Thought Leaders
INNOVATE® Nashville
DJ KREAL
FOUNDER AT JAILCORE
Be Your Own Boss Growing up, my dad always told me to be an entrepreneur — to “be your own boss.” He believed in taking charge of your own destiny, and that message stuck. His belief carried me through Clemson University, where I majored in marketing and minored in entrepreneurship....
INNOVATE™ Adelaide
JOHN HARRY
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, CITY OF SALISBURY
Key benefits of locating in the City of Salisbury include: In Salisbury new thinking is being applied to the transformation of individual firms and whole industry sectors. Adopting this entrepreneurial mindset within our organisation has underpinned the establishment of several commercial opportunities unique in the local government sector: An innovative...
INNOVATE® Jacksonville
Brian Kornfield
Synapse - Building The Community, One Connection At A Time
Over the last year, I have been asked time and time again about my story: where I came from and why nobody knew my name. While the long answer involves transitioning from life as a rocket scientist to the President of Synapse (a 501c3 working to connect and organize the...
INNOVATE® Georgia
DR. HANK CAPPS
EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, CHIEF INFORMATION AND DIGITAL OFFICER AT WELLSTAR HEALTH SYSTEM, PRESIDENT AT CATALYST BY WELLSTAR
Healthcare is personal. We are all one diagnosis away from being a patient. To a doctor, the relationship with a patient is one of the most sacred connections. To the patient, it is almost always a moment of anxiety and fear. As a family doctor, I’ve seen this moment of...
INNOVATE™ Stockholm
DR. CHRISTIAN GUTTMANN
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NORDIC AI INSTITUTE & SENIOR RESEARCHER, KAROLINSKA INSTITUTET
I wrote my first lines of AI code at 13 on a home computer—little did I know I was joining the earliest wave of AI natives. By 17 I’d launched a startup building intelligent inventory systems so small retailers always knew what was on their shelves before their accountants did—a...
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™ Stockholm
CARIN ERIKSON
FOUNDER OF CUREVO HEALTH
In an age where it’s never been easier to build something flashy, the real challenge is building something useful. Purpose is the anchor in that process. It keeps you honest, focused, and resilient. And surprisingly often, it becomes your unfair advantage. I’ve seen this firsthand at Curevo Health, the company...
VOICES of the Future
DR. MARSHALL GOLDSMITH
NAVIGATING THE WHEEL OF CHANGE
Professor Marshall Goldsmith stands as a paragon of leadership and executive coaching, his name synonymous with transformative change in business and personal development. As a two-time winner of the Thinkers 50 award for the #1 Leadership Thinker in the World and the world’s #1 Executive Coach, his influence stretches across...
INNOVATE™ Montréal
Federico Puebla
Directeur Innovation Ouverte - Open Innovation Manager - Mouvement Desjardins
French: ÊTRE PREMIER DANS LE CŒUR DES GENS. DEVENIR UN LEADER SOCIO-ÉCONOMIQUE. ENRICHIR LA VIE DES PERSONNES ET DES COMMUNAUTÉS. VOILÀ, TOUT À LA FOIS, UNE MISSION NOBLE, HUMAINE ET AMBITIEUSE. OUI, NOUS VISONS HAUT. NOUS L’AVONS TOUJOURS FAIT. ET NOUS LE FERONS TOUJOURS PUISQUE NOTRE HISTOIRE EST MARQUÉE DE...
INNOVATE® New Jersey Vol.2
C. PARKHILL MAYS III
CEO, STOPIT SOLUTIONS
I was born and raised in Central Florida and grew up with loving and caring parents to whom I attribute much of my success in life. After a good education at a small liberal arts university in western Virginia, I spent my first few years of adulthood working as an...
INNOVATE™ Flanders
KRIS NEYENS
MANAGER INTERNATIONALIZATION AT VIL FLANDERS INNOVATION CLUSTER FOR LOGISTICS
Global logistics is facing strong growth, even in uncertain times, and an ever-increasing demand for quality and speed of service, all while ensuring that our overall quality of life is not strained. The focus here must be on sustainability. The aim is to make the best possible use of integrated...
INNOVATE™ Atlantic Canada
SEAN FAHEY
CEO AT VIDCRUITER
The Future of HR: Embracing Technology Without Losing the Human Touch In today’s rapidly evolving business landscape, HR stands at a crossroads. The integration of advanced technologies into our processes is no longer optional—it’s essential for attracting, retaining, and nurturing top talent. As leaders, we have an opportunity to shape...
INNOVATE® Milwaukee
ASQ
WANDA STURM, PAST CHAIR, RESOURCES GLOBAL PROFESSIONALS : DANIELLA PICCIOTTI, CURRENT CHAIR, QMS ALLIANCE
When people hear the word “quality,” they often picture someone in a lab coat with a clipboard inspecting products on a production line. But quality isn’t a department—it’s a mindset. It’s a culture. It’s an expectation. And it should be embedded into everything we do. Quality is about doing it...
INNOVATE® Georgia
AARON HARRIS
GLOBAL CTO AT SAGE
In countless ways, small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are the often-unsung heroes on the frontlines of the U.S. economy by providing jobs, uplifting communities, and facing the future with optimism and resilience. That’s why I’m so proud that Sage has made such strong commitments on behalf of SMBs to deliver...
INNOVATE® Miami
Max Tuchman
Co-Founder & CEO - Caribu
If it’s a smooth road, it’s not worth traveling. I believe you only truly learn by making mistakes, stumbling, and having your experiments turn out differently than you expected (I don’t see those as failures). When we met, my co-founder just happened to be living in Miami, too. Since the...
VOICES of the Future
ALLAN PEASE
MEET MR. BODY LANGUAGE
Hon. Professor Allan Pease, acclaimed as ‘Mr. Body Language,’ is an international best-selling author and body language expert. His expertise, spanning advising executives to authoring bestsellers, provides valuable insights into human interactions. He is a distinguished speaker, coach, entrepreneur, and one of the world’s leading authors with 18 Top 10...
INNOVATE® Chicago Vol.1
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™ Antwerp Vol.2
DIRK REYN
CHAIRMAN, FLANDERS BIO
As the chairman of flanders.bio, an ex-CEO of four (4) start-up companies and an investor in the biotech scene in Europe, my heart and soul lie with Biotech. I have seen the Biotech landscape in Flanders grow to the absolute top in Europe. It is not without reason that the...
INNOVATE® Phoenix
Adham Ghazali
CEO and Co-Founder - Imagry
Introduction With offices in both the U.S. and Israel, Imagry is an autonomous vehicle platform developer that is dedicated to pioneering the future of this technology. By pushing the limits of artificial intelligence and computer vision, Imagry’s mapless autonomous driving platform eliminates the need for the time-consuming HD mapping process....
INNOVATE™ South Africa
KEET VAN ZYL
CO-FOUNDER, KNIFE CAPITAL
Adversity is a pressure cooker that fosters innovation. This is a philosophy that was entrenched in my formative years. Having had some heavy, life questioning challenges thrown my way very early, I had to adapt and adjust, and this learning has set me in good stead. It’s also given me...
INNOVATE™ South Africa
STEVE PINTO
CEO, NEW REALITY & CTRL ROBOTICS
Jobs are changing and evolving faster than anyone expected and humanity needs to embrace technology to accelerate for the better. People need more tools to upskill themselves out of poverty and away from the jobs robots will take. My vision is to create the tools to upskill humanity faster and...
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® Phoenix
Sethuraman "Panch" Panchanathan
Executive VP and Chief Research and Innovation Officer - ASU
Introduction Perspective on InnovationInnovation is not limited to creating new products or starting new companies. It is a spirit and a mindset that permeates everything that we do. The most intractable challenges we face are not going to be solved by doing what we’ve always done. It is important to...
INNOVATE™ Alberta
THERESA TAYLER
OWNER AND FOUNDER, START ME UP PR
A renowned tech magnate once said, “If I were down to my last dollar, I would spend it on public relations.” Not to talk myself out of a job, but one rarely needs to spend their LAST dollar on PR if they just “keep it real” from day one. Growing...
DJ KREAL
FOUNDER AT JAILCORE
Be Your Own Boss Growing up, my dad always told me to be an entrepreneur — to “be your own boss.” He believed in taking charge of your own destiny, and that message stuck. His belief carried me through Clemson University, where I majored in marketing and minored in entrepreneurship....
JOHN HARRY
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, CITY OF SALISBURY
Key benefits of locating in the City of Salisbury include: In Salisbury new thinking is being applied to the transformation of individual firms and whole industry sectors. Adopting this entrepreneurial mindset within our organisation has underpinned the establishment of several commercial opportunities unique in the local government sector: An innovative...
Brian Kornfield
Synapse - Building The Community, One Connection At A Time
Over the last year, I have been asked time and time again about my story: where I came from and why nobody knew my name. While the long answer involves transitioning from life as a rocket scientist to the President of Synapse (a 501c3 working to connect and organize the...
DR. HANK CAPPS
EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, CHIEF INFORMATION AND DIGITAL OFFICER AT WELLSTAR HEALTH SYSTEM, PRESIDENT AT CATALYST BY WELLSTAR
Healthcare is personal. We are all one diagnosis away from being a patient. To a doctor, the relationship with a patient is one of the most sacred connections. To the patient, it is almost always a moment of anxiety and fear. As a family doctor, I’ve seen this moment of...
DR. CHRISTIAN GUTTMANN
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NORDIC AI INSTITUTE & SENIOR RESEARCHER, KAROLINSKA INSTITUTET
I wrote my first lines of AI code at 13 on a home computer—little did I know I was joining the earliest wave of AI natives. By 17 I’d launched a startup building intelligent inventory systems so small retailers always knew what was on their shelves before their accountants did—a...
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...
CARIN ERIKSON
FOUNDER OF CUREVO HEALTH
In an age where it’s never been easier to build something flashy, the real challenge is building something useful. Purpose is the anchor in that process. It keeps you honest, focused, and resilient. And surprisingly often, it becomes your unfair advantage. I’ve seen this firsthand at Curevo Health, the company...
DR. MARSHALL GOLDSMITH
NAVIGATING THE WHEEL OF CHANGE
Professor Marshall Goldsmith stands as a paragon of leadership and executive coaching, his name synonymous with transformative change in business and personal development. As a two-time winner of the Thinkers 50 award for the #1 Leadership Thinker in the World and the world’s #1 Executive Coach, his influence stretches across...
Federico Puebla
Directeur Innovation Ouverte - Open Innovation Manager - Mouvement Desjardins
French: ÊTRE PREMIER DANS LE CŒUR DES GENS. DEVENIR UN LEADER SOCIO-ÉCONOMIQUE. ENRICHIR LA VIE DES PERSONNES ET DES COMMUNAUTÉS. VOILÀ, TOUT À LA FOIS, UNE MISSION NOBLE, HUMAINE ET AMBITIEUSE. OUI, NOUS VISONS HAUT. NOUS L’AVONS TOUJOURS FAIT. ET NOUS LE FERONS TOUJOURS PUISQUE NOTRE HISTOIRE EST MARQUÉE DE...
C. PARKHILL MAYS III
CEO, STOPIT SOLUTIONS
I was born and raised in Central Florida and grew up with loving and caring parents to whom I attribute much of my success in life. After a good education at a small liberal arts university in western Virginia, I spent my first few years of adulthood working as an...
KRIS NEYENS
MANAGER INTERNATIONALIZATION AT VIL FLANDERS INNOVATION CLUSTER FOR LOGISTICS
Global logistics is facing strong growth, even in uncertain times, and an ever-increasing demand for quality and speed of service, all while ensuring that our overall quality of life is not strained. The focus here must be on sustainability. The aim is to make the best possible use of integrated...
SEAN FAHEY
CEO AT VIDCRUITER
The Future of HR: Embracing Technology Without Losing the Human Touch In today’s rapidly evolving business landscape, HR stands at a crossroads. The integration of advanced technologies into our processes is no longer optional—it’s essential for attracting, retaining, and nurturing top talent. As leaders, we have an opportunity to shape...
ASQ
WANDA STURM, PAST CHAIR, RESOURCES GLOBAL PROFESSIONALS : DANIELLA PICCIOTTI, CURRENT CHAIR, QMS ALLIANCE
When people hear the word “quality,” they often picture someone in a lab coat with a clipboard inspecting products on a production line. But quality isn’t a department—it’s a mindset. It’s a culture. It’s an expectation. And it should be embedded into everything we do. Quality is about doing it...
AARON HARRIS
GLOBAL CTO AT SAGE
In countless ways, small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are the often-unsung heroes on the frontlines of the U.S. economy by providing jobs, uplifting communities, and facing the future with optimism and resilience. That’s why I’m so proud that Sage has made such strong commitments on behalf of SMBs to deliver...
Max Tuchman
Co-Founder & CEO - Caribu
If it’s a smooth road, it’s not worth traveling. I believe you only truly learn by making mistakes, stumbling, and having your experiments turn out differently than you expected (I don’t see those as failures). When we met, my co-founder just happened to be living in Miami, too. Since the...
ALLAN PEASE
MEET MR. BODY LANGUAGE
Hon. Professor Allan Pease, acclaimed as ‘Mr. Body Language,’ is an international best-selling author and body language expert. His expertise, spanning advising executives to authoring bestsellers, provides valuable insights into human interactions. He is a distinguished speaker, coach, entrepreneur, and one of the world’s leading authors with 18 Top 10...
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...
DIRK REYN
CHAIRMAN, FLANDERS BIO
As the chairman of flanders.bio, an ex-CEO of four (4) start-up companies and an investor in the biotech scene in Europe, my heart and soul lie with Biotech. I have seen the Biotech landscape in Flanders grow to the absolute top in Europe. It is not without reason that the...
Adham Ghazali
CEO and Co-Founder - Imagry
Introduction With offices in both the U.S. and Israel, Imagry is an autonomous vehicle platform developer that is dedicated to pioneering the future of this technology. By pushing the limits of artificial intelligence and computer vision, Imagry’s mapless autonomous driving platform eliminates the need for the time-consuming HD mapping process....
KEET VAN ZYL
CO-FOUNDER, KNIFE CAPITAL
Adversity is a pressure cooker that fosters innovation. This is a philosophy that was entrenched in my formative years. Having had some heavy, life questioning challenges thrown my way very early, I had to adapt and adjust, and this learning has set me in good stead. It’s also given me...
STEVE PINTO
CEO, NEW REALITY & CTRL ROBOTICS
Jobs are changing and evolving faster than anyone expected and humanity needs to embrace technology to accelerate for the better. People need more tools to upskill themselves out of poverty and away from the jobs robots will take. My vision is to create the tools to upskill humanity faster and...
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...
Sethuraman "Panch" Panchanathan
Executive VP and Chief Research and Innovation Officer - ASU
Introduction Perspective on InnovationInnovation is not limited to creating new products or starting new companies. It is a spirit and a mindset that permeates everything that we do. The most intractable challenges we face are not going to be solved by doing what we’ve always done. It is important to...