Building the Future Together

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.

Joshua Di Frances is currently the Vice President, and Head of Business Incubation & Venture Building for LG NOVA & LG Electronics where he works to build and launch new technology ventures across the areas of AI, cleantech and healthcare technology. Previously, Josh served as Senior Advisor for Technology Innovation & New Ventures, a Senior Executive Service role, within the Biden Harris Administration, where he Co-Founded the United States Digital Corps—an early career technology fellowship within the federal government that enables top technology graduates to help create a more effective, equitable government. Within 3 years, this program has scaled to nearly 100 Fellows working to improve technology across 20+ federal agencies. 

Josh also served as the Executive Director of the White House Presidential Innovation Fellows (PIF) program, an elite, non-partisan tech fellowship founded by the U.S. CTO in the Obama Administration out of the Office of Science and Technology Policy in The White House to attract top innovators from the private sector to government who are capable of tackling issues at the convergence of technology, policy, and process, and create better digital products and services. In this role, Josh led and managed 65+ fellows, strategists and designers and worked on high priority tech efforts with Secretary’s, CIOs, CTOs and CDOs across 25+ federal agencies. While in this role, Josh was named by FedScoop as one of the Top 50 innovators with the federal government.

Before joining the federal government, Josh worked at CVS Health to accelerate innovation through healthcare and technology strategic partnerships and investments. He also worked with Mass General Brigham — a Harvard affiliated academic medical center — on the founding team of the Brigham Digital Innovation Hub where he partnered with Harvard Medical School professors to commercialize technology and worked to match market solutions with internal healthcare challenges. Prior to Mass General Brigham, Josh led a team of 30 as Director of Operations for a biotechnology start-up in Cambridge, MA that focused on the novel gene editing technology CRISPR. 

Josh has an MBA from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a Bachelor’s degree in Neuroscience from Boston University, and has also pursued graduate coursework at Harvard University, Berkeley Law, and the National Venture Capital Association. Josh is a Mentor & Advisors for Techstars Industries of the Future, Comcast Ventures, and a proud volunteer of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. He previously served as a DEFCON Advisor and an advisor for the MIT Hacking Medicine program. Josh is originally from Wisconsin and now resides in San Francisco, California with his wife, Vanessa. 

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.

Maria Dayton is a successful social entrepreneur with over 15 years of experience in management and award-winning project development globally. She has a proven track record of creating innovative projects with a multitude of stakeholders and providing disruptive technology solutions to entrepreneurs and civil society groups.

Maria received the 2019 Service to the Citizen Award for working across 24 U.S. agencies to create the first “Voice of the Citizen” campaign and public-facing dashboards on “citizen experience” for the US government.

She founded of Transterra Media - an innovative online marketplace that connects thousands of video producers across 124 countries with large media outlets and brands. Responsible for the establishment of a patented omnichannel customer experience process, IT systems, and media development projects. Honors by: US State Department, Red Herring, Wamda, The Dublin Web Summit, and Mashables as a Top 25 Startup, Top 100 Global Startup, and Top 100 Asian Startup. (8000 video stories and 280 content buyers = billions reached with 70% of profits returning to local producers)

She has developed, funded, and managed over 20 major development projects on 4 continents ($140mil) with a variety of stakeholders including international organizations, governments, civil society, and the private sector.

Maria has extensive experience building public/private partnerships and various online networks in difficult environments - as evidenced by the successful founding and incorporation of the first two NGO coalitions in the Arabian Gulf / GCC.

She is a founding member of impact fund aggregator - “ProsParity” The platform uses fin-tech and immersive storytelling to develop new ways of funding impact-based organizations on the ground - a critical component in successful sustainable development efforts.

She has also created online businesses and advocacy tools for female entrepreneurs in cooperation with Vital Voices Global Partnership, MEPI, Exxon Mobile, and Pearson Learning.

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.

Since joining LG Electronics in 2005 as a project manager in the MC(Mobile Communication) R&D Planning Team, I have built a strong career leading innovation and driving business success.

Based on my experience as a project manager, I served as the product manager for four premium smartphones—LG Optimus One, G3, V10, and G6—achieving global sales of over 15 million units. I played a key role throughout the product lifecycle, from concept development to market launch, while establishing strategic partnerships with major mobile operators and tech leaders. I was honored with three LG Electronics Awards for team excellence and contributed to future product innovation through research on emerging technologies and developing new product concepts.

Just before joining LG NOVA, I led new business development initiatives at LG Electronics, focusing on the incubation and commercialization of future growth areas. One key project was developing a data-driven pet healthcare platform, along with building strategic partnerships with many companies across the industry.

Currently, as the Team Lead of the Planning Team at LG NOVA, I am dedicated to formulating effective strategies and optimizing processes to enhance overall organizational productivity. My focus is on building a strong operational foundation that supports LG NOVA’s business success and contributes to the success of new ventures, helping to create LG Electronics' future new businesses.

Linda Quach heads up marketing and PR for LG NOVA. In this role, she leads marketing and engagement programs with startups; and is responsible for driving awareness of the LG NOVA program within the startup community.  Linda joined LG in June 2021, from Immersion, a haptics company, where she was the director of marketing programs. Prior to that, she was at Rovi Corp (now Tivo).  Based in Silicon Valley, Linda has been in marketing and PR for technology for 20+ years, working to help companies, large and small, share their story. 

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.

Ganesh Rao is an accomplished executive with extensive experience in governance, business creation, and scaling global organizations. As Director of Governance for LG NOVA Venture Studio, Ganesh enables the development and launch of innovative businesses for LG NOVA, leveraging his expertise in fostering mission-driven cultures and building high-performing leadership teams to achieve sustainable growth and profitability.

Previously, Ganesh served as Managing Director (Geschäftsführer) of DQS Holding GmbH, a global management systems certification body with operations spanning over 50 countries and 17 subsidiaries. In this role, he provided strategic oversight as a Board Member in key markets including the USA, UK, India, South Korea, and Taiwan. As Global Director of Enterprise & Advisory for a $600M ARR business, Ganesh spearheaded the creation of new ventures in supply chain SaaS and integrated cutting-edge AI/ML/NLP solutions for Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions—reinforcing his commitment to sustainability innovation.

Ganesh’s deep expertise spans sustainability, cybersecurity, and product safety risk management. He has collaborated with global OEMs and supply chains across industries such as automotive, chemical, ICT, electrical, aerospace, and medical sectors to design and implement effective organizational systems that drive compliance and operational excellence.

In addition to his executive roles, Ganesh has demonstrated strong governance capabilities through his board leadership. He served as Board Director, Secretary & Treasurer, and Chairman of the Finance & Audit Committee for the U.S. Green Building Council’s GBCI. Currently, he contributes as a Board Member for the University of North Texas (UNT) College of Engineering Advisory Committee (Mechanical) and as a member of the U.S. National Technical Advisory Group for ISO TC 207 on Environmental Management.

Ganesh’s proven track record in strategic leadership, global governance, and sustainable business innovation makes him an invaluable asset to boards seeking visionary leaders who can drive growth while navigating complex challenges.

When not advancing organizational success, Ganesh enjoys meditation, hiking, traveling, cooking, reading, and wine tasting—pursuits that reflect his balanced approach to life and leadership.

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.

Michael Kisch is a dynamic entrepreneur and business executive with over 20 years of success leading companies from inception through Series C. He is a 3x Digital Health Chief Executive Officer with global experience running US and European businesses. He focuses on consumer-led and AI-driven companies and has unique expertise in developing products at the intersection of the consumer and clinical worlds.

Mike specializes in creating new categories that challenge the status quo. Over his career, he has raised over $100 million in venture capital and led teams that have generated over $750 million in revenue growth through consumer (B2C) and enterprise channels (B2B). His companies have been recognized with awards from Rock Health, The Edison Awards, CNBC Upstart 100, IoT Breakthrough Awards, and SXSW Innovation Awards.
As the Chief Executive Officer of Aktiia, he led the team in the development and commercialization of the world's first optical, continuous blood pressure monitor. As the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Beddr (acquired), he led the development of a patient-friendly at-home sleep test and a nationwide telemedicine network. As the Chief Executive Officer of Soundhawk (acquired), Mike led the development of the world's first self-fitting hearing aid, allowing patients to self-personalize to their unique hearing deficit and environment. In addition to leading digital health start-ups, Mike is also the Founder and Managing Partner of The Range, a global advisory network that matches experienced advisors with early-stage digital health companies.

Before founding and leading early-stage start-ups, Mike was a go-to-market leader in Cisco's Emerging Technology Group, leading marketing strategy and execution for several of Cisco's most successful emerging businesses (IP Telephony, Telepresence). He is the host of the Health Explorers podcast, a Fellow at the Edmund Hillary Fellowship, and holder of (5) patents. He graduated from Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Wisconsin and currently serves as a StartX and CancerX Moonshot mentor to early-stage companies.

Ramkumar Krishnan (Ram) is currently the head of cleantech incubation for LG NOVA. An entrepreneur and a driven climate and sustainability leader, with over 20 years of industry-leading expertise, Ram leads the efforts to launch new and disruptive business ventures in Cleantech areas, including energy, environment and sustainability.

Prior to joining  LG NOVA, Ram led the business development and go-to-market strategy for BattGenie (as acting CMO), a BMS software tech spinout from University of Washington, developing AI and physics based models to improve charging time and performance of Lithium-ion batteries. Ram has also served as CTO of BrightNight, a renewable IPP and led the development of PowerAlpha, a single, integrated platform for designing, optimizing, and operating hybrid renewable power plants that leverages the power of AI. At BrightNight, Ram helped build a green hydrogen business line with a sales pipeline of over a GW of renewable power projects. Prior to BrightNight, Ram was part of the founding team of Fluidic Energy (also, NantEnergy) and as president/CTO, helped launch the world’s first rechargeable and long-duration metal-air energy storage technology as well as hybrid energy storage products combining Li-ion with long duration energy storage solutions. 

Before joining NantEnergy, Ram was one of the technical leads at the Motorola Energy Labs, developing portable fuel cells, solid state batteries and dye-sensitized solar cells.

Ram has served as an advisory board member of multiple cleantech startups and was also a board member of the California Energy Storage Association. Ram has been recognized as one of the “Top 50 Leaders in Energy Storage and Microgrids” by India Energy Storage Association in 2017. His leadership has helped to receive numerous awards including 2015 Global Cleantech 100, 2013 IEEE Small Company of the Year, and Bloomberg New Energy Finance “New Energy Pioneers 2017”.

Ram holds a Ph.D in Materials Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Masters in Chemical Engineering from the University of Florida.

Younghoon (Paul) Ma has been at LG Electronics and for LG Holding Company since 2008. In his latest role, as a member of the LG NOVA team, Mr. Ma manages LG’s relationship with strategic partners to expand LG’s business offerings in new and emerging markets.  

Prior to LG NOVA, Younghoon served as Senior Manager of Corporate Business Strategy with LG Holding Company in the HQ office in Seoul, Korea. In that role, he was responsible for developing comprehensive strategic plans to help LG diversify and expand its product portfolio. Prior to that role, Younghoon was a product planning manager for smartphones.    

Before coming to LG, Younghoon worked as a key account manager for OEM partnerships at Gameloft Korea. In this role, he helped Gameloft Korea extend its footprint in Korea, working to build relationships with key smartphone OEMs, such as Samsung, LG and Motorola.   

Younghoon holds a Bachelor in Information and Computer Engineering from AJOU University in South Korea and a Diploma in Information and Technology from Martin College.  

Randy has over 35 years of successful start-up, product commercialization, sales, and leadership experience in the materials and the renewables/decarbonization industry. He is passionate about building Cleantech companies from the earliest days to a fully functional corporation. Randy’s 25 year startup career began with four-year stint licensing technology at the Carnegie Mellon’s Tech Transfer office; this enabled him to spin five companies out of Carnegie Mellon University. He led 3 as co-founder and CEO with two exits and two as co-founder and board member. In the middle of founding these companies he spent 5 years as an EIR at Innovation Works (pre-seed investor) where he led 15 investment and was an observer on each of the boards. Randy cut his teeth in the materials industry by leading the development of a new materials business unit at BASF that changed an industry and generated $35M+ in total revenue in only four years. Earlier in his career he spent five years as a management consultant, helping to turn around underperforming divisions of Fortune 500 companies. He also has spent time on many boards of directors of both for profit and not for profit organizations.

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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.

David started his technology career by having to move away from West Virginia after receiving no job interviews in the state upon graduation from WVU. With extensive experience in small technology companies and startups, he was able to return home in 2005. Since that time David’s passion has been to change the odds for West Virginia technology graduates and to help future generations live and thrive here if they choose. Over the last few years, he helped establish several entrepreneurship and innovation centers, including two at the University of Charleston, as well as the WVU LaunchLab. He currently leads the LG NOVA Morgantown office and is working diligently to create a sustainable pipeline of high-tech jobs in the mountain state.

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. 

Yoon Kie ‘Bobby’ Hong is a senior professional focused on Corporate & Business Development at LG NOVA, where he drives strategic initiatives and partnerships.

While exploring a wide range of sectors, Bobby is currently focusing on Cleantech and AI — areas with the potential not only to accelerate innovation, but also to drive sustainable growth and make a positive impact on the communities we serve, beyond LG’s own business expansion.

Prior to joining LG NOVA, he held key roles at LG Corp., the holding company of LG Group, where he worked on unlocking synergies across LG’s global businesses and developing collaborations with external partners. He also brings a strong foundation in portfolio management, M&A, and JV investments, complemented by hands-on experience in engineering and sales during his earlier roles at LG Electronics.

Bobby holds a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering and a master’s in Corporate Economics from Yonsei University(South Korea), as well as an MBA from London Business School(UK).

Jay Park is a life adventurer who takes risks and tries new methods to make people happier.

Jay is the strategy and operations manager at LG NOVA. In his role, Jay initiates operational programs to improve efficiency and connect internal dots across LG NOVA’s challenge, incubation, corporate development, strategic partnerships, and ecosystem. Jay started his career at an international trading company as a business developer in South Korea. He managed a renewable energy business portfolio and ensured the successful execution of more than 100 solar energy projects. This experience broadened his business horizons from Korea to the world, leading him to the US in 2019. Jay was also a host & producer of the MBAsians podcast, which provided various perspectives on MBA programs by having diverse guest speakers.

Jay holds an MBA from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business and a bachelor’s degree in English Literature from Yonsei University in South Korea.

Sahar is a tech entrepreneur and leader with a passion for creating products that bring convenience and empower people at scale. With over 18 years of experience, she has successfully led the development and launch of multiple award-winning enterprise and consumer products. Value creation is an integral part of her work that includes creating practical solutions for real-life problems that surpass existing offerings in cost and efficiency.

As Director of New Ventures in AI at LG NOVA, Sahar is driving the discovery and development of cutting-edge AI solutions to create high-growth businesses that address real-world challenges. She also actively advises and mentors early-stage and growth tech startups in AI.

Previously, as Co-founder and COO of CloudMedx - a VC-backed healthcare AI startup, she led the development and growth of an AI-powered data platform that provided back-office workflow automation and key AI based insights to stakeholders to transform healthcare delivery. This platform was widely adopted by major healthcare systems and large payers across the United States. Under Sahar's leadership, CloudMedx earned numerous global awards for innovation and expanded its reach to two countries. 

Sahar has received multiple industry honors, including being named U.S. Data Leader of the Year and U.S. Entrepreneur of the Year by the Women in IT Summit & Awards Series. Additionally, she has been recognized as one of the top 10 women leading healthcare startups by Healthcare Global, received the Outstanding Leadership Award from Health 2.0,and was included in The Healthcare Technology Report's list of the top 25 women leaders in consumer health tech. Sahar holds a Bachelors in Computer Science degree from National University of Computers and Emerging Sciences, Pakistan. She is also a Y Combinator, NVIDIA Inception and Medtech Innovator alumni through her startup.

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.

Joseph (YK) Shim is a Senior Professional for Ecosystem & Business Development at LG NOVA, where he oversees a broad portfolio of collaborations and strategic partnerships across LG NOVA’s global innovation network.

He began his journey with LG Electronics’ Mobile Communications Company, where he held comprehensive sales and channel marketing roles for LG’s mobile device business in the European market, gained extensive experience working with major telecommunications corporates throughout Europe, building a strong foundation in international business operations and strategic partnership management.

Leveraging this experience, Joseph advanced into New Business Development roles within various organizations within LG Electronics, where he led both internal and external business initiatives and collaborated closely with startups on Emerging Technology & Healthtech projects - work that ultimately guided his transition to LG NOVA.

Joseph holds a Bachelor’s in Management Science from the University of California, San Diego.