The Emerging Tech Exchange

Yacine Achiakh is a French entrepreneur and co-founder of Wisear, a company specializing in innovative human-machine interfaces. With a strong background in product management and AI, Yacine co-founded Wisear to develop hands-free and voice-free controls for wearable technology. Prior to Wisear, he and co-founder Alain Sirois developed an AI-based product at Criteo, generating over $100 million in revenue. Their vision for a more inclusive human-machine interface, combined with their passion for innovation, drove them to create Wisear - a leading company developing the next generation of wearable technology control. A serendipitous meeting with Neuralink engineers during a football match inspired them to build neural interfaces that allow users to control devices without invasive brain implants—delivering accessible, private, and high-speed interactions to everyone across audio, AR, and VR devices. 

Mike’s career has spanned over 40 years working across French Cuisine, software development, Wall Street, Insurance, and startups.  Mike cut his teeth on Wall Street in the 80s for 15 years working for Merrill Lynch in NY across Capital Markets, Private Client, Back Office Operations, and Infrastructure Technology. He finished his time with Merrill in London, leading technology groups across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.  

Mike worked at Robertson Stephens as CIO/COO. Mike then worked with Insurance giants Allstate as CIO/COO and Aflac as CIO, where he won multiple industry awards for his innovative approaches to many large-scale transformation programs.

Mike's leadership extends to the boardroom, where he served as a Board Member specializing in technology and operations issues for two successful PE transactions, Pronto Insurance (exited to AJ Gallagher), and National Autocare (exited to APCO Holdings).

Mike was the CEO of Fintech startup AppBus, and he most recently spent five years as a Managing Partner of Ecliptic Capital, an early-stage venture fund in Austin specializing in deep tech plays. Ecliptic was the lead Institutional investor in Sempulse.

Mike and Kurt have worked together since 2001, and they founded Sempulse nine years ago. Now, Mike is moving from his roles as advisor and investor to operator to help scale Sempulse across multiple global markets.

While a Technology Chief Financial Officer (CFO), he influenced business and technology executives to transform the business. As an Enterprise Finance Strategist, he works with enterprise executives around the globe to share financial management experiences and strategies for how the cloud can help them increase speed and agility while devoting more of their resources to their customers. He has led the planning and execution of a cloud-enabled business transformation at Capital One.

Looking beyond the numbers is essential for any successful CFO and Chris does just that. Chris spent over 20 years as a leader in Capital One. He not only led a major cloud transformation as a Technology CFO but was a driving force in transforming the Finance function. Chris believes that to be trusted and to impact the business, CFOs must embed themselves into the business rather than boxing themselves into a single role.

A frequent topic of conversation with AWS customers is how to develop the business case for cloud and how the cloud’s payback is delivered. Chris highly encourages organizations not to get trapped into assuming nothing will change along the journey and to continuously revisit their assumptions. He also advises them that cultural transformation within their organization is just as critical as technology transformation. Success comes from painting a clear picture of the enterprise’s cloud strategy to build consensus and ensuring that employees impacted by the cloud have the time and resources to reskill.

In addition to a BS in Finance from Virginia Tech, Chris has an International MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He chose a career in technology and finance for its constant innovation and his desire to see the big picture and to make an impact. He lives in Richmond, Virginia with his wife, three children, and two dogs, and enjoys outdoor activities and taking chances.

Aman Ibrahim, co-founder at DeepTrust, builds agents to protect enterprises against social engineering. Before, Aman worked as an ML engineer at Cruise building the foundation ML infra, and also built models in healthcare labs to address challenges in nutrition, palliative care, and disease detection. His mission is to protect human authenticity in an age of rapidly advancing AI technology.

Mary Lou Jepsen is a tech pioneer with over 250 patents and 50 game-changing products to her name.

From virtual and augmented reality systems to laptops and smartphones, from holography to health wearables, Jepsen has touched a wide range of technologies. With her current project Openwater she's working on a suite of cutting-edge diagnostics and therapeutic wearables aimed at curing cancer, mental diseases, and stroke.

Jepsen was executive director of engineering at both Google and Facebook, a CTO at Intel, and the founder of four successful startups, including One Laptop per Child, which transformed education in developing countries and became a multi-billion dollar non-profit.

Jepsen is a former professor at MIT and currently serves as a director at two public companies: Lear Corporation and Luminar Technologies. She's advised government officials in multiple countries, including the United States, and has been recognized by TIME magazine's "Time 100" as one of the 100 most influential people in the world, CNN's top 10 thinkers, Forbes' 50 over 50, and numerous professional societies in the fields of optics, display, and electronics.

Jepsen is a sought-after keynote speaker and has given two highly viewed TED talks. She's frequently featured in top global press publications.

As CEO, Johnson is leading Agility’s next phase of growth, focusing on sales, strategic industry partnerships, future fundraising, and delivering robots at scale to meet overwhelming demand.

Before Agility, Johnson most recently served as CEO of spatial computing company Magic Leap, where she led the pivot from consumer to enterprise, reset and recapitalized the company, and launched Magic Leap 2, the leading AR headset for business. Previously, Johnson spent six years as Executive Vice President of Business Development at Microsoft, reporting directly to CEO Satya Nadella, where she was responsible for driving strategic partnerships and transactions to accelerate growth for the company and its customers. While at Microsoft, Johnson launched M12, the company’s first corporate venture fund which in three years had added more than 80 companies to its portfolio. Prior to that, Johnson spent 24 years at Qualcomm, where she served as a member of the company’s Executive Committee and held various leadership positions across engineering, sales, marketing, and business development. She was responsible for leading the Internet Services division, which launched the first mobile app downloading platform, BREW, in 2001. BREW enabled the download of billions of apps to mobile phones, which enhanced Qualcomm’s chip sales and produced over $1B in revenue of app sales.

Audrey Kim is the founder and curator of the Misalignment Museum. She is fascinated by the ways movement shifting art are often predicated on technology, and the historical evolution of museums. She has previously created collaborative art with the composer Philip Glass and OpenAI. Prior to that, she worked for YCombinator, lead private-public partnership programs for the United Nations, operations for a self-driving car startup (from pre-seed to post-GM acquisition), and business development for Google. She has also created international tech conferences in collaboration with the US Embassy and Austrian Foreign Ministry to bridge tech communities globally.

Noah is a co-founder at DeepTrust where he is passionate about the mission of protecting human authenticity in a new era where AI allows the convincing replication of anyone's likeness. At DeepTrust, Noah helps security teams defend employees from social engineering, voice phishing, and deepfakes across voice and video communication channels. Prior to DeepTrust, Noah built and led customer facing teams at various tech startups until a deepfake scam call targeting a grandparent led him to transition into cybersecurity and co-found DeepTrust.

AI expert speaker, Michal Kosinski, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, where he engages in groundbreaking research on Artificial Intelligence (AI), Large Language Models, and Psychology.

Professor Kosinski is an acclaimed academic, public speaker, author, and a leading public intellectual. He has shared the stage with Elon Musk, Ray Kurzweil, Ed Snowden, and Max Tegmark. He published popular op-eds in The New York Times, Financial Times, and The Guardian, and regularly appears in documentaries and on major media outlets, such as CNN, CBS, NewsNation, and Fox News.

Kosinski is among the Top 1% of the highly cited scholars with over 100 scholarly contributions. He co-authored Handbook of Social Psychology and Modern Psychometrics, two popular textbooks, and has published over 100 peer-reviewed papers in prominent journals such as Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Nature Computational Science, and Machine Learning which have been cited over 22,000 times.

His research has inspired a cover of The Economist, a 2014 theatre production titled “Privacy,” several TED talks, and a video game. It has been featured in thousands of press articles, books, podcasts, and documentaries.

Kosinski was behind the first press article warning against Cambridge Analytica. His research exposed the privacy risks they exploited and assessed the effectiveness of their methods. His role has been detailed in Steven Levy’s insightful book Facebook: The Inside Story and Sander van der Linden’s article, Weapons of Mass Persuasion.

He earned his Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Cambridge and holds master’s degrees in both psychometrics and social psychology. Before joining Stanford, Kosinski was a post-doctoral scholar in Stanford’s Computer Science Department, the Deputy Director of the University of Cambridge Psychometrics Centre, and a researcher in Microsoft Research’s Machine Learning Group.

Ellen is Managing Director of Silicon Valley Connect, working with organizations and entrepreneurs on opportunities for technology-driven innovation, while also managing a portfolio of 60+ startups as an angel investor/advisor. She is a member of the Board of Directors at commercial real estate finance company Walker & Dunlop (WD), social network for military and veterans company Rallypoint, private capital markets data & analytics platform Aumni, and fintech platform for alternative assets company CAIS. She is a Senior Advisor to the President at Arizona State University, named the “most innovative” university by US News & World report eight years and counting. 

Ellen spent nearly a decade working with LinkedIn, including heading up Corporate Development & Strategy and member of the Executive Team following her original role as Advisory Board member at the company’s founding. Over her career, Ellen has held formal roles in venture capital (Softbank; NeoCarta; DFJ), startups (WhoWhere, bought by Lycos; Softbook Press, bought by Gemstar TVGuide; LinkedIn, IPO and then bought by Microsoft), technology think tanks (Interval Research), large corporations (Apple; PriceWaterhouse Coopers), and universities (Harvard; Stanford; ASU). 

Described as the “Most Connected Woman in Silicon Valley", and named one of the “Top 25 Female Early Stage Investors”, Ellen now spends much of her time focused on dynamic, rapidly-growing startups, on issues related to the “Future of Work” (automation, AI, skills training, and education) and businesses helping society respond to the post-pandemic world. 

She has a BS from the University of Michigan, and MA/PhD in Cognitive Psychology from Stanford University

Dr. Michalakis is a mathematical physicist and manager of outreach at Caltech's Institute for Quantum Information and Matter. His current research focuses on the mathematical foundations of quantum physics and Einstein’s theory of relativity, with an emphasis on the mechanisms underlying the emergence of space, time and the laws of physics. He is known for solving the first of 13 “millennium” problems in mathematical physics, the mystery behind the Quantum Hall Effect, a deep and technical problem connected to a number of Nobel Prizes in Physics. 

Dr. Michalakis has served as science consultant on “Now You See Me 2” (Fox), “Ant-Man” (Marvel/Disney), “Spider-Man Homecoming” (Marvel/Disney), “AntMan & The Wasp” (Marvel/Disney), and "Bill and Ted: Face The Music” (Orion Pictures). He is responsible for introducing the "Quantum Realm" into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, igniting a global fascination with such esoteric concepts as quantum superposition and quantum entanglement. He has appeared in a number of documentaries, including Netflix’s “Behind the Curve”, “Trust Machine: The Story of Blockchain”, and “Free Color”.

Among other projects, Dr. Michalakis has production and writing credits on “Anyone Can Quantum," a short film pitting Paul Rudd against Stephen Hawking in a game of Quantum Chess. The YouTube short, directed by Alex Winter and narrated by Keanu Reeves, has nearly 9 million views and led to a sequel starring Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, and John Cho. Dr. Michalakis is currently working with Google Quantum AI to fully run Quantum Chess on Google's state-of-the-art quantum computer. 

Outside of academia, Dr. Michalakis heads the creative consulting firm, Not Simple, whose clients include early stage startups working on deep tech such as quantum computing and fault-tolerant machine learning, to more established companies working on autonomous driving and intelligent personal assistants. Dr. Michalakis is Professor-in-Residence at Relay Ventures, and a member of the Advisory Board at Nano-Lit Technologies and Ostendo. He lives in Los Angeles.

Jo Salter MBE is recognised as one of the most inspiring figures in aviation and leadership, having broken barriers as the UK’s first female fast jet pilot. With decades of experience in leadership and high-performance consulting, Jo focuses on helping organisations and executives excel in fast-paced, transformative environments. She is known for taking action and making an impact.

Jo led PwC's Global Centre for Transformative Leadership, where she advised senior leaders on leadership, culture, innovation and the integration of technology, including AI, to drive organisational success. She also holds several trusteeships, supporting initiatives close to her heart, and is a member of 601 Squadron, RAuxAF.

Awarded an MBE and an honorary doctorate for her services to aviation, Jo is a sought-after keynote speaker who continues to inspire leaders with her insights on leadership, resilience, adaptability, teamwork and the evolving role of AI. Known for her advocacy for equality and inclusion, Jo is committed to breaking down barriers and creating opportunities for future generations.

Kurt Stump is the CEO and Founder of Sempulse and the inventor of its next generation, non-invasive vital signs monitoring technology. He has over 30 years of advanced technology experience ranging from CEO to Enterprise Architect to Six Sigma Black Belt in MedTech, High-Tech, Insurance, and Financial Services. Kurt has multiple entrepreneurial ventures under his belt along with over a dozen patents.

Nine years ago, Kurt founded Sempulse after a tragedy in Afghanistan killed four of his friends due to a lack of remote vital signs monitoring and field triage. Kurt decided to solve that problem. He built a rugged, non-invasive, reusable, and miniature vital signs monitor that works anywhere at rest or in motion and connects to a global platform that seamlessly connects disparate groups. It turned out to be a ubiquitous solution for any instance where one person is responsible for the health and well-being of another.

The Sempulse Halo Platform is now FDA-cleared and opens up new capabilities at realistic price points, serving as a Pandora’s Box for what is now possible.  It has broad implications for and enables a host of markets across the military, first responders, health care, worker health and safety, and many others that will certainly bring about new liabilities and regulations. After nine years of development, this technology is now available and has already contributed to saving its first life.

My mission, empowering clients to realize the full value of their digital investments with cloud while decreasing risk. Combining Microsoft’s transformative technology and PwC’s extensive industry experience, I help clients grow and be more resilient.

By creating business and industry-specific solutions built on Microsoft technology, I advise organizations on how to achieve sustainable growth and lasting innovation. Being able to navigate complex challenges and build meaningful relationships with team members and clients is what allows me to deliver long-term impact.

I’m passionate about fostering the next generation of tech leaders. Outside of work, you’ll find me spending time with my wife and two boys, woodworking or listening to classic rock.

Scott leads PwC’s Emerging Tech practice in the United States. With more than 25 years of emerging technology experience, he has helped clients transform their customer experience and enhance their digital operations. 

Scott has worked across industries with some of the biggest multinational companies to transform their business by applying a local lens to global digital and emerging tech trends. He has expertise using emerging technology and advanced analytics in many areas including e-commerce, digital architecture, mobile technologies and social customer engagement. Scott is a regular speaker at global conferences on emerging technologies, including:

• Blockchain
  
• Artificial Intelligence
  
• IoT
  
• Robotics
  
• Automation
  

US Chief AI Officer: Leader of the US AI team across Advisory, Tax, and Assurance. Responsible for oversight of PwC’s $1Bn+ investment in AI technologies, training and growth strategies. Working with clients to develop innovative AI powered solutions that reduce costs, power growth and achieve sustainable advantage in the market.

Cloud & Digital Leader: co-led the stand-up and running of the C&D platform, a $2Bn P&L, accountable for executing digital transformations

TMT Vertical Leader: $1Bn P&L that includes strategy, management, and technology consulting teams that service tech, media and telco clients

Strategy& Leader: Leader of the PwC strategy business, formerly Booz & Co.; accountable for the brand, the people, market development and client service

Technology Strategy Consulting Leader: member of the Strategy& leadership team responsible for partners selling and executing digital strategies and transformations

Bio forthcoming

James Shira serves as Chief Information Officer, continuing to enhance and simplify our technology infrastructure, data capabilities, tech governance and security, and more—so we can innovate to serve our clients in new ways, work smarter and faster to deliver quality, and responsibly embed tech into everything we do.  

Known as a change and action-oriented leader, James joined PwC in 2015 as Chief Information Security Officer, building and leading the US and global information security function. With over 20 years of experience leading multiple security and technology transformation and modernization programs for large organizations, he thrives on tackling large-scale challenges, integrating emerging technologies to enable business strategies and leading and inspiring teams.  

An inaugural student of Columbia University's Executive Technology Management program, James also holds a bachelor’s degree in business from Baylor University with a concentration in management information systems. He lives in California with his wife and two children. In James’ free time, he is into vintage cars—he enjoys working on them, restoring them and driving them.