Visionary Headliners, Rockstars &
Fab Facilitators

Paul is considered one of the world’s experts on Corporate Innovation, helping create more than 50 businesses for Fortune 100 companies. His experience across a broad range of business models, technologies, and products globally lends him a unique perspective on overcoming the challenges in business innovation and leadership inside corporations and delivering true impact and growth.

Hitesh’s career spans across the entire medical device lifecycle for last 15 years with focusing on translating complex clinical needs into validated engineering concepts and functioning medical devices. At Shepherd, he is excited to help build out the innovation infrastructure and integrate new technologies into patient care.

Andrea is an international executive with a robust background in open innovation, external R&D, business transformation, and technology investments in various regulated Industries over the last 20+ years. Having held key roles such as Chief Innovation Officer, Head of Technology Intelligence, and Senior Advisor for Open Innovation, Andrea has developed a deep expertise in multiple areas including open innovation, global technology intelligence, creating new technology ventures, forming cross-industry strategic alliances, and corporate venture capital.

Nayan is an accomplished Healthcare IT Executive with a proven track record of navigating the intersection of clinical operations and digital innovation. With previous experience as a hospital Chief Information Officer (CIO), he brings practical “in-the-trenches” perspectives to executive-level IT strategy and governance. Currently serving as a Strategy Executive at Avis Advisors and as the SVP/GM of Clinical Transformation & Digital Strategy at Neteera, Nayan brings deep expertise in Revenue Cycle Management (RCM), Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM), Risk Adjustment workflows, and M&A integration. He is recognized for a transparent, advocacy-based leadership style that leverages technology to build organizational trust and improve patient outcomes.

Evan is Executive Director of Product Management at Carrier Corporation, leading global strategy across transport refrigeration and cold chain intelligence. He drives innovation that connects equipment with IoT, analytics, and software, advancing Carrier’s shift to end-to-end cold chain solutions. He oversees a portfolio spanning equipment, hardware, telematics, and data-driven services, focused on solving challenges like temperature control, compliance, and asset utilization. Evan plays a key role in growth initiatives and is known for turning emerging technologies into scalable, customer-focused solutions through data-driven, outcome-oriented leadership.

Ben leads patent program strategy and AI development at Wells Fargo, where he is building the next generation of invention workflows powered by artificial intelligence. With 20+ years in IP strategy spanning both corporate and consulting environments, he brings a practitioner’s lens to the intersection of strategic IP management and emerging AI capability.

Throughout his 20+ year career, Illya has driven innovation and technology strategy, portfolio optimization, and leadership development across global paper, food, nutrition, and pet care businesses. As Head of R&D for JM Smucker’s ~$2B cat food and dog treats business, he leads multi-disciplinary R&D organization, driving end-to-end innovation lifecycle, catalyzing seamless technical community to deliver excellent technical design and delivery, and partnering with commercial leadership to translate consumer insights into innovations that accelerate pipeline productivity and maximize organic growth.

Nathan led transformative and multi-disciplinary efforts on a global scale across a range of industries comprising test & automation, connected home, workplace collaboration, connected cars, and climate control. Nathan’s unique blend of software, hardware, and cloud, combined with engineering, product and design experience affords Nathan a unique perspective to realize Carrier’s vision of becoming the global leader in intelligent climate and energy solutions.