Visionary Headliners, Rockstars &
Fab Facilitators
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John Avery
Director, Advanced Technology Development Center
Georgia Tech
Growth Innovation Leadership Council Member
John is a serial entrepreneur who holds nine patents and was part of four startups. Formally, John was Engineering Group Manager of Panasonic Automotive Systems Innovation Center at the Georgia Tech campus.; he oversaw the development projects in next-generation automotive systems including, infotainment, bio-sensing, machine vision, deep learning, and heads-up displays. In 2018 John became the Director of the Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC), the state of Georgia’s startup incubator with more than 150 tech startups in the portfolio.
Kassandra Díaz-Rivera
R&D Director – Product Design & Technology Development | Charmin and Puffs Brands
Procter & Gamble
Kassandra is a Product Development and Technology Director at Procter & Gamble with 13 years of experience in the consumer goods industry. A proven innovator, she has led the successful launch of seven products, including Charmin Ultra Soft Smooth Tear, named the 2024 Product of the Year. Kassandra is widely recognized for her forward-thinking leadership, dedication to developing talent, and commitment to diversity. Her groundbreaking work has earned her multiple patents and accolades as a rising industry leader. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn from someone shaping the future of product development!
Patrick Kennedy
Senior Director, Growth Strategy & Analytics
Oak Street Health
Patrick has scaled Oak Street Health, a leading Value-Based Care provider, from 20 centers to over 250 centers nationwide. Throughout this scaling, he has led several strategic initiatives to optimize team structures, implemented tools to drive efficiency and optimized processes to create sustainable, repeatable systems.
David Massey
Digital Experience Director
UPS
David has spearheaded customer-centric digital transformation for over two decades, pioneering UPS’s Experience Design revolution through data-driven optimization. As a digital transformation leader, he established UPS’s first customer co-creation programs that significantly improved digital experiences on ups.com and across UPS’s global digital ecosystem spanning 225 countries in 38 languages, directly contributing to substantial business growth and enhanced customer satisfaction.
Raul Maya Ramirez
Senior Director of Engineering (Automation & Innovation)
EssilorLuxottica
Christy Overall
Director of Innovation
LivaNova
Christy spent 15 years in consulting, convincing teams and departments to implement change they didn’t ask for (often successfully). She has worked with a broad range of companies from Coca-Cola to Johnson & Johnson and has found that the common denominator in successful change is that people want to be told the truth and want to be inspired. Now in industry, her current role focuses on driving innovation transformation in Medical Technology.
Emil Radulescu
R&D Head, Robotic Instruments
Johnson & Johnson
Andrew Seleznov
Head of AR Production, Arcadia Creative Studio
Snap Inc.
Andrew oversees directing, supervising, and delegating duties to a team of world-class Lens Production professionals at Snap’s Arcadia Creative Studio. He has also been an integral part of innovative partnerships with brands like L’Oreal, Coca Cola, Nike, Disney, and Live Nation. Working with “never done before” projects requires a lot of creativity and flexibility in terms of new production approaches definition.
Josh Shabtai
Senior Director, Spatial Commerce
Lowe’s Innovation Labs
Steven Smith
Head of Innovation Design/Vice President
Crocs, Inc.
Jim Sowden
Head of Creative | Arcadia Studio
Snap Inc.
Jim is Head of Creative at Snap’s Arcadia Innovation Studio, where he partners with brands to use new technology to create innovative and immersive experiences that bend reality and deliver measurable business results. He has led programs with global brands including Nike, Coke, Google, BMW, Mercedes, Louis Vuitton, Nestle, and Samsung, and is passionate about exploring the intersection of art and commerce through new platforms applied to creative challenges.
Joshua Tamayo-Sarver, MD, PhD
Vice President of Innovation
Vituity and Inflect Health
Since 2008, Josh has been innovating within a large, national, multispecialty physician group that treats over 12 million patients per year. During that time he has successfully developed, launched and scaled over 35 health technology products, failed on several hundred ideas, and mentored dozens of talented innovators along the way. He does not have definitive answers, but many hypotheses drawn from years of experience in the trenches.
Jürgen Weichenberger
Head of AI Strategy & Innovation
Schneider Electric
Jürgen brings over 25 years of experience in designing and delivering complex solutions that harness the power of advanced analytics, data science, database architecture, and other emerging technologies. A pioneer in the AI space since the mid-1990s, he has developed innovative solutions across a wide range of industries, continually evolving his approach with advancements in methodology and technology. In 2022, Jürgen joined Schneider Electric as Vice President of AI Strategy & Innovation. In this role, he focuses on delivering industry-grade AI solutions by integrating core algorithms, robotics, cybernetics, and human intelligence into scalable, real-world applications.
Gracy Wingkono
Director of Corporate R&D (Global) – Materials and Sustainability
The Coca-Cola Company
Donna Worley
Senior Director, Strategy, Business Operations & Innovation
United Surgical Partners International, Inc
Master of Ceremonies
Brian Fitzpatrick
Partner, Events
Frost & Sullivan