Thought Leaders
INNOVATE® San Diego Vol.1
I’ve been fortunate enough to live a life distinguished by constant progression, from understanding to impacting, particularly in my career. Trained as a physicist, I was fueled by a deep drive to understand some of the most complex “whys” of our world. Quickly I learned that understanding is more satisfying...
INNOVATE® Blockchain
JASON CASSIDY
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, GAME CREDITS
Living inside of the cryptocurrency sector for eight years gives one a unique perspective on innovation. Things move so quickly with blockchain technology that innovation tends to happen right in front of our very eyes. I grew up in the Caribbean when I was younger and there was virtually no...
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® Utah
Ken Davis
Co-Founder & CEO - TaskEasy
Ken Davis is the co-founder and CEO of TaskEasy – an online platform that allows homeowners, renters, and businesses to order and manage yard maintenance online. Since TaskEasy’s launch in 2013, the company has grown to service hundreds of thousands of properties across all 50 states. TaskEasy’s business model caters...
INNOVATE™ Estonia
ERKI ANI
CHAIRMAN OF THE SUPERVISORY BOARD, ESTONIAN CLEANTECH ASSOCIATION AND CO-FOUNDER & CEO, JÄLLE TECHNOLOGIES
The technologies that fall under its umbrella shift over time—new breakthroughs emerge, trends take the podium, and success stories in sector X blind us to what’s happening in sectors Y and Z. It gets even trickier when you realize cleantech isn’t just a sector—it’s a mindset. It’s a commitment to...
Phoebe Cade Miles
Co-Founder - The Cade Museum for Creativity and Invention
Phoebe Cade Miles Co-Founder – The Cade Museum for Creativity and Invention In 2004, I helped my father, Dr. James Robert Cade, the lead inventor of Gatorade, to establish the Cade Museum. Sixteen years later, it is inspiring the next generation of inventors, entrepreneurs, and visionaries. The Gatorade story had...
INNOVATE® Orlando
David Brim
Marketing Strategist, Entrepreneur, Investor & Founder - Orlando Entrepreneurs
David Brim is a marketing strategist, entrepreneur and investor living in Orlando, Florida. He is a founding partner of Orlando Opportunity Fund (OrlandoOpportunityFund.com), and the founder of Orlando Entrepreneurs (OrlandoEntrepreneurs.org), a network, podcast, and resource center created to connect, cultivate & celebrate Central Florida entrepreneurs. His primary professional focus areas...
INNOVATE® Nashville
David Vulcano
Angel Investor
People are often surprised when they find out “Music City” is not just mega-music companies. In fact, the business ecosystem is very diversified in national and global business, and the greater Nashville area has many home-grown companies as well. The city is fertile soil for startup companies; many of our...
INNOVATE® Milwaukee
BEN KERFORD
STRATEGIC EXECUTIVE AT 7RIVERS
Innovation is often misunderstood as a pursuit of the latest technology, but in reality, it’s about solving meaningful problems in new ways. It’s about leveraging data, AI, and strategic thinking to drive real business value. Throughout my career, from consulting to leading 7Rivers, I’ve focused on not just embracing change...
INNOVATE® Austin Volume 2
Angelos Angelou
Founder & CEO - International Accelerator (IA)
Everything is bigger and better in Texas (smile) and the same now holds true for the technology hub of Austin. It’s growing, expanding, and changing the landscape of innovation, serving as a catalyst of increasing value. According to the U.S. News & World Report, Austin is the number 1 place...
INNOVATE® Chicago Vol.1
WILL BEOGLIN
CEO, TIMEDOC HEALTH
The healthcare sector is renowned for breathtaking innovations and technological advancement. We receive news of breakthroughs thought impossible a handful of years ago every day. The reality on the ground is slightly different. Roughly 10,000 new patients age into Medicare each day, drastically outnumbering the staff capable of serving their...
INNOVATE® Chicago Vol.1
LINDA MACLACHLAN
FOUNDER, CHAIRPERSON AND PAMELA DIAZ, CEO, PRESIDENT - ENTARA
“Resilience” is a common word heard among the cyber security and IT crowd. Solution providers boast of tools that your business can employ to stay ahead of the pack – because, after all, it’s not the entire herd that’s taken down by a lone predator, but the slowest member. At...
INNOVATE® Georgia
VANESSA EDMONDS
UTILITY 2030 COLLABORATIVE - EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
YOUR ROLE IN SHAPING A SUSTAINABLE WORLD STARTS TODAY Our planet faces unprecedented challenges. Extreme weather events are becoming more frequent, the transition to clean energy is more urgent than ever, and water resources are under increasing strain. Our world’s sustainability and the well-being of future generations are on the...
INNOVATE® New Jersey Vol.2
Dr. Gregory Olsen
GHO Ventures
In order to understand what GHO Ventures is, we need to talk about Dr. Gregory Olsen. Greg started the company EPITAXX, a fiber-optic detector manufacturer in 1984 together with Vladimir Ban. It was sold in 1990 for $12 million. He then founded Sensors Unlimited, a near-infrared camera manufacturer in 1992...
INNOVATE™ Stockholm
SARA NOŽKOVÁ
CEO & CO-FOUNDER, FLOX INTELLIGENCE
I’ve always believed that the next frontier of artificial intelligence isn’t about replacing humans — it’s about reconnecting us with the natural world. At Flox, we’re building systems that use AI not to dominate nature, but to protect it. We train intelligent devices to detect, understand, and respond to wild...
INNOVATE® Chicago Vol.1
Christine Schyvinck
President And CEO, Shure Incorporated
Business leaders choose different paths that eventually lead them to their present positions. Each individual journey can provide unique perspectives for unlocking success at their organizations. I’m proud of the path I chose, because it enabled me to immerse myself in the vision established by our Company’s founder, S.N. Shure,...
WA’IL ASHSHOWWAF
UNSTUCK LABS - CEO AND COFOUNDER
Have you ever tried to solve a Rubik’s cube? I have, and let me tell you, it’s not as easy as my then 9-year-old son made it look. There I was, twisting and turning that colorful puzzle, getting nowhere fast, while my kid solved it in under a minute. When...
INNOVATE® Washington DMV Edition
NINA ALBERT
DEPUTY MAYOR FOR PLANNING AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
As Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development, I have the privilege of witnessing firsthand the remarkable evolution of our city into a hub of innovation and opportunity. Innovation, to me, means leveraging our unique assets and positioning Washington, D.C., at the forefront of America’s economic future. As the nation’s...
INNOVATE® New Jersey Vol.2
The Digital World is a contemporary expression to communicate the importance of digital technology, services and tools to communicate on the Internet, smart devices, the Internet of Things and other digital sources. We are barely entering the early stages of the so-called Digital Revolution and its impact on business is...
INNOVATE® Blockchain
HEIDI GILLMAN
CHIEF NFT OFFICER, NFT THE MOVIE, LLC
IMPOSSIBLE IS AN OPINION.Impossible is an opinion, not a fact. I teach and live my life in a way that shows my children nothing is impossible. My life’s design is to help others understand our minds and how powerful they are. We are designed to experience a creative and full...
INNOVATE™ Stockholm
JOHAN HARTMAN & MATTIAS RANTALAINEN
CO-FOUNDERS, STRATIPATH
That’s what we, a pathologist and an AI researcher, discovered when ourresearch groups joined forces at Karolinska Institutet. Despite our differentscientific perspectives, we shared a common goal: to take research beyond theacademic setting and into clinical reality—where it can truly help patients. We began by tackling a major clinical gap...
INNOVATE® Nashville
SOULA PARASSIDIS
CEO, LIVING OPERA
IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE“It’s cancer.” That’s not a sentence you want to hear your doctor say when you’re only 23 years old. Seven days earlier having graduated with my degree in opera, and now I was sitting in a hospital. They say thyroid cancer is the “best” kind...
INNOVATE® Chicago Vol.1
MIKE CASPER
CO-FOUNDER & CEO, AZUMO
The display industry has become omnipresent in society. We find displays all around us, in our smartphones, tablets, laptops, TVs, ATM machines, thermostats, gas station pumps, e-bikes…the list is never-ending. In the LCD industry, like many large industries, they tend to take whatever was working last year and make it...
I’ve been fortunate enough to live a life distinguished by constant progression, from understanding to impacting, particularly in my career. Trained as a physicist, I was fueled by a deep drive to understand some of the most complex “whys” of our world. Quickly I learned that understanding is more satisfying...
JASON CASSIDY
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, GAME CREDITS
Living inside of the cryptocurrency sector for eight years gives one a unique perspective on innovation. Things move so quickly with blockchain technology that innovation tends to happen right in front of our very eyes. I grew up in the Caribbean when I was younger and there was virtually no...
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...
Ken Davis
Co-Founder & CEO - TaskEasy
Ken Davis is the co-founder and CEO of TaskEasy – an online platform that allows homeowners, renters, and businesses to order and manage yard maintenance online. Since TaskEasy’s launch in 2013, the company has grown to service hundreds of thousands of properties across all 50 states. TaskEasy’s business model caters...
ERKI ANI
CHAIRMAN OF THE SUPERVISORY BOARD, ESTONIAN CLEANTECH ASSOCIATION AND CO-FOUNDER & CEO, JÄLLE TECHNOLOGIES
The technologies that fall under its umbrella shift over time—new breakthroughs emerge, trends take the podium, and success stories in sector X blind us to what’s happening in sectors Y and Z. It gets even trickier when you realize cleantech isn’t just a sector—it’s a mindset. It’s a commitment to...
Phoebe Cade Miles
Co-Founder - The Cade Museum for Creativity and Invention
Phoebe Cade Miles Co-Founder – The Cade Museum for Creativity and Invention In 2004, I helped my father, Dr. James Robert Cade, the lead inventor of Gatorade, to establish the Cade Museum. Sixteen years later, it is inspiring the next generation of inventors, entrepreneurs, and visionaries. The Gatorade story had...
David Brim
Marketing Strategist, Entrepreneur, Investor & Founder - Orlando Entrepreneurs
David Brim is a marketing strategist, entrepreneur and investor living in Orlando, Florida. He is a founding partner of Orlando Opportunity Fund (OrlandoOpportunityFund.com), and the founder of Orlando Entrepreneurs (OrlandoEntrepreneurs.org), a network, podcast, and resource center created to connect, cultivate & celebrate Central Florida entrepreneurs. His primary professional focus areas...
David Vulcano
Angel Investor
People are often surprised when they find out “Music City” is not just mega-music companies. In fact, the business ecosystem is very diversified in national and global business, and the greater Nashville area has many home-grown companies as well. The city is fertile soil for startup companies; many of our...
BEN KERFORD
STRATEGIC EXECUTIVE AT 7RIVERS
Innovation is often misunderstood as a pursuit of the latest technology, but in reality, it’s about solving meaningful problems in new ways. It’s about leveraging data, AI, and strategic thinking to drive real business value. Throughout my career, from consulting to leading 7Rivers, I’ve focused on not just embracing change...
Angelos Angelou
Founder & CEO - International Accelerator (IA)
Everything is bigger and better in Texas (smile) and the same now holds true for the technology hub of Austin. It’s growing, expanding, and changing the landscape of innovation, serving as a catalyst of increasing value. According to the U.S. News & World Report, Austin is the number 1 place...
WILL BEOGLIN
CEO, TIMEDOC HEALTH
The healthcare sector is renowned for breathtaking innovations and technological advancement. We receive news of breakthroughs thought impossible a handful of years ago every day. The reality on the ground is slightly different. Roughly 10,000 new patients age into Medicare each day, drastically outnumbering the staff capable of serving their...
LINDA MACLACHLAN
FOUNDER, CHAIRPERSON AND PAMELA DIAZ, CEO, PRESIDENT - ENTARA
“Resilience” is a common word heard among the cyber security and IT crowd. Solution providers boast of tools that your business can employ to stay ahead of the pack – because, after all, it’s not the entire herd that’s taken down by a lone predator, but the slowest member. At...
VANESSA EDMONDS
UTILITY 2030 COLLABORATIVE - EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
YOUR ROLE IN SHAPING A SUSTAINABLE WORLD STARTS TODAY Our planet faces unprecedented challenges. Extreme weather events are becoming more frequent, the transition to clean energy is more urgent than ever, and water resources are under increasing strain. Our world’s sustainability and the well-being of future generations are on the...
Dr. Gregory Olsen
GHO Ventures
In order to understand what GHO Ventures is, we need to talk about Dr. Gregory Olsen. Greg started the company EPITAXX, a fiber-optic detector manufacturer in 1984 together with Vladimir Ban. It was sold in 1990 for $12 million. He then founded Sensors Unlimited, a near-infrared camera manufacturer in 1992...
SARA NOŽKOVÁ
CEO & CO-FOUNDER, FLOX INTELLIGENCE
I’ve always believed that the next frontier of artificial intelligence isn’t about replacing humans — it’s about reconnecting us with the natural world. At Flox, we’re building systems that use AI not to dominate nature, but to protect it. We train intelligent devices to detect, understand, and respond to wild...
Christine Schyvinck
President And CEO, Shure Incorporated
Business leaders choose different paths that eventually lead them to their present positions. Each individual journey can provide unique perspectives for unlocking success at their organizations. I’m proud of the path I chose, because it enabled me to immerse myself in the vision established by our Company’s founder, S.N. Shure,...
WA’IL ASHSHOWWAF
UNSTUCK LABS - CEO AND COFOUNDER
Have you ever tried to solve a Rubik’s cube? I have, and let me tell you, it’s not as easy as my then 9-year-old son made it look. There I was, twisting and turning that colorful puzzle, getting nowhere fast, while my kid solved it in under a minute. When...
NINA ALBERT
DEPUTY MAYOR FOR PLANNING AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
As Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development, I have the privilege of witnessing firsthand the remarkable evolution of our city into a hub of innovation and opportunity. Innovation, to me, means leveraging our unique assets and positioning Washington, D.C., at the forefront of America’s economic future. As the nation’s...
The Digital World is a contemporary expression to communicate the importance of digital technology, services and tools to communicate on the Internet, smart devices, the Internet of Things and other digital sources. We are barely entering the early stages of the so-called Digital Revolution and its impact on business is...
HEIDI GILLMAN
CHIEF NFT OFFICER, NFT THE MOVIE, LLC
IMPOSSIBLE IS AN OPINION.Impossible is an opinion, not a fact. I teach and live my life in a way that shows my children nothing is impossible. My life’s design is to help others understand our minds and how powerful they are. We are designed to experience a creative and full...
JOHAN HARTMAN & MATTIAS RANTALAINEN
CO-FOUNDERS, STRATIPATH
That’s what we, a pathologist and an AI researcher, discovered when ourresearch groups joined forces at Karolinska Institutet. Despite our differentscientific perspectives, we shared a common goal: to take research beyond theacademic setting and into clinical reality—where it can truly help patients. We began by tackling a major clinical gap...
SOULA PARASSIDIS
CEO, LIVING OPERA
IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE“It’s cancer.” That’s not a sentence you want to hear your doctor say when you’re only 23 years old. Seven days earlier having graduated with my degree in opera, and now I was sitting in a hospital. They say thyroid cancer is the “best” kind...
MIKE CASPER
CO-FOUNDER & CEO, AZUMO
The display industry has become omnipresent in society. We find displays all around us, in our smartphones, tablets, laptops, TVs, ATM machines, thermostats, gas station pumps, e-bikes…the list is never-ending. In the LCD industry, like many large industries, they tend to take whatever was working last year and make it...