Jenny Wang

Investor at Neo and Co-Founder at re—inc

Jenny Wang is an investor at Neo, a mentorship community and VC fund investing in technical founders. She is also a co-founder at re–inc with 4 USWNT soccer players and World Cup champions. She served on Zoom’s Business Advisory Board and has been an angel investor and Sequoia Capital Scout. She volunteers with Kode With Klossy and is the co-host of the Techsetters podcast. She is a Harvard Computer Science alumna. A fun fact about Jenny is that she has an asteroid named after her.

Julie Pullen

Director of Product at Jupiter Intelligence

Dr. Pullen is Director of Product at Jupiter Intelligence, a start-up delivering hyper-local projections of weather, water and climate impacts using cloud computing. She is an adjunct research scientist at Columbia’s Earth Institute and serves on National Academy of Sciences panels for climate and earth system prediction, including peer-reviewing the latest National Climate Assessment. Previously Dr. Pullen was Associate Professor of Engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology (with a joint appointment at Brookhaven National Laboratory) where she led international multidisciplinary teams in integrated oceanography, meteorology and hydrology field and modeling studies, and also headed the Department of Homeland Security National Center for Maritime Security. She is a Fulbright Scholar (Philippines), a Fellow of the Explorers Club, and was a science fellow at Stanford’s Center for International Security and Cooperation.

Dr. Pullen’s expertise spans climate, weather and hydroscience with a particular focus on high resolution coastal urban prediction for flooding, heatwaves and other perils. As a scientist at the Naval Research Laboratory, she pioneered the coupling of models of the ocean and atmosphere. Dr. Pullen’s research has contributed to the understanding and development of resilience and sustainability in coastal environments, and the enhancement of Earth System Models on weather, subseasonal-to-seasonal, and climate timescales.

Delisa Alexander

Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer, Red Hate

DeLisa Alexander serves as the executive vice president and chief people officer of Red Hat, leading the organization responsible for global human resources including Red Hat University. The organization’s mission is to be a strategic partner to the business in acquiring, developing, and retaining talent and to enhance the Red Hat culture and talent brand. During Alexander’s tenure, Red Hat has grown from 1,100 to 12,000+ associates and has been recognized as one of the best places to work in multiple publications around the globe.

The founder of the Women’s Leadership Community at Red Hat, Alexander received a 2015 Stevie Silver Women in Business award in recognition of her leadership in advancing opportunities for women in technology. In 2016, Alexander won the Full Steam Ahead Enterprise Engineer Award for her contributions in building an innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem in North Carolina. She serves as the Vice Chair for the Raleigh Chamber of Commerce. She is on the executive committee for the Council for Entrepreneurial Development (CED); and the board of advisers for the Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise, Bull City Ventures, and NC State University Poole College of Management.

Alexander joined Red Hat in 2001 and served in the office of general counsel until mid 2006, most recently as assistant general counsel and assistant secretary. During this time, Alexander was responsible for equity and executive compensation, and trademark, copyright, and employment matters. Alexander also advised the company’s management and board of directors on securities and corporate governance. Prior to joining Red Hat, Alexander was associated with the law firm Kilpatrick Stockton where she focused on mergers, acquisitions, venture capital, and intellectual property licensing. She started her career as a judicial clerk for the Honor- able William B. Chandler, chancellor of the renowned Delaware Court of Chancery.

Carlos Vivesn

Activist and Winner of two GRAMMY Awards and 11 Latin GRAMMY Awards

Carlos Vives is a famous singer and songwriter in all Latin America. He was born in Santa Marta, on the Caribbean side of Colombia, in the early 60’s. Carlos’ music is clearly influenced by rock but many of his songs also have a real Vallenato flavor. Vallenato is a popular Colombian music were the accordion plays an important role. Carlos Vives is not only a Grammy Award-winning musician but is also a famous actor and personality in Colombia. His song La tierra del olvido was a huge hit in Colombia and in all Latin America during the 90s.

Solomon Assefa

VP, Africa & Emerging Market Solutions, IBM Research

Dr. Solomon Assefa is the VP of IBM Research-Africa & Emerging Market Solutions. He is responsible for developing strategy for innovative and scalable industry research solutions for emerging markets in sectors such as financial services, healthcare, and public sector. Furthermore, he is responsible for IBM’s research labs in Kenya and South Africa, and heads IBM’s research strategy and partnership across MEA.

IBM Research is pioneering disruptive technologies that will transform industries and society, including the future of AI, blockchain, and quantum computing. Specifically, IBM Research-Africa is developing technologies that address Africa’s grand challenges; promoting Africa’s leadership in science and technology; and fostering local innovation ecosystems. Previously, Assefa was the Director of Research Strategy & Growth Initiatives for Africa. In that role, he developed research strategies by identifying emerging trends, creating talent pipeline, and exploring partnerships. He has also served as a Program Manager in the office of Science and Technology, with responsibilities for evaluating science and technology roadmaps for IBM’s worldwide research laboratories.

As a Research Scientist, Assefa has worked on IBM’s nanophotonics technology with responsibilities spanning research, development, and technology transfer to commercial foundry. His research contributions include high-speed optical detectors, nano-structured platforms for bio-sensing, and quantum information processing. He has co-authored over 150 publications in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings, has over 50 patents, and has appeared as a guest speaker at numerous conferences worldwide. His work has been featured in Nature magazine, The Wall Street Journal, BBC News, Forbes, Technology Review, EE Times, and IEEE Spectrum, among many others. Solomon is a member of the Optical Society of America (OSA), the American Physical Society (APS), and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

Assefa has served as committee chair and workshop organizer for various conferences including the Optical Fibers Conference (OFC) and Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO). He is a member of the Scientific Steering Committee of the Next Einstein Forum, an initiative launched in 2015 by the African Institute of Mathematical Sciences (AIMS). He is also a Fellow of the Ethiopian Academy of Sciences, and an Honorary Professor at University of Witwatersrand in South Africa. Assefa is a recipient of several awards including the Technical Accomplishment Award, Corporate Recognition Award, and Invention Achievement Awards from IBM. He is a frequent speaker at business events, international conferences, universities, and research institutions. He was named one of the World’s Top Young Innovators under 35 and received the TR35 awarded by MIT’s Technology Review (2011). Assefa was honored by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader in 2013. He received a B.S. in Physics (2001), a B.S. in EECS (2001), a M.S. in EECS (2001) and a Ph.D. (2004) all from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Esther Braud

Public Health Emergency Communication Specialist; UNICEF

Esther Braud is a Communication Specialist for Public Health Emergencies at UNICEF in New York. She currently manages efforts in the fight against the COVID-19 outbreak, developing and strengthening communication strategies across advanced and low-income countries. Until early 2020, Esther was actively involved in the response of the Ebola epidemic in Eastern Congoon behalf of UNICEF.

Prior to UNICEF, Esther worked for more than 3 years as a Senior Technical Advisor for Social and Behavior Change at JSI (John Snow, Inc.) where she managed projects and provided technical assistance to JSI teams and their local partners in Caribbean, African and Asia on health, nutrition, and agriculture-related activities.

Before JSI, she worked in senior technical roles at EngenderHealth, FHI360 and Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.Esther holds an undergraduate degree in Journalism from the University Michel de Montaigne in Bordeaux, France. She earned a Master’s Degree from the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California, and holds a Master’s Degree from the Université Michel de Montaigne, Bordeaux, France.

Dr. Lydia Campbell

Vice President and Chief Medical Officer for IBM’s global Corporate Health and Safety Organization

Lydia Boyd Campbell, MD, MPH, FACOEM, is the Vice President and Chief Medical Officer for IBM’s global Corporate Health and Safety Organization. Dr. Campbell is responsible for the development and implementation of IBM’s strategic imperatives in workplace health, safety, wellness and health promotion, globally. Dr. Campbell’s Health and Safety organization executes its global mission through employee-centered, technology driven services, engaging employees active participation in IBM’s focus on a Culture of Health. IBM’s health and safety programs are externally certified through a Health and Safety Management System, which is codified through IBM’s corporate policies outlining IBM’s focus on health and safety not only in the workplace but in the communities in which IBM employees live.

Dr. Campbell has over 25 years of experience in the areas of internal medicine, occupational health and safety, wellness and health promotion. In addition, Dr. Campbell has been involved in employee health benefits program design and administration and was instrumental in the design and implementation of IBM’s employee disease prevention and management program. Dr. Campbell continues to develop IBM’s family friendly health-related programs such as an innovative milk delivery program for working, traveling mothers. Dr. Campbell has interest in the global impact of mental health disability on worker health and productivity, emergency preparedness and business continuity, and in promoting employee wellness as a strategic imperative to enhancing corporate performance.

Dr. Campbell is trained in internal medicine and occupational and environmental medicine and is a fellow of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. She received her medical degree from the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, GA and completed a five year joint residency in internal medicine and occupational and environmental medicine through Columbia University and Morristown Memorial Hospital in Morristown, NJ. Dr. Campbell holds a master’s degree in public health from Columbia University School of Public Health in New York City.Dr. Campbell’s other interest include advocacy for teenagers and young adults with autism spectrum disorders and other mental health disabilities transitioning from high school to independent adult living , supporting programs that provide assistance to persons struggling with substance abuse and recovery and programs aimed at supporting elders with remaining independent and in their homes for as long as it is feasible to do so.

Dr. Mickey Chopra

Global Health Leader, World Bank

Dr. Mickey Chopra is currently the Global Solutions Lead for Service Delivery in the Health Nutrition and Population global practice of the World Bank. He leads its work around the organization, management and quality of health services.

Previous to this he was the Chief of Health and Associate Director of Programs at UNICEF’s New York Headquarters, leading the agency’s work on maternal, newborn and child health, immunization, pediatric HIV/AIDS, and health systems strengthening, policy and research. During this time he guided UNICEF toward improving investments in global health, reducing health inequities, increasing focus on women and children’s health, eliminating major infectious diseases, and strengthening UNICEFs place in the global health community.

Additionally, he has chaired the Evaluation and Research Group at the Global Fund for HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria to ensure that their investments are reaching those most in need and chaired the Special Committee for Large Countries for GAVI that worked on ensuring increased coverage of vaccines for Nigeria and India in particular. He led the technical team that oversaw the UN Commission on Essential Medicines and Commodities that has resulted in over $250 million being raised to address the bottlenecks that prevent cheap and life saving commodities from reaching the poorest families.

Dr. Chopra is qualified as a medical doctor with an additional degree in medical sociology from the University of Southampton, England, Master’s in Public health (Primary Health in Developing Countries) at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in 1997 and a Ph.D. from Faculty of Medicine, University of Uppsala in Sweden.

Dr. Chopra has published over 170 international peer-reviewed papers and contributed to numerous book chapters concerned with international child health and nutrition.

Natalie Dawe

Global Health Leader and Offering Manager, Corporate Social Responsibility; IBM

Natalie Dawe is the Global Health Leader and Offering Manager for IBM Corporate Citizenship/CSR. In this role, Natalie leads IBM’s strategic work to apply digital expertise to address cancer disparities in low-resource settings. She manages the design, development, and roll-out of digital tools for cancer centers in Sub-Saharan Africa. She also helped to establish Allied Against Cancer — a multi-sector response to the growing cancer crisis in Africa — and works closely with the African oncology community to advance quality, safety, and access to cancer care.

Natalie brings over 10 years of experience in public health, partnership development, and best practice research to the role. Previously, Natalie served as the Global Health Initiatives Manager for IBM Corporate Citizenship, where she co-conceived and managed IBM Health Corps, a social impact program that incubates solutions to health disparities with governments, NGOs, universities, and hospitals through rapid prototyping. Prior to IBM, Natalie worked as a health care consultant with The Advisory Board Company in Washington, DC. Natalie holds a Masters of Public Health from Columbia University, where she studied the history and ethics of public health, and a B.A. in Public Policy from Duke University.

Teresa Dietrich

Chief Technology Officer; Stack Overflow

Teresa Dietrich is the Chief Product Officer at Stack Overflow, where she is responsible for evolving and executing Stack Overflow’s product strategy. Previously she worked at McKinsey New Ventures as Global Head of Product & Engineering, where she played an instrumental role in creating and scaling their B2B SaaS products, built and led product development teams across the globe, and fostered a culture that attracted and developed top talent.

Prior to McKinsey New Ventures, Teresa was Chief Technology Officer at Namely, and held several leadership roles at WebMD and AOL. Dietrich is a Board Member for the Oklahoma School of Science and Math Foundation, the technical magnet high school that ignited her passion for learning and technology. Dietrich earned her Master of Science from George Mason University and continued on as an adjunct professor; she earned her bachelor’s degree from Carnegie Mellon University.

Steve Ewell

Executive Director, Consumer Technology Association Foundation

Steve Ewell is the executive director of the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) Foundation, a charitable foundation with the mission of linking seniors and people with disabilities with technology that enhance their lives.

Prior to joining the CTA Foundation, he was managing director of the InfraGard National Members Alliance (INMA), a public private partnership with the FBI focused on promoting and developing critical infrastructure protection. Steve holds a Bachelor of Arts from Drew University, and earned his MBA and Masters in Information and Telecommunications Systems from Johns Hopkins University’s Carey Business School. He serves on the Board of Directors ofGrantmakers in Aging. In 2014, he was selected by Dealerscope Magazine as one of the Top 40 under 40. He lives with his wife, Kelly, in Leesburg, VA.

Brian A. Gallagher

President and CEO, United Way Worldwide

Brian A. Gallagher is President and Chief Executive Officer of United Way Worldwide, the world’s largest privately-funded nonprofit.

Gallagher launched his career at United Way in 1981, serving at five local United Ways before becoming the President and CEO of United Way of America in 2002 and ofUnited Way Worldwide in 2009. Today, Gallagher leads a global network that supports the health, education and financial stability of individuals and families in more than 1,800 communities thanks to the support of nearly 3 million volunteers, more than 8 million donors, and $4.8 billion raised every year.

Gallagher joined United Way because of his belief that lasting community change at scale takes place when the public, private and non-profit sectors work together. Under Gallagher’s leadership, United Way has shifted to a community impact model that creates sustained change by bringing a wide range of stakeholders to the table.His success with such a model in cities like Columbus, Ohio taught him the value of examining root causes of problems, embracing innovative solutions and finding people’s inner passions to make a difference.

Gallagher is responsible for several advancements at United Way. Upon assuming the role of president and CEO of United Way of America, he quickly established new membership standards that required internal consistency and public transparency in financial reporting. Gallagher also elevated brand stewardship to the highest priority. In 2008, United Way launched the LIVE UNITED campaign to engage communities in a more inclusive strategic effort. He has also built United Way into a digital organization and that embraces the power of technology to connect people with causes they care about through initiatives like United Way Digital Services and platforms such as Salesforce.org Philanthropy Cloud.

Today, United Way is engaged in 40 countries and territories around the world, focusing on fighting for the health, education and financial stability of every person in every community. Gallagher shares his experiences and insights at several high-profile gatherings, including the World Economic Forum (WEF), focusing on the value of public/private partnerships and the importance of strong communities to heal divisions and create greater opportunity for all. Gallagher leads WEF’s Global Civil Society Advisory Board, is a steering committee member of the WEF’s “Promoting Global Financial Inclusion” initiative and is a founding member of WEF’s NGO Advisory Committee and the Global Gender Parity Group. He served as a member of President Obama’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, is former Chair of the Independent Sector, and serves on the boards of America’s Promise Alliance and Leadership 18.

Gallagher is on the Board of Trustees of his alma mater, Ball State University. He is the father of two daughters, Katie and Maggie, and lives with his wife, Ramona, in Chevy Chase, Maryland.

Michele Melchionda

Chief Innovation Officer, Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Italian National Government

Michele Melchionda started working in software engineering and development at the age of 20. Three years later, he won an open competition that started his journey inside of the public administration as a technical manager in the Court of Auditors. In the early days at the General Power of Attorney, Melchionda had the chance to ideate and then realize the IT system called “Progenius”, which became widely adopted by all district attorneys offices for more than a decade. In 2012, he was promoted administrative director (2nd tier) and became responsible for the Centre of the services of the Directorate-General for Information Systems of the Court of Auditors. His main occupation was the design, realization, implementation and management of the IT infrastructure and its connection to the Public Connectivity System. Under Melchionda’s responsibilities also fell the definition and management of the implementation of the security policies in the IT systems of the Court of Auditors.

During the last years, Melchionda had the opportunity to design and manage various very innovative projects which favoured the Court of Auditors in a path of digital transformation and made it an example of virtue in the public administration. Among these he is particularly proud of the project “Differently Connected” which was realized in collaboration with the Team for Digital Transformation and introduced a revolutionary interpretation of the Public Connectivity System. This project became the reference for the net architecture in the public administration. Another very important project was “Idea@PA” which became an inspiration for what would become The Three-Year Plan for ICT in the Public Administration. In the realm of this project aimed at incentivizing cooperation at the infrastructural level between public administrations, Melchionda drew an agreement with the General state advocacy and with CNEL. Thanks to this agreement, both of the administrations migrated their infrastructures and servers, consolidating them with that of the Court of Auditors inside Sogei. This shift of paradigm enabled the General state advocacy and the CNEL to focus their attention on developing cloud applications and programs which had at their centre the “Mobile First, Cloud First” vision, especially concerning public and hybrid models of distribution.

More recently, Melchionda was the person in charge of the agreements stipulated with other public administration departments (AdS and CNEL but also Lepida, Cedecu and the Team for Digital Transformation). He was then nominated consultant for the “Parliamentary Inquiry Commission on the Level of Digitalization and Innovation of the Public Administration and on the Investments regarding the Technology and the Communication Sector” of the Chamber of Deputies.He always thought spreading knowledge and sharing one’s experiences to be of the greatest importance, which motivated him to dedicate time to teaching, often in collaboration with the then manager of general IT systems at the Court of Auditors and now Italian Government Commissioner for the Digital Agenda. Together he also wrote multiple articles and papers.

Melchionda has been living in Rome for many years now. He finished his Master Degree in Public Management and e-Governement and topped it off with a Master in “Governance, Management and e-Government of the Public Administrations”, both at the “UNITELMA SAPIENZA” University in Rome. He is married to his wife Alessandra and has two children Luca who is 28 years and Maria Rita, 24 years.

Mami Mizutori

Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General (SRSG) for Disaster Risk Reduction

Mami Mizutori is the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General (SRSG) for Disaster Risk Reduction, and head of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, based in Geneva, Switzerland. She assumed her role on 1 March 2018.

The role of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction is to support countries and stakeholders in the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015-2030). The Special Representative ensures the strategic and operational coherence between disaster risk reduction, climate change and sustainable development agendas as well as the linkage with the UN Secretary-General’s prevention agenda and with humanitarian action.

Ms. Mizutori served for twenty-seven years in various capacities in the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Prior to joining the UN, Ms. Mizutori was Executive Director of the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures, University of East Anglia, UK, since 2011. Ms. Mizutori graduated in law from Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo and obtained a Diploma in International Studies from the Diplomatic School of Spain. A Japanese national, Ms. Mizutori speaks Japanese, English and Spanish.

David Miliband

International Rescue Committee, President and CEO

David Miliband is President and CEO of the International Rescue Committee (IRC), where he oversees the agency’s humanitarian relief operations in more than 40 countries and its refugee resettlement and assistance programs in 25 US cities. From 2007 to 2010, Miliband was the 74th Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs of the United Kingdom, driving advancements in human rights and representing the U.K. throughout the world. In 2006, as Secretary of State for the Environment, he pioneered the world’s first legally binding emissions reduction requirements. He was Member of Parliament for South Shields from 2001 to 2013.

Dr. Esther Ngumbi

Assistant Professor, Entomology Department, and African-American Studies Department at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Dr. Esther Ngumbi is an Assistant Professor, Entomology Department, and African-American Studies Department at University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign. She is a native of Kenya and earned her Ph.D. from Auburn. Believing that global sustainability issues like those of hunger and food insecurity affect all of us, Dr. Ngumbi has stepped up both as a researcher and a food security advocate and fellow with Aspen Institute and has continued to demonstrate visionary and inspirational leadership in the pursuit of a sustainable future-where hunger and food insecurity become history.

Dr. Ngumbi is a thought leader and has contributed immensely to global discussions in several areas including science policy, agricultural development, food security, gender issues, youth leadership, global education and sustainability through over 100 opinion pieces published in several media outlets including Scientific American, CNN, NPR, The New York Times, Times Magazine, Nature, SciDev.Net, WIRED, Los Angeles Times, The Conversation, and Stanford Social Innovation Review.

A firm believer “that the future of science, so important to the prosperity of our world depends on the skillful mentoring of each new generation by the one that precedes it,” Dr. Ngumbi has served as a mentor to many students and several organizations including Clinton Global University Initiative and President Obama’s Young African Leadership Initiative. She is the recipient of several national and international awards including the Society of Experimental Biology President’s medal, Emerging Sustainability Leader Award, women of courage award, a finalist for President Clinton Global Hunger Leadership Award and named by One World Action as one of the 100 powerful women who change the world. She serves on several boards and is a member of the Entomological Society of America Science Policy Committee.

Michelle Nunn

President and CEO of CARE USA

Since July 2015, Michelle Nunn has been president and CEO of CARE USA, a leading humanitarian organization that fights global poverty and provides lifesaving assistance in emergencies. Last year, CARE worked in 93 countries and directly reached 63 million people in FY2017.

Nunn took the helm of CARE in 2015 and has spearheaded an ambitious strategy to reach 200 million of the world’s most vulnerable people by 2020. Under Nunn’s leadership, CARE has invested in innovative new programs and partnerships with private corporations and other nonprofits to increase its impact. Since assuming leadership of CARE, Nunn has set a goal of increasing CARE’s micro-savings program from 7 million participants to 60 million participants by 2028.

Before joining CARE, Nunn had built an illustrious career of civic and public service as a social entrepreneur, a nonprofit CEO, and a candidate for the U.S. Senate. She co-founded the volunteer-mobilization organization Hands On Atlanta, and expanded it from a single entity to a national network of more than 50 affiliates. Nunn oversaw that group’s merger with Points of Light, creating the world’s largest organization dedicated to volunteer service, with affiliates across the globe engaging more than 70,000 corporations and nonprofit organizations. Nunn served as Points of Light CEO from 2007 to 2013.

A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Virginia, Nunn majored in history with a minor in religion and earned her Master’s Degree in Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. She also received a Kellogg Fellowship to study faith and social justice in more than a dozen countries, from Peru to Namibia to Jordan. Nunn currently lives in Atlanta with her husband, Ron Martin, and their two children, Vinson and Elizabeth.

Trevor Riggen

Senior Vice President, Disaster Cycle Services, American Red Cross

Trevor Riggen was appointed Senior Vice President, Disaster Cycle Services, American Red Cross on January 2, 2019. In this role, Trevor leads a team of Red Cross staff and volunteer experts in disaster preparedness, response, and recovery who develop and implement programs and conduct operations aimed at preventing and alleviating human suffering in the face of emergencies within the United States and its territories.

Prior to this, Trevor served as Chief Executive Officer of the Northern California Coastal Region where he provided management oversight of Red Cross services and supported a team of more than 7,000 volunteers and employees who responded to more than 800 local disasters each year and served more than eight million residents with lifesaving programs.

Prior to coming to Red Cross, Trevor held several leadership positions with community-based organizations in Illinois and the Washington, DC metro area. These positions focused on literacy, crime prevention, poverty reduction, education and emergency planning for public school districts. He also served in the Peace Corps in Morocco where he developed local agricultural cooperatives.Trevor earned his B.S. in Political Science from the University of Illinois and a Master’s Degree in Public Policy from Georgetown University.

Oscar Romero

Program Director, Inclusive Innovation, NYC Mayor’s Office of the CTO

Oscar Romero leads the inclusive innovation efforts of the NYC Mayor’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer (MOCTO). His work focuses on leveraging civic engagement and emerging technology to address inequality, building innovation-driven entrepreneurial ecosystems, and creating international cooperation frameworks to address global challenges in the US’ largest urban economy. He oversees the design, management, implementation, and evaluation of global multi-stakeholder partnerships to address diverse urban development challenges in vulnerable communities — ranging from issues on displacement, safety, access to social services, workforce development, access to STEAM education, access to representation, and access to critical infrastructure.

Before joining MOCTO, Oscar worked for The New School’s Digital Equity Laboratory where he researched how broadband access and privacy protection policies affect vulnerable populations. Through his research, he analyzed the inequalities created by the architecture of the telecommunications infrastructure networks across the Americas. Oscar has worked on international cooperation for universities and international development organizations in The USA, Mexico, Argentina and Brazil. Oscar holds a M.A. in International Affairs from The New School and a B.S. in International Studies from the University of Guadalajara. He is an active member of the Research Network on Autonomous Integration in Latin America and the Caribbean (REDIALC).

Marcie Roth

Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, World Institute on Disability

Marcie Roth is Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer for the World Institute on Disability (WID), WID is a highly regarded global public policy center WID works to advance the rights and opportunities of over 1 billion people with disabilities worldwide, bringing policy into action and operationalizing inclusion. Roth has served in senior and executive leadership roles for national and global disability advocacy and public policy organizations since 1995, establishing and leading coalitions committed to operationalizing disability inclusion as an intersectional imperative for global social justice.

Roth’s focus on improving emergency preparedness and disaster outcomes for people with disabilities and building accessible disaster resilient communities began in the immediate aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks while advising the White House on the rights and urgent needs of people with disabilities living in the area around ground zero. Appointed by President Obama to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) from 2009 to 2017, she served as Senior Advisor to the Administrator and as the congressionally mandated Disability Coordinator for the agency. While at FEMA, she established the Office of Disability Integration and Coordination (ODIC), serving as its Director. Under her leadership, ODIC led national transformation towards integrating the access and functional needs of the whole community throughout emergency preparedness and disaster response, recovery and mitigation.

Charged with establishing and building FEMA’s Disability Integration Cadre to ultimately include 285 deployable disability integration specialists, Roth managed over 400 disaster deployments, frequently serving as lead advisor to the presidentially appointed Federal Coordinating Officer and collaborating with affected state and local emergency management leadership and stakeholder groups. She also led the work of the Department of Homeland Security Interagency Coordinating Council on Emergency Preparedness and Individuals with Disabilities, established through a presidential executive order in 2004.

Roth represented the U.S. government internationally as an expert on whole community inclusive global disaster risk reduction from 2012-2017, serving as a leader throughout the development and implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction2015-2030. In 2017, Roth established the Partnership for Inclusive Disaster Strategies and Inclusive Emergency Management Strategies. She has served as a consultant to the United Nations for the development of [Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction-A Whole Community Action](https://www.maketherightreal.net/learning), [IASC Guidelines on Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Humanitarian Action](https://interagencystandingcommittee.org/iasc-task-team-inclusion-persons-disabilities-humanitarian-action/documents/iasc-guidelines) and as Accessibility Focal Point throughout the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction. She serves as the UNDRR Persons with Disabilities Alternate Focal Point for the Americans and the Caribbean. Roth is a Harvard University Kennedy School of Government Senior Executive Fellow with a BS in Public Safety Administration from the University of Maryland Global Campus.

Leah Ruppanner

Associate Professor of Sociology and Co-Director of The Policy Lab, University of Melbourne

Leah Ruppanner is an Associate Professor of Sociology and Co-Director of The Policy Lab at the University of Melbourne. She is an expert on family, gender and public policy.Her book, Boxed Out: Barriers to Mothers’ Employmentacross U.S. States, provides an innovative framework for understanding how U.S. states vary in their childcare policies, gender empowerment and maternal employment.

Associate Professor Ruppanner’s current research focuses on barriers to maternal employment, female representation in government and gender inequality in the home.Her research is published in Journal of Marriage and Family, Sociological Methods and Research, European Sociological Review and Social Science Research. She also has expansive media coverage in the New York Times, Washington Post and the Guardian and holds multiple international grants.

Laurent Sauveur

Chief of External Relations, United Nations Human Rights

Laurent Sauveur is Chief of External Relations for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, overseeing the external communications and partnerships programmes of the organization. He took up his post in 2016. Mr. Sauveur brings to the position considerable experience in mobilizing support to assist vulnerable people.

Before joining the United Nations, he worked for the private sector as well as international NGOs like Doctors without Borders and Care International for over two decades, focusing particularly on humanitarian operations and the fight against extreme poverty. Mr. Sauveur holds degrees in business and marketing from the EDHEC and Aston Business Schools in Lille, France and Birmingham, UK.

Tom Snyder

Executive Director, RIoT

Tom Snyder is Executive Director of RIoT, supporting Internet of Things and disruptive technology industry growth. By day, he runs RIoTLabs at HQ Raleigh. In his spare time, Tom co-instructs Product Innovation Lab, a Forbes award winning multi-disciplinary course in Innovation and Entrepreneurship at NC State.

Prior to joining RIoT, Tom held an executive leadership role at the ASSIST Center, a National Science Foundation sponsored effort to create wearable electronics for healthcare monitoring. Previously, he spent two decades in product development and technology incubation in NC.He’s passionate about creating and fostering collaborations across disciplines, markets and cultures. He enjoys the outdoors, woodworking, boardgames, big crowds, craft beer and ideas that are just crazy enough to work.

Bill Soards

President-Indiana, AT&T

Bill Soards was named President of AT&T Indiana in October 2013. Soards is responsible for external affairs for AT&T Indiana including; state and local government relations, community affairs, regulatory and legislative activities, and initiatives before the Indiana General Assembly and the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC).

Before joining AT&T 19years ago, Soards began his career in public policy as a partner in anIndianapolis based association management and government relations firm. In 2000, he joined AT&T (then Ameritech) as Director of Government Relations. In 2006, Soards helped lead the effort to de-regulate the telecommunications industry and establish a statewide system for cable video competition. That legislation, the Indiana Telecom Reform Act was signed in March 2006 by former Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels and continues to attract jobs and investments across the State.

In 2007, Soards worked in Chicago, Illinois, and was named Assistant Vice President of Public Affairs for AT&T’s Midwest region. Coordinating policy campaigns, managing research, messaging, third parties, and foundation activities in five Midwestern states were among his chief responsibilities. In April 2009, Soards was named President of AT&T Colorado, a position he held until he returned to the Hoosier state in 2013.

In addition to his passion for technology, public service has always been a part of Soards’s life. His father, the late Bill Soards Sr., served 20 years in the Indiana General Assembly before retiring in 1994. The younger Soards was elected and served 9 years in local government as a member of the Indianapolis City-County Council and the BooneCounty Council.

Soards holds a Bachelor of Science degree with honors in Telecommunications from Butler University in Indianapolis. In 2004, the University honored Soards with both the 50 Under 50 Top Alumni Award and the Hilton U. Brown Alumni Achievement Award. Soards studied abroad at The University of Westminster in London, England, focusing on political science and playing on the school’s basketball team. Soards and his wife Ann reside in Zionsville with their two daughters, Katelyn and Allison.

Janti Soeripto

President and CEO, Save the Children US

Janti Soeripto is President & Chief Executive Officer of Save the Children, an organization that gives children in the United States and around the world a healthy start, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. The global Save the Children movement serves over 155 million children in the US and in 120 countries. As a global organization, Save the Children has committed to driving down the numbers of preventable deaths of children under 5, ensuring every child gets a high-quality basic education and protecting allchildren from harm.

Soeripto assumed the role on January 1, 2020, having served since May of 2019 as President and COO of Save the Children US, a position having oversight for setting agency strategy, ensuring all parts of the organization are well managed, staffed and aligned and operate as effectively as possible. Strengthening accountability for results, and overseeing, integrating and coordinating divisional activities (Human Resources, International Operations, Legal and Risk Services, Information Systems, Finance, Marketing & Communications and Fundraising) also fell within her scope of work.

Prior to joining Save the Children US, Janti worked for 8 years as deputy CEO of Save the Children International, where she was responsible for market growth and development, global strategy development, communication, and venture partnerships. Before her Save the Children work, Janti spent three years with Kimberly-Clark, as Country Director in Indonesia. Immediately before this, she was Managing Director for Belu in London, the first bottled water brand in a biodegradable bottle that donates all profits to charity. Previous to this, she enjoyed a 15-year career with Unilever, both in Finance, as well as general management, working in the Netherlands, UK and Singapore. Janti graduated from the Erasmus University in Rotterdam in 1991. She is half Indonesian, half Dutch and is married with two children.

John Surdyk

Director, Initiative for Studies in Transformational Entrepreneurship, University of Wisconsin-Madison

John Surdyk leads the INSITE initiative at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. INSITE supports student entrepreneurs through competitions, residential programming, and non-credit instruction that prepares them to develop business models, prototype rapidly, and pitch persuasively with the goal of de-risking potential products/services and launching a new business ventures.

Prior to joining INSITE, Surdyk founded Re-Envision Consulting, a firm working with nonprofits throughout the United States and Canada pursuing innovative, earned-income strategies where novel approaches to social problems and new technologies could be deployed for public benefit.

Earlier in his career, he worked with the consulting arm of the Stanford Research Institute in Menlo Park as well as Navigant Consulting in Chicago. He serves as Treasurer of the board of the Overture Center, Wisconsin’s largest nonprofit arts organization. Surdyk did his undergraduate work at Stanford University in Earth Systems Science and earned an M.B.A. at University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Fiona Wilson

Senior Regional Manager, Clinton Climate Initiative, Clinton Foundation

Fiona Wilson serves as the Senior Regional Manager for the Clinton Foundation’s Clinton Climate Initiative, overseeing the Foundation’s renewable energy projects in the Africa and Indian Ocean region. Her work focuses on implementing innovative models for renewable energy solutions in an island context, supporting island governments to achieve their renewable energy goals. She has over nine years of experience in renewable energy, with a particular focus on project finance and IPP development, supporting public sector stakeholders in de-risking energy projects and ensuring project bankability.

Wilson is skilled at coordinating diverse groups of stakeholders in assessing policy and project visions as well as implementing complex projects that require public-private cooperation. She has significant experience in developing and executing energy projects across a range of technologies, including land-mounted and rooftop solar PV, floating solar PV, biogas, and biomass. Prior to joining the Clinton Foundation, Wilson worked in environmental finance, specializing in industrial energy systems and renewable energy IPP projects in the Southeast Asia and Southern Africa markets. She is a graduate of Princeton University, where her research centered on renewable energy development in South Africa.