Bryan Alexander is an internationally known futurist, researcher, writer, speaker, consultant, and teacher, working in the field of how technology transforms education.

He completed his English language and literature PhD at the University of Michigan in 1997, with a dissertation on doppelgangers in Romantic-era fiction and poetry.

Then Bryan taught literature, writing, multimedia, and information technology studies at Centenary College of Louisiana.  There he also pioneered multi-campus interdisciplinary classes, while organizing an information literacy initiative.

From 2002 to 2014 Bryan worked with the National Institute for Technology in Liberal Education (NITLE), a non-profit working to help small colleges and universities best integrate digital technologies.  With NITLE he held several roles, including co-director of a regional education and technology center, director of emerging technologies, and senior fellow.  Over those years Bryan helped develop and support the nonprofit, grew peer networks, consulted, and conducted a sustained research agenda.

In 2013 Bryan launched a business, Bryan Alexander Consulting, LLC.  Through BAC he consults throughout higher education in the United States and abroad.  Bryan also speaks widely and publishes frequently, with articles appearing in venues including The Atlantic Monthly, Inside Higher Ed.  He has been interviewed by and featured in the Washington Post, MSNBC,  US News and World Report, National Public Radio, the Chronicle of Higher Education, the National Association of College and University Business Officers, Pew Research, Campus Technology, and the Connected Learning Alliance.

He recently finished Academia Next: The Futures of Higher Education for Johns Hopkins University Press (forthcoming fall 2019).  His two most recent books are Gearing Up For Learning Beyond K-12 and The New Digital Storytelling (second edition) .

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https://bryanalexanderconsulting.com/

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Shirley Alexander is Professor of Learning Technologies at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) where she is Deputy Vice-Chancellor & Vice President (Education and Students).

She has been a member of three successive national government committees advising on improvements to higher education teaching and learning and chaired a national committee advising the Minister for Education on the best uses of technology in K-12 education.

Shirley has led the learning.futures strategy at UTS (https://www.uts.edu.au/research-and-teaching/learning-and-teaching/learningfutures/how-our-students-learn). At this time, UTS has almost completed a major campus redevelopment and building program at a cost of approximately $1.5 billion and Shirley has led the initiatives to ensure the new learning spaces are designed for the future of education. 

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http://www.uts.edu.au/staff/shirley.ale…

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Asha Alexander is the Principal at GEMS Legacy School, Dubai and the Executive Leader of Climate Change at GEMS Education. She received her Master of Science in Educational Leadership from The Walden University, Minnesota in 2011. She holds Masters’ degrees in Education as well as English from Bangalore University, India. With 33 years of experience in the provision of education to K-12 students, she has overseen the school’s transition to an exclusively digital curriculum. Passionate, driven to achieve aspirational goals and ready to take on any challenge, she believes in nurturing students’ hearts and minds and is particular about a value-based education. Forward-thinking, she is a believer in all things digital. She is excited by the prospect of watching every child achieve his or her potential. Ms. Alexander is a UN certified Climate Change Leader and has made presentations at COP 25 and numerous other international webinars and conferences and has conducted workshops on leadership, and change management for several schools in India and the UAE. She has led the school’s Twinning Program with more than 20 schools that enable teachers, students and schools to develop partnerships with schools around the world to embed the Sustainable Development Goals.

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Payal Arora PhD. (Columbia Univ. NYC), is a Professor of Inclusive AI Cultures at Utrecht University and co-founder of FemLab, a feminist futures of work initiative and Inclusive AI Lab. She leverages her two decades of user experiences in the Global South to help shape inclusive AI enabled designs and policies. Payal is the author of 100+ journal articles and award-winning books including “The Next Billion Users” with Harvard Press. Forbes named her the ‘next billion champion’ and the ‘right kind of person to reform tech.’ Her new book with MIT Press “From Pessimism to Promise: Lessons from the Global South on Designing Inclusive Tech” has gained traction in the international media, covered by the Financial Times, BBC Tech Decoded, and the UX magazine, among others. About 150 international media outlets have covered her work including The Economist , 99% Invisible, Tech Crunch, and The Boston Globe. She has consulted for the public and the private sector including UNHCR, Spotify, KPMG, Adobe, IDEO, Google, and GE and sits on several boards including for the UN, and the World Women Global Council in New York. She has given more than 350 keynotes and invited talks in 67 countries for events such as ACM Facct, Copenhagen Tech Festival, re:publica, COP26, World Economic Forum, Swedish Internet Foundation, alongside figures like Jimmy Wales and Steve Wozniak, and TEDx talks on the future of the internet and innovation. She is a Rockefeller Bellagio Resident Fellow alumnus and is Indian, American, and Irish and calls Amsterdam her home.

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Thomas “Tom” Bachem is a passionate entrepreneur, investor and founder of several startups and initiatives, including sevenload, Lebenslauf.com and the German Startups Association. Being an avid coder and designer since his early youth, he is currently building his dream university CODE and serves as Germany’s youngest university chancellor.

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Professor Martin Bean CBE, CEO of The Bean Centre, is a visionary leader shaping the future of education and work.
Co-author of the book "Toolkit for Turbulence," Martin equips leaders with tools and strategies to navigate change, seize opportunities, and foster resilient teams.
Currently a Professor at the University of New South Wales, Martin's expertise lies in exploring the evolving landscape of work and lifelong learning. He shares his knowledge as a mentor at Mentor List, connecting Australia's brightest minds.
Previously, Martin served as Vice-Chancellor and President of RMIT University, an institution with over 80,000 students in Melbourne, Australia. He also held the position of Vice-Chancellor at The Open University, the United Kingdom's largest academic institution, and served as General Manager of Microsoft's global Education Products Group in Seattle, Washington.
Acknowledged for his contributions to education, Martin has received prestigious awards, including an Honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of London and appointment as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his services to higher education.

Kyle Bowen is Enterprise Deputy CIO at Arizona State University where he is responsible for enabling how the ASU community experiences technology to learn, work and thrive. A self-described storyteller, Kyle is passionate about transforming education with a learner and student-centered approach. He was previously the director of innovation for teaching and learning with technology at Penn State University. By collaborating across the institution, he advanced faculty professional development, space design, learner creativity, and data science efforts. Kyle also formerly served as the director of learning informatics at Purdue University, a role that shaped the university’s strategy to improve student attainment through award winning emerging technologies. Kyle is an entrepreneur, teacher, and regular speaker on innovations in higher education. Co-author and editor of more than 20 books on design, development, and usability, his past work has appeared in the New York Times, USA Today, and the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Jane Bozarth is a veteran classroom trainer who transitioned to eLearning in the late 1990s and never looked back. As leader of the State of North Carolina USA's award-winning eLearning program, Dr. Bozarth specializes in finding low-cost ways of providing online training solutions. Her abiding interest in social learning and communities of practice framed her graduate work and dissertation and led to the publication of her bestselling book Social Media for Trainers and the new Show Your Work: The Payoffs and How-Tos of Working Out Loud. She is the author of several other books, including eLearning Solutions on a Shoestring, Better than Bullet Points, and From Analysis to Evaluation. She frequently contributes material to trade publications and writes the monthly "Nuts & Bolts" column for Learning Solutions Magazine. A popular conference speaker, Dr. Bozarth has keynoted events in the US, Canada, Australia, Turkey, and Scotland. She and her husband live with Thomas the Corgi in Durham, North Carolina, USA

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http://bozarthzone.blogspot.de/

Jane Bozarth, the Director of Research for The Learning Guild, is a veteran classroom trainer who transitioned to digital learning in the late 1990s and has never looked back. In her previous job as leader of the State of North Carolina’s award-winning eLearning program, Jane specialized in finding low-cost ways of providing online training solutions. She is the author of several books, among them "eLearning Solutions on a Shoestring", "Social Media for Trainers", and "Show Your Work: The Payoffs and How-To’s of Working Out Loud". A popular international conference presenter, Jane holds a doctorate in training and development. She lives in Durham, NC, USA with her husband and Thomas the corgi.

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Derek Bruce is a globally recognized HR thought leader and Chartered FCIPD professional with deep expertise in Learning, Leadership, and Talent Development. As Head of Learning, Leadership & Talent Development at Tesco, he brings a strategic approach to empowering teams and organisations. An MBTI Type II and NLP Master Practitioner, Derek combines psychological insight with practical skills to foster impactful growth. A passionate mentorship advocate, he also founded Derek Bruce Associates to champion personal and professional development. Known for his dedication to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Derek is as committed to creating inclusive workplaces as he is to expanding his impressive collection of Adidas Stan Smith and Superstars sneakers.

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With a scientific background, Olivier Crouzet got a Master degree as an IT engineer. During scholarship, he acted both as a technical assistant and a teaching assistant. After 2 years as system administrator in the 3rd French Internet service provider, he developed during thirteen years a well-known IT school which became a French major institution.

He designed the pedagogical model, and made it evolve. Based on this educational success, a new IT school '42' is created in 2013, along with Nicolas Sadirac, Kwame Yamgnane and Florian Bucher, promoting an even more advanced training methodology, called Peer-Learning. Olivier Crouzet designed this model: 100%-project-based, without any teacher, lecture, nor knowledge transfer. Students debate, exchange ideas, try, fail, try again, to reach the goal, and finally evaluate their peers.

Founded and funded by Xavier Niel, owner of one of the four French telecom company, '42' is totally free for the students. In this spirit of social opening, Olivier Crouzet, while still evolving the pedagogical model of the school, is also promoting evolution in the French education system through various conferences

Working with learning and development for 20 years in both banking and retail, Binnaz honed her skills as a trainer and learning designer. An excellent facilitator, consultant and learning designer, and accomplished project leader, she has delivered many global learning designs for IKEA including a Brandon Hall gold award for best blended learning 2009. Three years ago Binnaz became a senior manager with a 20 person team who are responsible for content design and delivery as well as information architecture and user experience in Inter IKEA Systems BV.

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http://franchisor.ikea.com/

Dr. Wendy Cukier is a Professor of Entrepreneurship and Strategy, and Founder of the Diversity Institute at Ryerson University. She is the co-author of the bestseller, Innovation Nation: Canadian Leadership from Java to Jurassic and former VP of Research and Innovation. The Diversity Institute has 50 research staff, 100 research associates from around the world, 200 industry partners and focuses on dimensions of diversity and inclusion in the workplace, future skills, and entrepreneurship and innovation. Harnessing the power of innovation, it promotes the advancement of underrepresented groups. The Diversity Institute is also a research lead for the $300 million Future Skills Centre and the $8.6 million Women Entrepreneurship Hub. Wendy has been recognized with the Harry Jerome Diversity Award, the Bob Marley Award, the Canada-Pakistan Business Council’s Female Professional of the Year, the Metropolis Research Award, the CATA Alliance, Sara Kirke Award for Entrepreneurship and Innovation and 100 Most Powerful Women by WXN. She has been named a YWCA Woman of Distinction, a Woman of Influence and one of the "100 Alumni who shaped the Century" by the University of Toronto. Wendy holds a PhD, an MBA, an MA, and honorary doctorates from Laval and Concordia. 

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http://www.ryerson.ca/itm/fcty/Cukier/C…

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Professor Laura Czerniewicz is the Director of the Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching (CILT), at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. 

She has worked in education in numerous roles including strategist, researcher, educator and publisher. Her research interests include the changing nature of higher education in a digitally-mediated society, changing technological practices and digital inequality. She has also played a key strategic and scholarly role in the areas of blended and online education as well as open education. 

An NRF-rated researcher, Laura has published widely, both formally and informally. Her research output can be found at  http://uct.academia.edu/LauraCzerniewicz and many of her presentations at https://www.slideshare.net/laura_Cz.

She can be followed on Twitter at @czernie. For a recent interview with Laura Czerniewicz listen to her podcast at http://onlinelearninglegends.com/podcast/007-professor-laura-czerniewicz/. 

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http://www.cilt.uct.ac.za/cilt/about/la…

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Martina Di Ridolfo is Programme Officer at the European Trade Union Committee for Education (ETUCE) where she is responsible for the policy areas on Digitalisation and Occupational Health and Safety. ETUCE has longstanding activities on digitalisation and artificial intelligence in education advocating for quality and inclusive education for all based on meaningful social dialogue. Martina has been working in the education sector for three years. In her life, she strives for sustainable and fair economies and societies.

Ms. Sofia Exarchou is an Associate Learning Officer at the Knowledge Centre for Leadership and Management of the UNSSC. She is an education professional, holding a M.Sc. in International and Comparative Education from Stockholm’s University and a BA Honours degree in Education from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. After completing her M.Sc., Sofia continued her studies in Learning, Communication and Informatics at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Sofia has been part of the United Nations System Staff College since 2018 and has served as educational designer and developer for UNSSC's Blue Line. Her working experience stretches from teaching and educational integration advisory to e-learning and learning architecture. At the moment, she is involved in various projects within UNSSC aiming to leverage self-directed learning in the workplace and in the United Nations.

Sina is truly a wanderer between the worlds and has never stopped being curious and open for what life offers her. Her passion is building a reputation of HR as a strong partner of business and cultural transformation. She is currently working at AXA Group Operations /AXA's tech & data engine) in Paris as Global Head of People Development & Wellbeing. In her current role she is leading three teams with global responsibility (L&D, Talent & Leadership Development, D&I/Wellbeing) to accelerate AXA Group Operations Business Transformation. Born in a little village in the German area “Sauerland”, she spent her Kindergarten-time in the Netherlands and her teenager years by travelling to China twice a year. She studied/worked in Germany, Switzerland, UK, the Netherlands, Belgium and France. Her highest degree is a Ph.D. from the University of St.Gallen, Switzerland. She changed sides several times: from academia to the business world, from smaller to larger companies (e.g. METRO Group, Deutsche Telekom, AXA), from Germany to other European countries – and vice versa.

Rafael Fernández Qundez is a seasoned HR professional with an extensive career in Human Resources Management, having worked for leading multinational companies across various industries, including automotive (PSA Peugeot-Citroën), retail banking (Caja Madrid Group), corporate and investment banking (Société Générale), and the oil and gas sector (CEPSA). Currently, he serves as Head of Talent at CEPSA, a major Spanish energy company, where he drives corporate-level talent initiatives.

With a strong belief in HR as a key driver for business success, he has led significant organisational change and talent management projects. His expertise spans Talent Management, Change Management, Learning & Development, and People Management, where he has designed and implemented impactful HR strategies that align with business goals across diverse cultural and geographical settings.

In addition to his corporate role, he has been a professor at IE Business School in Spain since 2007, teaching HR in Executive MBA programs, Executive Education, and other senior-level courses. His passion lies in developing creative, business-aligned HR initiatives and helping organisations foster talent and leadership development.

Andy Fidel creates social experiences for remote communities, using digital and immersive technologies. Making local conversations, global discussions. #spatialnetworks Producing virtual events since 2016, Andy Fidel designs experiential gatherings for community and enterprise, specializing in conference extensions, virtual festivals, and metaverse education. Andy Fidel studies the impact of VR/AR on digital communications and what the future holds for human connection. What does it mean to have a virtual identity? How do you engage with a virtual community? How do we form and share meaningful stories? Our social lives are changing as immersive experiences take center stage in our new spatial reality. She coined the term, ‘Spatial Networking’ in 2016. Exploring the social side of immersive reality. Spatial networks refers to all social platforms using immersive technology (VR/AR), empowering people with tools to connect, share, and build community. Owner & host of @SpatialNetworks & @GetSocialVR on social media. Andy Fidel also leads #GetSocial, a digital network for emerging technology creators & entrepreneurs. Weekly meet-ups to discover new immersive experiences, to meet XR thought leaders, attend virtual events with opportunities for professional development. She is currently the ‘Influencers and Partners Manager’ at Rec Room. Past and ongoing collaborators include: Rec Room. LinkedIn, Scout House, WXR Venture Fund, PepsiCo, AltspaceVR by Microsoft, C2 International, C2 Montreal, TikTok Canada, Twitch, VRScout, Google VR/AR, YouTube VR Creator Lab, Verizon 5G Labs, VR/AR Association, and communities at large in the multiverse.

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Elisabetta Galli is Global Head of Knowledge, Development & Talent Management at Banco Santander since March 2017.

With an academic background as clinical Psychologist, Elisabetta has developed a more than 25 year career in Human Resources, in local, regional and global roles, most of them as HR generalist in charge of multiple geographies and multinational teams.

Before Santander Elisabetta has been working in Wolters Kluwer as global HRVP of the Legal & Regulatory Business Unit and in Johnson & Johnson where she has been working 11 years in the Pharmaceutical and Medical Devices sectors.

Elisabetta’s main areas of expertise are: change management, organizational excellence, strategic workforce planning, learning & development, talent management, cultural transformation.

Torunn Gjelsvik (born 1970) has more than 16 years of experience from the field e-learning and ICT in education. As head of development for the E-learning Centre at BI Business School and rector and managing director of two Norwegian online schools Torunn has developed both highly strategic and operative expertise in distance and flexible education, social media and the use of technology in teaching and learning. In 2013 Torunn was engaged as project manager for Flexible Education Norway and published the report: «Innovation and challenge – pedagogical development of Norwegian distance education institutions 1995-2015». Since 2015 Torunn Gjelsvik has been engaged as Senior Adviser and project responsible at International Council for Open and Distance Education – ICDE, the leading global membership organization for online, open, flexible and technology enhanced education. In 2016 Torunn took place in the orientation board of the French National Center for Distance Education - CNED.

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http://icde.org

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Hillary is NUS Vice President for Higher Education. She was previously the Undergraduate Education Officer and Chair of the Widening Participation Network at the University of Bristol Students’ Union. A champion of students, Hillary has worked on many projects that have looked to support the most marginalised students in education and beyond. From decolonisation to widening access work, she is extremely passionate in ensuring that students are at the centre of education and are the architects of their own education.

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Timandra is a regular on BBC Radio, writing and presenting BBC Radio 4’s FutureProofing and other series including How To Disagree, Steelmanning and Political School. BBC Radio documentaries include Data, Data Everywhere, Divided Nation, What Has Sat-Nav Done To Our Brains, and Five Knots. She was resident reporter on all 8 seasons of social psychology series The Human Zoo and is now the spare presenter for Radio 4’s Profile.

Her book Big Data: does size matter? published by Bloomsbury Sigma in 2016, came out in an updated paperback edition in June 2017. Her second non-fiction book, Technology is Not the Problem will be published on May 23rd 2024 by Harper Collins.

Since winning the Independent newspaper’s column-writing competition, she has written for many publications including the Telegraph, Guardian, Sunday Times, Unherd, BBC Focus magazine, WIRED, Unherd, the New Statesman, Men’s Health and Significance (the journal of the Royal Statistical Society).

Timandra chairs and speaks at public events for clients including Cheltenham Science Festival, the Royal Society, the British Council, the Royal Geographical Society, the RSA, the Institute of Ideas, the British Library, Wellcome Collection, the Alan Turing Institute, the Royal Academy of Engineering, and many others.

After performing improvised & stand up comedy, & touring with a tented circus, she formed the first comedy science double-act in the UK with neuroscientist Dr. Helen Pilcher. Since then she has written and performed scientific and mathematical comedy from Adelaide (Australia) to Pittsburgh PA.

In 2010 she co-wrote & performed Your Days Are Numbered: The Maths of Death, with stand-up mathematician Matt Parker. They performed the show to average audiences of 100.3 and 4 star reviews at the Edinburgh Fringe, then toured it in the UK and Australia. Timandra’s science comedy since then includes cabaret, gameshows, and solo live show Brainsex (with Socrates the rat).

Timandra has a BA in Film and Drama with Art & Art History, a BSc in Mathematics & Statistics, and an MA in Philosophy from Birkbeck College, where she is now researching for an MRes in Philosophy. She is a member of the Royal Statistical Society Council of Trustees, and Chair of the editorial board of their journal, Significance.

Prof. Dr. Uta Hauck-Thum has been a professor for primary school education and didactics at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich since 2018. For many years she has been developing concepts for teaching and learning under the conditions of digitalization and digitality and has been involved in expanding the university classes at LMU. Before starting her university career, she worked as a primary school teacher in Munich. She is currently in charge of her latest project - the so-called Unilernhaus. In new analog and digital learning rooms, teaching and research projects are implemented with students, teachers and children.

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Anca Iordache is an experienced Learning and OD professional. Most recently, Anca led the Future of Work Global Practice for Citi Learning and over the 20 years with Citi, she held various roles such as: Learning & Performance Advisor, Social Learning & Collaboration Expert, Community Builder, and 70-20-10 Change Maker. As of December 2022, Anca transitioned to Microsoft as Career Development Activation Lead, as part of the MCAPS (Microsoft Customer and Partner Solutions) Employee Skilling Team.
In her work, Anca supports leaders and teams to reimagine the way we connect, work and learn. Anca creates value by co-creating human-centered experiences and learning environments that enable knowledge flows and people growth.

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Pär Lager is one of the leading experts in the Nordics on leadership, competitive analysis and innovative learning. He has written three books on leadership, strategic communication and learning culture, among others "Upskill & Reskill", which was published in 2021. Today, Pär works in several different boards and as an advisor, teacher and lecturer to organisations and companies.

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https://www.linkedin.com/in/parlager/?o…

Martin is passionate about technology at the intersection of work and learning. As Team Leader for the Digital Labour Market at the European Commission he manages the modernisation of Europass with the ambition of making it the number one European lifelong learning tool.

As part of his work, Martin manages the development of the Europass framework for Digital Credentials. The goal is to establish one common European approach that allows people to receive, share and use digital diplomas and other credentials all across the EU.

Prior to this, Martin has been managing the development of a multilingual skills and job classification (ESCO) for the Commission, after having been active as a web entrepreneur for six years.

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Gerd Leonhard is a renowned futurist, known for his focus on the "4Ps": People, Planet, Purpose, and Prosperity. With over 20 years of experience, Gerd has spoken at more than 2000 events worldwide, collaborating with top organizations like Microsoft, Google, and the European Commission. He is the author of the bestseller "Technology vs Humanity" and is recognized as one of the most influential Europeans by Wired magazine. Gerd is celebrated for his innovative "super-keynote" presentations and his expertise in digital ethics, sustainability, and future-focused economic strategies. His insights have been featured in major media outlets such as The Guardian, Harvard Business Review, and the BBC.

Isabelle is currently in charge of the Innovation related to Learning and Culture for Thales Group. After almost 10 years working for consultancy firms, she joined one of the six Global Business Units of Thales Group and became its Head of Talent and Culture. Before moving to the US to lead North America Talent and Culture team for 5 years, she held various positions such as Business Lines HRD and Site director. She created also an incubator to develop Digital services for Public transportation customers. More recently, she joined the internal start-up of Thales, Thales Digital Factory, to lead the Thales Digital Academy to support the Group Digital transformation with upskilling and change management.

David Mattin is the founder of New World Same Humans, a weekly newsletter on trends, technology, and society that goes to 22,000 subscribers each week. David speaks regularly at leading conferences and closed events around the world; recent events include The Next Web, Cog X 2021, 15 Seconds and the NEXT Conference. His business, innovation and trends journalism has appeared everywhere from Fast Company to the Guardian to Google Think Quarterly. As experienced broadcaster, David has also written and presented documentaries for BBC Radio 4. David sits on the World Economic Forum's Global Future Council on Consumption. He is author of the book Trend-Driven Innovation, published by Wiley.

Njeri is a Senior Futurist at the Institute for Futures Research (IFR) at Stellenbosch University Business School.

Her work focuses on strengthening capabilities of individuals, organisations and states in Africa, to navigate complexity and uncertainty, to realise long-term goals and visions. Her research interests include leadership, organisational performance, knowledge, gender and diversity, inclusivity and transformation.

Njeri has a Masters in International Relations and holds a PhD in Business Administration. She is also co-founder of a research and business development organisation that facilitates long-term institutional partnership building.

She has worked with a range of organisations in several capacities and contexts including research; higher education teaching and skills building; executive management training;  policy, strategy and programme development; short course design, planning and delivery; project management and coordination; evaluation of initiatives for valued business, public sector, and international partners.

Her vocation is to support knowledge sharing and exchange, to facilitate integrated strategic planning, and enhance evidence-based decision making and high performance to achieve desired futures.

Bitange Ndemo is an Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Nairobi’s Business School.  His research centers on the link between ICTs and small and medium enterprises with emphasis on how ICTs influence economic development in Africa.   Prof. Ndemo is an advisor to several organizations including the Better than Cash Alliance, a global initiative under UNCDF dedicated to promotion of cash alternatives; UN’s Global Pulse on Big Data; the I-Hub, a premier innovation hub in Africa and Vienna-based World Data Lab. He also sits in the Boards of Safaricom one of the leading telecommunication company in Africa, Mpesa Foundation, Research ICT Africa that is based in South Africa.  He is a former Permanent Secretary of Kenya’s Ministry of Information and Communication where he was credited with facilitating many transformative ICT projects.  After years of developing the supply-side of broadband, he has now changed gears to demand-side through assisting start-ups in Africa and actively playing a key role in building sustainable models of innovation hubs.    Prof. Ndemo holds a PhD in Industrial Economics from the University of Sheffield in the UK, a bachelor’s degree in Finance from the University of Minnesota and an MBA from University of St. Thomas. He is an Open Data/Big Data evangelist and dedicated to simplification (visualization) of data for ordinary citizens to consume.

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http://www.bitangendemo.me/

Pak Tee NG [National Institute of Education (NIE), Nanyang Technological University] is a Singaporean educator who is deeply involved in the development of school and teacher leaders. At the NIE, he previously served as Associate Dean Leadership Learning and Head of the Policy and Leadership Studies Academic Group.  His main work is in educational change, policy and leadership.

Pak Tee has spoken at many global events, for example, Google Global Education Symposium, International Baccalaureate Global Conference, and Scottish Learning Festival. He is currently a member of Scotland’s International Council of Education Advisers and a Life Member of Clare Hall, Cambridge University.

Pak Tee has authored/co-authored numerous publications. International media often seek his views on education change. Having retired from journal editorship, he now serves as honorary mentor to a few younger editors. He is an editorial board member of several other international refereed journals. He is the co-editor of the Routledge Leading Change book series and the author of the book “Learning from Singapore: The Power of Paradoxes”.

Pak Tee encourages educators to walk a path not easily travelled, with love, courage and resilience. Although he is thankful for receiving a few awards during his career, his greater reward is a fraternity of students who are educational leaders themselves and who pay it forward through their educational leadership, contribution and commitment to education.

Carlos is an Engineer from the Madrid Polytechnic University, and has an MBA in Entrepreneurship from Babson College and a Post-graduate in Innovation and Entrepreneurship by Maryland University, Digital Marketing for International Business Development and ITC & Gis by Siemens Data-Technic Schule. Carlos is Founder and CEO of ONE Digital Consulting, and over the last 10 years he has successfully led a range of institutional/national/European projects, and has received a range of international awards for his educational innovation activities. With more than 30 years’ experience in Innovation Consultancy and Smart Education, leading multinational organizations (SIEMENS, Sagentia, Cap Gemini, eLearning Consulting). He is President of VR/AR Association Madrid Chapter, and Co-Chair of VR/AR Education Committee since 2017, where he coordinates the Experts Sessions, Forums, Case Studies, Best Practices and Collaboration activities worldwide. Today, with more than 600 active members and more than 100 on-line sessions around XR in Education Is one of the references organizations in XR in Education Worldwide. He is one of the Immersive Learning Founding Members, ICICLE X-Reality for Learning and Performance Augmentation SIG, Principal Member of the Metaverse Standards Forum, and founder Member of Smart Cities Standards Experts Group of AENOR. He is Independent Expert Evaluator in XR Projects for several international institutions, European Commission and Alberta Innovates Carlos is working for several International Experts Committees in XR in Training, Education, Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Smart Cities, and Principal Member of XR4Europe, Educators in VR, where he is main speaker, Immersive Learning Research Network (iLRN), principal member. He is working as a consultant and advisor of several Education Institutions in Europe, and leading the implementation of Smart Education Labs for the Ministry of Education of UAE. Author of many publications and articles about Innovation and Advanced Technologies. White Paper “Best Practices in VR in Education” and “State of Art of XR in Education” by VR/AR Association. During these last years, he has shared his business work, with the delivery of more than 100 conferences on XR in Education, Augmented Education and MetaEducation, and the development of immersive experiences with ONE XR Studio, with artists like Ouka Leele and the Creative XR Arts Explosion, La Escuela Internacional de Música Reina Sofia and the “Music 5 Senses” experience, or the Metaverse of the Islamic City of Cuenca. Currently, he is involved in a new Innovative Project about “Creating Immersive Experiences with 5 Senses around creative arts and music for education”.

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Michael Onyango is the founder of Africa’s Forgotten Bottom Millions (4BM), a transformative WhatsApp platform that reaches over 500,000 people weekly, providing young Africans across several countries with access to career opportunities through digital technology. Since 2016, 4BM has shared over 500,000 verified opportunities, including scholarships, fellowships, grants, and job offers, helping young people gain skills and build successful careers.
Michael has been at the forefront of economic empowerment, chanmpioning the use of frontier technoolgies, leading initiatives across interdisciplinary sectors within governments, NGOs, and the private sector in Africa and globally. He served as a key member of the Distributed Ledgers and Artificial Intelligence Taskforce under the Ministry of ICT, Kenya, and was formerly the Minister responsible for Communication, Information, and Technology in the County Government of Kisumu.
Currently, Michael is a Senior Skoll Foundation Fellow, an alumni Fellow in Social Innovation from the Rockefeller Foundation, and serves on the Advisory Board of the African Blockchain Institute. He actively works with young Africans, leveraging technology to drive impactful change. Michael has also played a significant role in shaping Kenya’s creative industries, including co-developing the roadmap for the sector in collaboration with IBM, positioning it as a catalyst for economic growth and outlining strategies to double its contribution to Kenya’s GDP.

Perttu Pölönen has been given many titles, such as inventor, author, composer, keynote speaker, futurist and visionaire. In Finnish media Perttu has been called a gentle highbrow and a fearless inventor. Perttu himself still prefers not to use titles at all –it’s difficult to put him into any known box. Perttu is a classically trained composer by education, but became an entrepreneur at a young age. Perttu has studied at Singularity University, a think tank located at the NASA Ames Research Center in California. While in California, he co-founded a non-profit, 360ed, that develops AR apps for the education sector in developing countries–the company is run and operated in Myanmar. Perttu’s own invention, MusiClock, is an example of how a personal challenge can be turned into an internationally awarded and patented invention. It won the at biggest science fair in Europe, the European Union's Competition for Young Scientists. The MusiClock mobile app became #1 music app in over 10 countries. In 2014 Perttu was given the “Most Creative Finn” Award at Slush and in 2018 MIT Tech Review honored him among 35 Innovators Under 35 in Europe. Perttu has written two books: Future Skills (2020) and Future Identities (2021). Perttu is known as an inspiring thinker who believes that human skills and values will be crucially important in the future, to balance technological advancements.

Dr. Maribell Reyes-Millán serves as the Director of Digital Education at Tecnológico de Monterrey, and thus, is responsible for the strategy, definition, and delivery of the educational offerings of courses taught in digital modalities (online and blended). She is also accountable for the learning enhancement through the use of technology in face-to-face courses. Her areas of expertise are the different educational models and frameworks for quality digital education, the incorporation of educational technology in the teaching-learning processes, and the implementation of digital education programs on international platforms. Her thorough knowledge and experience have led her to be a judge in the QS Reimagine Education competition and she has also published several articles in innovation and technology journals.

During times of crises such as the 2017 earthquake in México City, and the 2020 Pandemic, she led efforts to transform the institution from in-person to digital education.
A speaker in international conferences, she has also participated as an expert in educational innovation committees such as ECIU, Consortium for Benchmarking Framework for Online, Open, Smart, and Technology-enhanced Higher Education, ICDE, EDUTIC, among others.

She holds a PhD in Educational Innovation (2014) and an MBA (1998) from Tecnológico de Monterrey México, and a master's degree in information science from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (1993).

Bart has over twenty years of experience in designing, researching and evaluating blended and online learning programmes in higher education and professional learning.

Bart is Professor of Learning Analytics and programme director of the learning analytics and learning design research programme at the Institute of Educational Technology at the Open University UK. As programme director he leads a group of academics who provide university-wide learning analytics and learning design solutions and conduct evidence-based research of how students and professionals learn. Over the last 20 years he has successfully led a range of institutional/national/European projects, and has received a range of awards for his educational innovation projects. These projects include a range of EU projects (AIT, Evaluate, LACE, LEAP, Teach 4.0), ESRC IDEAS, Leverhulme Open World Learning, and OFS Learning Gains, which focussed on learning analytics, evidence-based evaluations, and large-scale adoptions of innovation. Furthermore, he is programme lead of the learning analytics and learning design research theme within IET.

Bart conducts multi-disciplinary research on work-based and collaborative learning environments and focuses on the role of social interaction in learning, which is published in leading academic journals and books. His primary research interests are focussed on Learning Analytics, Professional Development, and the role of motivation in learning. Furthermore, Bart is interested in broader internationalisation aspects of higher education. He has published over 200 academic outputs, and is the 4th most cited author and contributor in Learning Analytics in the period 2011-2018 (Adeniji, 2019), the 5th most published author on internationalisation in the period 1900-2018 (Jing et al. 2020), the 7th most published author on social network analysis in social sciences in the period 1999-2018 (Su et al. 2020), and the 14th most published author on educational technology in the period 2015-2018 (West & Bodily, 2020).

He is Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA) and is visiting professor at University of Dundee.

Links

https://iet.open.ac.uk/people/bart.rien…

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Professor Gilly Salmon, PhD, PFHEA, NTF.  is CEO & Principal Consultant. She has 30 years’ experience at senior levels, in universities in the UK and Australia. She has initiated, strategized, implemented & completed significant institutional change. Her experience & background includes the UK Open University as well as Associate Dean (Online) & Pro Vice-Chancellor roles in research-intensive and in vocational institutions.

​She recently spent two years as academic director at an Online Programme Management company. Gilly Salmon is now an Adjunct Professor at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia, & Visiting Professor at Edge Hill University, close to Liverpool, UK.

See her web site www.gillysalmon.com

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Renate is Special Projects Lead at the Ada Lovelace Institute, her current focus is on AI and education and the impact of digital life on 14-24 year olds.
In her first role at Ada, she was Interim Director (Society, justice and public services).
Before joining Ada, Renate worked as a digital and data policy advisor and advocate at the consumer organisation Which?, the Open Data Institute, in Government and in Parliament. She is the former Chief Executive of Big Brother Watch, where she launched the first campaign on the use of biometrics and facial recognition technologies. Prior to working in digital, data and AI policy and research, Renate made history and arts TV documentaries for the BBC and other international broadcasters.

Andreas Schleicher is Director for Education and Skills, and Special Advisor on Education Policy to the Secretary-General at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

He initiated and oversees the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and other international instruments, like the OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) and the Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC), which create a global platform for policy-makers, researchers and educators to innovate and transform educational policies and practices.

He has worked for over 20 years with Ministers and educational leaders around the world to improve quality and equity in education. U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said about Andreas in The Atlantic (7/2011) that “He understands the global issues and challenges as well as or better than anyone I’ve met, and he tells me the truth”. Secretary of State Michael Gove in the United Kingdom called Andreas “the most important man in English education”, never mind that he is German and lives in France.

Andreas is the recipient of numerous honours and awards, including the “Theodor Heuss” prize, awarded for “exemplary democratic engagement” in the name of the first president of the Federal Republic of Germany. He holds an honorary professorship at the University of Heidelberg.

Links

http://www.oecd.org/edu/andreas-schleic…

René Schulte is leading the Spatial Computing and Metaverse practice at Reply working with teams across the globe on emerging technologies. He is a creative developer, thought leader and digital content creator with a passion for UX, (Edge) Cloud computing and deep technical knowledge from more than 15 years in VR/AR, Spatial Computing technology and 3D programming. He is a frequent keynote speaker and panelist at conferences, writes articles and is the creator of the video podcasts QuBites and Meta Minutes. For his community involvement he is honored since 13 years with a double Microsoft MVP award, recognized as Microsoft Regional Director. Additionally he is an advisory board member for the VR/AR Association and XR Bootcamp.

Jordi Segalàs (1967) is the Director of the Research Institute of Sustainability Science and Technology at UPC-Barcelona Tech University. He is the head of the Research Group on Sustainability Education and Technology in Higher Education. He is the chair of the Sustainability working group of the European Society for Engineering Education. He has been working in curriculum greening policies and actions plans since 2000. He is also working in Erasmus + Capacity Building and knowledge Alliances projects related to sustainable development in higher education. He has published more than 150 articles on sustainability in higher education and has more than 15 years’ experience in teaching sustainability courses in technological universities. More information about Jordi Segalàs research: http://futur.upc.edu/JordiSegalasCoral.

Marleen Stikker is founder of Waag. Marleen Stikker (1962) is also founder of 'De Digitale Stad' (The Digital City) in 1993, the first virtual community introducing free public access to the Internet in Amsterdam. She leads Waag, a social enterprise that consists of a research institute for creative technologies and social innovation and Waag Products, that launched companies like Fairphone, the first fair smartphone in the world. She is also member of the European H2020 Commission High-level Expert Group for SRIA on innovating Cities/DGResearch and the Dutch AcTI academy for technology & innovation. Marleen Stikker strongly adheres to the Maker's Bill of Rights motto: "If You Can't Open It, You Don't Own It". Marleen believes that society needs open technologies that meet societal challenges.

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Professor Subic joined Aston University in August 2022 as Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive. He is a recognised global leader in technology and innovation in higher education, leading on Industry 4.0 strategy and digital transformations across the university sector and with industry and governments both in Australia and internationally. He has received a number of prestigious awards for his work, including the Australian Business Innovation Award and the Victorian Manufacturing Hall of Fame Award.

He is a passionate and lifelong advocate for multiculturalism, equity, diversity and inclusion, leading through clear actions and strategic initiatives at enterprise level. These include creating and appointing the first Dean of STEMM Diversity & Inclusion in Australia, establishing Women in STEMM Fellowships and mentoring scheme, Indigenous Research Fellowships, scholarships and internships programs, and creating an innovation precinct with start-up accelerators and industry incubators focused on founders from diverse backgrounds and access.

Rikke is associate professor at the School of Education, Aarhus University, Denmark. She is coordinator for the MA in ICT-based educational design, member of the Academic Council, Arts and steering group member at the Centre for Higher Education Futures (CHEF), AU.

She is also board member of the Philosophy and Theory of Higher Education Society (PaTHES) and is participating and leading projects on the future of higher education with a focus on the humanities as well as emerging technological fields and their impact on teaching and learning across the educational sector.

Links

https://pure.au.dk/portal/en/persons/ri…

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Oya Torum, Head of Global PM/EPC Training at Nordex Energy SE & Co. KG, brings over ten years of experience in Learning and Development to the wind energy sector. Known for her ability to connect learning programs to real business impact, she leads teams and projects with a strategic mindset that makes a difference.

In 2013 she established the first Technical Academy for Turkey and the Middle East, helping transform the region into a key area of strength with a highly skilled workforce. Building on that success, she led the development of a global training department for the Project Management and EPC (Engineering, Procurement, and Construction) business unit.
Recognized for her leadership and vision, Oya was selected for her company’s Top Management Leadership Development Program. She also led a company-wide initiative to boost the efficiency of L&D departments, sponsored by higher management.

Currently, she is taking on a new challenge: managing a new project to design a learning program to enhance at improving “first-time-right” results in production of wind turbine components.

Passionate about digitalization and efficiency, Oya stays at the forefront of trends and tools, implementing technology that drives real improvements in daily work. Outside of work, she enjoys the same energy and commitment on the tennis court, and, of course, the windsurf board.

Eva is a Senior Learning Consultant at ING. Based in Amsterdam, she is currently leading the global learning strategy and portfolio of ING's own innovation methodology. It is more important than ever to make digital learning effective and engaging. As a learning professional with over 10 years of experience in L&D, agile program management and coaching, Eva enjoys and aims to create learning experiences that are exciting and programs that are scalable. Born in Slovakia, she has been studying, living and working in various countries, including the Netherlands, U.K., Poland and the U.S. Prior to ING, she has been gaining experience by managing and implementing learning solutions and delivering learning events in both small companies as well as large corporations, such as Booking.com or Shell. She has a diploma in L&D by CIPD, London and is an Insights certified Coach and Facilitator. She is an advocate of hands on learning, which sparks curiosity and provokes critical thinking. As a Systemic Coach, she accompanies her clients to achieve their goals and reach their full potential.

Ellen Wagner is an accomplished learning technology professional with career experiences in academic, commercial, and non-profit organizations. She has worked as a tenured professor and university administrator, was a founding ed tech entrepreneur, a senior executive of publicly traded software companies, a journal editor, and a board member of a number of start-up ed tech companies. Her areas of expertise include ed tech, emerging tech, change management, instructional systems design and learning engineering, and digital learning (online and eLearning).

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Dr Clare Walsh is the head of education at the global Institute of Analytics. She has written over 20 educational books, and advised governments nationally and internationally on assessment design. She re-trained in the field of modern analytics with the Web Science Institute at Southampton University, where they prepare researchers for the socio-technical 21st century, able to combine domain expertise with advanced technical skills.

Barbara Wasson is the Director of the Centre for The Science of Learning and Technology (SLATE) at the University of Bergen, where she is a full Professor in the Department of Information Science & Media Studies.

She has been involved in research on Technology Enhanced Learning since 1983 and has over 150 publications in the field. At SLATE she currenly is involved in several projects using machine learning and learning analytics and other modelling aspects of AI. 

Wasson was one of the founders of Kaleidoscope, a European Network of Excellence on Technology Enhanced Learning, a European Network of Excellence in Technology Enhanced Learning and she is often used as an expert evaluator by the European Commission.  

Her current research interests include collaborative learning in distributed settings, mobile learning, interaction design, computer support for collaborative learning (CSCL), mobile learning, learning games, intelligent tutoring systems, e-assessment, teacher inquiry, learning analytics, and pedagogical agents.

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Meredith Wellard is the Vice President, Group Talent, Learning and HR Platforms for Deutsche Post DHL. An innovative and tenacious senior HR professional with a Master’s Degree in Organizational Development and Learning, Meredith has had a diverse career spanning 25 years in customer service and human resource and talent management across Australia, Europe and the Middle East. Before joining the Deutsche Post DHL Group, Meredith worked for Australia’s largest private health insurer as Customer Satisfaction Manager and then National Organizational Development Manager. Meredith commenced working for DHL Express 14 years ago in in the Middle East and after moving to the Global Headquarters, now lives in Germany and outside of transforming employee experiences, enjoys travelling throughout Europe learning about the history and culture of each country. Meredith’s expertise stems from having worked in customer and operations management and strategic HR and technology where she has learnt the true value to organizations of aligning technology, employee centricity, leadership and cultural initiatives for the benefit of employees, the customer and the organization overall.

Links

https://www.linkedin.com/in/meredith-we…

I’ve worked at the intersection of teaching, research and digital for over 20 years. This has taken me from hand-coding websites for the BBC Natural History unit through to my current job of helping to run the largest Creative Arts university in Europe* as Head of Digital Learning. In between I worked at the University of the West of England and a long stint at the University of Oxford co-managing an online distance learning unit. 

I’m not a technologist in that I’m more interested in the implications and opportunities of digital for learning, work and society than I am in procuring the latest shiny tech. A large aspect of my role at the University of the Arts London is focused on enhancing teaching and learning by encouraging emerging aspects of digital practice –  a good example of this work being the Digital Creative Attributes Framework.

Beyond UAL I’m probably best known for the Digital Visitors and Residents continuum (V&R), an approach to understanding how we relate to the digital environment. The V&R mapping activity is used globally in many courses and staff development sessions and has been central to numerous research studies.

Seeking connections between enhancing teaching and learning and open, online modes of engagement earnt me Principal Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy. Alongside this I have led a number of national studies which explore the potential of digital in higher education contexts and have supported institutions in the strategic development of teaching practice.

Links

http://www.arts.ac.uk

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Christina is a pioneer in the metaverse. She started her master research on the topic in 2006 using metaverse to develop international strategies for universities worldwide. In 2012, she completed a PhD in using digital twin services in the metaverse to simulate and augment construction, engineering and architecture projects. Christina is an award-winning business leader who has 16 years’ experience turning forward-thinking ideas into ultra-high growth business with global impact. She has extensive experience working with government ministers, universities presidents, and business CEOs on industry, innovation and skills strategies. She worked for QS, the leading world university rankings agency, between 2013 and 2020, leading China business. Starting from scratch, Christina grew the UK-headquartered firm’s profile and commercial success in China. In January 2016, China’s Vice Premier highlighted the use of QS rankings in a keynote speech, with the rankings impacting 5 years funding allocations to 3005 universities across China with 48 million students, and an annual budget of £150bn. Christina was the first Chinese elected to the national executive of the UK National Union of Students (NUS) since its foundation in 1922, and represented the interests of one million international and EU students studying at 600 UK higher and further education institutions who contribute £30bn a year to the UK economy. She has sat on 20+ advisory committees for UNESCO, the World Bank, the Commonwealth, the EU, and UK Governments. She led many successful global campaigns including the future of work and skills, equality, diversity, inclusion, and international strategy. She led a successful campaign against the Home Secretary Theresa May's proposed legislation to restrict foreign students' visas, which persuaded the Minister to abandon some of the proposed policies. Christina also contributed to the establishment of the Commonwealth Students Association, representing 2 billion youth across 54 countries. Between 2012 and 2013, she worked in the UK Parliament developing policy for the Shadow Business Secretary’s team. For two years Christina contributed to the BBC as a campus journalist. She has seven years’ experience as a TV presenter for People’s Daily Online, interviewing heads of state and the CEOs of Fortune 500 companies on global issues. As a bridge-builder between the government, business, education, and innovation sector, she regularly meets with top leaders, is a frequent keynote speaker at high level events, and is interviewed by top media.