Thought Leaders
INNOVATE® Detroit
BONNIE FAHOOME
CO-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, DESIGN CORE DETROIT
Detroit has been an epicenter of innovation for well over a century, leading the world in mass manufacturing, music and industrial design. In 1920, for example, Detroit police officer William Potts was credited with inventing the four-way and three-colored traffic light, a standard still used today for regulating traffic flow...
INNOVATE® San Diego Vol.1
It is no coincidence that Seqster was born in San Diego, a city with an underdog culture where small startups transform into large enterprises that address giant markets. Perfect weather drives innovation—always sunny, 72 degrees, and 70 miles of beaches. Perhaps the combination of unique culture and weather has drawn...
INNOVATE® Nashville
KEVIN JONES
CEO, CELERO
Historically, electronic payments solutions have been delivered by most banks as a secondary offering – often living in the bowels of the bank’s basements or tucked away into treasury as a secondary offering. Frankly, the early evolution of the payments landscape caused such posturing. Electronic payments and deposits were miniscule...
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® Utah
Ivy V. Estabrooke
Phd, Vice President For Government And Community Programs - PolarityTE
The United States has long depended on innovation, technology, and small businesses to maintain economic prosperity and a national security advantage. While much of this economic growth has come out of hubs on the East and West Coasts, Utah has managed to create a non-traditional innovation ecosystem that has resulted...
INNOVATE® Nashville
YESI SEVILLA
DIRECTOR, STRATEGIC ENGAGEMENT & ECOSYSTEM DEVELOPMENT
WORDS OF WISDOM:Innovation does not belong to just one industry, just one degree, or just one area of expertise – it belongs to everyone. Solving problems requires courage, creativity, and collaboration. All of us can be empowered to ideate, but our strength is in the collective. I have always thought...
INNOVATE® Nashville
HARRY ALLEN
CO-FOUNDER & CHIEF RELATIONSHIP OFFICER, STUDIO BANK
A NATIVE’S PERSPECTIVEI love Nashville. As a fifth-generation native, Nashville is the only place I’ve ever called home. And while it’s not the town I grew up in, today’s Nashville has certainly kept me engaged and excited. So I’ve continued to choose Nashville as the place to build my family,...
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® Gaming & Esports
KWAMÉ BABB
PRINCIPAL VFX ARTIST & MANAGER-Schell Games
Each morning from my desk at Schell Games (pre-pandemic, obviously), I can look through the Station Square windows at the Monongahela River and the skyline of the city of Pittsburgh, which if you’ve never visited is probably one of the most beautiful in America that not everyone knows about. On...
INNOVATE® Nashville
AAMIR PAUL
PRESIDENT OF NORTH AMERICA OPERATIONS, SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC
The next industrial revolution is here, but it’s not about steam, mechanization, or electronics. It’s about software, data, and interconnected, electrified systems. It’s going to force us to rethink everything we know about manufacturing and about humans’ role in it. Schneider Electric has operated in the United States for 135...
INNOVATE™ Stockholm
Ann Molin
Hack for Earth - Founder & CEO
What if the next big breakthrough didn’t come from a boardroom or a lab, but from a team of global citizens with bold ideas? This is the essence of citizen-driven innovation—the foundation of the Hack for Earth movement that taps into the collective creativity of people from all around the...
INNOVATE™ Alberta
JILL DE GROOD
DIRECTOR, DEVELOPMENT AND PARTNERSHIPS, W21C
Health and health care is something that impacts every single one of us, whether we want it to or not. In Alberta, we have seen tremendous developments in how health care is delivered and in the availability of innovative solutions to better manage care. At the same time, it feels...
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® Detroit
TINA KOZAK
FRANCO - CEO
It’s an amazing time to be a Detroiter. Yes, the city has its fair share of challenges, but its reputation is on the rise. As noted in a recent PR News article about Detroit’s renaissance, “Behind every rehabbed reputation lies really hard work, dedicated individuals and, of course, some strategic...
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....
INNOVATION Quebec
KATHY MALAS
Adjointe au Président-directeur général, Pôle d’Innovation
Adjointe au Président-directeur général, Pôle d’Innovation, d’intelligence artificielle et de Projets, direction générale, Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM). Membre du conseil d’admisnistration, Conseil de l’innovation du Québec. Membre du conseil d’administration, Quartier de l’innovation en santé. Chercheuse professionnelle de la santé, Axe Carrefour de l’innovation, CRCHUM. Professeure associée,...
INNOVATE® Georgia
LEVI PERKINS
CEO, HANNIBAL AI
When in the shadows of giants, we assume the path to success is to stand on their shoulders. But in the world of technology, I’ve found that it’s not enough to just stand tall; we must also be nimble, ready to jump to the next giant as the ground shifts...
VOICES of the Future
LORD BRIAN WILKIE
INNOVATION, INTEGRITY, IMPACT
Lord Brian Wilkie’s vision transcends the ordinary. He is positioned at the nexus of sustainability, climate change, and technological evolution, passionately weaving the future to serve humanity better. Since 1976, Brian (as he prefers) has called Dubai his home, emerging as a distinguished entrepreneur with landmark ventures like Wilkie’s Wine...
INNOVATE™ Bristol & Bath
PROFESSOR IAN WHITE
VICE-CHANCELLOR AND PRESIDENT, UNIVERSITY OF BATH
Innovation and collaboration will always be essential to power progress in our societies and I think are a crucial part of what universities in particular can offer in partnership with others. This is especially important now as we begin to recover from Covid-19, and I have been pleased to play...
INNOVATE® Phoenix
Deborah Helitzer
Dean and Professor - College Of Health Solutions, Arizona State University
IntroductionThe College of Health Solutions at Arizona State University was formed in 2012 to offer students an education in ten health disciplines. In 2017, the college began a major transformation to better align with its mission to address the nation’s most pressing health challenges, eliminating disciplinary divisions and better positioning...
INNOVATE® Utah
In early 2016, Instructure launched its Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DIB) Council to “make Instructure an awesome place to work for everyone.” Those were our words for the mission of the Council at the time, and building a workplace where people can thrive and develop in their careers remains a...
INNOVATE® New Jersey Vol.2
DR. SIMIN CAI
CEO, GO!FOTON
FINDING THE ADDED DIMENSION“Innovation begins with the perception of a previously unnoticed additional dimension in a given frame of reference. It results from grasping a property of the status quo that’s been missed, and then following through on this changed awareness to implement either a solution to a problem or...
INNOVATE™ Flanders
YIN OEI
LIVING TOMORROW GROUP - CEO
In the ever-evolving landscape of technology and innovation, our greatest responsibility as leaders is to ensure that the advancements we champion do more than just enhance efficiency—they must also contribute to a sustainable and equitable world. My vision for the industry is centered around the seamless integration of technology into...
INNOVATE® Austin Volume 2
Jay Hallberg
CEO and Founder
There’s no greater transformative force in the world’s businesses than technology’s ability to connect people, increase competitiveness, and ultimately help organizations grow. But as the business technology market nears $4 trillion in annual spend, two significant challenges have emerged for both the businesses who buy technology and the vendors who...
BONNIE FAHOOME
CO-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, DESIGN CORE DETROIT
Detroit has been an epicenter of innovation for well over a century, leading the world in mass manufacturing, music and industrial design. In 1920, for example, Detroit police officer William Potts was credited with inventing the four-way and three-colored traffic light, a standard still used today for regulating traffic flow...
It is no coincidence that Seqster was born in San Diego, a city with an underdog culture where small startups transform into large enterprises that address giant markets. Perfect weather drives innovation—always sunny, 72 degrees, and 70 miles of beaches. Perhaps the combination of unique culture and weather has drawn...
KEVIN JONES
CEO, CELERO
Historically, electronic payments solutions have been delivered by most banks as a secondary offering – often living in the bowels of the bank’s basements or tucked away into treasury as a secondary offering. Frankly, the early evolution of the payments landscape caused such posturing. Electronic payments and deposits were miniscule...
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...
Ivy V. Estabrooke
Phd, Vice President For Government And Community Programs - PolarityTE
The United States has long depended on innovation, technology, and small businesses to maintain economic prosperity and a national security advantage. While much of this economic growth has come out of hubs on the East and West Coasts, Utah has managed to create a non-traditional innovation ecosystem that has resulted...
YESI SEVILLA
DIRECTOR, STRATEGIC ENGAGEMENT & ECOSYSTEM DEVELOPMENT
WORDS OF WISDOM:Innovation does not belong to just one industry, just one degree, or just one area of expertise – it belongs to everyone. Solving problems requires courage, creativity, and collaboration. All of us can be empowered to ideate, but our strength is in the collective. I have always thought...
HARRY ALLEN
CO-FOUNDER & CHIEF RELATIONSHIP OFFICER, STUDIO BANK
A NATIVE’S PERSPECTIVEI love Nashville. As a fifth-generation native, Nashville is the only place I’ve ever called home. And while it’s not the town I grew up in, today’s Nashville has certainly kept me engaged and excited. So I’ve continued to choose Nashville as the place to build my family,...
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...
KWAMÉ BABB
PRINCIPAL VFX ARTIST & MANAGER-Schell Games
Each morning from my desk at Schell Games (pre-pandemic, obviously), I can look through the Station Square windows at the Monongahela River and the skyline of the city of Pittsburgh, which if you’ve never visited is probably one of the most beautiful in America that not everyone knows about. On...
AAMIR PAUL
PRESIDENT OF NORTH AMERICA OPERATIONS, SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC
The next industrial revolution is here, but it’s not about steam, mechanization, or electronics. It’s about software, data, and interconnected, electrified systems. It’s going to force us to rethink everything we know about manufacturing and about humans’ role in it. Schneider Electric has operated in the United States for 135...
Ann Molin
Hack for Earth - Founder & CEO
What if the next big breakthrough didn’t come from a boardroom or a lab, but from a team of global citizens with bold ideas? This is the essence of citizen-driven innovation—the foundation of the Hack for Earth movement that taps into the collective creativity of people from all around the...
JILL DE GROOD
DIRECTOR, DEVELOPMENT AND PARTNERSHIPS, W21C
Health and health care is something that impacts every single one of us, whether we want it to or not. In Alberta, we have seen tremendous developments in how health care is delivered and in the availability of innovative solutions to better manage care. At the same time, it feels...
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...
TINA KOZAK
FRANCO - CEO
It’s an amazing time to be a Detroiter. Yes, the city has its fair share of challenges, but its reputation is on the rise. As noted in a recent PR News article about Detroit’s renaissance, “Behind every rehabbed reputation lies really hard work, dedicated individuals and, of course, some strategic...
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....
KATHY MALAS
Adjointe au Président-directeur général, Pôle d’Innovation
Adjointe au Président-directeur général, Pôle d’Innovation, d’intelligence artificielle et de Projets, direction générale, Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM). Membre du conseil d’admisnistration, Conseil de l’innovation du Québec. Membre du conseil d’administration, Quartier de l’innovation en santé. Chercheuse professionnelle de la santé, Axe Carrefour de l’innovation, CRCHUM. Professeure associée,...
LORD BRIAN WILKIE
INNOVATION, INTEGRITY, IMPACT
Lord Brian Wilkie’s vision transcends the ordinary. He is positioned at the nexus of sustainability, climate change, and technological evolution, passionately weaving the future to serve humanity better. Since 1976, Brian (as he prefers) has called Dubai his home, emerging as a distinguished entrepreneur with landmark ventures like Wilkie’s Wine...
PROFESSOR IAN WHITE
VICE-CHANCELLOR AND PRESIDENT, UNIVERSITY OF BATH
Innovation and collaboration will always be essential to power progress in our societies and I think are a crucial part of what universities in particular can offer in partnership with others. This is especially important now as we begin to recover from Covid-19, and I have been pleased to play...
Deborah Helitzer
Dean and Professor - College Of Health Solutions, Arizona State University
IntroductionThe College of Health Solutions at Arizona State University was formed in 2012 to offer students an education in ten health disciplines. In 2017, the college began a major transformation to better align with its mission to address the nation’s most pressing health challenges, eliminating disciplinary divisions and better positioning...
In early 2016, Instructure launched its Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DIB) Council to “make Instructure an awesome place to work for everyone.” Those were our words for the mission of the Council at the time, and building a workplace where people can thrive and develop in their careers remains a...
DR. SIMIN CAI
CEO, GO!FOTON
FINDING THE ADDED DIMENSION“Innovation begins with the perception of a previously unnoticed additional dimension in a given frame of reference. It results from grasping a property of the status quo that’s been missed, and then following through on this changed awareness to implement either a solution to a problem or...
YIN OEI
LIVING TOMORROW GROUP - CEO
In the ever-evolving landscape of technology and innovation, our greatest responsibility as leaders is to ensure that the advancements we champion do more than just enhance efficiency—they must also contribute to a sustainable and equitable world. My vision for the industry is centered around the seamless integration of technology into...
Jay Hallberg
CEO and Founder
There’s no greater transformative force in the world’s businesses than technology’s ability to connect people, increase competitiveness, and ultimately help organizations grow. But as the business technology market nears $4 trillion in annual spend, two significant challenges have emerged for both the businesses who buy technology and the vendors who...