Speakers
Franziska Bell, PhD, Vice President, Data & Analytics, bp
Dr. Franziska Bell is the vice president, data & analytics at bp. She heads the data & analytics discipline which is comprised of data science, AI, data engineering, data management, data analytics and is responsible for setting the data and analytics strategy for bp. We are not just re-imagining energy; we are re-imagining digital – because it underpins everything we do.
Before joining bp, Fran was an executive at Toyota Research Institute, where she focused on two areas: (i) novel battery and fuel cell materials using AI and computational chemistry for a low-emission future and (ii) a human-centered AI.
Previously, Fran was the head of data science platforms at Uber. At Uber, Fran founded and built several digital platform teams with the mission to transform anyone in the company into a data scientist at a push-of-a-button.
Before Uber, Fran was a postdoc at Caltech where she developed a novel, highly accurate approximate quantum molecular dynamics theory to calculate chemical reactions for large, complex systems, such as enzymes.
Fran earned her Ph.D. in theoretical chemistry from UC Berkeley focusing on developing highly accurate, yet computationally efficient approaches which helped unravel the mechanism of non-silicon-based solar cells and properties of organic conductors.
David A. Bray, PhD, Inaugural Director, Atlantic Council GeoTech Center; Executive Director, Commission for the Geopolitical Impacts of New Technologies and Data, Atlantic Council
Dr. David A. Bray has served in a variety of leadership roles in turbulent environments, including bioterrorism preparedness and response from 2000-2005, time on the ground in Afghanistan in 2009, serving as the non-partisan Executive Director for a bipartisan National Commission on R&D, and providing leadership as a non-partisan federal agency Senior Executive. He accepted a leadership role in December 2019 to incubate a new global Center with the Atlantic Council. He also provides strategy to both Boards and start-ups espousing human-centric principles to technology-enabled decision making in complex environments. He was also named a Senior Fellow with the Institute for Human-Machine Cognition in starting in 2018.
Business Insider named him one of the top “24 Americans Who Are Changing the World” under 40 and he was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum for 2016-2021. From 2017 to the start of 2020, David served as Executive Director for the People-Centered Internet coalition Chaired by Internet co-originator Vint Cerf, focused on providing support and expertise for community-focused projects that measurably improve people’s lives using the internet. He also was named a Marshall Memorial Fellow and traveled to Europe in 2018 to discuss Trans-Atlantic issues of common concern including exponential technologies and the global future ahead. Later in 2018, he was invited to work with the U.S. Navy and Marines on improving organizational adaptability and to work with U.S. Special Operation Command’s J5 Directorate on the challenges of countering misinformation and disinformation online. He has received both the Joint Civilian Service Commendation Award and the National Intelligence Exceptional Achievement Medal.
Vint Cerf, Father of the Internet, Chief Internet Evangelist, Google
Vint Cerf is widely known as the “Father of the Internet,” Cerf is the co-designer of the TCP/IP protocols and the architecture of the Internet. In December 1997, President Bill Clinton presented the U.S. National Medal of Technology to Cerf and his colleague, Robert E. Kahn, for founding and developing the Internet. In 2004, Cerf was the recipient of the ACM Alan M. Turing award (sometimes called the “Nobel Prize of Computer Science”), in 2005 he was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George Bush, and in 2019 he was received World Leader in AIWS Award. Since 2005, he has served as vice president and chief Internet evangelist for Google. In this role, he is responsible for identifying new enabling technologies to support the development of advanced, Internet-based products and services. He is also an active public face for Google in the Internet world. He also served from 2000-2007 as chairman of the board of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), an organization he helped form. Cerf served as founding president of the Internet Society from 1992-1995, in 1999 served a term as Chairman of the Board, and from 2020 as AIWS City’s Board of Leaders.
Ramu Damodaran, First Chief, United Nations Academic Impact, United Nations (2010 - 2021); Editor in Chief, United Nations Chronicle Magazine (1996 - 2021)
Ramu Damodaran served the United Nations Department of Global Communications from 1996 to 2021; his responsibilities in the Department included oversight of relationships with civil society, the creative community and celebrity advocates, publications (including as Chief Editor of the UN Chronicle), the Dag Hammarskjold Library and the United Nations Academic Impact which he was asked by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to devise and lead. He also served as secretary of the United Nations General Assembly’s Committee on Information since 2011.
His earlier Secretariat assignments included the Departments of Special Political Questions and Peacekeeping as well as speechwriting in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General. As a member of the Indian Foreign Service, where he was promoted to the rank of ambassador, he served as executive assistant to the Prime Minister of India between 1991 and 1994.
Michael Dukakis, Governor, Co-founder and Chair, AI World Society (AIWS); Boston Global Forum
Mr. Dukakis is a three-term Governor of Massachusetts and the 1988 Democratic nominee for President of the U.S.
Michael Stanley Dukakis culminates a half-century career dedicated to public service, political leadership, fostering the careers of young leaders, and scholarly achievement.
Together with Nguyen Anh Tuan, this former Massachusetts governor has established The Boston Global Forum as a globally recognized think tank noted for developing peaceful solutions to some of the world’s most contentious issues
Governor Dukakis was voted the most effective governor in the nation by the National Governors’ Association.
Gov. Dukakis ran for the presidency of the United States in 1988 but was defeated by George Bush. As a life-long public transportation advocate, Gov. Dukakis was nominated by President Bill Clinton for a five-year term as a named to the Board of Directors of Amtrak in 1998. He served a full five-year term on the Amtrak Board as Vice-Chairman.
Dawn Fitzgerald, Vice President of Engineering and Technical Operations, Homesite, an American Insurance Co.
Dawn is VP of Engineering and Technical Operations for Homesite, an American Family Insurance Company, where she is leading the R&D digital transformation and technology offer creation. Areas of focus include digital solution application and platform development, cloudification, security, AI/ML, and automation.
Prior to her current role, Dawn was at Schneider Electric for 11 years in multiple executive leadership positions. She has also served in leadership positions at IBM, Motorola, and at numerous angel and VC-backed high tech startup companies in a variety of industries.
Dawn holds a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from MIT, an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management, and a BS in Electrical, Computer, and Systems engineering from RPI. Dawn is currently a mentor for the MIT Operations Lab course, the chair of the advisory board for MITs Machine Intelligence for Manufacturing and Operations, a member of the Rensselaer School of Engineering Leadership Council, and a member of the Rensselaer New England Network Executive Council. Dawn is also a columnist for the AI Trends e-magazine.
Anju Gupta, PhD, Vice President, Data Science and Analytics, Technology, Northwestern Mutual
Anju Gupta is currently Vice President of Data Sciences and Analytics at Northwestern Mutual. Prior to joining, NM Gupta was Vice President of Data Strategy and Analytics for Enterprise Holdings, the largest car rental company. As part of that role, her team built and enabled a connected car platform with streaming data for OEM partners and established a successful data strategy. Gupta was at Monsanto for more than a decade where she worked in statistical genetics, global analytics, technology strategy, and digital innovation, partnerships, and outreach, and also a proven leader and innovator at Syngenta in Washington D.C., where she served as Vice President of Sustainability Campaign. In this role, Gupta was responsible for managing the organization’s global social media analytics and campaign strategy. She was also an active member of Syngenta’s Foundation Board. Gupta is an active member in the community, serving as an executive advisory board member for Artificial Intelligence World. She is also a former regional advisory board member for NPower, a non-profit organization that provides computer education, training, and career development to students in underserved communities. Gupta has also earned several awards, including the YWCA Women Leader award in 2014, the CIO100 Innovation Award in 2018, and several Above and Beyond Awards for her innovative work with Monsanto. Currently, Gupta holds 17 granted and published patents, and her reputation as a world-class expert in data and analytics has made her an in-demand speaker for artificial intelligence (AI) conferences across the country. She received her bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in Life Sciences from Banaras Hindu University in India. In 2002, she earned her Ph.D. in Genetics and Statistics from The Ohio State University.
Michał Iwanowski, Vice President of Engineering, Board Member, deepsense.ai
Michał is a technical executive with a background in systems engineering, data analytics, and machine learning. His experience ranges from delivering international AI projects for global clients to shaping the company’s overall strategy. As VP of Engineering Michal manages teams of software engineers and data scientists working on various projects to create state-of-the-art deep learning-based solutions for computer vision, NLP, and predictive analytics.
Ritu Jyoti, Group Vice President, AI and Automation, IDC
Ritu Jyoti is Program Vice President, Artificial Intelligence (AI) Research with IDC's software market research and advisory practice. Ms. Jyoti is responsible for leading the development of IDC's thought leadership for AI Research and management of the Worldwide AI Software research team. Her research focuses on the state of enterprise AI efforts and global market trends for the rapidly evolving AI and Machine Learning (ML) innovations and ecosystem. Ms. Jyoti also leads insightful research that addresses the needs of the AI technology vendors and provide actionable guidance to them on how to crisply articulate their value proposition, differentiate and thrive in the digital era.
Ritu Jyoti is a trusted advisor to some of the world's largest technology firms and end-users. Prior to this role, she was Program Vice President, Systems Infrastructure Research Portfolio for IDC's Cloud IaaS, Enterprise Storage, and Server team. She expanded IDC’s research on Infrastructure for AI & Analytics, launched a competitive market "Data services for hybrid cloud", and delivered a compelling "Digital Transformation – IT Transformation" framework for Data Infrastructure Services. She was also the lead analyst for a couple of technology vendors consulting engagements, where she delivered ground-breaking research to drive their business transformation, re-enforcing IDC's position as the go-to thought leader in the industry.
Shawn Kennedy, Director, IT Innovation, Assurant
Shawn leads technology innovation as part of Assurant’s IT organization since 2020. As a part of this role, he has responsibility for Intelligent Automation program. The toolset to deliver value in this program has an ever-increasing emphasis on AI and Machine Learning. He has become adept at applying emerging technologies to drive innovation and solve business problems. He is a graduate of State University of New York at Geneseo and serves on the Metro Atlanta Chamber Corporate Innovation Council.
Joanne Lo, PhD, CEO, Attica AI
Dr. Joanne C. Lo is the CEO and founder of Attica AI. The purpose of Attica AI is to provide US Warfighters a strategic advantage by harnessing leading-edge artificial intelligence (AI) systems, allowing the US military to rapidly evolve within the new, data-centric era of modern warfare. Using a combination of cutting-edge AI/ML algorithms, a warfighter-centric design process, and hardened agile technology development cycle, Attica AI has designed and fielded numerous AI systems for US warfighters.
Prior to founding Attica AI, Joanne was a member of the Technical Staff at Sandia National Labs, where she led the design and development of key components for national-level systems from research to fielding. After her time at Sandia, Dr. Lo also led research projects within Google ATAP and Adobe Research. Dr. Lo was the founder and CEO of Elysian Labs, focused on producing human-machine teaming systems for the US Special Operations Command and its component units. Dr. Lo has a PhD in Electrical Engineering (HCI) from UC Berkeley, and an MS in Electrical Engineering, and BS in Biomedical Engineering from UC Davis.
Sara Jordan, PhD, Senior Counsel, AI & Ethics, Future of Privacy Forum
Dr. Sara R. Jordan is Senior Counsel, Artificial Intelligence and Ethics at the Future of Privacy Forum. Her profile includes privacy implications of data sharing, data and AI review boards, privacy analysis of AI and Machine Learning (AI/ML) technologies, and analysis of the ethics challenges of AI/ ML. Sara is an active member of the IEEE Global Initiative on Ethics for Autonomous and Intelligent Systems."
Paul Nemitz, Principal Advisor, Justice Policy, European Commission
Paul Nemitz is the Principal Adviser on Justice Policy in the European Commission.
He was appointed in April 2017, following a 6-year appointment as Director for Fundamental Rights and Citizen’s Rights in the EU Commission.
As Director, Nemitz led the reform of Data Protection legislation in the EU, the negotiations of the EU – U.S. Privacy Shield and the negotiations with major US Internet Companies of the EU Code of Conduct against incitement to violence and hate speech on the Internet. He is a Member of the Global Council on Extended Intelligence of the IEEE and the MIT in Boston.
His 2018 Article “Constitutional democracy and technology in the age of artificial intelligence”, downloaded more than 20000 times from the UK Royal Society Website, and his 2020 book “Prinzip Mensch – Macht, Freiheit und Demokratie im Zeitalter der Künstlichen Intelligence“ (www.PrinzipMensch.EU), co-authored with Philosopher and Journalist Matthias Pfeffer, lay the ground for a global approach to Tech regulation based on Democracy, Fundamental Rights and the Rule of Law.
Follow him on Twitter @PaulNemitz. #1 TECH #EUInfluencer in the 2020 ZN Consulting #EUInfluencer survey.
Professor Thomas Patterson, PhD, Research Director, The Michael Dukakis Institute for Leadership and Innovation; Professor of Government and the Press, Harvard Kennedy School; President, AIWS University
Thomas E. Patterson is Research Director of The Michael Dukakis Institute for Leadership and Innovation. He is a Professor of Government and the Press of Harvard Kennedy School and has served as the Acting Director of Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy since July 1, 2015. His book, The Vanishing Voter, looks at the causes and consequences of electoral participation. His earlier book on the media’s political role, Out of Order, received the American Political Science Association’s Graber Award as the best book of the decade in political communication. His first book, The Unseeing Eye, was named by the American Association for Public Opinion Research as one of the 50 most influential books on public opinion in the past half-century.
He also is the author of Mass Media Election and two general American government texts: The American Democracy and We the People.
Alex ‘Sandy’ Pentland, PhD, Professor, Engineering, Business, Media, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
MIT Professor Alex Pentland is co-creator of MIT Media Lab and MIT Connection Science Initiative, one of the most-cited computational scientists in the world, a member of the US National Academies, and a serial entrepreneur.
Sam Ransbotham, PhD, Professor, Information Systems, Boston College; Academic Contributing Editor, MIT Sloan Management Review
Sam Ransbotham is a professor of information systems and McKiernan Distinguished Fellow at Boston College. While everyone seems to be talking about artificial intelligence, Sam is curious about what businesses are really doing—How are normal businesses using AI now, and how will they use AI later? To learn more, he serves as editor for the MIT Sloan Management Review initiative on Artificial Intelligence in Business. Recently, he co-authored a research report, “Expanding AI’s Impact With Organizational Learning,” based on a global survey of 3,000+ executives and dozens of interviews. Sam earned a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering, an MBA, and a PhD, all from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Anthony Scriffignano, PhD, Senior Vice President & Chief Data Scientist, Dun & Bradstreet
Anthony Scriffignano is an internationally recognized data scientist with experience spanning over 35 years in multiple industries and enterprise domains. Dr. Scriffignano has extensive background in anomaly detection, computational linguistics, and advanced inferential algorithms, leveraging that background as primary inventor on multiple patents worldwide. Scriffignano was recognized as the U.S. Chief Data Officer of the Year 2018 by the CDO Club, the world's largest community of C-suite digital and data leaders. He is a member of the OECD Network of Experts on AI working group on implementing Trustworthy AI, focused on benefiting people and planet.
He is routinely invited to provide thought leadership for senior executives and government officials globally. He has briefed the US National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee and contributed to three separate reports to the President, on Big Data Analytics, Emerging Technologies Strategic Vision, and Internet and Communications Resilience. Additionally, Scriffignano provided expert advice on private-sector data officers to a group of state Chief Data Officers and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. He recently provided similar counsel to members of the Canadian Government. He also served as a forum panelist and keynote speaker at the World Internet Conference in China hosted by President Xi Jinping and the China Development Forum, as well as other major world events. He was recently published or quoted in various publications including CIO.com, Forbes Insights, Huffington Post, Business Insider, InformationWeek, China Daily, Xinhua, PCWeek Russia, Taiwan News, Bangkok Post, Mint (India), The Hill, and others.
