Who Is Speaking
Hear from more than 200 thought leaders and pioneers. Confirmed Speakers Include:
Luann Abrams
Founder
CEOX
Luann Abrams is the founder of CEOX, an organization with a mission is to elevate women into CEO and board roles. From her time in venture capital as a partner at FoundersPad, an early-stage venture fund, she was compelled to find a solution to the inequities in leadership she saw at growing startups. She is a founding board member of Strengthening Central Oregon Political Action Committee (SCOPAC) with the mission of recruiting and supporting under-represented individuals to run for political office. In the 2020 election, five of their six endorsed candidates were elected to office, ensuring diverse representation in the local community. She is the inaugural member of the Women in STEAM group led by the Technology Association of Oregon (TAO), whose mission is to support and encourage women in male-dominated industries for a gender-balanced future. Here she created a mentorship program matching experienced business executives with up and coming women to help them achieve their career goals. Luann has a background in aerospace engineering and spent most of her 15 years in aviation working for a start-up aircraft company in Bend, OR. Here she led the certification engineering program at Columbia Aircraft where she oversaw the certification of several aircraft models and ensured that all designs met applicable regulations. Due to her diligence and integrity she was granted the authority to sign off on regulatory compliance on behalf of the FAA prior to aircraft delivery. In 2017 she was inducted into the International Air & Space Hall of Fame as part of the Golden Eagles, the winningest intercollegiate flying team. When she is not working and living the Bend life with her husband and two sons, you will find her curled up with a good book and a hot cup of coffee.
Erez Agmoni
Regional Head of Supply Chain Warehousing & Distribution-Americas
Maersk
Dr. Erez Agmoni is the Head of Supply Chain Warehousing and Distribution for Maersk in North America and after many years in Asia and Latin America he is now based in New Jersey, USA. Erez has a broad industry experience of more than 25 years in supply chain, freight forwarding, logistics, engineering and digital innovation which he utilized to develop complex solutions that improve end to end supply chains. Erez is holding a computer engineering bachelor’s degree, telecommunication science master’s degree and a PhD in organization development. Erez is married with three children and enjoy travelling, hiking and mountain biking in his spare time Languages: Hebrew, English, Thai & Japanese (beginner)
Alex Albertini
Sr Director of Global Logistics & Distribution
The HydraFacial Company
Adil Ashiq
Executive Director of America
MarineTraffic
Donald Baan
Manager Business Development
Portbase
Ferry Bakker
Corporate Vice President, International Supply Operations LHC
Henkel
Ferry Bakker is Corporate Vice President International Supply Operations Laundry and Home Care at Henkel. He is based in Amsterdam and globally responsible for Demand and Supply Planning, Logistics Operations, Customer Service, and Supply Chain Customer Collaboration within the Laundry and Home Care Division. He has been working for Henkel since October 2015. Ferry holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration with a Major in Logistics Management (Erasmus University Rotterdam, 1996). During his career, he has worked for several companies including Gillette, P&G and KraftHeinz and lived in several countries outside the Netherlands (Belgium, USA, Switzerland). He spent most of my career in the area of International Supply Chain, but also spent several years in the area of Sales and Commercial Management as a broadening assignment. He currently lives with his wife and 2 daughters in the Netherlands.
Steve Banker
VP
Arc Advisory Group Inc.
Steve Banker works for the ARC Advisory Group, an industry analyst and consulting firm. He is a contributor to Forbes.com and a columnist at Logistics Viewpoints. He has researched, written and spoken about supply chain technologies for over 20 years. Recent research has focused on supply chain digital twins and control towers, autonomous mobile robots, digital freight brokerage, and global trade compliance solutions.
Sarah Barnes-Humphrey
Podcast Host
Lets Talk Supply Chain
Sarah is a logistician turned supply chain marketer, passionate about bringing stories to life in an industry that has traditionally been about stats and numbers. As the host of the popular Lets Talk Supply Chain Podcast (LTSC), blog and The Trade Squad on YouTube, Sarah helps tell the stories and bring awareness to brands and hot topics in the industry which includes her infamous Women in Supply Chain series. Recently named Top 100 most influential women leaders in Supply Chain (global) and Top 100 most influential Women in Canadian Supply Chain, Sarah has spent the past 20 years in logistics and supply chain learning everything she can, and recently ventured off on her own to grow the LTSC brand including a new YouTube Channel called "The SC, supply chain tv" where you will learn from real people talking about real supply chain topics. Sarah is also the Co-Founder and CEO of Shipz Inc, a new technology platform encompassing all of her experience and knowledge in supply chain bringing innovative, collaborative ideas together on own platform for the supply chain industry. In her spare time you can find her on the field throwing out runners at second base, on the beach or singing in the car
Jennifer Bartashus
Senior Analyst, Retail Staples & Packaged Food
Bloomberg Intelligence, Bloomberg L.P
Jennifer Bartashus is a Senior Analyst covering food retail, mass merchants, and packaged food companies for Bloomberg Intelligence. Ms. Bartashus has over 20 years of experience in the financial markets, and appears as a guest on TV and radio outlets worldwide where she discusses her research and industry insights. In previous positions she has focused on strategic operations, Latin American markets and the development of analytic and trading tools
Yariv Bash
Co Founder & CEO
Flytrex
Yariv is the co-founder and CEO of Flytrex Aviation. Flytrex provides drone delivery solutions for the food and retail sectors, and was the 1st company in the world to deploy a B2C drone delivery system in an urban environment above Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland. Flytrex is now taking part in the US Federal Aviation Administration prestigious commercial drone integration pilot program (IPP), with deliveries taking place in North Dakota and soon in North Carolina. Prior to that, Yariv was the co-founder and the 1st CEO of SpaceIL, a $100M Israeli non-profit organization that attempted to land Beresheet, the first private interplanetary robotic mission, on the Moon on April, 2019 making Israel only the 7th nation ever to orbit the moon and reach the lunar surface. Yariv holds a BSc in Electrical Engineering from Tel Aviv University.
Jenny Bebout
Founder & VP of Product
Convey
As a co-founder and Director of Product at Convey, Jenny has developed a track record for using product and design skills to deliver a top-notch customer experience, product vision and strategy for the company. With a degree in Fine Arts from Kansas State University, over ten years of experience working in creative ad agencies, and experience owning and operating a boutique agency, Jenny has done everything from interactive design to strategic marketing to product building.
Jan Bednar
CEO
Shipmonk
Jan Bednar is the CEO and founder of ShipMonk, one of the fastest-growing fulfillment centers. Jan started his entrepreneurship journey at age 17 when he immigrated from Czech Republic to Florida to pursue his college education. After graduating from Florida Atlantic University, Jan founded what is known today as ShipMonk, a technology-driven, eCommerce fulfillment and logistics company. Since its start in 2014, ShipMonk has grown to over $65 million in revenue in 2019 and over 1,000 employees. Jan was named on Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2018, and ShipMonk was named on Inc. Magazine’s Fastest Growing Companies in the US in 2018, 2019, and 2020.
Peter Berger
Director of Business
Woven Planet Holdings
Peter Berger is the Director of Business Development and Partnerships for Woven Planet leading the business initiatives for its internal projects including Arene, AMP, L5 Autonomous Systems and several others. Woven Planet, a subsidiary of Toyota Motor Corporation that develops businesses that enable the mobility of people, goods and information. Prior to Woven Planet, Peter was the Director of Innovation for the aircraft manufacturer Embraer, responsible for new projects including an all-electric VTOL vehicle, a marketplace for people, parts, and tools for aviation, and the strategy lead for autonomous flight systems. Prior to joining Embraer, Peter was the CEO of several startups in addressing a diverse set of problems including large scale bio-network integration to enable rapid drug discovery, a social network application for Google Glass, and a search and summarization technology for document management just to name a few.
Tracy Black
Operating Partner
NewRoad Capital Partners
Tracy Black is the lead operating partner for NewRoad Capital Partners a private equity investment firm located in Rogers, Ar. She serves on the board of Platform Science an iot fleet management platform company based in San Diego, CA, and Emerge a digital freight platform based in Phoenix, Az, as well as serving as board observer for Bardavon Health Innovations based in Kansas City, KS. Previously, she served on the executive team as SVP IT at J.B Hunt Transport a fortune 300 transportation logistics company based in Lowell, Ar. Tracy has served as the President of the NWA Network of Executive Women, President of U of A CSEG Alumni organization, and as a board member for Credit Counseling of Arkansas, Samsung Executive Advisory Board, Arkansas Academy of Computing, and the Information Technology Research Institute. Tracy is a member of the Arkansas Executive Forum. Tracy received the distinguished alumni award from the University of Arkansas and was named a Premier 100 IT leader by Computerworld.
Guy Bloch
CEO & Board Member
Bringg
Philip Blumenthal, PhD
Chief Transformation Officer
ECU Worldwide
Philip Blumenthal has held a variety of executive roles at the top three Logistics firm “DB Schenker” in both Germany and the United States. Lastly, he was responsible for the New York Market, with annual revenue of 140 million USD p.a, ranking in the top 5 areas of the corporation. Within the first year of his tenure, he restructured three branch sites to accumulate savings valued at 3.2 million USD p.a. and increased sales by 20% at the same time. Most recently, Philip has been building the Logistics Marketplace at "Freightos”, scaling the business from zero to 50 bookings per day within 6 months, by focusing on customer needs with providing transparency, competitiveness, and liquidity. He is also responsible for building the Freightos Baltic Index, which is one of the main three indicators for international freight rates. During his PhD thesis, Philip developed a product to secure the volatility in this trillion-dollar industry. Under the Brand “Doctor Freight” Philip is regarded as thought leader in international Logistics and sharing his findings at conferences, e.g. Dreamforce, MarketWaves, Future of Freight . In the past 1.5 years, Philip has scaled the company value of a CBD manufacturing business, which has been acquired by one of the sharks from the ABC show "Shark Tank"
Brian Bourke
Chief Growth Officer
SEKO Logistics
Victoria Bryazgina
Head of SCM Development
United Metallurgical Company
Victoria Bryazgina, Head of SCM Development at United metallurgical company (OMK) has 10 years of experience in Supply Chain Management. Her background includes: SCM and logistics network development, development of SCM processes at large petrochemical and metallurgical enterprises, SCM strategy and cross-functional teams creation and management. Her current SCM projects include: participation and implementation, including new facilities creation and implementation projects, supply chain design, supply chain optimization, individual business processes modelling, and the implementation of specialized planning and scheduling systems.
Brody Buhler
CEO
Escher Group
Don Burnette
CEO & Co-Founder
Kodiak
Don Burnette is Co-Founder and CEO of Kodiak Robotics. Prior to this, he co-founded Otto with other co-league in robotics, which was then acquired by Uber. He used to be staff software engineer in Google before venturing on Otto. Don holds a masters degree in physics from University of Florida and a masters degree in robotics from Carnegie Mellon University.
Hannan Carmeli
Managing Partner
TheDOCK
Hannan Carmeli – Co-Founder and Managing Partner of theDOCK, a Maritime-Tech venture capital and accelerator based in Israel. Hannan has vast and multi-disciplinary experience in hi-tech companies. In his prior role, Carmeli served as an Operating Consultant with the private equity firm Francisco Partners involved in acquisition and value creation of Israeli portfolio companies. Prior to that Carmeli served as Director of International Activity of the Israeli Innovation Authority (formerly Office of Chief Scientist) - a government agency overseeing the Hi-Tech and innovation ecosystem in Israel. Prior to this Carmeli served as the President and Co-CEO of ClickSoftware (publicly traded - NASDAQ) leading the company for over 16 years to become the global leader in workforce management and service optimization solutions. In 2015 ClickSoftware was acquired by a private equity firm, which sold it to Salesforce for $1.4 billion dollars in 2019. Carmeli graduated the Naval Academy & Advance Maritime Command School with commendation. Served as Patrol Boat Commander, and second-in-command of a Missile Corvette. Carmeli holds a BSc degree in computer science from the Technion and is a graduate of Boston University.
Bruce Chan
VP & SR Analyst, Global Logistics Equity Research
Stifel
J. Bruce Chan is the Equity Research - Global TransLog at Stifel Nicolaus. He is also the Director/Secretary at Stepping Stones International, Inc. Mr. Chan was the Explorers Council Executive Committee Membership Chair at Port Discovery Children's Museum. Bruce graduated from Georgetown University McDonough School of Business with a BSBA in Finance & International Business and received an JD in Corporate Law, Real Estate Law at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law
Kai Chang
Director of Transportation
Newegg
Manish Chowdhary
CEO & Founder
Cahoot
Manish leads a team of passionate eCommerce experts and fosters a culture of innovation and thought leadership that keeps Cahoot and Pulse Commerce clients at the forefront of retail today. Built for the future of eCommerce, Cahoot was recognized among the top 50 most innovative companies and awarded Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas for 2020. Manish provides business and technology leadership to Cahoot and Pulse Commerce and its clients. With Manish’s guidance, Cahoot and Pulse Commerce continuously innovates, nurtures, and develops solutions that provide the right blend of technology, infrastructure, and services required for merchants to thrive.
Nick Chubb
Founder
Thetius
Nick Chubb MNI is the Founder of maritime innovation consultancy Thetius. He spends his time supporting clients in the shipping industry who want to understand and leverage emerging technologies to prepare for the future. Thetius offers a range of services including market research, software development, and talent management. Nick started his career by going to sea as a deck officer in the merchant navy before moving into maritime technology when he came ashore. He has previously held senior commercial positions in a number of organisations, overseeing the launch of new digital products and services. He was Head of Growth at Intelligent Cargo Systems, the startup behind the CargoMate port call optimisation system. He also led the development of digital education platform Learn@Sea on behalf of Marine Society. Within a year of launching, the platform had delivered career enhancing education to more than 10,000 seafarers in more than 20 countries. Outside of work, Nick is an accomplished ultra-endurance athlete, having completed a 300-mile solo trek across the Arabian Peninsula and the notorious Marathon des Sables; a 156-mile ultra marathon across the Sahara Desert billed as “the toughest foot-race on earth”.
Gina Chung
Vice President Innovation Americas
DHL
Gina is a global innovation leader with 9 years of experience in the digital transformation of logistics and supply chains. Today she is responsible for DHL’s Americas Innovation Center: a purpose-built platform to engage customers, startups, and industries on the future of logistics. Gina manages a portfolio of projects focused on the rapid testing and adoption of technologies such as collaborative robotics and artificial intelligence across logistics operations. Prior to this role, Gina spent 6 years in Germany shaping DHL’s global innovation strategy and developing DHL’s trend research series including co-authoring publications such as IoT in Logistics together with Cisco and the industry-acclaimed Logistics Trend Radar. Gina is based in Chicago and holds two degrees from the University of Auckland.
Jeff Clark
CEO & Founder
7PSolutions LLC
Jeff Clark is Founder and CEO of 7PSolutions. Jeff started 7P in 2010 to improve the pharmaceutical supply chain and patient safety. Using his extensive background in transportation and the life science industry his vision was to combine a Good Manufacturing Practices (GPM) quality management system with technology - providing training and tools to the supply chain, allowing for real-time visibility and faster decision making. Prior to starting 7PSolutions, Clark held management positions within the global transportation industry combining global transportation with software technologies to enhance processes and data flows. During his 27 years in global transportation, Clark taught IncoTerms, International Banking, and Dangerous Goods Regulations. Jeff also participated in the initial discussions to form and implement the Customs – Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) with the Federal Government. In 2003 Jeff was part of an eight-person team that started Bio Storage Technologies (BST). BST was founded to provide sample management and ultra-cold storage to the pharmaceutical clinical trial industry. As the Global Director of Logistics and Operations, Jeff was responsible for establishing procedures within the operations and logistics departments and building the company’s facility infrastructure and IT department and software development. During this time, Clark created, designed and implemented the first of its kind climate-controlled trailer for the transport of high-value samples and pharmaceutical materials. The climate-controlled trailer was launched in 2009 and provided five (5) temperature zones. Using two refrigeration units for redundancy, 13 onboard live streaming video cameras, two generators, extra fuel capacity and electric standby. It also included a workstation with a computer station and spare parts for all equipment in the event of a mechanical failure. The combination of these two business ventures provided Clark with the experience to start 7PSolutions and provide real-time visibility within the supply chain. In addition to the GPS monitoring services offered by 7P, the company also provided training and implementation of Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) and Good Distribution Practices (GDP) to the shipping and transportation industry. This included training and implementation of Cargo Security Protocols and Standard Operating Procedures. Thanks to Jeff and 7P, companies have implemented the 7P Quality Management System and Security Protocols. In 2017, 7P began the implementation of Cargo Security Protocols and SOP’s with a trucking company operating +300 tractors. The initiative’s goal was to achieve TAPA TSR Level II certification by January 2018. The certification was approved thanks to Clark’s leadership and the support of the 7PSolutions team. Jeff Clark has published several articles over the last 15 years and often speaks at industry events nationwide as a subject matter expert in global transportation, climate-controlled supply chains and the use of GPS as a decision-making tool. Mr. Clark continues to grow the 7P company and providing solutions to logistics and transportation company’s around the world.
Chris Clott
Director
SUNY Maritime College
Chris Considine
Director
AlixPartners
Chris Considine is a Manager within Kurt Salmon’s Consumer Group. He has over 15 years of supply chain industry experience across industries including manufacturing, retail, grocery and e-commerce working throughout Asia, Europe & North America. Chris has deep experience in facility design and implementation, network strategy and in operationalizing omni-channel. Dan Lawler is currently the Director of Distribution Facility Development for Michael Kors. He has spent 20 years in the Supply Chain Industry working across Transportation, Distribution, Ecommerce Operations and Engineering. Dan’s experience ranges from big box to Ecommerce Flash sales site to Omni Channel Retailer. Dan has led several DC implementations and has delivered numerous WMS integration projects. Dan holds a BS in Business and an MA in Transportation and Logistics Management.
Megan Conyers
EVP
Florida Customs Brokers & Freight Forwarders Association
Megan Conyers is the Executive Vice President of the Florida Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association (FCBF). An international business growth and strategy executive, Megan is focused on growing the opportunities for the Florida logistics community through advocacy, education, and strategic community facilitation. FCBF is the most active trade association in Florida representing the import and export community. Under Megan’s leadership, the association has recently undergone a complete rebrand, forming strategic partnerships with relevant organizations, growing our education platform exponentially, and reinvigorating membership engagement throughout the state. By hosting open dialogue with various state and federal agencies, FCBF is helping to shape and develop crucial international trade policies. Over the last decade, Megan has worked extensively with companies of all sizes to launch and expand throughout the Americas and Europe. Additionally, she has collaborated with various trade and economic development organizations to create thriving business ecosystems by facilitating training opportunities and workshops for business owners and professionals from around the world.
Felipe Cortés
CEO & Co-Founder
Kiwibot
Julian Counihan
General Partner
Schematic Ventures
Julian started a career in technology as a software developer at Fortna where he worked on warehouse control & automation systems. After a period in technology investment banking, he began investing in industrial hardware and supply chain sectors at a venture capital fund in New York. Julian holds an MBA from MIT and a BsC in systems engineering from UVA.
Chris Cutshaw
Director of Commercial & Product Strategy
CH Robinson
As Director of Commercial & Product strategy, Chris is responsible for working with leaders across C.H. Robison to own and execute the commercial strategy for Navisphere Vision, C.H. Robinson’s real-time transportation visibility platfrom. Additionally, Chris is responsible for driving growth through the development of new and existing sales channels and supporting the build out of the product roadmap to achieve customer satisfaction and retention. Prior to his current role, Chris was the Global Account Manager overseeing the TMC relationship with Microsoft, as well as, was a member of the global implementation team for our Managed Services division. Chris is a graduate of Bradley University with a major in International Business and currently lives in Seattle, WA.
Hasan Dandashly
President & CEO
Dematic
Hasan Dandashly is President and CEO of Dematic, an Operating Unit of the KION Group, and a member of the KION Group Executive Committee. He joined the company in 2018. With more than 25 years of global leadership experience, Hasan’s expertise includes full-cycle profit and loss management, operations excellence and strategy execution through methodical business and culture transformation. Hasan joined Dematic after 20 years of service with General Electric where he was a corporate officer and held a number of P&L leadership positions in the Industrial, Transportation, Power Generation, and Oil & Gas businesses. He Joined GE in 1998 as a software manager for GE’s Intelligent Platforms. He then ran GE's Train Management Systems business with its first automated movement planner for freight railroads. Hasan moved to Qatar in 2005 to lead the development of GE’s regional technology center. After that, Hasan led GE’s Power Generation Services for the Middle East and Africa out of Dubai. In 2012 Hasan assumed leadership of GE Oil & Gas’ Global Services business in Florence, Italy where he was promoted to GE officer. He moved to Houston in 2014 to start the Downstream Business that he led for 3 years. In 2017, Hasan led the Oil Field Surface Business of GE and supported the integration of Baker Hughes and GE Oil & Gas. Before joining GE, Hasan was at Honeywell where he started his career as a Research Engineer, then moved to technology leadership positions in Industrial Automation and Aviation. In the 1990s, Hasan led the development of Honeywell’s next generation DCS control systems and the innovative on-board and air/ground communications systems for the first Boeing 777. Hasan holds BS and Master’s degrees in Computer Science from the Lebanese American University and the University of Minnesota respectively. Hasan is married to Nada and together they are blessed with four children. He enjoys reading, hiking, and running.
Roopesh Das
SVP Digital Acceleration & Innovation
Wallenius Wilhelmsen Ocean & Solutions
Jeff Davidson
Head of Devices Global Supply Chain Network
Microsoft
Steve Davies
Chief Operating Officer
Eve Sleep
Bart De Muynck
Research Vice President, Transportation Technology
Gartner
Bart De Muynck conducts research in the supply chain area focused on the delivery processes: transportation management, transportation visibility, freight payment, analytics, yard management, vehicle routing and scheduling, and fleet telematics. Mr. De Muynck also researches emerging technologies such as AI/ML, Advanced Analytics, Intelligent Things and Blockchain as they relate to Transportation
Jamin Dick
Head of NA Supply Chain
Alibaba.com
Jamin Dick is the Head of Supply Chain-North America for Alibaba B2B. Mr. Dick has more than 20 years of experience as a leader in the retail industry and enabling global ecommerce for businesses of all sizes. At IBM he led the first ecommerce implementations for many Fortune 100 retailers in the US. He played a key role in automating product design and development for Target’s private label business and oversaw the creation of a new supply chain network for Target.com. In 2014 he was instrumental in taking Borderfree public on the Nasdaq. Mr. Dick earned his bachelor’s degree from The College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, MN. He is also a thought leader in emerging technologies such as block chain and IOT and their application to real-world business problems.
Michelle Dilley
CEO
AWESOME
Michelle Dilley became the first CEO of AWESOME (Achieving Women’s Excellence in Supply Chain Operations, Management and Education) in July 2020. Prior to that, she served as Chief Operating Officer of DSC Logistics, now CJ Logistics America. Michelle joined DSC Logistics in 2017 as Chief Supply Chain Transformation Officer, leading the vision for the company’s operating platform of the future and implementing strategic initiatives to deliver continuous improvement. Promoted to COO in 2019, Michelle continued to lead the transformation initiative and was directly responsible for leading DSC’s nationwide network of logistics centers and supply chain packaging operations throughout North America. Her prior experience spans the full spectrum of end-to-end supply chain, including strategic sourcing, operations, inventory management, logistics, technology and business/customer process harmonization for companies such LaSalle Bristol, Ascension Health, and Whirlpool Corporation. During her 16-year tenure with Whirlpool, she served in diverse roles such as finance, product development, and procurement, including general manager, global indirect goods & services sourcing. Michelle also serves on the corporate board of STAG Industrial. She received a bachelor’s degree in German studies and international business from the University of Michigan and also studied at Schiller International University in Heidelberg, Germany.
Brent Dorfman
Vice President Supply Chain - North America
ASOS.com
Gordon Downes
CEO
NYSHEX
Gordon Downes is the CEO of New York Shipping Exchange, Inc. Gordon has well-balanced perspective from all sides of the shipping industry. Prior to joining NYSHEX, Gordon was an executive at SABMiller, a large multi-national shipper. He has also held numerous leadership positions at Maersk Line, the world's largest shipping line, and Damco, a global freight forwarder. Gordon has lived and worked in Asia, Africa, Europe and North America. Gordon holds an MBA from the University of Cambridge, as well as a bachelor of commerce degree majoring in maritime economics and a post graduate degree in maritime law.
Marc Dragon
Partner
Reefknot Investments
Tanja Dysli
Head of Logistics
IKEA
Ben Eachus
CEO & Co-Founder
Flowspace
Evangelos (Evan) Efstathiou
CEO
Skysail Advisors
Evangelos Efstathiou has a proven track record in delivering maritime portfolio advisory and innovative technology, analytics and business process solutions for ship owning and commodity trading companies. As CEO of Skysail Advisors, Mr. Efstathiou works with clients to identify and execute on strategic initiatives. Prior to founding Skysail in 2016, Mr. Efstathiou held positions at Chinsay, SpecTec, Veson Nautical and Marsoft. Mr. Efstathiou holds a Bachelor of Science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He lives in Boston, Massachusetts with his wife Anastasia and daughters Katherine, Aella and Iris. Skysail Advisors is a maritime consulting and technology advisory firm based in Boston, MA. Skysail combines knowledge and know-how of data science and software technologies with deep relationships across shipowners, charterers, private equity and financial institutions to deliver innovative solutions to the maritime, aviation, railroad, commodities and financial technology industries. Over the past 15 years, Skysail’s leadership team has worked with over 100 maritime-related firms in the dry bulk, tanker and containership markets as well as numerous niche market segments.
Lior Elazary
CEO
InVia Robotics
Lior has more than 20 years of experience as an executive in internet networking, robotics, software development and enterprise architecture businesses. He has led and directed diverse teams developing everything from back-office systems to core enterprise technologies. Most recently, he co-founded and later sold EdgeCast, a content delivery platform with customers such as Twitter and YouTube. Before that, he co-founded and later sold HostPro (now Web.com), an internet hosting company. Elazary completed a master’s degree in computer science at the University of Southern California (USC) with a specialty focus on artificial intelligence. He attended a Ph.D. program in robotics at USC, where he met his inVia co-founders. Their work together sparked a passion for the dramatic effect robots can have in driving efficiency and productivity and, most importantly, in helping people live happier and more fulfilling lives.
Haytham Elhawary
CEO
KINETIC
Haytham Elhawary is cofounder and CEO of KINETIC. With a passion for technology and entrepreneurship, he heads the wearable tech company in the development of hardware and software infrastructure to enable a connected industrial workforce. Guided by a mission to help the industrial worker stay safe and healthy, and to make their work more rewarding, Elhawary has led the development of a smart wearable device to reduce workplace injuries. Elhawary is a “recovering roboticist,” holding a PhD in biomedical engineering from Imperial College London and a Mechanical Engineering degree from University of Navarra in Spain. His professional experience includes the development of medical robots at both Philips Electronics and Harvard Medical School. Elhawary’s career has evolved alongside his passion for technology that augments the workforce, which he sees as a significant advantage for companies. Prior to launching his wearable tech company KINETIC in 2014, he served as Executive Director of the Zahn Innovation Center, a hardware startup incubator. Elhawary and his company are based out of New York, where he also writes reviews for on and off Broadway productions on the blog Theater is Easy, and loves to do improvised comedy (although admittedly he's not very good).
James Ephrati
Partner
Lightspeed Ventures
Megan Evert
SVP Operations
Flexe
As SVP of Operations, Megan is responsible for the strategy and ongoing development of the Flexe Logistics Operations teams. Her teams are on the front lines, interacting with Flexe users every day, and Megan's focus is uniting Operations with Product & Engineering, Sales, and Marketing to ensure Flexe customers and warehouse providers are happy. Prior to joining Flexe, she oversaw Operations at Chef’n, a Seattle housewares company, where she managed the company through several acquisitions and warehouse transitions. Megan also has experience working on the retailer side of supply chain at Target’s headquarters in Minneapolis.
Robert Falck
CEO
Einride
Robert Falck is the CEO and founder of Einride, a tech start-up bent on the sustainable transformation of the transportation industry, developing an intelligent road freight system based on all-electric, autonomous trucks, or Pods. Before founding Einride in 2016, Mr. Falck was a director of manufacturing engineering assembly at Volvo GTO Powertrain. A serial entrepreneur, he is a co-founder of Vnu, a nightclub business intelligence solution, The Great Wild, a hunting app, and Keyflow, an event service platform. Mr. Falck holds a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering, a B.Sc. in Economics and finance, and a B.Sc. in Business.
Emily Fan
VP, Supply Chain & Operations
Madison Reed
Michael Farlekas
CEO & President
E2open
Michael Farlekas joined E2open in 2015 as CEO. In this role, he is responsible for leading the company’s overall operations, with direct oversight of sales, marketing, professional services, research and development, and strategy. Michael brings to E2open more than 20 years of sales, marketing and leadership experience in supply chain management and enterprise software. Prior to joining E2open, Michael was the VP and General Manager at Roadnet Technologies (now Omnitracs), the leading provider of last-mile routing and mobility solutions to Fortune® 50 clients. Previously, Michael spent 11 years at RedPrairie (now JDA Software) in roles that included SVP and General Manager, Industrial Business Unit, and VP, Industrial Sales. He also has held senior leadership roles at GATX Terminal Corp (now Kinder Morgan), an operator of petroleum and chemical distribution terminals worldwide, and CSX Transportation, a rail transportation provider offering comprehensive supply chain services. Michael holds an MBA with a concentration in international business from Jacksonville University and a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from Fairleigh Dickinson University.
Tom Fiorita
CEO
Point Pickup Technologies, Inc.
Tom Fiorita is the Founder and CEO at Point Pickup Technologies, Inc. He is a former President at Fund Advantage Services, LLC. and was the President & COO at Sursum Capital Management, LLC/ Mr. Florita received a bachelor's degree in Business Management and Marketing at Southern New Hampshire University.
Andrew Flett
Partner
Mobility Impact Partners
Andrew Flett has over two decades of experience investing in mobility, communications, software, and data analytics. He has transacted throughout the United States, Canada, Western Europe and Asia, including buyouts, carveouts, growth equity, and venture capital. Prior to joining MIP, he founded Growth Control Capital, a private equity firm investing in growth equity and venture capital with a heavy concentration in connected vehicle technologies. His experience also includes over 15 years at Investcorp as a Partner in the technology growth buyout business. A Canadian national, Andrew speaks French and is proficient in Spanish. Andrew holds a BE in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Victoria, and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania
Debbie Fortnum
COO & Co-Founder
Macondo Vision
An operations and technology executive with over 25 years’ experience managing global supply chains, operations, and M&A integrations across a variety of companies in both the retail and wholesale channels. Debbie’s professional roots in technology have been the basis for her success in driving automation across all aspects of operations. Her solutions have helped direct to consumer businesses rapidly scale to meet explosive growth. Having led many transformational initiatives, Debbie understands that optimizing operations and delivering a great customer experience are driven first from the efforts of an engaged workforce. It is the intersection of that engaged workforce and technological innovation that becomes the game changer.
Chuck Frank
President
AHS
Chuck Frank is President of Advanced Handling Systems (AHS), LLC which is a material handling and supply chain systems integrator located in Erlanger, Kentucky. He attended Northern Kentucky University with a focus in Business Administration. Chuck’s career at AHS began in 1988 traveling the country installing and overseeing field work as a Project Manager. In the mid 90’s, Chuck was offered and accepted a position in sales working with AHS’s customers to provide solutions to assist with their growth initiatives. In this role, Chuck was responsible for the success of each project, from strategic planning through implementation and post Go-Live Support. As the company continued to grow, Chuck assumed the role of President and is now focused on vision and strategic direction for the company.
Jascha Franklin-Hodge
Executive Director
Open Mobility Foundation
Jascha Franklin-Hodge is the Executive Director of the Open Mobility Foundation (OMF). This city-led foundation helps government and industry collaborate to develop open source tools and data standards that support adoption and regulation of emerging mobility technology. He previously served in the cabinet of Mayor Martin J. Walsh as Boston’s Chief Information Officer, and lead the City’s Department of Innovation and Technology. He managed a team responsible for the City’s efforts to build exceptional, user-centered digital services, harness data to improve quality of life, empower City employees with effective technology, and improve access to the Internet and technical skills training for city residents. Previously, Franklin-Hodge co-founded Blue State Digital (BSD) where he oversaw the development and operation of the BSD Tools, a fundraising, email, and CRM platform that raised over $1B and powered the digital presence of President Barack Obama’s 2008 and 2012 campaigns. Franklin-Hodge has been a Visiting Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School, focused on mobility, technology, and public policy, and a consultant to the private sector on new mobility and smart cities. He serves on the boards of LivableStreets Alliance, Tech Goes Home, and MITX (Massachusetts Information Technology Exchange). He studied computer science at MIT.
Carsten Funke
CEO
Picavi US Inc.
Carsten Funke is the Chief Sales Officer and shareholder of Picavi. He joined the Aachen-based company in 2016 and formed it to be the market leader in AR for logistics. Since early 2019, Funke took the position of CEO at the US subsidiary, Picavi U.S. Inc.
Natalie Gagliordi
Senior Writer
ZDNet
Natalie is a senior writer on ZDNet for CBS Interactive, covering technology and business. She has covered the IT and enterprise technology industries for the last six years through daily breaking news and feature reporting, with a beat that spans the subjects of e-commerce, robotics, cloud computing, innovation and artificial intelligence.
Tom Galluzzo
CTO & Founder
IAM Robotics
Tom is the Founder and CEO of IAM Robotics. He has over 15 years of experience in autonomous robotics. Previously, Tom worked with Carnegie Mellon University, Harris Corporation, the Air Force Research Laboratory, Boeing and other organizations. During his career, Tom developed autonomous systems for air, land and sea. He built robots to compete in major competitions including the Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition and the DARPA Grand Challenge. Several of Tom’s robots have won in the areas of navigation, autonomy and design. Tom also co-founded OpenJAUS, a technology company that develops software for the Joint Architecture for Unmanned Systems (JAUS). OpenJAUS is the market leader in providing JAUS solutions to the defense industry. Tom holds a PhD in Robotics from the University of Florida and a BS in Aerospace Engineering from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, with minors in Computer Science and Mathematics.
Roberto Gandolfo
Vice President of Logistics
IFood
Roberto Gandolfo is Vice President of Logistics at iFood, the leading foodtech in Latin America. Since 2016, when he joined the company, he led the commercial and operations teams and structured the Logistics area with the objective of offering new services to the restaurants and improving the experience of partner delivery companies. Previously, Gandolfo was the co-founder and general director of hellofood Brasil, in addition to having worked for companies such as Itaú BBA, Engevix Engenharia S.A. and Instituto Desenvolvimento Logístico - INDELOG (Logistic Institute). Graduated in Industrial Civil Engineering from the Federal University of Santa Catarina, he has a postgraduate degree in Business Administration and Management from Stanford (USA).
Carlos Garcia Ottati
CEO & Founder
Kavak.com
Christopher George
Chairman and Co-Founder
SUBTA
Chris is a serial entrepreneur who has successfully launched and managed seven businesses. Most recently, Chris has channeled his passion into the subscription industry as the Chairman of the Subscription Trade Association.
Justin Ging
Chief Commercial Officer
Honeywell Quantum Solutions,
Justin Ging, Chief Commercial Officer for Honeywell Quantum Solutions, leads Marketing activities for the organization, driving strategic pathfinding, technology and company evangelism, and ecosystem development. Prior to joining Honeywell, Justin led Marketing teams at Samsung Semiconductor, Micron/Aptina, and Analog Devices, driving adoption of semiconductor products, including mobile processors and image sensors, into new products. Justin has also held Engineering roles at Lucent Bell Labs (optical fiber and photonic devices research) and Lockheed Martin (optical design for threat warning systems). Justin holds multiple degrees from MIT including an MBA (Sloan School), Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Electrical Engineering, and a Master’s degree in Materials Science.
Brian Glick
CEO
Chain.io
Brian Glick has made a career of simplifying complex supply chain and trade compliance IT challenges. Whether analyzing complex coding issues or rationalizing the compliance impacts of a vendor direct drop ship program, Brian brings a rare combination of executive perspective and deep technical knowledge to today’s supply chain challenges. From the early days web based visibility platforms and into today’s cloud revolution, Brian has been an active leader in each phase of the connected supply chain evolution. With a focus on retail and apparel supply chains, Brian has brought his expertise to bear as an IT leader both within logistics service providers and through independent software companies.
Elram Goren
Founder
Fabric
Elram Goren is CEO and co-founder of Fabric. He has led the company from its inception in 2015 through its first deployments and now is at the helm of its rapidly scaling operations. Before co-founding Fabric, Elram served as a Major in the Israeli Defense Forces managing R&D teams and multidisciplinary operations in the Intelligence Technology Unit. He is a graduate of the elite Psagot Excellence Program. Elram holds a Bachelor of Science in Physics and Electrical Engineering from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and an MBA from Tel Aviv University.
Marc Gorlin
CEO & Founder
Roadie
Marc Gorlin is the founder and CEO of crowdsourced delivery platform Roadie, which he launched in 2014. Roadie puts unused capacity in passenger vehicles to work by connecting people with items to send with drivers heading in the right direction. The Atlanta-based company works with consumers and businesses across almost every industry to provide a faster, cheaper and more scalable solution for same-day and urgent delivery. Before launching Roadie, Marc co-founded and served as chairman of Kabbage Inc., which provides working capital to small and medium-sized businesses. It was acquired by American Express in 2020. Prior to that, Marc co-founded VerticalOne Corporation, a content personalization service that was sold to S1 Corporation (NASDAQ: ACIW) for $166 million. In 1996, Marc was a co-founder and an original board member of Pretty Good Privacy (“PGP”), a company formed to commercialize one of the most prevalent security standards on the Internet, popularized in the book The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Marc helped launch PGP and oversaw its financing, growth and eventual sale to Network Associates in December 1997. Marc is a UGA graduate and an active speaker on serial entrepreneurship, innovation and venture funding. "
Michael Granoff
Managing Partner
Maniv Mobility
Michael Granoff is founder and Managing Director of Maniv Mobility, a venture capital fund based in Tel Aviv which invests exclusively in the new mobility future. Founded in 2015, Maniv has raised two funds and has roughly $145 million under management. The Maniv portfolio includes nearly 30 mobility startups that include companies developing sensors, software, simulation, localization, data monetization, autonomous systems, over-the-air updates, automotive cyber-security, mobility service models, including micromobility, and more. The majority of portfolio companies are based in Israel, but others are based in the US, Europe and Australia. Aside from several startup boards, Mr. Granoff serves on the board of Securing America’s Future Energy (SAFE), a Washington, DC-based policy and advocacy organization he helped establish in 2004. Past board roles included that of electric car network developer Better Place. He has been involved in three US Presidential campaigns and in 2010 received Brandeis University’s Asper Award for Global Entrepreneurship. Mr. Granoff holds a B.A. from Tufts University, an MBA and JD from Kellogg, Northwestern University, is a veteran marathon runner and father of four.
Scott Gravelle
CEO
Attabotics
Scott Gravelle is an automation veteran who is currently the founder, CEO, and CTO of Attabotics, a robotics-based supply chain system for modern commerce. Attabotics has been adopted by global brands like Nordstrom and retailers across apparel, food & beverage, home goods, and more, who choose Attabotics to streamline their fulfillment centers, reduce carbon output, and stay competitive. Scott started Attabotics in July 2016 with only a pitch deck and CAD models and has since grown the company to more than 210 employees. Attabotics has been recognized by TIME’s Best Inventions, Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies, and was named to the CNBC Disruptor 50 list in 2020 and the CNBC Upstart 100 list in 2019.
Todd Greener
SVP, Global Supply Chain
Foot Locker, Inc.
Todd Greener has served as Senior Vice President ̶ Global Supply Chain since October 2018. Todd is responsible for customer fulfillment, distribution center operations, transportation, and private label operations across the Company’s 8 brands. Previously, Todd was Senior Vice President, Supply Chain at Advance Auto Parts and led distribution center operations, transportation, and enterprise safety/risk management. Prior to Advance Auto Parts, Todd spent over 20 years at General Electric including General Manager, Distribution Operations at GE Appliances and General Manager, Service Parts Supply Chain at GE Transportation. He also held supply chain and finance roles in GE Lighting, GE Corporate, and GE Aviation. Todd has a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.
Chris Groseclose
Chief Fulfillment Officer
Crutchfield Corporation
Chris Groseclose holds the role of Crutchfield Corporation’s Chief Fulfillment Officer. Crutchfield is a leading CE retailer that has been providing high quality products, service, and support for 47 years; and has won Bitrates’ “Circle of Excellence Platinum Award” for 21 years in a row. Prior to Crutchfield, Chris held a VP of Operations role with Shenandoah Growers. Shenandoah Growers is a leading provider in fresh-cut culinary herbs throughout the US; providing product to a wide variety of retail and wholesale chains such as; Wegmans, Giant, Kroger, Publix, Sysco Walmart, Food-lion etc. Shenandoah Growers is a pioneer in introducing robotic greenhouse technology to the US market.
Doron Grosman
President & CEO
Global Container Terminals Inc. (GCT)
Doron Grosman is the President and Chief Executive Officer of GCT Global Container Terminals Inc., with operations four marine container terminals in Vancouver, BC and New York/New Jersey. Doron is a seasoned multi industry executive with experience in a variety of C-suite roles at global Fortune 1000 companies as well as middle market private equity owned companies. Doron is widely known for his ability to drive company performance through the acceleration of revenue growth, optimization of costs, and capital and the delivery of superior customer value. From 2010 to 2017, Doron was an Operating Partner at New York based Court Square Capital Partners. Doron was a member of the Investment Team working with portfolio companies, in a variety of service and technology industry sectors, on key strategic and operational initiatives. Previously, Doron was the President of Hexcel Corp, a public company that is a global leader in advanced composites technology and the President of Quebecor Magazine Printing Solutions, where his leadership drove enhanced results in both these businesses. Doron started his career at Bain & Company, the strategy and management consulting firm, and then spent eleven years in various senior executive capacities in General Electric (GE) both in the corporate office and at GE Plastics. Subsequent to his career at GE, Doron was the de facto Chief Operating Officer for American Standard’s global Trane Air-Conditioning business. Doron holds a MBA from Harvard Business School, and a Master of Science in Engineering from Witwatersrand University in South Africa.
Adit Gupta
Co-Founder & CEO
Lula
Robert Hahn
COO
Whitebox
Rita Hansen
CEO
Onboard Dynamics
Rita Hansen is the CEO of Onboard Dynamics, a company that is leading the transition from conventional energy fuels to the next generation of energy fuels to power our truck transportation needs and provide critical solutions for the natural gas and renewable natural gas industries. Rita is an Industrial Engineer by training and has over 30 years of executive and technical management experience in a diverse range of industries. Since 2006, she has specialized in startup and early phase environments with an emphasis on domestic and international opportunities in the energy arena.
Mark Harris
CEO
HeroWear
"Mark Harris is the CEO and co-founder of HeroWear. A driven entrepreneur with an innovator’s mindset, Mark leads a team of experienced engineers, ergonomists, and manufacturing experts bound to a single vision: Design exosuits that improve the health, safety, and productivity of workers worldwide through HeroWear’s Workforce Wearable's. Mark currently serves on the Advisory Board for Vanderbilt University's Center for Technology Transfer and Commercialization and has three degrees from Vanderbilt University: a B.S. in Molecular and Cellular Biology; a Ph.D. in Cancer Biology; and an MBA from the Owen Graduate School of Management."
Ludwig Hausmann
Partner
McKinsey & Company
Ludwig leads strategic, corporate finance, and transformation projects for transport and logistics clients, with a focus on airlines and airports, parcel and express, freight forwarding, contract logistics, and shipping. He serves as one of the firm’s lead experts and speakers for the express and air cargo spaces. He has developed McKinsey’s client outreach publications and knowledge on the issues of unlocking growth, profitability, and better capital efficiency across the transport and logistics sectors. Within e-commerce logistics, Ludwig has enhanced McKinsey’s perspectives on new delivery trends, such as same-day, on-demand, e-grocery delivery, cross-border shipping, and e-commerce fulfillment. He has a deep understanding of the need for companies to venture into new business models or markets, supporting European and Asian parcel companies in re-establishing themselves as e-commerce enablers, for example. Prior to joining McKinsey, Ludwig worked at law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP in Frankfurt and New York, where he advised transportation clients on all legal aspects of M&A transactions and regular fleet and asset-investment programs.
Matt Heider
CEO
Nautilus Labs
Matt Heider is CEO of Nautilus Labs, the technology firm advancing the efficiency of ocean commerce through artificial intelligence. Prior to Nautilus, he built the sales and account management team at Andela, a global software engineering firm as the company scaled from 50 to 500 people. He has also held sales and client leadership roles at IBM Watson. Matt graduated from The George Washington University with a BA in Political Science; he received his MBA from The Foster School of Business at the University of Washington. Matt currently resides in New York.
Gundl Herzog
VP Global Supply Chain Management
Amersports
Hans Hickler
CEO
Ellipsis Advisors
Hans is the founder and CEO of Ellipsis Advisors, LLC, providing C-Level advisory services and executive coaching. In the last 12 years, he has served as CEO on three multinational corporations. Hans brings with him more than 25 years of experience in the transportation, express, and logistics industry, having started his career in the ocean transportation business. Prior to starting his own business, Hans was Chief Executive of Asia Pacific for Agility Logistics, where his responsibilities spanned more than 20 countries, over 7,000 employees, and where he served on Agility Logistics’ Global Management Board. He also served as DHL’s CEO for Global Customer Solutions, leading development and sales across major verticals of customer solutions across the DHL Supply Chain, Warehouse & Distribution, and Forwarding and Express Business Units. Prior to that role, Hans was CEO of DHL Express USA, CEO of APL Logistics, and served on the Global boards of both organizations. Hans studied at Brown University in the United States. He has lived and worked in Europe, the United States, Latin America, Asia and the Middle East. He is known for his leadership skills in building effective cross-cultural teams and for achieving significant growth and profitability. Hans is a recognized leader in the Logistics and Transportation industries, has sat on various industry Boards, and led his organizations to numerous industry awards and recognitions. In 2009, Hans received the prestigious Executive of the Year Award by the Strategic Account Management Association. He is actively involved in the field of social entrepreneurship. In his work with Ashoka, Hans supports and advises social entrepreneurs worldwide and is also involved in significant work being done to promote understanding of the importance of empathy in business. He leverages that experience to give his clients perspectives on embedding concepts of social profit and shared value into their business planning. It also allows him to provide guidance and coaching on the important element of work/family balance. Mr. Hickler is a member of YPO and the Ashoka Support Network. In addition to his blog, Hans has published 50 Words and is releasing his second book, Our Stories Matter, in the summer of 2014 – both books address raising self awareness of values and empathy.
Paul Hsiao
Co-Founder & General Partner
Canvas Ventures
Paul Hsiao is a general partner and cofounder of Canvas Ventures, a boutique firm investing in early-stage companies. Paul has made a number of investments in the logistics space including Transfix, MasonHub, and Flowspace. He is passionate about helping the companies in his portfolio scale from garage-sized startups to IPO/acquisition.
Clyde Hutchinson
Partner
Journey Partners
Clyde is currently a partner at TEAM ABC, a global venture capital fund focusing on air, land and sea transportation and tourism. The fund looks to support innovators with solutions making transport more efficient and/or sustainable. Through his consultancy firm, Journey Partners. Clyde has led several international innovation and startup programs such as Propeller, Shannon, Ireland’s aerospace, aviation and travel accelerator backed by Boeing; and Viva Air Labs, Latin America’s first innovation hub for aviation based in Medellín, Colombia. He’s also an experienced mentor and evaluator having worked with EIC Accelerator, BlueInvest, EIT Digital, IRIS, and Enterprise Ireland. Clyde spent his early career as an academic researcher working at University of Cambridge, Imperial College and Tokyo University
Joel Ifill
Founder & CEO
DASH Systems
Joel Ifill is a career engineer, innovator, inventor and entrepreneur. Born and raised in Michigan he received his undergraduate degree in Welding Engineering from Pennsylvania College of Technology and has spent over 10 years in a variety of engineering roles for diverse industries including; Aerojet focusing on precision guided munitions, and Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory developing next generation nuclear reactor technology. He specializes in the intersection of new technology, automation, and critical safety environments holding multiple patents in diverse fields from mechanical engineering, to welding engineering, to aerospace engineering disciplines. In 2017 he founded DASH Systems with the mission and vision to perform next day deliveries anywhere on the globe. This vision is accomplished by enabling precision commercial air drops that allow any aircraft to safely launch and land cargo mid flight. With Joel as the CEO DASH Systems has been at the forefront of the growth and expansion of precision air drop technologies including numerous patents, deployments into multiple hurricanes and active disaster recovery efforts, department of defense contracts, and commercial deliveries to service rural remote and hard to reach communities.
Gerardo Interiano
VP of Government Relations and Public Affairs
Auroa
As the Head of Government Relation, Gerardo Interiano leads the effort to engage with federal, state, and local governments as Aurora helps define the future of self-driving policy and ensures safety is at the core of everything at the company. Prior to Aurora, Gerardo worked at Google where he helped launch Google Fiber and Google’s Self-Driving Car Project (now Waymo) in the Southwest. He also served in various roles with U.S. government officials.
John Janson
Senior Director, Global Logistics
SanMar
SanMar is an award-winning supplier of apparel & accessories. Founded in the beautiful Pacific Northwest, SanMar has passionately & successfully served the imprinted sportswear market for 45+ years. John has 20+ years of experience piloting global logistics for industry leading companies including, MWI Animal Health/AmerisourceBergen, Bodybuilding.com, Micron and Micron PC. He is known to be a results driven executive, who invests in his team with strong relationship and team building skills. John’s ability to operate both strategically & tactically across multiple facets of company operations has made a difference with customers domestically & internationally. His career has given him quality, experienced knowledge of all aspects of global transportation, distribution & logistics. He is a graduate from Boise State University and has been married to his wife, Susan, for 39 years with 2 daughters & 4 grandchildren
Charlie Jatt
Head of Commercialization for Trucking
Waymo
Charlie Jatt is the Head of Commercialization for Trucking at Waymo, an autonomous driving technology company with a mission to make it safe and easy for people and things to get where they're going. As the Head of Commercialization for Trucking, Charlie is responsible for commercialization efforts for Waymo Via, Waymo's trucking division, including defining and executing the go-to-market strategy, managing business development and partnership efforts with fleets, and ensuring operational success for commercial deployments. Previously, Charlie was Waymo's Head of Strategy and Business Operations. Prior to Waymo, he worked at Bain & Company, where he consulted for a number of industries, across a wide array of capabilities, such as strategy, operations, pricing, and organizational design. Charlie holds a B.S. in Engineering Physics, with a focus in Computational Science, from Stanford University.
Kellie Jensen
Director of Supply Chain
Lime
Kellie Jensen is the Director of Supply Chain for Lime, where she is responsible for designing and managing the supply chain strategy. Prior to joining Lime, she spent just shy of a decade with Apple where she served in various roles supporting product lifecycle from concept to end of life. She prioritizes projects in second life design, packaging optimization and waste minimization. She is particularly passionate about sustainable design and production. Jensen lives in Bend, Oregon with her partner and their 12 year old dog, Kuni. She is excited to further engage in her community as an appointed member of the Bend Environment and Climate Committee. She has a masters from the University of Chicago in Threat and Risk Management and a second masters from the University of Michigan, Ross School of Business in Supply Chain management.
Eric Johnson
Senior Editor, Technology
IHS Markit
Eric Johnson is the JOC's Senior Editor, Technology, where he leads coverage and analysis of technology’s impact on global logistics and trade. Johnson regularly reports on how shippers, carriers across all modes, and logistics companies use software, as well as new concepts impacting core freight transportation processes like procurement, execution, visibility, and payment. Johnson is a regular presenter and moderator at industry events and webinars. Prior to joining the JOC in May 2018, Johnson spent 13 years with American Shipper in a variety of roles, most recently covering logistics technology and leading the production of a series of benchmark studies on the logistics industry. Johnson has a bachelor’s in journalism from the University of Wisconsin and a master’s in international business from the University of Leeds, UK. He has lived and worked in Southern California, the UK, and India, and now resides in the Washington, D.C., area.
Michael Johnson
CEO & Founder
Sea Machines Robotics
Michael Gordon Johnson is a man captivated and driven by industry and the oceanic domain. A Texan, marine engineer, Merchant Marine officer, 3x entrepreneur, he holds a primary goal of building progressive and sustainable innovation for modern society. Michael is the founder and CEO of Sea Machines, a USA-based tech company that is a leading provider of autonomous control & intelligent perception systems for marine vessels. The company brings new opportunities to the established domains of marine commerce, marine science, and marine recreation. In 2019, the company launched the SM series to the global marine market, autonomous and remote command systems for workboats, utility craft, and security vessels. To make this possible, Michael has raised over $32 million in venture capital from leading funds and corporations. Michael holds a marine engineering degree from Texas A&M University and has led many major offshore oil & gas and marine transportation and vessel salvage projects around the globe. Prior to starting Sea Machines, he was a Vice President at Crowley Maritime and their affiliate company, Titan Salvage, where he wrote the proposal to raise the wrecked COSTA CONCORDIA cruise ship, a successful and profitable project that earned over $1.3 billion in revenue. Michael is also a conservationist and knows that humanity should live with the planet not on it, and as the dominant species on this world we have the explicit moral responsibility to protect other kind, their habitats and ensure nature’s balance. He happily resides near Boston, Massachusetts with his wife and 2 sons.
Chris Jolly
Founder
Freight Coach Enterprises
Chris has 15+ years of experience within transportation with the bulk of his experience in freight brokerage. He is the founder of Freight Coach Enterprises and the host of “Coffee w/#TheFreightCoach” podcast. His experience within freight brokerage includes operations, sales, and leadership ranging from start-ups to one of the largest brokerages within transportation. His passion is training and development of sales and operations professionals within transportation.
Sara Jones
SVP
New Vista Acquisition Corp
Sara Jones is a strategic leader with a proven track record delivering innovation investment strategies, strategic partnerships, and new venture initiatives to drive the future of mobility. Ms. Jones currently serves as Senior Vice President at New Vista Capital, an investment platform focused on emerging technologies in Aerospace and Defense. Prior to New Vista, Ms. Jones drove innovation investments, partnerships, and new venture initiatives in the future of mobility and emerging technologies at The Boeing Company. She served as Innovation Director, Digital & Emerging Aviation in Boeing HorizonX, the company's innovation and venture capital group. There, she led teams responsible for deploying rapid test & learns and proof of concepts leveraging advanced technologies, including autonomy, electric propulsion, artificial intelligence, machine learning, virtual reality, and blockchain, to create new disruptive solutions in advanced air mobility, drone services, regional electric mobility, aircraft services, and the passenger journey. While at HorizonX, she also launched the company’s first Urban Air Mobility pilot in an international market and sourced and developed partnerships with mobility startups, including helping establish Boeing’s supersonic business jet Joint Venture with Aerion Supersonic. Ms. Jones also served in strategy management for Boeing Global Services, leading teams responsible for commercial services strategy and major digital partnerships strategy for the enterprise. Prior, she led key innovation initiatives at Boeing Commercial Airplanes, including working with senior leaders of the $60B business unit to spearhead BCA’s 2050 Vision – setting the organization’s long-term vision, strategy, and key future mobility investments. Prior to Boeing, she worked in corporate strategy and management consulting, developing research-driven business and customer strategies for Fortune 100 companies, including Microsoft, UPS, T-Mobile, Outerwall, and Nordstrom. She also has extensive experience in the start-up sector as a founder and advisor. Ms. Jones serves as a VP on the Board of Trustees of Pacific Northwest Ballet and was recently honored in Puget Sound Business Journal’s “40 Under 40”. She received a BA in Political Science from NYU as a Martin Luther King Jr. Scholar and an MBA in Entrepreneurship and Finance from University of Michigan, Ross School of Business as a Consortium Scholar.
Peter Kalogiannis
CTO & Co Founder
Airflow
Peter has spent over 15 years developing unique aircraft and spacecraft. He led the avionics development team for Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo commercial suborbital spacecraft. As a Flight Test Engineer he planned and conducted complex flight test programs for the spacecraft system, and served as copilot on the vehicles. Peter also served as the Aircraft Integration and Test Lead for the Airbus Vahana eVTOL program to build a cutting-edge autonomous electric aircraft proof-of-concept demonstrator. He was Pilot In Command for the aircraft's first flight and subsequent development. Peter then joined Uber Elevate, and worked to operationalize Urban Air Mobility in complex real-world environments, before co-founding Airflow at CTO. He's now developing a new type of aircraft specifically designed to enable cost-effective same day e-commerce by moving goods quickly through the middle mile directly between logistics facilities, skipping traditional airports.
Shefali Kapadia
Lead Editor of Supply Chain Dive and Transport Dive
Supply Chain Dive
Shefali is a lead editor at Industry Dive. She oversees the publications Supply Chain Dive and Transport Dive and covers topics including logistics, supply chain operations, trade, manufacturing, freight and trucking. She was previously a broadcast producer covering political and government news. Shefali enjoys cooking, eating, traveling (when there's not a pandemic) and defending her home state of Delaware.
Rod Keller
CEO
AYRO
Rod Keller has served as AYRO’s Chief Executive Officer, President, and Director since November 2017. Mr. Keller is an accomplished executive with domestic and international experience in sales, marketing, operations, profit and loss oversight, and multi-channel product distribution involving both start-up and growth organizations. Mr. Keller previously served as President of Segway and led the company’s sale to Beijing-based Ninebot, which is now becoming the global leader in intelligent short-distance electric personal transportation. He also served as President and Chief Executive Officer of T3 Motion, a NASDAQ-listed producer of 3-wheeled electric vehicles primarily serving law enforcement and private security applications. Most recently, Mr. Keller was a partner with Odgers Berndtson, a global leader in executive search, leadership services, and talent management. Rod Keller is a Distinguished Alumnus of Texas State University, a Trustee for the Development Foundation of Texas State University, and a member of the McCoy College Advisory Council at Texas State University since 1987."
Randy Kennedy
Chief Logistics Officer
Randa Accessories
Randy Kennedy is chief logistics officer at Randa Apparel & Accessories, a global leader in apparel and accessories. Experience includes supply planning, US Customs, Foreign Trade Zones, imports, ERP & WMS systems, engineering, labor management, customer service, order management, supply chain, warehousing, wholesale, retail and direct to consumer fulfillment operations. Randy joined RAA via the company's acquisition of Wemco Inc,. where he was Senior Vice President of Corporate Operations with responsibilities including factory management to customer order fulfillment. Randy is responsible for Randa’s Supply Chain from factory logistics, transportation, importation, engineering, customer service and order fulfillment. Additional experience in site selection, facility design and build, LEED building design, relocation operations, Foreign Trade Zone establishment and C-TPAT certification.
Jack Kennedy
Co-Founder & CEO
Platform Science
Jack Kennedy is the founder and CEO of Platform Science. Previously, Jack was the President of Qualcomm Enterprise Services, and the President of Omnitracs, Inc., the leader in vehicle telematics, through its sale in 2014. Prior to Qualcomm, Jack served at News Corp where he held roles as the Executive Vice President of News Corp Digital Media, Executive Vice President of Fox Interactive Media, and Senior Vice President of Fox Network Group. During this period, Jack oversaw activities leading the digital transition of News Corp from a traditional media company into a “digital first” organization. During his tenure, he was part of the joint Fox/NBC Universal team that created the joint venture now known as “Hulu,” and the launch of one of the digital advertising technology companies, The Rubicon Product (RUBI:NASDAQ). He was responsible for a $2B+ portfolio of over two dozen digital assets. Jack retired as a commander in the U.S. Navy Reserves in 2016, after serving as a founding team member of DiUX, the Department of Defense’s recently established Silicon Valley presence. His career included multiple combat deployments, tours in Washington D.C. which included serving on the staff of U.S. Senator John McCain, and as the Aide de Camp to the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Jack holds a BS in Economics and Engineering from the United States Naval Academy and an MBA from the Harvard Business School and was a Legis Fellow of the Brookings Institution. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for ATN International, Inc. (ATN: NASDAQ) -
Shawn Kerrigan
COO & Co-Founder
Plus
Shawn Kerrigan, Ph.D., is COO and Co-founder at Plus. Under his direction, the company is developing self-driving trucks to enable large-scale commercialization of autonomous transport. Prior to Plus, Shawn was CTO and Co-founder of a hardware and software company in the solar industry. His earlier experience includes investment work at Bridgewater Associates, as well as strategy and operations work at McKinsey & Company. Shawn earned his Bachelor of Science degree from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He received his Master’s and Ph.D. in Engineering from Stanford University, where he conducted research across engineering and computer science, and first worked with artificial intelligence technology.
Jonathan Kilman
Chairman/Partner
Converge
The founder of Converge Government Affairs, Jonathan is an experienced political advisor and high-caliber advocate for Fortune 500 Companies, some of Silicon Valley’s biggest brands, and an array of regional and non-profit world-changers. Jonathan is frequently called upon by clients to advise and help manage US and global government affairs portfolios. In his Florida lobbying practice, Jonathan represents clients before the legislative and executive branches of Florida government, including the executive branch agencies. He has a passion for innovative technologies, healthcare, and transportation solutions. Prior to founding Converge, Jonathan co-chaired the Florida government affairs practice of an AmLaw 100 law firm, where the practice he helped build earned the recognition of the most influential law firm in Florida by Southern Political Report. One major state political publication noted his practice had been involved in nearly every major issue in Florida’s policy-making process. Jonathan’s clients include companies from diverse industries including health policy, pharmaceutical, hospital, medical device, digital media, technology, insurance, financial services, telecommunications, transportation, road construction, engineering, project and construction management, as well as local governments and government agencies. As a lawyer, Jonathan represented the Florida House of Representatives in litigation and appeals related to the redistricting of Florida’s state and federal legislative districts. Two years later, he represented the Florida Department of State in state and federal election litigation and appeals. Jonathan also served as legal counsel to the successful 2006 campaign of Florida Governor Charlie Crist. He received a gubernatorial appointment to serve on Florida’s 5th District Court of Appeal Judicial Nominating Commission and was appointed by U.S. Senator Marco Rubio to Florida’s Federal Judicial Nominating Commission. Jonathan has six children and is married to a whip-smart lawyer named Jessica who keeps him on his toes. They live in Miami, Florida, just two blocks from the beautiful bay, but who’s counting?
Jed Kleckner
CEO
Delivery.com
Jed Kleckner is CEO of delivery.com, a leading on-demand e-commerce platform. Jed previously held roles at Netscape Communications, co-founded CrowdBurst, which was later acquired by Informative, worked in investment banking at Banc of America Securities and served as a Venture Partner at Cantor Ventures. He holds a B.A. from Northwestern University, an M.B.A. from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a M.A in International Relations from the The University of Pennsylvania.
Mike Klepfer
COO
Bloomscape
Mike Klepfer is currently the Chief Operating Officer at Bloomscape and sits on several e-commerce company advisory boards. Previously, Mike was the COO at both Jaanuu and The Black Tux. Mike has more than 25 years of experience in leading organizations and projects within diverse consulting and industry environments that have included multiple operating locations across the US, Asia and Mexico. Leading operations for several small PE/VC backed ventures as well as enterprise companies that include Motorola, Deluxe Laboratories and Amazon, he has a unique set of skills geared specifically toward operational excellence, operational turnaround and startup situations. Throughout his career, he has developed a wide array of supply chain disciplines and been recognized in key senior executive roles within both the manufacturing and fulfillment industries. Born and educated in Chicago, Mike earned his Bachelor’s degree from Northern Illinois University, relocated to Los Angeles in 1999, completed his MBA at the University of Redlands in 2001 and currently lives with his wife and three daughters in Orange County, CA.
Janan Knust
CEO & Co-Founder
KLog.co
Audacious and visionary are two words that correctly describe Janan Knust. Investor and advisor in various companies, this seven-language-speaking entrepreneur is today focused on the logistics world, where through talent and technology he´s disrupting the freight industry. Focused on innovation and deep know-how of the industry, with stubborn focus on data and tech platforms, he founded KLog.co, today LATAM's main digital freight-tech company with presence in Chile, Peru, Bolivia and soon to be opening in Colombia and Mexico. Besides, as a sought out speaker Janan dedicates time to giving talks and sharing thoughts on how the future of logistics will be like, his view on how to tackle the digital transformation of the region and how with focus on talent success can be achieved, telling his own story as an example.
Asparuh Koev
Founder
Transmetrics
Asparuh Koev is a successful serial entrepreneur with a proven record of building companies and leading them to success and a founder of Transmetrics. Asparuh is responsible for the vision and direction of Transmetrics, managing the whole team and ensuring that it works efficiently, helping with the sales and customer presentations, securing funding to enable further development of the company, and setting the moral and ethical example within the company. He is also the key business expert with 18 years of experience servicing the transport market and an extensive network within cargo transport companies. Prior to starting Transmetrics, he had founded Sciant AG, a software outsourcing company in Sofia, Bulgaria. Under Asparuh’s guidance, the company grew to 350 employees and $7 million revenue per year. At the time, the company was named second best employer in Bulgaria. In 2007, the company achieved a profitable exit for its shareholders when it was sold to VMWare and became VMWare Bulgaria. Asparuh also founded IntelliCo Solutions, a consultancy company servicing the cargo transport market. As a Managing Partner, Asparuh grew the company to 18 employees. Among its customers, IntelliCo Solutions has Fortune 500 clients delivering IT projects in $1 million-$20 million range. The company still successfully operates today. Asparuh has a combination of technical and business background. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from the American University in Bulgaria and an MBA degree from the Vlerick Business School in Belgium (with Great Distinction).
Vesa Koivumaa
Director of Americas, Wartsila Ventures
Wartsila
Krenar Komoni
CEO & Founder
Tive
Always seeking to bring new ideas (invisible) to market (visible), Krenar Komoni has developed breakthrough ideas in data analytics, logistics, and electronics design for nearly 20 years. As an innovator and market leader, he has successfully developed and lead cross-functional teams while enhancing business performance in sales, finance, supply chain logistics, distribution, and manufacturing. Most recently, Krenar founded the Global Supply Chain Visibility company Tive and serves in the CEO role. Tive is a cloud-based platform that uses IoT sensors to capture critical real-time shipment sensor data as products are shipped worldwide. Krenar embodies the leadership, management, and vision necessary to deliver market innovation, drive growth, and unlock hidden potential. Previously, Krenar worked at BitWave Semiconductor, developing the world’s first software-defined radio (SDR), Eta Devices, an MIT-based startup developing highly efficient cellular base stations, and has provided consulting services for various Fortune 500 companies on chip and system-level wireless design. Outside of work, Krenar served as a Support Coordinator for the IEEE Region 1 Student Activities Committee (SAC), where he mentors students on leadership and entrepreneurship topics. At Norwich University, Krenar earned a BS in Computer Engineering and Mathematics and was the president of Tau Beta Bi Association’s Vermont Beta Chapter and the IEEE Student Branch President. Krenar earned his MSEE from Tufts University and BS in Computer Engineering and Mathematics from Norwich University.
Maron Kristofersson
Founder
Aha
Maron is an experienced entrepreneur with global private and public company experience across multiple industries and continents. Maron is the CEO and co-founder of Aha, which builds online marketplace businesses with instant deliveries. The company's first marketplace is now the leading instant delivery marketplace for grocery, hot food and retail goods in Iceland. The company is on the frontier of the energy transition in Iceland where Aha deliveries only using electric cars or drones. Maron has spoken at numerous conferences globally about the future of drone deliveries, the energy transition, last-mile logistics and the future of retail.
Jonas Krumland
CEO
Logward
Jonas is a lifelong logistics pro, having founded Logward in 2018 as a Supply Chain Management as a Service solution, driven by a digital 4PL cloud. His career began with a dual course of study at Leschaco, a global freight forwarder active in Ocean Freight, Air Freight, Tankcontainer shipping, and Contract Logistics. After working through various functions and levels at Leschaco, Jonas ascended to Head of Global Business Transformation in 2016, taking responsibility for the firm’s global digitalization efforts. Born in Oldenburg, Germany, Jonas combines a small-town work ethic with global experience to consistently innovate for clients and colleagues. Outside of the office, he can be found working on fix-up projects, racing forklifts, or cooking a great steak.
Inna Kuznetova
CEO
1010data
Inna Kuznetsova is a CEO of 1010data, the leading provider of cross-enterprise data analytics tools for retail, CPG and financial markets. 1010data helps customers to rapidly transform data into knowledge and adjust their businesses to the fast changes in the market. Inna also serves on board of Global Ports Investments Plc (LSE: GLPR), which operates container terminals in the Baltic and Far East basins, where she chairs the Nomination and Remuneration committee Until its recent acquisition by E2open, Inna was the President and Chief Operating Officer of INTTRA the largest digital network and analytics provider for ocean shipping industry, processing over a quarter of containers in global trade. Prior to joining INTTRA Inna was the Chief Commercial Officer of CEVA Logistics and before that, the global VP, Marketing & Sales, Systems Software at IBM where she spent 19 years in a variety of global roles with a primary focus on technology-driven innovation, fast sale-up and returning business back to growth. Her prior boards include Sage (LSE: SGE), the top software company on FTSE100 list providing small and medium sized organizations with business management software and Avantida, a privately-owned SaaS company in Belgium. Inna completed her MS and Ph.D. study in mathematics at the Moscow State University and MBA in Columbia Business School. She is a frequent speaker on technology-driven innovation and an author of two bestselling career books in Russia.
Yves König
Head of Smart Urban Logistics
Swiss Post
Pierre Laguerre
CEO & Founder
Fleeting
Pierre Laguerre is an entrepreneur in transportation logistics who has over 17 years of experience in the space. While generating more than $5M in revenue through his transportation ventures, Pierre has successfully mentored young men who have gone on to earn their commercial drivers licenses. He has also facilitated growth in his peers who now own their own trucking and dispatch operations. As a Haitian-born migrant, Pierre found his entrepreneurial passion in trucking. He started his journey as a truck driver. Since then, he’s earned the honor of becoming the first Black man to max out an SEC approved equity crowdfunding campaign. After excelling in the Quake Capital startup accelerator, Pierre has gone on to win pitch competitions with Harvard University, Chamillionaire, Kyrie Irvin and Damon John, all while being a calm collected head-of-household for his three young children.
Mike Larsson
EVP & President, Americas Region
Dematic
As President of Dematic’s Americas Region, Michael is responsible for accelerating growth and driving a market leading presence in the US, Canada and Mexico. As Dematic’s largest geographical market, the Americas Region is home to over 5,000 employees and the company’s largest installed base footprint. Michael ensures we achieve customer expectations and outcomes through a focused approach on sales, service and execution across the region. Michael joined Dematic in this role in 2021. He came to Dematic from ABB where he most recently served as Senior Vice President and Managing Director of Automotive in ABB’s Robotics and Discrete Automation business unit. Previous to that role, Michael also served as a Group Vice President and Head of Robot Systems, leading ABB’s turnkey solutions offerings to customers across global geographies in electronics, automotive, aerospace, and consumer goods clients. Having lived and worked on four continents, Michael brings a diverse leadership background to Dematic.
Marie-France Laurin
Director of Business Development, GenerationAV
Stantec
Marie-France leads business development activities for Stantec GenerationAV™, our autonomous vehicle (AV) consulting arm focused on accelerating AV adoption. Passionate about new mobility, she’s spent most of her career exploring mobility trends, technologies and providers, and synergies between them to help people bring ideas to life. Work in AV technology, ride sharing, the internet of things (IoT), and smartphone tech have prepared Marie-France for the next big mobility revolution. She believes in the power of AVs and the new mobility ecosystem to enhance communities through improved accessibility and affordability. Building on industry best practices, she knows people are what ultimately drives the success of any mobility program. Through collaboration and integration, we can bring about a safer and more equitable world driven by the evolution of mobility.
Daniel Laury
CEO & Chief Product Officer
Udelv
Daniel Laury is the co-founder and CEO of Udelv, the world leader in autonomous deliveries. In 2016, after identifying a gap between the advancement of autonomous driving technology and the state of the delivery industry, he put together a team of top engineers and created the world’s first driverless vehicle for public roads. With his team, he coordinated the world’s first public road autonomous delivery in January 2018. By 2019, after releasing its second generation vehicle, Udelv has successfully completed more than 6,000 automated deliveries on behalf of a variety of retailers that include Walmart in Phoenix, AZ, and XL Parts in TX. Prior to founding Udelv, Daniel co-founded LuckySurf.com, the 17th most visited site in the world by December 2000, raised $40M in funding, and successfully sold it in 2008. He then founded LSF Interactive, a digital marketing agency. In 2010 and 2013 LSF was recognized as one of Inc. Magazine’s fastest-growing private companies in America. In 2012, under his leadership, LSF Interactive acquired the Geary Group to form Geary LSF, one of the world’s leading independent digital marketing companies, with a roster of brand clients across the U.S. and Europe, 240 people, 8 offices in the US and Europe and over $120 million in media under management. That same year Advertising Age ranked Geary LSF as the 4th largest search marketing agency in the U.S. After leaving Geary LSF, Laury became an investor in high tech and founded The Explorer Group, a VC fund and accelerator for exponential technologies, with investments in early stage companies. Daniel’s early career includes service as a naval officer; a Board Member of Dassault Development; a founder and CEO of Probag SA, an airport equipment company selling a patented luggage protection equipment to airlines and airports around the world; and a manager with the prestigious Wall Street bank Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. He holds an MBA from top French business school ESSEC and was Co-Chair of SEMPO San Francisco. He founded and is Chairman of the Board of Halt Homelessness, a nonprofit organization to combat homelessness in San Francisco. Halt Homelessness recently struck an exclusive deal with The Salvation Army to build a large transitional housing facility in the SOMA district in San Francisco in view of sheltering thousands of homeless people and re-introducing them into life. Daniel is a husband and proud father of four, a patron of the SF MOMA, the SF Symphony and the SF Opera. A native of France, Daniel is a dual citizen of the United States and the European Union and speaks four languages.
Bruce Leak
Partner
Playground Global
Bruce Leak is a Founding Partner at Playground Global. From an early age, his intellectual curiosity led to a fascination with computers and emerging technology, and later informed his career path which took him from the frontier days of Apple and Microsoft, to entrepreneurship, to his time at Playground investing in complex ideas with the potential to change the world.
HanBin Lee
CEO and Co-Founder
Seoul Robotics
HanBin Lee is the CEO and Co-Founder of Seoul Robotics, where he oversees the company’s work developing vision software for 3D sensors, including LiDAR. HanBin started Seoul Robotics from a small back alley in Seoul, South Korea in 2017, and since then has brought the company to the world stage, cultivating partnerships with a variety of many global customers, including BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, and Qualcomm.
Andrew Leto
CEO & Founder
Emerge
Andrew has been in the logistics industry since 2003 when he founded GlobalTranz after serving 5 honorable years in the U.S. Navy. Having built a reputation for providing some of the best technology in the industry, GlobalTranz quickly became one of the top-10 Truckload and LTL brokers in the U.S. with over a billion dollars in sales. Andrew also founded 10-4 Systems, a truckload and visibility platform which sold to Trimble in 2016. Currently, Andrew is focusing on his third endeavor – Emerge – a cloud-based shipping platform and marketplace helping logistics professionals to more efficiently procure and manage their overflow truckload capacity. Andrew resides in Phoenix, Arizona with his wife and two children.
Dr Yifan "David" Li
CEO
Hesai Technologies
Dr. Yifan “David” Li, CEO of Hesai Technology, is an expert in robotics and motion control and a leader in the global autonomous driving industry. David’s numerous accolades include Fortune Magazine’s “40 Under 40 China”, MIT Technology Review’s “Innovators Under 35 China”, and the Red Dot Award for design. David received his PhD in Robotics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and his BS degree in Mechanical Engineering from Tsinghua University. Prior to founding Hesai, David served as a principal engineer at Western Digital in Silicon Valley. He has more than 100 patents in the fields of robotics, motion control, sensors, and advanced manufacturing. His hobbies include running marathons, basketball, and photography.
David Li
Principal
Avanta Ventures
David is a Principal at Avanta Ventures, where he invests in early stage mobility and fintech companies. David is passionate about working with great entrepreneurs leveraging technology and unique insights to drive meaningful change across large industries. Prior to joining Avanta Ventures, David was a venture investor at Longitude Capital, where he invested in and partnered with growth stage venture businesses. David also spent time at Pivotal Software, where he was part of the product operations team for the Pivotal Cloud Foundry platform. He started his career in investment banking at Lazard, where David advised companies from early stage startups to multinational corporations on M&A transactions. David received his MBA from The Wharton School at The University of Pennsylvania and holds a BS in Business Administration from UC Berkeley.
Jewel Li
COO
AutoX
Dr. Jewel Li is the Chief Operating Officer at AutoX, a tech company developing AI drivers for autonomous driving vehicles. The mission of AutoX is to empower the world with AI drivers to accelerate universal access of transportation for people and goods, safely, reliably, and conveniently. Prior to AutoX, Dr. Li was a researcher at IBM Thomas J. Watson research center, as part of the Watson Core Algorithms Team, Statistical Learning and Discovery group leading Watson A.I. SaaS platform products. She was honored as one of Silicon Valley's 2018 Women of Influence by the Silicon Valley Business Journal.
Mary Long
Managing Director, Global Supply Chain Forum
Haslam College Of Business At The University Of Tennessee
ary Long is the Managing Director of Global Supply Chain Institute’s Supply Chain Forum at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Haslam College of Business. Mary is a board advisor, lecturer, writer, international speaker and also serves on the editorial board for Supply Chain Management Quarterly. She has built an extensive supply chain career, most recently, as the Vice President of Logistics and Network Planning at Domino’s. Her responsibilities have spanned global end to end supply chains and her areas of interest include advancing digital supply chain agility and accelerating humanitarian supply chain relief.
Evan Lutz
CEO & Co-Founder
Hungry Harvest
Evan is a 28-year-old social entrepreneur from Baltimore, Maryland who is passionate about food justice, entrepreneurship, and the Baltimore Ravens. He's a frequent guest on NPR, the Washington Post, and Baltimore News stations. He's been recognized in Forbes 30 under 30 in the social entrepreneurship category, Baltimore's 40 under 40, and Montgomery County Emerging Business of the Year Award, previously won by Honest Tea, Sweet Green, and Comcast. He was also featured on ABC's Shark Tank, where he made a deal with Robert Herjavec.
Thomas Madrecki
Vice President of Supply Chain
Consumer Brands Association
Nabil Malouli
VP Global Ecommerce
DHL
Nabil Malouli is a global multi-disciplinary Innovation leader combining Corporate Executive experience, Startup Advisor & Investor, Consultant & Speaker. He is VP, Global E-commerce for DHL where he leads the innovation, strategy and product development of its e-commerce solutions. Nabil was formerly VP, DHL Customer Solutions & Innovation where he oversaw the development of innovative solutions to support Fortune 500 companies doing business globally. He has deep practical experience on solutions related to new technologies enabling customer centricity, digitalization, automation, big data and robotics. Nabil is passionate about innovation, e-commerce, supply chains, customer centricity and entrepreneurship and a regular speaker on the conference circuit. He also serves as an advisor to high growth start-ups, accelerators, NGOs and Universities. He holds a Master’s degree in International Trade from the International Business School of Montpellier in France
Andy Marsh
President and CEO
Plug Power
Andy Marsh joined Plug Power as President and CEO in April 2008. Under his leadership, Plug Power has been a leading innovator in the alternative energy field, helping create an entirely new hydrogen fuel cell (HFC) market in the material handling space as the world moves towards electrification in mobility applications. This new market has proven to be one of the first successful endeavors to commercialize HFC technology, and today, the firm’s fuel cell solutions, including its GenKey suite and ProGen engine line, are leveraged by global marketplace leaders such as Amazon, Walmart, and Carrefour to power industrial electric vehicles. As President and CEO, Marsh plans and directs all aspects of the organization’s goals and objectives, and is focused on building a company that leverages Plug Power’s combination of technological expertise, talented people and focus on sales growth to continue the company’s leadership stance in the future alternative energy economy. Under his leadership, Plug Power continues to spearhead hydrogen fuel cell innovations in both mobility and stationary applications, and his ability to generate revenue growth of more than 296 percent since 2012 has landed Plug Power on Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500TM list in both 2015 and 2016. Previously, Mr. Marsh was a co-founder of Valere Power, where he served as CEO and Board Member from the Company’s inception in 2001, through its sale to Eltek ASA in 2007. Under his leadership, Valere grew into a profitable global operation with over 200 employees and $90 million in revenue derived from the sale of DC power products to the telecommunications sector. During Mr. Marsh’s tenure, Valere Power received many awards such as the Tech Titan award as the fastest growing technology company in the Dallas Fort Worth area and the Red Herring Top 100 Innovator Award. Prior to founding Valere, he spent almost 18 years with Lucent Bell Laboratories in a variety of sales and technical management positions. Mr. Marsh is a member of the Board of Directors for the California Hydrogen Business Council, a non-profit group comprised of organizations and individuals involved in the business of hydrogen. He holds an MSEE from Duke University and an MBA from SMU. In August/September 2017, Mr. Marsh was invited to join the Global Hydrogen Council as well, an international council of major auto manufacturers which is focused on the proliferation of hydrogen fuel cell technologies.
Hugh Martin,
CEO
Lacuna Technologies
Gary Master
COO
DC Velocity
A corporate executive that has over 30 years of experience and contacts in the material handling, logistics, and supply chain industry to draw upon. Insightful and experienced in current and future trends as they relate to the overall supply chain this knowledge is sought after to assist companies in positioning their company for growth. On the management and ownership team of two start-up media brands (DC Velocity and CSCMP's Supply Chain Quarterly, both of which have seen a level of success in the marketplace that is simply unheard for new media brands. Both of these brands have risen to true thought leaders in their respective industries. In addition, as a consultant partnered with over 200 companies to assist them in increasing their sales, identifying merger targets, researching new products and opportunities in the marketplace as a whole. Enhanced client's overall effectiveness in marketing, communications, and business development. He has gained some excellent market insights and knowledge of what works and what doesn't. Instrumental in launching the first "TV" program for the logistics industry. Move It! Debuted on February 6th, 2012 at MODEX 2012
Jett McCandless
Founder
Project44
Jett is an established Chicago leader with a track record of success. He has steered multiple companies through accelerated growth, providing the logistics space with expertise and innovation along the way. After entering the industry nearly twenty years ago as a dockworker looking to pay for college, Jett started working his way up through various companies quickly noticing the various inefficiencies and outdated processes preventing true supply chain advancement. He saw the potential for acceleration and made it his mission to innovate and improve. After becoming Principal and GlobalTranz, a company with a gross annual revenue of $500 million, Jett decided to sell his stake in the company to pursue his own ventures. He began building companies that would lead the logistics sector into the future, like the Inc. 500 ranked advisory firm, CarrierDirect. The next company Jett founded was project44—the world’s leading advanced visibility platform for shippers and third-party logistics firms—which has raised over $90 million in venture capital funding. A recognized thought leader with a track record of innovation and success, Jett’s leadership has guided startups from ideation stages through expansion. His insights and expertise have been included in publications such as Forbes, Entrepreneur, Wall Street Journal, Retail Wire, Logistics Management, and Crain’s Chicago Business, and he has given keynote addresses about technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship at major industry events.
Marcella McCarthy
Journalist
Techcrunch
I'm a journalist for TechCrunch where I cover startups based in Brazil, Miami, and health tech globally. In my national and Brazil-based coverage, I've written about startups ranging from fintech to logi-tech, and everything else in between. Prior to writing about tech, I was a tech founder in the EdTech space. My writing has appeared in TechCrunch, the Miami Herald, Yahoo, Engadget.com, and Refresh Miami. What I enjoy most about my job is getting to learn about how things work, meeting fascinating founders, and telling their stories. I hold a master's in journalism from the Medill School at Northwestern University, dual citizenship with U.S./Brazil, and speak Portuguese and Spanish fluently.
Ellis McCue
CEO
Territory Foods
Ellis McCue is the CEO of Territory Foods, a venture-backed, fresh food platform that brings artisanally crafted healthy food from local chefs and restaurants directly to customers. Territory is a fresh take on the food preparation and distribution industry, providing chef-prepared meals with nutritionist-approved menus to support dietary preferences, powered by a proprietary personalization algorithm. Territory utilizes 90k points of data each week to identify key trends in wellness, culinary, and protein vectors and leverages its unique model to drive an industry-leading 4 week innovation cycle from data to plate. Territory marries Ellis’ belief that consumer led design yields disruptive growth to traditional industries with her personal belief that delicious food should be healthy.
Dr. Tekin Mericli
Co-Founder & CTO
Locomation
Dr. Tekin Meriçli is a well-rounded roboticist with in-depth expertise in machine intelligence and learning, perception, planning, and manipulation. He is a co-founder and the Chief Technology Officer of Locomation. Formerly he was a Special Faculty / Commercialization Specialist at the National Robotics Engineering Center (NREC) of the Robotics Institute (RI) at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) where he was a Senior Robotics Engineer before. At NREC, he has assumed various responsibilities including lead engineer role to make major contributions to projects on autonomous and semi-autonomous ground vehicles (CAT Pathfinder), mapping, state estimation, and operator assist systems (FHWA Snowplow), perception and motion planning for aerial robots (DARPA ALIAS), search and rescue robots (CHIMP for DARPA Robotics Challenge), and industrial automation and process improvement (Harsco). Prior to joining NREC as full-time staff, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Human-Computer Interaction Institute (HCII) at CMU, leading the efforts on building intuitive and expressive interfaces to interact with semi-autonomous robotic systems that are intended to assist elderly and disabled, and a Postdoctoral Fellow at the RI at CMU, leading the Assistive Dexterous Arm (ADA) project at the Personal Robotics Lab, and working on the high degree-of-freedom manipulation planning skills of the CHIMP robot at NREC for the DARPA Robotics Challenge. He received his Ph.D. degree from the Department of Computer Engineering at Boğaziçi University, Turkey, and his MSCS degree from the Department of Computer Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin, USA. His research interests include intelligent mobile robots, autonomous vehicles, robot perception, planning at multiple abstraction levels, applied machine learning, multi-agent systems, developmental and cognitive robotics, and computational neuroscience. He has over 40 publications in these areas, including best paper award recipients. For over a decade, he has worked on various robotic platforms including soccer-playing quadrupeds and bipeds, wheeled tour guide and service robots, autonomous wheelchairs, intelligent assistive robotic manipulators, state-of-the-art search and rescue robots, and autonomous urban and military ground vehicles. His knowledge and expertise in developing robust and efficient robotic systems have been sharpened through his participation in and contribution to various intelligent robotics competitions such as RoboCup, the DARPA Urban Challenge, the MAGIC UGV Competition, and the DARPA Robotics Challenge. He has also been very active in AI and robotics communities, serving as a referee and programme committee member of over 30 conferences and journals as well as co-organizing several national and international workshops, conferences, and competitions, including the RoboCup 2011 Istanbul event. He also serves on the Internal Advisory Board of the International RoboCup Federation. More information on his work can be found on his website at https://tekin.mericli.com.
Aaron Michel
Partner
1984
Named to venture capital’s 40 Under 40 by VC Journal in 2020, Aaron's interests revolve around startups, public policy and the future of work. He co-founded PathSource, a career-tech startup that rose to the top of the App Store until its acquisition in 2017. Prior to that, Aaron was inducted onto the annual Innovation Rockstar list by the Boston Business Journal after creating the online game Fantasy Politics for the 2012 election. Aaron has written for Entrepreneur Magazine, Fast Company and a range of business outlets. An executive board member of the San Francisco Workforce Investment Board, Aaron holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and an MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
Petere Miner
President
CoLoadX
Petere Pamela Miner: entrepreneur, inventor and logistics industry leader. Founder CoLoadXTM and FutureFreightTM. Logistic leadership roles at Hewlett-Packard, Amazon, Cisco, and Silicon Valley startups. Petere has spent her career dancing on the tipping point of the digitalization of the supply chain, putting data and technology to work in all aspects of logistics from risk-thinking to prescriptive analytics and interoperability.
Matt Motsick
CEO
RPA Labs
Matt Motsick is a three-time founder and investor who enjoys building innovative, high growth companies. He has been on almost every side of supply chain in the logistics industry: trucking, warehousing, third party logistics, transportation management, and international forwarding. In 2007, he decided to start a software company that provided international shipping quotes in seconds. Motsick became CEO and co-founder of Catapult International, which was one of the first logistics software companies that was developed as a SaaS, web-based system. He and his team built the company from three employees to over 150 within eight years. In 2015, Catapult was acquired by the Dubai based firm, Mercator Solutions, a spinoff from Emirates Airlines. Motsick currently serves as CEO and co-founder of RPA Labs (www.rpalabs.com). RPA Labs develops Software Bots that automate manual tasks for supply chain and logistics companies. Conversations, documents, and workflows can be automated seamlessly with Software Bots bridging the connection between raw data and operating systems. By reducing the amount of time spent manually managing processes, RPA Labs’ solutions allow key staff members to reclaim countless hours each week to focus on developing new business strategies and personalizing customer experiences.
Niall Murphy
CEO & Founder
EVRYTHNG
Erik Muttersbach
Co-Founder & Managing Director
Forto
Erik is a serial entrepreneur and experienced CTO with more than 10 years of experience in building software. In the past years, he has founded tech companies with a diverse focus, ranging from beacon technology for museums to big data cloud platforms. Having built three companies from scratch and consulted various tech companies and Venture Capitalists, Erik knows the ins and outs of the startup ecosystem. Erik has graduated from Technical University of Munich with a Master in Computer science. He also holds an Honours Degree in Technology Management from the Center for Digital Technology and Management Munich.
Khaled Naim
CEO & Co-Founder
Onfleet
Gautam Narang
CEO & Co-Founder
Gatik AI
Gautam Narang is the co-founder & CEO of Gatik, a technology company with a mission to deliver goods safely and efficiently using autonomous vehicles. Gatik focuses on B2B short-haul logistics for the retail industry, and has established the first autonomous Middle Mile logistics network in North America serving multiple Fortune 500 customers including Walmart and Loblaw. Before founding Gatik, Gautam led multiple high-profile teams building diverse robotic systems from moon rovers and self-driving cars to off-road autonomous vehicles and bomb-disposal robots. He has over 12 years of experience in robotics and AI from research at CNRS, NREC, Honda R&D, and Waseda University. He holds a Masters in Robotics from Carnegie Mellon University.
Ehsan Naseri
Head of Fulfillment Technology
Walmart Canada
Shawn Nelson
CEO & Founder
Lovesac
Jordan Nof
Co-Founder, Managing Partner
Tusk Ventures
Will O'Donnell
Managing Partner
Prologis Ventures
William (“Will”) O’Donnell leads Prologis Ventures, the venture capital, innovation and corporate development arm of Prologis. With over 22 years of experience in both real estate and technology, he heads efforts to invest in cutting-edge technology for supply-chain logistics and real estate. Will joined legacy AMB in 2003 and established a successful track record of building and acquiring investment platforms and companies globally. He has led some of the company’s more complicated transactions, including the restructuring of six of Prologis’ private equity funds representing more than $4.5 billion in assets; privatization of G. Acción; establishment of two strategic capital vehicles; and AMB Property Corporation’s investments and ventures in India, China, Mexico, Singapore and Korea. Will brings private equity fund management expertise including capital raising, joint venture negotiation, asset management, work-outs, and debt structuring, as well as acquisition and development experience throughout Asia, Europe and North America. Prior to joining AMB, Will was Director of Acquisition Solutions at Acxiom Impact, a leading digital marketing company, and a management consultant at Cambridge Technology Partners. Will received his Bachelors of Arts in English and Spanish from Duke University.
Raimund Paetzmann
VP Corporate Real Estate
Zalando SE
Raimund Paetzmann is VP Corporate Real Estate at Zalando SE in Berlin and focuses on Real Estate Management, Construction, Architecture as well as all building-related employee services like Building Operations, Security, Office, Travel and Event Management. He joined Zalando in 2017 to support the growth of the company's office, retail and logistics Real Estate portfolio. Previously to joining Zalando he built and led the Amazon EMEA real estate team, which was involved in the strategic network planning and design of the European Fulfillment Network. He has pioneered introducing new buildings and a new type of advanced e-commerce logistics network across Europe. He also contributed significantly to the new generation of European Fulfillment Warehouse types. Since June 2018, he has also been Deputy Chairman of the Logistics Real Estate Committee of the German Property Federation ZIA.
Verónica Pascual Boé
CEO
ASTI Mobile Robotics Group
Verónica Pascual Boé, ASTI TechGroup CEO, is Aerospace Engineer by Universidad Politécnica (Madrid), MBA by CDI (Paris) and Exec. Master in Positive Leadership & Strategy (EXMPLS) by IE Business School. She also has several postgraduate studies in INSEAD, Standford and Harvard Business School. She speaks 5 languages and has been leaving in 6 countries. Relying on a solid international technology and management education, Verónica began her international career in a multinational leading company in the construction sector (Paris, London). In 2004 she joined the family business, ASTI, through different positions within the company. At the end of 2006 she became CEO and in 2008 she bought the company by acquisition of 100% of its shares, a turning point that marked a new path and direction for the business. Currently, she leads a group of Companies linked to the digital transformation, headed by ASTI Mobile Robotics Group. Mrs Pascual is also a member of the worldwide prestigious high potential entrepreneur network, Endeavor. She has been President of the Industry 4.0 Commission and Vice-President of Skills Development of AMETIC, Spanish Association for Electronics, Information and Communications Technologies, Telecommunications and Digital Content Companies from 2016 to 2018. She is a member of the Board of Directors of different listed compagnies (Telefónica and GAM) and of the Social Council of the University of Burgos, Caixabank Castilla y León and Advisory Council of ImagingBank.
Paul Pessutti
Executive Vice President & Chief Revenue Officer
Slync.io
Paul Pessutti is the Executive Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer of Slync.io. and is responsible for setting and executing the company’s global go-to-market strategy and leading the marketing, sales, and professional services organizations. Paul is passionate about customer outcomes, solving difficult business challenges, and driving industry innovation. With his global perspective, entrepreneurial mindset and integrative leadership style, Paul has a proven track record of building winning teams, delighting customers and driving strong revenue growth. Paul has spent his career driving digital transformation and industry innovation and is a recognized expert in business processes related to the digital Supply Chain. Paul joined Slync.io having served as Senior Vice President and General Manager at SAP where he was responsible for the global travel and transportation business and DXC Technology where he led a team of 8,000 people across 70 countries to grow and transform the $1.6 billion supply chain business. Paul has also held several senior leadership roles at GT Nexus, Open Harbor and Maersk, where he focused on revenue growth and customer success. In addition, Paul was the Past President and Chairman of the Pacific Transportation Association and sits on the Advisory Board of Rocketrip and The Trade Impact and is the current President of the Board of Trustees
Anshu Prasad
Founder
Leaf Logistics
Anshu Prasad is the chief executive officer of Leaf Logistics, a data and analytics platform helping to bring cost and service predictability to the transportation industry. Prior to founding Leaf (formerly known as LogisticsExchange), Prasad built and led A.T. Kearney's global analytics practice, working with clients to utilize technology and data to empower business transformation. He also helped start and grow analytics businesses in the US, Europe and Asia, working at the intersection of supply chain and technology. He graduated from Cornell University with a degree in Biochemistry, and from Oxford University with an MBA.
Scott Price
President International
UPS
Scott Price is UPS’s Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer (CSTO). Scott and his teams are responsible for strategic planning, global business services, mergers and acquisitions, the Advanced Technology Group and driving and facilitating transformational change. These efforts include identifying and executing opportunities for profitable growth within existing business units and in new markets and product segments through the identification of resources that may be redirected to the highest strategic benefit and greatest shareholder value. Scott was most recently executive vice president of Global Leverage for Walmart International. He led Global Sourcing, International Technology, International Logistics, Fresh Manufacturing and key strategic leverage initiatives for the company’s international segment. Previously, he served as president and chief executive officer of Walmart Asia from 2014-16. Before joining Walmart, Scott served as CEO of DHL Express Europe. Previously, he was CEO of DHL Express Asia-Pacific. He also was president of DHL Express Japan, DHL's largest market in the Asia-Pacific region. Prior to joining DHL, Scott spent a decade with The Coca-Cola Co. During that period, he assumed various roles of increasing responsibility, including country leadership positions in Japan and as a director and region manager in China. Scott serves as chairman of the National Center for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, the only U.S. business association focused exclusively on facilitating American private sector input to the APEC process and APEC’s 21 member countries. He is also one of three ABAC (APEC Business Advisory Council) members appointed by the White House in December 2016. He was previously a member of the U.S. India Business Council and served on the board of trustees for the University Of Virginia Darden School Of Business. A Montana native, Scott earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of North Carolina in Charlotte. He also holds a master of business administration degree and a master’s degree in Asian studies from the University of Virginia.
Chuck Price
Chief Product Officer
TuSimple
Prior to joining TuSimple, Chuck led engineering and technical operations at truck platooning leader Peloton Technology. Before entering the world of truck automation, Chuck had over 25 years experience in the development and management of innovative software technologies, as VP of Development at Oracle Corporation, VP Engineering at Active Reasoning, Inc. (acquired by Oracle), SVP at Hotjobs.com and, after the company’s acquisition by Yahoo, a Yahoo! SVP. Before Hotjobs.com, Chuck was cofounder and CTO at Lumenare’ Networks (acquired by Dell as Gale Technologies), Director of Engineering at Freegate (acquired by Tut Systems), and Chief Engineer at Broadvision (NASDAQ: BVSN). Chuck's background also includes 4 years at Sun Microsystems and 10 years at Digital Equipment Corporation. He holds over 10 patents in software technologies, including fundamental patents in connected vehicle technologies and platooning, electronic commerce, cyber-security and cloud infrastructure management.
Kim Raath
Founder & CEO
Topl
Kim Raath is co-founder and CEO of Topl, an ESG technology company with a purpose-built blockchain that empowers businesses to prove their ethical and sustainable practices. Founded in 2017, Topl empowers companies to drastically cut operational and certification costs. Their technology can track all instances of the business’ supply chain and the associated certification claims, opening up opportunities to create alternative sources of credit for producers while providing end-consumers information on where and how their products are made. Kim grew up in South Africa and is the first Rice University student to simultaneously complete an M.A. in Economics and a Ph.D. in Statistics. Before university, Kim worked in 18 developing countries to rebuild and strengthen communities by implementing innovative forms of technology. As CEO, Kim innovates around every problem that arises and continuously finds ways to grow the entire Topl ecosystem.
Simon Rakosi
COO
Butterfly
Prashanthi Raman
Director, Government Affairs
Cruise
Prashanthi Raman has nearly 15 years of experience navigating challenging, highly charged, and complex political environments. As the Senior Director of Global Government affairs for Cruise, an all-electric, autonomous vehicle company, she oversees public policy and regulatory issues for the company worldwide. Prior to Cruise, Prashanthi served as Head of State and Local Government Relations at Lyft, where she played a pivotal role in creating and expanding the ridesharing industry across North America. She is a graduate of Northwestern University and Chicago-Kent College of Law and received her Masters in Public Health from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Federico Ranero
COO
Kavak.com
Stefan Rehm
CEO & Founder
Intelipost
Stefan Rehm is the CEO and co-founder of Intelipost, the leading platform for logistics management in LATAM. Stefan was born in Germany but has lived in Brazil since 2012. He was Director of Logistics for several e-commerces and led the operation of a carrier. He actively participates in debates on the logistics market in Brazil.
Mike Reid
Chief Business Officer
Embark Trucks
Mike Reid is the Chief Operating Officer at Embark, a self-driving truck company founded in 2016. In his role, Mike has grown Embark’s team and scaled operations as the company commercializes self-driving truck technology. During his time at Embark, the company has achieved a number of industry-first milestones, including the first autonomous coast-to-coast freight delivery in the US, and the establishment of the nation's first autonomous transfer hub network. Prior to Embark, Mike worked in various operations and partnerships roles in the tech industry. Mike studied management engineering from the University of Waterloo, and is an alumnus of the prestigious Next 36 program to identify and develop Canadian entrepreneurs.
Gabriel Rodriguez
President
Florida Customs Brokers & Freight Forwarders Association
Gabriel Rodriguez is the President of the Florida Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association. He has served on the Board of Directors of the organization for over 10 years, including roles as Chair of the Government Affairs Committee and the FDA Sub-Committee. He is an experienced licensed Customs Broker of over 20 years, and is the President of A Customs Brokerage, Inc. Previously, Mr. Rodriguez served as the Chair of the Miami Dade Beacon Council’s Trade and Logistics Committee and currently serves as the Area 4 Representative of the Board of Directors of the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association, Inc. (NCBFAA).
Michael Roeth
Executive Director
NACFE
Mike has worked in the commercial vehicle industry for over 35 years, is the Executive Director of the North American Council for Freight Efficiency and is the trucking lead for RMI. Mike’s specialty is brokering green truck collaborative technologies into the real world at scale. Mike was awarded the prestigious 2020 L. Ray Buckendale Lecturer and manuscript author. He has a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from the Ohio State University and a Master’s in Organizational Leadership from the Indiana Institute of Technology. Roeth served on the second National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, Medicine Committee on Reducing Fuel Consumption and Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Medium- and Heavy-Duty Vehicles, is a Department of Energy Merit Reviewer and past Chairman of the Board for the Truck Manufacturers Association. He understands the customers, operations and intricacies of the commercial vehicle industry having held various positions in product development, engineering, reliability and quality, sales, materials and plant management with Navistar and Behr/Cummins.
John Roman
CMO & Co-Founder
BattlBox
After leading several successful sales organizations in the telecommunications and software space for almost a decade, John began investing in companies predominately in the eCommerce arena. A close college friend was launching BattlBox in early 2015 and John knew he had to be involved, so he invested in it, offering advisement in a limited capacity. BattlBox started to see exponential growth and the demand for John’s time increased. In early 2016, John made the decision to step away from his then sales leadership role with a software company to join the BattlBox team in a full-time capacity. Since joining the team, John has served as the Chief Marketing Officer overseeing all sales, marketing, and technology efforts. Since BattlBox, John has been involved in several eCommerce company launches, participated in 2 successful exits, acquired 4 companies, and invested in over 10. Most notably, in July 2019, John lead a team to acquire Carnivore Club and now serves as Managing Partner with the company.
Stefan Sauer
Global Solution Lead Ports, Terminals and Shipping Lines
SAP
Stefan has been with SAP for 14 years. In his role as Industry Solution Manager for the Cargo Transportation industry, he aligns the SAP portfolio to the current trends and needs of the industry, and facilitates cooperation with innovative software companies that extend the solution offering of SAP. He focuses on the maritime transportation industry, however, with blurring industry lines, his capacity expands into collaboration with 3PL and 4PL companies, trucking and rail companies as well. Holding a degree in International Business IT and being an Executive MBA candidate, Stefan combines technological savviness with business acumen, paying particular attention to the needs of operational business users. Having been a business process consultant for the SAP Transportation Management solution in global projects involving industries like transportation, retail, oil&gas, and consumer products, he puts emphasis not only on software functionality but also on the required change management involved in software implementation projects. As a teacher for SAP’s Transportation Management solution, he has released comprehensive books on the solution as well as conducted training courses in Australia, China, South Africa, the USA, and Canada.
Eva Savelsberg
SVP Logistics
INFORM GmbH
Dr. Eva Savelsberg is Senior Vice President of INFORM’s Logistics Division. She specializes in Optimization Software that renders a wide range of operational processes more productive, agile, and reliable. Eva is also lecturer at the University of Aachen (RWTH), where she received her PhD in mechanical Engineering in 2002. Eva has published 5 books and over 40 papers on innovation in freight transportation.
Jonathan Savior
Founder
Quincus
Jonathan Savoir is the Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of Quincus. In 2014, he and Katherina Lacey started Quincus to disrupt global supply chains through digitalisation. As a pioneering supply chain technology company, Quincus works with high-profile logistics providers, including one of Asia’s biggest airlines, a leading Indonesian taxi firm, and a top global logistics company. Jonathan kickstarted his career as a data scientist and was an Entrepreneur in Residence at INSEAD. In 2019, Jonathan won The Singapore Business Review’s Executive of the Year for Logistics. In 2020, Forbes selected him for its 30 Under 30 Asia list. Jonathan has a Bachelor of Engineering from Cardiff University, a Master of Science in Civil Engineering from Imperial College London, a Master of Science in Economics and Operations from INSEAD, and a Joint Graduate Studies degree in Economics from Harvard University. Apart from Quincus, he sits on the board at Arcstone and has also invested in multiple other companies.
Markus Schmidt
President, Americas
Swisslog
Markus Schmidt carries a Dipl.-Ing. certification from the University of Cologne / Germany and has served on the Extended Board of the Material Handling Institute for eight years. In his professional development he held various positions within the material handling industry. In the years 1997 to 2005 he managed Swisslog’s UK business as the Managing Director before taking the American Region on board.
Zvi Schreiber
CEO
Freightos
Zvi Schreiber (pronounced "tsvee shryber") is the Founder and CEO of Freightos. Freightos is the digital platform of the international freight industry, connecting carriers, forwarders, and shippers digitally, for air and ocean pricing and booking, and offering a public marketplace for spot shipments at freightos.com. Freightos is pioneering Digital Air Cargo (DAC) with more than 30% of the world air cargo market already on the WebCargo by Freightos platform. Previously Zvi was CEO of Lightech (acquired by GE), and Founder & CEO of Unicorn (acquired by IBM) and other tech startups. Zvi has spoken widely and written many articles and patents. He has a PhD in computer science and is author of Fizz which tells the history of physics as a novel.
Tony Sciarrotta
Executive Director
Reverse Logistics Association
In 2016, Tony took over and became the Executive Director of the RLA after 12 years of on the Advisory Board and Committees. In his 35 plus years in the consumer products industry, Tony has held various positions including 15 years in returns management at Philips where he developed new reverse logistics strategies. He worked with retail partners and industry groups to implement returns initiatives still in use. Tony has been an evangelist for improving the customer experience to reduce returns and their associated costs. Today, Tony is considered a subject matter expert in reverse logistics, and speaks for the industry at conferences all over the world.
John Seidl
Partner
GreyOrange
John is a member of the GreyOrange leadership team and is responsible for all global strategic clients. Marketing, Sales, Delivery and Account Management are all parts of John’s day to day responsibilities. Service offering development, 3rd party collaborations and industry thought leadership are components of his customer facing role. John’s team members are globally positioned and work with the top GreyOrange clients around the world. John joined GreyOrange in January 2020 after a 30 year career in supply chain technology consulting focused on the retail industry.
Damion Shelton
CEO & Co-Founder
Agility Robotics
Andre Simha
Global Chief Digital & Information Officer
MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company
Having an impressive long-standing career in IT and shipping over more than three decades, André has helped MSC grow to become one of the largest container shipping companies in the world, by being a first-mover in technology and digital innovation. Founded in 1970 by Gianluigi Aponte, MSC moves cargo everywhere, days and nights, with a fleet of 570 vessels, operates 524 offices across 155 countries with 100,000 employees. In his current role, Andre is responsible for leading and executing the company’s overall digital transformation and innovation strategy. His guiding principle is to explore how the latest technologies, such as blockchain, IoT and smart containers, can improve and simplify container shipping for MSC’s agencies and customers around the world. Both in his role at MSC, and as Chairman of the DCSA Supervisory Board (Digital Container Shipping Association), André strives to create a digital future of the shipping and logistics sector built around collaboration and common industry standards. One of his favourite quotes is by Albert Einstein: “If at first an idea is not insane, there is no hope for it.”
Rosemary Smith
Director of Supply Chain Development, Americas
The LEGO Group
Rosemary is the Head of Supply Chain Development at The LEGO Group for the America’s region. She also serves as a STEM mentor for the National Convention for women in Technology (NCWIT) and is a ‘PlayAgent’, using LEGO Bricks to bring out everyone’s inner child. Rose’s career has grown to include end-to-end supply chain strategy deployment and technology integration. Prior to joining LEGO®, Rose built her Supply Chain career, starting at a small software company and then working for Lowe’s Home Improvement and Ralph Lauren before sharing her talent as a managing consultant within supply chain network design. Rose has a passion for solution design, data, and technology; holding a B.S. in International Business from Drexel University. Highlights of Rose’s career include: piloting shelf-connected demand sensing, building a distribution network for Brand Retail, establishing new processes within inventory management, and rolling out the use of SCRUM methodology for continuous improvement.
David Sobie
Co-Founder
Happy Returns
David Sobie is the Co-Founder and CEO of Happy Returns, a returns software and reverse logistics company tackling the painful challenge of returning products purchased online. Happy Returns provides the operating system for ecommerce returns for the world’s leading online and omni-channel retailers and their customers. The company is based in Santa Monica, CA, employs 150 people and its investors include PayPal, US Venture Partners, and Upfront Ventures. Prior to co-founding Happy Returns, David was the Chief Marketing Officer at REVOLVE, leading all online and offline marketing, branding, acquisition and business development. Earlier in his career, David led Marketing and Business Development for HauteLook, a flash sale pioneer acquired by Nordstrom, and held senior roles at eBay Motors.
Chris Stallman
Partner
Fontinalis Partners
Chris is a Partner at Fontinalis, where he is a member of the investment committee and leads investments across a variety of mobility segments. He joined Fontinalis in 2011 and is based in the firm’s Detroit office. Chris currently serves on the board of directors of two Fontinalis portfolio companies, FreightWaves and Karamba Security, and previously served on the board of directors of TransLoc (acquired by Ford Smart Mobility in January 2018) and as a board observer of Synovia Solutions (acquired by CalAmp in April 2019). He also worked closely with the firm’s investment in Telogis (acquired by Verizon in July 2016). Chris is active in the venture community and serves on the oversight committee for the Michigan Translational Research and Commercialization (MTRAC) Innovation Hub for Advanced Transportation—a statewide program that funds translational research applications. He is also an active member of the Michigan Venture Capital Association, of which he serves on the membership committee. Prior to joining Fontinalis in 2011, Chris spent five years at Stout, a leading independent advisory firm that provides investment banking, valuation, dispute consulting, and management consulting services. While at Stout, he played an important role in advising private equity and venture capital clients on a variety of transaction, tax, and financial reporting matters. Chris earned his Bachelor of Business Administration (with distinction) from the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, where he also worked in the alternative investments group of the University’s endowment, focusing on private equity and venture capital partnerships. Chris is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder.
Chris Stanchak
CEO & Co-Founder
Loveseat.com
Chris Stanchak is the co-founder & CEO of Loveseat.com. Loveseat is a returned goods marketplace with a mission to bring sustainability to the ecommerce world. The company operates an online auction marketplace where consumers can purchase returned & overstock inventory from major retailers at a significant discount. Loveseat operates throughout Southern California and will soon expand to Austin, Houston & Dallas Texas. Prior to Loveseat, Chris was the Founder & CEO of TicketLeap, a global DIY event ticketing platform where he served as Chairman through its acquisition. Chris has a passion for startups with a particular focus on ecommerce marketplaces and payments. He was a founding advisor to Venmo & as an Entrepreneur in Residence at Startup San Diego. Chris graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania with a dual marketing and management degree.
Jordan Sun
Chief Innovation Officer
City Of San Jose
Jordan Sun is the Chief Innovation Officer for the city of San Jose and leads the Mayor’s Office of Technology and Innovation (MOTI). Jordan brings global experience in tech, government, and venture capital. Before the city, his prior roles included CEO of a digital health venture at Siemens, a US Diplomat focused on China and national security, and a two-time volunteer to Afghanistan as an Army officer in infantry and special operations units. He is an alum of NYU and Yale University School of Management and serves as an active mentor in the startup ecosystem, including First Round Capital, Berkeley Skydeck Fund, 500 Startups, UCSF Innovation Ventures, and Scrum Ventures SmartCityX.
Dr Rafiq Swash
Founder
AIDRIVERS
Dr Swash is the founder and CEO of Aidrivers and a programme director for MSc Digital Design & Branding and leads 3D research group at Brunel University London with a research team and he is the recipient of many outstanding research and innovation awards with over 50 published international conference and journal papers.
Milind Tavshikar
CEO
SmartKargo
Milind is responsible for leadership, integration, and strategy. He has over 25 years of experience in envisioning and creating technology products and solutions for the world’s most critical business challenges. He possesses a unique combination of deep skills in information technology, broad experience in business management, and champions best practices in global leadership. At SmartKargo, Milind is hands-on, involved in all aspects of the business and assisting the teams that grow the company. He works with the product architecture group to design new features to keep pace with rapid industry change. He works with the support team to understand customer requirements and resolve customer issues. He works with the accounting team to ensure company financials remain in good order. He enjoys being in the field and interacting directly with customers, and helps the sales team to close new business and write SmartKargo success stories. Milind is a speaker at industry conferences and has co-authored a paper published by MIT’s Center for Digital Innovation. Milind holds a B.S. in Computer Engineering, and graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a MIT Sloan Fellow.
Daniel Theobald
President & Co-Founder MassRobotics, CEO & Founder
Vecna Robotics
Daniel Theobald is the CEO and Founder of Vecna Robotics, the autonomous mobile robot and workflow orchestration company. Daniel has decades of experience leading research scientists and teams of engineers in developing cutting edge technology. He has 67 issued patents and more than 30 patents pending. Daniel has also been on the forefront of robotics for more than 20 years, working closely with DARPA, DOD, NASA, NIH, USDA and many others to advance the use of robots and AI software to improve warehouse automation. In addition to founding Vecna Robotics, Daniel also co-founded Mass Robotics, a non-profit dedicated to the global advancement of the robotics industry. Daniel is dedicated to the idea that technology can be used to empower people worldwide to live more fulfilling lives.
Kevin Tighe
CEO & Founder
Beachly Brands
Kevin Tighe is the Founder & CEO of San Diego based Beachly Brands which builds subscription and DTC brands rooted in beach, outdoor and active lifestyles. Born in Washington DC, Kevin migrated to the West Coast to attend the University of Southern California. While at USC, he started his first business and has been a serial entrepreneur ever since. He has over 15 years of experience in Digital Marketing, eCommerce, Subscription Commerce, and Entrepreneurship. Kevin serves on the Board of Directors of Sustainable Surf, a non-profit focused on promoting and restoring ocean ecosystems. He also serves on the Board of Advisors of San Diego Sports Innovators. During his free time, you will likely find Kevin at the beach or in the ocean; surfing, paddle boarding or racing outrigger canoes.
Kristin Toth Smith
President & Chief Operating Officer, Board Member
Fernish
Kristin Toth Smith is currently President, COO and Board Member at Fernish, a furniture and home decor subscription service that allows you the high-quality, modern home furnishings you want - without the commitment. She has also served as an executive at Amazon, Zulily, & several startups. Kristin holds a BSE and MSE in Industrial Engineering & Operations Research from the Tauber Institute for Global Operations at the University of Michigan, a SM in Civil and Environmental Engineering from MIT, and an MBA from MIT’s Sloan School of Management through the Leaders for Global Operations fellowship program. She's also an active volunteer and serves on and leads non-profit boards of directors and dedicates time helping others be successful, through education, coaching, advisory positions, and mentoring.
Dan Tram
Investment Director
Volvo Ventures
Dan Tram is an Investment Director at Volvo Group Venture Capital where he covers North America investing. His areas of focus include autonomous, electric and connected vehicles. Dan is responsible for sourcing and investing in new deals as well as managing portfolio companies. Over the course of his career, he has completed $100 billion dollars in transactions through mergers and acquisitions, equity investments and venture capital investments. Amongst these are the Time Warner Cable and Formula One investments. At Volvo Group he most recently led the investments in FourKites, Flock Freight and Apex.AI. Prior to his career at Volvo Group Venture Capital, Dan worked at Liberty Media in Colorado on the corporate development team and at Citigroup in New York City in the investment banking division. He graduated summa cum laude from Arizona State University with a B.S. in Economics and Finance and earned his MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business. When Dan is not working towards making transportation sophisticated, he takes advantage of all seasons offered in the Bay Area by playing tennis, surfing, skiing and snowboarding.
Parker Treacy
CEO & Founder
Cobli
Parker is the founder of Cobli, a vehicle telematics and mobility platform based in São Paulo, Brazil. Launched in 2017, the company has already raised $20mm from investors such as Fifth Wall Ventures, Valor Capital Group, and NXTP. Cobli won the Harvard Business School New Venture Competition in 2016, becoming the first Latin American startup to receive the award. In 2019, Cobli was elected by LinkedIn as one of the top ten startups in Brazil. Previously, Parker founded First Help Financial, one of the largest independent vehicle finance companies in the U.S. with more than $700mm of historical originations. Parker studied mathematics at Duke University, has an MBA from Harvard Business School, and is a member of Forbes Technology Council.
Aaron Turk
SVP, Operations & Corporate Development
Floyd
Aaron is the SVP of Operations and Corporate Development at Floyd, a direct-to-consumer furniture brand based in Detroit and focused on creating products of lasting quality for how people live today. He is responsible for all supply chain activity from sourcing through last mile delivery, as well as customer experience and business operations. Aaron previously worked as a management consultant for BCG where he advised clients in the automotive/mobility, consumer goods, and public sectors. Prior to BCG, Aaron served as an officer in the U.S. Navy for nearly a decade, which included several combat deployments as an aviator and a staff tour at the Pentagon. He holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of Michigan and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Sam Tyagi
CEO & Founder
KlearNow
"Sam Tyagi is currently a founder and managing partner of Argean Capital, as well as chairman and CEO of KlearNow, technology startup looking to disrupt a portion of global supply chain. He has founded and acquired three IT integration and product businesses. Subsequently turned around and sold them, generating hundreds of millions of dollars in shareholder value, achieving a number two ranking on Entrepreneur Magazine’s “Hot 100 List.” Recently featured alongside KlearNow in Sky News Ian King Live, Forbes Magazine, The Daily Mail+, The Sun, The Wall Street Journal, TechCrunch and Freight Waves. He was founder and CEO of Softline, an IT integration, services and products company in the SAP and Oracle ERP space. Later, he was the founder and CEO of Systech, an SAP integration and services company, which he sold to ACS, a subsidiary of Xerox. He subsequently re-acquired Systech from Xerox, successfully turned it around and sold it to Softtek tripling shareholder value in less than three years. He is a board member of American Red Cross Silicon Valley. He earned a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Oregon State University. He is an avid golfer and enjoys snowboarding. Multiple Notable Exits: KPMG, ACS Xerox and Softtek Advisory Boards: Merrill Lynch Private Client and American Red Cross"
Ashley Tyrner
CEO, Founder
Farmbox Direct
Ashley Tyrner is a food & health policy advocate, and the CEO & founder of Farmbox Direct, FarmboxRx, and Harlow's Harvest. Having been a single mother on food stamps, Ashley has built Farmbox with the goal of helping to eradicate the food desert problem that America faces. With her passion and mission of giving people access to healthy foods, Ashley works endlessly to disrupt the food policy space.
Matt Van Gilder
Director of Digital Marketing and Commerce
SpartanNash Company
Matt has more than 15 years of experience in the grocery industry, beginning as a service clerk at one of SpartanNash’s then-independent grocers. As Director of Digital Marketing and Commerce, Matt leads the strategy and execution of digital business through operational excellence, sales-driving marketing and merchandising, and identifying and deploying best-in-class technology. He received his Master of Business Administration from Western Michigan University and lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan with his wife Courtney.
David Vernon
VP & SR Analyst, Sanford C. Bernstein
Bernstein
Tina Vidal-Duart
CEO
CDR Maguire
Ms. Vidal-Duart has 13+ years of experience in the healthcare industry, most recently as the Chief Executive Officer of the State of Florida COVID19 Infectious Disease Field Hospital System where she oversaw the management and deployment of the State’s field hospital system and its healthcare and administrative support personnel in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In this role, she managed a system of administrative and clinical personnel, recruited and staffed clinical and support functions, managed multiple contractors, served as an interagency coordinator between multiple agencies and regulating bodies, and helped secure various medical supplies and personal protection equipment for the facilities. After the hospitals were demobilized, Vidal-Duart assisted CDR’s COVID19 test and vaccination site logistics team to deploy numerous mass testing and vaccination sites, a call center that handled 200,000+ calls per day, and, launched CDR HealthProTM a patient portal for patients to register for COVID-19 testing or vaccination and receive their results right online. The system was used state-wide in Florida as well as multiple FEMA vaccination sites in Florida and Kentucky, registering and vaccinating approximately 2.5 million individuals and housing data for over 2 million COVID-19 test results. In her prior experience in healthcare, she was the Chief Operating Officer and Vice President of Business Development with Pacer Health Corporation, a hospital conglomerate focused on acquiring and turning around financial distressed hospitals. She has experience in operating and managing an acute care hospital system, medical treatment centers, a skilled nursing facility, and psychiatric care facilities. Additionally, she ran a transportation and logistics subsidiary of Pacer, providing trucking/air freight, warehousing and distribution, and logistics services throughout the United States. Serving as interim Chief Executive Officer of acquired financially distressed acute care hospitals that were near bankruptcy or closure, she has a keen insight into the rapid response and decision making required in a field environment where time is of the essence. She oversaw the management and turnaround of multiple healthcare facilities; ensured seamless transition and integration of acquisitions into overall system structure; developed and implemented processes for their financial turnaround and positive financial performance; negotiated all contracts to achieve overall cost savings; and provided oversight of hospital and doctor services. During her tenure, she recruited physicians and nursing management staff, expanded healthcare service lines throughout the system, as well as acquiring new managed care contracts and payer sources; revamped hospital policy and procedures and quality improvement and control; and JCAHO certification and inspection. In addition to her role as CEO of CDR Health, Ms. Vidal-Duart also serves as the Executive Vice President of CDR Maguire, Inc., providing administrative and operational oversight and leadership to the 80-year old engineering and emergency management consulting firm which serves multiple state and local governments. She has a Master’s in International Business, summa cum laude, and a Bachelor’s of International Business and Marketing, magna cum laude.
Dana Von der Heide
Founder & Chief Commercial Officer
Parcel Perform
Dana is the Founder and Chief Commercial Officer of Parcel Perform, the leading carrier-independent delivery experience platform for e-commerce merchants and their end-customers covering 700+ logistics carriers worldwide. Before founding Parcel Perform, the German-born entrepreneur and e-commerce logistics enthusiast gained her industry knowledge while being in global strategy and regional business development roles for international logistics companies in Europe and Asia. As an enthusiast of the international startup scene, she is now based in Berlin and shuttles between Parcel Perform’s offices in Singapore, Berlin, and Vietnam. Dana is also part of the distinguished eFounder Fellowship program by Alibaba, a network of international entrepreneurs and business leaders passionate about driving digital transformation. Furthermore, she is co-hosting the logistics podcast series ‘The Logistics Tribe’, and advisory board member of the german logistics association (BVL - Bundesvereinigung Logistik).
Duncan Walker
CEO & Founder
Skyports
Duncan is co-founder and CEO of Skyports, a leading enabler of advanced air mobility (AAM), providing the critical link between the ground and the sky. Skyports designs, builds and operates take-off and landing infrastructure for electric air taxis, as well as providing drone delivery through its logistics arm, Delivery by Skyports, which is already proving the viability of the company's best-in-class unmanned systems technologies within the medical, e-commerce and logistics sectors. Duncan has 20 years of commercial real estate experience. He was a Main Board Director at Helical plc, a FTSE listed investment and development company. Duncan holds a Master’s degree in Economics and Management from Oxford University.
Michaela Wallin
Head of Customer Fulfillment
H&M
Lucy Wang
Managing Partner
Divergent Capital
Lucy Wang is an experienced early stage emerging tech investor based in NYC. She backs technologists and researchers reinventing the world using unique technological innovations. Currently, she is a Venture Partner at Story Ventures. Most recently, she led software and hardware investments at 11.2 capital, an early stage venture fund based in the Bay Area. Prior to that, she led deep tech investments at Greycroft, an early stage venture fund based in NY and LA with $1B+ AUM, founded by Alan Patricof. Lucy is a technologist and builder at heart. She is currently serving as the acting CTO of a stealth startup working on synthetic data. She is a machine learning scientist with an MS degree from NYU and also one of the first team members of Livepeer, a decentralized live video streaming infrastructure built on Ethereum.
Mike Wilkinson
CEO & Founder
Paragon Innovations, Inc.
Michael R. Wilkinson founded Paragon Innovations 30 years ago and has built a business on solid core values. As CEO Mike leads Paragon Innovations' business strategy and vision, product design and development, and customer relations. Since its inception in 1990, Wilkinson and his team have grown Paragon into one of the nation's leading providers of product development and engineering services. Customers include 3M, B.Braun Medical, Hitachi, Medtronic, Motorola, and Siemens, among others. Wilkinson himself earned his Eagle Scout at the age of 13. In addition, Wilkinson was the district chairman of the Circle 10 council Explorers, and in 2007 won the William H. Spurgeon III Award, the highest recognition for the Exploring program. Wilkinson graduated in 1986 from Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas with a degree in Electrical Engineering Technology (now ESET - Whoop!) Wilkinson is a CEO member of Vistage International. Servant Leadership Wilkinson is a member of the Advisory Council of Texas A&M McFerrin Center for Entrepreneurship (formally CNVE) and serves on the Industrial Advisory Board for Texas A&M Engineering Department. He frequently guest lectures for the Engineering and the Mays Business School at Texas A&M. He annually judges the Venture Challenge and the Raymond Ideas Challenge for the Mays Business School MBA program. Wilkinson serves on the College of Education STEM summer camps committee. Wilkinson is currently serving as a Design & Manufacturing Forum Tri-Chair of Tech Titans. Wilkinson has served on the Board of Directors of Metroplex Technology Business Council (now Tech Titans). Additionally, he is a former chairman of the American Electronic Association's (AEA) North Texas CEO roundtable. Lastly, Wilkinson is financially involved in the Texas A&M Foundation. Investment Wilkinson is an active Board member of the Aggie Angel Network investing in a number of new ventures. He works with Aggie students to perform due diligence on presenting companies. He also actively works with these startup companies post investment. For Fun Wilkinson loves to sail for fun and race to win. Wilkinson has a 100 ton Master Mariner’s license from the United States Coast Guard (USCG). Wilkinson races both Offshore and in inland lakes. Wilkinson often sails in the Caribbean, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Wilkinson is a certified PADI Rescue Diver, ASA instructor, and Certified US Sailing Race Officer.
Leigh Williams
Founder & Managing Partner
EStore Logistics
Leigh is the Founder & Managing Director of eStore Logistics, Australia’s largest warehousing and order fulfilment provider specialised in servicing eCommerce businesses. eStore Logistics is a tech enabled logistics leader and fulfils over 20 million sales orders per year for its clients which include Australia’s largest pure play online retailer, Australia’s largest online furniture retailer, more than 10 of Australia’s top 50 eCommerce businesses and many iconic retailers which have a retail store and eCommerce presence. The company has many fulfillment centres across Australia and they feature AI powered autonomous mobile robots which support Australian retailers with same day delivery and fast fulfillment. Prior to founding eStore Logistics in 2008, Leigh completed double degrees in Business & Information Systems then worked in consulting roles at Accenture and IBM. Leigh's IT background has played an important role developing a technology focused 3PL specialized in servicing online retail.
Allison Williams
Director of NVP Labs
NVP
Allison Williams is a former entrepreneur with CEO and COO experience with early-stage software technology companies. As founder and CEO at Yarly, a photo cloud-storage platform, Allison assembled a talented technical team, directed cross platform product development, established a nationwide distributed salesforce and achieved profitability. In mid-2015, Yarly was acquired by YesVideo, a top competitor which powers over 30,000 retail locations, and Allison was retained as an advisor. Since then, she has been COO of a multinational marketing technology software company serving clients such as L'Oreal and Heineken as well as Head of Strategy for a sports live streaming platform. Allison began her career as an investment banking analyst at Lehman Brothers. Today, Allison leads NVP Labs, the Pre-Seed investment arm of Newark Venture Partners. Allison led development of the program's unique offering which combines capital investment with in-house execution support focused on Sales and go-to-market execution. Labs is quickly becoming one of the most competitive programs in the country with a less than 1% acceptance rate. Allison graduated with her B.S. in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania (Wharton School) and received her M.B.A. from Columbia University. Allison proudly serves on the NJ board of the national nonprofit All Stars Project which promotes student career readiness with skills developed via the performing arts.
Matthew Wittemeier
Senior Manager International Marketing
INFORM GmbH
Matthew Wittemeier is Senior Manager International Marketing and Customer Relations at INFORM's Logistics Division where he’s become a thought-provoking contributor to many industry publications and conferences. He’s co-author of the multi-award winning 2038: A Smart Port Story – a novella about the future of technology and the social challenges it may bring. In addition, he serves on the board of YoungShip Rotterdam, is a member and judge at The Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts (AIVA), as well as the senior producer and host of the buzzITtalk podcast.
Ariel Wolf
Counsel - Privacy, Cybersecurity and Transportation Technology
Venable LLP / Self Driving Coalition
Jeff Wolpov
CEO
Whiplash
Jeff Wolpov serves as the chief executive officer of Port Logistics Group. He is responsible for leading the company’s vision and strategy in omnichannel retail logistics, driving business growth and achieving results. He was most recently president and chief commercial officer of the company where he built and nurtured customer relationships that allowed Port Logistics Group to grow from a regional collection of acquired businesses to a national logistics provider, achieving year-over-year revenue growth of nearly 15 percent. Jeff continues to hold a board seat at the company. Prior to joining Port Logistics Group in 2008 during its formation, Jeff was the founder and CEO of Distribution Solutions, which he grew from a startup business to a $50M regional logistics firm that served as the platform company for Port Logistics Group. Jeff is a graduate of the University of Michigan.
Tomasz Wozniak
Global Transport and Distribution Sr. Manager
Oriflame Cosmetics
Tomasz has 16 Years’ Experience in Logistics including 14 years on managerial positions. His experiences include working at companies such as Oriflame, Energizer, Coca-Cola, Dawtona, La Lorraine, and Vos Logistics. Throughout his career, Tomasz has been mainly responsible for creating and changing transportation networks in regions like EMEA & Russia, with a strong focus on building and implementing company strategies. Today he leads the global Transport and Distribution department in Oriflame - over 60 markets around the world. His core principle is to always look for “out of the box solutions” and remember to take a good lesson learned when a project is done.
Alexander Yeager
Director
Redwood Logistics
Alex Yeager is the Director of Redwood Ventures, an innovation arm of Redwood Logistics that focuses on technology partnerships. Alex oversees Redwood’s M&A and investment activity, evaluating and executing diligence on companies ranging from early stage startups to large-scale players. Alex has a legal background, having worked in the private funds group at Simpson Thacher in New York following graduation from Georgetown Law. In addition to practicing law, Alex has previously worked in the Data & Analytics group at Redwood and is currently pursuing a Masters in Analytics from the University of Chicago.
Uri Yoselevich
CEO
DockTech
Uri is a maritime entrepreneur with over 8 years of experience at sea as a naval officer and a computer engineer, Uri founded DockTech to combine his passions for maritime and technology and to assist the marine world that he knows and loves to thrive.
Ian Zaretzky
Executive Chairman
Bulk Container Group
Mr. Zaretzky is currently a leader in a group of companies with a common goal, more efficient global trade lanes, and shorter more transparent supply chains. He is an ambitious and accomplished executive with demonstrated ability to deliver mission-critical results in the Logistics and Supply Chain. He has a reputation as a strategist, he has a lot of vision for next generation logistics, he is known for his creative ability in finding solutions for big supply chain problems. He is a high-energy, and results-oriented leader with an entrepreneurial attitude.
Oren Zaslansky
CEO
Flock Freight
Oren is the CEO and founder of Flock Freight where he leads strategy, fundraising, and executive talent recruitment, and works closely with the sales development, product roadmap, and fulfillment teams. Oren has been in the trucking and logistics industry for 20+ years since he founded E&H Transport Network in 1996. E&H provides specialized white-glove FTL service to SMB and enterprise customers nationwide. Oren built E&H from the ground up, including the recruitment and onboarding of over 1,000 truck drivers. In 2001, Oren founded SolSource Logistics, a third-party logistics (3PL) company serving international Fortune 1000 clients such as Whole Foods, Wegmans Grocery, and Sprouts Market. SolSource provides consultative project management solutions to expanding or remodeling national and regional retailers, grocers and hospitality firms. SolSource manages the entire supply chain for build/remodel projects. In serving a diverse customer base in the transportation industry, Oren identified an unmet need to reduce the significant waste and antiquated approach to transportation. Too often assets are underutilized and freight moves through intermediary depots when otherwise technology could facilitate those solutions without the waste of brick and mortar.
Michael Zayonc
Founder
Plug & Play Supply Chain
Mark Zeinstra
Head of Connected Vehicle Strategy
Upstream
Mark serves as the Head of Connected Vehicle Strategy at Upstream. In this role, Mark is working on strategic initiatives to expand Upstream's offerings into new verticals and smart mobility services. Mark comes to Upstream from Visteon, where he led their Infotainment and Cockpit Computer products. Prior to Visteon, he worked at Faraday Future, an Electric Vehicle OEM where he was responsible for the "Internet of Vehicle", including all consumer-facing electronics. Prior to Faraday Future, Mark led the Infotainment and Telematics business at Johnson Controls. He is a well-respected industry veteran with over 25 years of experience developing innovative consumer-focused connectivity, infotainment, and interior products. Mark successfully created and brought several new products to the automotive market including the HomeLink universal transmitter and the first voice-enabled Bluetooth hands-free phone. He has over 70 patents, in speech recognition, connectivity, and infotainment products.
Rick Zullo
Co-Founder & General Partner
Equal Ventures
Rick is a Co-Founder and General Partner at Equal Ventures, a $56m early-stage venture fund focused on bridging the digital divide. Rick leads investments into seed stage companies transforming legacy markets with a particular focus on vertically specific marketplaces/platforms in supply chain, insurance, retail and energy. Prior to co-founding Equal Ventures, Rick was an investor at Lightbank, a $200m early-stage venture fund based in Chicago, where he led investments in early-stage marketplaces, software platforms and financial service companies. Prior to Lightbank, Rick worked with investment firms Foundation Capital, Bowery Capital, and Lightview Capital, investing in technology companies across the capital spectrum from seed-stage to buy-out, and began his career as a strategy consultant at Deloitte Consulting. Rick received an MBA with Honors from Columbia Business School and graduated from the University of Richmond where he studied Economics and Leadership Studies. When Rick isn’t working with founders, he's spending time with his wife, Lauren, their daughter, Sutton, and their dog, Archie. He can be found on Twitter at @Rick_Zullo.