co-founder of Wired magazine, bestselling author and a legendary futurist

Mark Brzezinski was sworn in as the Ambassador of the United States to Poland on December 22, 2021.

Ambassador Brzezinski previously served as U.S. Ambassador to Sweden from 2011 to 2015, spearheading innovative new approaches to advance U.S.-European trade and landing key Swedish investments, including Volvo’s decision to build a $1 billion factory in South Carolina. He also arranged the first-ever U.S. Presidential visit to Stockholm, which brought together all five heads of governments of the Nordic countries for a summit that galvanized a U.S.-Nordic strategic approach on energy, innovation, and sustainability. In 2015, he was asked by the White House to lead a strategic effort on the Arctic as the first Executive Director of the White House’s Arctic Executive Steering Committee.

Most recently, Ambassador Brzezinski was founder and principal of Brzezinski Strategies LLC. He was a Managing Director at Makena Capital Management, where he led the firm’s sustainable and ESG investing efforts. For a decade, he was a partner at the law firm McGuireWoods LLP, where he helped build the law firm’s international compliance practice. From 1999 to 2001, he served on President Clinton’s National Security Council staff, first as a Director for Russia and Eurasia, and then as a Director for the Balkans.

Ambassador Brzezinski is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and the Trilateral Commission. He was a Fulbright Scholar in Poland in 1991-93, during which he researched and wrote a book entitled “The Struggle for Constitutionalism in Poland.” In 2010, he was named to the State Department’s Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. He received a BA from Dartmouth College, a JD from the University of Virginia, and a PhD in Political Science from Oxford University.

He is the proud father of a teenage daughter, Aurora Brzezinski.

Founder of Digital University – an organization that, in collaboration with leading American universities such as MIT, Harvard Business School, and Stanford, supports companies in digital transformation. She established the Digital University Foundation, whose mission is to equalize opportunities and provide education in new technologies and future competencies.

Ambassador and co-founder of the Warsaw branch of Singularity University – an American educational institution that inspires and trains leaders to use new technologies to solve global problems. Since 2022, she has also been acting as a digital ambassador for the EU, a role entrusted to her by the European Commission.

She regularly speaks at conferences on topics including technological trends, the future of the job market, and future competencies. She shares her knowledge in Polish media, as well as in her own podcast “Digitalks” about technologies and digital competencies.

She has received many prestigious awards and honors, including Digital Shapers – for significant contribution to the development of the digital economy in Poland, and the title of Businesswoman of the Year in the category of Counteracting Digital Exclusion. She was included in the list of 100 most outstanding women in business published by “Forbes Women Polska”.

Board Member of KI Next

Etyczny haker, autorytet w dziedzinie cyber security z ponad 23-letnim doświadczeniem w ofensywnym i defensywnym cyberbezpieczeństwie

Hamilton Mann is a Tech Executive, Digital and AI for Good Pioneer, Keynote Speaker, and the originator of the concept of Artificial Integrity. He serves as Group Vice President at Thales, where he co-leads the AI initiative and Digital Transformation while also overseeing global Digital Marketing activities. He also serves as a Senior Lecturer at INSEAD and HEC Paris as well as a mentor at the MIT Priscilla King Gray (PKG) Center. He is a doctoral researcher in AI at École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées – Institut Polytechnique de Paris. He writes regularly for Forbes as an AI columnist and has published articles about AI and its technological and societal implications in prominent academic, business, and policy outlets such as Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR), Knowledge at Wharton, Leader to Leader (Wiley), Dialogue Duke Corporate Education, INSEAD Knowledge, the Harvard Business Review France and the European Business Review. He hosts The Hamilton Mann Conversation, a podcast on Digital and AI for Good, ranked in the Top 10 for technology thought leadership by Technology Magazine. He was inducted into the Thinkers50 Radar as one of the 30 most prominent rising business thinkers globally 

As a seasoned entrepreneur, investor, and professional keynote speaker, Maciej Noga brings a wealth of experience and expertise to his speaking engagements. Graduating from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business with cum laude honors, he co-founded Grupa Pracuj and currently serves as the Chairman of the Supervisory Board and Managing Partner of the Pracuj Ventures Innovative Fund. An accomplished expert in HRTech and Workplace, Maciej advises management boards of large corporations, sits on supervisory and advisory boards, and is a member of the Speakers Office Digital University. His engaging and thought-provoking presentations on the future and development of the world make him a sought-after speaker at conferences. Maciej is also a co-founder and partner of several angel investment and VC funds, as well as the co-founder and partner of Valores, the first venture philanthropy fund in Poland. Currently, he is passionately focused on the development of Enervigo, the largest integrated provider of modern energy solutions in Poland, with a strong emphasis on renewable energy. In his role as the main investor and Chairman of the Supervisory Board, he plays a pivotal role in driving the development of Enervigo forward. Privately, a father of three children with whom he spends time actively. A passionate promoter of “Work Life Integration” and the use of “Behavioral Science” concepts both in business and in private.

Head of Digital at Santander Corporate & Investment Banking

She co-developed the assumptions of the Cashless Poland Program and was a founding member of the Foundation’s Council. In 2023, she was listed among the 50 most influential women in Poland.

An experienced manager with over 20 years of banking practice, she co-founded and developed mBank, which now serves clients in Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia. For her contributions to banking, she was awarded the M. Kopernik medal and the Remigiusz Kaszubski distinction. She is passionate about digitization, technology, and modern payment solutions. She led numerous strategic projects and collaborated with key partners in areas such as implementing financial innovations, modern payment forms, open banking, VAS, digital identity, behavioral biometrics, and cloud services. For her support in developing the payment ecosystem, she was recognized with the title ‘Fintech Personality.’

Joanna Erdman holds a degree from the Faculty of Management at the University of Łódź and postgraduate studies at the Warsaw School of Economics in ‘Leadership in Innovation.’ She also holds an MBA from the Polish-American Management Center and the University of Maryland.

Richard Stephens is founder and editor of The Poland Observer, an English-language media & communications company based in Warsaw. Richard established the company with the aim of providing business news, information and context about Poland to an international investor audience, as well as promoting the country as a business destination & Polish business abroad.  

The company organizes events on a wide variety of subjects in several sectors – including its flagship conference at MIPIM real estate fair in Cannes each year – and creates films and videos. 

He was previously founder & editor of Poland Today, and of Eurobuild CEE magazine, where he established the conference department and created the hugely-successful Eurobuild Awards Gala. Throughout his career, Richard has organised over 120 international conferences and events, including 10+ trips of international journalists to Poland & CEE countries for The Poland Observer, Poland Today and entities such as UEFA, ahead of EURO 2012 in Poland & Ukraine. Richard is English and graduated with a BA in Theology & Religious Studies from Bristol University. 

Jako Head of Government Relations and Communications w Accelerate Estonia, Anett odpowiada za budowanie silnych partnerstw między rządem a sektorem prywatnym w celu wspierania innowacji i digitalizacji. Dzięki swojemu doświadczeniu jako Doradca ds. Polityki Cyberbezpieczeństwa w Ministerstwie Obrony Estonii wnosi unikalną perspektywę do swojej obecnej roli, posiadając szerokie doświadczenie w kształtowaniu polityki i promowaniu współpracy między krajami w celu rozwiązywania i zwalczania zagrożeń cybernetycznych.

Wcześniej Anett Numa pracowała jako Doradca ds. Transformacji Cyfrowej w e-Estonia Briefing Centre, gdzie doradzała rządom na całym świecie w zakresie sukcesu Estonii w tej dziedzinie. Dzięki tej roli zdobyła głębokie zrozumienie znaczenia innowacji i digitalizacji w tworzeniu lepszej przyszłości dla wszystkich.

Jej specjalizacją są cyberbezpieczeństwo, innowacje, digitalizacja i budowanie lepszej współpracy między sektorem publicznym i prywatnym. Jest pasjonatką wykorzystania swojego doświadczenia do tworzenia bardziej spójnego i wydajnego społeczeństwa.

Medical Director, Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine

Director of the IT Management Office of Bank Pocztowy

CEO of Targowa Creativity Center, Polish Chamber of Commerce 

Tech entrepreneur, creator, investor, observer and critic of technological phenomena.

International Investor, Owner of Kulczyk Investments, Founder of Manta Ray vc – venture capital fund, Initiator of Mentoring Program for startups InCredibles 

Editor-in-chief of Forbes Women Poland. Expert in legacy and digital media. Feminist promoting women empowerment. Advocate of womenomics:  economics from a female perspective. She teaches at the Digital Media Campus of SWPS. She hosts a weekly podcast Forbes Women. 

HR4future- Founder & HR Strategic Advisor 

Partner at Osborne Clarke, Head of IT & data 

Managing Director of DELab UW, Professor at the Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw 

Partner at DZP, Head of IP/TMT Practice 

Professor at SGH Warsaw School of Economics, Director of the MBA-SGH Program, Digital Transformation & Leadership Expert

Innovation thought-leader & Co-founder of Diplomatic Rebels, Former Head of Ventures, EMEA at LEGO Ventures, Executive Advisor 

Expert in Strategic Management and HR in Technology Companies, Lecturer at Kozminski University and Harvard University, Member of the Supervisory Board of Wikimedia Foundation and Escola S.A., Serial Entrepreneur 

Managing Director of the Institute for AI Systems at Eindhoven University of Technology, SingularityU Faculty  

Founder&CEO of Digital University, Singularity University Warsaw Chapter Ambassador 

Economic journalist, president of the company managing Radio 357.

Member of the Management Board in charge of Operations and IT, VeloBank

Customer Intelligence Departemnt Director VeloBank  

Electronic Banking Department Director, VeloBank 

President of the PZU Życie SA Management Board

Member of the Management Board of PZU Życie SA

journalist and editor of economic desk of “Rzeczpospolita” daily (since year 2010).

CEO and Co-Founder of Pogaduszki

bValue’s Managing Partner and Chief Investment Office

Head of Product and Sustainability , co-founder Plan Be Eco

Serial entrepreneur | Cofounder & CEO @Rebread #breadwaste

Founder and CEO of Longevity Center, one of the first medical centers focusing on practical application of longevity medicine in Europe.

Google Cloud, Customer Engineer

Country Manager, Google Cloud Poland

Programmer. CEO/co-founder of Synerise. Lecturer at AGH University of Science and Technology. Entrepreneur. Wisła Kraków Football Club CEO/Owner. 

Doctor of Management Sciences, manager with many years of experience, author, speaker consultant. Managing director with more than ten years of experience in managing international companies. Creator of the management model according to the Hyperreality concept.  

Graduate of Harvard Business School. In 2009, he defended his doctoral degree in management science at the Poznań University of Economics. He shares his experience as a lecturer at the Nicolaus Copernicus University and the ICAN Institute.  

For more than 10 years he worked as a managing director in large manufacturing companies. For five years he was CEO of Maflow – a global automotive company with subsidiaries in Europe, Asia and the Americas, employing more than 4,500 people. Thanks to the new development policy, the company has rebuilt a strong position on the market and met the demands of customers, which is proved by a number of awards granted by such companies as VW, Audi, BMW, Jaguar Land Rover.   

For the successfully conducted restructuring, Dr. Piotr Wiśniewski was awarded the TOP Manager of the automotive industry. While working in Maflow he also created a talent management programme – Talent Management Maflow, which was described on the pages of “Harvard Business Review Polska” as an integral part of the case study of rebuilding the company thanks to the involvement of the employees.   

For 20 years, he has been on the supervisory boards of various European manufacturing and trading companies, responsible for building and selecting board members and creating strategy on behalf of the owners.    

Since 2016, he has been developing the DB77 Group of Companies, which is dedicated to optimising processes in manufacturing and service organisations, as well as robotic production across Europe and Asia.   

He is the founder of the world’s first Robot Platform, DBR77.com, which aims to support the robotisation and automation of production in manufacturing companies and enables the execution of an effective digitisation of production and logistics processes, technologically and financially.   

He is passionate about learning about the latest scientific developments in robotisation, big data and artificial intelligence. He is the creator of the DBR77.com podcast series #Robosapiens, in which, together with invited guests, he talks about, how robots are changing the world of humans, and the Digital Pathfinder series, published in the form of a newsletter – easy and fun about complex topics of the digital world. 

Managing Director of Hewlett Packard Enterprise Poland, has more than 20 years of experience in leadership positions in global technology companies. Before joining HPE, she served as Enterprise Industry Director for the Central and Eastern Europe at Microsoft. Prior to that, from 2014 to 2020, she held management positions at SAP: she was Head of the company’s Polish division and then Head of General Business and Global Channel for Austria & CEE. From 2006 to 2013, she managed Xerox’s operations in the Polish market, leading its business transformation. Before that, from 2000 to 2006, she was the Director of SMB Sales at IBM. She started her career in public administration. 

Privately, she is passionate about authentic leadership and loves to read fiction, non-fiction books and publications on geopolitics. She collects art and supports women in their personal and professional development. She is proud of the next generation of socially and professionally engaged women who started their careers by her side. 

Since the beginning of his professional career, Jakub Świdziński has been associated with the e-commerce area. When joining IKEA in 2017, he was accountable for the maintenance and development of the IKEA.pl website. In 2020, he continued his journey by joining the newly formed Digital Department, where he was in charge of implementing strategic digital projects for the organisation, such as the new version of the IKEA.pl website, the IKEA Mobile App, the system for processing remote orders and the self-order Bistro kiosks. In 2022, he became responsible for the Digital Portfolio & Deployment team, assigned to coordinate the roadmap, implement global or create local digital products, and improve the organisation’s omnichannel approach. 

Mayor of Warsaw, Member of the 8th term of the Polish Parliament, Vice-Chairman of the EU Committee, Vice-Chair of the European People’s Party, analyst and academic teacher  

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs (EU Affairs) and Prime Minister’s European Council Plenipotentiary in PM Ewa Kopacz’s government. In charge of governmental European policy, involved in key EU negotiations, i.a. on sanctions against Russia and energy security. 

Minister of Administration and Digitization in PM Tusk’s government (2013-2014), responsible for digitization, including online data protection, cybersecurity and online access for people with disabilities. Supervisor of province governors (voivodes), coordinated disaster relief services.   

Member of the European Parliament and of the Constitution Committee between 2009 and 2013. Involved in the EU Multiannual Financial Framework 2014-2020 negotiations, under which the European Union has allocated EUR 82.5 billion to Poland. He also served at the Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection, where he dealt with e-commerce, consumer laws, and public procurement. 

Between 2004 and 2009, he was Advisor to Chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs and to the European Parliament Delegation of the Civic Platform. 

Academic teacher at Collegium Civitas, Warsaw (since 2000) and the National School of Public Administration (1998-2009). Long-standing analyst at the Natolin European Center. 

In 2004 he was awarded a PhD degree from the Warsaw University Institute of International Relations for his thesis: “The dynamics of reforming the decision-making system of the European Union”. 

Speaks English, French, Spanish, Russian and Italian. 

Prezydent Warszawy od 2018 roku.  

W rządzie premier Ewy Kopacz wiceminister Spraw Zagranicznych ds. Unii Europejskiej oraz Pełnomocnik Prezesa Rady Ministrów ds. Rady Europejskiej. Odpowiedzialny za politykę europejską rządu prowadził najważniejsze z punktu widzenia Unii Europejskiej negocjacje, koordynował również prace wszystkich resortów, zaangażowane w działania na poziomie UE.  

W rządzie premiera Donalda Tuska minister Administracji i Cyfryzacji (2013 – 2014) – zajmował się m.in. cyberbezpieczeństwem, dostępnością cyfrową oraz był odpowiedzialny za nadzór nad urzędami wojewódzkimi.  

W latach 2009 – 2013 poseł do Parlamentu Europejskiego oraz członek Komisji Konstytucyjnej. Brał udział w negocjacjach wieloletniego budżetu UE na lata 2014 – 2020, z którego do Polski trafiło 400 mld złotych. Pracował także w Komisji Rynku Wewnętrznego oraz Ochrony Konsumentów.  

W latach 2004 – 2009 Doradca Przewodniczącego Komisji Spraw Zagranicznych Parlamentu Europejskiego oraz Delegacji Platformy Obywatelskiej w Parlamencie Europejskim. 

Wykładowca akademicki w Collegium Civitas w Warszawie (od 2000 roku), wykładał też w Krajowej Szkole Administracji Publicznej (1998-2009). Przez wiele lat analityk w Centrum Europejskim - Natolin.  

W 2004 roku otrzymał doktorat na Uniwersytecie Warszawskim w Instytucie Stosunków Międzynarodowych.  

Znajomość języków obcych: angielski, francuski, hiszpański, rosyjski i włoski

Catalina Stefanescu-Cuntze is Professor of Management Science, and the Faculty Lead of the Master in Analytics and Artificial Intelligence at ESMT Berlin. She holds a PhD in Operations Research from Cornell University.  

Her research and consulting focus on the design, development, and application of analytical and artificial intelligence models and methods for managerial decision making. Her expertise focus areas include customer analytics, corporate and consumer credit risk, and sustainability modeling.   

She teaches MBA, EMBA and MSc courses as well as Executive Education programs on Data Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, and Operations Management.  

She is the head of communication unit and deputy director of Policy Strategy & Outreach in DG CNECT at the European Commission. She is an advocate, member of the Bar in Lublin (Poland). She graduated in Law from Maria Sklodowska-Curie University in Lublin in 1998, then in EU Law from the College of Europe in Natolin (Poland) in 1999 and in Law from the University of “Tor Vergata” in Rome in 2002. In 2003 she joined the European Court of Justice. In 2008 she moved to DG COMP at the European Commission. In 2011 she became the Deputy Head of EC Representation in Poland (during Polish Presidency in the EU) and in 2012 she became Head of Media and Commission Spokesperson in Italy. In 2017 she transferred back to Brussels to take up her current position. She is Polish and Italian, married, mother of three teenagers and polyglot. 

His nearly 20-year-long career was developed in the largest financial institutions in Poland: Bank Pekao, Pekao Central Brokerage House, Inteligo Financial services and PKO Bank Polski, where he was a Member of the Management Board in charge of technology, cybersecurity and employee training and development from 2017 to 2021. He successfully reorganised the functioning of structures of many undertakings, focusing on process efficiency, cost optimisation and dynamic business development. He co-created solutions such as BLIK, IKO, Bank Cybersecurity Centre, digital identity in administration, a nationwide system of e-Registration for COVID-19 vaccinations and the concept of National Cloud. In the last year, he acted as the Vice-President of the Management Board for Technology and Digitisation of the CCC Group, where he was responsible for digital transformation and actively supported the development of digital business and actions aimed at improving the Group’s efficiency. 

He was the chairperson of the presidium of the Electronic Banking Council at the Polish Bank Association, the IT Architecture Council at the Committee of the Council of Ministers for Digitisation, the chairperson of the IT Expert Group operating at the Ministry of Finance and a member of the IT Consultants Team at the Ministry of Health. He chaired and participated in supervisory boards of companies such as PKO Bank Hipoteczny, the National Cloud Operator, PKO BP Finat, Modivo and Pronos. 

In 2003, he graduated from the Military University of Technology in Warsaw and obtained a Master’s degree in Computer Science. From 2006 to 2007, he studied IT project management at the Warsaw University of Technology. He also completed a post-graduate Executive Master of Business Administration course at the Management University in Warsaw. 

He has won numerous industry awards and distinctions and was awarded the title of an Electronic Economy Ambassador at the 10th Electronic Economy Congress. In recognition of his outstanding accomplishments in construction and development of the banking sector, the Polish Bank Association awarded him the Nicolaus Copernicus Medal. He also received the title of the ‘Banking market innovator of 2015’ in the ranking of ‘50 largest banks in Poland’ and the Prof. Remigiusz Kaszubski Award for creating innovations and a secure company in the cloud and commitment to the digitisation of society as well as, together with the Management Board of VeloBank, an award in the Innovative Leader 2023 competition for the exceptional transformation of the bank and the implementation of unique solutions on the market. 

Jędrzej Kowalczyk is customer oriented business unit executive with strong engineering, sales and marketing experience. His interest in science and technology began in the early childhood thus the choice of the university was a simple matter. Jędrzej Kowalczyk is a graduate of robotics and automation at the Gdańsk University of Technology. He started his professional career at FANUC, as a Technical Specialist, in 2009. He was then quickly promoted to the position of the Service Coordinator (2010), Customer Service Coordinator (2012) and a number of new challenges and opportunities opened for him. In 2014 was appointed as the new Office Manager of FANUC Polska and one year later took office as General Manager of FANUC Polska. His main goal is to deliver the latest technology used in automation of production to Polish factories with full support of FANUC local staff.

As a serial in/entrepreneur, Leesa Soulodre has worked for 20+ years on the cutting edge of innovation, technology, and strategy consulting. As a venture builder, she supports the growth of a portfolio of Seed to Series B tech start-ups internationally and is currently hands-on in-house as an Entrepreneur in Residence for the Australian Government’s Landing Pad in Singapore.  Leesa holds a Global Executive MBA from TRIUM (NYU, HEC, & LSE) and a Masters in Management (Marketing) from USQ. She has studied Sports Marketing, Sustainability Strategies, Risk Management, and Technology Entrepreneurship at Wharton, Harvard, the Australian Graduate School of Management and Stanford University respectively. She is a Certified Reputation Manager of the Reputation Institute, a Member of the Global Association of Risk Professionals, the Australian Institute of Company Directors, and the Public Relations Consultants Association. 

Paweł Kuncicki joined Bolt in February 2021 as Campaigns Analytics Manager. A year later, he was appointed Country Manager at Bolt and has since led the ride-hailing team responsible for taxi operations in Poland. His responsibilities include strengthening Bolt’s position in the Polish taxi market, managing business growth in the cities where Bolt currently operates and further expanding our operations into new markets. Prior to joining Bolt, he spent 5 years at the Amsterdam office of the hotel reservation platform Booking.com, where he managed data analytics teams.

Dr. Aubrey de Grey is a biomedical gerontologist based in Silicon Valley, California, USA, and is the founder, President and Chief Science Officer of LEV Foundation, a biomedical research and advocacy charity focused on repairing the molecular and cellular damage of aging. He received his BA in computer science and Ph.D. in biology from the University of Cambridge. His research interests encompass the characterisation of all the types of damage that constitute mammalian aging and the design of interventions to repair and/or obviate that damage. Dr. de Grey is a Fellow of both the Gerontological Society of America and the American Aging Association, and sits on the editorial and scientific advisory boards of numerous journals and organisations. He is a highly sought-after speaker who gives frequent invited talks at scientific conferences, universities, companies in areas ranging from pharma to life insurance, and to the public. 

PhD in social sciences, futurologist, university lecturer, innovator. In her scientific and popularization work, she focuses on the future as a tool for shaping the present, redefinitions that allow us to properly describe the reality around us, and interdisciplinarity that conditions dialogue. Connecting the dots, expanding the horizon and full spectrum thinking are for her the fundamental building blocks of understanding the world. Winner of the Jutronauts program (Gazeta Wyborcza & Kulczyk Investment), author of workshops on future literacy, popular science and scientific articles, manager of international projects. 

Consultant, Trainer, and Researcher specializing in neuroscience, brain-based methods, and their applications to business and self-growth. Works with self-aware, authentic leadership, effective and diverse teams and provides results thanks to the precise diagnosis, boost in awareness and communication. Certified in Neurocolor – tool for inclusion through cognitive diversity, and Brain-Based Coaching methods certified by Neuroleadership Institute. Holds Scrum Master and Assessor certificates.  
 
Responsible for the creation and development of the organizational diagnostics line in the ICAN consulting projects department, creator & leader of NeuroLab® – working with academic and industry experts to translate neuroscience into a business environment. In the last 10 years implemented over 200 projects in customized research, assessment, and development of competencies in Poland and abroad (Europe, America, and Asia).  
 
Sociologist, a graduate of the Institute of Applied Social Sciences and PR and Marketing at the University of Warsaw, and a scholarship holder at Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago. Current Ph.D. student at Complutense University in Madrid, specializing in identity and digitalization research.  

Filip is a trainer of presentations and business speeches, providing training to international companies, institutions and local entrepreneurs. His clients include such companies as Orange Poland, ABB, UBS, Polpharma, AGH University of Science and Technology in Krakow and Comarch. In his trainings, he spreads his original concept of audience-centrism in speeches, inspired by Amazon’s philosophy. He is a speaker, appearing at TEDx conferences and an award-winning speaker at many marketing conferences, such as Infoshare, iDesign and InternetBeta. During his TEDx appearance, he talks about the path he took from stuttering to being a public speaking coach. Every year he prepares dozens of speakers for the most important industry events in Poland and around the world. He is a graduate of the Cracow University of Economics and a scholarship holder of the Erasmus program at the University of Pamplona (UNAV). Privately an admirer of distant travel, close encounters with cognitive psychology and a devoted fan of FC Barcelona. 

Vice President of the Management Board, BNP Paribas Bank Polska S.A.

Agnieszka Wolska graduated in Finance and Banking from the Warsaw School of Economics. During her career, she also participated in numerous courses in finance, management and leadership.

She has over 17 years of experience in stock-listed international banks. She started her professional career in 2003 at Bank BPH in the Structured Finance Department. In 2006, she took the position of Deputy Head of the Structured Finance Department. She became the Deputy Head of Corporate Solutions at Bank Pekao in 2007, and the Head of the TMT Bureau at this bank in 2010. In 2014, she took the position of the Head of Large Corporate Department at Santander Bank Polska, and in 2016 she was nominated for the position of the managing director, Head of Corporate Banking Area at this bank. In the same year, she joined the group of 10+ top-level executives at Santander Bank Polska, forming executive management team of Polish operations. In 2018, she was appointed managing director, Head of Business and Corporate Banking Area at Santander Bank Polska.

General director of the Polish branch of Mastercard Europe

Currently serving as the Chief Business Development Officer (CBDO) at Evido, a recognized ASP (Authorized Sales Partner) within the Meta ecosystem. With a rich history at industry leaders like Meta and Criteo, Emin has 25 years of expertise in digital transformation and corporate innovation. His vast experience spans across project and people management in regions such as the US, Europe, Russia, and West Asia. As a sought-after expert, Emin frequently delivers keynote addresses on topics like Artificial Intelligence, Mixed Reality, and the intricacies of building successful Strategic Partnerships. 

Monica Parker is the author of the Wall Street Journal bestseller The Power of Wonder and a world-renowned speaker, writer, and authority on the future of work. Parker has spent decades helping people discover how to lead and live wonderfully. The founder of global human analytics and change consultancy HATCH, whose clients include blue-chip companies such as LinkedIn, Google, Prudential, and LEGO, Parker challenges corporate systems to advocate for more meaningful work lives. In addition to her extensive advocacy work, Parker has been an opera singer, a museum exhibition designer, a policy director, and a homicide investigator defending death row inmates. A lover of the arts, literature, and Mexican food, Parker and her family split their time between Atlanta, London, and Nice. Her wonderbringers include travel, time spent with friends, and live music.

Fabienne GOUX-BAUDIMENT earned a master’s degree in political science (France) and a PhD in Human and Social Foresight (Social Sciences, Roma, Italy). A world-renowned futurist, she advises large companies (Carrefour, Suez) as well as public authorities (Unesco, Royal Institute for Strategic Studies). She founded proGective, an independent research centre dedicated to foresight, in 1995. Centre of application, research, and training in futures studies, proGective meets its clients’ needs (central or local governments, businesses, NGOs) by working out innovative, sustainable and long term-oriented solutions.

Associate Professor of Foresight and Innovation, she coordinated the curriculum “Knowledge Engineer” at ISTIA, the College of engineering of the University of Angers, designed the master Foresight and Innovation, and taught from 1995 to 2019. She also served as a member of the Foresight section of the Regional Economic, Social and Environmental Council of Ile de France (2014-2018). Active member of the Futures Studies community (member of the Association of Professional Futurists and Fellow of the World Futures Studies Federation), she chaired the World Futures Studies Federation (2005-2009) and the French Society for Foresight (2013-2016). As a member of the Accreditation Council of the WFSF Program, she is currently in charge of the Francophonie zone.

Author and referee for several international Journals, she is a keynote speaker for top level management and large audiences, explaining emergent concepts and futures-oriented worldviews, such as the Great Transition, the VUCA world, the Alien Gen, the model of development X.0, the liquid society, etc.

Dr Jan Rosenow is a Principal and Director of European Programmes at the Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP), a global team of highly-skilled energy experts advising policy makers across the world on clean energy. Jan has several board appointments including the European Council for an Energy Efficient Economy and the Coalition for Energy Savings. Jan also has a passion for energy research. He is an Honorary Research Associate at Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute. In recognition of his work within the field, Jan was named one of the world’s top 5 energy influencers and has been appointed Special Advisor to the House of Commons as part of their inquiry into decarbonising heating. He is a keynote speaker, a podcaster, a regular commentator in the national and international media and has been an expert witness to the European Parliament and the House of Commons on many occasions. 

Scott Galloway is Professor of Marketing at NYU’s Stern School of Business, a serial entrepreneur, and a CNN+ host. In 2012, he was named one of the world’s best business professors by Poets & Quants. Scott has founded nine companies, including Prophet, Red Envelope, L2, and Section4. He is the New York Times–bestselling author of The Four, The Algebra of Happiness, and Post Corona. Scott has served on the boards of directors of The New York Times Company, Urban Outfitters, Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, Panera Bread, and Ledger.

Across his CNN+ show, Prof G and Pivot podcasts, No Mercy / No Malice blog, and his YouTube channel, Scott reaches millions. In 2020, Adweek named Pivot Business Podcast of the Year. 

Head of the Microsoft Technology Center, the innovation incubator for the region Central and Eastern Europe. Expert in industry innovations, digital transformation and Cloud Computing. Creator of the concepts the Store of the future for the retail industry. Expert in New Technologies and Business Modeling. A graduate of the Warsaw University of Technology, SiMR faculty, he also completed postgraduate studies in Project Management at the Kozminski University in Warsaw. PhD studies in Economics in the field of Management, Kozminski University. Lecturer and member of the advisory board of the Warsaw University of Technology. A longtime engineer and trainer, he has been dealing with IT technologies in business for over 20 years.

Data & AI enthusiast. Hands-on practitioner and academic teacher focused on building a strategic approach of organizations that drives maximum business value from Data & AI and related technologies. He has almost 20 years of experience during which he worked on and managed programs, projects and teams that delivered numerous Data and Analytical solutions. After working for global and regional pharmaceutical, telecommunications and retail corporations he moved to the TV and Digital media business where for the last six years in TVN Warner Bros Discovery he has been responsible for the Data Management & Engineering, Data Governance and AI/ML areas. Apart from defining and implementing a company’s Data Strategy, building and managing the Data & AI ecosystem and delivering numerous cutting-edge Data & AI solutions, he is also responsible for the company’s Data Culture program. Working hand in hand with the business, he oversees its component initiatives such as Data Literacy, Data-Driven approach / Decision Architecture and Data Monetization Strategy. As a hobby, he builds analytical models in the field of sports, plays basketball and goes fishing.

Based at  the Warsaw City Hall, responsible for the implementation of tasks in the field of economic and innovation policy in Warsaw, economic and scientific projects with the participation of private partners, and supporting entrepreneurs and investors. Coordinates activities in the field of social communication – projects, programs and campaigns combining issues from many areas of life of residents, and also, supervises the process of preparing and conducting open tenders for the implementation of public tasks. Supervises and coordinates cooperation with non-governmental organizations. Deals with the dissemination of tools of dialogue and participation, as well as the promotion and strengthening of anti-discrimination activities and the promotion of equality. President’s Plenipotentiary for Equal Treatment.

She is a  graduate of the Faculty of Architecture at the Warsaw University of Technology and the American Studies Center at the University of Warsaw. Professionally, she developed one of the design offices in Warsaw. She is also a lecturer at one of Warsaw’s private universities, teaching subjects in the field of architectural and urban design to an international student base. She has also been the head of architecture program. Since 2018, she has been active in the capital’s local government. Until the President of the Capital City of Warsaw entrusted her with the duties of  head-coordinator, she was the vice-president of the Ursynów District Council in the City of Warsaw.

She is a participant of the international program European Women’s Academy 2020 organized by the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), European Liberal Forum (ELF) and the Friedrich Neumann Foundation (FNF). The aim of the program is to promote gender equality in politics and to support women’s political activity.

Andrey Dligach is the representative of the international agency ‘Luniter troubleshooting’ in Central and Eastern Europe, head of the GOSH Strategy Center, founder of iVentures the holding of Internet projects.
He’s the No.1 business strategist in Ukraine. The sphere of his scientific interests includes strategic management; reflexive and strategic marketing; brand management; marketing pricing; management of complex systems; change management; futurology.
Andrey Dligach is the co-founder of the civil platform “Nova Krayina”; the co-founder of FreeGen movement; Vice-President of the NPO “Healthy Nation – ZNAK”.
Ha has more than 20 years of experience in running consulting projects in the field of strategic management, marketing and marketing research. He worked with such companies and organizations as Sandora, Siemens, Foxtrot, Obolon’, Niko Corporation, MTS, Microsoft, Milavitsa, Mercedes-Benz, Sport Life, Alfa Bank, Pinskdrev, Kristall, Corporation TerraFood, UFC, PwC, Luxoptica, Ukreximbank, Incom corporation, Astarta Corporation, Azovo-Don Development Company, Motors Group, Duna-West, Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, Ministry of Education and Science, the United Nations.
Andrey Dligach is a visiting lecturer at Kyiv Taras Shevchenko National University, MIM Kyiv and a number of business schools in Eastern Europe.
He’s a TV and radio presenter, the author of 9 books on business and marketing.
Hobbies: actor, poet, bard, salsero.

Volodymyris CEO at Innolytics Group www.innolyticsgroup.com technology research and competitive intelligence consulting company, Lecturer and Leadership Team Member at Singularity University Kyiv Chapter, Co-author of “Ukraine in the Global Innovation Dimension” Report, https://singularityhub.com/2018/09/28/innovation-is-on-the-rise-worldwide-how-do-you-measure-it/. Certified ExO Consultant. Prepared dialogue with Sophia the Robot when she visited Ukraine to speak at Olerom Forumin 2018. Former CMO and CFO at iconic www.Signature.uareal estate development project –the most innovative and luxurious complex currently in Ukraine with the development budget of over 130 m USD.Consulted and organized multiple international investment deals with the total amount of over 100 m USD. Volodymyrhas over 10 years of experience in large-scale investment projects andstartupsas well as in creation and development of business projects. Spoke at major national events, such as IForum (https://2019.iforum.ua/en/about/), IP Let Forum, National Science Day by the Ministry of Science and Education, InScience, CEO Club events etc. Dedicated events for Coca Cola, DTEK, Vodacom and others.Author and Co-author of publications in major national media.

Dr. Shacham is a serial inventor and entrepreneur in the fields of climate and biotech. She is a co-founder and Managing Partner at E44 Ventures, a boutique venture firm focused on climate, energy and synthetic biology. In biotech, Dr. Shacham founded Karyopharm Therapeutics (NASDAQ: KPTI) where she created the novel oral cancer drug Xpovio®, and led its development from idea to commercialization: Xpovio is now approved in US, EU, China, Israel and other countries.  At Karyopharm, Dr. Shacham served as President and Chief Scientific Officer until 2021 and remains a member of its Scientific Advisory Board. Prior to joining Karyopharm, Dr. Shacham was Senior Vice President of Drug Development at Epix Pharmaceuticals, Inc. where she led the company’s discovery and development, with several INDs and Phase I-III clinical trials in the fields of psychiatry, obesity and autoimmune disease. Dr. Shacham holds a BS in Chemistry, a PhD in biochemistry and computational biophysics, and an MBA, all from Tel Aviv University. 

Jowita’s mission in life is to arm Poles with essential digital competencies. That is why she established an organization that cooperates with leading American universities such as MIT, Harvard Business School and Stanford to provide education in the field of new technologies. Digital University offers, among others, certified educational programs, such as Digital Transformation Expert, which allow employees to complement their competences of the future, as well as conferences, such as Masters&Robots, for which the world’s most prominent experts come to Poland. The organization also educates excluded and disadvantaged people in the following areas: new technologies, Internet safety, professions of the future and ecology.

Jowita is the Polish ambassador of Singularity Group, the most important educational think-tank in Silicon Valley. She has over 20 years of business experience, having worked in key positions at Polkomtel, PGE and Deloitte, among others.

For her educational activities Jowita has received many awards and honors, including Digital Shapers, awarded for significant contribution to the development of digital economy in Poland. Last year Forbes Women recognized her as one of the 100 most outstanding women in business, and the European Commission named her a Digital EU Ambassador.

Barbara Erskine is a community builder, brand strategist and media relations professional. In Paris, she worked on the NYT Foreign Affairs Column with Flora Lewis. She led branding and media relations at the World Economic Forum in Geneva, and created “Barbara’s Davos”, a parallel program for the media in Davos. She was Wired Magazine’s European Editor. With her company, Barbara Erskine Networks, in Geneva, she helped governments, the United Nations, and private corporations launch initiatives; notably focusing on women’s issues at the Women’s Forum for the Economy and Society (Paris and Deauville); and geopolitics and finance at Ambrosetti/The European House (Milan and Cernobbio). Current projects on communications and communities now include TBLI (Triple Bottom Line Investing) and the TBLI Better World Prize; R3i Ventures and the 2022 She Loves Tech Competition; and the AI Asia Pacific Institute. 

As a seasoned entrepreneur, investor, and professional keynote speaker, Maciej Noga brings a wealth of experience and expertise to his speaking engagements. Graduating from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business with cum laude honors, he co-founded Grupa Pracuj and currently serves as the Chairman of the Supervisory Board and Managing Partner of the Pracuj Ventures Innovative Fund.

An accomplished expert in HRTech and Workplace, Maciej advises management boards of large corporations, sits on supervisory and advisory boards, and is a member of the Speakers Office Digital University. His engaging and thought-provoking presentations on the future and development of the world make him a sought-after speaker at conferences.

Maciej is also a co-founder and partner of several angel investment and VC funds, as well as the co-founder and partner of Valores, the first venture philanthropy fund in Poland. Currently, he is passionately focused on the development of Enervigo, the largest integrated provider of modern energy solutions in Poland, with a strong emphasis on renewable energy. In his role as the main investor and Chairman of the Supervisory Board, he plays a pivotal role in driving the development of Enervigo forward.

Privately, a father of three children with whom he spends time actively. A passionate promoter of “Work Life Integration” and the use of “Behavioral Science” concepts both in business and in private.

Dominika Bettman, from December 2021 General Manager of Microsoft in Poland. For 26 years associated with Siemens Sp. z o.o. (the last years as CEO).

Entrepreneur, advocate of new technologies and sustainable business. Graduate of Faculty of Foreign Trade at Warsaw School of Economics and Advanced Management Program at IESE in Barcelona. Economist by education, humanist by nature. Propagator of the idea of diversity and inclusive leadership. Active participant in the public debate on digital transformation of the economy and society. Author of the book “Technological Magnolias”.

Nancy Baym (Ph.D. Speech Communication, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, 1994) is a Senior Principal Research Manager at Microsoft Research in the New England lab. Her research concerns social dynamics of new communication technologies. She was a pioneer in the field of internet research, writing influential articles on online community in the early 1990s. She is the author of Twitter: A Biography (co-authored with Jean Burgess, 2020, NYU), Playing to the Crowd: Musicians, Audiences, and the Intimate Work of Connection (2018, NYU), Personal Connections in the Digital Age (2010, Second Edition 2014, Polity), Internet Inquiry: Conversations About Method (co-edited with Annette Markham, 2010, Sage), and Tune In, Log On: Soaps, Fandom and Online Community (2000, Sage). She has written numerous journal articles and book chapters and serves on the editorial boards of New Media & Society, The Information Society, Social Media & Society, and other journals. She was a co-founder of the Association of Internet Researchers and served as its second president. She has been recognized with the Frederick Williams Prize for Contributions to the Study of Communication and Technology awarded by the International Communication Association, the naming of the Nancy Baym Book Award by the Association of Internet Researchers, and an Honorary Doctorate from the Faculty of Information Technology at the University of Gothenburg.  Since 2020, she has been helping lead a company-wide research initiative on the Future of Work.

Kacper is a partner at the research company 4CF Strategic Foresight and a member of the board of the Polish Society for the Study of the Future. He advises on strategic foresight to international institutions such as NATO, UNESCO, UNDP, as well as companies and non-governmental organizations. He has conducted research projects, workshops and training for companies from many industries: energy, FMCG, finance, construction, pharmaceuticals, high technologies and defence, as well as led military projects in Poland and the Netherlands. He gave speeches at TEDxWarsaw and the bicentenary of the University of Warsaw, of which he is a graduate. Member of the Association of Professional Futurists and World Future Society. 

Laetitia Garriott de Cayeux is an American technology entrepreneur and investor, whose 25 years career has spanned the US, Asia, and Europe. She is the Founder/CEO of Global Space Ventures, which backs emerging technology pioneers across AI, biotechnology, space and beyond. An early investor in SpaceX, she was also instrumental as co-founder/President of Escape Dynamics in meaningful advances in beamed energy technology, and its onboarding on NASA’s roadmap. She is passionate about harnessing technology to build better futures at scale, and advance STEM, innovation, and national security.  

She serves on the board of directors of XPRIZE, which brought into existence in 2004 the first privately funded crewed spaceship to reach space and launched in 2021 the $100M Carbon Removal XPRIZE with Elon Musk. She also serves on the U.S.  Department of Defense’s Defense Science Board; on NATO Maritime Unmanned Systems Innovation Advisory Board; on the advisory board of the Truman Center for National Policy; and the board of the National Museum of Mathematics (MoMath). She is also a security fellow of the Truman National Security Project, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Economic Club of New York, and Women Corporate Directors. 

A leading voice in innovation and national security, she has contributed to U.S. congressional taskforces on innovation, Council on Foreign relations study groups on transformative technologies and U.S. Policy towards Asia, presided over policy discussions ranging from Space Force to U.S. national security and US-China relations, and briefed members of the U.S. Senate on commercial space and national security. Her earlier finance career, which she started working for Goldman Sachs in investment banking in Europe in the late 1990s, also included leadership roles at leading global investment firms TPG-Axon and Renaissance Technologies in the US and Asia. She holds an MBA from ESSEC (France) and Harvard Business School. 

For 13 years Dariusz hosted the popular radio program “Raport o stanie świata”. Since March 2020, the programme has been funded by Listeners and is available on platforms as a podcast. 

 Dariusz has been working in media since the 1980s. He started at RFI in Paris, then spent the entire 90s at the BBC in London. He wrote for various Polish media, from the sacred “Życie Warszawy” and “Życie” to “Machina” and “Architektura”. After returning to Poland, he worked for the Polish Press Agency, Newsweek, Przekrój, Forum and Polityka. He was also a co-founder and editor-in-chief of the first Ozon weekly. This was short-lived, but for many years he wrote for “Rzeczpospolita”, especially for its “Plus Minus” supplement. The magazine with which Dariusz has collaborated the longest and closest is “Tygodnik Powszechny”. 

Dariusz has been nominated for many awards, including the Nike Literary Award for “Grain and Blood”. He also received the Beata Pawlak Award for this book, as well as the PAP’s Ryszard Kapuscinski Reporter’s Award for “Raport o stanie świata” from Kurdistan.

fot. K. Opaliński

Founder of The Innovation Beehive and an expert on organisations, people and innovation. He has worked in numerous roles at Boots, Harrods and was European HR Director for Yum! Restaurants International before joining the world of innovation consulting and running practices in London and New York. Since founding the company, he has worked with clients including BP, TrustFord, Centrica, Hearst Magazines, Shell Petroleum, Google and Egon Zehnder. Mok is HR Director (voluntary) and Board Vice Chair at Islington Arts Factory in London which provides artistic education to disadvantaged youth. He is also a Trustee of the Barn Theatre Project in Cirencester, which works to develop performance skills in young people.

MOK is a Fellow of St George’s House, Windsor Castle. This society exists to share insights and wisdom within a global leadership population.  

Product and interior designer, innovator (Institute of Industrial Design) and university lecturer (School of University SWPS). Specialist in sense of security design. Keen on discussing issues relating to the area of speculative and synesthetic design. Analogue astronaut and a two-time commander of space missions at Lunares Habitat. Meditation teacher and outer space enthusiast. Her works have been honored at exhibitions in Poland and abroad. Participated in numerous design festivals (Lodz Design Festival, Gdynia Design Days, Dutch Design Week). Finalist of competitions such as: MakeMe, Young Polish Designer, Innovation Ad and Jutronauci. Author of the podcast #BEZPIECZNIK and the book “Szałas na hałas”.

Martin is a multi award-winning Creative Director, specialising in volumetric filmmaking, immersive storytelling and mixed reality. He is co-founder and Chief Creative Officer of Prox & Reverie, a multi-reality experience lab based in Doncaster, innovating new ways to bridge physical, digital and imagined worlds. 

Prox & Reverie is a destination for content creators, producers and brands looking to supercharge the possibilities of virtual production and immersive audience experiences. 

Maciej spent 20y in pricing. Corporate roles, consulting, lecturing, startup, software- Maciej did it all in pricing. Guest lecturer at Stanford and LBS. Authored 2 book on pricing. His TedTalk on behavioral pricing has over 150k views https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTDBeI-mtDg&t=42s

He specializes in the topics of strategy and management of sales as well as promotions with a particular focus on consumer behavior analysis.

Has experience in the area of price management in B2B and B2C markets in Poland and beyond (USA, Russia, China, Germany, France). He has advised both global corporations (Siemens, Daimler, Johnson& Johnson, Cemex) and MSEs. Maciej is also a lecturer at the Faculty of Management at the University of Warsaw.

As a serial in/entrepreneur, Leesa Soulodre has worked for 20+ years on the cutting edge of innovation, technology, and strategy consulting. As a venture builder, she supports the growth of a portfolio of Seed to Series B tech start-ups internationally and is currently hands-on in-house as an Entrepreneur in Residence for the Australian Government’s Landing Pad in Singapore. ​ Leesa holds a Global Executive MBA from TRIUM (NYU, HEC, & LSE) and a Masters in Management (Marketing) from USQ. She has studied Sports Marketing, Sustainability Strategies, Risk Management, and Technology Entrepreneurship at Wharton, Harvard, the Australian Graduate School of Management and Stanford University respectively. She is a Certified Reputation Manager of the Reputation Institute, a Member of the Global Association of Risk Professionals, the Australian Institute of Company Directors, and the Public Relations Consultants Association.​ 

Nicole received her D.B.A from Harvard Business School, her M.Sc. from the University of Sussex as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar, and her A.B., magna cum laude, from Harvard College. She joined Chicago Booth in 2001 and since then has taught operations management, service operations, and supply chain management to executives in programs and companies around the globe. For exemplifying the characteristics students most value in their professors, Nicole earned the 2015 and 2016 Rotman School of Management Teaching Award. 

Jędrzej Kowalczyk is customer oriented business unit executive with strong engineering, sales and marketing experience. His interest in science and technology began in the early childhood thus the choice of the university was a simple matter. Jędrzej Kowalczyk is a graduate of robotics and automation at the Gdańsk University of Technology. He started his professional career at FANUC, as a Technical Specialist, in 2009. He was then quickly promoted to the position of the Service Coordinator (2010), Customer Service Coordinator (2012) and a number of new challenges and opportunities opened for him. In 2014 was appointed as the new Office Manager of FANUC Polska and one year later took office as General Manager of FANUC Polska. His main goal is to deliver the latest technology used in automation of production to Polish factories with full support of FANUC local staff.

Ian began his marketing career by accident after programming a server to send messages from his college dorm room in 2008  and he’s been working with emerging technologies ever since. He’s led innovation projects for some of the world’s most forward-thinking brands including  Samsung, Intel, Coca-Cola, Google, Microsoft, and dozens of others. Ian is the Chief Futurist for Signal and Cipher, an agency grounded in strategic foresight and dedicated to helping brands navigate emerging platforms, like Web3, Blockchain, and the Metaverse. He is also the Head of Marketing and Futurist in Residence at Update Beverage where he applies the emerging technologies of tomorrow to build the world’s first Smart Energy Drink brand.

Ian speaks internationally on the intersection of culture and technology and is seen on stage around the world at venues like SXSW, CES, Social Media Week, and TedX.

Dr Kai-Fu Lee is the Chairman and CEO of Sinovation Ventures and President of Sinovation Venture’s Artificial  Intelligence Institute. Sinovation Ventures, managing US$3 billion dual currency investment funds, is a leading is a leading venture capital firm focusing on developing the next generation deep tech companies in China. Prior to founding Sinovation in 2009, Dr Lee was the President of Google China, and senior executives at Microsoft, SGI, and Apple. Dr Lee received his Bachelor degree from Computer Science from Columbia University, Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University, as well as Honorary Doctorate Degrees from both Carnegie Mellon and the City University of Hong Kong. He is the Co-Chair of Artificial Intelligence Council for World Economic Forum Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Times 100 in 2013, WIRED 25 Icons, and followed by over 50 million audience on social media. In the field of artificial intelligence, Dr Lee built one of the first game playing programs to defeat a world champion (1988, Othello), as well as the world’s first large-vocabulary, speaker- independent continuous speech recognition system.  Dr Lee founded Microsoft Research China, later renamed Microsoft Research Asia, which was named as the hottest research lab by MIT Technology Review. While with Apple, Dr Lee led AI projects in speech and natural language, which have been featured on Good Morning America on ABC Television and the front page of Wall Street Journal. He has authored 10 U.S. patents, and more than 100 journal and conference papers. Altogether, Dr Lee has been in artificial intelligence research, development, and investment for more than 30 years. 

His New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling book AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order (aisuperpowers.com) discusses US-China co-leadership in the age of AI as well as the greater societal impacts brought upon by the AI technology revolution. His new co-authored book AI 2041 published in fall 2021 explores how artificial intelligence will change our world over the next twenty years. 

Bill McKibben is a contributing writer to The New Yorker, and a founder of Third Act, which organizes people over the age of 60 to work on climate and racial justice. He founded the first global grassroots climate campaign, and serves as the Schumann Distinguished Professor in Residence at Middlebury College in Vermont. In 2014 he was awarded the Right Livelihood Prize, sometimes called the ‘alternative Nobel,’ in the Swedish Parliament. He’s also won the Gandhi Peace Award, and honorary degrees from 19 colleges and universities. He has written over a dozen books about the environment, including his first, The End of Nature, published in 1989, and the forthcoming The Flag, the Cross, and the Station Wagon: A Graying American Looks Back at his Suburban Boyhood and Wonders What the Hell Happened.

Sue Halpern is a staff writer at The New Yorker, where she writes at the intersection of technology and politics, and a scholar-in-residence at Middlebury College. Halpern is author of seven books, including the best-selling A Dog Walks into a Nursing Home, and Four Wings and a Prayer, which was made into an Emmy-nominated film. She has written on science, technology and politics for The New York Times Magazine, Rolling Stone, and The New Republic, as well as for The New York Review of Books, where she is a regular contributor.

Halpern is the recipient of Guggenheim and Echoing Green Fellowships, and earned a doctorate in political theory from Oxford University.

Since it was first posted on the web, the Culture Deck has been viewed more than 15 million times, and Sheryl Sandberg has said that it “may be the most important document ever to come out of Silicon Valley.” Patty participated in IPOs at Netflix and, before that, Pure Atria Software. A veteran of Sun Microsystems, Borland, and Seagate Technologies, she has also worked with small start-ups. Her background includes staffing, diversity, communications, and international human resources positions. Currently, Patty coaches and advises a small group of companies and entrepreneurs on culture and leadership. She also speaks to groups and teams around the world. Patty’s best-selling book “Powerful: Building a Culture of Freedom and Responsibility” was published in 2018 and translated into 12 languages.

Hrish is a Co-founder and CEO at SuperWorld. Previously, he co-founded Rogue InitiativeStudios, a Hollywood film, TV, gaming, and immersive entertainment studio. He was also the founding Managing Partner of Eastlabs, an early-stage VC fund based in Kyiv, Ukraine. Previously, Hrish was a Senior Business Developer and Global Evangelist at Toptal (backed by Andreessen Horowitz, the Rockefellers & the co-founders of Facebook and Zynga), a venture capital investor at Spencer Trask Ventures, and an investment banker at both UBS Investment Bank and HSBC Securities, where he specialized in public finance, corporate finance, and M&A. He also was an Associate in the Global Business Development Group at management consulting firm Hewitt Associates. Hrish was born in India and grew up in the United States. He also has spent many years living around the world in Europe, Asia, and South America. He has a close connection to the people and cultures in Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, Spain, France, Vietnam, China, Colombia, Bali, and Thailand.

Hrish holds a BA in Political Science from Rice University and both an MBA and MPH from University of Illinois at Chicago. In his free time, he enjoys working out, fashion photography, and traveling the world.

Seth Godin is the author of 20 books that have been bestsellers around the world and have been translated into more than 35 languages. He’s also the founder of the altMBA and The Akimbo Workshops, online seminars that have transformed the work of thousands of people.He writes about the post-industrial revolution, the way ideas spread, marketing, quitting, leadership and most of all, changing everything. You might be familiar with his books Linchpin, Tribes, The Dip  and Purple Cow. His book, This Is Marketing, was an instant bestseller around the world. The newest book, The Practice, is out at the end of 2020 and is already a bestseller. His newest project is leading a worldwide group of volunteers creating The Carbon Almanac.In addition to his writing and speaking, Seth has founded several companies, including Yoyodyne and Squidoo. His blog (which you can find by typing “seth” into Google) is one of the most popular in the world. His podcast is in the top 1% of all podcasts worldwide.

In 2018, he was inducted into the Marketing Hall of Fame. More than 20,000 people have taken the powerful Akimbo workshops he founded, including the altMBA and The Marketing Seminar.

Dr Jo Zayner is constantly pushing the boundaries of Science outside traditional environments. They started Biohacking during their Ph.D. in Molecular Biophysics at the University of Chicago, creating The Chromochord in their apartment, the world’s first musical instrument that uses engineered protein nanotechnology. After their Ph.D., Jo received a prestigious fellowship to work with NASA’s Synthetic Biology program, engineering bacteria to help terraform Mars. Now They are the Founder and CEO of The ODIN, a company that is teaching people how to do genetic engineering at home.

Besides starring in the Netflix documentary “Unnatural Selection”, their work has been featured in the New York Times, Time, Scientific American and NPR, among many others. 

Amy Webb advises CEOs of the world’s most-admired companies, three-star admirals and generals, and the senior leadership of central banks and intergovernmental organizations. Founder of the Future Today Institute, a leading foresight and strategy firm that helps leaders and their organizations prepare for complex futures, Amy pioneered a data-driven, technology-led foresight methodology that is now used within hundreds of organizations. She is a professor of strategic foresight at the NYU Stern School of Business, where she developed and teaches the MBA course on strategic foresight. She is a Visiting Fellow at Oxford University’s Säid School of Business, a Nonresident Senior Fellow in the Atlantic Council’s GeoTech Center, a Fellow in the United States-Japan Leadership Program and a Foresight Fellow in the U.S. Government Accountability Office Center for Strategic Foresight. She was elected a life member to the Council on Foreign Relations and is a member of the Bretton Woods Committee. She is a member of the World Economic Forum where she serves on the Global Future Council on Media, Entertainment and Culture and the Stewardship Board of the Forum’s Platform for Shaping the Future of Media, Entertainment and Culture. She was a Visiting Nieman Fellow at Harvard University, where her research received a national Sigma Delta Chi award. She was also a Delegate on the former U.S.-Russia Bilateral Presidential Commission, where she worked on the future of technology, media and international diplomacy. Webb has advised CEOs of some of the world’s largest companies, three-star generals and admirals and executive government leadership on strategy and technology. She is the author of several popular books, including “The Big Nine: How the Tech Titans and Their Thinking Machines Could Warp Humanity,” which was longlisted for the Financial Times & McKinsey Business Book of the Year award, shortlisted for the Thinkers50 Digital Thinking Award, and won the 2020 Gold Axiom Medal for the best book about business and technology, and “The Signals Are Talking: Why Today’s Fringe Is Tomorrow’s Mainstream,” which won the Thinkers50 Radar Award, was selected as one of Fast Company’s Best Books of 2016, Amazon’s best books 2016, and was the recipient of the 2017 Gold Axiom Medal for the best book about business and technology. Her highly-anticipated upcoming book, “Genesis Machine: Our Quest to Rewrite Life in the Age of Synthetic Biology” (Public Affairs, February 2022) – co-authored with Humane Genomics founder and biotech futurist Andrew Hessel – looks at the promises and perils of synthetic biology including related ethical, political, religious and social issues.

Webb was named by Forbes as one of the five women changing the world, listed as the BBC’s 100 Women of 2020, and the Thinkers50 Radar list of the 30 management thinkers most likely to shape the future of how organizations are managed and led.