Thought Leaders
INNOVATE® Nashville
DR. EDMUND JACKSON
CEO AND CO-FOUNDER, UNITYAI
Healthcare is drowning in complexity. Despite groundbreaking advancements in medicine, patient care is still weighed down by archaic, fragmented systems and overwhelming administrative burdens. The problem isn’t a lack of effort, greed or incompetence: it’s the sheer weight of words, data, movement and decisions that clinicians must push through all...
INNOVATE® Maryland
JARED SMITH, PRESIDENT & CEO, MONTGOMERY COUNTY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
The world’s most competitive economies do not happen by accident. They are built through collaboration and the shared commitment of strategic partners to create the conditions for growth and opportunity. That is what we are doing in Montgomery County, Maryland. As President and CEO of the Montgomery County Economic Development...
VOICES of the Future
GAUTAM GANGLANI
NAVIGATING NEW HORIZONS
Sitting down with Gautam Ganglani, you can’t help but feel a sense of awe. This CEO of Right Selection Global Thought Leaders is a man who has actively shaped the evolving landscape of thought leadership and personal development over decades. Our conversation unfolds like a map to the future, punctuated...
INNOVATE™ Stockholm
DAVID FREDMAN
CO-FOUNDER, HEARTRUNNER
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...
VOICES of the Future
AYŞE ÖZTUNA BOZOKLAR
RESILIENT SPIRITS: A TALE OF TRUST, TALENT, AND TRANSFORMATION
Amidst the vibrant thrum of Turkey’s cultural and economic heartbeat, Ayşe Öztuna Bozoklar’s name is synonymous with transformative leadership and a visionary in the realm of executive search and talent management. As the founding partner of Odgers Berndtson Turkey, Ayşe has been an instrumental figure in shaping not just careers...
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™ Antwerp Vol.2
BARBARA VERANNEMAN
Never before in history, have our economy and society had to transform so radically so quickly. The industrial and societal transition we are experiencing is definitely about bits and bytes, but mostly about molecules: such as CO2 and H2 carbon dioxide and hydrogen. Therefore, chemistry, as a science and as...
INNOVATE® Nashville
LEAH MELBER
PH.D. PRESIDENT & CEO OF ADVENTURE SCIENCE CENTER
We all have a memory of visiting a science museum; a larger-than-life exhibition, dynamic program, or time with friends and family. Each person’s experience may be different, but they all have one commonality: connecting with a world larger than themselves. Science museums may be the only science learning the public...
INNOVATE® New Jersey Vol.2
Michele N. Siekerka
President And CEO- New Jersey Business & Industry Association
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...
INNOVATE® Nashville
SAM DAVIDSON
CEO, NASHVILLE ENTREPRENEUR CENTER
Nashville’s rise as an innovation hotspot isn’t an accident; it’s the natural next verse in a city built on collaboration, craft and communities that show up for one another. Over the past decade entrepreneurs have turned “Music City” into a Startup City, translating the co-writing rooms and in-the-round sessions that...
INNOVATE® Maryland
DR. ELIZABETH CLAYBORNE
CEO & CO-FOUNDER AT NASACLIP
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...
INNOVATE™ Stockholm
MATHAPELO MZIZI - DEMAND DIRECTOR (ERICSSON)
BOARD MEMBER (NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR) AND INCLUSIVE INNOVATION ADVOCATE
There’s an African proverb that says, “It takes a village to raise a child.” Another says, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” And both, I believe, capture the very heartbeat of innovation. When I look at Sweden’s innovation scene, I...
INNOVATE® Nashville
DR. GREG JONES
PRESIDENT, BELMONT UNIVERSITY
Social innovation—the opportunity to leverage creativity and innovation to solve complex problems and help people and communities thrive—is often associated with entrepreneurs or singular individuals. Though this is true and is certainly one aspect of the formula that leads to meaningful impact, it isn’t the full story. The reality is...
INNOVATE® Orlando
Duncan J Wardle
ID8 & INNOV8
Duncan J Wardle ID8 & INNOV8 In this brave new world, four of the traits we are all born with will rise to the top if we are to compete and find solutions to challenges big and small. We are all born creative, with an amazing imagination. We were once...
INNOVATE™ Vancouver Vol.2
CAROL ANNE HILTON
MBA, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, INDIGENOMICS INSTITUTE
I am the CEO and Founder of the Indigenomics Institute and the Global Center of Indigenomics. I am of Nuu chah nulth descent from the Hesquiaht Nation on Vancouver Island. In leading the establishment of a line of thought called #indigenomics- growing from a single word to an entire movement...
INNOVATE® Nashville
GILL WAGNER
Serial Entrepreneur
Over a period of 40 years as an entrepreneur, while building six professional service firms and three nonprofits, I used to network like a madman. As you might imagine, with my hands in several things at once, it was sometimes difficult to answer the question: “So, Gill, what do you...
INNOVATE® New Jersey Vol.2
STEVE SASHIHARA
FOUNDER AND CEO, PRINCETON CONSULTANTS
Innovating by OptimizingIn 1980 I founded Princeton Consultants based on the thesis that optimization could improve business decision making. Princeton University, from which I’d just graduated, and Bell Labs were pioneers in the academic study of optimization algorithms. “Optimization” gets used in many contexts. I define it as, “a decision-...
INNOVATE® Milwaukee
MATTHEW PEARLSON
INTRNLS - CEO & FOUNDER
My journey has always been driven by one relentless pursuit: redefining the boundaries of sustainable energy systems. As the CEO of Intrnls Inc., I am on a mission to rewrite the playbook for carbon capture efficiency, pioneering a future where sustainability and efficiency are not just goals but standards. Starting...
INNOVATE™ Stockholm
ASH POURNOURI
FOUNDER BRILLIANT MINDS, AVICII, NORDIC ANGELS, SUPER HUMAN NETWORK
I’ve always believed that opportunity isn’t what you have – it’s what you use. And most people never scratch the surface of their own. We wait. We overthink. We hesitate. We look around for someone to tell us that we’re ready, that we’ve earned it, that we’re allowed to go....
INNOVATE® Washington DMV Edition
SHADMAN HOSSAIN
MANAGER OF EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES PRACTICE, CGI FEDERAL
At its core, blockchain technology is about giving people control over their own data and assets, and enabling them to transact with one another in a transparent and secure way. By giving people control over their own data, we can create a more fair and just society where individuals have...
INNOVATE™ Bristol & Bath
POKU OSEI
FOUNDER AND CEO, BABBASA
Bristol has a reputation for the high-tech industry, innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship. However, the city is marked as the 7th worst of 348 districts in England & Wales for black and ethnic minority communities to live and thrive. The issue has been further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. So what...
INNOVATE™ Montréal
Alan MacIntosh
Partner, Real Ventures Chairman, OSMO Foundation
The Future Starts Here An entrepreneurial endeavor of consequence is provocatively described as the pursuit of an opportunity beyond the resources you currently control combined with challenges you have yet to imagine. Ten years ago when the Notman Project was conceived, it had many such hallmarks from the discouraging skeptics...
INNOVATE® Orlando
Clayton Louis Ferrara
Biologist and Executive Director of IDEAS For Us
The 21st Century is destined to be a watershed moment in human history. Our lack of timely action to thwart Global Warming will push us to the paramount of our human ingenuity. Will we rise to the challenge and preserve our institutions, global markets, and industries as we know them?...
INNOVATE® Austin Volume 2
Gillan Taddune
Banyan Water, President & CEO
Gillan Taddune is the Chief Executive Officer of Banyan Water. She believes that technology solutions are the most effective way to address critical natural resource issues and has dedicated her career to realizing that vision. Gillan came to Banyan with the belief that water scarcity is a growing global concern...
DR. EDMUND JACKSON
CEO AND CO-FOUNDER, UNITYAI
Healthcare is drowning in complexity. Despite groundbreaking advancements in medicine, patient care is still weighed down by archaic, fragmented systems and overwhelming administrative burdens. The problem isn’t a lack of effort, greed or incompetence: it’s the sheer weight of words, data, movement and decisions that clinicians must push through all...
JARED SMITH, PRESIDENT & CEO, MONTGOMERY COUNTY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
The world’s most competitive economies do not happen by accident. They are built through collaboration and the shared commitment of strategic partners to create the conditions for growth and opportunity. That is what we are doing in Montgomery County, Maryland. As President and CEO of the Montgomery County Economic Development...
GAUTAM GANGLANI
NAVIGATING NEW HORIZONS
Sitting down with Gautam Ganglani, you can’t help but feel a sense of awe. This CEO of Right Selection Global Thought Leaders is a man who has actively shaped the evolving landscape of thought leadership and personal development over decades. Our conversation unfolds like a map to the future, punctuated...
DAVID FREDMAN
CO-FOUNDER, HEARTRUNNER
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...
AYŞE ÖZTUNA BOZOKLAR
RESILIENT SPIRITS: A TALE OF TRUST, TALENT, AND TRANSFORMATION
Amidst the vibrant thrum of Turkey’s cultural and economic heartbeat, Ayşe Öztuna Bozoklar’s name is synonymous with transformative leadership and a visionary in the realm of executive search and talent management. As the founding partner of Odgers Berndtson Turkey, Ayşe has been an instrumental figure in shaping not just careers...
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...
BARBARA VERANNEMAN
Never before in history, have our economy and society had to transform so radically so quickly. The industrial and societal transition we are experiencing is definitely about bits and bytes, but mostly about molecules: such as CO2 and H2 carbon dioxide and hydrogen. Therefore, chemistry, as a science and as...
LEAH MELBER
PH.D. PRESIDENT & CEO OF ADVENTURE SCIENCE CENTER
We all have a memory of visiting a science museum; a larger-than-life exhibition, dynamic program, or time with friends and family. Each person’s experience may be different, but they all have one commonality: connecting with a world larger than themselves. Science museums may be the only science learning the public...
Michele N. Siekerka
President And CEO- New Jersey Business & Industry Association
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...
SAM DAVIDSON
CEO, NASHVILLE ENTREPRENEUR CENTER
Nashville’s rise as an innovation hotspot isn’t an accident; it’s the natural next verse in a city built on collaboration, craft and communities that show up for one another. Over the past decade entrepreneurs have turned “Music City” into a Startup City, translating the co-writing rooms and in-the-round sessions that...
DR. ELIZABETH CLAYBORNE
CEO & CO-FOUNDER AT NASACLIP
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...
MATHAPELO MZIZI - DEMAND DIRECTOR (ERICSSON)
BOARD MEMBER (NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR) AND INCLUSIVE INNOVATION ADVOCATE
There’s an African proverb that says, “It takes a village to raise a child.” Another says, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” And both, I believe, capture the very heartbeat of innovation. When I look at Sweden’s innovation scene, I...
DR. GREG JONES
PRESIDENT, BELMONT UNIVERSITY
Social innovation—the opportunity to leverage creativity and innovation to solve complex problems and help people and communities thrive—is often associated with entrepreneurs or singular individuals. Though this is true and is certainly one aspect of the formula that leads to meaningful impact, it isn’t the full story. The reality is...
CAROL ANNE HILTON
MBA, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, INDIGENOMICS INSTITUTE
I am the CEO and Founder of the Indigenomics Institute and the Global Center of Indigenomics. I am of Nuu chah nulth descent from the Hesquiaht Nation on Vancouver Island. In leading the establishment of a line of thought called #indigenomics- growing from a single word to an entire movement...
GILL WAGNER
Serial Entrepreneur
Over a period of 40 years as an entrepreneur, while building six professional service firms and three nonprofits, I used to network like a madman. As you might imagine, with my hands in several things at once, it was sometimes difficult to answer the question: “So, Gill, what do you...
STEVE SASHIHARA
FOUNDER AND CEO, PRINCETON CONSULTANTS
Innovating by OptimizingIn 1980 I founded Princeton Consultants based on the thesis that optimization could improve business decision making. Princeton University, from which I’d just graduated, and Bell Labs were pioneers in the academic study of optimization algorithms. “Optimization” gets used in many contexts. I define it as, “a decision-...
MATTHEW PEARLSON
INTRNLS - CEO & FOUNDER
My journey has always been driven by one relentless pursuit: redefining the boundaries of sustainable energy systems. As the CEO of Intrnls Inc., I am on a mission to rewrite the playbook for carbon capture efficiency, pioneering a future where sustainability and efficiency are not just goals but standards. Starting...
ASH POURNOURI
FOUNDER BRILLIANT MINDS, AVICII, NORDIC ANGELS, SUPER HUMAN NETWORK
I’ve always believed that opportunity isn’t what you have – it’s what you use. And most people never scratch the surface of their own. We wait. We overthink. We hesitate. We look around for someone to tell us that we’re ready, that we’ve earned it, that we’re allowed to go....
SHADMAN HOSSAIN
MANAGER OF EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES PRACTICE, CGI FEDERAL
At its core, blockchain technology is about giving people control over their own data and assets, and enabling them to transact with one another in a transparent and secure way. By giving people control over their own data, we can create a more fair and just society where individuals have...
POKU OSEI
FOUNDER AND CEO, BABBASA
Bristol has a reputation for the high-tech industry, innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship. However, the city is marked as the 7th worst of 348 districts in England & Wales for black and ethnic minority communities to live and thrive. The issue has been further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. So what...
Alan MacIntosh
Partner, Real Ventures Chairman, OSMO Foundation
The Future Starts Here An entrepreneurial endeavor of consequence is provocatively described as the pursuit of an opportunity beyond the resources you currently control combined with challenges you have yet to imagine. Ten years ago when the Notman Project was conceived, it had many such hallmarks from the discouraging skeptics...
Clayton Louis Ferrara
Biologist and Executive Director of IDEAS For Us
The 21st Century is destined to be a watershed moment in human history. Our lack of timely action to thwart Global Warming will push us to the paramount of our human ingenuity. Will we rise to the challenge and preserve our institutions, global markets, and industries as we know them?...
Gillan Taddune
Banyan Water, President & CEO
Gillan Taddune is the Chief Executive Officer of Banyan Water. She believes that technology solutions are the most effective way to address critical natural resource issues and has dedicated her career to realizing that vision. Gillan came to Banyan with the belief that water scarcity is a growing global concern...