Visionary Leaders

In various roles and types of organizations, Abby Jo Sigal has worked to strengthen New York City communities for over 25 years to empower local residents. As the founding CEO of HERE to HERE, Abby led a diverse team committed to aligning key stakeholders to prioritize the career success of NYC students, demonstrate best practice, and drive systems change. She was also the executive director of The James and Judith K. Dimon Foundation, one of the founding organizations of HERE to HERE along with Dreamyard and Big Picture Learning. Abby has extensive experience in community development, public/private partnerships, impact investing, real estate finance, and partnering with community-based organizations.

Prior to the Mayor’s Office, HERE to HERE and the Dimon Foundation, Abby was the Senior Vice President of Innovation at Enterprise Community Partners, a national housing organization, and provided leadership across the organization for strategy, new product development, knowledge management, and impact investing. She also ran the Enterprise NY market, deploying $200 million annually in equity, debt, and grants; developing and implementing programs and policy; and structuring complex, multi-stakeholder partnerships and transactions. 

Early in her career, Abby oversaw the design and development of the New York City’s Hudson River Park along the West Side and launched its first Summer Youth Program. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Yale in Philosophy and master’s degrees from UC-Berkeley in Business Administration and City & Regional Planning.

Albert Pulido is currently the Deputy Secretary for Finance and Technology in the New York State Executive Chamber. In this role, he is responsible for overseeing a number of state agencies and policies, including the Department of Financial Services, the Department of Taxation and Finance, the New York State Insurance Fund, the Office of Information Technology Services (ITS), the State’s broadband expansion efforts, and technology policy, include AI. He is focused on furthering the governor’s agenda, which includes promoting a fairer financial services system, bridging the digital divide, improving digital services for New Yorkers, and promoting the responsible use of emerging technology.

Prior to his appointment, Albert served as the Director of Citywide Operations at New York City Hall, where he oversaw the City’s technology, procurement, and pensions agencies, in addition to the City’s broadband expansion efforts. He holds a BA from Cornell University and an MFA in Fiction Writing from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop.

Andrew Kimball is President & CEO of New York City Economic Development Corporation, where he leads NYCEDC’s work growing an innovative and inclusive economy for all New Yorkers. Prior to his appointment in 2022, Andrew served as the CEO of Industry City, where he directed the transformation of the long-underutilized industrial facility in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. Under his leadership, Industry City invested over $450 million in infrastructure and place-making initiatives, and grew thousands of jobs and hundreds of businesses, ranging from startups to Fortune 500 companies.

Andrew previously served as President and CEO of the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation, overseeing the transformation of the 300-acre former Naval ship-building facility into a national model for the creation of innovation-economy jobs, sustainability, and community partnerships.

Prior to his time at the Navy Yard, Andrew served as director of operations for NYC2012, the privately funded bid to bring the 2012 Olympic Games to New York City, and as vice president of the New York Public Library.

Up until his appointment to NYCEDC, Andrew sat on numerous boards, including the Coro New York Leadership Center, where he served as chair; Prospect Park Alliance; Gowanus Canal Conservancy; Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce; Citizens Budget Commission; and the NYS Regional Economic Development Council.

He holds a bachelor’s degree from Hamilton College and is a graduate of the Coro Public Affairs Fellowship program. A life-long New Yorker, Andrew lives in Park Slope, Brooklyn with his wife, Sarah Williams, and two children.

Dr. Ashwin Vasan is the 44th Health Commissioner of New York City. He is a practicing primary care physician, epidemiologist and public health expert with nearly 20 years of experience working to improve physical and mental health, social welfare and public policy outcomes for marginalized populations in New York City, nationally and globally. 

In his role as Commissioner since early 2022, Dr. Vasan has reshaped the city’s public health system to focus on addressing the main drivers of declining life expectancy in the post-COVID emergency era, including overdoses, chronic and diet-related diseases, birth inequities, climate change, and gun violence, while simultaneously strengthening the Health Department’s emergency response-readiness capacities. Throughout this work, he has brought in a unique, unparalleled focus to combating the mental health crisis, releasing a comprehensive citywide mental health plan addressing the second pandemic – a crisis of mental health plaguing youth, vulnerable New Yorkers with severe mental illness, and those impacted by the overdose epidemic. Dr. Vasan has concurrently led several other key health priorities, such as leading the ongoing response to COVID-19 as the first American jurisdiction to kickstart vaccination efforts, combatting the 2022 mpox outbreak and pioneering readiness and response to the first case of polio in the US in a decade. Under his leadership, the city also took charge on protecting reproductive rights by launching the NYC Abortion Access Hub, connecting people from New York and nationwide to providers and becoming the first jurisdiction in the US to offer free medication abortions in its clinics.

Having begun his career in global health working at Partners in Health and the HIV Department of the World Health Organization, he most recently served as the President and CEO of Fountain House, a US-based mental health nonprofit. He currently serves as faculty at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons.

Dr. Vasan received his BA in Economics from the University of California, Los Angeles; his ScM in Epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health; his MD from the University of Michigan; and his PhD in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He completed his clinical training in internal medicine-primary care at New York Presbyterian Hospital. His work has been published extensively in academic literature in journals such as the Lancet, the New England Journal of Medicine, Bulletin of the World Health Organization, Journal of General Internal Medicine, Health Policy and Planning, and AIDS, and has been featured in several mainstream media outlets, including the New York Times, BBC World News, NPR, Al Jazeera, the Guardian, and NBC News Think.

Daniel Rickenmann is the 71st Mayor of Columbia, South Carolina. He is an innovative entrepreneur and a dedicated public servant with a passion for improving the quality of life for all in the Palmetto State’s Capital City. 

Since becoming Mayor in 2022, Rickenmann has worked tirelessly to expand housing options, increase community cleanliness and pride, and improve the City’s customer service operations. Rickenmann has prioritized public safety, implementing new programs to reduce crime and improve emergency response times. He strongly advocates for the city’s parks and green spaces, creating new opportunities for outdoor recreation and promoting environmental sustainability – especially on the city’s riverfront. Under his leadership, Columbia has continued to experience economic growth, with new businesses opening and job opportunities expanding.

Rickenmann’s political career began in 2002 when he was elected to the Columbia City Council. During his 14-year tenure on the council, he was a vocal advocate for fiscal responsibility, public safety, and infrastructure improvements. He was crucial in revitalizing downtown Columbia, promoting affordable housing, and supporting local small businesses.

As Mayor, Rickenmann represents the City of Columbia as a member of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, where he serves as Chair of the Energy Committee and participates as a member of the Public-Private Partnerships Task Force. He is also a member of the Climate Mayors network, the Smart Surfaces Coalition, and the Mayor’s Alliance to End Childhood Hunger. 

Rickenmann ranked number two in the Post and Courier Power List 2023, was named one of Columbia’s 50 Most Influential 2023 by Columbia Business Monthly, and was selected for The State Newspapers top 20 under 40. Fortune Magazine named him one of six Green Leaders in a red state, and he was and-picked by the American Swiss Foundation to attend the Young Leaders Conference in Zurich, Switzerland. He was also chosen twice by the American Council of Young Political Leaders for exchange programs in Egypt and China. As Mayor, he was selected to participate in the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative in 2022 alongside 40 other mayors from across the globe.

Outside of politics, Rickenmann’s entrepreneurial successes in the restaurant industry, renewable energy development, and spirit production familiarized him with Columbia’s challenges. Shortly after graduating college, he opened his first restaurant in the city – Birds on a Wire. Then, in 2009, he founded a renewable energy company focused on creative solutions for powering local communities. Now, Rickenmann is making a splash in the spirits industry, co-founding Forbidden Bourbon, a Kentucky-based company with the first female master distiller. 

Daria Siegel serves as Vice President of Emerging Tech within the Initiatives department at New York City Economic Development Corporation supporting the growth of the technology industry to create opportunities for all New Yorkers. Her portfolio includes Cyber NYC which focuses on building the cyber workforce of the future in NYC. Daria’s experience has been at the intersection of community building and economic development. In her previous role at the Alliance for Downtown New York, Daria built and managed LMHQ, a collaborative shared workspace designed to support the growing creative industries in Lower Manhattan. Daria forged strategic partnerships with thought leaders and organizations which grew to serve thousands through events and membership. Daria received a Masters of Urban Planning from New York University in 2008.

As the Chief Sustainability Officer for the City of Chula Vista, Dennis leads the City’s Office of Sustainability and Smart City campaign. His responsibilities include managing the implementation of a wide range of sustainability programs and smart city initiatives. His previous experience includes serving as a department director and assistant director for multiple municipalities and public agencies in Texas and California. Dennis has also worked as a management consultant for Deloitte Consulting and PWC Consulting. He holds a master’s degree in Public Administration from Syracuse University and a B.S. in Information Systems and Management Sciences from the University of Texas, Arlington.

Ebony Young has spent over 20 years working in the Nonprofit sector as an Executive Leader at institutions like the Long Island City YMCA, TF Cornerstone, the Black Entrepreneur Initiative, and the Ladies of Hope Ministries (LOHM). She has been charged with leading nonprofits, organizing, facilitating, and operating to the highest efficiency levels, specifically in the areas of tech, youth development, healthy living, and social justice reform. She’s also spent time in the private sector as a Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility.

She’s previously served on several boards, task forces and advisory committees, serving youth, adults, seniors, athletes, tech entrepreneurs, artists, and environmentalists in her local community. Giving back to the community with confidence, passion and innovation has led her to be a true communal builder, connector, and educator.

Ebony received her Bachelor of Science in Communications-Rad/TV/Film from Indiana State University and is also a graduate of Indiana Tech where she received her Master’s degree in Organizational Leadership. Ebony is also a motivational speaker and certified life coach. She resides in Woodside, Queens with her husband and three children.

Edward Mermelstein is New York City’s Commissioner for International Affairs. As head of the Mayor’s Office for

International Affairs, he leads the office’s mission to serve as the primary liaison between theCity of New York and the diplomatic community, consular corps., and the United Nations.

Prior to joining the Adams Administration, Edward was the CEO and founder of One & Only Holdings and One & Only Realty, where he specialized in international corporate andreal estate law, private equity investment and joint ventures, as well as real estate investment. Edward’s experience in navigating international

markets led him to be named one of New York City’s 10 most influential figures in realestate. He aims to bring the same tenacity to the Commission for International Affairs, and to help Mayor Adams reestablish New York City as the capital of the world.

In addition to a remarkable career in the private-sector, Edward has also been an integral member of the philanthropic community.In 2016, Edward joined the Board of Overseers of NYU, where he established the Mermelstein Family Scholarship. He is also a Board Member of JDC, a leading global Jewish humanitarian organization, which works in 70 countries to lift lives and strengthen communities.

He also served as the USA Director of the Link of Times Foundation, where one of the projects he helped facilitate was organizing the return of the Danilov Bells to the Russian Orthodox Church in 2008 from Harvard University.

Edward sits as Chairman Emeritus of COJECO (Council of Jewish Émigré Community Organizations), where he gave guidance to help facilitate the integration of Russian-speaking Jews into the greater American Jewish community while preserving their cultural heritage.

From 2018 until 2021 he served as President of Zaka International Rescue and Recovery, a UN- recognized humanitarianvolunteer organization that provides a rapid response to mass casualty disasters across the world. To date, ZAKA has saved thousands of lives—and honored those who couldn’t be saved with dignity in death.

Fluent in English and Russian, Edward emigrated to the U.S. in 1976 as a refugee from Ukraine. He holds a BA from NYU and a JD from Western Michigan Law School. Edward lives in NYC with his wife, Rose, a Broadway producer, and six-time Tony award winner, and his two sons.

Mayor Eric Adams has served the people of New York City as an NYPD officer, State Senator, Brooklyn Borough President, and now as the 110th Mayor of the City of New York. He gave voice to a diverse coalition of working families in all five boroughs and is leading the fight to bring back New York City’s economy, reduce inequality, improve public safety, and build a stronger, healthier city that delivers for all New Yorkers.

Like so many New Yorkers, Mayor Eric Adams grew up with adversity—and overcame it.

As one of six children, born in Brownsville and raised in South Jamaica by a single mom who cleaned houses, Eric and his family did not always know if they would come home to an eviction notice on the front door or food on the table.   And when he was beaten by police in the basement of a precinct house at 15, Eric faced a life-changing act of injustice.

But instead of giving into anger, Eric turned his pain into purpose and decided to change the police department from within.  He joined the NYPD and became one of its most outspoken officers, calling out racism and bias in the department and pushing for major reforms.

As a founder of 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care, Eric would often police the streets in a bulletproof vest one day during the high-crime 1980’s and 1990’s and protest bad behavior by cops the next, marching side-by-side with his fellow civil rights advocates.   He rose to the rank of captain, helping to build the first computerized system for tracking crime in the city, which led to historic gains in public safety.

Eric’s efforts to change policing began his lifelong work to improve and protect New York. From the NYPD, he moved on to the State Senate, where he represented sections of central and Brownstone Brooklyn. In Albany, Eric built winning coalitions to advance New York City’s values and goals, helping to push through measures to protect tenants and workers, combat gun violence, end the NYPD’s abuses of stop and frisk, and advance human rights — including marriage equality. He also became the first person of color to chair the Senate’s Homeland Security Committee.

Eric was then elected Brooklyn Borough President in 2013 by putting together a diverse coalition of Brooklynites to become the borough’s first Black leader.   As the representative of one of the nation’s largest counties, Eric fought tirelessly to grow the local economy, invest in schools, reduce inequality, improve public safety, and advocate for smart policies and better government that delivers for all New Yorkers. 

When the COVID-19 pandemic struck the city, Eric moved a mattress into his office and worked around the clock to deliver donated meals and PPE to essential workers and vulnerable New Yorkers, demanding government produce more equitable relief.

In addition to continuing to fight for struggling New Yorkers and a better quality of life for all, Eric became a national leader on public health policy after learning he had developed Type 2 diabetes.   Following his diagnosis, Eric completely changed his diet and his body, reversing the disease and launching a personal mission to educate New Yorkers about preventative care and wellness. His work has already led to successful proactive public health efforts across the city and increased education in schools and with high-risk populations in lower-income areas, partnering with civic organizations and health experts.

Eric is a lifelong New Yorker. He received his master’s degree in public administration from Marist College, and is a graduate of New York City Technical College and the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. He is also a proud product of New York City public schools, including Bayside High School in Queens. Today he lives in Bedford-Stuyvesant, where he has resided for over 20 years. Eric is the proud father of Jordan, an aspiring filmmaker and graduate of American University.

Fernando Montejo is Assistant Vice President for Emerging Tech Initiatives at the New York City Economic Development Corporation, where he leads Venture Access NYC, a suite of programs to build the world’s best and most inclusive tech ecosystem in New York City. He has designed and launched programs supporting diverse founders and funders, including the Venture Access Alliance of 100+ venture capital firms committed to investing in more diverse-led companies, and the Founder Fellowship which has offered acceleration to more than 160 tech startups across NYC.

Fernando was previously the Senior Officer for Economic Prosperity at MIT Solve, where he championed innovations to economic opportunity challenges around the world. Prior to Solve, he served as Advisor to the General Manager at the New York City Housing Authority, where he helped implement initiatives to improve quality of life for more than 400,000 working and low-income New Yorkers.

Fernando is originally from New York City and holds a Master in City Planning from MIT and a BS in Urban Studies from Cornell University.

Frank Scott, Jr. began his second four-year term as Mayor of Little Rock on Jan. 1, 2023. During his time in office, Mayor Scott has worked toward uniting Little Rock’s diverse neighborhoods through expanding our economy, creating new opportunities foreducational growth for Little Rock’s students, enhancing public safety and improving thequality of life and place in Arkansas’ capital city.

Mayor Scott has pledged to be Little Rock’s Chief Growth Officer, and has overseen the creation of more than 8000 jobs to date. Little Rock’s population has grown to more than 203,000 residents as the Mayor pushes jobs growth and economic development, making Little Rock a catalyst for the new South. New developments, such as Trex, Trader Joe’s, Fiocchi, Topgolf and more highlight the momentum of this growing and thriving city.

Under the Mayor’s leadership, the City established the position of Chief Education Officer and helped implement a Community Schools model in six Little Rock School District schools. These schools integrate individualized student support services, expand and enrich learning opportunities, and operate as a neighborhood hub to provide other needed trainings and services for students’ families.

Mayor Scott worked with the Little Rock Board of Directors to make the Little Rock Police Department the highest-paid municipal force in the State, and to provide LRPD with the equipment and tools it needs to protect Little Rock neighborhoods including the implementation of full- time social workers within the LRPD. Mayor Scott has also worked to expand community programs to reduce violence as part of his holistic and comprehensive crime reduction strategy.

With quality of life and place as a priority, Mayor Scott has established a task force to address downtown development and density. Another task force is tasked with the goal of eliminating food deserts and ensuring all Little Rock residents have access to nutritious food. His renewed emphasis on parks and recreation has led to improvements at city parks and at the Little Rock Zoo, even as he works to identify and implement long-range strategies for War Memorial and Hindman parks.

Mayor Scott, who was first sworn in as Mayor in January 2019, began his public-service career in the office of Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe, where he first served as Deputy Policy Director and later as Director of Intergovernmental Affairs. While on Beebe’s staff, Scott continued his education, earning a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. That degree, with a concentration in finance, complemented Scott’s undergraduate degree in Business Administration from the Fogelman College of Business at the University of Memphis.

Determined to put his finance training to work, Scott accepted a position as a CommunityBanker with First Security Bank, giving him insight into the issues facing small businesses across the City. At the same time, he continued to devote a significant amount of time to serving both his City and State as a member of the Port of Little Rock Board of Directors and as a member of the Arkansas Highway Commission – experiences which gave Scott an understanding of the critical infrastructure that forms the backbone of any city.

He currently serves as president of the African-American Mayors Association, a nationalorganization representing African-American mayors from across the country.

As an associate pastor, youth mentor, and professional, Mayor Scott lives out the values he learned growing up in Southwest Little Rock, the same area where he lives, today. Hegives back to the City that invested in him and reminds young people regularly that values are the foundation of a purpose-filled life.

George McGraw is a leading expert on the human right to water and sanitation in the US and around the world. He is a Water and Power Commissioner for the City of Los Angeles, where he and his fellow board members direct the nation’s largest municipal utility. Mr. McGraw also serves as founder and CEO of digdeep.org, the only water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) organization solely focused on the United States. DigDeep develops education, research and infrastructure programs aimed at extending clean, running water to the two million Americans who still lack it. In this capacity, Mr. McGraw works with local government officials, policymakers and utility providers to innovate solutions to water challenges across the nation. Mr. McGraw is an Ashoka Fellow, a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network, and former Social Entrepreneur in Residence at Stanford University. He holds a Masters in International Law and the Settlement of Disputes from the United Nations University for Peace.

Jason Sankey is a strategic change agent with nearly two decades of progressive leadership and experience in operations and technology. He is known for his ability to effectively collaborate across business lines while continuously driving innovation.   

Jason brings his immense experience as a technology leader to the City of Atlanta as the chief information officer (CIO) of the Department of Atlanta Information Management (AIM). In this role, he is accountable for delivering information technology services to all 25 departments, including Public Safety, Justice, Operations, Administration and Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.   

Jason is widely known for his executive leadership, technology foresight, and thought-provoking strategies in transforming organizations. He strives to balance innovation with a realistic approach to advancing technology while integrating the City’s goals with efficient services. 

Before joining AIM, Jason served as the CIO of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS). While working at ODJFS, he used his exemplary budget and operation management skills to oversee technology solutions for the department’s $3.5 billion budget while also developing and supervising the States’ public assistance services. 

Jason has a track record of building talented, highly accomplished teams that demonstrate excellence and consistently produce impactful results. Prior to joining ODJFS, he spent 13 years as vice president at Citigroup in New York City and Columbus, Ohio.   

Recognized as a consummate professional and determined leader who perseveres through challenging times, Jason was awarded the 2020 state of Ohio agency CIO of the year and was the recipient of the COVID-19 hero award.  Recently, he was also chosen as a 2023 Top 10 City Government CIO by Government CIO Outlook. 

Jason prides himself on the impact he makes within communities through his work serving as a public service executive. Jason serves on various community boards where he stresses collaboration and seeks enterprise solutions while focusing on maximizing technology through customer experience. 

Jerele D. Neeld is versatile, executive leader with more than twenty years’ experience working for Fortune 500 global technology companies and a track record of delivering customer and business value beyond what’s normally anticipated. His broad expertise, willingness to take risks responsibly, and multi-disciplinary approach enable him to lead, build, run, transform, and scale-up functions and capabilities no matter the leadership role. Jerele is uniquely skilled at using his entrepreneurial background to see opportunities, to make business cases for pursuing them, and to build strategic plans and the delivery engine to realize them.

Jerele believes every person can be innovative and creates a culture of innovation that supports and encourages his organization to produce extraordinary outcomes. Over a ten-year period at Dell Technologies, Jerele’s organization produced 300+ patent ideas that were submitted to patent committees for review. Twenty percent-plus (20%+) of those patent ideas were judged patentable and submittable to USPTO.

Jerele values individual achievement in a team context grounded in accountability and integrity. In his most recent role at Dell Technologies, Jerele led a global organization of ~400 people in 16 countries on four (4) continents responsible for contentdesign/development and language translation for Dell’s $100B+ portfolio of products and solutions. This team innovativelycreated and published 185K+ deliverables of highly re-usable educational, technical information for those products and solutions. Those deliverables were used by customers, partners, tech support agents, and field delivery teams across every step of the customerexperience.

Jerele led this global team to save the company $100M+ in hard costs, generate $85M in unexpected revenue, and establish a mission-critical IT infrastructure that used AI/ML capabilities to shorten cycle time and improve delivery costs. Jerele also set stretch goals for his organization that required learning on-the-fly and developing new skills. One such stretch goal focused on increasing team member productivity that resulted in additional organizational capacity equal to adding 59 more people.

Jerele joined the City of Chattanooga, TN in January 2024 to be the Director of Intelligent Cities. Our goal is to make Chattanooga the preeminent mid-size city in the US using leading-edge technologies to make citizens’ use of City infrastructure and services easier, simpler, and better. In the first three months, Jerele led the team to get a city-wide traffic signal timing project approved for work to begin; eliminated a supply chain constraint that lasted 6+ months, thereby allowing a technology system designed to reduce traffic delaysand accidents at rail crossings around the City to go live sooner; developed with the GIS team a map of 27,000+ streetlights overlayed with pedestrian incidents (injuries, deaths) to help analyze whether street lighting might have been a factor. In March 2024, Jerele was asked toexpand his responsibilities and be the Interim CIO for the City of Chattanooga.

Active in giving back to his community, Jerele has served on the Board of Directors of Reflection Riding, the American Cancer Society and Conspirare, a Grammy Award-winning Choral Ensemble. He was also Co-Chair of the Barbara Jordan Charitable Trust. In August 2009, he was selected to be a member of the Leadership Austin Essentials Class of 2010 and completed that course in May 2010.

As part of his commitment to giving back to the broader community, Jerele was a major sponsor of and participant in two leadership conferences in Ireland. Those conferences were for community grassroots leaders from both the Catholic and Protestant sidesof the Northern Ireland conflict, working to implement the completion of the Good Friday Agreement.

Jerele has a Bachelor of Science degree from the College of Liberal Arts at Texas A&M University. He has done additional coursework at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business and the C.T. Bauer College of Business at the University of Houston. Jerele was selected to Who’s Who in America 56^th Edition.

John is an Assistant Vice President of Climate Tech and Innovation on the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) Green Economy team. His work focuses on public-private innovation programs, leveraging New York City real estate, especially public sector real estate, to unblock barriers faced by early and growth stage climate tech companies when developing market traction in New York City. Previously, John was a research project manager at the C2SMART Center, a smart transportation center funded by the United States Department of Transportation, managing a portfolio of grant-funded research projects focused on connected and autonomous mobility, infrastructure resiliency, and big data applications, including 2 software projects for state transportation agency stakeholders. John received a Master’s of Public Administration from NYU’s Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service, where he focused on program design and evaluation, and worked on a procurement disparity study for the City of Trenton, New Jersey. He received a Bachelor’s degree in Economics, also from NYU. In his free time, he thinks a lot about inclusive cities and public spaces, especially for older adults, along with housing, and economic growth.

Joshua Breitbart is the Senior Vice President, ConnectALL, at Empire State Development. In that role, he serves as Director of the Division of Broadband Access, overseeing the statewide digital equity plan and administering over $1 billion in public investments across the state. Joshua Breitbart brings more than two decades of experience to ConnectALL, including as Senior Advisor for Broadband and Deputy Chief Technology Officer for the City of New York and as an advisor to the broadband subcommittee of the Reimagine New York Commission. 

Keith Kerman is a Deputy Commissioner at the Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) and NYC’s first Chief Fleet Officer, serving 50 agencies including NYPD, FDNY and DSNY.  NYC’s fleet is 28,500 units, $1+ billion in annual expenditure, and 1,800 staff.  NYC Fleet is a national leader in biofuel and EV adoption, charging, telematics, fleet safety through Vision Zero, and shared services.    

Keith is a permanent civil servant in his 30^th year including 17 with NYC Parks managing Citywide Operations. Keith has now served in senior roles under four NYC Mayors.  

In 2019 Keith received the Sloan Public Service Award from the Fund for the City of NY. This award is often referred to as the Nobel Prize of NY Public Service. In 2021, Keith received a national Climate Leadership Award from the Climate Registry, C2ES, and Bloomberg Philanthropies. In 2022, Keith received a Legendary Lifetime Achievement Award from Government Fleet Magazine. Keith has been named to City & State’s NY Transportation 100 list in both 2022 and 2023.  

Keith is from Massachusetts and Harvard College, where he met his wife Denise, an attorney who works for Bloomberg LP. They have two children, Todd and Keith, and are dual residents of Manhattan and Pelham NY.

Kelly Moan serves as the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) of the City of New York (NYC). In this role, Ms. Moan leads the Office of Technology and Innovation’s (OTI) Cyber Command to protect, defend, and respond to cyber threats across the city. Prior to her appointment as the City’s CISO, Ms. Moan served as the CISO for the New York Police Department (NYPD). Throughout her career, she has taken a holistic and mission driven approach to cybersecurity, with a strong focus on collaboration.

Prior to joining the NYPD, Ms. Moan was a Division Chief for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in Washington, DC. She led the security architecture and engineering team, building and deploying emerging technology to enhance cybersecurity defenses for the Department. She also served as the FedRAMP Joint Authorization Board (JAB) Technical Representative to the CIO, providing subject matter expertise on securing cloud technologies.

At other points in her career, Ms. Moan held roles supporting the DoD and USCERT. She also served as an Intelligence and Operations Briefer for the Secretary of Homeland Security. Ms. Moan holds an undergraduate degree from American University and a graduate degree from Pennsylvania State University.

 Kimberly Walker LaGrue heads the Office of Information Technology & Innovation for the City of New Orleans. She and her team deliver IT services and strategies to ensure equitable growth of technology services throughout city government. In 2018, she was appointed Chief Information Officer by Mayor LaToya Cantrell, and assigned to lead the City’s digital equity and smart city strategies, driving the mayor’s goal to provide all residents equal access to technology, making New Orleans a connected, data-driven smart city. 

A New Orleans native with over 25 years of IT experience, Kimberly has spent most of her career developing technology solutions for government. She is president of the Cities Today Institute-North America, and an advisory board member of the Internet of Things Consortium. A fierce advocate for local broadband development, she is personally committed to developing digital opportunities and connectivity in the under-served communities of New Orleans. 

Kody Kinsley serves as North Carolina’s Secretary of Health & Human Services, overseeing a department with over 18,000 staff and a $38 billion budget.

With experience centered on health policy and operations, Kinsley worked on digital healthcare transformation, national education and labor policies, and served as COO and CFO of the U.S. Treasury. 

Secretary Kinsley’s three priorities for the department include: Investing in behavioral health and resilience, improving child and family well-being, and building a strong and inclusive workforce. Under his leadership, North Carolina expanded Medicaid and received the largest investment to bolster the mental health system in over a decade. 

Kinsley grew up in Wilmington, earning his bachelor’s degree from Brevard College and his master’s in Public Policy from the University of California at Berkeley.

Lisa M. Flores serves as Chief City Procurement Officer and Director of the Mayor’s Office of Contract Services (MOCS). With over 20 years of experience in government, Lisa is an expert in New York City procurement rules and systems and is an advocate for procurement reform.

Born in Puerto Rico and raised in New York, Lisa is a proud Latina and a fierce advocate of equity and increasing opportunities for local minority and women-owned business enterprises. Under her leadership, MOCS has implemented several initiatives focused on demystifying the City’s procurement process by addressing issues such as access to information, language barriers, and process reform. In 2023, Lisa launched the MOCS in Your Neighborhood, monthly in-person workshops designed to provide prospective contractors with the critical support needed to contract with New York City. The initiative fulfilled her promise to “meet businesses where they are.”

Before becoming Director, Lisa served as the Deputy Comptroller for Contracts and Procurement, where she oversaw the review of all contracts, contract amendments, leases, and concessions between City agencies and vendors to determine whether the agreements should be registered.

Lisa received a Bachelor’s Degree in International Politics and Spanish from Pennsylvania State University and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. 

Maria Torres-Springer is the NYC Deputy Mayor for Housing, Economic Development and Workforce, charged with spearheading the administration’s efforts to strengthen and diversify its economy, advance Mayor Adams’ moonshot goal of creating 500,000 new homes for New Yorkers over the next decade, preserve and improve the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), bolster small business, connect New Yorkers to family-sustaining jobs, and expand access to arts and culture. 

She previously was Vice President of US Programs at the Ford Foundation where she oversaw the foundation’s domestic grant making and made historic investments to support racial equity, workers’ rights, voting rights, and arts and culture across the country. 

As commissioner of the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development, Maria focused on the production of housing for the city’s most vulnerable communities, while also launching several new programs to protect tenants’ rights. She led the implementation of Housing New York, a five-borough, 12-year plan to create or preserve 300,000 affordable homes; and she steered the financing of approximately 60,000 affordable homes.

Earlier, as president and CEO of New York City Economic Development Corporation, Maria led the implementation of the new citywide ferry service and made major investments in key sectors of the city’s economy. She also spearheaded several neighborhood revitalization plans. Prior to that, as commissioner of the NYC Department of Small Business Services, Maria prioritized efforts to raise wages and support women and immigrant-owned businesses and worked to prepare New Yorkers for 21^st-century jobs. 

Maria earned her bachelor’s degree in ethics, politics, and economics from Yale University and a master’s in public policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two daughters. 

Martha Norrick is the Chief Analytics Officer and Chief Open Platform Officer for the City of New York and Director of the Office of Data Analytics at the NYC Office of Technology and Innovation. Martha previously served as the Director of Data Strategy at the Mayor’s Office for Economic Opportunity, where she led multi-agency data integration and analytics projects, including data management for the rollout of the City’s pandemic emergency food program, and efforts to simplify and improve the delivery of social services. Previously, she served as a director in the Office of Management Analysis and Planning at the NYPD, in data leadership roles on presidential campaigns, and for the Democratic National Committee. Originally from Minnesota, Martha is a graduate of Barnard College with a degree in history and holds an M.S. in Applied Urban Science and Informatics from New York University.

Matthew C. Fraser is New York City’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of the Office of Technology & Innovation (OTI). The Chief Technology Officer coordinates technology-related projects and policy across the City.

Under the CTO’s leadership, several technology offices were combined into the Office of Technology & Innovation. These included the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DoITT), the Mayor’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer (MOCTO), NYC Cyber Command (NYC3), the Mayor’s Office of Information Privacy (MOIP), the Mayor’s Office of Data Analytics (MODA), NYC311, and the Algorithms Management and Policy Office. By consolidating all the City’s information technology offices, CTO Fraser has put forward a central strategy to bring agility, efficiency, and modernization to the City’s IT infrastructure.

CTO Fraser is committed to democratizing technology. He oversees projects to expand broadband and make City services easier to use for all. CTO Fraser also runs the Joint Security Operations Center (JSOC). JSOC is a new cybersecurity hub that allows city, state, and federal entities to coordinate efforts against cyber threats.

Most recently, CTO Fraser served as Deputy Commissioner for Information Technology at the New York Police Department (NYPD). At NYPD, he oversaw the successful launch of several community-based, crime reduction, and precision policing initiatives, including the NYPD On-Line Reporting Service, allowing members of the public to report low-level crimes. CTO Fraser spearheaded the efforts to leverage technology to address violent crime conditions through programs expanding Citywide gunshot detection coverage, increasing the number of ARGUS cameras deployed across the City, and rehabilitating security cameras covering NYCHA housing developments. These efforts led to faster response times and provided better context for responding officers to aid in the swift apprehension of violent perpetrators.

CTO Fraser also led the development and deployment of the NYPD’s first digital workforce management suite of applications, giving NYPD leadership real-time access to workforce availability and detailed resource assignment information.

CTO Fraser has over 17 years of IT experience across government and the private sector. In addition to NYPD, he has worked with the NYC Department of Environmental Protection, the Mayor’s Office, the NYC Department of Buildings, and as a Director of Consulting Services at Gartner.

CTO Fraser is a native New Yorker, born in Brooklyn, NY.

Melissa Blaustein was elected to her first four-year term on the Sausalito City Council in November of 2020 and served as the city’s youngest ever Mayor in 2023.  In her tenure as Mayor, Blaustein balanced her budget into the black, negotiated three key labor contracts, made Sausalito the first city in Northern California to receive HCD approval on a historic housing element, and championed the establishment of an RFP for a first ever Smart Cities Program for Sausalito using new technology to drastically improve city services and mitigate climate change.

A former vice chair of the Sustainability Commission, Melissa spearheaded Sausalito’s single use plastics ban, rewrote the city’s Low Emissions Action Plan, championed an electrification of buildings ordinance, and added a sustainability element to the city’s revised general plan. An advocate for equity and social justice, she launched the first DEIB citywide program for the City of Sausalito, and joined the National League of Cities with the Chamber of Commerce and the City of Sausalito to build a Kiva Lending Hub for Marin County’s disadvantaged communities. She has been a featured speaker and podcast guest at the US Mayoral Round Table, with C40 Cities, at the Cities Summit of the Americas, SXSW and the National League of Cities.

Outside of her local involvement, Melissa is the founder of Allied for Startups, a worldwide network of advocacy organizations focused on improving the global policy environment for startups and entrepreneurs. In addition to founding her own organization, she is currently authoring a book on the power of local government. Her background in policy and advocacy spans the local, national, and international levels, having held roles at The White House, UN Women, UNEP, the G20 Research Group, and with Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, and she firmly believes change begins at the local level.

Melissa holds a Masters Degree in Public Affairs Cum Laude from Sciences Po in Paris, France and an undergraduate degree in American Studies with honors from UC Berkeley. She is currently completing her second masters degree in Homeland Security at the Naval Postgraduate School’s Center for Homeland Defense and Security. A dedicated marathon swimmer, Melissa can often be spotted swimming the Sausalito waterfront, and in 2018 swam the English Channel.

Michael Fitzpatrick is the Chief Privacy Officer (CPO) of the City of New York (NYC).  

As CPO, Michael leads the Office of Information Privacy within the NYC Office of Technology and Innovation (OTI).  Michael’s responsibilities include advising the Mayor, Chief Technology Officer, and other senior officials on privacy policy, implementing the NYC Identifying Information Law and promulgating Citywide privacy policies and protocols, and facilitating best practices for strengthening privacy protection in NYC.  Michael also provides counsel regarding privacy aspects of suspected and known security incidents while working collaboratively with OTI Cyber Command and other City officials responsible for managing the City’s incident investigation, response, and recovery processes.

Prior to his appointment as CPO, Michael served as Executive Agency Counsel and Agency Privacy Officer (APO) at the New York City Police Department (NYPD).  As NYPD APO, Michael was responsible for leading the NYPD privacy program for its over 50,000 employees, serving as the NYPD privacy law specialist, and providing strategic advice across all functions of the agency on privacy issues and risk mitigation.  Michael also served on the Executive Security Committee of the NYPD providing advice on legal procedures and requirements relating to computer security incidents, as well as represented the NYPD on the NYC Privacy Protection Committee.  Before serving as NYPD APO, Michael was an embedded Agency Attorney within the NYPD Intelligence Bureau where he advised complex criminal and counterterrorism investigations, as well as compliance with the Handschu consent decree governing NYPD investigations involving political activity. 

In November 2021, Michael was appointed by the United States Secretary of Homeland Security to serve on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee, providing advice requested by the Secretary and DHS Chief Privacy Officer relating to privacy issues associated with the DHS mission.

Michael holds a J.D. from Fordham University School of Law, a M.S. from New York University in Cybersecurity Risk and Strategy, and a B.S. from Manhattan College in Business Administration.  

Michael has been designated by the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) as a Fellow of Information Privacy (FIP) and is an IAPP Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP/US) and Certified Information Privacy Manager (CIPM).  

Michael Pegues is the Chief Information Officer (CIO) at the City of Aurora, the second largest city in Illinois, where he leads the Information Technology (IT) Department and manages the citywide IT strategic plan for technology services. With over six years of experience in this role, he has developed a passion for city work and has become an urbantech champion, driving smart city efforts from plan to execution to achieve the goal of making the City of Aurora a regional technology hub.

He is also the Chair and CEO of OnLight Aurora, a regional communications service provider and ISP, Vice Chair Quad County African African Chamber of Commerce (QCAACC), and CxO Advisor for consulting firms that help organizations optimize their IT performance and security. He holds an Executive MBA from Central European University and multiple ITIL certifications. He leverages his global executive management and IT expertise to enhance public administration and safety, cyber security, economic development, STEM education, and resident services. He is motivated by the social impact of his work and the opportunity to empower and collaborate with diverse stakeholders.

Michael has more than 20 years of experience in the fields of process improvement, technology and innovation.  Prior to the city of Las Vegas, he served as the Deputy Director of Public Safety, Business Services & City Technology for the City of Irvine, California.  Michael is extremely passionate about technology, and believes through innovation, workforce development and collaboration, we can create brighter and sustainable communities.

Michael received his B.S. in Management from Pepperdine University followed by an M.S. in Executive Management from the University of Southern California.

Michelle Lujan Grisham is the thirty-second governor of the state of New Mexico, the first Democratic Latina to be elected governor in U.S. history.

As governor, Lujan Grisham has implemented a series of evidence-based policies aimed at transforming New Mexico’s public education system, expanding the state’s economy to include more high-quality employment opportunities and preserving New Mexico’s air, land and water. In 2019, she oversaw one of the most productive legislative sessions in state history, signing a broad package of bipartisan bills into law, notably a historic investment in public education and a landmark transition to clean energy.

A longtime state Cabinet secretary at both the New Mexico Department of Aging and Long-term Services and Department of Health, Lujan Grisham has been a leading advocate for senior citizens, veterans and the disabled as well as investments in health care infrastructure and innovative programming that has improved access and quality of care for New Mexicans across the state.

She was elected to the U.S. Congress in 2011, serving three terms in Washington on behalf of New Mexico’s 1st Congressional District. As a member of Congress, she worked aggressively to support local tribes, equal pay for women, public schools, public lands and veterans’ health care; she also advocated strongly for saving and creating clean New Mexico jobs. As chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, she became a vocal, national leader in the battle against reactionary federal anti-immigrant policies.

Driven by a deep compassion for seniors and those living with disabilities, and with experience as a caregiver herself, Lujan Grisham introduced and led the push for Care Corps, an innovative caregiving initiative that places volunteers in communities to provide non-medical services to seniors and individuals with disabilities. With this support, people can continue to live independently in their homes and communities.

Lujan Grisham was born in Los Alamos and graduated from St. Michael’s High School in Santa Fe before earning undergraduate and law degrees from the University of New Mexico. A 12th-generation New Mexican, she is the mother of two adult children and grandmother of three.

Nicole Coughlin is an award-winning technology executive who serves as the chief information officer for Cary, North Carolina. She is the principal strategist and architect for information technology and digital marketing across the organization. Coughlin is at the forefront of the smart cities movement, creating a connected community through piloting and implementing IoT technologies in the public sector. 

A self-described government rebel, Coughlin participates in numerous conferences and summits as a keynote speaker and panelist. Her work has been profiled in numerous case studies as she continuously pursues new models of digital transformation for collaborative citizen-facing By fostering partnerships both locally and nationally, she leverages her private-sector background to fuel civic innovation in ways not previously seen in local government projects. Prior to her work in government, years in various IT leadership positions in the private sector, leading development teams in the U.S. and internationally.

Coughlin is currently serving a two year appointment to the Department of Commerce Internet of Things (IoT)Advisory Board, serves on the Technology Executive Council for CNBC and the IoT Advisory Council for CompTIA.

Nse Esema is the SVP, Green Economy team at NYCEDC where she leads a team focused on fostering the growth of climate related industries in NYC through inclusive, equitable economic development. Prior to her current role, Nse focused on establishing NYC as a global hub for the OSW industry with a core commitment to centering equity, through leading the development and implementation of NYC’s OSW vision plan.

Prior to NYCEDC, she worked with city governments in Africa and North America in developing and implementing multi-stakeholder resilience building strategies. Nse Esema earned a Masters in City Planning degree from MIT. She lives in the Bronx with her husband and two children.

As Director of Smart Cities + IoT within the New York City Office of Technology and Innovation, Paul Rothman provides technical leadership and coordination for the development and integration of technologies, systems, and policies for the continuous modernization of IoT technology and related civic issues to meet the public’s evolving needs. In addition, Paul works with agencies, academic institutions, and communities to pilot and evaluate innovative technologies and concepts to address City challenges. In his role, Paul co-authored the 2021 NYC Internet of Things Strategy which aimed to support a healthy cross-sector IoT ecosystem in New York City – one that is productive, responsible, and fair.  Previously, Paul was a founding member of littleBits Electronics, a STE(A)M education technology startup where he served as the Director of R&D. Paul is passionate about sustainability and climate issues and works to develop products and projects with their impacts in mind. He is a graduate of New York University with a bachelor’s degree in music technology and a master’s degree from the Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP), where he was previously an adjunct instructor. Paul lives in Brooklyn, NY with his wife, son, and dog.

Rick Cotton became Executive Director of The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in August 2017. Prior to joining the Port Authority, Mr. Cotton served as New York State’s Special Counsellor for Interagency Initiatives, serving as the point person for most of the Governor’s major downstate infrastructure priorities. Mr. Cotton joined New York State following 25 years at NBC Universal, where he held several positions, including 20 years as EVP and General Counsel and four years as President and Managing Director of CNBC Europe. He has served in senior advisory roles at the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare and the U.S. Department of Energy. Mr. Cotton is a graduate of Harvard College and Yale Law School, and he served as a law clerk to Justice William J. Brennan, Jr. on the U.S. Supreme Court.  

Rohit T. “Rit” Aggarwala was appointed Commissioner of the New York City Department of Environmental Protection and the City’s Chief Climate Officer in February 2022. Under his leadership, DEP has embraced a leadership role on both stormwater and coastal resilience, streamlined its procurement processes to be able to invest more money in infrastructure each year, and improved DEP’s water revenues by reducing accounts receivable and delivering revenues $250 million above budget in his first year. As Chief Climate Officer, he also led the development of New York City’s most recent sustainability plan, PlaNYC.

Prior to the Adams administration, Aggarwala served as the first Director of the New York City Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability under Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, where he led the creation of the first PlaNYC. He later founded the environmental grantmaking program at Bloomberg Philanthropies and served as president of the Board of Directors of the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group. He was part of the founding team at Sidewalk Labs—Google’s urban technology startup—and more recently was a senior urban tech fellow at the Jacobs Cornell-Technion Institute. He has co-chaired the Regional Plan Association’s Fourth Regional Plan for the New York metropolitan area and is an adjunct professor at Columbia University. Aggarwala holds a PhD, MBA, and BA from Columbia University and an MA from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario.

Chief of Information Technology Ruben Beltran joined the New York City Housing Police Department in January 9, 1986, and began his career on patrol assigned to the Police Service Area #3 in Northern Brooklyn.

He was promoted to Sergeant in May 1993; Lieutenant in May 1997; Captain in March 2000; Deputy Inspector in June 2003; Inspector in November 2005; Deputy Chief in December 2008; Assistant Chief in December of 2014, and Chief of Information Technology in January of 2023.

He has served in Police Service Area #3, the Housing Bureau’s Narcotics Enforcement Unit Brooklyn/Staten Island; Transit Bureau District 3 in Upper Manhattan; Executive Officer of the 63rd Precinct in Marine Park and 71st Precinct in Crown Heights. He was the Commanding Officer of the 115th Precinct, Management Information Systems Division (MISD); Office of the Police Commissioner; and the creator and first Commanding Officer of the NYPD Real Time Crime Center (RTCC), Commanding Officer at School Safety Division, Commanding Officer for Patrol Borough Queens South which oversees the operation of 8 precincts with over 2,400 uniform members operating and serving the community of over 1 million residents. Chief Beltran is presently the Commanding Officer of Information Technology Bureau.

Chief Beltran holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Information Systems from John Jay College of Criminal Justice, is a 2004 graduate of the Police Management Institute at Columbia University and a 2014 graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School of Business Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government.

Seth Wainer works for the Port Authority as the Program Director of Innovation, responsible for managing an annual portfolio of innovative pilot projects focused on autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence, electric flight, and sustainability.  Mr. Wainer previously served as the Chief Information Officer for the City of Newark where he focused on digital transformation for city services and building a municipally owned high-speed internet network.  Before that, Mr. Wainer has also worked in corporate retail and as an Obama Administration appointee.  He is passionate about government innovation today and historical innovations in infrastructure like the Otis elevator break and the Erie Canal.  He lives in NJ with his wonderful wife and 3 young kids, who he hopes will not need driver’s licenses thanks to autonomous vehicle public transportation.

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 for the City of San José and Senior Advisor to Mayor Matt Mahan. 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.

In November 2019, Steven L. Reed made history as the first African-American to be sworn in as Mayor of Montgomery, Alabama, a city known globally as The Birthplace of the Civil Rights Movement. 

A native of Montgomery, Mayor Reed is committed to realizing his vision of a more equitable, progressive, and compassionate city. To that end, he is advancing an agenda that puts Montgomery on track to become a leader in the New South. 

In his first year in office, Mayor Reed successfully led a transformational ballot initiative to increase investment in Montgomery Public Schools for the first time in over 30 years. Amid the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and its sweeping effects on public and private sector budgets, Mayor Reed restructured the city government to increase efficiency and effectiveness while the City maintained a balanced budget, increased reserves and avoided employee furloughs and layoffs. As a result, bond rating agencies awarded Montgomery its best grades since the Great Recession. In the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder Mayor Reed is proud to have steered the city through peaceful protests without any personal or property incidents, while also leading initial police reform efforts. 

As a lifelong public servant and leader, Mayor Reed previously served as Montgomery County, Alabama’s first African-American and youngest elected Probate Judge. During his tenure, Mayor Reed expanded mental health services to Montgomery’s most vulnerable residents and stood defiant against Alabama’s Roy Moore as the first probate judge in the state to grant same-sex marriage licenses following the U. S. Supreme Court ruling. 

Mayor Reed received the Dr. Martin Luther King Leadership Award for Governmental Service and was chosen as a New Deal Leader. He was selected for the Aspen Institute Socrates Program, Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative, and E Pluribus Unum’s (EPU) inaugural class of UNUM Fellows. 

Mayor Reed earned his Bachelor of Arts degree, cum laude, from Morehouse College and a Master of Business Administration degree from Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management. He and his wife Tamika are the proud parents of three children. 

Mayor Victoria Woodards of Tacoma, Washington was elected mayor in 2018.  

Woodards has called the “City of Destiny” her home for almost her entire life. She is a proud graduate of Tacoma’s Lincoln High School and has served as a soldier in the United States Army. Before becoming mayor, she served for seven years as an at-large member of the City Council. During that time, she launched the city’s Equity and Empowerment initiative which led to the establishment of its Office of Equity and Human Rights. She also brought partner organizations together for then-President Barack Obama’s My Brother’s Keeper initiative and spearheaded the city’s Project PEACE initiative which bridged community members with the Tacoma Police Department. 

As mayor, she continues to be a champion of these important issues while expanding her involvement in regional and national conversations on affordable housing, transportation, strengthening youth and families, public safety, growing local business, and the creation of family wage jobs. She has also worked to more fully engage the city’s youth in community decisions that impact them every day, by expanding Student Government Day and establishing the city’s first Youth Commission. 

Woodards has been selected to serve in a number of national leadership roles that allow her to share information with other cities across the country and bring best practices back to Tacoma. In addition to her role as Past President of the National League of Cities, she has served as co-chair of both NLC’s Council on Youth, Education, and Families and its Race, Equity and Leadership program. At the United States Conference of Mayors, she serves on the advisory board; as vice-chair of the Committee on Jobs, Education, and the Workforce; and as co-chair of the Women Mayors Leadership Alliance.  

Some of her other leadership roles as Tacoma’s mayor include positions on the Puget Sound Regional Council Executive Board, Sound Transit Board, Tacoma-Pierce County Economic Development Board, Pierce Transit Board, Foundation for Tacoma Students Board, and the Workforce Central Board. In partnership with County Executive Bruce Dammeier and County Council Member Connie Ladenburg, she also convened elected leaders from across Pierce County for Mayoral Roundtable to explore opportunities for regional collaboration on the issue of housing attainability in the region, an initiative that formally came to be known as the ‘South Sound Housing Affordability Partners.’ 
 
Woodards has consistently reaffirmed her support for immigrant and refugee families, and Tacoma remains a welcoming city committed to providing immigrant and refugee communities with equitable access to City services. Alongside her peers on the City Council, she advocates for policies that provide safety and stability for all members of the community, and she uses her national leadership roles to join with mayors across the county in calling for federal reforms. Under her leadership, the city appointed members to its first Commission on Immigrant and Refugee Affairs. This commission was established to better engage with immigrant and refugee communities, and to work with local organizations to identify and advance positive outcomes for community members in need. 

Demonstrating a lifelong track record of public service, Woodards has served as president of the Tacoma Urban League and as director of community development for the Tacoma Rainiers. Her past civic engagement work has also included leadership positions with the Tacoma Metropolitan Parks Board, the Washington State History Museum, and the Washington State Commission of African American Affairs. 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/woodards4tacoma

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Woodards4Mayor

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/victoria-woodards-89183533/

As the first Chief Public Realm Officer for the City of New York, Ya-Ting Liu is responsible for coordinating across city government, community organizations, and the private sector to create extraordinary public spaces across the entire city and continue to drive the city’s economic recovery. 

Since her appointment in February 2023, she has advanced major public space policy and project initiatives for the Adams Administration including overseeing the implementation of the country’s largest outdoor dining program and transforming commercial districts throughout the city, including the redesign of 5^th Avenue from Bryant Park to Central Park. Ya-Ting is also focused on reforms that make it easier for New Yorkers to activate, maintain, and program in public spaces. 

Liu brings over 15 years of policy, community organizing, coalition building, and government affairs experience to the Adams administration. Before entering city government, Liu worked as the director of government affairs and policy for the rideshare company Via, as sustainability program director for the New York League of Conservation Voters, as director of transit advocacy for Transportation Alternatives, and in federal advocacy for the Tri-State Transportation Campaign.

Liu earned a bachelor’s in conservation studies from the University of California, Berkeley, and a master’s in city planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Ydanis Rodriguez has served as Commissioner of the NYC Department of Transportation since January 1, 2022. As NYC DOT Commissioner, Rodriguez oversees more than 5,500 employees, an annual operating budget of $1.4 billion, and a 10-year capital budget of $33 billion. Rodriguez is the first Latino and only the second person of color to serve in the position.

Commissioner Rodriguez is delivering on the agency’s commitment to reimagine public space, including making New York City the most walkable and bikeable city in the nation. Under his leadership, NYC DOT is focused on equity and bringing government, local communities, the private sector, and academia together to build a better and fairer transportation future.

Since becoming Commissioner, Rodriguez has overseen the creation of Dining Out NYC, the nation’s largest permanent outdoor dining program, and the dramatic expansion of Summer Streets, which opens select city streets for people to play, walk, and bike across five Saturdays in July and August. This year, Summer Streets featured 20 miles of Open Streets, nearly tripling the initiative’s footprint from the prior year and, for the first time, extending it to all five boroughs.

Prior to leading NYC DOT, Commissioner Rodriguez served in the New York City Council, where he chaired the Transportation Committee from 2014 to 2021. Before serving in elected office, Commissioner Rodriguez taught in New York City public schools for more than fifteen years. 

A proud immigrant from the Dominican Republic, Commissioner Rodriguez arrived in New York City at the age of 18. He worked tirelessly — including as a livery cab driver — to put himself through City College, where he earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees. 

A crisis-tested leader, Zachary Iscol has led in settings ranging from combat operations in Iraq to the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic and Hurricane Sandy in New York. His experience includes building a pioneering nonprofit mental healthcare provider, leading one of the premiere military journalism outlets, and serving as a strong advocate for immigrants and underserved communities. Two of his former commanding officers cited him as the officer they would personally select to lead their sons into combat.

As a Marine, he served two tours in Iraq and other assignments throughout Africa and the Middle East. During his second tour of duty, he led a combined unit of US Marines and Iraq soldiers in some of the heaviest fighting of the Iraq War during the Second Battle of Fallujah, where he was awarded a Bronze Star for valor. He later helped build many of the components of the Marine Corps’ first special operations command and deployed on one of the first MARSOC teams to deploy overseas.

Over the past decade, Iscol has built and led businesses and a nonprofit mental healthcare provider, the Headstrong Project. The Headstrong Project now cares for over 1,000 veterans a week in 30+ cities and counting to provide world-class, cost, and bureaucracy free mental healthcare veterans and service members need to recover from hidden wounds and get back to their best versions.

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City, Iscol led over 40 federal, state, and city agencies as the deputy director of Joint New York Medical Station, one of the largest and only successful COVID field hospitals in the country.

Iscol began serving as Commissioner of the New York City Emergency Management Department in February 2022, leading the agency in its mission to coordinate the City’s preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation efforts in an ever-evolving threat landscape. Iscol has managed New York City Emergency Management’s response to disasters of various size and complexity, including five-alarm fires, a transit active shooter, multiple disease outbreaks, mass migrations and asylum seeker crises, coastal storms and other extreme weather events, as well as deployments to other hurricane-impacted jurisdictions.

 A 2001 graduate of Cornell University, Iscol was the youngest recipient of Phillips Exeter Academy’s John Phillips Award, a member of the 2013 Team USA for USA Triathlon, and a grand marshal of the 2019 New York City Veterans Day Parade. In 2007, while still on active duty, he testified before the United States Senate about the need to protect Iraqi refugees, especially translators and others who put their lives in danger to help US forces.

Amen Ra Mashariki is the director of AI and Data Strategies at the Bezos Earth Fund, where he works to identify strategies and solutions that will help environmental justice organizations use AI to solve complex issues. Dr. Mashariki was previously a Senior Principal Scientist at NVIDIA where he lead their global Urban AI initiatives. He was also previously the Global Director of the AI Lab at the World Resources Institute. He has also served as Head of Machine Learning at Urbint, adjunct faculty at NYU’s Center for Urban Science and Progress (CUSP), and Fellow at the Harvard Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation.

Dr. Mashariki served as the first Chief Analytics Officer for the City of New York under the de Blasio administration and the Director of the Mayor’s Office of Data Analytics. He was appointed to be a White House Fellow and the Chief Technology Officer for the Office of Personnel Management of the United States in the Obama Administration. Amen earned a Doctorate in Engineering from Morgan State University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from Howard and Lincoln University, respectively.

Amit Rikhi is a seasoned executive with a dedication to innovation and social impact. Driven by the belief that companies committed to positive change serve as powerful catalysts for advancing humanity, Amit has forged an impressive career.

Notably, as the Vice President of Innovation at the American Cancer Society, he led the development of the innovation function, providing vital support to one of the largest non-profit organizations in the U.S. During his tenure at Viome, a prominent life sciences company, Amit held the position of Chief Business Development Officer, spearheading the development of impactful growth strategies. Additionally, his leadership at Reign Industries, co-founded with ex-NFL player Lofa Tatupu, resulted in a successful merger with Pivital Holdings Corp.

Currently at Treehouse Studios, in his role as CEO, Amit is creating the world’s first athlete-focused, corporate-leveraged startup studio. He has assembled a world-class team of innovators, entrepreneurs, and athletes to develop cutting-edge products and services that drive meaningful social impact. Amit has also forged key partnerships with global technology companies and Fortune 100 corporate allies.

Throughout his journey, Amit has consistently exhibited a commitment to fostering positive change. His extensive background stands as a testament to leadership with a profound sense of purpose.

Andrew Smyth is the Robert A.W. and Christine S. Carleton Professor of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics at Columbia University. He is the PI and Director NSF Engineering Research Center for Smart Streetscapes and is the Co-Chair of the Smart Cities Center at the Columbia Data Science Institute. He specializes in structural health monitoring, using sensor information to determine the condition of critical infrastructure. His research in sensor network monitoring extends to large fleets of vehicles in urban environments including work on road safety and EMS operations. Smyth has been involved with the sensor instrumentation and vibration analysis and remote monitoring of a large number of iconic long-span bridges and landmark buildings and museums. 

He has been a Visiting Professor at the Laboratoire Central des Ponts et Chausées, Paris, at KU Leuven in Belgium, and at Trinity College, Dublin. In 2018-2019 he served on NY State Governor’s 6 member L-Train Tunnel Review Panel which proposed a rehabilitation redesign obviating the need for a 15-month shutdown. He is the founding co-Editor in Chief of the Journal of Intelligent Infrastructure and Resilience. He is the President of the International Association of Structural Control and Monitoring. 

Prof. Smyth received his Sc.B. and A.B. degrees at Brown University in Civil Engineering and Architectural Studies respectively, his M.S. in Civil Engineering at Rice and an M.S. in Electrical Engineering and a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering at the University of Southern California.

Aron oversees sustainability partnerships for Google’s geospatial solutions. His team focuses on partnering with cities, public and private organizations, commercial and non commercial entities that are interested in using Google’s advanced geospatial technologies, tools and data for CO2 emissions reduction and climate action.

Prior to this role, Aron ran Global Partnerships at Waze. Aron was responsible for leading and expanding Waze for Cities into a global, free data-exchange program benefiting thousands of cities worldwide. Before Waze, Aron was an executive at Google Israel, where he helped build the local branch from 2008.

Bob Bennett chairs Cities Today Institute, a 200+ community, multinational think-and-do tank, which supports city leadership through conferences, peer mentorship, research, and training. The Institute prepares city leaders to create livable, sustainable, connected, and resilient cities. He is also the Principal and Founder of B Squared Civic Solutions, a civic tech consulting firm with commercial and public sector clients, including service with the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas as their Covid-19 Vaccine Operations Director in 2021. In addition to his consultancy work, Mr. Bennett serves as Ward 2 Alderman in his hometown of Parkville, MO. He previously served as Chief Innovation Officer for Kansas City, Missouri from 2016-2019. In that role, he led the City’s Smart City Challenge initiatives, which earned Kansas City an Edison Award (Gold) for “Collective Disruption” and civic innovation in 2017. Bob was named one of GovTech’s 25 Dreamers, Doers, and Drivers in 2018. Before working in city government, Mr. Bennett served 25years in the US Army as an operations executive and strategic planner. He is a combat veteran who successfully built teams of American soldiers in the US, Europe, Southwest Asia, Africa and throughout the Pacific Ocean region. He recently published a book detailing how to lead city innovation projects, Changing the World, One City at a Time.

Brian is Partner, CEO of SHIFT Capital, a Certified B Corporation® on a mission to collectively build just neighborhoods. He founded SHIFT to drive more equitable development in underserved neighborhoods and cities by aligning capital and philanthropy. Through his work and leadership at SHIFT, Brian is focused on finding better solutions for society’s most difficult urban challenges — intergenerational poverty, urban revitalization, access to opportunity, and community displacement. Brian manages the deployment of over $330 million of investments throughout SHIFT’s portfolio in Philadelphia PA, Newark NJ, Washington DC, and Upstate New York. Brian is a Peace Corps alumnus and a MBA graduate of Yale School of Management.

Catherine is a Co-Founder of Meshed an IoT Solutions Company & Founding Director of the IoT Alliance Australia. 

As a global leader in sustainable cities, digital transformation & intelligent asset management, Catherine has been awarded prestigious industry awards including the IoT Ambassador Award & Smart Cities Industry Leader by Smart Cities Council.

Prior to Meshed, Catherine was the Director of Smart Cities & Industries for IBM & has held other Executive positions for KPMG, MC2 Consulting, Telstra & PMP Communications. Catherine is currently an Advisory Council Member of the Asia Development Bank Sustainable Cities Committee. Over her career, Catherine has launched many world firsts including the White & Yellow Pages Online portals.  Catherine holds qualifications in urban planning, economics, telecommunications, management & applied finance. 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/catherinecaruanamcmanus/

Chloe Taylor is an author and entrepreneur based in Brooklyn, New York. She is the founder of Chloe Taylor Technology, a STEM education consulting company that partners with schools looking to incorporate meaningful technology education for young learners. Chloe is originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in Social and Cultural History, and an additional certification from the National Robotics Engineering Center (NREC). She later earned her Master’s Degree in Education, with a focus on Curriculum and Instruction, from Fordham University. Chloe is an experienced early childhood educator with nine years of teaching in New York City’s public and independent schools. As an entrepreneur, she has collaborated with brands including HP, BrainPOP, and Sphero Robotics to promote the importance of STEM education for youth, and to bring awareness to gender discrimination in the tech industry. In 2020, Chloe published her first book, “The Big Book of Invisible Technology”, a hands-on guide for children that introduces coding, robotics, machine learning, and 3D printing, among many other topics. Recently, Chloe has collaborated with Slalom Element Lab on the creation of the ‘Dream Bigger’ program, which introduces immersive AI, AR/VR and robotics experiences to NYC students in Slalom’s 1 World Trade Center lab. Additionally, she has been a facilitator of the Girls Who Code program for six years and is a passionate advocate for gender and racial equity in the technology industry. Find more about Chloe online at ChloeTaylorTech.com and on social media @ChloeTaylorTech.

Chris Foreman, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Marketplace.city drives the company’s revenue and growth by expanding our community of local government users and scaling our vendor network.  Marketplace.city accelerates local government sourcing, validation and procurement by providing essential market research data on innovative and emerging technologies that are specific to the local government industry. 

Prior to Marketplace.city, Mr. Foreman served as CEO of the Americas for AvePoint, Inc. ($AVPT) While at AvePoint, Mr. Foreman helped lead the company’s growth from a small team to over 1200 employees in 15 countries and drove the expansion into government by launching an independent subsidiary, AvePoint Public Sector, Inc. where he served as CEO and Chairman.  AvePoint won 3 consecutive Global Microsoft Partner of the Year awards during Foreman’s tenure.   He has actively worked in the technology industry for nearly 20 years.  

Mr. Foreman received a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors in political science and international affairs from Northwestern University. He’s active in several industry and non-profit boards such as the American Legion and Unity Preschool.  He lives in Evanston, IL with his wife and their 4 children. 

Clare Newman serves as the President and CEO of the Trust for Governors Island (TGI), charged with the planning, redevelopment, and ongoing operations of 150 acres of Governors Island. Clare comes to TGI from the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation (BNYDC), where she served as Chief of Staff and Executive Vice President. At BNYDC, Clare implemented a suite of projects that will bring 10,000 jobs to the Yard by 2020 and foster future development. Before BNYDC, Clare was a senior leader on the Government Innovation team at Bloomberg Philanthropies in charge of the Mayors Challenge, an international competition to generate innovative ideas to solve major urban challenges. Prior to joining Bloomberg Philanthropies, Clare was a Vice President at New York City Economic Development Corporation’s (NYCEDC’s) Real Estate division. In her over five years at NYCEDC, Clare executed projects throughout the five boroughs, including the restoration of the Loews Kings Theatre in Flatbush, Brooklyn, the City’s bike share program, and the Applied Sciences tech-campus initiative.

Clare received a Masters of Urban Planning from the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University and a B.A. with honors in Political Economy from Williams College. She is a member of the board of TransitCenter and a member of WX. 

Clayton Banks is the CEO of Silicon Harlem whose goal is to combine technology and innovation with affordable connectivity that can enable a sustainable economic engine in emerging communities across the United States. Under his leadership, Silicon Harlem has attracted over $50 million dollars into upper Manhattan for advanced infrastructure research and test bedding. Mr. Banks has positioned Upper Manhattan as a tech and innovation hub that is one of the fastest growing areas for tech startups, entrepreneurs, and companies. Banks has been able to galvanize the public sector, the private sector, universities, andcommunity stakeholders to embrace tech as a sustainable economic engine for Upper Manhattan. Banks has established critical programs based on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in public schools and several non-profits in Upper Manhattan to prepare citizens for 21st century jobs and careers. These programs have become gateway opportunities for many students to pursue further education.

Prior to Silicon Harlem, Banks was a pioneer in the cable and communications industry. He set the vision for Ember Media, a development group that builds digital solutions and interactive applications for top brands and non-profit organizations, across multiple platforms. Known as a pragmatic visionary, Banks has developed and deployed leading edge technology and applicationsfor network cloud, gaming consoles, social media, augmented and virtual reality, interactive TV, tablets, mobile apps and over 400 interactive properties. Banks worked with former President of the United States Bill Clinton to publish a first-of-its-kind interactivecollege guide series called “The Key”, that targets underserved communities and features Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Hispanic Serving Institutions. Banks served as Vice President of Affiliate Relations for Comedy Central. While at Comedy Central, he was part of the launch of South Park, the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and the Upright Citizens Brigade.

He has been recognized with many awards and honors including being selected as one of New York Cities “Tech Power 50” leaders in the technology industry. Banks has been inducted into the Library of Congress, has received proclamations from thePublic Advocate, Manhattan President’s office, Brooklyn’s President Office, and Advocate of the Year from Society for Africans in Diaspora.

Corey McMahon, the Chief Product Officer at HopSkipDrive, has led the development of industry-leading technology. He has pioneered key products like driver safety tracking using telematics, patent-pending school pickup safety procedures, AI-based transportation plan generation, and user-centric school district web-applications. Managing a team of software engineers, product managers, user experience designers, and more, he also regularly collaborates with co-workers who have comprehensive, experience-based understanding of day-to-day school transportation operations and communicate daily with school systems across the country about operational safety and support, information technology, and data analysis. In prior roles, Corey led teams at YP, AT&T, and more. 

Cort T. Malone is a shareholder in the New York and Stamford offices of Anderson Kill and is the Chair of the firm’s Biometric Liability Insurance Recovery Group. Cort is an experienced litigator, focusing on insurance coverage litigation and dispute resolution, with an emphasis on commercial general liability insurance, cyber insurance, employment practices liability insurance, advertising injury insurance, directors and officers insurance, and property insurance issues. He is also a member of the firm’s Restaurant, Retail & Hospitality, Environmental Law, Cyber Insurance Recovery, and COVID Task Force groups.

Cort also possesses extensive commercial litigation experience, including arbitration and alternative dispute resolution relating to a variety of tort, contract, and regulatory disputes. While attending the Fordham University School of Law, Cort was a member of the Fordham Moot Court Board and garnered several awards for both oral argument and brief writing skills at various inter- and intra-school competitions. He spent five years teaching a first-year Legal Writing course as an adjunct professor at Fordham Law.

Dan Vock is a senior reporter at Route Fifty, where he focuses on transportation and infrastructure. He has covered state and local government for two decades, first as an Illinois statehouse reporter and later as a national reporter based in Washington, D.C. Dan has written stories about every state in the country, and has reported on the ground from half of them (so far). He won a Jesse H. Neal award for best profile and earned a fellowship from the Columbia Journalism School’s Ira A. Lipman Center for Journalism and Civil and Human Rights.

Dana is an architect, a former F15 flight simulator trainer from the Israeli Air Force turned urban data scientist (NYU CUSP ’18). In 2020, Dana was selected to become an Entrepreneur-In-Residence at Schmidt Futures, the public benefit arm of Eric Schmidt, under which she founded inCitu: a startup on the mission to bring future cities to life via augmented reality in order to empower residents on the process of urban change. 

Prior to inCitu Dana worked at the NYC Department of City Planning (DCP), her research on the feasibility of Tel-Aviv’s city center rezoning was published in “Haaretz” newspaper and she is a frequent lecturer on Smart Cities’ next frontier.

Daniella Decker is a highly regarded accessibility and disability inclusion consultant whose expertise lies at the nexus of transportation, disability-inclusive employment, and technology. 

Throughout her career, she has successfully facilitated the allocation of over $8 million in funding for specialized disability programs, collaborating with philanthropic organizations, transportation and mobility firms, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and private sector entities. Presently, Daniella provides advisory services to prominent multilateral organizations, nonprofit groups, and assistive technology companies, with a focus on the intricate interplay between sustainability, economic inclusion, policy, and mobility.

Daniella’s influential contributions extend beyond her consulting work, as she has authored articles on disability inclusion that have been featured in notable publications such as Agencia EFE, the World Politics Review, the Associated Press, La Vanguardia, and ImpactoLatino. She also holds vital roles in the disability advocacy sphere, serving as an advisory member for Enabled Play, an assistive technology company, and playing an integral part in the Executive Committee of COAT (Coalition on Accessible Technology) to advance equitable access to information and technology for individuals with disabilities in the United States.

Daniella possesses a multifaceted skill set that includes proficiency in American Sign Language, Portuguese, and Spanish. She earned her degree in business administration and political science from American University in Washington, D.C. and currently resides in New York City.

Danny Hendren is the Sr. Director of Local Government Sales for Cyclomedia Technology, Inc.  Danny has worked with many municipalities to provide Smart City and Digital Twin solutions including metric 100-megapixel, 360° street level imagery and high density terrestrial LiDAR.  Danny has held multiple roles within federal and local government as he was a GIS/GPS program manager for the Army Corps of Engineers as well as the GIS Coordinator for Hardin County, KY.  Danny graduated from Western Kentucky University with a BS in Geography and is a current GISP.  Danny is an active member of URISA, IAAO, and served as a Director for the Cumberland Chapter of the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association and the Kentucky Association of Mapping Professionals.

Darryl Phillips is the Executive Director of the Always Strive and Prosper Foundation. He is a passionate and dedicated harm reduction reduction activist currently ushering a 50+ venue distribution totaling over 20,000 fentanyl test kits through the New York City area including bars, restaurants, and partnered retail locations. The program initiative gas been mention and or featured ON NBC News, Telemundo 47, The New York Times, New York Post and The Wall Street Journal. 

Darryl’s dedication to co-founding  the Always Strive and Prosper Foundation “ASAP Foundation” started as in memoriam of a past friend and colleague, Steven Rodriguez (p.k.a. A$AP Yams) who fatally overdosed in 2015. In following Darryl has made it a mission to work with Steven’s mother Tatianna Paulino to ensure and aid factual education to other young adults regarding  substance use and abuse as well as the current potentially life threatening consequences that have plagued our communities and a larger spectrum demographic.

Mr. Phillips also has garnered over 20 years as an experienced director and producer of film, multi-media, and online content.  Following his attendance at Emory University Darryl worked in the media sector with a special interest in music, video, and film and thus directing, editing, and executive producing a range of documentaries, centered around art, social justice, prison reform and drug legalization. Works include two feature length and award winning documentaries, over seventy five music videos and an extensive client service history including: Sony Music, VICE Media, Color of Change, Drug Policy Alliance, Los Angeles Opera, Alexander Wang, PEPSI, MKTG, Lacoste, DefJam Recordings,Universal Records, Uproxx, and Johnson Publishing. 

Darryl’s overall work is centered around the connections between media, harm reduction and social justice with a goal to aid recreational and habitual substances users in preventing fatal and non-fatal overdoses as well as intentionally informing vendors and others who might haphazardly be suppliers to friends or associates and potentially leading to their  increased legal jeopardy and racial bias inherent in the arrests and incarcerations that has so historically and severely impacted socio-ecocnomically disenfranchised communities and citizens of color.

Deborah Snyder leads Accenture’s Health and Public Service business in the Northeast. Based in New York, she works with governments, universities, nonprofits, hospital systems, and health insurance companies, with an emphasis on transformation through digital, innovation, and reimagining organizations.

Deborah has spent more than 20 years helping make good public sector organizations better. Before her current role, she was responsible for Accenture’s work with New York State and City. Previously, she led Accenture’s North America public service strategy and management consulting practice.

Deborah is committed to her community and currently serves as a trustee of the Citizens’ Budget Commission. She previously was a David Rockefeller Fellow with the Partnership for New York City, an International Women’s Foundation Fellow, and was honored by Girl Scouts of Greater New York as a Woman of Distinction.

Deborah lives in Manhattan with her husband and son.

Demetrius Bledsoe is born and raised from St. Louis, MO.

Demetrius earned his Bachelor of Science in Agriculture Economics with an emphasis in Marketing and a minor in computer sciences from Iowa State University where he was also a member of the wrestling team. Demetrius also hold a Masters in Quality Management and an MBA, both from Webster University.

Demetrius has worked with various Fortune 500 companies like Dow Chemicals, Pfizer, Dupont, and Novo Nordisk onvarious sales and marketing projects. Demetrius excels in an executive level environment with functions including marketing, sales, product development, negotiating, strategic planning and budget administration. Demetrius has a wealth of executive management and sales experience. Demetrius provides the essential business acumen to direct the company in daily finance, sales, accounting and resource management functions.

Demetrius is a seasoned veteran in the music and marketing industry with over 20+ years of experience. Demetrius’ experienced has ranged from managing artist and producers to business marketing development for various Grammy winning production teams. Beyond the creative side of the business, Demetrius has developed the business and interpersonal skills necessary to be the project lead for any situation. He maintains close personal relationships withmany executives and personnel within the music industry. These affiliations and contacts will provide the company with the proper positioning to navigate within the industry.

Military background: 13 years in the Naval Reserves as a Seabee, Construction Battalion CEO and Co-Founder of Fresh Harvest 365, LLC

Fresh Harvest 365 Is a hydroponic smart farming system (shipping container farms) company providing the highest quality local produce to the Community (food banks, food deserts, shelters, and schools), Farmers’ Markets, Restaurants, Grocery Stores and STEM educational facilities delivering a Fresh Harvest 365 days a year!

Our Mission is to Educate + Employ + Empower the next generation of agricultural and community leaders.

We serve and assist socially disadvantaged, veteran farmers, and or beginning farmers of all ages in owning and operating successful grow operations and breaking the barriers of industry into the agricultural and vocational tech industry.

Core Focus: to serve as a collaborative innovation incubator that increases access to equitable agricultural,horticultural, and workforce development resources through education and social justice missions.

Donnel Baird is the founder of BlocPower, a climate tech company based in Brooklyn, NY, that analyzes, finances, and installs clean energy and decarbonization upgrades in buildings in underserved communities. BlocPowercreates jobs for qualified local low-income workers, energy savings for building owners, reduces carbon emissions and asthma rates, and provides financial returns to investors. In 2021, the company announced a historic partnership with Ithaca, New York to decarbonize 100% of the city’s buildings—the first such project in the United States.

BlocPower is backed by Kapor Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Goldman Sachs, Microsoft, and Volo Earth Ventures. Baird is a graduate of Duke University and Columbia Business School. He spent four years as a political and community organizer, and two years managing a national initiative to leverage American Reinvestment andRecovery Act energy efficiency investments in underserved communities.

He is a member of the board of directors of several organizations including the New York Federal Reserve Bank Second District Board, the Climate Reality Project, and the Coalition For Green Capital. Additionally, he serves onthe Advisory Committee of the US SEC Small Business Capital Formation. An award recipient of the ColumbiaBusiness School Entrepreneur of the Year in 2021, the National Venture Capital Associations Startup Innovator of the Year in 2022, and TIME Magazine’s inaugural ‘Dreamer of the Year’ in 2022. In 2022, Fast Company named BlocPower the #4 Most Innovative Company in the World, TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential Companies, and the 42nd Most Disruptive Startup in the world by CNBC.

Dustin Dye is the CEO and co-founder of Botcopy, a leader in conversational AI with a focus on both private and public sectors. With eight years of industry experience, he specializes in Google Cloud Contact Center AI solutions and Dialogflow. Dustin played a pivotal role in developing the Minnesota Department of Public Safety’s Driver and Vehicle Services chatbot, which is multilingual and meets ADA 2.1 AA compliance standards. This project recently won a prestigious Google NEXT Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Award.

Certified in Generative AI, Dustin is a Google Cloud Certified Professional and an alumnus of Harvard Business School Online and the University of Arizona. He’s the author of “The Ultimate Contact Center AI Setup.” Serving a global clientele that ranges from Global Fortune 100 companies to small businesses in over 30 countries, Dustin is extremely committed to bringing cutting-edge technologies to the public sector to make cities smarter. Formerly a director at Expert Dojo, his passion lies in empowering entrepreneurs and innovators through conversational AI.

Edward Skyler joined Citi in 2010 and is now Head of Enterprise Services & Public Affairs. A member of Citi’s Executive Management Team reporting to the CEO, Edward has responsibility for managing several global operations, including Aviation, Colleague & Client Services and Citi’s real estate portfolio, as well as functions that shape the reputation of Citi, including Communications, Government Affairs, Sustainability/ESG, Community Investing & Development and Citi’s compliance with the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). He chairs Citi’s Reputation Risk Committee and the Board of the Citi Foundation. He also shares oversight of Investor Relations and Regulatory Affairs.

Prior to joining Citi, Edward served as a member of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s administration from 2002 to 2010, rising to the position of Deputy Mayor for Operations for the City of New York. In that capacity, he oversaw the performance of the City’s main operational agencies and served as a top budget, legislative and labor negotiator. He oversaw four consecutive balanced and on-time City budgets; negotiated legislation to reform lobbying and “pay-to-play” practices; and spearheaded critical initiatives such as the overhaul of the City’s 911 system and its sustainability agenda.

Previously, Edward served as Press Secretary and Communications Director during Mayor Bloomberg’s first term. Prior to joining the Bloomberg Administration, he worked in the Corporate Communications group of Bloomberg LP. He also served as Deputy Press Secretary to Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and Public Information Director at the Department of Parks & Recreation.

Edward has stayed involved in civic life and served as Chairman of the Citizens Budget Commission. He is also an Executive Committee Member of the New York Police & Fire Widows’ & Children’s Benefit Fund and is a Trustee of The Paley Center for Media and the Hospital for Special Surgery. He has been honored by several organizations, including Global Kids, Graham Windham and the YMCA of Greater New York.

A member of the New York State Bar Association, Edward is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and earned a Juris Doctor degree from the Fordham University School of Law.

Ernie was born in Sancti Spiritus, Cuba. He moved to the US along with his three siblings during the early days of Fidel Castro’s communist revolution while his father sought his freedom as a political prisoner. The family settled in Lexington, KY, where Ernie attended Sayre High School, and was elected class president three years consecutively. 

He received a B.S. in Computer Sciences from the University of Kentucky while working multiple jobs including computer night operator, retail clerk, restaurant waiter, research lab technician, and farm hand. He joined IBM out of college and was elected class president of his training cohort. He earned an M.B.A. in Finance from Xavier University while working full-time at IBM. 

Ernie went on to have a successful career at IBM, serving in sales and executive roles, including Account Executive, Director of IBM Financing for Latin America, VP of Americas Mainframe Sales, VP of Global Quote to Cash Operations, and head of IBM’s US Public Sector business. 

He joined the University of Miami in 2018 as VP and Chief Information Officer, overseeing the University’s IT strategy and operations. When he left in 2021, the Board of Trustees presented him with a Resolution of Tribute for the accomplishments of his org over the preceding three years, and for the role he played in helping the University to prosper during the pandemic.

Ernie joined Microsoft in October 2021 as Vice President of US State and Local Government responsible for strategy, sales, and customer support. The organization helps transform all aspects of government, including economic development, workforce development, public safety, health and human services, and critical infrastructure and transportation. Their mission is to empower people to do more by delivering outcomes that matter to governments and the citizens they serve and addressing some of our country’s most pressing challenges. In July 2023, SLG was a finalist for subsidiary of the year based on business results and customer impact.

Ernie and his wife Carolina have four grown children, and two grandchildren, and split time living between South Florida and Sherman, Connecticut. They support non-profit organizations including the Dolphins Challenge Cancer, the Benebikira Sisters of Rwanda, and the University of Miami’s Cuban Heritage Collection. He enjoys swimming, biking, running, and learning to play golf. 

Fernando Gómez-Baquero holds a Ph.D. in Nanoscale Science and Engineering from the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering at the University at Albany SUNY.  His research has focused on advanced nanomaterials for energy storage applications, on the economic impact of pervasive nanotechnologies, and on tech entrepreneurship. Dr. Gómez-Baquero has more than 25 years of experience in the nanotechnology industry, starting with production and characterization of carbon nanotubes and developing of polymer/nanotube composite materials. Dr. Gómez-Baquero is recognized as a leader in the fabrication of nanoengineered electrodes for lithium-ion batteries using semiconductor processes and using nanotechnology to improve the performance of lithium-ion batteries. Dr. Gómez-Baquero has several publications in nanomaterials research and on the economic impact of nanotechnologies and number of patent applications in diverse applications of nanomaterials. Dr. Gómez-Baquero is also the Director of Runway and Spinouts at the Jacobs Technion – Cornell Institute at Cornell Tech, where he is helping postdoctoral entrepreneurs build companies out of digital technologies in diverse fields such as digital health, telecommunications, education, cybersecurity, and IoT. He’s also a visiting lecturer at the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business. 

Gary Brantley brings more than 20 years of experience in the technology sector and 17 years of leadership to the NFL as the Chief Information Officer. In this role, Gary is responsible for day to day technology operations along with the innovation strategy for the league. Previously, Gary served as the CIO for Beazer Homes, which is one of the country’s largest public home builders.

As the former CIO for the City of Atlanta, Gary focused on organizational transformation by altering the department culture to achieve a competitive advantage and address future technology challenges. He developed and implemented a strategy centered on how impact and influence can peacefully collide to empower leaders to build effective teams, healthy workplace cultures, and thriving business ecosystems with organizational transformation. In this regard, he moved from present planning to future business continuity to refocus and re-energize the entire workforce, from talent acquisition and retention to repurposing staff into more vital roles to meet the City’s technology needs. Gary also created an Atlanta CIO Advisory Board to continue pushing the envelope with input from other CIOs, experts within the technology sector.

Gary has also led initiatives surrounding partnerships with companies and organizations such as AT&T, Verizon, Microsoft and the Atlanta Police Foundation to modernize the City of Atlanta’s 27 departments including Atlanta’s Hartsfield Jackson Airport. He also worked to secure funding for community training in STEM-based education for the Centers of Hope in Atlanta.

Before joining AIM, Gary was the CIO of one of the largest school districts in the United States. In that capacity, Gary spearheaded the district’s largest technology overhaul, Digital Dreamers, which included the distribution of over 70,000 end user devices to teachers as well as students.

Gary began his career with IBM before becoming the Regional Operations Director for MCIWorldCom. There, he continued to have an impact on technology and took that expertise to the Ohio State Department as the Director of Technology. He went on to become the CIO for the one of the largest urban school districts in Ohio.

Gary’s admirable professionalism and unyielding dedication have earned him numerous awards and accolades and has led him to write his first book, The Art of Organizational Transformation: 7 steps to Impact & Influence. Gary was featured in the list of Top 30 Technologists, Transformers and Trailblazers by the Center for Digital Education in 2015, ComputerWorld’s Premier Top 100 Technology Leaders for 2017. In addition, he was awarded with the Making IT Happen award from the International Society for Technology in Education. Gary was also a finalist for the 2017-2018 and 2020 Georgia CIO Leadership Association’s CIO of the Year ORBIE Award. He was also recognized as one of Government Tech Magazines 2020 Top Doers and Dreamers.

Greg Cross is one of the original tech nomads, spending his career traveling to and living in every major tech market in the world. He now lives in New Zealand but creates businesses that compete on the international stage. Most recently PowerbyProxi, a wireless charging company he co-founded, was sold to Apple in 2017.  In 2016 Greg co-founded Soul Machines to build a HumanOS for Artificial Intelligence and explore the future of human-machine cooperation. Soul Machines is at the cutting edge of AGI research with its unique Digital Brain, based on the latest neuroscience and developmental psychology research.  Partnering with innovative people and brands like Carmelo Anthony, Procter & Gamble, NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE®, Maryville University, and The World Health Organization, Soul Machines is re-imagining what is possible in the delivery and underlying economics of empathetic customer experience.  Greg holds multiple chair positions, is the Sir John Logan Campbell Executive in Residence at the University of Auckland Business School, and was inducted into the New Zealand Hi-Tech Hall of Fame in 2019.

Greg Lindsay is a senior advisor to the Arizona State University Threatcasting Lab, where he assists private organizations and public institutions such as NATO and the United States Secret Service in identifying, disrupting, and mitigating future threats. He was most recently an urban tech fellow at Cornell Tech’s Jacobs Institute, exploring the implications of AI and spatial computing at urban scale. He is also a senior fellow of MIT’s Future Urban Collectives Lab, a senior advisor to Climate Alpha, and a non-resident senior fellow of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Strategy Initiative. He was previously the urbanist-in-residence at URBAN-X — BMW MINI’s urban tech accelerator — the director of applied research at NewCities, and founding director of strategy at its mobility-focused offshoot CoMotion. Greg is a two-time Jeopardy! champion (and the only human to go undefeated against IBM’s Watson).

With more than 25 years of experience serving as a leader, practitioner and advocate on a city and state level for education and workforce development, Morris guides NYCETC’s efforts to respond to the City’s current labor market challenges. 

Prior to his position as NYCETC’s CEO, Gregory J Morris became the President and Executive Director of the Stanley M. Isaacs Neighborhood Center (Isaacs Center) in September 2013. In June 2021, Morris initiated and facilitated the merger of Isaacs Center and Goddard Riverside Community Center, two respected New York City settlement houses. Through the merger, Mr. Morris assumed oversight of organizational efforts to align, integrate, and expand service delivery.  

Prior to Isaacs Center, Morris had been with The Children’s Aid Society (CAS) since 2010, serving as its first Chief of Staff and Special Assistant to the President and CEO. In this role, Morris served as co-lead applicant for Children’s Aid College Prep Charter School.  Prior to joining CAS, Morris served in senior leadership positions at The Door, A Center of Alternatives, Inc. and as Assistant Director at University Settlement Society of New York where he began his career in the non-profit sector in 1993. 

Morris holds a master’s degree in Public Administration from Baruch College School of Public Affairs, and an undergraduate degree from New York University. He earned an Advanced Certificate in Public Health from CUNY Graduate School of Public Health & Health Policy in May 2022. 

Morris served on numerous boards and working groups including the Future of Workers Task Force (2023) and the Human Services Recovery Task Force (2021). Currently, Morris is a member of Community Board 4 in Manhattan.

Gwen Lighter is the CEO and founder of GoAERO. Supported by NASA, Boeing, RTX, and a variety of aerospace and public safety partners, GoAERO is catalyzing the creation of Emergency Response Flyers—safe, autonomy-enabled aircraft that rescue people and perform critical response missions in the face of natural disasters, medical emergencies, climate change, and humanitarian crises. 

Since 2017, Gwen has also served as CEO of GoFly, where she has led a network of over 3,600 innovators from 103 countries, creating a multitude of personal flying devices, including jet packs, flying motorcycles, and human-carrying drones.

Dr. Hardie Davis Jr. is a distinguished leader who has significantly contributed to government, economic development, and sustainable urban planning. As the 84th Mayor of Augusta, he brought his expertise as an electrical engineer and his experience as a former State Representative and State Senator to transform the city into a smart, equitable, and sustainable 21st-century hub.

With a budget of $1.09B under his management, Hardie achieved global recognition for his remarkable initiatives. Notably, he played a crucial role in securing $178M in funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for Solvay Manufacturing’s work in electric vehicle batteries and electric grids. His accomplishments also include funding to establish the $126 million Georgia Cyber Innovation and Training Center in Augusta, implementing the largest municipal solar project in the state, reducing unemployment rates to under 4%, and achieving the highest bond rating in the city’s history.

While mayor, he launched the comprehensive climate action plan Green Augusta in 2021, aimed at reducing the city’s carbon footprint, increasing operational efficiency, and ensuring a resilient and sustainable future. His dedication to sustainability led to the transition of approximately 20% of Augusta’s non-emergency fleet to alternative fuel vehicles and expanded clean investments in numerous city facilities.

On a national level, he served on the Executive Committee of the United States Conference of Mayors, co-chaired the Technology & Innovation Task Force, and sat on the National League of Cities Board of Directors. He was a founding member and Past President of the African American Mayors Association. Additionally, he contributed to Smart City Expo USA as Chair and serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Georgia Conservancy.

Hardie’s commitment to equity and inclusion is evident through his role as a Director-At-Large for the Georgia Municipal Association, where he co-chaired the Equity and Inclusion Commission during a challenging period of racial injustices and the COVID-19 pandemic. The Commission’s groundbreaking work has served as a nationwide model for diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

Hardie was recognized for his leadership and consistently featured in Georgia Trend magazine’s annual list of 100 MostInfluential Georgians. He has received accolades from Georgia Bio, The Georgia Chamber of Commerce, and the Georgia Association for Career and Technical Education. As a renowned speaker, he has shared his expertise at various prestigious events, including Smart Cities New York, Smart City Expo Atlanta, Smart City Expo Doha, Summit of the Americas, and the National League of Cities.

Hardie holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Tech and further honed his skills through the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative at Harvard University. He also holds a Certificate in Health Policy from the Georgia State University Andrew Young School of Policy Studies. With a diverse professional background that includes workingat national corporations and expertise in policy development, process operations, and engineering, he has been a valuable asset to the organizations he has served.

In addition to his professional achievements, he earned a Doctor of Ministry Degree from the Christian Life School of Theology. As a spiritual leader, he founded Abundant Life Worship Center in Augusta, where he serves as the senior pastor, exemplifying his commitment to community service and guiding others towards a fulfilling life.

Dr. Hardie Davis Jr.’s remarkable journey and unwavering dedication have made him an influential figure in government, sustainability, and leadership. His visionary approach and transformative projects continue to shape Augusta and inspire communities nationwide.

Jabari Young is a senior writer at Forbes covering business and editorial lead of ForbesBLK. Previously, he covered sports business at CNBC, ranging from professional league media deals, sponsorships, labor agreements, and athlete portfolios. Before joining Forbes, Jabari worked at The Athletic, San Antonio Express-News, and Comcast SportsNet. A North Philadelphia native, Jabari graduated from Temple University in 2008, where he majored in journalism and communications. 

Jacqueline leads Helpful Places, a social impact enterprise advancing the adoption and stewardship of Digital Trust for Places and Routines (DTPR.io), an open-source communication standard to increase transparency, legibility and accountability for digital technology in the built environment. Helpful Places’ work with DTPR was recently highlighted in the American Planning Association’s 2023 Trend Report for Planners, Thomson Reuter’s Context and Cities Today, in addition to being a finalist for the Innovation Award at Smart Cities Expo World Congress in 2023.  DTPR has been implemented in Paris and Angers Metropole in France, Port in Portugal, Bristol in the UK, Innisfil in Canada, Sydney Olympic Park in Australia, and in parts of Boston, Washington DC, Long Beach, Miami, West Palm Beach, Detroit, and Charlotte. 

Jacqueline’s experience spans public, private and non-profit sectors. As Data Lead at Mozilla Foundation, Jacqueline led the development and implementation of their data strategy.

As Director of Digital Integration at Sidewalk Labs, she led incorporating innovation objectives, technology policy and data ethics into the company’s approach to urban development projects. 

As the inaugural Director of Data Analytics at the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, she developed the agency’s data strategy, developed their open data program and founded its first data science team. Jacqueline also spearheaded the largest participatory street tree mapping project in U.S. history, culminating in the NYC Tree Map, a digital platform for the collaborative management of NYC’s urban forest.

James M. Bailey (Jay) is a dynamic force committed to his unwavering motto, “Build As We Climb.”With a transformative vision, he embodies the essence of a change agent, thought leader, entrepreneur, and emerging philanthropist, directing his life’s mission towards uplifting others.

As the President and CEO of the H.J. Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs (RICE), he leads the world’s largest entrepreneurial hub dedicated to empowering Black businesses. In just four years, under Jay’s visionary leadership, RICE supports over 360 entrepreneurs full time, generating an impressive $117 million in annual revenues, sustaining 1,600

jobs in the community, and sparking a staggering $470 million of new economic impact in the Metro Atlanta area. Jay and his team have transformed RICE into an economic empowerment and innovation powerhouse.

An Atlanta native, sought-after speaker, three-time TED Talker, and die-hard Georgia Bulldog, Jay has a proven track recordof success. His leadership and commitment to the community have been recognized by three U.S. Presidents. In 2012, he was one of eight Americans honored at the White House as a “Champion of Change: Following in the Footsteps of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.”. In 2016, President Barack Obama bestowed upon him the Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his dedicated volunteer service.

Jay has received the esteemed National Point of Light Award and has been featured as one of the Atlanta Business Chronicle’sPOWER 100 Most Influential Leaders in the City. He was also named by Georgia Trend Magazine as one of the “100 Most Influential” in the state.

He is a devoted member of the Atlanta Rotary Club, dedicated to the motto “Service Above Self.” His remarkable board serviceincludes roles on the Georgia Chamber and Metro Atlanta Chamber Board of Directors. Additionally, he serves as a Board Director for both the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office and Invest Atlanta Foundation, as well as the founding Chairman of Citizens Trust Bank’s Next Generation Advisory Board.

Focused on education, he serves on the University of Georgia Board of Visitors, as an Agnes Scott College Trustee, a Board Director for the Atlanta Speech School, and the Executive Board of the Veritas School of Social Sciences. Jay is a nationally recognized landowner and serves as a trustee for the Georgia Forestry Foundation and will be launching the Black Land Institute in the fall of 2024.

Jay, an esteemed graduate of Leadership Georgia, Leadership Atlanta, and the Regional Leadership Institute, has earned numerous accolades. Among them are the Whitney M. Young National Community Service Medallion, the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drum Major for Service Award, the Maynard Jackson Community Impact Award, a 2023 Atlanta Business League Man of Influence, the Startup Atlanta Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Bernie Marcus Downtown Economic Impact Award. Additionally, he takes great pride in being a dedicated member of Alpha Phi Alpha and the 100 Black Men of Atlanta.

Currently residing in East Atlanta, Jay shares his life’s journey with his wife, NBC News correspondent Blayne Alexander, and their cherished daughter, Sage, with their second daughter set to arrive in May!

Jeff T. Blau is Chief Executive Officer and a partner of Related Companies. For the past 25+ years he has been responsible for directing and overseeing new developments worth over $60 billion in virtually every sector of the real estate industry. In his position as CEO, he is responsible for the strategic direction of the company, overall management of the firm, the pursuit of new development opportunities and corporate acquisitions and financing activities across all business platforms.

Mr. Blau serves on the Board of Directors of Equinox Holdings, Inc., the Central Park Conservancy, the New York City Partnership Fund, Robin Hood Foundation, Real Estate Roundtable, The Wharton Graduate School, The University of Michigan, Lincoln Center, and The Mount Sinai Medical Center.

Over the years, Mr. Blau has received numerous honors for his business, civic and philanthropic activities and was named to Crain’s New York’s New Influentials list of 25 leaders reshaping New York.

Mr. Blau completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Michigan and received a Master of Business Administration from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Jeremy M. Goldberg is the Worldwide Public Sector Director of Critical Infrastructure at Microsoft. Prior to Microsoft, Jeremy served as the Interim-CIO at the State of New York and also the Deputy Secretary for Technology and Innovation where he led the state’s IT organization through the first wave of the COVID19 pandemic. Prior to New York State, Jeremy served in technology leadership roles in the Mayor’s Office’s in New York City, San Francisco and San Jose California. He has been featured in the Wall Street Journal’s CIO journal, published columns on the topics of Digital Transformation, Strategic Investments in Technology in NextGov, Government Technology and State Scoop and is the recipient of several public sector fellowships and is currently a Senior Innovation Fellow – Data Smart City Program at Harvard’s Bloomberg Center. In 2020 he was recognized as #2 in City and State New York’s Government Technology 50. He is a graduate of the University of Texas-Austin, and received his Masters from the University of San Francisco.

A seasoned visionary in the technology landscape, Joe spearheads initiatives to foster transformative and socially driven technical solutions, confronting contemporary society’s most pressing challenges.

In his prominent role as the founder of Interactive Life, Joe has been the architect behind the revolutionary Microverse™ platform. This comprehensive and collaborative endeavor focuses on promoting positive societal transformations by offering sustainable solutions to critical issues including:

• Assisting incarcerated and previously incarcerated individuals in overcoming challenges
• Bridging the gap in inter-departmental collaboration among responders
• Refining police interactions with citizens
• Alleviating homelessness
• Addressing mental health concerns
• Introducing gender-responsive training and tools

Under Joe’s leadership, Interactive Life delves deep into the intricate networks of societal concerns, providing technology-based solutions for a more collaborative, sustainable, and harmonious future. A meticulous focus on cost, budget constraints and dedication to fiscal responsibility allows the company to provide cost-effective solutions.

Before the inception of Interactive Life, Joe founded Quu Interactive in 2007, which has grown exponentially, ingraining itself as a standard in the radio industry. Quu Interactive’s proprietary technology has been implemented in thousands of radio stations across the US, revolutionizing radio experiences for millions.

With a rich educational background holding a B.S. in Civil Engineering and an M.A.Sc. Eng. in computer modeling, Joe specializes in methodologies pertinent to large-scale project development. His innovative approaches and forward-thinking have culminated in 16 issued patents, with more underway, and more than 30 years of leading corporate development teams. 

Fluent in English, French, and Lebanese, Joe embodies a cosmopolitan spirit, enriched with diverse global cultural understanding. Joe focuses on assisting underrepresented communities, striving for social advancements through technology, and envisioning a world where innovation meets empathy, one project at a time.

From 1995 to 2005, John partnered with music impresario Russell Simmons, founder of Def Jam Records, to create Oneworld Media, Inc., where he served as CEO. Oneworld produced a magazine of the same name, a TV program with Warner Bros., and entered a multi-year custom publishing relationship with Hearst Magazines.

He was a co-founder and CEO of the venture-backed, video-based travel platform VoyageTV. In 2008, VoyageTV raised $10million in an A-Round led by Syncom Venture Partners and was sold to Next 1 Interactive in 2013. Voyages maintained offices in New York City and Taiwan. They syndicated short-form travel videos and commerce opportunities to over 40 million cable homes.

John recently founded and launched an Artificial Intelligence resource, Latimer.ai. This large language model (“LLM”) was built to deliver accurate historical information and bias-free interaction for Black and Brown audiences. Latimer has quickly garneredattention and adoption across a broad spectrum of uses.

Unlike other LLMs, Latimer builds its training platform using licensed content from esteemed sources, such as the recentlyannounced exclusive partnership with New York Amsterdam News. Using licensed content improves data accuracy and the fairness of economic sharing between content creators, owners, and data deliverers.

He was a partner at the Family Office, TRS Capital, and several TRS Capital portfolio companies, including MovitaOrganics, anorganic supplement company led by filmmaker Spike Lee’s wife, Tonya Lewis Lee.

John is on the Board of Directors of Outward Bound USA, the premier youth-focused leadership and wilderness experience organization.

John lives in New York City, is married to Kobi Wu-Pasmore, and has one child. He holds a Bachelor of Science in BusinessAdministration from the State University of New York and a Bachelor of Arts in Computer Science from Columbia University.

John is the founder of Element Laboratories and a Managing Director in Slalom’s global strategy group. He created Slalom Element Laboratories to provide an inspirational and innovative physical space to fulfill Slalom’s purpose of helping people and organizations dream bigger, move faster, and build better tomorrows for all. John is a futurist by trade and brings a wealth of experience in technology, product, and business strategy to the clients he serves.  His passion of bringing the future forward to people has expanded from the west coast (where he lives with his wife Melissa) to the east coast where he recently opened lab212 in 1 World Trade Center.  He has been pivotal in defining what Smart City strategies look like and helping organizations pragmatically navigate the complexities of technologies, networking, experiences, and adoption that many have faced.

Most recently, John launched a new immersion program in NYC, partnering with Chloe Taylor Technologies, schools, and city organizations to inspire local students to “Dream Bigger”. Prior to Slalom, John served as the Vice President at Synchronoss Technologies where he was pivotal in bringing some of the biggest consumer mobility, telecommunications, and entertainment products to market, transforming the experiences of how people interact with the world today.

Jonathan Beam serves as a Manager of Community Innovation at US Ignite, focusing on community and civic innovation. He works closely with US Ignite communities to foster innovation and encourage experimentation in the design and delivery of smart city services.

Prior to joining US Ignite, Jonathan managed programs and outreach for the Massive Data Institute at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy as a Program Manager. Before Georgetown, he worked on a number of political campaigns and spent several years in the nonprofit sector as a development officer.

Originally from South Carolina, Jonathan earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Emory University, and a Master of Public Policy degree from the Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan.

Jonathan Bowles is executive director of the Center for an Urban Future, a leading NYC-based think tank that focuses on building a stronger and more equitable economy in New York City, and expanding economic opportunity for all New Yorkers. During his more than 20 years at the organization, he has been the architect of the Center’s policy agenda and is responsible for making it one of New York’s most innovative and influential policy groups. His research has focused on a range of topics that are important to New York’s future, including spurring more middle class jobs, boosting community college graduation rates, expanding access to tech careers, increasing apprenticeships, upgrading the city’s aging infrastructure, and scaling up more of the city’s small businesses. In 2024, he was named one of the 100 most powerful people in New York City politics and policy by City and State NY. He lives in Queens with his wife and his kids.

Jordan Justus is the CEO and Co-Founder of curb management technology company Automotus. As a Southern California native raised in LA traffic, Jordan is passionate about building teams and technologies that make urban mobility more efficient, sustainable, and equitable. Prior to founding Automotus in 2017, Jordan worked in sales and finance for numerous venture-backed startups where he supported their expansion into new markets. He is a graduate of Loyola Marymount University’s entrepreneurship program.

Joseph Bradley is the visionary CEO behind TONOMUS, the first subsidiary company of NEOM, which has evolved from its technology and digital sector to lead the creation of the world’s first cognitive community. Joseph and his team’s strategic foresight are delivering a full-scale, end-to-end cognitive technology ecosystem for NEOM. By harnessing the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain and robotics, they are bringing cognitive cities to life.

Prior to NEOM, Joseph spent 15 years at Cisco in various senior leadership roles, the most recent of which was Global Vice President IoT, Blockchain, AI and Incubation Businesses. The California native graduated with a B.A. in economics from the University of California at Berkeley.

Joseph’s career has been defined by remarkable success. With a lifelong passion for data-driven systems that enable sustainable synergy between people and technology, Joseph has made it his life’s mission to enable companies in maximizing these dynamic interactions. 

Julie Samuels is the CEO of Tech:NYC, an organization representing New York’s fast growing, entrepreneurial tech industry, which she founded in 2016. She is also a Venture Partner at Hangar. Before that she was Executive Director at Engine, a nation-wide nonprofit focused on technology entrepreneurship and advocacy, where she remains a member of the Board. She previously worked at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, where she was a senior staff attorney and the Mark Cuban Chair to Eliminate Stupid Patents. Before joining EFF, Julie litigated IP and entertainment cases. Prior to becoming a lawyer, Julie spent time as a legislative assistant at the Media Coalition in New York, as an assistant editor at the National Journal in D.C., and she worked at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) in Champaign, IL. Julie earned her J.D. from Vanderbilt University and her B.S. in journalism from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She serves on the Boards of Engine, NY Forever, Chamber of Progress, 5Boro, the Freelancers Union, and the Internet Education Foundation, and on various Advisory Boards. She has been named one of Crain’s New York 40 under 40 and one of New York City’s 50 Most Powerful Women. She lives in New York City with her family.

Jumbi Edulbehram oversees global business development for Smart Cities and Spaces at NVIDIA, where he is responsible for driving the adoption of AI solutions for spatial intelligence. Throughout his career, Jumbi has been on the forefront of technological advancements for enhancing safety and operational efficiency in our cities and large public spaces such as airports, seaports and stadiums. At NVIDIA he works with a large ecosystem of partners that provide a broad range of applications for instrumenting smarter cities and spaces. Jumbi is passionate about helping cities address efficiency, equity and sustainability by capitalizing on transformational AI technologies.

Justin Upchurch leads the Integrated Technology Solution team for AMSYS. ITS includes Connected Cities & Buildings, Sales and Design Services for Managed Services, Audio/Visual, Physical Security & Technology Infrastructure for AMSYS. In this role, heguides all business development, design, pre-construction, and deployment for our Integrated Technology Solutions team.

AMSYS Integrated Technology Solutions is focused on bringing enterprise quality outcomes to our full client spectrum. Whether it’s aSmart, Connected Building, or a boutique financial firm with elevated cyber security and compliance requirements, we leverage our people and technologies such as Cloud, AI, IOT to achieve Digital Transformation and sustainability.

Justin Upchurch has over 25 years of experience in the planning, design, and integration of technologies and leading people. From beingon the forefront of VoIP to being involved with Iconic smart building projects, he is a leading industry authority for integrated technologyimplementations. Has leadership and engagement in over $1 Billion of technology projects with clients such as:

Nationwide Insurance, D.C. Public Schools, New York Life, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Exxon-Mobil, Orlando Health, Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Defense, Advent Health, Christus Health, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Conoco-Phillips, Medical University of South Carolina, Atrium Health, Cotton Bowl, Chase Center, Levi Stadium, Fiserv Forum, Allegiant Stadium, Alamodome, Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare, American Airlines, Toyota, Hawaii Airport Systems, Hartsfield- JacksonAirport, Nashville Airport, Austin-Bergstrom’s Airport and many others.

Karen Lightman is Executive Director of Metro21: Smart Cities Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. Karen is an internationally recognized leader in building and supporting communities based on emerging technologies and has expertise with commercializing academic research, building industry-based consortiums and strategically leading teams to explore market-based opportunities. Her diverse background spans the consumer, military, healthcare, manufacturing, and automotive sectors. Karen is ranked by EETimes as one of the top 25 “Women in Tech” and is a passionate advocate and spokesperson for technology solutions to real-world problems and holds several board positions both locally and nationally. Karen has a BA from the University of Vermont (UVM) and a MS in Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz College. She and her family reside in Pittsburgh, PA.

Kelly Ifill is the founder and CEO of Guava, a platform that equips financial institutions with the tools and insights they need to support and grow their minority-owned business customers. This builds on Kelly’s mission to help close the racial wealth gap and foster a more equitable financial ecosystem.

Kelly’s professional journey began as an educator and leader in the New York City public school system. Her multifaceted career also includes leadership positions at IBM, GE, and Bank of America. Following these roles, Kelly joined theIn the venture capital sector, where she saw firsthand the significant challenges faced by Black entrepreneurs across various industries. This fueled her commitment to drive change and led to the founding of Guava.

Kelly has been recognized as one of “52 Black women who raised $1 million or more in VC funding since 2021” by Insider, listed among “five Black founders working to make the financial system more equitable” by Inc., and honored as a Crain’s New York 40 Under 40 laureate. 
She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from Baruch College, an MA in Education in Mathematics from St. John’s University, and an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Laura Chace was named President and CEO of ITS America in August, 2021. Previously, she served as the association’s Chief Operating Officer. In her role as COO and now as President and CEO, her focus is to promote policies that advance the development and safe deployment of intelligent transportation technologies throughout the United States in support of safer, greener, smarter mobility for all.  

Chace has extensive experience in strategic planning, operations, communications and advocacy, and a proven track record of implementing complex initiatives with strong engagement and collaboration among stakeholders. As COO, she led operations across ITS America with a focus on technology’s ability to save lives and reduce crashes on U.S. roadways, reduce congestion, minimize transportation’s carbon footprint, and provide seamless mobility and transportation choices for all Americans.  

Chace serves on the External Advisory Board for the U.S. Department of Energy’s SMART Mobility Lab consortium under the Officer of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE).

She is passionate and speaks often about the need to include more female and diverse voices in the transportation workforce to create better outcomes for all who use the transportation system. Chace is a founding member of the MobilityXX initiative, which is focused on increasing the number of women in transportation by 10 percent in 10 years. 

Chace brings 15 years in trade association management to her new role, having previously worked at USTelecom and the American Trucking Association. Early in her career, she served in the Clinton Administration at the U.S. Department of Justice Office and in the White House. She holds a Bachelor of Art’s degree from Colgate University.  

Lauren Wang serves as Director of Climate Programs at the Trust for Governors Island, a nonprofit organization created to realize the full potential of Governors Island for the inspiration and enjoyment of all New Yorkers. In 2023, as part of the Center for Climate Solutions, the Trust launched its Living Lab and annual Climate Solutions Challenge, making the island available to test and demonstrate urban climate solutions for cities and their diverse communities. Lauren also teaches as an adjunct professor at The City College of New York. Her previous experience includes the NYC Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice and NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development.

Lekiesha French is a dynamic global leader, visionary entrepreneur, and champion of economic empowerment. As President & CEO of PRENEURology Global Associates and Founder of The Future in Color Global Initiative, she is dedicated to driving transformative change and creating a future where black communities thrive. With a deep understanding of the power of entrepreneurship, Lekiesha has been instrumental in shaping initiatives that redefine success, challenge existing systems, and foster inclusive economic ecosystems.

With an unwavering commitment to equity and innovation, Lekiesha has spearheaded groundbreaking initiatives that empower black entrepreneurs and promote holistic wealth creation. Through the Future in Color movement, she has brought together thought leaders, policymakers, and business pioneers to envision a future where the global black diaspora has equal access to opportunities, resources, and representation.

Lekiesha’s visionary leadership extends beyond the Future in Color movement. She has been actively involved in advocating for policy reform, fostering collaboration between diverse stakeholders, and championing the principles of sustainability and impact investments. Her work has garnered recognition and accolades, positioning her as a prominent voice in the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

As a respected speaker, Lekiesha has shared her insights on prestigious platforms, captivating audiences with her forward-thinking perspective and transformative vision. Her passion for entrepreneurship, coupled with her expertise in data-driven strategies and futurism, has made her a sought-after advisor and collaborator for organizations and institutions seeking to create meaningful change.

With a deep understanding of the barriers faced by underrepresented communities, Lekiesha’s personal journey fuels her passion for fostering change. Her remarkable ability to distill complex ideas into relatable and actionable insights has positioned her as a trusted advocate for individuals seeking empowerment and economic transformation. By sharing her own story and authentically connecting with others, she inspires individuals and organizations to embrace their unique value, overcome obstacles, and create meaningful impact within their companies and communities.

Lekiesha French’s roots in an inner city upbringing serve as a guiding force in her work, and drive her authenticity and relatability.

Through her visionary leadership, Lekiesha French continues to shape the entrepreneurial landscape, empower underrepresented communities, and pave the way for a future where all individuals can thrive and contribute to global progress.

Lilian Coral is the Vice President of Technology and Democracy Programs.

Coral leads both New America’s Open Technology Institute and the Technology and Democracy Cluster, New America’s core cluster encompassing programs and initiatives that focus on technology and other innovations as tools through which people advance democracy, sustain and strengthen human rights, reduce inequality, improve lives, and sustain the planet.

Prior to joining New America, Coral was Knight Foundation’s director of national strategy + technology innovation, where she developed the foundation’s citizen-centered Smart Cities strategy and managed the national portfolio of investments. Totaling more than $55 million across more than 120 grantees, the portfolio centered around data accessibility and trust, urban mobility, and technology in public spaces.

Coral joined Knight after serving as chief data officer for Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, leading the mayor’s directive on open data beyond the lens of transparency and towards his vision of a data-driven Los Angeles.

Coral managed the growth of Los Angeles’ open data program to 1,100 public datasets, the expansion of the use of data science and analytics, and the development of more than 15 user-centered digital services. Of note, was her development of the GeoHub, a first-of-its kind data management solution for integrating geospatial information across the City of Los Angeles’ 41 departments.

Coral has spent nearly 20 years working on a wide range of policy and technology issues and has worked with labor unions, NGOs, foundations and local, state and federal government to transform the way government uses data and technology to serve its citizens.

Coral has a bachelor’s degree in international studies from the University of California, Irvine and a master’s degree in public policy from the University of California, Los Angeles. She is a native of Colombia, a place from where much of her inspiration for innovation and social justice emerged.

Lindsay Greene is the President & CEO of the Brooklyn Navy Yard.  Greene is charged with deepening and expanding the Navy Yard’s mission, investing in the jobs of the future and creating pipelines for underserved communities to fill these jobs. 

She previously served as chief strategy officer of the New York City Economic Development Corporation, where she oversaw economic analysis, business development, inclusive job growth, and innovation strategies. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Greene led efforts to activate local New York City manufacturers to produce key medical supplies, ranging from gowns and face shields to test kits.

Prior to joining NYCEDC, Greene was chief strategy officer for Economic Development & Housing in the New York City Mayor’s Office, focusing on economic justice, industry and job growth, regulatory structures for emerging industries like cannabis, and labor rights. Prior to working for the City, Greene spent four years in senior management at food startups and six years working at Goldman Sachs, most recently in the firm’s Urban Investment Group.  

Greene holds a BA in economics from Harvard and an MBA from Yale School of Management. She lives in Brooklyn with her wife and two daughters.  

Lorna is the National Leader for Healthcare and Government in the U.S. and also serves as the lead account partner for the City of New York. She has 35 years of experience serving governments at all levels, as well as higher education and not-for-profit entities. As KPMG’s Government & Healthcare industry leader, Lorna is responsible for developing and executing a strategy to meet the needs of our clients across all KPMG services and solutions.

She has experience providing audit and advisory services to many of KPMG’s most prominent government clients including the City of New York, State of New York, State of New Jersey, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, U.S. Department of Energy, District of Columbia and many more. During her career at KPMG, she has been responsible for leading many large and complex projects and developing comprehensive reports and other deliverables to meet our clients’ needs in education, health and human services, sanitation, housing, child welfare, environmental protection, school construction and general government. Follow Lorna on her LinkedIn Blog: Stark Reality

Majora Carter is a real estate developer, urban revitalization strategist, author, MacArthur Fellow, and Peabody Award winning broadcaster. She is responsible for the creation and successful implementation of numerous economic developments, technology & green-infrastructure projects, policies, and job training & placement systems. Majora applies corporate talent-retention consulting practice to reduce Brain Drain in American low-status communities, such as her hometown, the South Bronx.

She is the developer-owner of multi-family residential properties as well as the Boogie Down Grind Café and the new event venue, Bronxlandia in her hometown. Majora has served on the boards of the Solar One, STREB, US Green Building Council, Ceres, The Wilderness Society, and the Andrew Goodman Foundation and is a lecturer at Princeton University’s Keller Center.

Majora is quoted on the walls of the Smithsonian Museum of African-American History and Culture in Washington DC: “Nobody should have to move out of their neighborhood to live in a better one” – which is also the paraphrased subtitle of her 2022 book, Reclaiming Your Community.

Dr. Manasa Mantravadi is a board certified pediatrician. She received her medical degree from IU School of Medicine and completed pediatric residency at Northwestern University/Lurie Children’s Hospital. She trained at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital for fellowship in Endocrinology.

She is the founder of Ahimsa, the world’s first and only colorful stainless steel dinnerware for kids. Her mission is to promote healthy children, shine light on important issues like food insecurity, and encourage others to join the efforts to protect our planet.

Marc is Head of Engineering for Geo Sustainability Urban Products (SUP), Engineering Lead for Sustainability Urban Products AI (SUP AI), and chair of the Geo Sustainability AI Capability Working Group. Marc has been a technical lead and senior engineering manager at Google since 2010 across Ads, Cloud, Geo, Google.org, Area 120, and Sidewalk Labs. Marc previously worked on the data science and machine learning of notifications and email in Geo, the business intelligence of supply chain and logistics sensors in Area 120, and the application of LLMs to derive and summarize geospatial data in Sidewalk Labs.

Marcus Glover is a veteran Fund Manager who has a track record of investing and advising minority- and women-led companies. He previously founded and served as a Partner of M.Glover Capital and SouthBox Ventures, and has invested and launched 16 portfolio companies with 3 successful exits.

Marcus is a champion of Criminal Justice Reform and has led efforts to reduce barriers to employment for formerly incarcerated people through Fair Chance hiring. He serves on the National Board of Directors of Defy Ventures, an organization which advocates for criminal justice reform and lowering recidivism through entrepreneurship and business ownership. Marcus also serves on the Advisory Board of TIME Inc. 

His experience also encompasses Impact and Social Justice, and he serves as an Advisor of Certified B Corporation, BMW Responsible Leaders Network, Greyston Bakery and the Center for Open Hiring. He has served in a variety of advisory roles, including with WeWork Labs and the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA).

Margaux Knee serves as Chief Administrative Officer of CityBridge: the private equity-backed consortium behind the groundbreaking LinkNYC program—the largest public Wi-Fi network in the world. She has more than a dozen years of strategic experience with emerging growth technology companies, law firms, and public-private partnerships.

LinkNYC is a public-private partnership with the City of New York, and a joint venture whose members include digital out-of-home advertising company Intersection Media, global telecommunications infrastructure provider Boldyn Networks, and private equity buyout firm JMC Capital. As CAO, Margaux is responsible for the external affairs, government affairs, legal, community engagement, and public policy aspects of LinkNYC.

Previously, Margaux was associated with Gunderson Dettmer, where she represented mission-based technology companies at all stages of the start-up lifecycle, in spaces ranging from transportation to telehealth, to cryptocurrency, to 3-D printing. She has supported rapidly-scaling organizations and institutional investors based in New York City and around the world, including Citibike, Gimlet Media, Maven Clinic, Filecoin, Warby Parker, Shapeways, Social+Capital, Goldman Sachs, and Tiger Capital.  She holds a JD from the University of Southern California, an LLM from the London School of Economics, and a BA from Vassar College. 

Maria G. Gotsch is President and Chief Executive Officer of the Partnership Fund for New York City, the $180 million investment arm of the Partnership for New York City, New York’s leading business organization. The Fund has built a network of top venture capital and corporate experts to identify and support the city’s most promising entrepreneurs to create jobs, spur new business and expand opportunities for New Yorkers.  

In addition to leading the Fund’s investments and operations, Maria has spearheaded the creation of the Fund’s strategic initiatives, helping grow the city’s innovation sectors, including fintech and commercial life sciences.  These initiatives include: the FinTech Innovation Lab; New York Digital Health Accelerator; Transit Tech Lab; NY Fashion Tech Lab; NYCSeed; BioAccelerate Prize NYC (proof-of-concept funding for university-based biomedical research); Arts Entrepreneurial Loan Fund;  ReStart Central and Financial Recovery Fund (assistance and funding for small businesses impacted by 9/11/01); and, the NYC Small Business Resource Network (assistance for small businesses impacted by COVID-19 economic shutdown).  

Maria has been featured in Crain’s “Most Powerful Women in New York,” “Notable Women in Tech,” and “Notable Women on Wall Street”; City & State’s “The Life Sciences Power 50”; and Institutional Investor’s The FinTech Finance 40.  

Before joining the Fund in 1999, Maria was Managing Director at BT Wolfensohn (now part of Deutsche Bank), providing strategic and financial advice related to mergers, acquisitions, dispositions, joint ventures and the development of business strategies. Maria also worked at LaSalle Partners and for Merrill Lynch Capital Markets in New York and London. Maria has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a B.A. from Wellesley College. She was also the recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship to study international relations at the Institut Universitaire de Hautes Etudes Internationales in Geneva, Switzerland.

Maria is a member of the boards of Sonepar SAS and Sonepar USA Holdings and serves as Chair of the audit committee of Sonepar SAS. Headquartered in Paris and privately-held, Sonepar is the global leader in B-to-B distribution of electrical products and services. 

She is also a member of the FINRA FinTech Industry Committee, NYS Department of Financial Services’ Financial Innovation Advisory Board, Hospital for Special Surgery Innovation Advisory Council, the Cornell-Tech Runway Visiting Committee, the New York City Life Sciences Advisory Council, and the ProPublica Leadership Council.

Mark Chambers is an environmental policy leader, advocate for social justice, and licensed architect inspired by public service and lessons of collective action. He is Vice President of Partnerships at Elemental Excelerator, a nonprofit investor focused on scaling climate technologies with deep community impact. He recently served the Biden White House as Senior Director for Building Emissions and Community Resilience and was previously the Director of Sustainability for both New York City and the District of Columbia, where he led efforts to accelerate climate policy implementation in America’s largest city and the Nation’s capital. Mark lives in Harlem with his wife and two children.

Mark Wheeler is the Former Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the City of Philadelphia and former director of the Office of Innovation and Technology (OIT). As CIO, he set the vision for all information technology services, data security, and digital transformation programs for a city of 1.6 million residents and 26,000 civil servants. He oversaw a set of IT budgets totaling over $329 million annually. Under his leadership the city increased investments in cyber security and geospatial intelligence and launched SmartCityPHL, a program for public and private investments in intelligent infrastructure and PHLConnectED, a $17 million pandemic response by the city to provide free internet to preK-12 families. He has a master’s degree in regional planning from the University of Massachusetts and is a former Drexel University Leadership for Change fellow. www.linkedin.com/in/markwheelerphl

Matt Harrison is Senior Vice President of Development at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Among other efforts, his team oversees Yard Labs, the Navy Yard’s piloting program. Yard Labs provides an urban setting for testing emerging technologies, especially those related to combating climate change and improving the lives of people who live in cities. The Brooklyn Navy Yard is a 6.5 million square foot industrial campus and one-of-a-kind ecosystem with over 500 businesses and 11,000 people working onsite. Prior to joining the Navy Yard, Matt’s experience includes Acadia Realty Trust and the New York City Economic Development Corporation.

Maurizio Rinaldi, CEO of SONDA in the USA, is a leader in the Information, Communication, and Technology sector with a track record of successful sales management and international experience across multiple countries and continents. He is known for his expertise in growing businesses and delivering innovative technology solutions to the Smart Cities & Mobility, Retail, and Financial sectors, along with a strong aptitude for change management.

Maurizio holds a degree in Industrial Engineering from Louvain University and has further refined his Service and International Business skills through executive programs at Queens University and INSEAD.

Melissa has over 25 years of experience in the not-for-profit and corporate sectors, with deep experience in fundraising, finance and operations, strategic planning, communications, real-estate, and event planning. Melissa has dedicated her career to helping underserved communities and creating sustainable business models for long-term organizational success. 

Melissa leads the business development relationships with over 100 corporate partners, executing high-caliber thought-leadership programs in finance, law, media & entertainment, tech and sports. She has grown the CUP community to over 18,000 in NY and LA. She co-leads the CUP NY Fellows Program, and works with the CUP NY Alumni Fellows Leadership Committee on alumni Convenings, selection process and events.

Melissa has worked with senior leadership and boards of Fortune 500’s, not-for-profits and public, private, and charter schools. During her career she has held various executive leadership roles, including Executive Director of City Lights Youth Theatre, Director of Individual Giving and Membership (10,000) at the New-York Historical Society, and Chief Development & Communications Officer at Bronx Prep Charter School. Melissa’s civic duty began as a paralegal in the Major Economic Crimes Bureau of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, conducting fraud and racketeering investigations. 

She served as a Principal Strategy Consultant with Pricewaterhouse Coopers assisting Fortune 500 companies and higher education institutions with strategy, financial forecasting, and planning. As part of a select critical team, she executed the merger between PW and Coopers & Lybrand. She trained hundreds of MBA interns, in writing and presentation skills, led on-campus recruitment efforts, and participated in diversity, equity, and inclusion programming for the firm. 

Melissa earned a BA in English, with a concentration in Psychology, from Williams College and an MBA from the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business, in Strategy and Organizational Behavior. She earned a 2022 Leadership Certificate, by the “New Strategies Symposium – Business for Impact” from Georgetown University, McDonough School of Business. 

Merdochey LaFrance, an esteemed strategy maven and connector with Haitian roots from Miami, is the Managing Principal of iTaylor Solutions, a consultancy renowned for its innovative approaches in public policy, external affairs, and DEIB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging) strategies. Her leadership extends across a diverse range of sectors including Fortune companies, non-profits, and municipal governments, with her influence spanning from Florida to New York.

In her previous tenure, Merdochey held the pivotal role of Director of Local Engagement at Verizon for Southeast and Southwest Florida. Here, she was instrumental in shaping and executing Verizon’s community engagement strategies across six counties. Her responsibilities included developing key initiatives, leading community interactions, and fostering strategic partnerships that enhanced Verizon’s market presence.

Before her impactful role at Verizon, Merdochey contributed her expertise to notable organizations such as Brightline Trains, City Year Miami, and The Florida Senate. Her career trajectory is a testament to her versatile skills and dedication to public service and corporate leadership.

Academically, Merdochey is a distinguished graduate of Florida International University, where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and a Master’s in Public Administration. She further expanded her academic credentials with a Master of Science in Urban & Regional Planning from Florida Atlantic University. Complementing her educational background, she completed an executive education program at Harvard Business School, focusing on “Creating Shared Value: Competitive Advantage Through Social Impact”, which underscores her commitment to corporate social responsibility.

Merdochey’s engagement in social impact is evident through her active participation in various prestigious organizations. She serves on the Advisory Committee of the Smart City Expo USA, and is a Board Member of the Education Foundation of Palm Beach County. As a Lifetime Member of Leadership Florida, and a Charter Member & Service to Youth Facet Chair of the Greater Broward County Chapter of The Links, Incorporated, she continues to influence community development. Her membership in Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., the Economic Club of Miami, Women in Government Relations, the National Forum for Black Public Administrators, and the National Black Professional Lobbyists Association further demonstrate her commitment to fostering inclusive and impactful change in both the public and private sectors.

The Honorable Michael B. Hancock is a globally recognized and respected civic leader with more than three decades of executive leadership experience, having most recently served three terms as Mayor of the City and County of Denver, Colorado, the 19th largest city in the United States.

Hancock currently serves as CEO and Founder of Hancock Global Services, LLC (HGS) where he advises C-suite leaders on issues of public affairs, governance and policy, crisis management, strategic communications, and public-private partnerships.

Hancock was elected to three terms as mayor for the City and County of Denver, serving from 2011 through 2023. As a ‘strong mayor’, Hancock was granted greater administrative authority and responsibility. When he entered office in 2011, Denver faced a $100 million deficit. Hancock stabilized the city by creating jobs, attracting new business investment, and preparing the workforce for the 21st century. Denver became home to more than 18,000 new companies, spurring a $6.6 billion investment downtown with cascading benefits across the state and region – it became one of the fastest growing economies in the nation. 

Hancock developed and managed a budget that grew from $800 million in 2011 to $2.84 billion in 2023. Despite inheriting an enormous deficit, his proactive fiscal management enabled the city to retain an AAA rating or better by national financial rating agencies for each of the years under his leadership. 

Hancock oversaw more than 12,000 city employees annually, including Police, Fire and Sheriff departments, the appointment of 61 department and agency executives, and the management of the Denver International Airport, the world’s 3rd busiest airport. Hancock also created the Office of Housing Stability, the first and only city in Colorado to fund and support housing, the Office of Climate, Sustainability and Resiliency, the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure, and the Office of Social Equity and Innovation.

Hancock served on the executive committee of the U.S. Conference of Mayors as chair of the Transportation & Communications Committee, and on the U.S. Conference of Democratic Mayors.

Determined to make Denver more globally competitive, Hancock prioritized international travel to attract global businessesand to secure direct international flights. As a result of his efforts, Denver saw a 30-percent increase in Foreign Direct Investment, including Panasonic Innovations, Terumo, BPI North America, and Arrow Electronics, 11,200 new jobs, seven new foreign carriers, 17 new non- stop international flights, and over $4 billion in economic impact to the Denver region.

His administration secured long-term contracts with Kroenke Sports and entertainment to keep the Stanley Cup Champion Colorado Avalanche and the NBA Champion Denver Nuggets in the city through 2040 and he is one of only three mayors in the country to have presided over three or more championship winning teams, including the Denver Broncos Super Bowl win in 2016.

Prior to being elected as Mayor, Hancock served two terms as the City Council representative for the fastest growing part of Denver, which included Denver International Airport. As a member of Council, he was elected twice to serve as president, served as chair of the Economic Development Committee, vice chair of the Public Safety Committee and Council representative to the City’s Investment Committee.

Before becoming an elected official, Michael enjoyed a successful career as non-profit executive and small business owner. In 1998, Michael became the youngest CEO of an Urban League Affiliate, when he was elected by the board to lead the Urban League of Metropolitan Denver. In five years of leadership, he stabilized the struggling organization by creating innovative and timely programs through public private partnerships, growing annual revenues by 150% and re-engineering the organization.

Hancock earned his graduate degree in Public Administration-Management from the University of Colorado at Denver and his undergraduate degree in Political Science from Hastings College. He has been awarded two honorary doctorate degrees from Hastings College and from the University of Denver.

Michalyn Andrews is co-founder and CEO of Lighthouse Technology Group, a California-based road infrastructure company with patented technology for smart vehicles, cities, and streets. As CEO, she has played an instrumental role in developing the company’s core technology which offers a cost-effective drop-in solution to transmute a broad depth of information through the current road infrastructure system. Michalyn leads the team at Lighthouse with a strategic focus on intellectual property and expanding applications for Lighthouse’s products.

Ms. Andrews’ 20-year career as an entrepreneur and innovator has spanned the spaces of road infrastructure, synthetic biology, and advanced materials. With a focus on developing technology to drive sector transformation, she has built interdisciplinary teams across industry and academia to create enabling systems and solutions. In addition to her leadership role at Lighthouse Technology Group, Michalyn is the founder and CEO at Provenance Bio, an NIH-funded synthetic biology company that makes proteins in microbes for the next generation of products, including animal-free gelatin, human collagen for lab-made organs, and bioleather.

Michele Lee leads Accessibility on the Commercial Strategy, Business Development team at Cruise, General Motors’ self-driving car subsidiary. In this role she cultivates relationships with key advocates, community organizations, and experts representing the full diversity of the disability community to build a more accessible AV service. Michele has used a power wheelchair for almost twenty years after a spinal cord injury from a motor vehicle crash. Combining a professional background in corporate and nonprofit organizations with a long passion for disability rights advocacy she is committed to an equitable accessible transportation future. 

Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Remarkable Ventures, an early-stage tech and climate venture capital fund and ERA, a technology accelerator in New York City with 330 investments in tech and climate since 2011 with multiple $1B+ exits. Murat has a Master’s Degree in Computer Science and he has started multiple technology startups in NYC after having worked in Silicon Valley as a technologist. He started Entrepreneurs Roundtable, a non-profit, in 2007 in New York City to help the startup ecosystem grow and connect the entrepreneurial community with each other.

Newsha Ghaeli is President and Cofounder of Biobot Analytics, the first company in the world bringing wastewater epidemiology to market. Biobot’s customers include federal, state, and local governments, Fortune 100 companies, and International Aid Organizations. In North America alone, Biobot has worked with over hundreds of communities generating data to help better track and manage COVID-19. In 2022, Time Magazine named Biobot one of the 100 Most Influential Companies of the year.

Prior to founding Biobot, Ghaeli was an urban studies researcher exploring the application of technologies in urban systems to build more responsive and resilient cities. Ghaeli was a Research Fellow at the MIT Senseable Cities Lab and an instructor in the MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning. Ghaeli holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in architecture from the University of Waterloo and McGill University in Canada. In 2020, Ghaeli was the recipient of the University of Waterloo’s Faculty of Engineering Young Alumni Achievement Medal.

Nick Colvin serves as Chief Executive Officer of CityBridge, LLC, the consortium behind the groundbreaking LinkNYC program, which provides free public Wi-Fi for millions of residents, commuters, and visitors in New York City, plus free nationwide phone calls, connections to government and social services, and a public service messaging platform.

Nick is passionate about technology as a means to help people. His vision of a citywide digital safety net and his values-driven leadership are evident in the development of the groundbreaking Link5G, which was designed to ensure New York’s digital infrastructure provides equitable access to 21st century tools for the city’s underserved communities.

Previously, Nick was an Associate Partner at Control Group, where he worked with global brands and nonprofits to bring to life innovative projects at the intersection of digital and physical spaces.

Nick has over 20 years of experience building and supporting human-focused technology with organizations including the ACLU, Apple, AT&T, Google, and Ralph Appelbaum Associates. He holds a Bachelor of Music from Western Carolina University. 

Orin Herskowitz is the Senior VP of Applied Innovation and Industry Partnerships for Columbia University, as well as Executive Director of Columbia Technology Ventures (CTV).  He also is an Adjunct Professor, teaching an Intellectual Property for Entrepreneurs course.  He has served on boards or in leadership roles for a number of innovation and entrepreneurship-focused initiatives, including NYC Media Lab, PowerBridgeNY clean energy proof-of-concept center, CyberNYC, and the Columbia BioMedX accelerator; has been a peer reviewer for innovation and entrepreneurship awards for the National Science Foundation and the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities; and is a frequent speaker at IP- and technology-focused events in NYC and across the country. His Federal work has included being a board member for the Center for American Entrepreneurship, a Senior Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Renewing American Innovation project, a member of TenU (a coalition of research institutions in the U.K. and U.S.), and an appointee to the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship (NACIE) with the Department of Commerce under both the Obama and Biden Administrations. He has also been helping to lead a group effort to streamline university & venture capital’s ability to launch startups based on deeptech innovations. 

Columbia Technology Ventures is the tech transfer office of Columbia University, with the core objective to facilitate the transfer of inventions from academic research to outside organizations for the benefit of society on a local, national and global basis. Each year, CTV manages roughly 400 invention disclosures emerging from Columbia’s research labs, leading to over 100 license deals and 20 – 30 new start-ups.  Columbia Technology Ventures has a particular focus on supporting “deeptech” startups, by providing access to Executives-in-Residence, venture capital connections and pitch days, standardized startup licensing terms, discounted rates to experience startup attorneys, entrepreneurship education, incubator space near campus, and more. CTV also supports Columbia’s 10+ Lab-to-Market Accelerators in carbon reduction, rare diseases, oncology, computational biology, advanced materials, data analytics, medical devices, and other fields. CTV also hosts the Columbia Industry Relations Group, which serves as a central support organization to facilitate interactions between Columbia’s academic units and our industry peers.

Orin received his BA from Yale and his MBA from the Wharton School of Business.  Prior to joining Columbia, Orin spent 7 years at the Boston Consulting Group’s New York office as a strategy consultant, and was previously an entrepreneur and a consultant to start-ups.

For more information, please visit www.techventures.columbia.edu

Perfecto is a proven executive dedicated to building business solutions that drive measurable impact. A native New Yorker, West Point graduate, and Iraq War Veteran turned entrepreneur- Perfecto believes in making “doing good” more accessible. He is currently on a mission to shape the future of inclusive AI as the co-founder and Chief Growth Officer for Equity Quotient (EQ). EQ is an AI-powered stakeholder intelligence platform that helps companies measure impact, manage compliance, and shape sustainable growth. Their mission is to humanize data and catalyze growth in order to help shape a thriving economy inclusive of the people who drive it. Perfecto was recently inducted into the Advertising Hall of Achievement for his work in award-winning leading social impact campaigns. He serves on the Board of Tech Target (TTGT) and Lifeway Foods (LWAY), both publicly traded companies. He is also a Healthcare Financial Management Association ‘Healthy Futures Advisor’, helping to navigate the future of health equity data and insight and a recent recipient of the HLTH Tequity Innovation Award. Ask him how he became the first American to row across the North Sea to raise awareness for Ocean Sustainability.

Philip Chow is an entrepreneur, investor, and humanitarian. He serves as the CEO of Humanitas AI, a Palo Alto-based responsible AI company backed by the leaders of OpenAI, Care.com, and more. The company develops AI-powered tools to enable low-income Americans to have direct & timely access to social care resources in partnerships with the largest employers in the country. He is an active investor and advisor in AI-first organizations like Coactive, aiEDU, and Karya.

Priscilla Sims Brown serves as President and CEO of Amalgamated Bank, a full-service bank, lender and investment manager with a century-long commitment to advancing positive social change. Amalgamated Financial Corp., the holding company for the Bank, is the first publicly traded (NASDAQ: AMAL) financial institution to be a public benefit corporation.

Brown guides Amalgamated Bank in championing social responsibility through values-based banking,customer-centric services, and mission focused lending, serving individuals and organizations, including climate groups, foundations, labor unions, advocacy groups, political campaigns, and other socially responsible businesses, who care that their deposits are put to work for good.

Brown is also dedicated to addressing environmental and social justice issues at Amalgamated Bank. Morethan 60% of the Bank’s lending and select balance sheet investments are high-impact through affordable housing, nonprofits, and climate solutions.

Named one of the Most Powerful Women in Banking in 2023 by American Banker, Brown has been featured in The New York Times, TIME Magazine, PBS, and CNBC Changemakers, among others.Brown’s unwavering commitment to social responsibility makes it possible for Amalgamated Bank to do well bydoing good and continues to shape the future of the financial industry.

Raymond J. McGuire was named President of Lazard in April 2023. Prior to joining Lazard, Mr. McGuire held a 13-year term as Citigroup’s Global Head of Corporate and Investment Banking, the longest tenure for this position in the history of Wall Street. Afterwards, he was the Vice Chairman of Citigroup and Chairman of Citi’s Banking, Capital Markets and Advisory business. Previously, Mr. McGuire was the Global Co-Head of Mergers & Acquisitions at Morgan Stanley, a Managing Director in the Mergers & Acquisitions Group of Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc and was one of the original members of Wasserstein Perella & Co., Inc. He started his career in 1984 in the Mergers & Acquisitions Group of The First Boston Corporation.

Mr. McGuire is currently a member of the corporate boards of the Hess Corporation and Vornado Realty Trust. He was formerly a board member of KKR & Co., Inc. He holds leadership roles on several not-for-profit boards including: the American Museum of Natural History, the Black Trustee Alliance for Art Museums, the Hotchkiss School, the New York Public Library, the Regional Plan Association (Chairman), the Studio Museum in Harlem (Chairman), and the Whitney Museum of American Art. He received his M.B.A. and J.D. from Harvard Business School and Harvard Law School and an A.B. from Harvard College.

 Regina Gwynn is the co-founder of Black Women Talk Tech, the organization that aims to identify, support and encourage black women to build the next billion-dollar business. Black Women Talk Tech is the largest collective of black women tech founders therefore bringing a unique understanding of the challenges Black women face and the advantages they bring to the tech industry. As co-founder, Regina co-leads business strategy and strategic partnership development and leads sponsor relations. 

Regina Gwynn launched her first tech startup in 2014 with TresseNoire, a platform that empowers women of color to celebrate their textured hair with a personalized beauty routine that works. Its virtual beauty coach takes the guesswork out of finding the right natural hair products & services by matching your individual hair profile to a beauty regimen designed by experts (so you can get the best twist out or the perfect wash n go style the first time, every time!). This innovative product is currently in private beta. 

Regina started her career in the Product Development Executive Training program at Federated Department Stores (now Macy’s Inc.), and successfully launched three exclusive brands during her tenure. After graduating from the Kellogg School of Management with her MBA, Regina was a management consultant with the Monitor Group (now Monitor/Deloitte Consulting) and worked with clients within the beauty, media and healthcare industries. She was then tapped to lead marketing at The Apparel Group, where she built the department from scratch and launched the company’s first ecommerce site for its signature brand, Foxcroft Collection. 

Regina has served on the Board of Directors for BRAG, a nonprofit for diverse retail professionals & Rising Tide Capital, an entrepreneur development program based in Jersey City, NJ. Regina loves to travel, dance and watch football (Go Giants!). 

“A girl should be two things: Classy & Fabulous.” – Coco Chanel 

Ceo of Fira Barcelona International

Member of Fira Barcelona’s Consortium Executive Board, institution who owns and organizes Smart City Expo World Congress

President of EMECA (European Major Exhibitions Centers Association)•

20 years of experience in the MICE industry

Having organized and supervised more than 500 top fair events in all economical sectors around the world.

Having worked in the business plan and design of many Exhibitions Centres around the world

Has launched and organized Smart City Expo editions in USA, China, Turkey,  India, Mexico, Brazil, Canada, Argentina, Qatar, Japan, Colombia

30 years experience in Top Management Positions

Professional experience:

International Business Director, Fira Barcelona, Spain; Leading International business partnerships, benchmarking strategies, international operations and Mice projects all over the world

Commercial Director, Fira Barcelona, Spai; Managing a portfolio of 48 fair events, responsible for all marketing and sales activities and leading a team of 70 people

Marketing Director, Skôda, (VW Group), Spain

Marketing Director, Pernod Ricard, Spain

Rob is a principal co-founder at Botcopy | Google Cloud Partners, specializing in NLP and AI design. He played a key role alongside his co-founders in earning a Google NEXT Award for an ADA-compliant AI chatbot for the Minnesota DMV. Committed to serving the public sector, Rob focuses on making technology accessible to cities and governments. Certified as a Google Cloud Partner, he offers design and best practice guidance to enterprise and Fortune 500 clients. A thought leader in the AI field, Rob is a frequent speaker and his writing has been featured in Entrepreneur and Inc Magazine. He is also regularly cited in The Transhumanism Handbook and on GigaOm Voices in AI.

In addition to his technical and thought leadership roles, Rob also manages Botcopy’s product-market fit and strategy. He excels at introducing groundbreaking products to the market and making them relatable through creative storytelling across various mediums. Rob holds a BA from Northwestern University and comes from a background in commercial writing and advertising. He serves on the Advisory Board of the Cognitive Bias Foundation. Prior to Botcopy, Rob was a co-founding partner in Mad Mimi, a company acquired by GoDaddy in 2014.

Rochelle Haynes’s multi-sector career has focused on policies and programs that seek to identify solutions to ending the cycle of poverty in vulnerable communities. Dedicated to serving individuals, families, and children through work in government, nonprofit and philanthropic sectors with an expertise in anti-poverty programs that span from birth to adulthood; prior to joining Results for America to lead What Works Cities, building on 10+ years working in local government, Rochelle led global operations and strategy for the City Practice Management team at 100 Resilient Cities -Rockefeller Foundation, and served as Vice President of the US Social Impact team at Sesame Workshop, where she developed and led the scaling strategy of the Sesame Street in Communities initiative.

Rodrigo Camarena is the Director of Justicia Lab, Pro Bono Net’s immigrant justice technology lab, and a nonprofit legal tech initiative whose mission is to transform immigrant justice through collaboration, creativity, and technology. 

Justicia Lab works hand in hand with immigrants and their advocates to identify common challenges and incubate scalable digital tools to advance help immigrants navigate the immigration system, find workplace justice, and more. Justicia Lab has developed over a dozen immigrant justice legal tools to scale and support the work of advocates and bridge the justice gap, helping over 500,000 people find critical immigration information and relief. In April Justicia Lab launched JusticiaLab.AI, the world’s first non-profit AI lab for immigrant justice.

Rodrigo was formerly Strategy Director at Purpose where he developed digital products for international NGOs and social enterprises. Prior to Purpose, Rodrigo developed new initiatives to tackle economic inequality as Executive Director of Business Growth Programs for the City of New York. Rodrigo is also the former Executive Director of the Mixteca Organization – an immigrant rights organization based in Sunset Park Brooklyn. He holds degrees in Economics from New York University and the London School of Economics.

Sara Holoubek is the founding partner and CEO of Luminary Labs, a strategy and innovation consultancy serving the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. She is energized by complex, multistakeholder spaces where the solutions are not obvious and the potential for impact is high. She is also an active investor in early-stage tech companies and a board director.

Sara’s advisory roles have included serving on the inaugural RWJF Pioneer Fund Advisory Group, the Aspen Health Innovation Project Planning Committee, the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum of Natural History 2020 Visiting Scientist Committee, and the 2024 Health Datapalooza Advisory Committee. Sara is also an active writer and public speaker. She is the author of Open Innovation for Impact, a chapter in “Perspectives on Impact: Leading Voices On Making Systemic Change in the Twenty-First Century,” and has been recognized by LinkedIn as a Top Voice since 2017, by Mashable as a female founder to watch, and by PepsiCo WIN for her contributions to women in technology.

Sara also brings a global perspective to her work, having lived and worked in Latin America and Europe; she speaks Spanish, French, and Portuguese. Sara holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Iowa and an MBA from HEC Paris.

Sarah M. Kaufman is the Executive Director of the NYU Rudin Center for Transportation, where she researches, advocates for and educates about cutting-edge technologies in transportation. She is also an Assistant Clinical Professor of Public Service. 

Ms. Kaufman directs several projects related to improving transportation for contemporary needs: adapting to the increasing frequency and impact of extreme weather events on mobility; an autonomous vehicles policy framework for U.S. cities; The Pink Tax on Transportation, an analysis of how safety concerns impact women’s travel patterns in New York City; Intelligent Paratransit, to rethink how we transport seniors and disabled residents; and the Emerging Leaders in Transportation Fellowship, a program to enhance innovation at all levels of transportation planning and policymaking.

Ms. Kaufman serves on the Board of Commissioners of the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission, as well as on the advisory board of Transportation Alternatives. 

Ms. Kaufman was honored with a Transportation Power 100 Award in 2023, 2022 and 2021, a Responsible 100 Award in 2018 and a Tech Power 50 Award in February 2019, by City & State New York. She is a member of The List and a contributor to Forbes.com. She has been cited in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, NBC, CNN, Curbed and Urban Omnibus.

Scott Sigel is the Chief Operating Officer of the Helium Foundation, a non-profit organization serving as the governance and community steward for the Helium Network. Scott works closely with Network stakeholders worldwide and is inspired daily by the social and economic benefits of community-built infrastructure. 

The Helium Network helps close the digital divide for both people and smart-devices, as the Helium community is actively creating wireless coverage for both cellular and IoT devices. The IoT Network enables a broader range of connected applications to manage physical assets and resources for various public and private organizations. The Helium Mobile Network expands cellular coverage in underserved or poorly covered areas, vastly reducing the cost for internet access. 

Prior to Helium, Scott joined the blockchain community, working with multiple blockchain-native projects. Before that, he served as a Senior Vice President with Silicon Valley Bank, supporting early-stage founders, and grew several venture-backed companies from inception, including two through successful acquisitions.

Scott resides in New York City, serving as head chef for his wife and two children. 

Spot™ joined Slalom in October 2021 as the company’s first robotic employee and Autonomous Innovation Specialist. In addition to daily tours of Slalom’s Element lab212 in New York City, Spot™ regularly engages with clients to assist them in their remote data acquisition and automation efforts. Equipped with a variety of cameras and sensors, including 360-degree and thermal sensing capabilities, LIDAR, 5G connectivity and on-board compute, Spot™ is excited to show clients how they can step into the future where humans and robots work collaboratively augmenting each other’s skills and abilities. When not busy at the lab, Spot™ enjoys walks around the neighborhood interacting with other canine friends and helping humans appreciate his robotic abilities.

Most recently, Spot™ has been very busy working with Hitachi Rail and Ericsson on creating the factory of the future for rail car production and is very involved in ensuring quality assessments are performed with precision.

As Senior Vice President of Innovation at the Partnership for NYC, Stacey partners with New York governmental agencies to understand their challenges and recruits innovative solutions to solve these challenges. Of note, she oversees two programs with missions to make New York the global leader in transportation and water, The Transit Tech Lab and The Environmental Tech Lab. Through the Transit Tech Lab, Stacey works with the MTA and other regional transit agencies to identify and test solutions that can reduce carbon emissions, enhance operational efficiencies, attract & retain talent, and increase subway capacity and reliability through improvements to the signaling system. Through the Environmental Tech Lab, launched in May 2023, in partnership with New York City Department of Environmental Protection, Stacey works to enable the largest public water/wastewater utility in the country to source, pilot and evaluate new technologies to help mitigate effects of climate change.

Stacey has a public sector, startup, and public health background: she led multiple initiatives with the City of Detroit’s Office of Mobility Innovation including its COVID-19 transit response and founded an award-winning startup that increased healthy food access in public transportation deserts. Stacey holds a Master’s in Public Health and a Bachelor’s degree with high distinction from the University of Michigan.

Stephen Goldsmith is the Derek Bok Professor of the Practice of Urban Policy and the Director of the Data-Smart City Solutions program at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. He also directs the Project on Municipal Innovation, the Civic Analytics Network and the Mayoral Leadership in Education Network. Previously, he served as the Deputy Mayor of NY and the Mayor of Indianapolis. His most recent book is Growing Fairly: How to Build Opportunity and Equity in Workforce Development.

He previously served as Deputy Mayor of New York and Mayor of Indianapolis, where he earned a reputation as one of the country’s leaders in public-private partnerships, competition, and privatization. Stephen was also the chief domestic policy advisor to the George W. Bush campaign in 2000, the Chair of the Corporation for National and Community Service, and the district attorney for Marion County, Indiana from 1979 to 1990. His other books include: The Power of Social Innovation; Governing by Network: the New Shape of the Public Sector; Putting Faith in Neighborhoods: Making Cities Work through Grassroots Citizenship; The Twenty-First Century City: Resurrecting Urban America, The Responsive City: Engaging Communities Through Data-Smart Governance; and A New City O/S: The Power of Open, Collaborative, and Distributed Governance.

Steve Zoegall is Vice President and Global Market Director for Cities & Places at Jacobs, leading a global team of 5,000 architects, strategists, technologists, planners and placemakers who partner with clients to create buildings, campuses, communities and cities that thrive.

Prior to joining Jacobs in March 2023, Steve was Global Industry Lead for Accenture’s Cities, Transportation & Infrastructure practice and served concurrently as a World Economic Forum Fellow. He has 20 years of strategic, digital and marketing consulting experience across a broad range of industries, with particular depth in cities, mobility and sustainability.

Steve holds a Ph.D. and MA from Harvard University, an MS from Columbia University, and is a Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) Accredited Professional. 

Steven Segerlin is a city planner specializing in economic development and financing strategies for major infrastructure and real estate development projects. He is a licensed urban planner & transport planner and holds a B.S. in Building Science (Real Estate Development) and M.B.A. with concentration in finance from Auburn University.

Steven supports local governments and transit/rail authorities to create inclusive, connected, livable cities that are financially & environmentally sustainable. This includes the design and delivery of programs for urban revitalization, urban infill and densification, activation of public spaces, circulation & mobility, and transit-oriented development (TOD).

Currently Steven is the Head for Commercial Development at the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) where he oversees the modernization of stations and their surroundings into dense mixed-use environments that grows revenues and ridership for the Agency. His past experience includes directing the joint development portfolio for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), packaging investment loans for the World Bank, and advising cities from New York and Seattle to Bogota and Paris on smart growth, investment attraction, and public land development.

Story Bellows is one of the nation’s top civic innovators, who works to turn urban challenges into people first solutions with positive outcomes for all. As a partner with Cityfi, Story is focused on organizational change management, civic engagement, and public-private coalition building. Before Cityfi, Story was the Chief Innovation and Performance Officer for Brooklyn Public Library, where she implemented a new organizational strategy across the institutions sixty-plus branches ensuring the library was positioned to deliver excellent service in a rapidly changing urban environment. She launched and directed the Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics in Philadelphia, where she developed mechanisms for entrepreneurs to work with the city to tackle shared challenges. She has also served as Director of the Mayors’ Institute on City Design, a National Endowment for the Arts leadership initiative, where she was afforded the opportunity to work alongside more than 200 mayors nationwide. She also led the research efforts of a large Chicago-based architecture, planning, and engineering firm, exploring how design could respond to issues like future of work, education, and healthcare.

Based in New York, Story works with cities and companies across the country and, increasingly, globe. She has spoken and is recognized internationally as an expert on innovation in large public institutions. She is a graduate of Colgate University and holds an MSc from the London School of Economics in City Design and Social Science. Story both loves cities and the middle of nowhere. Usually she can be found living in some large city (she’s covered quite a few), though she and her family have been testing out rural living since the beginning of the pandemic. 

Sudhanshu Gaur serves as Vice President of R&D at Hitachi, where he drives the integration of emerging technologies into the social infrastructure, focusing on transformative changes in the manufacturing and transportation sectors, including rolling stock. His leadership in propelling the Industry 4.0 vision across Hitachi Group companies exemplifies the potential of smart manufacturing and advanced urban mobility solutions to enhance urban living.

Previously, as Chief Architect of Smart Manufacturing at Astemo, Sudhanshu led initiatives that achieved operational excellence across a global network of manufacturing sites. His commitment to leveraging technology for societal progress was recognized when he was named one of the top 25 leaders transforming manufacturing by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) in 2020.

Sudhanshu is strongly focused on applying innovations in automation and AI to improve working conditions and safety in the industrial and manufacturing sectors. His approach emphasizes improving efficiency and resilience, with an additional commitment to ensuring that technological advancements foster healthier, more dignified, and secure employment environments.

Ted is a recognized Futurist that has presented worldwide at numerous conferences and events for the Movie, TV, and interactive Entertainment industries.  

He’s been featured in Wired, Variety, NY Times, LA Times, Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, The Hollywood Reporter, NBC, CNET, Film and Video, DV Magazine, TV Technology, HD Video Pro, Engadget, Gizmodo, Millimeter, American Cinematographer, MacWorld, Post Magazine, Popular Science, and countless other publications. 

Most recently, Ted worked as the Futurist in Residence with the leadership and technology teams across Paramount Global, including CBS, CBS Sports, Paramount Pictures, Paramount Plus, MTV, Nickelodeon, BET, PlutoTV and Comedy Central, exploring emerging tech for entertainment with an emphasis on Virtual and Mixed Reality, Web 3.0, and Advanced Themed Entertainment pursuits.  

Prior to joining Paramount, Ted was the Futurist at 20th Century Fox, where he worked on the evolving art and science of advanced interactive visual storytelling.  He was part of the creation team for the Martian VR and Wild VR experiences, which premiered at CES and Sundance.

Ted helped lead creation teams for the Alien, Planet of the Apes and Predator VR experiences at Fox, and at Paramount, was instrumental in bringing the Grease MR experience, the SpongeBob MR experience, the Light as a Feather MR experience, and the Quiet Place VR experience to life. 

Ted was an integral part of the product development team at Red Digital Cinema as the company’s first employee.  The Red One and Epic cameras have made significant impact on the Motion Picture Industry, winning a Sci-Tech Academy and technical Emmy award.  Many of the world’s biggest movies are shot with these ultra-high resolution digital movie cameras. 

Ted is one of the founders of the G-Tech product line of advanced hard drive storage products.  As the most recognized brand in that industry, they are implemented worldwide at the highest levels on cinema and television productions.

Before being part of the founding teams at Red Digital Cinema and G-Tech, Ted was on the team that developed and launched the Macintosh desktop video division of AJA Video in tandem with Apple.  These products are used on a massive scale worldwide for video production on many of the world’s biggest movies, TV series and sporting events.

In 2019, Ted was honored at the Variety Hall of Fame with the Variety Innovation Award. 

Tenzin Seldon is an established leader, founder and investor, with over 15 years of experience in the climate space. As the Founder and Managing Partner of Pulse Fund, a venture growth equity fund investing in global, scalable climate solutions. Previously, Tenzin co-founded The Plant, with the bold vision of creating net-negative infrastructure through the redevelopment and adaptive reuse of historic buildings. She also worked at the United Nations Regional Office of Asia and the Pacific and the United Nations Environment Programme, where she monitored and recommended policy for the region’s disaster relief efforts. Her work has been recognized globally, in Forbes magazine’s “30 Under 30” list, as the entrepreneur “Most Likely to Impact the Next Century.” Tenzin was honored at the United Nations as an Innovative Disruptor, named Harry S. Truman Scholar for her service work in the U.S. Congress, recognized as a World Economic Forum Global Shaper, and received the 21st Century Icon Award by the London Stock Exchange. Tenzin graduated with the highest honors from Stanford University, earning the distinction of summa cum laude and went on to be the first Tibetan-American Rhodes Scholar at University of Oxford.

Thomas George is a Product Lead at Google working at the intersection of Cities and Sustainability, building solutions to help Cities decarbonize while improving the lives of its citizens. He came to Google from Sidewalk Labs where he was leading the Pebble team, optimizing parking and transportation systems in cities.  Prior to that, he was VP of Technology for Quadlogic Controls, leading product development and acquisitions, and COO of BlocPower, a Clean Energy startup.

Tom has spent over 20 years building teams to develop and deploy products and systems around the world; in sustainability, clean-energy, IoT and satellite communications, among others. From energy policy in New York to rural electrification in Eastern Congo to hardware product development and sourcing in China, Tom has a demonstrable ability to plan, execute and deliver in complex situations.

Tom Wright is president and chief executive officer of Regional Plan Association (RPA), the nation’s oldest independent metropolitan research, planning and advocacy organization. A private, non-profit corporation, RPA improves the prosperity, infrastructure, sustainability, health and quality of life of the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut metropolitan region by researching and preparing long-range plans and advocating for their implementation.

As president, Tom led the production of RPA’s landmark Fourth Regional Plan, released in 2017, which proposed 61 recommendations to reform public institutions; modernize transportation systems; tackle the challenge of climate change; and provide affordable and livable communities for all the region’s residents. RPA is now working to implement the major ideas in the plan, such as charging all drivers to enter the Manhattan CBD; cutting carbon emissions and scaling up renewable energy sources; creating healthy, affordable housing in every community; modernizing the NYC subways; and building a new commuter rail tunnel under the Hudson River connected to a renovated and expanded Penn Station. 

Tom is a frequent public speaker and commentator on regional governance, economic growth and development, transit investments, and other policy issues. Prior to being named RPA’s president in 2015, Tom was RPA’s executive director. In his 20+ years with the organization, Tom has participated in many key RPA initiatives, including the historic Civic Alliance to Rebuild Downtown New York following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks; the campaign to create a mixed-use district at Manhattan’s Hudson Yards; the protection of the New Jersey Highlands; a vision plan for the City of Newark and The Constant Future, a public exhibition in Grand Central Terminal’s Vanderbilt Hall which celebrated RPA’s Centennial. Tom was also in charge of producing A Region at Risk, RPA’s third plan published in 1996.

Previously, Tom was deputy executive director of the 2001 New Jersey Office of State Planning, where he coordinated production of the New Jersey State Development and Redevelopment Plan. 

In January, 2020, Governor Phil Murphy appointed Tom as the Chairman of the New Jersey State Planning Commission. A visiting lecturer at the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, Tom has a master’s in urban planning from Columbia University and a bachelor’s in history and a certificate in American Studies from Princeton University.

Ugo Valenti is a passionate technology and business professional with over ten years of experience in the events & technology industry. He is the Co-founder and CEO of Smart City Expo World Congress, leading a team focused on creating innovative solutions for businesses and institutions worldwide.

With a focus on business strategy and product development, Ugo has been instrumental in the company’s success at different growth stages. He has worked with businesses of all sizes, from startups to large corporations, and has a proven track record of helping companies and institutions achieve their goals.

Ugo is a skilled communicator and passionate leader and enjoys sharing his knowledge and experience with others. He has appeared on various media outlets, discussing topics ranging from sustainability and urban innovation to technology trends. He is also an experienced speaker and has spoken at conferences around the globe.

When he’s not working, Ugo enjoys sports and live music. He is an avid traveller and has visited more than 25 countries worldwide.

Victoria Din leads Mastercard’s public sector business in the United States and oversees the company’s engagements with U.S. federal, state and local government, higher education and transit infrastructure partners. Across her work, she leverages the full spectrum of Mastercard – philanthropic, commercial, and industry-leading technology – to help public sector leaders work better, faster, and smarter for their constituents. 

Victoria brings a diverse array of public and private sector expertise to her role. She most recently served as Chief of Staff for the Americas at Mastercard, working closely with the President of the Americas and regional leadership team to manage all customer-facing activities, strategy, product, technology, and operations for the U.S., Canada, and Latin America. Over the course of her tenure at the company, she has also held roles in product development for small business and micro enterprises, M&A finance, and business-to-business marketing.

Before joining Mastercard, Victoria spent the majority of her career in public service. She served as a political appointee in the Obama Administration, including advisory roles within the State and Commerce Departments. She also has experience on the Hill, at the White House, and in the non-profit space. 

Victoria has an MBA from Columbia Business School and a BA from Claremont McKenna College. She resides in Westchester with her husband, Greg and rescue pup, Rey.

 As the Vice President of Connected Cities and External Affairs for Boldyn Networks’ US Business, a leading neutral host provider, Walter is responsible for building and maintaining core relationships at the federal and state levels where Boldyn operates. 

With more than 30 years of technology sales and executive management experience, Walter’s expertise spans the wireless, wholesale and enterprise markets. He has led sales teams in the efficient delivery of network solutions that enable customers to grow their businesses more effectively. Walter was the Vice President of Business Development at ZenFi Networks, which later became part of Boldyn Networks during an acquisition in late 2023. 

Prior to ZenFi Networks, Walter served as the Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Metro|NS, where he effectively developed sales strategies and helped to forge strong relationships with both vendors and clients. Before Metro|NS, Walter was the Director of Enterprise Sales for Lexent Metro Connect, where he was responsible for growing Lexent’s core business. Walter has held senior management positions in sales, marketing and business development, focusing on start-ups and emerging technologies. He studied Engineering and Mathematics at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. 

Winsome Bowen is a certified urban planning professional whose experience spans over 25 years in the civil engineering and transportation practice, with specialty in urban mass transit and community development.  She has provided transit industry leadership in regional sales, pursuit planning, recruitment, retention, management and mentorship of transportation professionals for some of the top 10 engineering consulting firms.  

Ms. Bowen is an innovative and solutions-focused professional, with extensive experience in public infrastructure planning and delivery, and urban transit solutions.  She is a concept-to-execution driver, with proven success in leading varied urban transportation projects and programs: from smaller local-area circulator projects to larger-scale regional commuter transit programs, from planning to execution, with hand-off to final design and construction.  She is an engaging leader, with proven ability to mentor and motivate teams to boost productivity and ensure the attainment of goals.

Ms. Bowen’s professional practice has been strengthened by dedicated client service to the government sector and collaboration with community-based organizations across the United States.  She is respected by clients and professional associates for her inspiring and engaging leadership, and her keen insight into complex urban settings. 

She began her career in community planning and deployment of child welfare programs in developing nations with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).  In 1992 she expanded her professional practice to include community planning and redevelopment in post-disaster relief and recovery in South Florida in the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew, before she transitioned to the public transportation sector.  Her career accomplishments include development of multimodal transportation and community redevelopment projects built and in use across the United States.  

As an enhancement to her consulting practice, Winsome became a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC) through the Coaches Training Institute.  She blends her professional experience with leadership coaching in service to college students, younger workforce entrants, mid-level and senior professionals facing transition to retirement.

In 2017, Winsome relocated to the Bay Area to join Facebook’s HQ team and lead the tech company’s regional transportation strategy and external partnerships.  Her leadership of a bold effort to explore a public-private partnership to assess redevelopment potential of an inactive freight right-of-way (the Dumbarton Rail Corridor) for public benefit was the catalyst for her transition to the Bay Area.  To quote one of her former team partners, “Winsome moved heaven on earth to take a program that was dead, and breathed new life into it, getting the communities on both sides of South San Francisco Bay excited, after 25 years of inertia and weak political support.  She skillfully powered through traditional municipal silos to foster cross-bay collaboration.  She made it happen; gave this South San Francisco Bay crossing new wings, and made it part of the northern California infrastructure conversation.”  

She recently returned to South Florida, and joined AtkinsRealis, as a senior leader in the Rail and Transit practice.  In her role as East Region Division Manager for AtkinsRealis Infrastructure Solutions practice, Winsome is responsible for cross-discipline collaboration with AtkinsRealis technical professionals to craft innovative urban mobility solutions for clients across market sectors, including Rail & Transit. 

Winsome has served in several leadership roles: Board of Visitors, College of Liberal Arts for Temple University; Chair, Miami-Dade County TPO’s Transportation Aesthetics Review Committee; Big Brothers Big Sisters of Miami Miracle Society; and Board of Trustees, Mineta Transportation Institute.  She holds a Master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Miami, and a Bachelor of Arts (Geography) from Temple University.

Zack Wyatt grew up in northern Virginia. His family were caretakers of a 300-acre, old dairy farm. His family had a large garden, pigs, horses, chickens, and he also worked on neighboring farms. After graduating from Coastal Carolina University in 2003 with a degree in Business Administration, he worked in home mortgage lending and IT. Zack’s passion for bringing community together over food, his understanding of the importance of equitable food access, and his drive to improve local food systems led him to found Carolina Farm Trust in 2015. As the Executive Director of Carolina Farm Trust, Zack has produced two documentaries (The Farmer that Feeds Us series), and an annual music festival fundraiser called Carolina Jubilee. Zack lives in Cornelius with his wife and five children.