Thought Leaders
INNOVATE® Gaming & Esports
ROB NEWPORT
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, WEBURBAN
Over two and half decades ago, I remember first picking up a mouse and keyboard to play Quake on a University lab computer for over eight hours straight. Fast forward to today, and that 3dfx Voodoo graphics card has been replaced with racks of memory laden GPU cards chained to...
INNOVATE™ Montréal
Alan MacIntosh
Partner, Real Ventures Chairman, OSMO Foundation
The Future Starts Here An entrepreneurial endeavor of consequence is provocatively described as the pursuit of an opportunity beyond the resources you currently control combined with challenges you have yet to imagine. Ten years ago when the Notman Project was conceived, it had many such hallmarks from the discouraging skeptics...
INNOVATE® St. Louis
John G. Gatewood
CFP®, CLU®, President & Founder - Gatewood Wealth Management
When his military pension wasn’t enough to support our family, my father went into life insurance. He realized no one was coordinating all of the separate aspects of families’ financial planning. The Glass Steagall Act was still in effect, and it kept all financial companies separate; insurance was separate from...
INNOVATE® Tampa Bay Vol.3
DENNIS SCHMITT
NUROTECH CORP - FOUNDER & CEO
It is hard for me to accept being a visionary leader, as it is difficult for me to reconcile where I am now, with where I was 15 years ago. I didn’t envision a future where I’m the CEO/Founder of a multi-million dollar Biotech company on the precipice to lead...
INNOVATE® Nashville
RUSS BLATTNER
CHAIRMAN & CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER AT SUPERWISE®
“Innovation in AI is not just about technology—it’s about trust. Without transparency, there is no adoption. Forrester, Gartner, and IDC emphasize that AI governance and accountability are now enterprise imperatives. Companies that ignore explainability will face declining adoption and increased regulatory scrutiny.” Innovation in AI is happening at a breakneck...
INNOVATIONS in Pharmaceutical Development®
ROBERT SALCEDO
FOUNDER AND CEO, OCYONBIO GENE AND CELL THERAPY
Robert Salcedo was born in the Dominican Republic on August 26,1964. When he was ten years old, his family decided to immigrate to the United States in search of better opportunities. At an early age Robert understood the need of medicine accessibility for everyone regardless of social status or race....
INNOVATE® Georgia
CHRIS DOWNIE
FLEXENTIAL, CEO
Building a Sustainable Future: The Legacy We Leave In my role as CEO of Flexential, I have the privilege and the duty to steer our company towards not just innovation but sustainable innovation. Our industry is at the crossroads of technological advancement and environmental stewardship. We have the unique opportunity...
INNOVATE® Chicago Vol.1
MIKE CASPER
CO-FOUNDER & CEO, AZUMO
The display industry has become omnipresent in society. We find displays all around us, in our smartphones, tablets, laptops, TVs, ATM machines, thermostats, gas station pumps, e-bikes…the list is never-ending. In the LCD industry, like many large industries, they tend to take whatever was working last year and make it...
INNOVATE® Tampa Bay Vol.3
MICHAEL WESTAFER
FOUNDER & CEO OF ROGER WEST CREATIVE& CODE
I like to think of ourselves as the creative catalysts of innovation. Our own pathway to innovation lies in how we view market disruption through our clients’ eyes. Don’t get me wrong. We do awesome work. Our people are among the best at what they do. We’re regulars on the...
INNOVATE™ Adelaide
MICHAEL MACOLINO
MANAGING DIRECTOR, APAC, SVG VENTURES THRIVE
As an entrepreneur, I have always been passionate about leveraging technology to enhance efficiency across various industries Michael Macolino, Managing Director SVG Ventures Thrive (APAC), Ex-Startup Founder & CTO, Focused on AgriFood Tech commercialisation and eco-system, TEDx Speaker, InDaily 40 under 40. At the age of 21, I started my...
INNOVATE® Utah
Prof./Dr. Susan R. Madsen
Founding Director - Orin r. Woodbury Professor of Leadership & Ethics
Prof./Dr. Susan R. Madsen, Founding Director – Orin r. Woodbury Professor of Leadership & Ethics Dr. Susan R. Madsen is the Orin R. Woodbury Professor of Leadership & Ethics in the Woodbury School of Business at Utah Valley University and also the Founding Director of the Utah Women &...
INNOVATE® Puerto Rico
IGNACIO ALVAREZ
PRESIDENT AND CEO OF POPULAR INC.
Technological advances, changing customer expectations and a rapidly evolving competitive landscape have made innovation not a choice, but a requirement to remain competitive at every level. Countries, companies and individuals must constantly question the present and aspire to make the future better. Because innovation is not an end in itself;...
INNOVATE™ Alberta
DOUGLAS HOLT
MBA, ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENT, INVESTMENTS, ALBERTA INNOVATES
Innovation. It’s the relentless pursuit of new ideas, challenging the status quo, and shaping a better future. At Alberta Innovates, we believe innovation is key to growing the economy, expanding markets and creating new and better opportunities for Albertans. We are the province’s most comprehensive research and innovation agency, providing...
INNOVATE™ Botswana Vol.1
MRS. TSHOGANETSO CARL-PONOESELE
ACTING CEO, BOTSWANA TOURISM
What does innovation mean to you? Tourism is an extremely vast field for innovation as a complex cross-cutting socio-economic system. Creating a tourist product, tourist services, booking of air – and train tickets – all these processes have reached a new level with the introduction of the latest developments in...
INNOVATE® Minnesota
Nathan A. Perez
Executive Career & Job-Search Coach, Career Innovations LLC
Imagine meeting (finally!) someone that you have long waited to meet. An investor. A potential officer. Leader. New business partner. Someone who is going to be big and influential to you or your project and work. And imagine that they asked you to reach out to them again later when...
INNOVATE™ South Africa
IAN MERRINGTON
CEO, THE CAPE INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY INITIATIVE (CITI) AND THE BANDWIDTH BARN
Covid 19 has had a particularly harsh impact on the region’s most vulnerable citizens. Access to vaccines and the ability to deliver these to individuals faces infrastructural and logistical constraints in less developed countries. As the global economy adopted the digital value chain at an exponential pace during lockdown, many...
INNOVATE® Tampa Bay Vol.3
Sheryl Hunter
Esquire ,Founder & President
Curiosity, Authenticity & Abundance: Characteristics for a successful life and a thriving community. Sheryl Hunter is the President of Hunter Business Law – The Entrepreneur’s Law Firm – which serves growth-focused entrepreneurs and their business enterprises, from newbie founders to serial entrepreneurs and angel investors. In addition to managing her...
INNOVATE™ Bristol & Bath
BIG LEADERSHIP TEAM
BRISTOL INNOVATORS GROUP
In Spring 2019, two of our team – Charlie Widdows and Rob Sheffield – discussed how to create a network that would focus on innovation across Bristol. They had an intuitive sense that this was needed, but lacked the time and resource to turn the idea into reality. Then in...
INNOVATE™ Vancouver Vol.2
Michael Volker
CEO WUTIF CAPITAL, ANGEL INVESTOR, WEST VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA
I’ve been doing angel investing since the early 1980s after I took my first venture, a computer terminals manufacturer in Waterloo, public on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Since then, I’ve invested in well over 200 startup ventures. I often hear entrepreneurs complain about the lack of funding. One of...
INNOVATE™ Alberta
DR. TERRY ROCK
PRESIDENT AND CEO - PLATFORM CALGARY
In 1988 Calgary hosted the Olympic Winter Games. For sixteen days in February, the rest of the world was introduced to a small prairie city that would continue punching above its weight for years to come. We still hold the remnants of those Olympic Games, but today we have new...
INNOVATE™ Estonia
SANDRA SÄRAV-TAMMUS
DEPUTY SECRETARY GENERAL FOR ECONOMY AND INNOVATION, REPUBLIC OF ESTONIA
When people around the world hear of Estonia today, they think of a nation where nearly every government service is accessible online, where starting a company can take just minutes, and where seamless digital interactions are simply the way of life. But this transformation did not happen overnight. It is...
INNOVATE™ Alberta
DR. TERRY ROCK
PRESIDENT AND CEO - PLATFORM CALGARY
In 1988 Calgary hosted the Olympic Winter Games. For sixteen days in February, the rest of the world was introduced to a small prairie city that would continue punching above its weight for years to come. We still hold the remnants of those Olympic Games, but today we have new...
INNOVATION Quebec
JESSE VINCENT HERSCOVICI
PDG, AXELYS
Qu’elles soient petites ou grandes, elles doivent faire face à une concurrence féroce dans un environnement instable. Dans ce contexte, l’élaboration d’une stratégie de PI permet de tracer une trajectoire vers le marché. Bien que cette dernière soit un sujet d’actualité dans le monde des affaires, elle reste trop souvent...
INNOVATE™ Antwerp Vol.2
GEERT VERACHTERT
DIRECTOR STRATEGY AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT, GROEP VAN ROEY
“Our Iceberg is Melting”, the book by John Kotter on change management was given to me as a present from my mentor at Philips. I’ve always associated myself with the mindset of Fred the penguin: someone who creates a feeling of urgency by helping others realise why change is necessary...
ROB NEWPORT
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, WEBURBAN
Over two and half decades ago, I remember first picking up a mouse and keyboard to play Quake on a University lab computer for over eight hours straight. Fast forward to today, and that 3dfx Voodoo graphics card has been replaced with racks of memory laden GPU cards chained to...
Alan MacIntosh
Partner, Real Ventures Chairman, OSMO Foundation
The Future Starts Here An entrepreneurial endeavor of consequence is provocatively described as the pursuit of an opportunity beyond the resources you currently control combined with challenges you have yet to imagine. Ten years ago when the Notman Project was conceived, it had many such hallmarks from the discouraging skeptics...
John G. Gatewood
CFP®, CLU®, President & Founder - Gatewood Wealth Management
When his military pension wasn’t enough to support our family, my father went into life insurance. He realized no one was coordinating all of the separate aspects of families’ financial planning. The Glass Steagall Act was still in effect, and it kept all financial companies separate; insurance was separate from...
DENNIS SCHMITT
NUROTECH CORP - FOUNDER & CEO
It is hard for me to accept being a visionary leader, as it is difficult for me to reconcile where I am now, with where I was 15 years ago. I didn’t envision a future where I’m the CEO/Founder of a multi-million dollar Biotech company on the precipice to lead...
RUSS BLATTNER
CHAIRMAN & CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER AT SUPERWISE®
“Innovation in AI is not just about technology—it’s about trust. Without transparency, there is no adoption. Forrester, Gartner, and IDC emphasize that AI governance and accountability are now enterprise imperatives. Companies that ignore explainability will face declining adoption and increased regulatory scrutiny.” Innovation in AI is happening at a breakneck...
ROBERT SALCEDO
FOUNDER AND CEO, OCYONBIO GENE AND CELL THERAPY
Robert Salcedo was born in the Dominican Republic on August 26,1964. When he was ten years old, his family decided to immigrate to the United States in search of better opportunities. At an early age Robert understood the need of medicine accessibility for everyone regardless of social status or race....
CHRIS DOWNIE
FLEXENTIAL, CEO
Building a Sustainable Future: The Legacy We Leave In my role as CEO of Flexential, I have the privilege and the duty to steer our company towards not just innovation but sustainable innovation. Our industry is at the crossroads of technological advancement and environmental stewardship. We have the unique opportunity...
MIKE CASPER
CO-FOUNDER & CEO, AZUMO
The display industry has become omnipresent in society. We find displays all around us, in our smartphones, tablets, laptops, TVs, ATM machines, thermostats, gas station pumps, e-bikes…the list is never-ending. In the LCD industry, like many large industries, they tend to take whatever was working last year and make it...
MICHAEL WESTAFER
FOUNDER & CEO OF ROGER WEST CREATIVE& CODE
I like to think of ourselves as the creative catalysts of innovation. Our own pathway to innovation lies in how we view market disruption through our clients’ eyes. Don’t get me wrong. We do awesome work. Our people are among the best at what they do. We’re regulars on the...
MICHAEL MACOLINO
MANAGING DIRECTOR, APAC, SVG VENTURES THRIVE
As an entrepreneur, I have always been passionate about leveraging technology to enhance efficiency across various industries Michael Macolino, Managing Director SVG Ventures Thrive (APAC), Ex-Startup Founder & CTO, Focused on AgriFood Tech commercialisation and eco-system, TEDx Speaker, InDaily 40 under 40. At the age of 21, I started my...
Prof./Dr. Susan R. Madsen
Founding Director - Orin r. Woodbury Professor of Leadership & Ethics
Prof./Dr. Susan R. Madsen, Founding Director – Orin r. Woodbury Professor of Leadership & Ethics Dr. Susan R. Madsen is the Orin R. Woodbury Professor of Leadership & Ethics in the Woodbury School of Business at Utah Valley University and also the Founding Director of the Utah Women &...
IGNACIO ALVAREZ
PRESIDENT AND CEO OF POPULAR INC.
Technological advances, changing customer expectations and a rapidly evolving competitive landscape have made innovation not a choice, but a requirement to remain competitive at every level. Countries, companies and individuals must constantly question the present and aspire to make the future better. Because innovation is not an end in itself;...
DOUGLAS HOLT
MBA, ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENT, INVESTMENTS, ALBERTA INNOVATES
Innovation. It’s the relentless pursuit of new ideas, challenging the status quo, and shaping a better future. At Alberta Innovates, we believe innovation is key to growing the economy, expanding markets and creating new and better opportunities for Albertans. We are the province’s most comprehensive research and innovation agency, providing...
MRS. TSHOGANETSO CARL-PONOESELE
ACTING CEO, BOTSWANA TOURISM
What does innovation mean to you? Tourism is an extremely vast field for innovation as a complex cross-cutting socio-economic system. Creating a tourist product, tourist services, booking of air – and train tickets – all these processes have reached a new level with the introduction of the latest developments in...
Nathan A. Perez
Executive Career & Job-Search Coach, Career Innovations LLC
Imagine meeting (finally!) someone that you have long waited to meet. An investor. A potential officer. Leader. New business partner. Someone who is going to be big and influential to you or your project and work. And imagine that they asked you to reach out to them again later when...
IAN MERRINGTON
CEO, THE CAPE INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY INITIATIVE (CITI) AND THE BANDWIDTH BARN
Covid 19 has had a particularly harsh impact on the region’s most vulnerable citizens. Access to vaccines and the ability to deliver these to individuals faces infrastructural and logistical constraints in less developed countries. As the global economy adopted the digital value chain at an exponential pace during lockdown, many...
Sheryl Hunter
Esquire ,Founder & President
Curiosity, Authenticity & Abundance: Characteristics for a successful life and a thriving community. Sheryl Hunter is the President of Hunter Business Law – The Entrepreneur’s Law Firm – which serves growth-focused entrepreneurs and their business enterprises, from newbie founders to serial entrepreneurs and angel investors. In addition to managing her...
BIG LEADERSHIP TEAM
BRISTOL INNOVATORS GROUP
In Spring 2019, two of our team – Charlie Widdows and Rob Sheffield – discussed how to create a network that would focus on innovation across Bristol. They had an intuitive sense that this was needed, but lacked the time and resource to turn the idea into reality. Then in...
Michael Volker
CEO WUTIF CAPITAL, ANGEL INVESTOR, WEST VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA
I’ve been doing angel investing since the early 1980s after I took my first venture, a computer terminals manufacturer in Waterloo, public on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Since then, I’ve invested in well over 200 startup ventures. I often hear entrepreneurs complain about the lack of funding. One of...
DR. TERRY ROCK
PRESIDENT AND CEO - PLATFORM CALGARY
In 1988 Calgary hosted the Olympic Winter Games. For sixteen days in February, the rest of the world was introduced to a small prairie city that would continue punching above its weight for years to come. We still hold the remnants of those Olympic Games, but today we have new...
SANDRA SÄRAV-TAMMUS
DEPUTY SECRETARY GENERAL FOR ECONOMY AND INNOVATION, REPUBLIC OF ESTONIA
When people around the world hear of Estonia today, they think of a nation where nearly every government service is accessible online, where starting a company can take just minutes, and where seamless digital interactions are simply the way of life. But this transformation did not happen overnight. It is...
DR. TERRY ROCK
PRESIDENT AND CEO - PLATFORM CALGARY
In 1988 Calgary hosted the Olympic Winter Games. For sixteen days in February, the rest of the world was introduced to a small prairie city that would continue punching above its weight for years to come. We still hold the remnants of those Olympic Games, but today we have new...
JESSE VINCENT HERSCOVICI
PDG, AXELYS
Qu’elles soient petites ou grandes, elles doivent faire face à une concurrence féroce dans un environnement instable. Dans ce contexte, l’élaboration d’une stratégie de PI permet de tracer une trajectoire vers le marché. Bien que cette dernière soit un sujet d’actualité dans le monde des affaires, elle reste trop souvent...
GEERT VERACHTERT
DIRECTOR STRATEGY AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT, GROEP VAN ROEY
“Our Iceberg is Melting”, the book by John Kotter on change management was given to me as a present from my mentor at Philips. I’ve always associated myself with the mindset of Fred the penguin: someone who creates a feeling of urgency by helping others realise why change is necessary...