Thought Leaders

INNOVATE® Miami

Jorge Ruiz

Jorge Ruiz

Founder & CEO - Finconecta

  Jorge Ruiz, Founder & CEO, Finconecta Innovation itself has evolved. It used to be that you could create something, patent that something, and it would serve its purpose until a new and superior product came along and replaced it. Now, innovation is not just about solving a problem that...

INNOVATION Quebec

GRAHAM CARR

PRESIDENT AND VICE-CHANCELLOR, CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY

Montréal présente la plus forte concentration d’étudiants universitaires de toutes les villes d’Amérique du Nord. Offrant un mélange unique de français et d’anglais, elle attire des étudiantes et étudiants de plus de 155 pays du monde entier. Montréal n’est pas seulement le principal centre de recherche universitaire du Canada, elle...

INNOVATE™ Vancouver Vol.2

RYAN PERNIA

RYAN PERNIA

PRESIDENT, ENTAX

Everyday I’m inspired by the innovators and their dreams to change the world. Our clients are building everything; from next-generation AI models, advanced robotics, creative and award-winning games, lifesaving medical devices, end-to-end software platforms, to environment saving industrial processes. As the founder of ENTAX, one of Canada’s preeminent Government Funding...

INNOVATE® New Jersey Vol.2

STUART COOK

CHIEF INNOVATION OFFICER, VALLEY NATIONAL BANK

LEVERAGING OUR DIFFERENTIATOR IN THE AGE OF AI – PEOPLEWe are entering a new age of innovation where artificial intelligence will revolutionize the way we work, interact with our customers, and drive business outcomes. It’s going to impact all industries, including banking and financial services. Yet, while everyone rushes up...

INNOVATE® New Jersey Vol.2

Shadae McDaniel

Shadae McDaniel - City Leader

City Leader, All Stars Project of New Jersey

In 2014, I met—and fell in love with—the All Stars Project and its Afterschool Development approach as a new way of engaging poverty. I have always loved to perform—discovering dance as a teenager and growing up poor in Teaneck was a life-changer for me—and I immediately saw the effectiveness of...

INNOVATE™ Flanders

FRANÇOIS DE VRIENDT

OWNER OF NEW VALMAR

Perspectives on InnovationTo thrive in today’s competitive business landscape, SMES must embrace automation and streamline all its processes to ensure cost-effectiveness and compatibility with other players in the market. At New Valmar, we understand this well and have made significant investments in cutting edge technologies that augment our Enterprise Resource...

INNOVATION Quebec

FRANÇOIS GAGNON

GENERAL DIRECTOR AND HEAD OF DIRECTORATE, SCHOOL OF HIGHER TECHNOLOGY (ÉTS)

It was in 1991 that I joined École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS) as a professor. Over the course of my teaching career, through the development of my research career and now, as CEO of ÉTS since 2019, I have been able to truly appreciate the extent to which this institution...

INNOVATE® Chicago Vol.1

Joel B. Bruckman

Joel B. Bruckman

Attorney - Freeborn & Peters LLP

I support innovators by providing them with a comprehensive approach to data privacy and cybersecurity to both protect them and free them to function at full capacity. This includes providing clients with: i) a clear understanding of the data privacy laws and regulations applicable to their businesses; ii) guidance in...

INNOVATE® Minnesota

Mouli Venkatesan

Mouli Venkatesan

Senior Vice President & CIO - Optumhealth & Enterprise Clinical Technology

Innovation means constantly learning from experiences of the past and using those as guideposts and insights to invent a better future—in this case, to make the health care system serve everyone better. Innovation can mean many things. I look at Innovation using a lens of small “i” and BIG “I”...

INNOVATE™ Oeiras

Rui Pedro Almeida

Rui Pedro Almeida

Chair Of The British-Portuguese Chamber Of Commerce

We have worked with both the Portuguese and British Government, local municipalities and several institutions to find solutions and seek out opportunities to local, regional and global challenges and to support the private sector. Our primary mission is to promote bilateral trade and business opportunities between Portugal and the UK...

INNOVATE® Phoenix

Paul Johnson

Paul Johnson

Founder & CEO - Redirect Health

Imagine this… In 2010, 1.8 billion people were connected. Today, 3 billion, and by 2022 – 2025, that number will expand to include every human on the planet, approaching 8 billion humans. Today Solar and renewable energy have become cheaper than coal. 25% of the World’s Power Comes From Renewables....

INNOVATE™ Bristol & Bath

CHARLES RADCLYFFE

PARTNER, ETHICS GRADE

“WE ARE CONCERNED FOR ALL THE PEOPLE WHO WILL LOSE JOBS AS A RESULT OF AUTOMATION”.– CHARLES RADCLYFFE, PARTNER We are worried. Some of the things we worry about are the same as everyone else who is trying to imagine the impact of technology on our lives. We worry about how...

INNOVATE™ Adelaide

MR. OSCAR FIORINOTTO

FOUNDER & CEO, SUPASHOCK ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES

FOSTERING A CULTURE OF LEADERS AND INNOVATIONI was fortunate to have an ambitious father who embedded leadership heavily into my life. I feel it is important for any leader to have a mentor, and this is the reason we focus so heavily on mentorship at Supashock. A mentor is someone...

INNOVATE™ Bristol & Bath

Neil Douglas

Neil Douglas - Director

Director, Viper Innovations

When we started our company in 2007, one of the first questions we had to ask ourselves, was where is the best place to be located? The client base for our products and services was international and so our selection did not have to be governed by the location of...

INNOVATIONS in Pharmaceutical Development®

INNOVATE™ Oeiras

JOÃO ALMEIDA LOPES

JOÃO ALMEIDA LOPES

PRESIDENTE DA DIRECÇÃO DA APIFARMA

Past conquests bear witness to the value and significance of scientific knowledge and leave no doubt than an innovative spirit is still the best answer to major challenges faced by humankind. In fact, innovation-friendly policies foster models of development based on people and are a recipe for prosperity. This is...

INNOVATE™ Stockholm

MAGNUS MÄHRING

PROFESSOR AND CHAIR, HOUSE OF INNOVATION, STOCKHOLM SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS (SSE)

For more than one and a half decade, Sweden has consecutively been ranked in the top three most innovative economies in the world (according to the United Nations’ Global Innovation Index). There is a longstanding tradition in Sweden to work collaboratively across different societal sectors — and in an interdisciplinary...

INNOVATE™ Alberta

JOHN WILSON

PRESIDENT & CEO, INNOVATE CALGARY

Welcome to Alberta. I am writing this note today from Calgary, or Mohkinstsis, a place where peoples have gathered for centuries to share and to learn, and I am honored to continue this tradition. Since 1986, Innovate Calgary has been the commercialization arm of the University of Calgary. In 2024,...

INNOVATE® Nashville

SAMUEL “BO” BARTHOLOMEW

SAMUEL “BO” BARTHOLOMEW

CEO, EVIDENCECARE

There is more access to information and opinions than ever before in history. With this historic access, you’d think there’d be more visibility to leaders making a difference in the world. Instead, we have more talking heads, self-proclaimed experts, and self-promoted leaders competing for our attention over the airwaves. So...

INNOVATE® Georgia

MURLI REDDY

CHARTER GLOBAL - FOUNDER AND CEO

As the CEO of Charter Global, I’ve often found myself at the intersection of leadership and thought leadership. While these roles are often conflated, they hold distinct yet complementary purposes. A leader is a visionary—a person who can see the invisible and inspires others to turn those visions into reality....

INNOVATE® Miami

Nitin Motwani

TRANSIT ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT Downtown Miami is experiencing one of the most dynamic urban reinventions in the world. Less than 10 years ago, Downtown was a 9-to-5 business district, but today businesses are launching and thriving, city streets are populated around-the-clock, parks and cultural venues now occupy land that sat vacant...

INNOVATE® Philadelphia

Manik Arora

Manik Arora - Arora Engineers

Arora Engineers, inc

Philadelphia is the birthplace of our country and home to an eclectic mix of historical and modern infrastructure. However, with its rapid development over the years, the number of users is quickly exceeding the original capacity of its built environment. In response to this roadblock, two of our major transportation...

VOICES of the Future

GIL PETERSIL

AUTHENTIC NETWORKING WILL TAKE US BEYOND OUR WORLD

Gil Petersil is a man who understands science and the essence of human networking as intimately as only a handful of other people in the world do. His mission? It is one grounded in its simplicity: to serve people and add value through authentic human-to-human relationships. He shares: “I’m really...

INNOVATE® Nashville

GILL WAGNER

Serial Entrepreneur

Over a period of 40 years as an entrepreneur, while building six professional service firms and three nonprofits, I used to network like a madman. As you might imagine, with my hands in several things at once, it was sometimes difficult to answer the question: “So, Gill, what do you...

INNOVATE® Tampa Bay Vol.3

DR. RICHARD M. SMITH

DR. RICHARD M. SMITH

FOUNDER & CHAIR, STOCKSAVVY

One of the greatest wealth-building tools available, the stock market has long been out of reach for most people. I believe that no one benefits in the long run when we have to depend on other people to invest our money and wealth is increasingly concentrated into fewer and fewer...

Jorge Ruiz

Jorge Ruiz

Founder & CEO - Finconecta

  Jorge Ruiz, Founder & CEO, Finconecta Innovation itself has evolved. It used to be that you could create something, patent that something, and it would serve its purpose until a new and superior product came along and replaced it. Now, innovation is not just about solving a problem that...

GRAHAM CARR

PRESIDENT AND VICE-CHANCELLOR, CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY

Montréal présente la plus forte concentration d’étudiants universitaires de toutes les villes d’Amérique du Nord. Offrant un mélange unique de français et d’anglais, elle attire des étudiantes et étudiants de plus de 155 pays du monde entier. Montréal n’est pas seulement le principal centre de recherche universitaire du Canada, elle...

RYAN PERNIA

RYAN PERNIA

PRESIDENT, ENTAX

Everyday I’m inspired by the innovators and their dreams to change the world. Our clients are building everything; from next-generation AI models, advanced robotics, creative and award-winning games, lifesaving medical devices, end-to-end software platforms, to environment saving industrial processes. As the founder of ENTAX, one of Canada’s preeminent Government Funding...

STUART COOK

CHIEF INNOVATION OFFICER, VALLEY NATIONAL BANK

LEVERAGING OUR DIFFERENTIATOR IN THE AGE OF AI – PEOPLEWe are entering a new age of innovation where artificial intelligence will revolutionize the way we work, interact with our customers, and drive business outcomes. It’s going to impact all industries, including banking and financial services. Yet, while everyone rushes up...

Shadae McDaniel

Shadae McDaniel - City Leader

City Leader, All Stars Project of New Jersey

In 2014, I met—and fell in love with—the All Stars Project and its Afterschool Development approach as a new way of engaging poverty. I have always loved to perform—discovering dance as a teenager and growing up poor in Teaneck was a life-changer for me—and I immediately saw the effectiveness of...

FRANÇOIS DE VRIENDT

OWNER OF NEW VALMAR

Perspectives on InnovationTo thrive in today’s competitive business landscape, SMES must embrace automation and streamline all its processes to ensure cost-effectiveness and compatibility with other players in the market. At New Valmar, we understand this well and have made significant investments in cutting edge technologies that augment our Enterprise Resource...

FRANÇOIS GAGNON

GENERAL DIRECTOR AND HEAD OF DIRECTORATE, SCHOOL OF HIGHER TECHNOLOGY (ÉTS)

It was in 1991 that I joined École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS) as a professor. Over the course of my teaching career, through the development of my research career and now, as CEO of ÉTS since 2019, I have been able to truly appreciate the extent to which this institution...

Joel B. Bruckman

Joel B. Bruckman

Attorney - Freeborn & Peters LLP

I support innovators by providing them with a comprehensive approach to data privacy and cybersecurity to both protect them and free them to function at full capacity. This includes providing clients with: i) a clear understanding of the data privacy laws and regulations applicable to their businesses; ii) guidance in...

Mouli Venkatesan

Mouli Venkatesan

Senior Vice President & CIO - Optumhealth & Enterprise Clinical Technology

Innovation means constantly learning from experiences of the past and using those as guideposts and insights to invent a better future—in this case, to make the health care system serve everyone better. Innovation can mean many things. I look at Innovation using a lens of small “i” and BIG “I”...

Rui Pedro Almeida

Rui Pedro Almeida

Chair Of The British-Portuguese Chamber Of Commerce

We have worked with both the Portuguese and British Government, local municipalities and several institutions to find solutions and seek out opportunities to local, regional and global challenges and to support the private sector. Our primary mission is to promote bilateral trade and business opportunities between Portugal and the UK...

Paul Johnson

Paul Johnson

Founder & CEO - Redirect Health

Imagine this… In 2010, 1.8 billion people were connected. Today, 3 billion, and by 2022 – 2025, that number will expand to include every human on the planet, approaching 8 billion humans. Today Solar and renewable energy have become cheaper than coal. 25% of the World’s Power Comes From Renewables....

CHARLES RADCLYFFE

PARTNER, ETHICS GRADE

“WE ARE CONCERNED FOR ALL THE PEOPLE WHO WILL LOSE JOBS AS A RESULT OF AUTOMATION”.– CHARLES RADCLYFFE, PARTNER We are worried. Some of the things we worry about are the same as everyone else who is trying to imagine the impact of technology on our lives. We worry about how...

MR. OSCAR FIORINOTTO

FOUNDER & CEO, SUPASHOCK ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES

FOSTERING A CULTURE OF LEADERS AND INNOVATIONI was fortunate to have an ambitious father who embedded leadership heavily into my life. I feel it is important for any leader to have a mentor, and this is the reason we focus so heavily on mentorship at Supashock. A mentor is someone...

Neil Douglas

Neil Douglas - Director

Director, Viper Innovations

When we started our company in 2007, one of the first questions we had to ask ourselves, was where is the best place to be located? The client base for our products and services was international and so our selection did not have to be governed by the location of...

JOÃO ALMEIDA LOPES

JOÃO ALMEIDA LOPES

PRESIDENTE DA DIRECÇÃO DA APIFARMA

Past conquests bear witness to the value and significance of scientific knowledge and leave no doubt than an innovative spirit is still the best answer to major challenges faced by humankind. In fact, innovation-friendly policies foster models of development based on people and are a recipe for prosperity. This is...

MAGNUS MÄHRING

PROFESSOR AND CHAIR, HOUSE OF INNOVATION, STOCKHOLM SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS (SSE)

For more than one and a half decade, Sweden has consecutively been ranked in the top three most innovative economies in the world (according to the United Nations’ Global Innovation Index). There is a longstanding tradition in Sweden to work collaboratively across different societal sectors — and in an interdisciplinary...

JOHN WILSON

PRESIDENT & CEO, INNOVATE CALGARY

Welcome to Alberta. I am writing this note today from Calgary, or Mohkinstsis, a place where peoples have gathered for centuries to share and to learn, and I am honored to continue this tradition. Since 1986, Innovate Calgary has been the commercialization arm of the University of Calgary. In 2024,...

SAMUEL “BO” BARTHOLOMEW

SAMUEL “BO” BARTHOLOMEW

CEO, EVIDENCECARE

There is more access to information and opinions than ever before in history. With this historic access, you’d think there’d be more visibility to leaders making a difference in the world. Instead, we have more talking heads, self-proclaimed experts, and self-promoted leaders competing for our attention over the airwaves. So...

MURLI REDDY

CHARTER GLOBAL - FOUNDER AND CEO

As the CEO of Charter Global, I’ve often found myself at the intersection of leadership and thought leadership. While these roles are often conflated, they hold distinct yet complementary purposes. A leader is a visionary—a person who can see the invisible and inspires others to turn those visions into reality....

Nitin Motwani

TRANSIT ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT Downtown Miami is experiencing one of the most dynamic urban reinventions in the world. Less than 10 years ago, Downtown was a 9-to-5 business district, but today businesses are launching and thriving, city streets are populated around-the-clock, parks and cultural venues now occupy land that sat vacant...

Manik Arora

Manik Arora - Arora Engineers

Arora Engineers, inc

Philadelphia is the birthplace of our country and home to an eclectic mix of historical and modern infrastructure. However, with its rapid development over the years, the number of users is quickly exceeding the original capacity of its built environment. In response to this roadblock, two of our major transportation...

GIL PETERSIL

AUTHENTIC NETWORKING WILL TAKE US BEYOND OUR WORLD

Gil Petersil is a man who understands science and the essence of human networking as intimately as only a handful of other people in the world do. His mission? It is one grounded in its simplicity: to serve people and add value through authentic human-to-human relationships. He shares: “I’m really...

GILL WAGNER

Serial Entrepreneur

Over a period of 40 years as an entrepreneur, while building six professional service firms and three nonprofits, I used to network like a madman. As you might imagine, with my hands in several things at once, it was sometimes difficult to answer the question: “So, Gill, what do you...

DR. RICHARD M. SMITH

DR. RICHARD M. SMITH

FOUNDER & CHAIR, STOCKSAVVY

One of the greatest wealth-building tools available, the stock market has long been out of reach for most people. I believe that no one benefits in the long run when we have to depend on other people to invest our money and wealth is increasingly concentrated into fewer and fewer...

INNOVATE® Ecosystems