Server Agirman is a seasoned venture and strategy executive and the Founder and CEO of AILeap, a company specializing in artificial intelligence and advanced analytics. With over 20 years of experience, Server excels in building, scaling, and investing in startups across Mobility, Energy, and Automation sectors.
Server’s career is marked by a series of successful ventures. He developed a digital energy distribution system (ECC) that supports customers in transitioning to clean energy and launched eIQ Mobility, a SaaS platform for electric mobility, which was acquired by NextEra. He also led Mitsubishi Electric’s Automotive Venturing Division in Silicon Valley, driving forward key innovations in the automotive sector.
He holds a degree in Computer Engineering and has pursued advanced studies in artificial intelligence and machine learning. This educational background, coupled with extensive industry experience, equips him with a comprehensive understanding of both the technical and strategic aspects of technology.

William Barkis, PhD, is Head of Grand Challenges and Ecosystem Development at LG NOVA, where he is focused on working directly with startups to drive the creation of transformative new businesses for LG.  Formerly, he led corporate strategy and innovation programs at Orange, directed two open innovation programs at Mozilla and served at the National Science Foundation where he collaborated with the White House on advanced computer science topics. Will holds a PhD in Neurosciences from UCSD and a BS with Honors in interdisciplinary computer science (Symbolic Systems) from Stanford.

Stephen is an accomplished technology policy professional with a proven track record of success in Government, Academia, and the Public Sector. He currently serves as the Chief Innovation Officer and Budget Director for the City of San José and Senior Advisor to Mayor Matt Mahan. Stephen leads the Mayor’s Office of Technology and Innovation in developing innovation based public-private partnerships, enhancing city services through pilots and process optimizations, and promoting best practices through initiatives like the GovAI Coalition. As Budget Director, he serves as the lead author of the March and June Budget Messages, oversees departmental proposals, and plays a vital role in engaging with the community and public interest sector on budget related issues.

He is a Legal Technologist, Policymaker, Academic, and Attorney. Prior to working for San José, Stephen completed a two-year residential fellowship at CodeX – The Stanford Center for Legal Informatics where he researched government and law enforcement use of facial recognition and surveillance. He was also a member of the Day One Project’s Technology Policy Accelerator Cohort and was most recently published in “The Oxford Handbook of AI Governance.” He holds a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Miami School of Law with a concentration in the Business of Innovation, Law & Technology.

On February 1, 2021, Governor Jim Justice selected Senator Mitch Carmichael to be the first Secretary of Economic Development in West Virginia. Senator Carmichael previously served our state as President of the West Virginia Senate & Lieutenant Governor. Mitch is an accomplished businessman in the field of information technology and broadband deployment. He was raised in Jackson County and attended public schools in Ripley, WV. Mitch is an Honors graduate from Marshall University with degrees in Finance and Economics. He is active in many community and charitable organizations including Epworth United Methodist Church. Mitch Carmichael was first elected to the Senate in the year 2012 and served until 2021. His talent and leadership skills were quickly realized by his colleagues and he was selected to be Senate Majority Leader. Subsequently, the Senate unanimously elected Mitch Carmichael to the position of Senate President-Lieutenant Governor and re-elected him in 2019. Mitch is the first Republican to serve consecutive terms as Senate President & Lieutenant Governor in the past 90 years of West Virginia history. Mitch previously served our state in the West Virginia House of Delegates, where he was elected to five consecutive terms. His voting record has garnered awards from various organizations including the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce, West Virginia Manufacturers, Hospitals, State Medical Association, and many others. Mr. Carmichael is recognized statewide for his pro-growth economic policies and broadband expertise. Secretary Carmichael is ideally suited to convey the many benefits of West Virginia to current and potential employers throughout America and the world.

Winston Choe is an entrepreneur, mentor and global tech executive with expertise in business, corporate and venture-development in Mobility, IoT, BigData, and Security. He recently joined LG as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) and Innovation Business Development Director at LG NOVA.

Winston has over 20 years of experience and a track-record working with startups to grow from seed to exit, working on corporate-development to engage startups through commercialization, investment, acquisition, and doing venture-development with startups at Accelerators based in Silicon Valley.

He was a Founding EIR at PlugandPlayTechCenter, a Venture Accelerator with 30000+ startups, 300+ VCs, 500+ corporate-partners, accelerator-programs in 20 industries, investment-portfolio including 14 unicorns, and global-operations across 30+ sites. Winston co-founded TechGrowthVentures, an accelerator for US-Asia businesses, where he built a portfolio of 20 companies, based on cross-border synergies for supply-chain, joint-development, market-entry, investment. He also worked with governments in South-Asia to establish Accelerator-programs leveraging their local ecosystems with a bridge to Silicon Valley. Winston was also the VP Programs and Partnerships at ReadWrite Labs, the world’s first IoT Accelerator, where he established programs for 100+ startups and developed corporate-partnerships for US-China businesses. Among the wide portfolio of startups that he has worked on, 3 of them in healthcare telepresence, mobile security and mobile advertising, were acquired for $1B+.

Previously, Winston was Senior Director of Business Development at Intel, where he established a team for strategic-deals in the Client Computing Group, their largest division with revenues of $40B. He worked with startups in Wireless Charging and Immersive Vision through commercial-licensing, and investments through Intel Capital.

He was also Senior Director of Business Development in Hewlett-Packard, where he managed a team for strategic-partnerships and new market-development for the Mobile division, and led commercial-deals with Google, Microsoft and acquisition of a Mobile Device Management startup.

Winston holds a Bachelor of Math degree from the University of Waterloo, Canada, majoring in Computer Science and Operations Research. He started his career in R&D at Bell-Northern Research in Canada and Institute of Systems Science in Singapore, and subsequently completed a High-Tech Executive Management program at Stanford.

He is an avid outdoorsman who has completed overlanding trips across North America, with a passion for cooking and playing tennis.

Josh Danielson has built and launched first-of-its-kind AI products at global enterprises like Sage and Coupa. As founder and CEO of a gig-economy startup empowering 1,000+ worker-owners he bootstrapped, his work helped spark the global platform cooperativism movement. He also led a $1B P&L for Expedia’s UK & Ireland airline business. In addition to an undergraduate business degree, an MBA from top-ranked IESE Business School, he’s obtained a specialization in Machine Learning from University of Washington and completed coursework in multiple programming languages.

Joshua Di Frances is the head of incubation at LG and cofounder of U.S Digital Corps. He previously served as Senior Advisor for Technology Innovation and New Ventures to the Director / Commissioner of the Technology Transformation Services at GSA. He is also passionate about breaking down barriers to entrepreneurship in healthcare and translating technology into commercial healthcare products. He currently resides with my wife, Vanessa, in Washington D.C. In his spare time, he enjoys being outdoors (running, hiking, biking, skiing, etc.), reading, cooking, traveling, and spending time with family and friends.

Jami Diaz, Director, Ecosystem Community & Startup Experience has over 15 years of experience building online communities for tech giants including Intuit, PayPal, eBay and Yahoo.  She’s been responsible for enhancing the customer experience to foster an ongoing, value-driven relationship between the company and its customers, building communities of connection, inspiration, loyalty, and evangelism. Passionate about forging strong reciprocal relationships and representing the voice of the community internally, Jami is skilled at amplifying customer success stories and thought leadership as well as translating customer needs into tailored products and features.

A true community pioneer, Jami has been focused on community initiatives long before it was popularized and when it was still a nascent space. Prior to her current role, Jami was Senior Practice Director, Community at Influtive where she developed and defined methodologies and best practices to help Influitive customers design, build, and launch thriving, deeply engaged advocacy and community programs. Before that she was Senior Community Manager at Intuit where she was instrumental in building Mint.com’s support community which was awarded a Forrester Groundswell Award.

Jami is a published author and cultural anthropologist.  This foundation serves as the basis in building content rich customer-centric communities that drive innovation, success and evangelism. 

2x founder with one exit via sale to a public company.  I'm passionately focused on unlocking the $1.3 trillion in philanthropic assets to support innovators who want to solve the world's biggest problems with technology.

Danielle Farage is a work futurist, public speaker and career creator helping organizations adapt to the next generation of talent. With a community of 28,000+ leaders and young professionals and over 100 million annual video views, she has become a leading Gen Z voice on AI, innovation, and intergenerational collaboration.

Danielle works with organizations on meaningful recognition strategies and introduces concepts like friendtorship—mentorship built on authenticity and mutual growth—as essential tools for engaging today’s workforce. She is also the creator of the 3 C’s of Managing Gen Z—Connect, Co-Create, Clarify, a practical framework for bridging generational divides.

She has partnered with organizations like LinkedIn, HubSpot, and AVEVA to cover events, product launches, and innovation showcases, translating complex themes into content that sparks meaningful conversations and resonates with the next generation.

JD Geiger currently serves as the Head of Enterprise Solutions at StackAI, focusing on enabling enterprises to build AI Assistants using a no-code platform. Prior experience includes roles in sales and business development at various companies such as Cresta, Brighterion, and Pindrop, where JD was instrumental in combating fraud and enhancing authentication processes. Additionally, JD's career spans positions at ThreatMetrix, Realization Technologies, Registria, and Leader Technologies, showcasing a strong emphasis on new business generation and market expansion, particularly within financial services. JD Geiger holds educational credentials from UC Santa Barbara and UC Irvine.

People and problems – that’s what excites me. I’m infinitely curious, and love helping people embrace the possible. The teams I build and grow are supported to deliver beyond their own expectations, and have fun along the way. 

My career began at Google, in the earliest days of the shift to digital marketing, where I developed lasting partnerships with the creative industry and launched global programs to showcase the power of creative technology. I moved from New York to San Francisco to join Google[x], leading inventive marketing for Google Glass, Verily, and the self-driving car. A call to serve my country brought me to the Obama Administration, where I led brand, culture, and communications for the United States Digital Service, a “startup in the White House” tasked with modernizing government services. As Instagram’s global head of consumer marketing, I led award-winning campaigns to combat online bullying, recognize the power of diversity, and connect the community of 1 billion users. After years of working for the largest brands in the world, I moved to a venture studio, where I launched 30+ new startups and coached founders across brand, communications, product marketing, and growth. As Transcarent’s CMO, I lead a B2B2C organization, responsible for commercial traction and user engagement. 

I am a relentless advocate for women, and work closely with Rutgers University and the Institute for Women’s Leadership as a mentor, advisor, and speaker. 

And stories… I love creating, telling, and sharing stories.

As the VP of Startup Programming and Investments at AgeTech Collaborative™ from AARP, an innovation ecosystem leading the future of AgeTech by making aging easier, Amelia leads various initiatives supporting the startup ecosystem.

This includes sourcing startups, organizing pitch events, managing the ecosystem and executing the startup accelerator program. Additionally, she oversees all event and conference execution for the AgeTech Collaborative and manages startup investments.

Prior to this role, Amelia spent over 20 years specializing in financial planning and analysis at MCI, Verizon, and AARP, focusing on business modeling and case building for new products and multi-year projects.

Alicia Hanf is a visionary leader at the intersection of venture capital, corporate innovation, and ecosystem development. She specializes in building high-impact partnerships that connect startups, corporations, and investors to accelerate innovation and scale transformative ideas.

As a Venture Partner at Desert Forge Ventures, and head of Ecosystem Partnerships at LG NOVA, Alicia is helping shape the future of venture capital in the Southwest, leveraging Las Vegas as a launchpad for innovation across biotechnology, healthcare, hospitality, deep tech, defense, and dual-use technologies.

Previously, Alicia founded Dear Mama Ventures, an investment platform with a $1B initiative focused on underrepresented founders, and played a pivotal role in scaling Bunker Labs to over 35 cities, supporting thousands of veteran-led startups. Her career has spanned work with Fortune 500s, the NFL, Disney, domestic and international governments, and the Department of Defense, always with a focus on advancing inclusive innovation and aligning capital with purpose.

With over a decade of experience in capital deployment, investment strategy, and multi-family office operations, Alicia brings a unique blend of vision and execution to venture building. She is deeply committed to democratizing access to capital, championing diverse founders, and unlocking untapped value at the edge of innovation.

 

Maryam Jahed is a seasoned product management leader and entrepreneur, now contributing to innovation at LG NOVA. With a solid foundation in the health tech sector, she has previously served as Head of Product at Lisa Health, where she played a vital role in developing digital health solutions focused on women's well-being. Before that, she led product teams at Carbon Health, helping to scale the company through innovative healthcare solutions, and at Woebot Health, where she contributed to AI-driven mental health tools.
In addition to her corporate experience, Maryam co-founded Airo Health, a mental health-focused startup, showcasing her entrepreneurial spirit and ability to drive technology innovations. She holds a degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Waterloo, which has been integral to her approach in building impactful, user-focused products.
At LG NOVA, she continues to draw on her diverse background, driving forward transformative initiatives in health and technology.

Sarvesh is the founder and General Partner of Pupa Ventures, a young silicon-valley based VC fund solely focused on early-stage founders in health-tech and deep-tech, with a primary focus on academic ecosystems. An alum of the Carnegie Mellon University, he previously served as an instructor at Stanford Biodesign. He’s also an advisor to the Chariot Project at Stanford Medicine.
A builder by heart, Sarvesh is also a former founder of a robotics startup, a med-tech innovator, and a TEDx speaker. Sarvesh has been recognized for his innovation efforts, with his work in health-tech being featured in the news, as well as in his TEDx talk. A recipient of the prestigious Swartz Fellowship at the Carnegie Mellon University, a fellowship endowed by the founder of Accel Partners; Sarvesh has been deeply involved with supporting entrepreneurship ecosystem at Carnegie Mellon University in addition to Stanford. His passion lies within the investments and commercialization of academic innovations, while supporting brilliant entrepreneurs. He is actively involved as an advisor/mentor to a number of innovation focused initiatives at various institutions. 
Sarvesh wishes to leverage his expertise and network for supporting and nurturing great founders and investors alike.

Jamie leads strategic growth at Powerhouse Innovation, empowering clients as global leaders in innovation. She brings over 20 years of experience building teams and programs to accelerate technology commercialization at the U.S. Department of Energy, EDF Renewables, and Avantus.

Harpreet graduated with a Medical Degree, BA and MA from Cambridge University and UCL then going on to train as one of <20 Neurosurgeons recruited annually. He then worked as a Consultant at McKinsey and led AA/ML teams at Quantumblack, at the outbreak of COVID he took a leave of absence to work in ICU at the Royal Free London, one of the units leading the initial worldwide response, before completing his MBA at Stanford GSB.

Linsey is driven by her purpose to create an energy-efficient future for data centers and AI infrastructure. Throughout her career, she has started up and scaled business units for industrial Fortune 500 and private equity companies serving the data center market. She is currently the SVP and General Manager of Eaton’s Distributed IT Division (the combined businesses of Eaton, Tripp Lite and Wrightline acquisitions), which serves AI infrastructure, data center, and enterprise IT markets with critical power, connectivity and physical infrastructure solutions. Prior to Eaton, Linsey founded the Hyperscale Solutions division of Artesyn, a joint venture of Emerson Network Power and Platinum Equity, which was later sold to Advanced Energy where she led its Hyperscale, Enterprise and Telecom & Networking vertical organizations. Linsey also led the Utility energy management division, global services and M&A for Resideo (a Honeywell spin-off). Linsey has served as a board member of the Home Connectivity Alliance alongside Samsung, LG, GE Appliances, Trane and others to create the Energy Management specification for grid-connected large appliances. Linsey serves on multiple charitable organization boards and sponsors industry progress with the Open Compute Project and Infrastructure Masons organizations. Linsey has a Bachelor of Business degree from The University of Texas at Austin, is an AMP alumna of the Harvard Business School, and holds a Corporate Director Certificate from HBS Exec Ed.

P.K. Mishra is a technical product manager (PM) and entrepreneur with experience in launching new products in AI, machine learning, hardware, and SaaS. Between 2014 and 2023, PK was the PM for launching four products, each generating at least $10 million in revenue within the first year. He is currently the AI Product Lead for LG Nova's new business incubation division.
 
He holds an MBA from the University of Michigan and a Master's degree in Computer and Information Science from the University of Pennsylvania. He is also an inventor, holding 8 patents, and has contributed to 12 peer-reviewed publications.
 
PK has held pivotal product management roles at leading companies such as 10x Genomics, Matterport, Infineon Technologies, and General Motors R&D. At 10x Genomics, he was instrumental in launching the Xenium In Situ platform, a groundbreaking tool for spatial transcriptomics. During his time at Matterport, he launched the Deep Learning-based Matterport Axis Mobile Scanner, which creates 3D models from images, used by platforms like Redfin. As the Director of Applied AI and ML at Infineon Technologies, PK led the development of a scalable hybrid cloud-edge AI-ML Industrial sensing SaaS platform as well as led the development of an analog deep learning processor-embedded MEMS microphone. Prior to that, as the founder and CEO of this VC-backed startup Fingertips Lab, Inc., he led the development of a product that shipped over 30,000 devices earning awards, including the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) Innovation Award, Red Dot Design Award, and the University of Michigan Entrepreneur-of-the-Year Award.
 
His passion lies in driving technological innovation, delivering impactful results, and leveraging cross-disciplinary collaborations to advance cutting-edge products.

Connor O’Brien is the founder and CEO of Colby AI, a Salesforce co-pilot born from firsthand frustration with how much time sales teams waste on admin work. 

Previously Connor was the product owner for product, marketing, and sales data at Apollo Global Management. While there Connor inherited complex systems and grew the data team from one to five as he tackled messy migrations and data quality at enterprise scale. 

Connor started Colby to build the tool he wished had existed — a fast, intuitive AI assistant that sits inside Salesforce and helps reps capture information, update records, and surface insights instantly. His goal is simple: free salespeople to focus on high-impact conversations, not data entry.

He’s also recently become a guest contributor for Salesforce Ben, where he shares practical lessons on CRM automation, sales efficiency, and the future of AI in go-to-market teams.

When Connor isn't being a data and sales nerd, he also enjoys ultra-distance triathlons, EDM music, and hiking.

A seasoned executive with more than 25 years of experience in energy, renewables, IoT and SaaS. I've built teams and scaled software companies focused on delivering outcomes for commercial customers.

As the President and Chief Marketing Officer at Parks Associates, Elizabeth Parks plays a pivotal role at Parks Associates. With over two decades of dedication to the company, she has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the connected home and SMB industries.

Elizabeth's leadership extends across a diverse range of responsibilities. She is a driving force behind the company's research focus and coverage areas, ensuring that Parks Associates remains at the forefront of industry trends and insights for the broadband, consumer electronics, and home service markets.  

Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano, Texas, with her husband and three children.

Rob Parrish is Head of Product at Lakera, leading development of enterprise AI application security solutions that protect organizations from prompt injections, data leakage, and emerging Agentic AI threats. Lakera's products—including Lakera Guard and Lakera Red—serve Global Enterprise customers including Dropbox, Asana, and Nubank. Lakera recently announced its pending acquisition by Check Point Software.

Rob has extensive experience scaling product organizations from early-stage startups through $100M+ ARR and multiple successful acquisitions. He previously led product teams at Arm, Treasure Data, Osmind, and Windfall. Rob holds a Bachelor's degree in Neuroscience from Bowdoin College.

Josh Posamentier is Co-Founder & Managing Partner of Congruent Ventures, an early-stage climate tech VC with $1B+ AUM. He’s a veteran of Intel Capital & Prelude Ventures, ex-CEO of Blipstream, holds 50+ patents, MBAs from Columbia & Haas, and lives in the Bay Area with his family.

Shilpa Prasad is an experienced leader in the startup ecosystem with a strong passion for entrepreneurship & corporate startup engagement/innovation. As an Entrepreneur in Residence at YouNoodle Inc, she was instrumental in driving innovation for various open innovation projects across corporations, governments & accelerators & establishing new partnerships across the global startup ecosystem.

A keen interest for creating real value within corporate startup ecosystems & enthusiasm for new innovations, she brings her global experience in corporate-startup strategy to LG NOVA.

Energy professional with two decades of experience across a wide range of leadership responsibilities in planning, design, development and integration of non-traditional solutions including renewable energy, battery storage and customer-sited resources. Demonstrated provenrecord of accomplishment in innovation, energy systems modeling and analysis and strategic planning.

Specialties:
- Delivering informed strategies that balance multiple priorities through technology, policyand market monitoring & intelligence
 -Integrating non-traditional solutions to the energy system by unlocking value of renewable energy, energy storage, and customer solutions (EE and DSM) through novel modeling & analysis frameworks that creates transparency
 -Leading innovation in customer-facing solution development & emerging technology adoption
 -Managing risk through internal & external stakeholder engagement
-Building & sustaining high performing, innovative teams

Sokwoo Rhee is Corporate Executive Vice President for Innovation at LG Electronics and Head of LG NOVA, a new Silicon Valley-based innovation center. He leads LG Electronics’ global innovation projects, new business creation, strategic partnerships, and ecosystem development. Prior to joining LG, Sokwoo served as Associate Director for Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) Innovation at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, U.S. Department of Commerce, covering innovation programs for Internet of Things (IoT) and Smart Cities. He managed the Global City Teams Challenge (GCTC), a U.S. federal government program to develop a global ecosystem of major business and technology stakeholders to create replicable and scalable IoT/smart city projects. Sokwoo previously served as a Presidential Innovation Fellow on CPS, a program by the White House. During his tenure, he co-led the SmartAmerica Challenge, which brought together IoT technologies and organizations across the nation to demonstrate how they can collaborate to create technology-based projects with a focus on socio-economic benefits.

Prior to joining the U.S, government, Sokwoo was a co-founder and CTO of Millennial Net, Inc., one of the first organizations to successfully commercialize low-power wireless mesh/sensor networks and IoT technologies from academia. He also worked on wireless medical sensors as a research associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His work and achievements have been widely recognized and he has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the MIT Technology Review’s “Top Innovators under 35.” Dr. Rhee received his M.S. and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Carlo Rivis is a Visionary, Strategist & Innovation enabler who aids and guides Leaders to drive the future of technology.

In a world where technology evolves at lightning speed, he stands at the crossroads of vision and execution.

With over 20 years of experience guiding inventors, startups, venture studios, and Fortune 500 companies, he specializes in accelerating innovation execution, turning complex ideas into effective strategies and roadmaps that make a meaningful impact.

After a career as a serial entrepreneur, he is now helping technological products achieve market fit, supporting companies in building the right ecosystem for market success.

George Siosi Samuels is a 3x founder, Managing Director of Faiā, and creator of Conscious Stack Design™ (CSD) — a framework for aligning technology, culture, and human cognition in an era defined by AI.

George has been recognized globally for projects at the intersection of technology and systems change: he led Tuvalu’s National Digital Ledger project, laying the groundwork for the world’s first digital nation; helped Slack secure its first enterprise customer in Asia-Pacific; and built a Web3 startup backed by Tim Draper. He has since advised startups, enterprises, and governments on designing ecosystems where tools, teams, and culture move in alignment rather than drift apart.

Today, George is advancing the field of Conscious Technology — building software and systems that reduce digital fragmentation, restore focus, and create organizational alignment in the face of accelerating AI. His work equips executives and entrepreneurs to navigate complexity with clarity, ensuring that technology serves strategy, culture, and human cognition rather than undermining them.

George’s mission is simple yet ambitious: to upgrade human cognition for future tech waves. Learn more at conscioustecha.com.

Sumit is a Sr Director of Product Management at Enphase Energy. He leads Enphase Energy all SW Product & UX: mobile, web and APIs for both Pre-Sales & Post-Sales. His key achievement includes:
- Enlighten mobile applications from 1.8 star rating to 4.6 star rating
- Installer Toolkit applications from 1.8 star to 4.2 star rating (iOS; Android at 3.1)
- Grid Services programs for aggregators and utility
- Providing SW and Data leadership to the company

He leads product management and user experience team. He has strong experience on the complete IoT Stack: Chipsets, sensors, mobile, cloud, data and analytics. He is hands-on with JIRA, Tableau, SQL, ML algorithms, Python - or whatever it takes to get things done.

Curtis Sasaki has over 30 years in Silicon Valley and is currently a Senior Advisor to LG NOVA as well as several startups developing hardware, software and services. He was most recently at Samsung Electronics as VP of Ecosystems, Marketing and Communications, General Manager of IoT, and SVP of Media Solutions Center of America where he was responsible for partnerships, developer programs, and development of innovative new services. Prior to Samsung, Curtis held executive positions at RIM, Sun Microsystems where he was responsible for Java in consumer devices, managing Sun’s thin client solutions, and data centers. Prior to Sun, Curtis managed product management at General Magic, NeXT, and Apple. He has appeared at a number of prestigious conferences as a keynote/invited speaker including CES, JavaOne Conference, Blackberry Developers Conference, Samsung Developer Conference and Apple Developer Conferences. He is the recipient of more than 8 patents for innovative technologies.

Katie is a seasoned leader and advocate for startups with over two decades of experience in talent and people operations across major innovation hubs. As the Senior Vice President of Venture Partnerships at the Arizona Commerce Authority, she spearheads initiatives that support Arizona’s startup ecosystem and connect investors with emerging companies, such as the Arizona Innovation Challenge, AZ Tech Week, Deal Haus and LaunchAZ. Katie's dedication extends beyond her corporate role through her work with yesAZ, a nonprofit strengthening the Phoenix startup scene. Her educational background includes a bachelor’s in Psychology and a Master’s in Corporate and Organizational Communication with a specialization in Human Resource Management, blending psychology, strategy, and human-centered leadership.

Atul is passionate about inspiring and leading diverse teams to deliver meaningful digital health solutions at scale that are clinically appropriate, improve patient health, and drive revenue growth. As general manager of digital health at LG, Atul fuels innovation for LG and its partners by establishing a community to nurture, grow, and create businesses. Outside work, he enjoys travel, reading non-fiction books, learning Latin dances, and playing golf

Dr. Smith grew up in West Virginia. Dr. Smith earned his bachelor's degree in biological science in 1996 and his Doctor of Medicine in 2000 from Marshall University. He completed a combined internal medicine/pediatrics residency and became board-certified in each specialty. For 17 years, Dr. Smith practiced primary care and emergency medicine in rural areas of West Virginia. During this time, he developed a passion for improving healthcare quality and addressing social determinants of health for the population he served. 
Throughout his career, Dr. Smith held multiple administrative positions, including his most recent role as medical director at Aetna. On January 1, 2024, he started his current position as Chief Population Health Officer at Marshall Health Network. In this role, he leads multidisciplinary teams developing population health strategies tailored to the needs of diverse communities. Dr. Smith is committed to promoting health equity and addressing the root causes of health disparities. He believes that collaboration across sectors, including healthcare, public health, social services, and community organizations, is essential for achieving meaningful and sustainable improvements in population health. 
Driven by evidence-based practice and continuous improvement, Dr. Smith strives to empower individuals and communities to play an active role in their health and well-being. He is dedicated to fostering a culture of innovation, inclusivity, and compassion in all aspects of his work.

Abby works on the Client Experience team at Rock Health Advisory. Prior to joining Rock Health, Abby worked in strategic operations at a healthcare platform startup. Before that, Abby consulted with a number of different digital health startups, writing grants and performing data analysis. She also has experience conducting research in the healthcare space with the Clinical Excellence Research Center, Stanford Center for Bioethics, and Byers Center for Biodesign. Abby graduated from Stanford University with honors with a B.S. (Honors) in Science, Technology, and Society with a concentration in Biostatistics and Bioethics.

Nikki Tosiello is the Executive Director of the Northern California Apprenticeship Innovation Hub at BuildWithin, where she leads efforts to expand professional registered apprenticeships across the region. A seasoned workforce development strategist with more than 14 years of experience across both the private and public sectors, she is dedicated to advancing apprenticeship as a driver of equitable economic mobility and sustainable talent development.
Previously, Nikki served as Senior Director of Workforce Development at Salesforce, where she designed and led initiatives that connected job seekers to meaningful career opportunities through early career pathways and strategic partnerships with employers and community organizations. She also supported businesses in accessing talent pipelines at the San Francisco Office of Economic and Workforce Development, managing complex, cross-sector projects with city agencies, nonprofits, and industry partners.

Leveraging this cross-sector expertise, Nikki champions inclusive strategies that grow apprenticeship and talent pipelines in high-demand industries such as technology, healthcare, transportation, and energy—helping employers access untapped talent pools while building the skilled workforce needed to meet the region’s evolving economic future.

Rob van Haaren is a Dutch-born entrepreneur and CEO of Proximal Energy, a SaaS company transforming performance monitoring and asset management for solar and energy storage projects. With a background in renewable energy engineering, Rob holds a PhD from Columbia University and has over a decade of experience blending technology and sustainability.

At Proximal Energy, Rob leads an AI-driven team to deliver advanced analytics and generative AI tools that help asset managers optimize performance and reliability. The platform ingests and analyzes massive volumes of project data—from contracts and manuals to real-time performance streams—and turns it into actionable insights. By combining data science, domain expertise, and retrieval-augmented AI, Proximal enables project owners to monitor revenue-critical KPIs, ensure compliance with counterparties, and resolve issues before they escalate. Their company's vision is to make “agentic asset management” the new industry standard, where digital project agents work alongside humans to maximize energy output and financial returns.

When he’s not building innovative software, Rob enjoys spending time with his family, and fostering entrepreneurship in the region.

Josh Zerkel is the Head of Marketing & Community-Led Growth at Gradual, the all-in-one platform for community-led growth that helps companies turn engagement into impact. With more than 20 years of experience, he has led global marketing and community programs at Asana, Evernote, CBS News, and HeyGen, driving collaboration, innovation, and measurable business results.

At Asana, he scaled the Ambassador program to 25,000 members, expanded the forum to nearly 700,000 users, and launched a global event series that generated over $94M in pipeline. The author of The Community Code and a recognized thought leader featured by Gartner, CMX, and Common Room, Josh brings strategic clarity and empathy to helping organizations align marketing and community to fuel growth.

As President & CEO, Megan leads Rock Health Advisory, a digital health strategy group that helps enterprise companies understand and act on opportunities, craft novel solutions, and succeed in an evolving landscape. Previously, Megan served as COO of Rock Health and oversaw Rock Health’s membership offering and research efforts. Prior to joining Rock Health, Megan worked at The Advisory Board Company, where she led the Physician Executive Council, a best practice research membership supporting Chief Medical Officers at over 1,300 hospitals and health systems nationwide. Megan received an MBA from Berkeley Haas, where she graduated valedictorian of her executive MBA class in January 2020. Megan graduated cum laude from Duke University, earning a B.A. in Public Policy Studies with a focus on health policy.