Thought Leaders

My ideal future for this industry is one rich in diversity and equality, from developing games and the content within them to more comprehensive professional representation in gaming and esports for minorities and gender minorities. It will take all of us working together to make this reality, and there is...

Marty Paslick is HCA Healthcare’s chief information officer. He has been with the organization for more than three decades and leads its Information Technology Group (ITG), a team of more than 6,000 colleagues that provide IT strategy and support for HCA Healthcare and its 182 hospitals and more than 2,300...

Our vision statement ensures we will never lose sight of our innovation goal: “New Jersey will reclaim its stature as the Innovation State.” To be sure, New Jersey has a rich history of innovation dating back to our glory days of the 19th and 20th centuries when discoveries made in...

As Interim President, Vice President for Partnerships and Chief Innovation Officer at UCF, Thad Seymour is helping to implement an aggressive 20-year plan for the university, including overseeing the new UCF Downtown campus at Creative Village in the heart of Orlando. In addition to his multiple entrepreneurial ventures, Seymour helped...

The future of the St. Louis entrepreneurial ecosystem will be deeper levels of corporate and startup engagement through structured programs. Corporates struggle to innovate and they must look to startups to assist them with this process. Startups have the ability to be nimble and adapt to new technological trends that...

Challenging the status quo requires a brave voice, one that resounds with a clarity and vision that slices through the din to shape the contours of tomorrow. My conversation with Dr. Abir Haddad, a luminary in the realm of legal transformation, unfurls a narrative rich with rebelliousness, innovation, and a...

There’s no doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic brought on an irreversible shift in the recruiting industry. Of course the sudden move to remote work (and for some, the eventual transition back to the office) turned the way startups hire on its head. But there was an even greater shift that...

DR. RAMNATH K. CHELLAPPA,PROFESSOR OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS &OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT;ASSOCIATE DEAN & ACADEMIC DIRECTOR,MS IN BUSINESS ANALYTICS. AI, BUSINESS & EMORYAmidst all the technological advances, businesses have been struggling to keep up. From Machine Learning to AI to now Large Language Models, the readiness of organizations to adopt these new techniques...

He has participated in hundreds of conferences with thousands of early adopters and found that people were very lost in the complexity of investing in this new environment. He founded the first Bitcoin Meetup in Chicago because people needed a trusted guide who could advise them in real-time and connect...

THE GENESIS AND EVOLUTION OF PUERTO RICO’S ENTREPRENEURIAL ECOSYSTEM AND WHAT’S NEEDED TO CHARGE AHEADFew people know that in 2010 Puerto Rico pioneered the first multistakeholder entrepreneurship ecosystem project in the world. Led by the Island’s most successful entrepreneurs in partnership with the Department of Economic Development, the Puerto Rico...

With my background as a cardiology nurse, I have been trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) regularly since the mid 90’s. Still, I never got to use my lifesaving skills outside work until I was alerted through the platform I had been involved in creating. This is likely the case for...

TechSPARK Ben Shorrock – Managing Director , At TechSPARK I spend a lot of time speaking to people from across Bristol’s tech cluster. I hear lots of great news stories from people creating companies or products which solve problems and, often, make the world a better place. However, whether speaking...

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...

BUILDING BRIDGES THROUGH THE POWER OF PLAY It started with a simple Nintendo Entertainment System and a curious peek past bedtime. My dad had bought the console, seemingly for me, but never watched me play. One night, I heard familiar game music playing from the living room. Sneaking out of...

I obviously knew of the proximity to the Rocky Mountains, but I didn’t know about all the wonders such as the Drumheller Valley, Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park and Jasper National Park. I also didn’t know that Calgary is the third most diverse major city in Canada. Or that in 2022 it...

My journey in the technology and data center industry has been shaped by a relentless commitment to tenacity, teamwork, and trust. At DC BLOX, these principles are the driving force behind our approach to the industry. Tenacity has been the cornerstone of our success at DC BLOX. We started as...

Innovation thrives where diverse perspectives intersect—what I like to call “collision points.” Whether it’s the synergy between rural and urban communities, new entrepreneurs exchanging ideas with seasoned business owners, or students immersing themselves into the local business ecosystem, these intersections spark creativity, growth, and resilience. As someone deeply committed to...

Data are everywhere: they are drivers of innovation and at the heart of the transformation taking hold all around us. Integral to many enabling technologies now maturing, from cloud computing to the Internet of things, 5G, 3D, augmented reality, robotics and more, these data and their valorization by analysis are...

Healthcare is a top priority of an aging society, this industry is key in the development of innovative treatments to address society’s needs and to foster better health, for longer and healthier lives. COVID-19 only made this clearer. With a global scale and deep understanding of healthcare needs, the pharma...

CYBELE NEGRIS   Life is so fast-paced that we take too much for granted, whether it is the Internet which has now practically become a basic right or the growing role of women in positions of power, which is an outcome that has not come easily. All these giant leaps...

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...

Jason has spent over 25 years providing operational and financial expertise in leadership positions for rapidly growing companies such as Conversant (MOSAID), AVID Technologies, and IBM (Cognos). He started Positive Venture Group with the mission to help growth-stage businesses reach their full potential. “Most entrepreneurs start a venture because they...

We are living in a defining moment for our global workforce. The convergence of rapid technological advancement, economic uncertainty, and evolving societal expectations transforms how we work, learn, and lead. Two forces are more critical than ever: continuous upskilling and staying grounded in community. These aren’t just buzzwords. Upskilling and...

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...