Thought Leaders
INNOVATE™ Antwerp Vol.2
ALEXANDER SAVERYS
CEO, CMB
My name is Alexander Saverys, I’m the CEO of CMB, a diversified shipping company owning 135 ships active in dry bulk shipping, container transport, chemical tankers and offshore wind support. Our cleantech division, CMB.TECH, is a market leader in the development of hydrogen applications for the marine and other industries....
INNOVATE® Miami
Andres Hurtado Rangel
Founder CEO
The hybrid cloud is a powerful combination of public and private clouds, has revolutionized the way enterprises do business. It enables employees and customers to realize an unparalleled user experience, new business models and substantially enhanced productivity. SynerTechCloud gives you all the benefits of using the Hybrid Cloud by identifying...
INNOVATE™ Alberta
SINMI ADEOYE-ESENE
FOUNDER, CEO, DANIOLA & CO-FOUNDER, BIPOC FOUNDATION
As an entrepreneur and innovator, I have embarked on a transformative journey to reshape the mining and tech industry with a bold vision and unwavering determination. It is my firm belief that we have the power to create a future that goes beyond profit margins and embraces the principles of...
INNOVATE® South Carolina
HAROLD SINGLETARY
CEO & FOUNDER, BRIGHTMA FARMS INC.
I often tell people that BrightMa didn’t start as a company — it started as a calling. My ancestors were enslaved farmers who worked the same South Carolina soil I walk today. Their sacrifice, resilience, ingenuity, and stewardship of the land are the foundation for everything I do. BrightMa Farms...
INNOVATE™ Alberta
PIERRE LEMIRE
KENT IMAGING, CEO
For as long as I can remember, I’ve had a passion for building high-tech imaging products. This passion has been the driving force of my professional life, and while I’ve managed to parlay it into a long, varied and rewarding career, it hasn’t always been easy. My successes have been...
INNOVATE® Seattle
MARIA COLACURCIO,
CEO, SYNDIO
Winning in the Transparency Era Workplace equity has taken on new urgency in today’s era of public salary ranges, pay gap reporting laws, voluntary disclosures by leading global companies, and investor scorecards. Every measure of how you value your people is now on display. This includes pay, performance, promotions, and...
INNOVATE® Philadelphia
PAUL LIEBERMAN, PH.D.
FOUNDING DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR ADVANCED THERAPEUTICS, THE WISTAR INSTITUTE
“The goal of Wistar’s Center for Advanced Therapeutics is to identify and support academic champions—scientists conducting foundational research—and surround them with the expertise needed to advance their discoveries toward clinical impact,” said Paul Lieberman, Ph.D., founding director of the Center for Advanced Therapeutics (CAT) at The Wistar Institute. “Ultimately, the...
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™ Vancouver Vol.2
MATTHEW UNGER
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Have you ever experienced the sinking feeling of discovering that your identity or credit card information has been stolen? I have. As a technologist, this experience led me on a personal journey to create new standards of trust, security, accountability, and privacy for every individual, every business, every transaction. While...
INNOVATE™ Stockholm
CAROLINA LAHDO & FARIDEH WALLQVIST
CO-FOUNDERS, WIB CAPITAL
WiB Capital is a Stockholm-based ecosystem and platform designed to strengthen how early-stage founders and investors meet—through community, visibility, and clearer decision-making. It began with a small observation in a coworking office: people shared space, but rarely spoke. So we made a rule, say hi to everyone new who walks...
INNOVATE™ Stockholm
ALI SARRAFI
CO-FOUNDER AND CEO, 4THBRAIN
We are on the threshold of a creative renaissance powered by GenerativeAI—technology that frees us from specialized skills and speeds up the path from idea to execution. In mere hours, what once took months can be accomplished, fueling rapid experimentation and bold innovation. By automating tasks like image generation, software...
INNOVATE® Minnesota
Peter Frosch
CEO - Greater MSP
Entrepreneurship and innovation aren’t new to Minnesota. They’re the source of our current economic success and the key to even greater future prosperity, equity and growth. We have the potential to be the problem-solving capital of the new economy and the GREATER MSP Partnership is working to make that vision...
Global Innovation Spotlight
VERI OSVALD
CEO OF SMARTHEAD
As CEO of SmartHead, Veri is responsible for fulfilling the vision, strategy, leadership, and sustainable business growth. She has represented SmartHead at the Chivas Venture Competition in Los Angeles and has also attended Accelerator at the University of Oxford. In 2018, Veri was part of the Forbes Top 10 Women...
INNOVATE® Georgia
JIM GILVIN
MAYOR, CITY OF ALPHARETTA
Government is probably not something that comes to mind when you think of innovation, but at the local level, you will find cities and counties that recognize that the solutions to today’s challenges and the path to tomorrow’s opportunities cannot be found in yesterday’s ideas. The City of Alpharetta, Georgia...
INNOVATE® Minnesota
Keith Tanski
CTO - Optum
Innovation to me is working to never settle… and to continually be obsessive over creating a continued better experience and product. This means that status quos need to continually obsess over all spectrums and that we need to realize that the greatness that got us to this point will not...
INNOVATE® Blockchain
ERYKA GEMMA
FOUNDER OF MIAMI BLOCKCHAIN CENTER AND TIMELOCK VENTURES
As the world moves in cycles, we see that change is constant. The pendulum swings and with global lockdowns, continuous quantitative easing, and privacy breaches – we are approaching a point of conflicting overreach and control. However, there is hope! History shows that human ingenuity will always find a way....
INNOVATE™ South Africa
JAYSHREE NAIDOO
CEO, YIEDI
Just over two decades ago I sat in a university lecture hall while pursuing an E Commerce course and we were introduced to our guest speaker for the day, she worked at a large bank, just like me, but her title fascinated me, she was called a “futurist”. Her main...
INNOVATE® Houston
DR. ANDRE THOMAS
FOUNDER AND DIRECTOR OF THE LIVE LAB, DEPARTMENT OF VISUALIZATION, TEXAS A&M
DR. ANDRE THOMAS,FOUNDER AND DIRECTOR OF THE LIVE LAB, DEPARTMENT OF VISUALIZATION, TEXAS A&M Education is ripe for disruption. Society’s been told – and accepted – that the textbook is holy and contains all knowledge. We also accept that a professor standing in front of 200 students in a classroom...
INNOVATE® Northern Virginia
REPRESENTATIVE DONALD STERNOFF BEYER JR
CONGRESSMAN, CO-FOUNDER, NORTHERN VIRGINIA TECHNOLOGY COUNCIL (NVTC)
Sir W. Arthur Lewis once wrote, “The fundamental cure for poverty is not money but knowledge.” Few ideas better capture the spirit behind the creation and growth of the Northern Virginia Technology Council. For 35-years, NVTC has embodied the belief that knowledge is shared through science, innovation, and collaboration, and...
INNOVATE® St. Louis
Jennah Purk
Founder & CEO - Purk Associates
Talking about innovation in accounting is sort of like talking about water and oil. They aren’t exactly synonymous, and while it’s not like we’re using an abacus, we’re not far off. It’s also not as boring as people think it is. But the two things that obstruct the industry are...
INNOVATE™ South Africa
KIRSTY BISSET
MANAGING DIRECTOR, HAVEYOUHEARD DURBAN
I’m a serial tech entrepreneur with eight (8) businesses under my belt – one (1) of which I still own, two (2) of which have been successfully sold, one (1) which has failed, and four (4) in which I hold shares. With recognition from the likes of Fast Company, Destiny...
INNOVATE™ Bristol & Bath
Neil Douglas
Director, Viper Innovations
When we started our company in 2007, one of the first questions we had to ask ourselves, was where is the best place to be located? The client base for our products and services was international and so our selection did not have to be governed by the location of...
INNOVATE® Phoenix
Justin Gray
CEO - LeadMD
Introduction Justin Gray is a serial entrepreneur, who has launched four multi-million dollar companies, become a recognized speaker and been published over 350 times throughout his career. Justin is the CEO and founder of LeadMD, a role he’s held for the past ten years. He also co-founded PaidSuite, a SaaS...
INNOVATE® Minnesota
Jeanne Glass
Founder & CEO, VirtualZ Computing
Jeanne Glass Founder & CEO, Virtualz Computing StartUp Draws on Minnesota’s Legacy of Tech InnovationAlthough several of my family members and friends worked at Honeywell, Sperry-Univac, Unisys, and Control Data, until founding VirtualZ, I didn’t have a full appreciation for the contributions of Minnesotans in creating the computer industry. Now...
ALEXANDER SAVERYS
CEO, CMB
My name is Alexander Saverys, I’m the CEO of CMB, a diversified shipping company owning 135 ships active in dry bulk shipping, container transport, chemical tankers and offshore wind support. Our cleantech division, CMB.TECH, is a market leader in the development of hydrogen applications for the marine and other industries....
Andres Hurtado Rangel
Founder CEO
The hybrid cloud is a powerful combination of public and private clouds, has revolutionized the way enterprises do business. It enables employees and customers to realize an unparalleled user experience, new business models and substantially enhanced productivity. SynerTechCloud gives you all the benefits of using the Hybrid Cloud by identifying...
SINMI ADEOYE-ESENE
FOUNDER, CEO, DANIOLA & CO-FOUNDER, BIPOC FOUNDATION
As an entrepreneur and innovator, I have embarked on a transformative journey to reshape the mining and tech industry with a bold vision and unwavering determination. It is my firm belief that we have the power to create a future that goes beyond profit margins and embraces the principles of...
HAROLD SINGLETARY
CEO & FOUNDER, BRIGHTMA FARMS INC.
I often tell people that BrightMa didn’t start as a company — it started as a calling. My ancestors were enslaved farmers who worked the same South Carolina soil I walk today. Their sacrifice, resilience, ingenuity, and stewardship of the land are the foundation for everything I do. BrightMa Farms...
PIERRE LEMIRE
KENT IMAGING, CEO
For as long as I can remember, I’ve had a passion for building high-tech imaging products. This passion has been the driving force of my professional life, and while I’ve managed to parlay it into a long, varied and rewarding career, it hasn’t always been easy. My successes have been...
MARIA COLACURCIO,
CEO, SYNDIO
Winning in the Transparency Era Workplace equity has taken on new urgency in today’s era of public salary ranges, pay gap reporting laws, voluntary disclosures by leading global companies, and investor scorecards. Every measure of how you value your people is now on display. This includes pay, performance, promotions, and...
PAUL LIEBERMAN, PH.D.
FOUNDING DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR ADVANCED THERAPEUTICS, THE WISTAR INSTITUTE
“The goal of Wistar’s Center for Advanced Therapeutics is to identify and support academic champions—scientists conducting foundational research—and surround them with the expertise needed to advance their discoveries toward clinical impact,” said Paul Lieberman, Ph.D., founding director of the Center for Advanced Therapeutics (CAT) at The Wistar Institute. “Ultimately, the...
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...
MATTHEW UNGER
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Have you ever experienced the sinking feeling of discovering that your identity or credit card information has been stolen? I have. As a technologist, this experience led me on a personal journey to create new standards of trust, security, accountability, and privacy for every individual, every business, every transaction. While...
CAROLINA LAHDO & FARIDEH WALLQVIST
CO-FOUNDERS, WIB CAPITAL
WiB Capital is a Stockholm-based ecosystem and platform designed to strengthen how early-stage founders and investors meet—through community, visibility, and clearer decision-making. It began with a small observation in a coworking office: people shared space, but rarely spoke. So we made a rule, say hi to everyone new who walks...
ALI SARRAFI
CO-FOUNDER AND CEO, 4THBRAIN
We are on the threshold of a creative renaissance powered by GenerativeAI—technology that frees us from specialized skills and speeds up the path from idea to execution. In mere hours, what once took months can be accomplished, fueling rapid experimentation and bold innovation. By automating tasks like image generation, software...
Peter Frosch
CEO - Greater MSP
Entrepreneurship and innovation aren’t new to Minnesota. They’re the source of our current economic success and the key to even greater future prosperity, equity and growth. We have the potential to be the problem-solving capital of the new economy and the GREATER MSP Partnership is working to make that vision...
VERI OSVALD
CEO OF SMARTHEAD
As CEO of SmartHead, Veri is responsible for fulfilling the vision, strategy, leadership, and sustainable business growth. She has represented SmartHead at the Chivas Venture Competition in Los Angeles and has also attended Accelerator at the University of Oxford. In 2018, Veri was part of the Forbes Top 10 Women...
JIM GILVIN
MAYOR, CITY OF ALPHARETTA
Government is probably not something that comes to mind when you think of innovation, but at the local level, you will find cities and counties that recognize that the solutions to today’s challenges and the path to tomorrow’s opportunities cannot be found in yesterday’s ideas. The City of Alpharetta, Georgia...
Keith Tanski
CTO - Optum
Innovation to me is working to never settle… and to continually be obsessive over creating a continued better experience and product. This means that status quos need to continually obsess over all spectrums and that we need to realize that the greatness that got us to this point will not...
ERYKA GEMMA
FOUNDER OF MIAMI BLOCKCHAIN CENTER AND TIMELOCK VENTURES
As the world moves in cycles, we see that change is constant. The pendulum swings and with global lockdowns, continuous quantitative easing, and privacy breaches – we are approaching a point of conflicting overreach and control. However, there is hope! History shows that human ingenuity will always find a way....
DR. ANDRE THOMAS
FOUNDER AND DIRECTOR OF THE LIVE LAB, DEPARTMENT OF VISUALIZATION, TEXAS A&M
DR. ANDRE THOMAS,FOUNDER AND DIRECTOR OF THE LIVE LAB, DEPARTMENT OF VISUALIZATION, TEXAS A&M Education is ripe for disruption. Society’s been told – and accepted – that the textbook is holy and contains all knowledge. We also accept that a professor standing in front of 200 students in a classroom...
REPRESENTATIVE DONALD STERNOFF BEYER JR
CONGRESSMAN, CO-FOUNDER, NORTHERN VIRGINIA TECHNOLOGY COUNCIL (NVTC)
Sir W. Arthur Lewis once wrote, “The fundamental cure for poverty is not money but knowledge.” Few ideas better capture the spirit behind the creation and growth of the Northern Virginia Technology Council. For 35-years, NVTC has embodied the belief that knowledge is shared through science, innovation, and collaboration, and...
Jennah Purk
Founder & CEO - Purk Associates
Talking about innovation in accounting is sort of like talking about water and oil. They aren’t exactly synonymous, and while it’s not like we’re using an abacus, we’re not far off. It’s also not as boring as people think it is. But the two things that obstruct the industry are...
KIRSTY BISSET
MANAGING DIRECTOR, HAVEYOUHEARD DURBAN
I’m a serial tech entrepreneur with eight (8) businesses under my belt – one (1) of which I still own, two (2) of which have been successfully sold, one (1) which has failed, and four (4) in which I hold shares. With recognition from the likes of Fast Company, Destiny...
Neil Douglas
Director, Viper Innovations
When we started our company in 2007, one of the first questions we had to ask ourselves, was where is the best place to be located? The client base for our products and services was international and so our selection did not have to be governed by the location of...
Justin Gray
CEO - LeadMD
Introduction Justin Gray is a serial entrepreneur, who has launched four multi-million dollar companies, become a recognized speaker and been published over 350 times throughout his career. Justin is the CEO and founder of LeadMD, a role he’s held for the past ten years. He also co-founded PaidSuite, a SaaS...
Jeanne Glass
Founder & CEO, VirtualZ Computing
Jeanne Glass Founder & CEO, Virtualz Computing StartUp Draws on Minnesota’s Legacy of Tech InnovationAlthough several of my family members and friends worked at Honeywell, Sperry-Univac, Unisys, and Control Data, until founding VirtualZ, I didn’t have a full appreciation for the contributions of Minnesotans in creating the computer industry. Now...