jon, 2 boys, Mini Australian Shepard “Bear” and Brittany “Moose.”

Dr. Tom Davenport - President's Distinguished Professor of Information Technology, Babson College
Dr. Tom Davenport
President’s Distinguished Professor of Information Technology, Babson College
Dr. Tom Davenport
President’s Distinguished Professor of Information Technology, Babson College

Tom Davenport is the President’s Distinguished Professor of Information Technology and Management at Babson College, co-founder of the International Institute for Analytics, Fellow at the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy, and Senior Advisor to Deloitte Analytics. He teaches analytics/big data in executive programs at Babson, Harvard Business School, and School of Public Health, and MIT Sloan.

Davenport pioneered the concept of “competing on analytics” with his best-selling 2006 Harvard Business Review article and 2007 book. His most recent book is “The AI Advantage: How To Put the Artificial Intelligence Revolution To Work.” He wrote or edited 19 other books and more than 200 articles for Harvard Business Review, Sloan Management Review, The Financial Times, and many other publications. He is a regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal and Forbes. He has been named one of the top 25 consultants by Consulting News, one of the 100 most influential people in the IT industry by Ziff-Davis, and one of the world’s top fifty business school professors by Fortune Magazine.

Heather Gelchion - Managing Director, Rockefeller Global Family Office
Heather Gelchion
Managing Director, Rockefeller Global Family Office
Heather Gelchion
Managing Director, Rockefeller Global Family Office

Heather Gelchion is a Managing Director and Senior Investment Advisor in the Global Family Office. She works with high net worth individuals and families, as well as non-profit organizations. Heather is on Rockefeller’s Asset Allocation Committee and serves on the investment advisory board of the Greer Anderson funds.

Prior to joining Rockefeller in 2019, Heather was at Cambridge Associates for 14 years, serving as a Managing Director working with multi-generational families, endowments and foundations. Heather’s clients were located both in the U.S. and Europe, ranging in asset size from $50 million to over $3 billion. As an investment director, Heather helped individuals and families define their financial and investment goals and implement strategies to meet them. While at Cambridge, Heather co-founded Prevail, a women’s network that brought together investors, asset managers, entrepreneurs and philanthropists.

Prior to joining Cambridge Associates in 2005, Heather worked at Standard and Poor’s as an Associate Ratings Analyst in the Structured Finance Group. In this position, she primarily rated asset-backed securities, including mortgage-backed and auto loan transactions. Previously, she worked as an Investment Banker at Adams Harkness, Inc. where she began her career as a Financial Analyst and later served as an Associate.

Heather received an M.B.A. from the Johnson School of Management of Cornell University and a B.A. in Economics and European History from Brown University.

Heather currently serves on the Investment Committee of the Rockefeller Family Fund and serves as Treasurer for Friends of Dana-Farber.

David McLeod - Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer, The Walt Disney Studios
David McLeod
Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer, The Walt Disney Studios
David McLeod
Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer, The Walt Disney Studios

David McLeod is Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer for The Walt Disney Studios, consisting of Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar Animation Studios, Lucasfilm, Marvel Studios, Searchlight Pictures, and 20th Century Studios. His team drives the strategy and execution of security capabilities at the Studios. He is also the transformation leader for Disney’s Global Information Security organization.

Prior to Disney, McLeod held global leadership and consulting roles at Cox Enterprises, VF Corporation, Walmart, Equifax and KPMG. He is an innovative thinker as a CISO and advisor to several startup ventures.

McLeod holds several security credentials, received a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering from Clemson University and is a veteran of the US Army.

Barbara Piette - Managing Principal, Knightsbridge Advisers, LLC
Barbara Piette
Managing Principal, Knightsbridge Advisers, LLC
Barbara Piette
Managing Principal, Knightsbridge Advisers, LLC

Barbara Piette is a Managing Principal of Knightsbridge Advisers, LLC, where she co-led the firm across all business capacities including investments in premier venture capital funds, finance and operations, marketing, and compliance. Stepping back to part time in 2018 to embrace new endeavors, she remains actively involved at Knightsbridge as a member of the investment committee. Before joining Knightsbridge, Barbara spent over 20 years as a venture capitalist having held General Partner positions with both Charles River Ventures (CRV) and SV Life Sciences.

In addition to Knightsbridge, Barbara serves on the Board of BankProv and Provident Bancorp, an innovative public commercial bank serving small to medium enterprises, search fund lending, and underserved niche markets. She serves as a Board Member, Executive Committee Member, and Chair of the Development Committee of the Concussion Legacy Foundation, aimed at improving brain health and making sports safer. She serves as an adviser to several new and developing venture firms.

Barbara teaches Leadership Communications at Boston University Questrom School at the graduate levels and recently created the new MBA course, The Entrepreneur’s Communication Playbook: Persuading Throughout the Entrepreneurial Cycle. She serves as a Philanthropic Board Member of Boston Children’s Hospital and a member of the National Association of Corporate Directors, Women Corporate Directors, the International Women’s Forum, and previously served on the boards of the Koch Center for Cancer Research at MIT, and the Harvard Business School Association of Boston. She has been an annual judge for the HBS New Ventures Competition for over twenty years.

Barbara received an MBA with honors from Harvard Business School and holds a BS summa cum laude from Boston College where she graduated first in her class.

Gary Noke - CEO of Intentsify
Gary Noke
CEO of Intentsify
Gary Noke
CEO of Intentsify

Gary Noke is a dynamic entrepreneur and business visionary with a passion for technology and innovation. With a career spanning over two decades, he has established himself as a prominent figure in the tech industry.

As the founder and CEO of several successful startups, including a groundbreaking data-driven healthcare platform, Gary has consistently demonstrated his ability to identify emerging trends and transform them into thriving businesses. His visionary leadership to create solutions that deliver customer value, as well as a dedication to fostering a culture of innovation and creativity for employees have earned him recognition as a thought leader in the technology and business communities.

Gary is currently the CEO of Intentsify, a buyer-intent intelligence platform for B2B organizations. Gary was previously the CEO of PrismHR, a leading HR software provider, and VP of Corporate Sales at Bullhorn.

Gary earned his B.A. from Hamilton College and his MBA from Babson College.”

Renee Guttmann - Founder & Principal, Cisohive
Renee Guttmann
Founder & Principal, Cisohive
Renee Guttmann
Founder & Principal, Cisohive

Renee Guttmann has extensive information security and privacy expertise spanning a 25-year career.

Renee currently is the Founder and Principal of Cisohive, a cybersecurity consultant. She was the first CISO at Royal Caribbean, Coca-Cola and Time Warner Inc., and was the architect of the first Capital One online customer website and the supporting infrastructure services. Most recently, Ms. Guttmann led the transformation of the Information Security Program for Campbell’s. At Campbell’s, she established the IT Risk Management Program aligned to business strategy.

Ms. Guttmann transformed the cybersecurity program to address the protection of the manufacturing plants and supply chain operations. She managed an in-house team of 25 cybersecurity plus several external service providers and overseas security operations. Ms. Guttmann is currently consulting to medium-size businesses on cybersecurity strategy with an emphasis on cyber resilience. She is providing thought leadership to several start-ups so that the value of their solutions is clearly understood.

Andrew Essex - Senior Managing Partner, TCS Interactive
Andrew Essex
Senior Managing Partner, TCS Interactive
Andrew Essex
Senior Managing Partner, TCS Interactive

Andrew Essex is a Senior Managing Partner, TCS Interactive, the digital services arm of Tata Consulting Services, an IT services, consulting, and business solutions company. TCS Interactive provides design, technology, and data services to help brands achieve sustained growth. Previously, he founded GoingConcern, a consultancy that advised C-Suite clients, and is the former CEO of Tribeca Enterprises, the parent company of the Tribeca Film Festival, and founding CEO of creative agency, Droga5. Andrew is a frequent public speaker on media, marketing, and monetization strategics, and sits on the boards of the AdCouncil, iPic Entertainment, and Plus Pool. He is the Chair of the NYC Mayor’s Creative Council and a former advisor to the White House American Office of Innovation and the Wharton SEI Center for Advanced Studies in Management. He serves as an angel investor and advisor to top disruptive companies and prominent unicorns.

Archana Arunkumar - Global Vice President of Pro People (HCM Suite), UKG
Archana Arunkumar
Global Vice President of Pro People (HCM Suite), UKG
Archana Arunkumar
Global Vice President of Pro People (HCM Suite), UKG

Archana Arunkumar is currently the Global Vice President of Pro People, a human capital management product suite, at UKG.

Archana is a global technology and product strategy executive, who delivers multi-billion dollars in revenue by identifying and building new markets, while strengthening the platform foundation and gravitas of organizations.

She brings value to Boards, the C-Suite and Shareholders through her 20 years catering to B2B, B2C and B2B2C markets, by strategically transforming business models, being an industry thought leader, acting as a change agent, creating new product offerings, and building enterprise platforms that both scale up and scale out. She is recognized for her strong ability to strategize, conceive, develop, promote, and deliver her product vision to drive business in high-growth phases of companies – Expedia Group [NASDAQ: EXPE], Workday [NASDAQ: WKDY], Dropbox [NASDAQ: DBX], Ellie Mae [Acquired by ICE, NYSE: ICE], Dell/EMC, RSA Security Systems; Siebel Systems [Acquired by Oracle, NYSE: ORCL], Amdocs [NASDAQ: DOX].

Archana advises CEOs, Boards and Venture Capital Funds through her keen insights. Insights that she garnered while navigating the scrutiny of executive leadership in publicly traded companies, while also mapping strategies to drive disruptive change in highly regulated and compliance heavy industries. She leads multiple Advisory Boards to inform the market and generate demand for new product horizons in SaaS and AI sectors. She is also passionate about education and believes in empowering today’s youth.

To that effect, she leads non-profit organizations in the education sector, is a Board Director of UC Davis Graduate School of Management Alumni Association and is also an active Scout Leader with Boy Scouts of America. Archana holds dual Bachelor of Science degrees in Computer Science and Biological Sciences from California State University, East Bay; a Master of Science in Computer Science, also from California State University, East Bay; and an MBA from University of California, Davis.

Mike Tamir, PhD - Head of AI, Shopify Data Science Faculty, UC Berkeley
Mike Tamir, PhD
Head of AI, Shopify Data Science Faculty, UC Berkeley
Connected Institutions

Mike Tamir, PhD
Head of AI, Shopify Data Science Faculty, UC Berkeley

Dr. Mike Tamir serves as Distinguished ML Scientist at Shopify, where he leads the ML engineering discipline. Mike is also a member of the Data Science Faculty at UC Berkeley, where he focuses on NLP and Deep Learning and scaling ML. He was formerly Chief Scientist at SIG and Head of Data Science within Uber’s Advanced Technology Group, and founded FakerFact.org the misinformation detection project. Mike began his career in academia serving as a mathematics teaching fellow for Columbia University and graduate student at the University of Pittsburgh. His early research focused on developing the epsilon-anchor methodology for resolving both an inconsistency he highlighted in the dynamics of Einstein’s general relativity theory and the convergence of “large N” Monte Carlo simulations in Statistical Mechanics’ universality models of criticality phenomena.

Mike holds a Ph.D., M.S., and M.A. from the University of Pittsburgh and B.A.s in Mathematics and Philosophy from Columbia University.

Connected Institutions

Perry Hewitt - Chief Marketing and Product Officer, Data.org
Perry Hewitt
Chief Marketing and Product Officer, Data.org
Perry Hewitt
Chief Marketing and Product Officer, Data.org

Perry Hewitt, Chief Marketing and Product Officer, joined data.org in 2020 with experience in both the for-profit and nonprofit worlds. She oversees the marketing and communications functions, as well as digital product development for the growing global platform.

Working at the intersection of marketing and digital strategy, Perry is passionate about leading high-performing teams to drive sustainable change and impact. She has held marketing, digital product, and strategy roles at Bloomberg Philanthropies, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Ithaka/JStor. Previously, she served as Harvard University’s chief digital officer.

Perry currently holds a number of leadership positions advancing marketing, technology, and entrepreneurship. She is a Connect Council member at Glasswing AI Venture Capital, a Stimson Center Loomis Innovation Council member, and a board member at Solar Sister. She advises startups and cultural institutions; she also writes and speaks on topics including digital transformation, product management, marketing strategy, and women in leadership.

Perry has lived and worked in Switzerland, England, Russia, and Australia, and now lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina with her family.

Dr. Usama  Fayyad - Executive Director of the Institute for Experiential AI at Northeastern University
Dr. Usama Fayyad
Executive Director of the Institute for Experiential AI at Northeastern University
Dr. Usama Fayyad
Executive Director of the Institute for Experiential AI at Northeastern University

Dr. Usama Fayyad serves as the Executive Director of the Institute for Experiential AI at Northeastern University. He continues to serve as Chairman of Open Insights, a company he founded as a technology and consulting firm in 2008 after leaving Yahoo! to enable enterprises to get value out of their data assets and optimize or create new business models based on the new evolving economy of interactions. Leveraging open source, big data technology, and strategic consulting, Open Insights deploys data-driven solutions to grow revenue from data assets through big data strategy, new business models on data assets, and deploying data science, AI/ML solutions.

Usama served as Co-Founder & CTO at OODA Health, Inc a VC-funded company aiming to liberate the healthcare system from administrative waste by leveraging AI/automation to create real-time/retail-like experience in payments in healthcare. Usama previously served as Global Chief Data Officer & Group Managing Director at Barclays Bank in London, after launching Oasis500, the largest tech startup accelerator in MENA, following his appointment as by Jordan’s King Abdullah II in 2010. His background includes Chairman & CEO roles at several startups, including Blue Kangaroo Corp, DMX Group and digiMine Inc.

He was the first person to hold the Chief Data Officer title when Yahoo! acquired his second startup in 2004. At Yahoo! he built the Strategic Data Solutions group and founded Yahoo! Research Labs where much of the early work on BigData made it to open source and led to Hadoop and other open-source contributions. He has held leadership roles at Microsoft (1996-2000) and founded the Machine Learning Systems group at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (1989-2005), where his work on machine learning resulted in the top Excellence in Research award from Caltech, and a U.S. Government medal from NASA.

Usama has published over 100 technical articles on data mining, data science, AI/ML, and databases. He holds over 20 patents and is a Fellow of both the AAAI and the ACM. Usama earned his Ph.D. in Engineering in AI/Machine Learning from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He has edited two influential books on data mining/data science and served as Founding Editor-in-Chief on two key journals. He also served on the boards/advisory boards of private and public companies including: Criteo, Invensense, Exelate, RapidMiner, Stella.AI, Virsec, Silniva, Abe.AI, NetSeer, Choicestream, Medio, Leapyear Technology, Drover, and others. He served on the advisory boards of the Data Science Institute at Imperial College, AAI at UTS, and The University of Michigan College of Engineering National Advisory Board. He serves on the Board Advisory Committee to Nationwide Building Society in the UK and on the Advisory board of the WEF Global Center for Cybersecurity. He is an active angel investor/advisor in many early-stage tech startups across the U.S., Europe and the Middle East.

Jeff Dolce - VP & GM Americas at Aruba, An HPE Company
Jeff Dolce
VP & GM Americas at Aruba, An HPE Company
Jeff Dolce
VP & GM Americas at Aruba, An HPE Company

Jeff Dolce is Vice President and General Manager, US Sales – Enterprise, for Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company. Prior to Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s acquisition of Aruba Networks, Mr. Dolce built 7 years of consecutive growth while maintaining leadership roles in numerous task forces within the organization. Under the newly created role Mr. Dolce leads all sales, field engineering, marketing, operations and channel functions in the United States. His proven track record of building strong sales, increasing revenue and profitability translated effectively. His accomplishments include fostering better connection of sales, engineering, and marketing across corporate functions to better serve various industries. The integration places him at the helm of both Aruba Networks and Hewlett Packard Enterprise networking groups.

Mr. Dolce possesses 30+ years of solid sales and business leadership coupled with coaching and mentoring endeavors. Within the fore-mentioned three decades of experience are former management roles at Airespace Systems, Cisco, Agito Networks (now part of Shoretel), as well as the creation of International Business Development in Latin America. He obtained Bachelor of Sciences from Bryant University and an MBA from Southern New Hampshire University with an emphasis in marketing.

Marc Speichert - EVP, Chief Commercial Officer, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts
Marc Speichert
EVP, Chief Commercial Officer, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts
Marc Speichert
EVP, Chief Commercial Officer, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts

As Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, Marc Speichert oversees the development and execution of the company’s integrated commercial strategy with a mandate that includes the identification of new products and markets, revenue growth across all lines of business, brand marketing, global public relations and social media, Four Seasons extensive digital ecosystem as well as global distribution and worldwide reservations.

In collaboration with other members of the executive leadership team, Marc is involved in all touchpoints of the Four Seasons guest experience, from the brand’s hotels, resorts, restaurants, bars and spas, to the growing Four Seasons residential portfolio as well as product extensions including Four Seasons Yachts, Four Seasons Private Jet and the company’s online retail program. Harnessing the power of consumer insights to drive digital expansion, Marc also leads engagement and innovation across the company’s many digital platforms as well as the award-winning Four Seasons App.

With broad experience across geographies and diverse industries including beauty, healthcare, consumer packaged goods, luxury and technology, Marc’s leadership approach is grounded in collaboration and empathy, consistently bringing people together to drive meaningful impact.

Brad Berens, Ph.D. -
Brad Berens, Ph.D.
Brad Berens, Ph.D.

Dr. Brad Berens is Senior Research Fellow and Strategic Advisor at the USC Annenberg Center for the Digital Future, which is capturing longitudinal data about user attitudes to and behaviors around the next wave of the digital revolution: wearable computers, smart environments, robotics, and 3D printing. Brad is also a Principal at Big Ideas Consulting Group, a trusted advisor to companies of all sizes, and a respected voice in the world of digital media and marketing. Brad also serves as Head of Insights at Ad Fontes Media, an organization rating news for reliability and bias. He was formerly the Editor-in-Chief and SVP of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), leading the organization’s agenda-setting, research, and thought-leadership activities to empower the media and marketing industries to thrive in the digital economy.

Brad has enjoyed a wide-ranging career that has storytelling as an organizing theme. He had a long tenure as the Global Chief Content Officer for dmg events’ digital portfolio (ad:tech, iMedia, the Digital Collective, and the CMO Collective), editorial and marketing work at EarthLink, and spent several years as a Hollywood story analyst at companies like DreamWorks, New Regency, CAA, and Mirage. He started his career as an award-winning teacher of Shakespeare, English Literature, and writing at U.C. Berkeley.

Bruce Schneier - Internationally Renowned Security Technologist
Bruce Schneier
Internationally Renowned Security Technologist
Bruce Schneier
Internationally Renowned Security Technologist

Bruce Schneier is an internationally renowned security technologist, called a “security guru” by The Economist. He is the author of over one dozen books–including his latest, Click Here to Kill Everybody–as well as hundreds of articles, essays, and academic papers. His influential newsletter “Crypto-Gram” and his blog “Schneier on Security” are read by over 250,000 people. He has testified before Congress, is a frequent guest on television and radio, has served on several government committees, and is regularly quoted in the press.

Schneier is a fellow at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University; a Lecturer in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School; a board member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, AccessNow, and the Tor Project; and an Advisory Board Member of the Electronic Privacy Information Centerand VerifiedVoting.org. He was previously the CTO of Resilient Systems (acquired by IBM), co-founder and CTO of Counterpane (acquired by BT), and an executive at both IBM and BT.

Scott Matthews - CEO, Verusen
Scott Matthews
CEO, Verusen
Scott Matthews
CEO, Verusen

Scott Matthews, is a successful repeat entrepreneur and is currently the CEO of Verusen. Scott was previously the CEO of MRP, a global provider of predictive customer acquisition software and services powered by AI. Prior to MRP, Scott was the CEO of CrowdTwist, where he managed the company from a startup to a high growth company with Fortune 500 customers deployed around the world through the company’s acquisition by Oracle in 2019.

He is known for driving creative growth strategies that turn companies and business units into robust, profitable entities that drive value for investors and employees. A decisive and energetic growth-oriented business leader, with over 20 years of experience in both large high-tech companies and small SaaS start-ups, and a proven track record in direct sales, business development, OEM sales and distribution channel management, his global senior leadership experience delivers operations and sales excellence.

Prior to joining CrowdTwist, Scott served as CEO of Webcollage, which was successfully acquired by Answers.com. Previously he held a number of senior roles at Siebel Systems, Oracle, and Interworld.

Scott holds a B.S. from the Rochester Institute of Technology and an M.B.A. from Pace University.

Patricia Titus - Chief Information Security Officer, Booking Holdings
Patricia Titus
Chief Information Security Officer, Booking Holdings
Patricia Titus
Chief Information Security Officer, Booking Holdings

Patricia Titus is the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at Booking Holdings [NASDAQ: BKNG]. Patricia was previously Chief Privacy and Information Security Officer at Markel Corporation [NYSE: MKL]. Prior to Markel, Patti was the Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer at Freddie Mac, Symantec, Unisys Corporation and the Transportation Security Administration within the Department of Homeland Security.

Patricia is credited with designing, implementing, and transforming information security organizations and programs for nearly two decades. She has held executive and C-level positions in both the public and private sector, including financial services and technology companies and maintains the highest trust positions within these industries.

Patricia serves on the Board of Directors for Black Kite and Girl Scouts for the Commonwealth of Virginia. She also serves on the Advisory Board of the Executive Women’s Forum. Patricia also worked and lived overseas for several years in various positions within the U.S. Department of Defense, the State Department and various private sector firms.

Sarah Fay  - Three-time successful CEO
Sarah Fay
Three-time successful CEO
Sarah Fay
Three-time successful CEO

Sarah Fay was Managing Director of Glasswing Ventures since it’s inception, and played a pivotal role in Glasswing’s growth, leading investments in marketing technology, digital, and B2B marketplaces. Sarah has led investments in Narrative I/O and several pre-seed startups.

Sarah has more than two decades of experience building and leading companies in the advertising and media industry. As a three-time successful CEO, she is a known innovator who led the charge in the adoption of new forms of media such as Digital, Mobile, Search, Social, and Programmatic. Under Sarah’s leadership, Carat was the first of the major media agencies to merge digital and traditional capabilities, offering fully integrated strategies. As CEO of Isobar North America, she built the business to $100M in revenue in six years, which involved successfully executing several acquisitions of specialist services. As CEO of Aegis Media North America, Sarah led an organization of nearly 2,000 employees.

Given her thought leadership and experience in digital and marketing industries, Sarah has served as an Independent Director on the Boards of public and private technology and digital media companies such as j2 Global (NASDAQ:JCOM), Celtra, NeoMedia (Nasdaq:NEOM), SocialFlow, The Street (acquired by Euromoney and The Maven), Women’s Marketing, Inc., and [X+1] (acquired by Rocket Fuel). She has participated as Board Advisor and/or angel investor to Adelphic Mobile, clypd, ViralGains, Ghostery, Namely, Mavrck, and MOGUL.

Sarah’s contributions to the broader community include serving on the Executive Board of the Ad Club of Boston, as Director on the Board of The Massachusetts Innovation and Technology Exchange (MITX) and as Board Advisor to Advertiser Perceptions.
She has been widely recognized in the technology, digital and media industries and has received over 30 accolades and awards for her accomplishments, including “Media All Star” (AdWeek), “Top 100 Most Influential People in Media (Media Post) and “Fast 50” (Fast Company), Industry Achievement Award (Ad:Tech), and Women to Watch (Ad Age). Sarah holds a BA in English from the University of Vermont.

Dr. Salvatore Stolfo - Professor of Computer Science, Columbia University
Dr. Salvatore Stolfo
Professor of Computer Science, Columbia University
Dr. Salvatore Stolfo
Professor of Computer Science, Columbia University

Dr. Salvatore ‘Sal’ Stolfo is a tenured professor of Computer Science at Columbia University. Sal was a Founder and CTO of Allure Security Technology. As a professor of AI, Sal has spent his career figuring out how people think and how to make computers and systems think like people. Early in his career he realized that the best technology adapts to how humans work, not the other way around.

Salvatore has been granted over 89 patents and has published over 230 papers, many awarded best paper awards, and books in the areas of parallel computing, AI, Machine Learning, computer security, and intrusion detection systems. He has been an active advisor to government through the National Academy and is a member of the DNI STEP group.

His research has been supported by numerous government agencies, including DARPA, NSF, ONR, NSA, IARPA, AFOSR, ARO, NIST, and DHS. Salvatore was recently elevated to IEEE Fellow for his contributions to ML-based computer security, a field of research he started in 1996.

Sal holds a B.S. in Computer Science and Mathematics from Brooklyn College and received his Ph.D. from NYU Courant Institute.

Thomas R. Eisenmann - Professor of Entrepreneurship at Harvard Business School
Thomas R. Eisenmann
Professor of Entrepreneurship at Harvard Business School
Thomas R. Eisenmann
Professor of Entrepreneurship at Harvard Business School

Thomas R. Eisenmann is the Howard H. Stevenson Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School, Peter O. Crisp Chair, Harvard Innovation Labs, and Faculty Co-Chair of the HBS Rock Center for Entrepreneurship, the Harvard MS/MBA Program, and the Harvard College Technology Fellows Program.

Eisenmann, author of the book Why Startups Fail, teaches the MS/MBA core courses Technology Venture Immersion and Designing Technology Ventures. In recent years, he has served as Chair of Harvard’s MBA Elective Curriculum—the 2nd year of the MBA Program—and as course head of The Entrepreneurial Manager, taught to all 900 1st-year MBAs.

With colleagues, he launched the MBA electives Making Markets, which focuses on marketplace design, Scaling Technology Ventures, Entrepreneurial Sales & Marketing, and Product Management 101, in which students specify and supervise development of a software application. Eisenmann also created the January Term Startup Bootcamp for first-year MBAs and the MBA electives Entrepreneurial Failure, Launching Technology Ventures and Managing Networked Business, which surveyed strategies for platform-based businesses that leverage network effects.

He twice co-led a Harvard Innovation Lab course, Cultural Entrepreneurship in New York City, in which students from across Harvard spent a winter break week in New York exploring new ventures in fashion, food, and fine arts, and co-led four similar winter break trips to study entrepreneurship in Silicon Valley.

Steve Chambers - Former President, Nuance
Steve Chambers
Former President, Nuance
Steve Chambers
Former President, Nuance

Steve Chambers has over 25 years of experience in high-tech and AI companies, as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and business executive, having led both start-ups and a large public technology company. Steve is currently a Strategic Advisor to the CEO at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Steve is also the co-founder of Silvertree, a wearables technology company providing safety, connection, and style to older adults. Steve previously served as President of Nuance Communications, the global leader in Voice Recognition and AI solutions what was acquired by Microsoft in 2022 for $19.7Bn. In that capacity he grew the business from $32M to $2.1Bn in revenue and negotiated landmark deals with Apple, Samsung, Google, Amazon, Mercedes, Ford, Toyota, Bank of America, Federal Express, Verizon, and other leading global organizations. From 2003 to 2009, Steve was President of the Speech Division, Executive Vice President of the Enterprise Division, Executive Vice President of the Mobile and Consumer Services businesses, and CMO of the company. Previously, Steve served as the CMO and Senior Vice President (SVP) of worldwide Sales for SpeechWorks, one of the top IPOs in Massachusetts’ history. Prior to SpeechWorks, Steve served as General Manager (GM) and CMO of Polycom Corporation (formerly PictureTel), the global leader in video, voice, and content collaboration, leading operating activities in over 35 countries across 22 product lines.

Steve graduated with a Master’s degree from Harvard Graduate School of Education. Previously, Steve graduated summa cum laude with bachelor’s degrees in English and Computer Science from Wesleyan University, master’s degrees with highest honors in both Business Administration and Communications from Boston University, and graduated Phi Kappa Phi with a Master’s degree in Applied Psychology from USC.

Ian Myers - Founder, Oceans
Ian Myers
Founder, Oceans
Ian Myers
Founder, Oceans

Ian Myers has been an investor, operator, and executive over the course of his career. Ian is the Founder and CEO of Oceans, an operational talent recruiting firm with a focus on high-growth companies.

Prior to Oceans, Ian was Head of New Products for Uzabase, a global business intelligence corporation. Prior to that, he was General Manager of Platform at Quartz, overseeing all product, marketing, and development of their platform products. Ian joined Quartz after their acquisition of NewsPicks USA, a media technology company where he served as CEO.

Prior to becoming CEO of NewsPicks, Ian was a venture investor with White Star Capital, where he focused on sourcing early stage technology investments, fundraising, and diligence. He also opened their first Asian office in Tokyo.

Ian graduated with an MA from Stanford University, where he focused on International Business and Policy, and holds a BA from Bard College in Literary Studies. He doesn’t, however, hold a high school degree as he dropped out when he was 16. Born in Vermont, he’s lived on both coasts of the US, in Asia, and now calls New York home.

Dr. Saj-nicole Joni, Ph.D - CEO of Cambridge International Group Ltd.
Dr. Saj-nicole Joni, Ph.D
CEO of Cambridge International Group Ltd.
Dr. Saj-nicole Joni, Ph.D
CEO of Cambridge International Group Ltd.

Saj-nicole is the founder and CEO of Cambridge International Group Ltd. Her clients include CEOs of global Fortune 100 companies, high-growth innovation firms, major universities, and large philanthropic organizations. She advises global boards on effective and strategic governance, with a focus on leadership in times of disruption.

In addition, Saj-nicole is a best-selling author and global keynote speaker. Prior to founding Cambridge International Group Ltd, Saj-nicole served in key executive roles in the technology sector, including Microsoft, CSC, and venture backed AI/tech startups.Prior to becoming an executive in the computer industry, she served on the mathematics and computer science faculties of MIT, Carnegie-Mellon, and Wellesley College.

Her research extended from algebraic combinatorics to the foundations of artificial intelligence, and her work is still quoted by scientists today. She continues to advise executives and scientists in think-tanks and research centers as they seek to increase their impact for good based on new science and technologies. Saj-nicole earned her doctorate in Mathematics from the University of California, San Diego.

Tony Weisman - Former CMO, Dunkin' and CEO, Digitas
Tony Weisman
Former CMO, Dunkin’ and CEO, Digitas
Tony Weisman
Former CMO, Dunkin’ and CEO, Digitas

Tony Weisman is a globally recognized, award-winning marketing executive with over 30 years of experience stewarding the world’s biggest brands. He specializes in digital marketing transformation and brand differentiation.

Tony is a Board member of: Klaviyo (NYSE: KYVO), a leader in email and SMS marketing; Cardlytics (NASDAQ: CDLX), a native ad platform in banking; InMoment, a leader in Customer Experience Intelligence; Play2Pay, a mobile bill payment platform; Mavrck, an all-in-one enterprise influencer marketing platform; and of Zilliant, an industry-leading price optimization and management and sales guidance software.

As the former CMO of Dunkin’ US and CEO of Digitas, Tony understands the marketing value chain from both sides. He is a highly effective leader known for driving growth, talent acquisition, mentorship and building diverse, dynamic Millennial and Gen-Z workplace cultures. A tech, digital and consumer savvy marketer, Tony is also a frequent speaker and coach.

At Dunkin’ US (over $1.2B in annual revenues; market cap of $8B), Tony led a 200-person organization with a $500MM annual budget. He rebranded the company as Dunkin’ after 68 years as Dunkin’ Donuts and transformed the brand’s digital marketing, adding 1MM DD Perks members per quarter (+50% YOY) and increasing member contributions to 14% of total sales (+100 bps each quarter). During Tony’s tenure, Dunkin’ broke sales records and the stock increased +62%. Store traffic was the highest in four years, online transactions increased 25% and annual sales growth was the highest since 2013. Dunkin’ was recognized as QSR Magazine’s 2018 “Most Transformational QSR Brand” and Ad Age’s #1 QSR story of 2018. Tony was named a Forbes World’s Most Influential CMO, a Business Insider’s 25 Most Transformational CMO, and an Adweek Brand Genius.

Prior to Dunkin’, he served as President and later CEO of Digitas, the world’s largest digital marketing agency with annual revenue over $500MM. As CEO, Tony led a team of 2,000 and built a 250-person data science team, the largest in the industry. He led consolidation of the Sprint account to Publicis ($100MM+ in annual fees). He created the first digitally centric customer acquisition platform in the telecommunications industry, and the first agency media platform to identify individuals across devices. Tony founded the Digital Content Newfronts in 2007 with Google, AOL, Microsoft and Yahoo to create a marketplace for online video content, now a $2B annual market. Digitas received multiple Cannes Lions recognitions for creativity and numerous awards for its workplace culture and diversity hiring.

Tony also served as CMO of Draft Worldwide, an integrated marketing services agency specializing in direct and digital marketing. He began his career at Leo Burnett Advertising. Tony currently serves on the Ad Council, Mobile Marketing Association and the American Association of Advertising Agencies. He was also the former Chairman of Chicago Public Media (WBEZ). Tony received his BA in political science from Brown University (Magna Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa). Tony lives in Narragansett, RI and enjoys cycling, sailing, and attending live music.

Christine Chang - Principal, Avire Financial
Christine Chang
Principal, Avire Financial
Christine Chang
Principal, Avire Financial

Christine Chang is a financial services industry veteran, bringing over 25 years of experience across banking and investment management. Christine has deep expertise in building institutional operational and regulatory infrastructure to help businesses scale. Christine advises growing alternative investment managers, family offices structuring their investment vehicles and direct transactions, and portfolio companies in transition. She is the US representative of Avire Finance, a European family office advisor. Christine is the director of operations and investor relations, North America, of Artesian Capital, a global leader in sustainable and impact investing. She is an advisory board member for Hike2, an innovative digital transformation consultancy, and Bridge Point Capital, a cross-border private equity firm. Christine is a member of TBD Angels, a group of angel investors who are current operators at leading startups and executives at major companies.

Previously, Christine served as Chief Executive Officer of 6th Avenue Capital, LLC, a small business funder and thought leader in alternative financing and fintech. Her role included establishing the firm’s vision to provide short-term bridge financing to growing US small businesses lacking access to capital, as well as championing minority and women-owned businesses. She also maintained oversight of all strategic and regulatory aspects of 6th Avenue’s operating business and investment management. In addition, she served as COO of its affiliate, Nexlend Capital Partners, an algorithmic trading firm investing in consumer lending. She also served as Chairman of the Board of Blueprint Capital Advisors, LLC, an alternative investment platform focused on aligning interests of pension and endowments with emerging alternative managers, as well as on the advisory board of Uplinq, an advanced analytics platform assessing small business financial health.

NYC Fintech Women named Christine an Inspiring Fintech Female in 2021. Christine is a member of the Presidential Council of Cornell Women (Head of Mentoring Committee) and the Cornell Alumni Admissions Ambassador Network. She has served as Chairman on the board of Bottomless Closet, a not-for-profit empowering women in NYC to achieve financial self-sufficiency. She is also member of 100 Women in Finance and High Water Women. In addition, she is head of the Professional Advisors Committee of the Optometric Center of New York (OCNY), the allied and endowing foundation of the State University of New York College of Optometry. She has been a mentor in Columbia Business School’s Nonprofit Board Leadership Program and Cornell’s Alumni-Student Mentoring Program.

Peter H.  Weinstock, MD, PhD - Executive Director, Boston Children's Hospital
Peter H. Weinstock, MD, PhD
Executive Director, Boston Children’s Hospital
Peter H. Weinstock, MD, PhD
Executive Director, Boston Children’s Hospital

A practicing pediatric intensive care unit physician at Boston Children’s Hospital, Peter has combined an entrepreneurial focus with >20 years of experience in surgery, medicine, education and innovation to lead the development of the Boston Children’s Simulator Program (SIMPeds) to one of largest and most sophisticated return on investment healthcare simulator enterprises in the world. SIMPeds merges high stakes human factors with curriculum, organizational learning, industrial engineering, 3D print technologies, SFX and virtual/augmented reality – to study, train, and prepare world-class clinicians and healthcare enterprises, as well as improve preparedness and reduce fear and anxiety in patients and families.

Peter has consulted throughout the world creating medical simulation ecosystems for medical centers and regional health care systems. He provides healthcare expertise among multiple advisory boards including education, simulation, social robotics as well as artificial intelligence and lectures internationally including TED on state of art simulation and experiential learning. He has published sentinel articles and raised millions of dollars in grant funding of innovative application and approaches to simulation – from human factors to impacts of 3D engineering and testing of next generation ultra-realistic training devices.

Peter has chaired meetings worldwide, is Founding President of the International Pediatric Simulation Society, and is recipient of the 2017 IHI/NPSF Lucian Leape Institute Medtronic Safety Culture and Technology Innovator Award.

Peter graduated cum laude from Columbia University with a BA in Philosophy then received his MD from Cornell Medical School along with PhD from Rockefeller University in molecular and cellular biology, followed by clinical training in plastic and general surgery at the University of Pittsburgh and pediatrics critical care medicine at the Boston Children’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School.

Emily Sumner - CIO, Gilder Office for Growth LLC
Emily Sumner
CIO, Gilder Office for Growth LLC
Emily Sumner
CIO, Gilder Office for Growth LLC

Emily serves as the chief investment officer and chair of the investment committee at the firm. In her role, Emily provides oversight and guidance in managing and coordinating all aspects of investment activities and strategies consistent with its mission, objectives, and established policies. Prior to joining the firm, Emily was an Investment Officer at Oklahoma State University and a Vice President within the Investment Management Group at Hatteras Funds where she focused on sourcing, due diligence, and portfolio management of alternative investments strategies across public and private asset classes. Emily received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Randolph Macon College with majors in both Business/Economics and Accounting.

Emily also obtained her Master of Business Administration degree with a concentration in finance from the University of North Carolina, Kenan-Flagler Business School. Emily is a CFA® charterholder and a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst.

Tom Axbey - Former CEO, CloudHealth
Tom Axbey
Former CEO, CloudHealth
Tom Axbey
Former CEO, CloudHealth

Tom Axbey has a proven track record of spearheading growth and building operational excellence at both venture-backed startups and publicly-traded companies. Most recently, he served as VP & GM of CloudHealth by VMware, the market leading Cloud Management Platform used by over 12,000 customers globally.

Prior to the successful acquisition of CloudHealth by VMware, Tom was its CEO. Before CloudHealth, Tom served as CEO of Rave Mobile Safety, a SaaS-based data and communications platform, where he led the turnaround, growth and acquisition of Rave by a growth equity firm. Previously, he held leadership roles at IBM, Micromuse, Quallaby Corp and American Internet Corporation.

Axbey is a graduate from Croydon College in London and currently also serves on the boards of Build.org, CloudFastPath and Lambent.

Rosemary Leith - Non-Executive Director, HSBC, YouGov
Rosemary Leith
Non-Executive Director, HSBC, YouGov
Rosemary Leith
Non-Executive Director, HSBC, YouGov

Rosemary Leith is a Non-Executive Director for Proton, Intermediate Capital Group (ICG), and YouGov, combing interests in Fintech, Data Analytics and AI. Rosemary was previously Non-Executive Director for HSBC (UK) and an Advisor for Dun & Bradstreet. She currently advises and invests in a number of technology businesses in Europe and North America including SandboxAQ, a company at the intersection of AI and quantum computing. She is a Trustee of the National Gallery (London) where she Chairs the Digital Advisory Board and a Fellow at Harvard University’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society, focused on AI and social responsibility and authoring a Chair/NED course on Cybersecurity, and is a Co-Founder of the World Wide Web Foundation.

She has been the Chair of the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on the Future of Internet Security and is a Member of Raspberry Pi Foundation (overseeing commercial operations of Raspberry Pi), The Smith School of Business at Queen’s University Canada and previously at Wolfson College, Oxford and University of the Arts London. She is a regular attendee and contributor to TED and the World Economic Forum.

Rosemary has a background over the past 25 years in Finance, Principal Investment, Start-up creation and Sales in Europe, UK, Canada and USA.

John Purcell - Chief Product Officer, DoiT International
John Purcell
Chief Product Officer, DoiT International
John Purcell
Chief Product Officer, DoiT International

John Purcell is the chief product officer (CPO) of DoiT and oversees the global research and development (R&D) team and the DoiT product portfolio. At DoiT, John has built a product organization from the ground up, scaled the global R&D organization 5x, and drove core product strategy to reinforce the value that DoiT provides to customers. With 25+ years of experience leading business and technology strategy for enterprise SaaS companies, John carries the organizational, operational, and technological expertise that turns high-growth tech companies into clear market leaders.

John’s experience creating and transforming product organizations at global enterprise SaaS companies has significantly contributed to DoiT’s growth and innovation across our product team. He strongly believes that great people make great teams, and great teams make great organizations – and because of this, is committed to building and developing empowered and accountable teams, and a winning organization. Through John’s leadership, DoiT’s product team has been able to build and refine products that resolve challenging cloud problems for customers and align with market and industry trends.

Prior to joining DoiT, John was vice president of products at CloudHealth, where he transformed its product team to scale from ~75 to ~200 people, and modernize products while continuing to innovate and expand the product portfolio. John also held product leadership roles at companies like mabl, SmartBear Software, and LogMeIn.

John is an advisor for several firms, including Glasswing Ventures, Sync Computing, and Underscore VC. He holds a master’s degree in business from Babson F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business and a bachelor’s degree in engineering from University College Dublin.

Brendan Welter - Chief Information Security Officer & Chief Data Officer, Rockefeller Capital Management
Brendan Welter
Chief Information Security Officer & Chief Data Officer, Rockefeller Capital Management
Brendan Welter
Chief Information Security Officer & Chief Data Officer, Rockefeller Capital Management

Brendan Welter is the Chief Information Security Officer & Chief Data Officer for Rockefeller Capital Management. Brendan has 20 years of leadership experience focused on building innovative cybersecurity and risk programs within diverse global businesses, including commercial, private and investment banking.

Before joining Rockefeller Capital Management, Brendan served as Chief Security and Technology Officer at Sterling National Bank, where he was responsible for cybersecurity strategy, resiliency, governance and enterprise-wide technology services at the bank. Prior to Sterling, Brendan spent seven years with Credit Suisse where he held a number of firm-wide roles leading cyber security, technology risk management and product management. Earlier in his career, Brendan held senior roles with Oliver Wyman Group and NERA Economic Consulting.

Brendan received his bachelor’s degree from Fordham University’s Gabelli School of Business and his master’s degree from New York Institute of Technology College of Engineering and Computing Sciences. Brendan was a Military-Business Fellow with the Madison Policy Forum focusing on national cybersecurity policy. He also served as a Chair of the CISO committee within the Mid-Size Bank Coalition of America (MBCA) focused on influencing federal policy, regulatory affairs and collaboration across commercial, digital and consumer banks in the U.S.

Marc Boroditsky - President of Revenue, Cloudflare
Marc Boroditsky
President of Revenue, Cloudflare
Marc Boroditsky
President of Revenue, Cloudflare

Marc Boroditsky is a tech entrepreneur with 30+ years’ experience and 25+ years with start-ups. He has founded and financed four start-up software companies, specializing in electronic medical records, authentication, and identity management. Boroditsky is President of Revenue at Cloudflare, a provider of networking solutions. Prior to Cloudflare, he was Chief Revenue Officer at Twilio Inc. He previously was Vice President of Identity Management at Oracle, following its 2011 acquisition of his startup, Passlogix. Before Passlogix, he founded Numera Corporation and Novus Technologies, providing technical solutions in the medical and financial fields.

He began by identifying a remarkable opportunity in the area of computer security: to simplify authentication for users, by addressing the need to know an increasing number of passwords. This vision led to the creation of Passlogix, a successful enterprise SSO company. Passlogix became an industry leader with more than 1,600 customers and 25 million users worldwide. Passlogix was acquired by Oracle, where Marc joined as VP of Identity Management and lead that business for three years.

Marc returned to the startup world to lead Authy, a two-factor authentication (2FA) as a service cloud API vendor, again responding to the universal need for optimized authentication technologies. As President and COO he generated nearly 4x growth in under a year with a hybrid developer first and enterprise sales model. Authy was acquired by Twilio and Marc joined Twilio as Vice President and GM of Authentication.

Chris McLellan - Former Chief Security Officer, HubSpot
Chris McLellan
Former Chief Security Officer, HubSpot
Chris McLellan
Former Chief Security Officer, HubSpot

“Chris McLellan served as Chief Security Officer for HubSpot. In this role, he was responsible for all security and risk management, this includes all physical, logical, infrastructure, and application security. His focus in developing a technology risk management program that allowed HubSpot to IPO, become SOX compliant, and implement scalable risk management processes to support future growth.

Before joining HubSpot, Chris was Vice President Risk and Compliance, Enterprise Technology Services at State Street Corporation. His responsibilities included the development and management of the Enterprise Technology Services Risk and Compliance program and global team management.

Prior to that he developed a business plan and secured initial funding as Founder and Board Member of Co3 Systems (now IBM Resilient), which designed and developed a SAAS incident response/breach management solution plan, including an automated regulatory assessment process.

Previously, he was SVP and Chief Information Security Officer for Fidelity Investments. This role included all aspects of Technology Risk Management, including the development of a comprehensive multi-year strategy to perform sustainable risk management and effectively manage potential risk exposures within the organization. His time at Fidelity also included serving as SVP, Enterprise Applications Services. He was responsible for the operations and infrastructure management of the Fidelity corporate services, including Corporate Messaging, Wireless, Intranet, File Services, Collaboration Systems, Security Services, Identity Management, Regulatory Response, Database, Middleware, and Midrange Services.

Chris also founded and managed as CTO, InterOps Management Solutions, a SAAS 7×24 Security Operations Center developed to provide advanced technology solutions, which proactively monitor and manage operational exceptions in order to reduce cost and increase the quality of services being delivered to customers.

Chris serves on the board of directors and is the technology chair for ELM Resources, he also serves as advisor for Glasswing Ventures and is on the advisory board for IBM Resilient. Chris spends much of his time in Wells, Maine where he enjoys spending time with his wife and four daughters and is an active food and wine enthusiast.”

Astrid Noltemy - Former Managing Director, Cambridge Associates
Astrid Noltemy
Former Managing Director, Cambridge Associates
Astrid Noltemy
Former Managing Director, Cambridge Associates

“Astrid Noltemy has wide experience of the venture capital industry, having worked in roles at a number of market-leading venture capital and private markets data and consulting firms. She was most recently a Managing Director and private investments specialist at Cambridge Associates. She advised on private investments portfolios for a number of institutional investors globally, before which she led Private Investments Research and Performance Monitoring, and was one of the creators of CA’s proprietary private investments databases.

Prior to joining Cambridge Associates Astrid was a Manager in Venture Economics’ Analytical Products, Director of Research at Highland Capital Partners, and a research analyst at Charles River Ventures. Astrid currently serves on the investment advisory board of asset management firm Fondaco S.p.A., Turin, Italy.

She is a member of the investment committee of Cintrifuse Early Stage Venture Capital Fund, the Selection Advisory Council for the GreenLight Fund in Boston, and is an Investment Adviser at Isomer Capital in London.”

Jack Hembrough - Executive Chairman, Allure Security
Jack Hembrough
Executive Chairman, Allure Security
Jack Hembrough
Executive Chairman, Allure Security

Jack Hembrough serves on the Board of Directors of Allure as Executive Chairman and on the Board of Directors of Security Innovation and CyberSaint Security. He is also an advisor to PWNieExpress. Previously he served on the Board of Directors of Resilient (sold to IBM) and Watchful (sold to Symantec.)

He joined Raptor Systems as a startup, and created its European Operation from Amsterdam after Raptor’s IPO. He has held sales management positions with Network Systems and with Motorola / Codex. He flew fighters in the USAF.

Jack earned a Master of Business Administration with Distinction from the Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from the United States Air Force Academy.

Geoffry  Gilton - Managing Director, J7 Solutions Former Senior Vice President of Technology, Service Credit Union
Geoffry Gilton
Managing Director, J7 Solutions Former Senior Vice President of Technology, Service Credit Union
Geoffry Gilton
Managing Director, J7 Solutions Former Senior Vice President of Technology, Service Credit Union

Geoffry Gilton is a seasoned technology executive with a proven track record of driving transformation in technology platforms, risk and security controls, and delivery models across diverse industries.

Geoffry is currently Managing Director at J7 Solutions, providing strategic consulting and advisory services leveraging his extensive technology and security experience. Geoffry was previously the Senior Vice President of Technology at Service Credit Union. Gilton joined Service Credit Union In 2019 after more than 20 years of experience in the technology space on an international scope, transforming technology platforms and driving strategic level initiatives across a variety of industries.

Before joining Service CU, he spent two years in private equity, leading Information Technology and Cybersecurity for a portfolio of communication services providers. Prior to private equity, he spent five years in banking technology, leading technology strategy and design for Infrastructure Services at Citizens Bank. During his tenure, he led company-wide programs including BYOD, 4G branch resiliency, Cloud Working Group and RBS Separation. He was responsible for strategy and design across the entire infrastructure technology portfolio, including data center, end user (Desktop, Mobility, Virtualization), network (Voice, Data, Telecom), hosting and facilities.

Before that, he spent four years working with entrepreneurial companies in the SaaS and enterprise software markets, both in strategy and business development roles. He was the Vice President of Alliances at Virtual Bridges, a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) software company. He led the service provider market strategy and business development activities, establishing strategic partnerships and delivering significant revenue growth for this privately held company.

Previously, Geoffry spent thirteen years at Fidelity Investments, most recently working in the private equity group as an operating company consultant and held several executive roles in the portfolio international operating companies, where he gained operational experience in strategy, product management and marketing of new services in the business-to-business market. During his tenure at COLT Technology Services, Geoffry was responsible for developing the five-year strategic plan for the Managed IT Services line of business, which led to the transformation of the COLT business from a predominantly declining margin voice business to a higher margin, growing Managed Services business.

Gilton holds an Executive Education Certificate in Technology, Operations and Value Chain Management from MIT, as well as a Master’s in Business Administration from Babson College. He also has a Master of Science in Telecommunications and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of Colorado.

Susan Macdermid - Founder and CEO, Ascendant Network
Susan Macdermid
Founder and CEO, Ascendant Network
Susan Macdermid
Founder and CEO, Ascendant Network

Susan MacDermid is the Founder and CEO of Ascendant Network. Ascendant is a powerful, invite only network for the most prominent and progressive marketing executives spearheading digital transformation. It is focused on building a community of CMOs + marketing leaders to elevate their personal and professional influence while establishing long-lasting relationships that has fuel both business and career growth.

Susan is a digital industry veteran with experience crafting digital strategies for brand advertisers and media companies. Clients have included 25 of the world’s top 100 brands from the consumer electronics, CPG, entertainment, finance, hi-tech, luxury, retail, and travel industries. She has more than 15 years of experience in building global businesses, having run Asia-Pacific, the EU and the Americas for event and hi-tech companies and global advertising agencies, including Modem Media Japan where she held the position of President 1999-2001. She was also formerly the Global President of dmg:events (2009-2013), which she grew to become the largest event organization in the digital marketing space.

Susan earned an MA in History and the emergence of mass media from the University of British Columbia, Canada in 1990. In 1992, she became a Ph.D. Fellow at Keio University in Japan.

Eric Richard - Chief Information Security Officer and Senior VP of Engineering Operations, HubSpot
Eric Richard
Chief Information Security Officer and Senior VP of Engineering Operations, HubSpot
Eric Richard
Chief Information Security Officer and Senior VP of Engineering Operations, HubSpot

Eric Richard is currently the SVP of Engineering at Dutchie. Eric was previously the Chief Information Security Officer and SVP of Engineering at HubSpot, where he oversaw HubSpot’s engineering operations teams including the team responsible for executing on the security and technology risk management to best protect our customers, partners and the business. Eric brings more than two decades of experience in the tech industry as a founder, CTO, engineering, and business leader. Eric also served as the co-executive sponsor of the Women@HubSpot employee resource group.

Prior to HubSpot, Eric was the SVP of Engineering at Compete, where he led the company’s developer and engineering team through growth and internationalization initiatives. Eric was previously the Chief Architect at SPSS and the VP of Engineering at Idiom Technologies. Eric began his career as the co-founder and CTO of NetGenesis, an online software company that went public in 2000 and was later acquired by SPSS.

In his spare time, Eric spends time with his family, enjoys movies, and works to become a better runner. He holds a BS in Computer Science from MIT.

Simone Ross - Tech Curator, TED Conferences
Simone Ross
Tech Curator, TED Conferences
Simone Ross
Tech Curator, TED Conferences

Simone Ross is the Founder of Idea Evolution Ventures. A content strategist with a successful background in high-level content curation and strategic program development, Simone has been an active observer of the companies, individuals, and ideas at the intersection of technology, the economy, and society for over 20 years, since her days as the Director of Program Operations for the Computerworld Smithsonian Information Technology Awards.

She specializes in designing programs and convening substantive conversations that connect the people and ideas at the intersection of technology and progress, and explore the applications and implications of that tech on how we work, live, and play.

Most recently, Simone joined TED as their Tech Curator. Prior to TED, she was the Co-Founder and Chief Program Officer of Techonomy Media she was responsible for all program content and served as Executive Producer for the Techonomy conferences (Techonomy Bio, Techonomy Detroit, Techonomy Health, Techonomy NYC, Techonomy Policy, and the annual Techonomy flagship conference). The Techonomy conferences focus on exploring tech’s role as a driver of social and economic productivity and progress.

Prior to Techonomy, she was Program Director for Fortune’s conference division, responsible for programming the Fortune Global Forum, Fortune 500 Forum, Most Powerful Women Summit, iMeme, and Brainstorm. Before joining Fortune, she was Director of Operations at the Computerworld Smithsonian Awards Program, a non-profit endeavor that helped the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History chronicle the information age revolution.

Simone regularly advises companies on their content and conference strategy and is known for creating insightful and challenging programs focused on helping organizations understand the complex issues and ideas impacting business, society, and the future.

Joey Fortuna - Chief Technology Officer, Ziff Davis
Joey Fortuna
Chief Technology Officer, Ziff Davis
Joey Fortuna
Chief Technology Officer, Ziff Davis

Joey Fortuna is the CTO of Ziff Davis. Joey oversees corporate IT initiatives, policies and practices, and facilitates cross-company technology efforts. A central figure in driving innovation and developing proprietary technology across Ziff Davis’ media businesses, Joey served as CTO of Ziff Davis from 2011, helping to orchestrate its acquisition by J2 Global. Then in 2018, Joey became CTO of J2 Global, Inc. (now Ziff Davis, Inc.) — the first CTO in the company’s 23-year history.

Joey has more than 25 years of experience in technical leadership, software engineering methodology, systems architecture, data services, analytics, product design and support. Prior to joining Ziff Davis in 2011, Joey was Senior Vice President of Engineering at VINDICO Group, VP of Engineering at Quigo, and co-founder and Vice President of Technology at Pseudo Programs, Inc.

Joey holds patents for stateful gaming systems, algorithmic methods of content production, digital identity and proof-of-work methodology, data mining and contextual summarization. He currently sits on the board of the New York Chapter of Girls in Tech, and is a member of the Advisory Council of Glasswing Ventures.

Joey earned his Bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University and holds a Master’s Degree in Computer Science from Columbia University.

Dave Knox - Executive Director, Blue North
Dave Knox
Executive Director, Blue North
Dave Knox
Executive Director, Blue North

Dave Knox is a leading startup advisor, investor, speaker, and marketer who closes the gap between Fortune 500 and entrepreneurship through innovation, marketing, and digital transformation. Dave blends classical brand marketing acumen with entrepreneurial instinct to navigate a changing corporate landscape. Dave is currently the Executive Director of Blue North, an innovation hub in northern Kentucky.

Dave was previously the Chief Marketing Officer of Rockfish. As CMO, Dave helped the company become one of the fastest-growing agencies in the country, going from $8 million in 2010 to $70+ million in revenue in 2016. Simultaneously, Dave co-founded The Brandery, one of the top 10 startup accelerators in the U.S. Combining these two worlds, Dave authored the bestselling book, Predicting the Turn: The High Stakes Game of Business Between Startups and Blue Chips. In his latest endeavor, Dave practiced Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition as he bought and relaunched the natural wellness brand Nature’s Willow.

Dave holds a B.S. in Marketing from Miami University, where he is also the Co-Founder of the Cradle of Marketers.

Heidi Lehmann - Director of Strategic Investments, Ligo Partners LLC
Heidi Lehmann
Director of Strategic Investments, Ligo Partners LLC
Heidi Lehmann
Director of Strategic Investments, Ligo Partners LLC

Heidi E. Lehmann is a mobile technology and media entrepreneur currently focused on bringing wearable technology products and platforms to market, which she views as the next phase of mobile computing.

Heidi is the Chief Commercial Officer of Kenzen, a health analytics platform focused on the prevention of injury and illness through combining unique bio sensors with non-invasive sweat analysis and machine learning on a patch.

Heidi is also a Founder of SWSI Media (“smart women, smart ideas”) a media company focused on female entrepreneurs. SWSI’s first show “Queen Boss” was acquired by Viacom/BET after a successful digital run on OraTV, a joint venture between Larry King + Carlos Slim. SWSI is producing it’s second show “TechSexy” (working title) in partnership with Machete Entertainment.

Heidi holds advisory roles at Tech Stars, Tohi Beverage, New York Tech Fashion Lab, mBolden (formerly Women in Wireless), and Responsive Ads. She is a Managing Director at Gaingels angel syndicate in New York.

Previously, Heidi was founder of one of the first mobile advertising platforms, Third Screen Media, acquired by AOL for $105m+ and an early employee and Head of Sales for automotive research company Autosite acquired by Autoweb for $20m. Heidi was co-founder and CEO of MoxieQ a mobile first influencer platform with distribution across all US mobile carriers and a key partnership with NBC/BravoTV. She has led business development at venture-backed start-ups including Kaon Interactive (3D object capture technology) and Artificial Life (AI bot technology).

Heidi has been featured and quoted in the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Ad Age, Adweek, Mediapost, ClickZ, The Daily Dot, The Advocate, SheWired, The Kansas City Business Journal, Curve Magazine and in multiple Mobile Marketing publications and spoken on and moderated panels at events such as M1 Summit, SXSW, 3GSM Mobile World Congress, CTIA, Product Innovation Apparel, AdTech, OMMA, World Future Society, Manhattan Chamber of Commerce, New York Economic Development Council, New York Times Innovation Day, Reuters Media Day, Start-Out, iMedia Summit and Digital Hollywood. She was a keynote speaker at the 2016 and 2017 National NGLCC conference. She has been featured in podcasts with mBolden and The Credentialed among others.

Heidi was a 2017 Woman to Watch in Connected Retail, 2016 New York Business Journal Woman of Influence, 2014 Most Influential Woman in Tech, 2011 Female Founder to Watch by Women 2.0, a 2011 Most Influential Woman in Wireless by Fierce Wireless, and a 2010 Woman to Watch by Mobile Marketer.

Todd Cullen -  Senior Advisor, Oak Hill Capital
Todd Cullen
Senior Advisor, Oak Hill Capital
Todd Cullen
Senior Advisor, Oak Hill Capital

Todd Cullen is the Founder and Managing Partner of Blue Table Advisors, a data and analytics-focused consulting firm. Todd is also an Operating Partner at Oak Hill, a middle-market private equity firm, with specialties in Advanced Analytics, Data Science, and Data Management Technology. Todd has spent more than 20 years leading and advising some of the world’s best-known, data-driven brands in the pursuit of insights-driven performance. With deep specialties in digital marketing and analytics, marketing technology, data and data platforms, and digital transformation, Todd helps companies articulate and chart the course toward data & analytics maturity that produces real business results.

Prior to partnering with Oak Hill, Todd was a Managing Director and U.S. Lead for the Enterprise and Customer Data & Analytics practice at KPMG, LLP, where he led engagements developing analytics strategy and capabilities for clients seeking to embed advanced analytics techniques into critical business functions. Previously, Todd was Chief Data Officer at Ogilvy, where his teams won multiple Cannes Lions awards for the creative use of data science in customer experience, and Vice President of Global Data & Analytics Services at Acxiom Corporation, a $300MM+ product development and engineering organization.

Todd earned a B.A. degree in History and Political Science from Hendrix College, and M.B.A. and M.P.A. degrees from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

Chuck Harrington - Executive Chairman, Parsons Corporation
Chuck Harrington
Executive Chairman, Parsons Corporation
Chuck Harrington
Executive Chairman, Parsons Corporation

Charles L. (Chuck) Harrington is the chairman and former CEO of Parsons Corporation, a technology services company in the global defense, intelligence, and critical infrastructure markets. He served as Chairman and CEO of the company from 2008 to 2021 and transformed Parsons into a disruptive technology provider and led their IPO in 2019. Previously, he held roles within the company, including Chief Financial Officer, Group President, and Senior Vice President.

In addition to serving as Chairman of Parsons, Harrington serves as a Board Director for Korn Ferry, Constellation Energy (NASDAQ: CEG), John Bean Technologies (NYSE: JBT), J.G. Boswell Company (OTCMRKTS: BWEL), and serves as Chair of the Institute of Digital Engineering USA (IDEUSA) and Vice Chair of the Cal Poly Foundation. He also served on the board of AES Corporation (NYSE: AES) from 2013 to 2020.

Chuck is an engineering graduate of the California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) in San Luis Obispo and holds an MBA with concentrations in finance and marketing from UCLA. He attended the Duke Fuqua School of Business Advanced Management Program and holds an honorary doctorate degree in engineering from Cal Poly.

Jim Anderson - CEO, Beacon
Jim Anderson
CEO, Beacon
Jim Anderson
CEO, Beacon

Jim Anderson is the CEO of Beacon Software and has a distinguished track record in technology with over 20 years of experience spanning the development, productization, and sale of technology solutions in both B2B and B2C environments. He has spent the past 10 years on the cutting edge of social media, helping brands and marketers effectively use technology such as artificial intelligence, and more recently blockchain, to power their social media efforts. Prior to Beacon, Jim served as the CEO of SocialFlow, a social distribution and marketing platform, which was acquired by Piano in 2022. Prior to SocialFlow, Jim was Chief Operating Officer of Vitrue, where he was instrumental in building the team, the products, and the customer relationships that ultimately led to the company’s acquisition by Oracle for over $300M.

Prior to Vitrue, Jim spent nearly a decade at EarthLink/MindSpring, the consumer Internet Service Provider where he helped create consumer adoption of the Internet starting in the mid-1990s. He led the development and launch of MindSpring’s first high-speed DSL offering, a business that grew to millions of users. Jim is a recognized thought leader in the social marketing space and frequent guest on CNN, Fox, Bloomberg, MSNBC and others. He holds bachelors and master’s degrees in engineering from Georgia Tech.

Prior to Vitrue, Jim spent nearly a decade at EarthLink/MindSpring, the consumer Internet Service Provider where he helped create consumer adoption of the Internet starting in the mid-1990s. He led the development and launch of MindSpring’s first high-speed DSL offering, a business that grew to millions of users.

Jim is a recognized thought leader in the social marketing space and frequent guest on CNN, Fox, Bloomberg, MSNBC and others. He holds bachelors and master’s degrees in engineering from Georgia Tech.

Jennifer Leggio - Chief Marketing Officer, Netography
Jennifer Leggio
Chief Marketing Officer, Netography
Jennifer Leggio
Chief Marketing Officer, Netography

Jennifer Leggio has 23 years as a cybersecurity executive and growth strategist, with a keen focus on marketing, communications, and business operations. Her specialities include build-to-exit, build-to-grow, and rebuild-for-strength ventures. She is currently the Chief Marketing Officer at Netography and has also served as VP Operations alongside the CMO role at previous companies.

Her unique expertise has helped drive demonstrable business growth and operational efficiency. In marketing, she excels at storytelling and creating content-driven, integrated programs that create brand and revenue. Beyond marketing, she has overseen financial growth strategy, investor relations, change management, supply chain optimization, sales operations, and deal desk. Jennifer can rapidly analyze complex business data to identify new growth opportunities to achieve significant milestones, such as expanding into new markets, creating emerging markets, increasing revenue and profitability, reducing cost and risk exposure, and readiness for material events such as initial public offering or mergers and acquisitions.

As a growth strategist, she has advised and continues to advise startups and venture capital firms on how to achieve rapid and sustainable growth.

Jennifer is known for her passion for creating a more inclusive cybersecurity ecosystem in which any career in the industry is “accepted,” regardless of technical prowess. In 2019, she was recognized by SC Media for advocating aggressively for ethical marketing programs that focus on facts, not fear, and the protection of security researchers. She has also spoken on these topics at DEF CON 23, Hack in the Box, RSA Conference, Gartner Security Summit, and in many articles and podcasts.

Frank Speiser - CEO, Metafide
Frank Speiser
CEO, Metafide
Frank Speiser
CEO, Metafide

Frank Speiser is the CEO and Founder of Metafide, a blockchain ratings company that utilizes cutting-edge AI and machine learning technologies to provide real-time ratings and analysis for blockchain assets. Frank was previously the CEO of Talla (merged with Seva), an AI-powered automation platform that enables customer service and support teams to improve both customer experience and productivity. Previously, Frank was the Co-Founder of SocialFlow, the world’s largest media distribution software platform.

In his role, Frank leads all facets of product, AI, and ML for the platform. Under his leadership, SocialFlow has built a tokenization and NLP platform which predictively models audience attention, and a derivatives trading platform for human semiotic preference, where topics are traded for time and engagement.

Frank has written for notable publications such as Forbes and The Guardian regarding technology and AI, and is prominently featured in the books “The Disruption Revolution” by David Passiak and “Creativity and Data Marketing” by Becky Wang for his views on the role of AI, data culture, and its relationship to human progress.

Prior to founding SocialFlow, Frank was the CTO of TAKKLE, a Manhattan-based sports platform, and HEAVY, a large video network and an innovator to much of the current video ecosystem’s established best practices. Before his CTO roles, Frank was Managing Partner and Lead Technologist at Spectrum Data Technologies, a consultancy specializing in large-scale e-commerce, healthcare and insurance projects.

Noemi Greyzdorf - Strategic Marketing Specialist, Interlock Technology
Noemi Greyzdorf
Strategic Marketing Specialist, Interlock Technology
Noemi Greyzdorf
Strategic Marketing Specialist, Interlock Technology

Noemi Greyzdorf is a strategic marketing specialist at Interlock Technology. She previously served as Vice President of Strategy and Alliances at Cambridge Computer for nearly a decade. She is a technologist with a unique business perspective, which combines deep understanding of the storage and infrastructure space with how organizations are adopting technology to drive greater results and achieve business objectives. Noemi architects solutions for virtualized infrastructures, research and HPC workloads, data protection and archiving, and other specific use cases. She also works closely with startups and young companies to define and convey the value of technology, identify target markets, and help seed early innovative products in the enterprise.

Noemi received a B.A. in History and Russian Literature from University of Minnesota in 1993, and an M.B.A., General Management from the Red McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas in 2000.

Donna Cowan - Angel Investor
Donna Cowan
Angel Investor
Donna Cowan
Angel Investor

Donna Cowan has decades of experience in networking technology. As a member of the executive team, she was responsible for helping ensure the success of BBN, Newbridge Networks, and Sonus. Previously, she was a Venture Partner at Skypoint Capital. Donna has been active in angel investing for over two decades and is one of the most connected technology professionals in the New England region.

Michael Jellinek, M.D - Professor of Psychiatry and of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School
Michael Jellinek, M.D
Professor of Psychiatry and of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School
Michael Jellinek, M.D
Professor of Psychiatry and of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School

Dr. Jellinek earned his medical degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in Bronx, New York, completed pediatrics training at Montefiore Hospital and Medical Center, Bronx, NY, and residencies in child psychiatry at Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Boston, MA, and in psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital also in Boston. Dr. Jellinek is currently Professor of Psychiatry and of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School.

Academically, Dr. Jellinek has written or co-written numerous articles and chapters on pediatric psychiatry, psychosomatic disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and the difficult parent among other topics. With Michael Murphy, Ed.D., he developed the Pediatric Symptom Checklist, which is a brief screening instrument that has been validated to help primary care pediatricians identify children with psychosocial dysfunction. Dr. Jellinek has co-edited two books and was section editor for the Handbook of General Psychiatry and the Saunders Manual of Hospital Practice. He served as Chair for Bright Futures in Practice: Mental Health supported by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, providing guidelines on mental health promotion for infants, children and adolescents.

In 1992 Dr. Jellinek was named as Vice President of Ambulatory Services at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). In 1996 he was named Senior Vice President for Administration and had responsibility for hospital wide operations, space planning and the Departments of Radiology, Pathology and Pharmacy. Most recently he was Interim President and then (2001) named President of Newton Wellesley Hospital, a 240 bed acute care hospital and, along with MGH, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and North Shore Medical Center, a member of the Partners HealthCare System.