Thought Leaders

VOICES of the Future

AYŞE ÖZTUNA BOZOKLAR

RESILIENT SPIRITS: A TALE OF TRUST, TALENT, AND TRANSFORMATION

Amidst the vibrant thrum of Turkey’s cultural and economic heartbeat, Ayşe Öztuna Bozoklar’s name is synonymous with transformative leadership and a visionary in the realm of executive search and talent management. As the founding partner of Odgers Berndtson Turkey, Ayşe has been an instrumental figure in shaping not just careers...

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...

INNOVATION Quebec

LE RÉSEAU DES CCTT

MOT DE MICHEL LESAGE, PRÉSIDENT-DIRECTEUR GÉNÉRAL DU RÉSEAU DES CCTT

Innover, c’est se donner la capacité, en tant qu’organisation, d’être au-devant du peloton. Cette position privilégiée nous permet d’exercer une force de traction positive dans notre milieu. Il s’agit d’une force rassemblant les acteurs d’une industrie vers un but commun. Une force de collaboratio indispensable au déploiement et au rayonnement...

INNOVATE™ Ottawa

Franco Varriano

Franco Varriano

Technologist & Entrepreneur

Franco Varriano Technologist & Entrepreneur, Head Of Product Discovery & Innovation At Workshopx & Executive Director – Fresh Founders It’s a powerful, attractive and evocative concept. We all have ideas and conceptions on what innovation is all about; usually centering around new products, novel technologies, or advanced patents. But innovation...

INNOVATE® Maryland

DR. ELIZABETH CLAYBORNE

CEO & CO-FOUNDER AT NASACLIP

I am an ER doctor, a mom, a Black woman, and the CEO of a medical device company. These roles are not separate – they intertwine and fuel my vision for impact. My journey into entrepreneurship started in the chaos of the emergency room, where I treated countless patients for...

INNOVATE® Utah

Scott Petty

The early seventies saw the launch of the pocket calculator. As a kid at that time growing up in Palo Alto, I went door to door selling the Litronix 1100, one of the early pocket models. My father, an attorney who represented many startups including Litronix, would bring them home for me to sell....

INNOVATE™ Antwerp Vol.2

TOM LAVEREN

TOM LAVEREN

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER VOKA - CHAMBER OF COMMERCE MECHELEN-KEMPEN

The Mechelen-Kempen region is ideally located between the port and the airport and close to the two big metropolises of Brussels and Antwerp. It is a place where it is good to live, work and do business. Where craftsmanship is a brand. The region is booming and many fine and...

INNOVATE® South Florida

DR. KEVIN COX

PROFESSOR - FAU TECH RUNWAY®

Reflection on the Evolution of South Florida’s Innovation Ecosystem For more than a decade, it’s been my honor and privilege to be deeply immersed within the South Florida entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystem. As the Director of Florida Atlantic University’s Adams Center for Entrepreneurship, a member of Tech Runway’s Board, a...

INNOVATE® Gaming & Esports

SEBASTIAN “CHOSEN1” BURTON

SEBASTIAN “CHOSEN1” BURTON

DIGITAL ADVERTISING & ESPORTS THOUGHT LEADER ACTIVATING BRANDS WITH CONSUMERS VIA ESPORTS & GAMING,

The way I see it is that the gaming/esports ecosystem is an interesting experience that reflects the games we all play. Need an example? God of War, Uncharted and The Last Of Us are all blockbuster titles that are classified as action-adventure games. However, if we start digging deeper we’ll...

INNOVATE® Chicago Vol.1

JASON VANDEBOOM

JASON VANDEBOOM

FOUNDER AND CEO, ACTIVECAMPAIGN

Building and investing in a differentiated customer experience used to be thought of as a nice to have but not a critical item. When it made it into the business plan or the balance sheet it did so as a necessary cost of sale – a cost you’d look to...

INNOVATE™ Adelaide

KALE NEEDHAM

CEO, SPIRAL DATA

From a research scientist to an analyst, my career journey instilled in me a deep-rooted passion for solving complex problems through data driven insights. It became clear to me that academia wasn’t the path for me to make a tangible difference – I wanted to add significant ‘business changing’ value....

INNOVATE™ Alberta

RICK CHRISTIAANSE

CEO, INVEST ALBERTA

Known for a relentless ‘make it happen’ attitude, Alberta is gaining remarkable momentum with investors across the world by proving ourselves right here at home. Tech and finance are flourishing, energy and cleantech are diversifying, agriculture is innovating, and aviation and logistics are reaching new heights. With a track record...

INNOVATE™ Estonia

AHTI HEINLA

ESTONIAN INNOVATOR BEHIND SKYPE AND STARSHIP ROBOTS

Ahti Heinla is one of Estonia’s most visionary minds – the co-founder of Starship Technologies and formerly the Chief Technical Architect of Skype. His impact on global communication and autonomous technology is immense, yet his story is deeply rooted in Estonia’s culture of curiosity, experimentation, and civic spirit. Heinla wrote...

INNOVATE® Gainesville

Collin Austin

Collin Austin

Founder - New Scooters 4 Less

Collin Austin Founder – New Scooters 4 Less Collin Austin founded New Scooters 4 Less at the age of 21, which has gone on to become one of the top scooter dealerships in the country. In the last two years he’s also founded Repaint The Wall, a digital media “un-agency,”...

INNOVATION Quebec

FRANÇOIS GAGNON

DIRECTEUR GÉNÉRAL ET CHEF DE LA DIRECTION, ÉCOLE DE TECHNOLOGIE SUPÉRIEURE (ÉTS)

J’ai fait mes débuts comme professeur à l’École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS) en 1991. Au cours de mon parcours en enseignement, en bâtissant ma carrière en recherche et, depuis 2019, en tant que directeur général de l’ÉTS, j’ai pu apprécier à quel point notre établissement a su s’imposer comme un...

INNOVATE® Nashville

CHIP CRUNK

CEO OF RJ YOUNG

My journey with RJ Young began while I was still a student at Ole Miss, working alongside my father and learning the business from the ground up. Back then, Nashville was a very different city – still rooted in tradition, but the seeds of change were beginning to sprout. Today,...

INNOVATE® Gaming & Esports

KEISHA HOWARD

KEISHA HOWARD

FOUNDER, SUGAR GAMERS

Pursuing your dreamsThe gaming industry faces a stumbling block. Playing (and making) games isn’t the only goal of the industry. The gaming industry is Big Business with entrenched systems, processes, and structures. Today’s gaming space inspires and connects people in more ways than ever before and has the power to...

INNOVATE® Tampa Bay Vol.3

COL (RET) STU BRADIN

COL (RET) STU BRADIN

GLOBAL SOF FOUNDATION

As I approached my retirement from U.S. Special Operations Command in 2014, I decided to keep serving my nation and the wider Special Operations community through the formation of a new professional SOF association – the Global SOF Foundation (GSF). Since 9/11 U.S. special operations forces (SOF) had over doubled...

AI Québec

MME DESMARAIS

MME DESMARAIS

COPRSSIDENTE DU CONSEIL D’ADMINISTRATION

Dans les années à venir, l’industrie de l’intelligence artificielle connaîtra une croissance exponentielle au Canada, comparable à celle du multimédia dans les années 2010. Grâce à son immense bassin de talents et à des leviers qui soutiennent le développement de son écosystème, comme Scale AI, le Canada se distingue comme...

INNOVATE™ Vancouver Vol.2

ALINA HUANG, CEO, ILLUMINATE UNIVERSE

ALINA HUANG, CEO, ILLUMINATE UNIVERSE

Innovation is the backbone of progress and growth. It is a commitment to continuous learning, a willingness to challenge the status quo, and explore untapped opportunities for development. As the founder of Illuminate Universe, a Canadian organization dedicated to providing top tier business and leadership education, I have dedicated my...

INNOVATE™ Bristol & Bath

Dr. Markas Gilmartin

I started as a scientist, moving through the ranks: BSc, Ph.D., postdoc, and writing peer-reviewed papers. Commerce called, and I began writing patent, grant, and funding propositions for a biotech firm before moving into personal financial planning in 1997. Science and finance are the same thing to me—both aiming to...

INNOVATE® Nashville

ALEX SEVILLA

VICE PROVOST VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY

It is the promise of innovation that brought me to Nashville and to Vanderbilt University. I was hired in August of 2021 to serve as Vanderbilt’s first Vice Provost for Career Advancement and Engagement. There were many elements of this opportunity which were attractive: joining a pre – eminent global...

INNOVATE® Philadelphia

Howard Lubert

Area President, Keiretsu Forum Mid-Atlantic

Area President, Keiretsu Forum Mid-Atlantic How many times do you need to repeat an exercise before you truly become an expert?  According to Malcolm Gladwell in “Outliers: The Story of Success” it takes 10,000 hours and he points to many successful examples of how “The 10,000 Hour Rule” has paid...

INNOVATE® Nashville

DR. GREG JONES

DR. GREG JONES

PRESIDENT, BELMONT UNIVERSITY

Social innovation—the opportunity to leverage creativity and innovation to solve complex problems and help people and communities thrive—is often associated with entrepreneurs or singular individuals. Though this is true and is certainly one aspect of the formula that leads to meaningful impact, it isn’t the full story. The reality is...

AYŞE ÖZTUNA BOZOKLAR

RESILIENT SPIRITS: A TALE OF TRUST, TALENT, AND TRANSFORMATION

Amidst the vibrant thrum of Turkey’s cultural and economic heartbeat, Ayşe Öztuna Bozoklar’s name is synonymous with transformative leadership and a visionary in the realm of executive search and talent management. As the founding partner of Odgers Berndtson Turkey, Ayşe has been an instrumental figure in shaping not just careers...

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...

LE RÉSEAU DES CCTT

MOT DE MICHEL LESAGE, PRÉSIDENT-DIRECTEUR GÉNÉRAL DU RÉSEAU DES CCTT

Innover, c’est se donner la capacité, en tant qu’organisation, d’être au-devant du peloton. Cette position privilégiée nous permet d’exercer une force de traction positive dans notre milieu. Il s’agit d’une force rassemblant les acteurs d’une industrie vers un but commun. Une force de collaboratio indispensable au déploiement et au rayonnement...

Franco Varriano

Franco Varriano

Technologist & Entrepreneur

Franco Varriano Technologist & Entrepreneur, Head Of Product Discovery & Innovation At Workshopx & Executive Director – Fresh Founders It’s a powerful, attractive and evocative concept. We all have ideas and conceptions on what innovation is all about; usually centering around new products, novel technologies, or advanced patents. But innovation...

DR. ELIZABETH CLAYBORNE

CEO & CO-FOUNDER AT NASACLIP

I am an ER doctor, a mom, a Black woman, and the CEO of a medical device company. These roles are not separate – they intertwine and fuel my vision for impact. My journey into entrepreneurship started in the chaos of the emergency room, where I treated countless patients for...

Scott Petty

The early seventies saw the launch of the pocket calculator. As a kid at that time growing up in Palo Alto, I went door to door selling the Litronix 1100, one of the early pocket models. My father, an attorney who represented many startups including Litronix, would bring them home for me to sell....

TOM LAVEREN

TOM LAVEREN

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER VOKA - CHAMBER OF COMMERCE MECHELEN-KEMPEN

The Mechelen-Kempen region is ideally located between the port and the airport and close to the two big metropolises of Brussels and Antwerp. It is a place where it is good to live, work and do business. Where craftsmanship is a brand. The region is booming and many fine and...

DR. KEVIN COX

PROFESSOR - FAU TECH RUNWAY®

Reflection on the Evolution of South Florida’s Innovation Ecosystem For more than a decade, it’s been my honor and privilege to be deeply immersed within the South Florida entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystem. As the Director of Florida Atlantic University’s Adams Center for Entrepreneurship, a member of Tech Runway’s Board, a...

SEBASTIAN “CHOSEN1” BURTON

SEBASTIAN “CHOSEN1” BURTON

DIGITAL ADVERTISING & ESPORTS THOUGHT LEADER ACTIVATING BRANDS WITH CONSUMERS VIA ESPORTS & GAMING,

The way I see it is that the gaming/esports ecosystem is an interesting experience that reflects the games we all play. Need an example? God of War, Uncharted and The Last Of Us are all blockbuster titles that are classified as action-adventure games. However, if we start digging deeper we’ll...

JASON VANDEBOOM

JASON VANDEBOOM

FOUNDER AND CEO, ACTIVECAMPAIGN

Building and investing in a differentiated customer experience used to be thought of as a nice to have but not a critical item. When it made it into the business plan or the balance sheet it did so as a necessary cost of sale – a cost you’d look to...

KALE NEEDHAM

CEO, SPIRAL DATA

From a research scientist to an analyst, my career journey instilled in me a deep-rooted passion for solving complex problems through data driven insights. It became clear to me that academia wasn’t the path for me to make a tangible difference – I wanted to add significant ‘business changing’ value....

RICK CHRISTIAANSE

CEO, INVEST ALBERTA

Known for a relentless ‘make it happen’ attitude, Alberta is gaining remarkable momentum with investors across the world by proving ourselves right here at home. Tech and finance are flourishing, energy and cleantech are diversifying, agriculture is innovating, and aviation and logistics are reaching new heights. With a track record...

AHTI HEINLA

ESTONIAN INNOVATOR BEHIND SKYPE AND STARSHIP ROBOTS

Ahti Heinla is one of Estonia’s most visionary minds – the co-founder of Starship Technologies and formerly the Chief Technical Architect of Skype. His impact on global communication and autonomous technology is immense, yet his story is deeply rooted in Estonia’s culture of curiosity, experimentation, and civic spirit. Heinla wrote...

Collin Austin

Collin Austin

Founder - New Scooters 4 Less

Collin Austin Founder – New Scooters 4 Less Collin Austin founded New Scooters 4 Less at the age of 21, which has gone on to become one of the top scooter dealerships in the country. In the last two years he’s also founded Repaint The Wall, a digital media “un-agency,”...

FRANÇOIS GAGNON

DIRECTEUR GÉNÉRAL ET CHEF DE LA DIRECTION, ÉCOLE DE TECHNOLOGIE SUPÉRIEURE (ÉTS)

J’ai fait mes débuts comme professeur à l’École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS) en 1991. Au cours de mon parcours en enseignement, en bâtissant ma carrière en recherche et, depuis 2019, en tant que directeur général de l’ÉTS, j’ai pu apprécier à quel point notre établissement a su s’imposer comme un...

CHIP CRUNK

CEO OF RJ YOUNG

My journey with RJ Young began while I was still a student at Ole Miss, working alongside my father and learning the business from the ground up. Back then, Nashville was a very different city – still rooted in tradition, but the seeds of change were beginning to sprout. Today,...

KEISHA HOWARD

KEISHA HOWARD

FOUNDER, SUGAR GAMERS

Pursuing your dreamsThe gaming industry faces a stumbling block. Playing (and making) games isn’t the only goal of the industry. The gaming industry is Big Business with entrenched systems, processes, and structures. Today’s gaming space inspires and connects people in more ways than ever before and has the power to...

COL (RET) STU BRADIN

COL (RET) STU BRADIN

GLOBAL SOF FOUNDATION

As I approached my retirement from U.S. Special Operations Command in 2014, I decided to keep serving my nation and the wider Special Operations community through the formation of a new professional SOF association – the Global SOF Foundation (GSF). Since 9/11 U.S. special operations forces (SOF) had over doubled...

MME DESMARAIS

MME DESMARAIS

COPRSSIDENTE DU CONSEIL D’ADMINISTRATION

Dans les années à venir, l’industrie de l’intelligence artificielle connaîtra une croissance exponentielle au Canada, comparable à celle du multimédia dans les années 2010. Grâce à son immense bassin de talents et à des leviers qui soutiennent le développement de son écosystème, comme Scale AI, le Canada se distingue comme...

ALINA HUANG, CEO, ILLUMINATE UNIVERSE

ALINA HUANG, CEO, ILLUMINATE UNIVERSE

Innovation is the backbone of progress and growth. It is a commitment to continuous learning, a willingness to challenge the status quo, and explore untapped opportunities for development. As the founder of Illuminate Universe, a Canadian organization dedicated to providing top tier business and leadership education, I have dedicated my...

Dr. Markas Gilmartin

I started as a scientist, moving through the ranks: BSc, Ph.D., postdoc, and writing peer-reviewed papers. Commerce called, and I began writing patent, grant, and funding propositions for a biotech firm before moving into personal financial planning in 1997. Science and finance are the same thing to me—both aiming to...

ALEX SEVILLA

VICE PROVOST VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY

It is the promise of innovation that brought me to Nashville and to Vanderbilt University. I was hired in August of 2021 to serve as Vanderbilt’s first Vice Provost for Career Advancement and Engagement. There were many elements of this opportunity which were attractive: joining a pre – eminent global...

Howard Lubert

Area President, Keiretsu Forum Mid-Atlantic

Area President, Keiretsu Forum Mid-Atlantic How many times do you need to repeat an exercise before you truly become an expert?  According to Malcolm Gladwell in “Outliers: The Story of Success” it takes 10,000 hours and he points to many successful examples of how “The 10,000 Hour Rule” has paid...

DR. GREG JONES

DR. GREG JONES

PRESIDENT, BELMONT UNIVERSITY

Social innovation—the opportunity to leverage creativity and innovation to solve complex problems and help people and communities thrive—is often associated with entrepreneurs or singular individuals. Though this is true and is certainly one aspect of the formula that leads to meaningful impact, it isn’t the full story. The reality is...

INNOVATE® Ecosystems