2023 Speakers

Keynote: Opening Fireside Chat with Troy Helming

Session Panelist: Forms of Renewable Energy – The State of the Art in Solar, Wind, Hydro & Geothermal

Troy Helming is a visionary entrepreneur, innovator, and clean energy pioneer. As a creator, he’s founded companies that have generated more than $10 billion in economic impact to date and invented two technologies that have led to more than 40 clean energy patent claims. Troy was the founder and CEO of two impactful clean energy companies: TradeWind Energy, which he founded in 1998 and sold in 2004 (>$10 billion of wind projects were built by the company he founded since then, and was the #1 Wind Developer in the USA in 2017) and then Pristine Sun: >350 solar projects built so far totaling $1 billion in market value (including projects sold to other companies such as Renesola (NYSE: SOL) and Enerparc) and many high profile projects including the largest floating solar project award in North America and the largest community solar projects in both Vermont and Wisconsin. He’s the author of the 2005 book The Clean Power Revolution, co-inventor of FloatoRack (an innovative floating solar system with multiple patents pending), and inventor of the Red Gopher (a world-changing robotic tunneling technology).

Session Moderator: Fund Architecture: Cash Catalyst & Wealth Wizardry

Session Moderator: Healthcare & the Longevity Economy

Session Moderator: ScaleUp Mastery & Venture Vantage

Session Moderator: Tech Titans – AI, VR/XR, and Biotechnology

Entrepreneur, startup catalyst, impact investor and a corporate executive. Founder and CEO of The Center for Advancing Innovation Inc. CEO and Co-Founder of Ignite Social Impact, the first crowd platform to democratize impact investing.

Accredited angel investor actively supporting companies that have a significant social impact. With over 25 years of experience, Rosemarie Truman is an entrepreneur, startup catalyst, impact investor and formerly, a corporate executive. Rosemarie is the Founder and CEO of The Center for Advancing Innovation Inc (CAI), also known as the “Tinder for Startups” by Nature; a “Powerful Innovation Toolkit” by the White House and “Shark Tank on Steroids” by BIO. CAI is an award-winning 501c3 non-profit with a mission to identify breakthrough SDG and ESG-oriented inventions and maximize their commercial potential.

She is also the CEO and Co-Founder of Ignite Social Impact, the first crowd-equity platform to democratize impact investing. Rosemarie’s specialty is investment strategy, having led growth and transformation strategies for 50 of the global Fortune 100 companies in over 15 countries, yielding more than $300 billion in near-term top line revenue improvement.

As CAI’s leader, Rosemarie pioneered a first-of-a-kind, award-winning, disruptive innovation platform. Orchestrating 9 innovative challenge-accelerator models, CAI has been the catalyst for the launch of 300+ companies, 3000+ entrepreneurs, and 120+ partnerships across federal labs, universities an hospitals.

CAI has received several awards for example, the Health and Human Services Secretary’s Pick Innovation Award. In addition, CAI has had nine Obama White House mentions such as #6 of top 10 of things that happened during the administration in innovation.

Prior to launching her own firm, Rosemarie spearheaded IBM’s Innovation strategy practice globally and was awarded IBM’s most laudable honor, the Golden Circle Award. In addition, she has spearheaded consulting practice areas at Booz Allen Hamilton, Oracle, PRTM, as well as Marsh & McLennan, where she served as VP of global strategy. At Oracle, Rosemarie designed and led the implementation of the first cloud-computing platform globally. Rosemarie began her career at Goldman Sachs in investment banking, establishing a breakthrough straight through processing platform for the NYSE floor. d

Session Panelist: Healthcare & the Longevity Economy

Valerie Fremont, Ph.D. has expertise in R&D and Drug Discovery, with a strong background in biochemistry, protein engineering, molecular biology, cell culture and neurobiology for the development and production of new recombinant protein therapeutics. Dr. Fremont's expertise covers all early stages of the drug development process until late R&D and preclinical evaluation. She is the CSO/VP Market Development & Strategy at Quality Biological, Inc. Previously, Dr. Fremont was Director at the Life Sciences and Health IT at the Department of Economic Development in Montgomery County. She was responsible for formulating and implementing the County’s strategic plan for the life sciences and health IT sectors, fostering partnerships throughout the community, managing projects aimed at attracting new companies into the county, accelerating the growth of existing companies and aiding the pipeline of new companies in these sectors.

Prior, Dr. Fremont was Director of Product Development at Trophogen Inc. Her expertise focused on the development of hormones and related growth factor analogs for infertility as well as targeted therapy and imaging of various cancers. Dr. Fremont was responsible for translating objectives and initiatives into successful programs. Valerie Fremont earned their Ph.D. in Neurochemistry and Biochemistry from Aix-Marseille University in 1997.

Session Panelist: Healthcare Apps & Devices

Session Moderator & Panelist: How Human and Machine Convergence can Make People Live Forever

For over 20 years, Dr. Corinna Lathan led AnthroTronix, Inc. as CEO, Co-Founder, and Board Chair to invent human-centered products in digital health, bioelectronic medicine, wearable technology, robotics, and augmented reality. Dr. Lathan details these projects in her 2022 best-selling book, Inventing the Future, Stories from a Techno-Optimist. During her tenure, AnthroTronix forged the regulatory path for Mobile Medical Apps receiving the first FDA 501k clearance for cognitive assessment and was recently sold to investors to scale the Dana Brain Vital product. Dr. Lathan continues as Chief Science Officer, and as an NIH-funded researcher, to lead scientific and operational breakthroughs in brain health outcomes measurement. She is also a member of The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Government-University-Industry Research Roundtable and is a Former Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering at The Catholic University of America and an Adjunct Associate Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Maryland.

Dr. Lathan currently serves as an Independent Director of PTC, Inc., an S&P 500 member (Nasdaq:PTC) and global technology provider of Internet of Things and Augmented Reality platforms, and is a member of the Audit and Cybersecurity Committees. She is also an Independent Director of Ekso Bionics (Nasdaq:EKSO) a pioneer in the field of robotic exoskeletons, or wearable robots. Dr. Lathan serves on the Audit and Governance Committees.

In addition to her public board engagements, Dr. Lathan serves on the Board of the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World, an independent, non-profit organization, dedicated to accelerating global efforts to reduce deaths and harm from smoking. She also serves as a Director on the nonprofit boards Engineering World Health and The KID-Museum.

Dr. Lathan was named a Technology Pioneer and a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum and was the founding co-Chair of their Global Future Council on Human Enhancement. Dr. Lathan has been featured in Forbes, Time, and the New Yorker magazines and her work has led to such distinctions as Maryland’s “Top Innovator of the Year,” MIT Technology Review Magazine’s “Top 100 World Innovators,” and one of Fast Company Magazines “Most Creative People in Business.”

Dr. Lathan received her B.A. in Biopsychology and Mathematics from Swarthmore College and an M.S. in Aeronautics and Astronautics and Ph.D. in Neuroscience from MIT.

Session Moderator: Fireside Chat with Troy Helming

Brian is a startup evangelist, advisor, and angel investor. He is also the Managing Partner at the SparkLabs Cyber+Blockchain (Formerly AOL Fishbowl Labs), which is the premiere startup accelerator in the Washington DC area and he has helped raised more than $150M in funding for their portfolio companies (MHelpDesk, ThreatQuotient, Xmode, Urgent.ly, Curator, Airside Mobile).
He is the DC Chapter Director of Startup Grind, which is one of the largest hi-tech startup communities in the world with over 2,000,000 startup entrepreneurs in 600 cities.
Prior to Startup Grind, he has over 20 years professional experience in web/online/mobile product development from AOL, Merrill Lynch and has started three previous startups. He is on the board of Monte Jade DC and is the chapter director for Startup Grind DC.
He has been featured in Forbes as “17 Top Business Gurus to Follow” and other publications such as Washington Post, Huffington Post, Politico, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, Washington Business Journal, and DCInno “50 on Fire” 2017 and 2018.
He has a BS in Information Systems/Policy & Management from Carnegie Mellon University.

Session Panelist: How Human and Machine Convergence can Make People Live Forever

Samuel "Sam" Alemayehu, co-founder and General Partner at C1 Ventures (C1V), spearheads the development of carbon-negative, resource-efficient industries through technological investments. He
began his entrepreneurial career in Silicon Valley and has extensive venture capital experience from
Venrock Associates. Sam also played an influential role in Africa's business ecosystem, establishing a
multitude of companies across different sectors, such as a popular mobile gaming platform. He co-
founded Cambridge Industries Ltd (CIL), initiating Africa's first municipal waste-to-energy facility, where he serves as Chairman. Besides, Sam contributes as an angel investor, board member for several
companies, and three non-profits, and is recognized as a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader and Technology Pioneer. He is a graduate of Stanford University School of Engineering.

Session Panelist: Major League Pitch Competition

Jay Banerjee is the co-founder and president of ImmersiveTouch, a pioneer in augmented reality surgical simulation & navigation software. ImmersiveTouch is the platform for intuitive VR surgical planning, AR image-guided surgery, and 3D printing. He is responsible for running all facets of the business and has a proven executive management track record driving growth and innovation in healthcare. Jay is driven to improve patient care and enhance physician capabilities using next-generation technology. He is an accomplished speaker, and a contributor to publications such as Forbes and Business Insider. Under his leadership, ImmersiveTouch was awarded Best Simulation Company in North America by Frost & Sullivan; listed in the 34 Virtual Reality Companies to Know by Built In; featured in Healthcare Tech Outlook ‘s Top 10 Medical Imaging Solutions Providers; named one of The 7 Virtual Reality Companies to Innovate Healthcare by Medical Design and Outsourcing; listed as one of The 9 Healthcare Companies Making Innovations in Virtual Reality by Touchstone Research; and selected as one of the Top 10 Startups by HealthBox.

Session Moderator & Panelist: Advances in Human Nutrition

Brian developed his enthusiasm for agriculture and food while working during high school at a wholesale greenhouse operation in Upstate New York; and later attending Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. He now ignites thinking, strategy and action to help domestic and international clients grow their people, sales, income and
communities. With more than 30 years of experience, he has launched, led or consulted on
projects and with businesses in 38 countries spanning Africa, Asia, Latin America, Middle East, the former Soviet Union and the United States.
Brian established The Barnett Company, Inc. to help clients clarify their vision and mission; set goals; develop strategy and action plans; accelerate sales, income and impact; and improve customer experience and outcomes. Clients have included start-ups, emerging and established businesses, economic development projects and government agencies. In addition, Brian has taught university courses in global leadership, international business, strategic planning, finance, marketing, organizational
design and government policy. For recreation, Brian enjoys spending time with friends volunteering at a horse ranch, walking in the forest and countryside, exploring the undersea world, reading and having great conversations. He has a MBA from Harvard Business School, a Bachelor of Science with Distinction from Cornell University, and a Certificate in International Maritime Trade - Port of Seattle.

Session Moderator: Latest Trends in Workforce & Workplace

Session Moderator: Latest Trends in Workforce & Workplace

As Vice President of FCEDA’s Talent Program, Mike Batt is responsible for developing programs and delivering solutions to solve the talent management attraction challenge at scale, aimed at retention, retraining, growth, and attraction. Mike also oversees market intelligence functions for the organization.

Mike joined FCEDA in 2019 after a 30-year career in technology sales and channel management, most of that time working for Microsoft.

He holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Marymount University and resides in Reston, Virginia with his wife and two children.

Session Panelist: Healthcare & the Longevity Economy

Session Panelist: Tech Titans – AI, VR/XR, and Biotechnology

John Bittman is an Interagency Policy Specialist in the Technology Partnerships Office (TPO) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). He works on convening technology transfer stakeholders and assisting in program and policy formulation on behalf of the interagency technology transfer community.

Mr. Bittman is the Host Agency Representative to the Federal Lab Consortium (FLC). and serves as the Executive Secretary for the Lab-2-Market Subcommittee of the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC).

Before joining TPO, Mr. Bittman was a Presidential Management Fellow at the National Institutes of Health’s National Cancer Institute (NCI). There he worked as a Technology Transfer Manager and Invention Development and Marketing Specialist within the NCI’s Technology Transfer Center. John served as a Special Assistant in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). While at HHS, John managed the Deputy Secretary’s Innovation and Investment Summit and helped develop a new office focused on accelerating clinical innovation.

John was deployed to Iraq during Operation New Dawn as a paratrooper with the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division.

Mr. Bittman holds a Professional Science Master’s degree in Nanotechnology, a B.S. in Interdisciplinary Studies (Physical, Biomedical, and Behavioral Sciences) from the University of Central Florida. John also received a Graduate Certificate in Technology Ventures from the University of Central Florida and a Certificate in Policy Strategy from the Brookings Institution.

Session Panelist: Healthcare & the Longevity Economy

Seasoned and accomplished pharmaceutical and biotech leader, with strong partnering, corporate strategy, portfolio management, sales and marketing background. Experience in managing U.S. and global marketing franchises and marketing teams in multiple disease categories. Wide breath of pipeline and in-line expertise, including strategic planning, portfolio management, corporate goal setting, direct-to-consumer advertising, PR, marketing research, healthcare professional promotion, product launches, lifecycle management and managed markets. Therapeutic area experience includes neurology, respiratory, urology, women's health, and immunology.

Session Panelist: Healthcare Apps & Devices

Dr. Sue Carr, Founder and President, CarrTech Corp., is a highly accomplished Clinical Hospital
Pharmacist who has made remarkable strides in revolutionizing the field of medication filtration. She
saw an unsafe and complicated process of filtering ampoule-based medication and developed a simple
and safe solution called FROG (Filter Removal of Glass). She founded CarrTech, a medical device company, to improve safety and compliance by reducing two risks: glass shard contamination to a
patient’s bloodstream, and needlestick injuries to the healthcare provider.

Sue’s educational background includes a B.S in Psychology from Florida State University and a Pharmacy degree from Massachusetts College of Pharmacy. With over three decades of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, she has held various roles in both retail management and clinical hospital pharmacy. Her expertise lies in specialized areas of the hospital such as ICU, ER, Oncology, NICU, and Medical Surgery.

Sue is an active board member and a legislative delegate for Washington Metropolitan Society of Health-System Pharmacists and American Society of Health-System Pharmacist. She remains in the
forefront of the latest advancement and best practices. Her dedication to continuous learning and
professional development is evident through her participation in incubators, accelerators, I-Corp and
leadership cohorts.

Sue has received numerous prestigious awards including:
> Salisbury Shore Hatchery Competition 5 th place winner
> Crab Trap finalist for the BioHeath Capital Region Forum
> “Spotlight Pharmacist of the Year” from her peers at WMSHP from 2019- 2023
> “Emerging Life Science Company of the Year” by Maryland Tech Council
> D.C Live Red-Hot Entrepreneur
> Power Woman of Tech-2021
> Medical Device Innovation Award by the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce in May of
2022.

CarrTech is driven by its mission to improve safety in healthcare for all.

Session Panelist: Healthcare & the Longevity Economy

Colonel Matt Clark is the Joint Project Manager for Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Medical (JPM CBRN Medical). He leads the medical research, development and acquisition portfolio within the Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Defense (JPEO-CBRND).

COL Clark recently served as the Senior Policy Advisor for Global COVID-19 Operations on the White House COVID-19 Response Team, after serving as the Lead Program Manager for the vaccine team in Operation Warp Speed. He was on hiatus from serving as the Director of the Office of Medical Systems under the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology (ASA(ALT)) and the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command. He was hand-picked to serve as the only military officer on the White House COVID-19 Response Team, and was responsible for daily operations and logistics required to move more than 1.2 billion U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-reviewed, authorized, and approved COVID-19 vaccines to more than 115 countries bilaterally, through COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX), and the African Union. He coordinated operations through the whole-of-government COVID-19 vaccine response, which was a complicated legal, regulatory, logistics, and readiness challenge with clear impacts for the United States. He accomplished through an effective public-private partnership involving nine U.S. departments and agencies and six international and multinational organizations. While at the White House, the team COL Clark led delivered over 534 million doses; more than the next four donors combined.

Before ASA(ALT), COL Clark was the Joint Product Manager for Chemical Defense Pharmaceuticals in the JPEO-CBRND. He and his team received an Edison Award™ of Innovation (Gold level) for high-quality, rapid product development for tightly-engineered capabilities. Their efforts were published in four Army AL&T articles after receiving the MG Harry Greene Awards in 2018 and 2019. Consequently, in 2018 COL Clark was the first medical officer to be recognized as the U.S. Army’s Product Manager of the Year.

In addition to various research, development, test, and evaluation leader positions around the world, COL Clark has directed medical clinics and laboratories, served as Military Legislative Assistant in the U.S. House of Representatives, and as the Director of the Eisenhower Leader Development Program at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

COL Clark is a distinguished graduate from Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) at Coe College and the Army War College, and has a PhD in behavioral and neural sciences from Rutgers University. He also has a doctorate of humane letters from Coe College. He has published two edited books, eight book chapters, and over 30 professional articles.

Session Panelist: Latest Trends in Workforce & Workplace

Brendon Colburn is a Technology Architect, Business Application in Public Sector at Microsoft. Brendon
has been with Microsoft since 2016.

Session Panelist: Smart Grids: The Template of Renewable Energy

Sandeep Dudhwewala is Vice President of “Utility of the Future” for National Grid New York. In this role, Sandeep is responsible for activating National Grid’s clean energy vision and strategy in New York and defining the roadmap for the clean energy transformation of power, heat, and transportation sectors. Prior to his current role, Sandeep has led Business Planning & Performance, Strategic Planning and Corporate Strategy functions at National Grid.

Before joining National Grid, Sandeep worked in Corporate Development and Strategy at NextEra Energy driving growth strategy and planning for NextEra’s renewables and utility businesses, as well as M&A and operational excellence programs. Earlier in his career, Sandeep worked as a Management Consultant with Mitchell Madison Group in New York City and held various operational and management roles in the software industry at CA Technologies. Sandeep is a graduate of the University of Rochester where he got a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and a B.A. in Computer Science. He earned his Master’s in Computer Science from Stonybrook University and an M.B.A. from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

Session Panelist: Latest Trends in Workforce & Workplace

Natalie Foley has 20+ years of experience leading teams in designing & launching new products, programs and strategies across the private, public & not-for-profit sectors. Recently, she has joined
Opportunity@Work, where she builds, tests & launches new services for employers and employer
networks to help rewire the labor market for the 71M workers in America who are STARs* (Skilled
Through Alternative Routes, instead of a four-year degree). At Peer Insight, she served as CEO & led partnerships that contributed to dozens of new business ventures with clients like Nike, Kimberly-Clark, AARP, Canon, the Good Samaritan Society and ArcBest, several of which have become multi-million
dollar revenue streams. Natalie began her career at PricewaterhouseCoopers and IBM, where she supported clients such as Allstate, the World Bank, and the U.S. Agency for International Development
(USAID) Afghanistan program in technology & strategy initiatives. She is the co-author of a forthcoming book (available soon for pre-order), The Experimentation Field Book: A Step-by-Step Project Guide.

Mike Gold is the Executive Vice President for Civil Space and External Affairs at Redwire Space. In this capacity, Mr. Gold supports the company’s business development efforts as well as government and media relations.

Prior to joining Redwire, Mr. Gold was NASA’s Associate Administrator for Space Policy and Partnerships and also served as Acting Associate Administrator for the Office of International and Interagency Relations and Senior Advisor to the Administrator for International and Legal Affairs. At NASA, Mr. Gold led the development and implementation of the Artemis Accords which establish norms of behavior to ensure a peaceful and prosperous future in space for all of humanity. Mr. Gold also successfully led the negotiations to develop and execute the binding agreements for the lunar Gateway including billions of dollars of international contributions. Finally, Mr. Gold also led the development and implementation for the first lunar resource purchase by NASA and reforming/updating planetary protection policies. Due to this trailblazing policy work, Mr. Gold was awarded NASA’s Outstanding Leadership Medal.

Before joining NASA, Gold was Vice President of Civil Space at MAXAR Technologies and General Counsel for the company’s Radiant Solutions Business Unit. Mr. Gold also spent thirteen years at Bigelow Aerospace where he established the company’s Washington office, oversaw the launches of the Genesis 1 and 2 spacecraft, and was a recipient of a NASA Group Achievement award for his role in the development and deployment of the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) onto the International Space Station.
In 2012, Mr. Gold was appointed Chair of the Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee, holding this position until joining NASA in 2019. In 2018, Gold was appointed to the NASA Advisory Council and served as Chair of its Regulatory and Policy Committee. Moreover, Mr. Gold is currently the Treasurer of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation and has served on its Board of Directors on several occasions.

Mr. Gold has authored three law review articles, a book chapter, and two editorials on the topic of commercial space and export control reform. Mr. Gold has also been called to testify before the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate as an expert in commercial space as well as space law and policy.

Mr. Gold holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Brandeis University and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Mr. Gold is admitted to practice law in the District of Columbia and the State of New York.

Session Panelist: Forms of Renewable Energy – The State of the Art in Solar, Wind, Hydro & Geothermal

As Vice President of Corporate Real Estate for United Therapeutics, Avi leads an award-winning team recognized for commercial construction, sustainable development, green technology, GMP laboratories, Net Zero and LEED-certified office buildings.

United Therapeutics is one of the world’s top Biotech companies, and Avi’s inhouse group is uniquely focused on designing and building the facilities, environment, infrastructure and resources that deliver on UT’s corporate mission of developing medicines for rare diseases and pioneering life-saving technology.

Avi was the company’s first hire dedicated to corporate real estate and went on to build and create UT’s current department from the ground up, now a 6-person team of geographically dispersed professionals responsible for over 20 facilities across 8 states.

Avi has extensive cross-functional leadership and alliance building across Business Development, Finance, Tax, Legal, EH&S, Risk Management, Security and Manufacturing. He is a key player in all corporate acquisitions, both domestic and global, involving real estate and facilities. Avi heads lease negotiations, global acquisitions, and due diligence of M&A involving owned and leased properties.

He is recognized for excellence in leading community outreach and regularly partners with state delegates, council members, local municipalities and adjacent communities. He’s an expert in relationship building and advocating for company interests with lobbyists specifically in MD, VA, NC, and FL.

One of the most rewarding parts of Avi’s role as head of Corporate Real Estate at United Therapeutics is showcasing the award-winning and best-in-class Silver Spring campus facilities. He routinely hosts and tours the U.S. Dept. of Energy, the National Institute of Standards & Technology, universities, schools, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, local and international artists, engineers, scientists, educators and government officials.

Avi serves on the Board of Directors for both Smart City Works and the Greater Silver Spring Chamber of Commerce. In addition, he serves on the leadership committee for Maryland Tech Council and NCSEA.

Session Panelist: Major League Pitch Competition

Yusuf N. Henriques is the Founder & Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of IndyGeneUS AI & IndyGeneUS Global (pronounced indigenous) a precision genomics company aiming to create the world’s largest blockchain-encrypted digital health platform of indigenous and diasporic African clinical and genomic data. Their genomics laboratory is located at the JLABS facility in Washington, DC, on the historic grounds of the old Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where Henriques once walked the halls as a U.S. Army Combat Medic.

The Jamaican-born immigrant is a serial start-up visionary whose companies are at the helm of technology and thrive at the intersection of financial and health equity. He launched his career in the regulatory space as the acting Branch Chief for the Ob/Gyn, Gastroenterology, and Urology Divisions in the Center for Device and Radiological Health at the Food & Drug Administration (FDA). He served as Director of Regulatory Affairs for SAIC, where he oversaw regulatory compliance strategies for multi-site clinical trials. He was a lead regulatory scientist for the Strategic Innovation Group (SIG) at Booz Allen Hamilton and Senior Research Health Scientist for Outpatient Psychiatry at the James J. Peters Veteran Affairs Medical Center in The Bronx, NY. Henriques managed a $45M scientific portfolio for a large multi-center clinical trial research project in PTSD and TBI (Traumatic Brain Injuries) for the VA Cooperative Study Research Program and the Department of Defense, where he studied alongside Rachel Yehuda, the Vice-chair of Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS) Psychiatry Department. It was through his association with ISMMS that he gained exclusive rights to the patent for the PTSD genomic assay (TruGen-1) that he developed under his first start-up TruGenomix (Polaris Genomics). The patent is currently being piloted at the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) hospitals nationwide to address the high rate of suicides in the veteran and active-duty populations.

The Howard University graduate earned his Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry (Magna Cum Laude) and 95% of his IndyGeneUS team are also Howard Alum. He is a proud father of four girls, an avid LinkedIn contributor, and a lover of soccer.

Session Panelist: Latest Trends in Workforce & Workplace

Todd Hames is a global tech business executive with 25+ years of progressive enterprise-level
technology-related sales leadership experience. Todd is a valued entrepreneurial adviser and consultant to business owners, investors, and executives in Europe and the United States. He has experience both doing large Digital Transformation deals as well as leading successful global business development teams and go-to-market motions. Todd has fingerprints on over $800M in total contract value all focused on the Digital Transformation of Enterprises.

Todd has significant international leadership experience: he hails from New York, earned MBA degrees
from UCLA Anderson School of Management and the National University of Singapore, lived in Europe and has proven success working collaboratively and cross-functionally in a fast-paced, multi-time zone environments with experience gained traveling and conducting transactions in over 35 countries.

Personally, he is married and enjoys spending time with his two young daughters and a pet pug named
Cairo and enjoys watching and attending Formula 1 racing events.

Session Panelist: Tech Titans – AI, VR/XR, and Biotechnology

Dr. Ben Holmes is an entrepreneur, medtech executive, inventor, and scientist. He is the CEO and co-founder of Nanochon, which is commercializing a 3D printed cartilage implant for regenerating lost or damaged cartilage in joints. His academic background is in 3D printing and biomaterials for tissue engineering and regeneration. Ben is also a 3DHEALS community manager in the Washington, D.C. area.

Session Panelist: Major League Pitch Competition

With over 15 years experience developing successful start-up companies, Jepson brings with her, a leadership and board level perspective from both the private and public sector. As the CEO and Co-founder of True Bearing Diagnostics, Inc., she has helped revolutionize healthcare with diagnostic biomarker panels. Most recently Jepson worked as Director of Corporate Strategy, Sales, and Marketing for SeqLL, Inc. with the goal of improving world healthcare through improved diagnostics using true single molecule sequencing (tSMS) and focusing on the the Systems Biology of non-coding RNAs and their influence on chronic disease. She holds degrees from Columbia University’s Barnard College (BA), American University (MA), and Johns Hopkins University (MS).

Session Panelist: Smart Grids: The Template of Renewable Energy

Katie Jereza is Corporate Vice President (CVP) of Corporate Affairs at EPRI, an independent, nonprofit
energy research institute. Through global research collaborations, EPRI is shaping an energy future that
is reliable, resilient, and affordable.
At EPRI Katie leads external engagements, communications, and media relations. With more than
30 years’ experience, her strategic approach helps policymakers and other energy stakeholders align
science-based solutions with clear public benefit to energy transition challenges.

Katie has served as Deputy Assistant Secretary at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Electricity, where she led agency efforts to accelerate transmission permitting and provide technical assistance to state governments. She has also served as Director of Infrastructure Resilience at Edison Electric Institute (EEI).

Katie holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and an MBA from Loyola University Maryland.

Session Panelist: Advances in Human Nutrition

Tony Marciante has been a restaurant veteran for over 29 years. He has been involved in all aspects of start up, operations, marketing and finance. In addition, he has built, designed and run restaurant operations including fine dining, casual Mediterranean, Catering, Banquets and Private Parties.

Tony is currently Chef/Owner of Chef Tony’s Fresh Seafood Restaurant in Bethesda and Amalfi in Rockville. He also works with individuals and companies on their social media campaigns, writes several blogs, Podcasts on a variety of topics, and enjoys business development on many platforms. He offers his services as a consultant to all types of hospitality businesses. His clients
range from casual service to fine dining establishments.

Tony is a qualified small business marketer due to his 27 years of being a practitioner.  Results oriented, Tony makes sales happen by helping restaurant owners and managers effectively market to their clients and create relationships that turn into profits.

Prior to starting his restaurant marketing business, Tony spent over 15 years as an entrepreneur
opening and marketing his own companies. In this role, Tony was responsible for finance, marketing and operations.

Passionate about marketing and its possibilities, Tony provides content creation & strategy services that help build clients email list, engage with effective messaging and drive sales and profits to the bottom line.

Session Panelist: Major League Pitch Competition

Zack Molnar serves as the Finance Director at SafeRx, a company that is revolutionizing healthcare through the use of proprietary locking pill containers. He is responsible for overseeing all financial aspects of the organization, including fundraising, investor relations, and financial planning and analysis. With a background in investment banking, Zack brings a wealth of experience and expertise to his role at SafeRx. As an Investment Banking Associate in the Healthcare Group, he has successfully managed numerous buyside and sellside mergers and acquisitions (M&A) processes and growth capital raise initiatives. At KPMG, he played a key role in dividing Hewlett-Packard's financial operations into two separate entities, developing a new financial planning and analysis strategy for a equipment rental company with $150 million in revenue, integrated finance divisions for two multi-billion dollar healthcare companies. Zack received his M.B.A. from the University of Michigan and a B.A. from Vanderbilt University.

Dr. Susan Coller Monarez is a globally recognized leader with more than 20 years of experience in health innovation. Throughout her career, Monarez has focused on understanding the critical challenges within the health ecosystem and the greatest opportunities for innovation to meet these challenges. Prior to serving as ARPA-H deputy director, Monarez led innovation at the Health Resources and Services Administration, focused on ethical use of AI/ML to support improved health outcomes, novel approaches to addressing social determinants of health, expanding access to behavioral health, ending the opioid epidemic, addressing health equity gaps in maternal and infant mortality, and improving the country’s organ donation and transplantation programs.

Monarez has also served at the White House as the assistant director for National Health Security and International Affairs in the Office of Science and Technology Policy and as the director of Medical Preparedness Policy on the National Security Council. In both White House roles, she led efforts to enhance the nation’s biomedical innovation capabilities including combating antibiotic resistant bacteria and MDR/XDR TB, expanding telehealth and remote patient monitoring, establishing safeguards to ensure personal health data privacy, and improving pandemic preparedness. Monarez led the development of several Presidential-level national strategies, action plans, and policy directives related to domestic and global health.

Monarez also served in leadership positions at the Homeland Security Advanced Research Projects Agency within the Department of Homeland Security and the Biomedical Advanced Research Projects Agency within HHS. In addition to leadership roles within the federal government, Monarez has served on numerous advisory panels, including for the National Academies of Science, the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Monarez has also served as the U.S. representative on several international cooperative initiatives including with the European Union, Canada, France, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom in bilateral and multilateral engagements.

Monarez was a Science and Technology Policy fellow with the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Prior to government service, Monarez was a postdoctoral fellow and graduate student, respectively, at Stanford University and the University of Wisconsin, where she focused on technology development to prevent, diagnose, and treat infectious diseases with a focus on people living in low- and middle-income countries.

Session Panelist: Healthcare & the Longevity Economy

Dr. Carol A. Nacy presently is Chairman & Chief Executive Officer at this company. Dr. Nacy is also on the board of NuGenerex Immuno-Oncology, Inc. and Member of American Academy of Microbiology. Dr. Nacy previously occupied the position of President of American Society for Microbiology and Chairman of the Board at ASM Resources, Inc. (a subsidiary of American Society for Microbiology), Chief Scientific Officer of Anergen, Inc. and Chief Scientific Office & Executive Vice President at CASI Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Carol A. Nacy received a doctorate, a graduate degree and an undergraduate degree from The Catholic University of America.

Session Panelist: Major League Pitch Competition

Session Moderator & Panelist: Healthcare Apps & Devices

Michael is an innovator, educator and serial entrepreneur with a corporate governance, business, health, science and big data background. Michael apprenticed in his father’s dental office as an early teen and earned an AB in Biology and Pre-Healing Arts from Franklin and Marshall College before entering a business career. He was a Sr. Manager at PwC for 5 years and is nationally recognized for launching the first credit bureau and credit score to include on-time rent payments. He was a frequently featured speaker at conferences sponsored by the Federal Reserve, FDIC, Treasury and other Agencies. His innovative work has had material economic and social impact and received recognition and endorsements from the Federal Reserve, NY State Banking Department and National Credit Union Association, as well as R&D and equity investments from IBM, Citigroup, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Omidyar Network, Maryland Department of Economic Development, and grants from the Ford Foundation.

Session Panelist: Fund Architecture: Cash Catalyst & Wealth Wizardry

Guc is an exited entrepreneur, seasoned technology professional and a thriving leader with strong, harmonizing people skills and proven track record in connecting business
needs with technology and innovation.

He has consistently executed by wearing multiple hats from streamlining operations,
managing relationships, and setting strategies to management of sales & marketing. He co-founded a B2B SaaS startup in 2013, raised two rounds of VC funding, and led its exit by acquisition in 2020.

Before turning entrepreneur, he worked for Cisco Systems, Hewlett-Packard and Vodafone, responsible of the enterprise vertical, being a bridge between the technical
teams and the clients.

He is an angel investor and advisor to 5 early-stage ventures, with markups from 2x to 7x. He is currently the Managing Director of Founder Institute in Washington DC, accelerating promising pre-seed stage ventures. He collaborates with other accelerators, incubators, higher education, economic development agencies, non-profits, chamber of commerce organizations and public associations. He supports social impact organizations to initiate change for a better World, backing social entrepreneurs.

Session Panelist: How Human and Machine Convergence can Make People Live Forever

Dr. Thomas Philbeck is a Managing Director at Swiss Foresight and Technology (SWIFT) Partners, a Geneva-based consultancy focused on helping organisations to sustainably integrate emerging technologies. He is a Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International
Affairs, where he helps advise its Artificial Intelligence and Equality Initiative. The former Head of Technology, Society and Policy at the World Economic Forum, Tom led the Forum’s project and content work on the Fourth Industrial Revolution, its definitional program on technology, governance, and societal impact. He currently serves on the advisory board the EU’s Horizon 2020 TechEthos project and is part of the IEEE's standards working group for AI Governance.
He also acts as a Senior Advisor to the Swiss government-backed Geneva Science and Diplomacy Anticipator (GESDA). Tom is a former Professor and has a Doctor of Philosophy from Florida State University and a Masters in Business Administration from Haute Études Commerciales (HEC) Paris.

Session Panelist: Advances in Human Nutrition

Sara Polon (Soupergirl), Co-Founder and CEO of Soupergirl, is a proud ‘99 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania. Her post-college career path took many meandering twists and turns including working at an Internet start up, leading tours through the Middle East, and several years as a stand-up comic in New York.

In 2008, Sara founded Soupergirl along with her mom, Marilyn Polon. The duo are passionate about upending the industrialization of our food system. Sara believes deeply that consumers can make food choices that better themselves as well as the world. Soupergirl’s plant-based, all natural, certified kosher soups can be found at major national retailers such as Costco, Kroger, Whole Foods, Harris Teeter and more. The company also ships soup and other plant based meals nationwide via their website, www.soupergirl.com.

Session Panelist: Fund Architecture: Cash Catalyst & Wealth Wizardry

Session Panelist: Fund Architecture: Cash Catalyst & Wealth Wizardry

Experienced biotech executive and entrepreneur with depth of expertise across clinical asset investment strategy, evaluation, financing and execution. Additional leadership experience within R&D, Medical, and strategic corporate functions. Dr. Price was previously responsible for the strategic and tactical management of all business at Drug Safety Solutions. After a successful 20-year history, Drug Safety Solutions was acquired in June 2017 by Linden Capital Partners. From that date to January 2020, Dr. Price served as the Chief Medical Officer for the global ProPharma Group, a Linden subsidiary. Over the years Dr. Price has served on multiple corporate boards, including public, private, and not-for-profit.

His board duties have included the Chairman’s role on Compensation and Governance as well as a member’s role on Audit. He has served on boards that report to; TSX, NYSE American, and NASDAQ. His most recent experience, Rexahn Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE American: RNN) he served on Compensation, Governance, and Business Development. In his previous role with Sarepta Therapeutics NASDAQ: SRPT, he helped to guide the company transition from $80 million market (2008) to its 2019 market cap of $8.4 billion.

Dr. Price is a clinical trial Medical Monitor and Pharmacovigilance expert. He has years of experience as the head of Safety Management Teams (SMTs), multiple Data Safety Monitoring Boards, as well as protocol development and safety support from FIH to Phase IV clinical trials. While his therapeutic horizon is broad, it has been dominated by oncology, infectious disease, and rare disease.

Session Panelist: Fund Architecture: Cash Catalyst & Wealth Wizardry

Entrepreneurial MBA with 21 years of global investment, operational and board experience.

Investment experience: sourcing & due diligence of global investment strategies including early stage venture capital companies, private equity companies/funds & hedge funds

Operation experience at: fintech companies, venture capital funds, private equity, family offices, family-owned businesses and investment consultants.

Industry experience areas: blue and green technology, impact, edtech, fintech, consumer products, med devices, SaaS biotech, material science, industrial, renewable energy, IoT & services companies.

In 2009, I launched my own investment consulting firm, Private Capital Investments, LLC and have worked for 8 Single Family Offices (4 Billionaires), I am also am Angel investor, advise companies and currently I manage the Venture Capital Funds at TEDCO (tedco.md)

I am a frequent speaker & content provider for family office events, investment seminars and University lectures.

Session Panelist: ScaleUp Mastery & Venture Vantage

Ellis Rosenberg is a strategic leader with a proven track record in driving top-line revenue growth, fostering social impact, and safeguarding brand reputation. With expertise in building and implementing strategic initiatives, Ellis has successfully generated over $1 billion in revenue through partnerships and sales enablement. Ellis's impressive portfolio includes forging impactful relationships with industry leaders like Walmart, Unisys, VIZIO, Warner Brothers, Google, AARP, Denny's, and the University of Maryland.

Recognized for annual report-worthy successes, Ellis's career spans across publicly traded companies, private firms, and nonprofits. Acting as a trusted advisor, Ellis's strategic business development methodology uncovers untapped opportunities and maximizes growth potential.

Session Panelist: ScaleUp Mastery & Venture Vantage

Daniel Ryan co-founded Alikos Wealth Management, LLC in 2016 with Peter Ryan. He attended high school in Washington, D.C., graduating from Maret School in 2011. He then attended Villanova University and graduated in 2015 with honors and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Political Science. Daniel has a diverse background having interned at a political organization, a financial firm, and a legal firm. His interests include investment management and financial planning. Outside of work, Daniel enjoys playing tennis and is an avid sports fan. He currently resides in Chevy Chase, Maryland.

Ruwan Salgado is Principal of Strat8gy International, LLC, an international management consultancy, and was a Partner at Sino America Investment Partners, a venture seeking to assist Chinese companies with investing in the United States. He has expertise in business development, project management, operations, financial management and analysis, and strategic planning. As a management consultant in and outside of the U.S., Ruwan has worked with senior government officials and corporate executives in a wide range of industries including oil, mining, healthcare, finance/capital markets, education and agribusiness. He has served in general management, strategic planning, business development, operations and finance roles with both for-profit and non-profit organizations. Early in his career, he gained experience in venture capital at Calvert Ventures, which established the first socially responsible venture capital fund, helping to manage its portfolio companies and identify and assess new investment opportunities. More recently, Ruwan served as the Executive Director of World Links, an internationally award winning (e.g., from the World Economic Forum etc.) and innovative spin-off from The World Bank that focused on leveraging information and communications technology to improve global education. While at World Links, he spoke on educational technology at international conferences in Africa, Asia and the U.S.A. Ruwan served for over a decade as the President of the University of Chicago Booth School’s alumni club in the Washington, D.C. area and was co-founder and co-Chair of its Entrepreneurs’ Advisory Group, which provided monthly pro bono advise to Washington, DC area entrepreneurs. He serves on the White Flint Implementation Advisory Committee tasked to advise Montgomery County, Maryland’s Planning Board on the implementation of the County’s multi-billion dollar White Flint Sector Plan. Ruwan has an M.B.A. in Finance and Marketing from the University of Chicago and an M.Phil. in Economics from Oxford University. He received both a B.A. in Economics and a B.S. in Engineering from Swarthmore College.

Session Panelist: SpaceTechX

Dr. Sawyer is the Director of UC Space Health (University of California) and Director of the UCSF Skeletal Health Service in the UCSF Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. She is the former Chief Health Innovation Officer Health Innovation Officer for the NASA-funded Translational Research Institute for Space Health. She has more than two decades of Health Technology experience in development and evaluation of device, digital health, and informatics solutions and has a decade of experience in medical care in extreme remote environments.

At UCSF Dr. Sawyer guides development and translation of novel technologies. She is on the UCSF IT Governance Committee. She is Faculty Advisor to UCSF's Health Tech Interest Group (HTIG). Broader strategic roles include Chair, Health Technology Advisory Board for Murdoch Children's Research Institute in Melbourne, the External Advisory Board of the Scripps Translational Sciences Institute and is fromer Assoc Editor of Natures Digital Med Journal.

Dr. Sawyer is co-founder of UCSF Center for Digital Health Innovation where she was Assoc. Director of Strategic Relations and leader of CTSI Catalyst Digital Health track. She served on UCOP's Governance Committee for Telehealth, the UCSF Telemedicine Comm and a member of the NIH CTSA Telehealth TSIG. She co-founded a HIPAA-secure virtual tumor board platform and a safe independent mobility device for fall prevention. Dr. Sawyer has been advisor to Startup Health, Rock Health, Doximity, Epocrates, Babyscripts, Open Placement, Tagnos, and Ouva.

Clinically, Dr. Sawyer combines her skills in Orthopaedics, Physical Therapy, Exercise Physiology and Health Technology to provide comprehensive musculoskeletal care as Director of the UCSF Skeletal Health Service. She has served as the Medical Director for the Great Pacific Race and transoceanic rowers with remote communication and sensing technologies. Dr. Sawyer completed her MS and MD at UC Davis, Orthopaedic Surgery Residency at Stanford, and Fellowships in Harvard Combined Orthopaedic Surgery and Boston Children’s Hospital.

Session Moderator: Forms of Renewable Energy – The State of the Art in Solar, Wind, Hydro & Geothermal

Session Moderator: Smart Grids: The Template of Renewable Energy

Session Moderator: Electrifying the Economy: Sources of Battery Materials for Renewable Energy

Chuck Schilke is a real estate, corporate, environmental. and energy lawyer based in Washington DC. He is also a real estate developer, financier, strategist, and educator.

He has practiced law in firms mostly in the Washington DC area, but also on Wall Street and in Boston. He has also practiced in-house at Exxon Mobil, Marriott, and the American National Red Cross.’

In his real estate law practice, he seeks to reconcile the imperatives of sustainability, economic development, and the housing needs of citizens. Similarly, in his energy practice, particularly at Exxon Mobil, he has attempted to harmonize environmental concerns with society’s need for abundant energy.

In real estate development, Chuck has developed projects valued at up to $1 billion, such as rebuilding the Red Cross’s entire blood processing system nationwide.

In real estate finance, Chuck performed all of the real estate legal due diligence for the Exxon-Mobil merger, and collaborated on teams at the Cadwalader law firm on Wall Street to issue multi-hundred million dollar tranches of Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities every few days at the peak of the CMBS boom.

His major environmental projects include managing 100 Superfund sites while at Exxon Mobil, and remediating 20 of them.

As an educator, he has founded, led, and/or taught in real estate graduate and executive education programs at Georgetown University, Johns Hopkins University, and George Washington University. He created the Georgetown program and grew it into the 2nd largest graduate real estate program in the US.

Prior to his legal and business career, Chuck was a doctoral student in International Relations at Harvard, where he focused on American Foreign Policy Institutions, East Asia, and Russia. At Cornell Law School, he majored in Business and Regulation Law and specialized in International Legal Studies. Chuck’s father is a Wharton alumnus.

Alan is the Summit Chair and President of the Wharton Club of Washington, DC. His dedication to the School and the Club resulted in his becoming a recipient of the Club’s Joseph Wharton Award and Wharton’s Distinguished Alumni Service Award. During his tenure, the Club has had 15 successful conferences, including the five Innovation Summits that have stimulated, connected and empowered a diverse group of innovators and entrepreneurs within and well beyond the Wharton alumni network.

An accomplished business attorney with the highest rating, “a v,” from Martindale-Hubbell, Alan’s career has been split between private practice (now in business and general practice) and public service. He received a Distinguished Service Award for his decade of service as a Senior Trial Attorney at the Federal Trade Commission after two years at the Justice Department. Alan earned a J.D. from Harvard Law School following his undergraduate work at the Wharton School.

Session Panelist: Tech Titans – AI, VR/XR, and Biotechnology

Suthira Taychakhoonavudh co-founded Baiya Phytopharm in 2018 with a desire to create a company to achieve the impossible within the pharmaceutical industry. Suthira's goal is to create a platform that can provide access to high quality and affordable medication to more people across the country and in the SEA region. Her goal with Baiya is to strengthen the health security for this region in hopes to make a change and put an end to this inequality.

Suthira is a graduate from Chulalongkorn University in the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Science and continued her master’s degree in Health Economics at Faculty of Economics, Chulalongkorn University. She holds her doctoral degree from the University of Texas, School of Public Health. Suthira is also an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chulalongkorn University. She is the recipient of several awards in 2021 including CEO of the Year and Woman of the Year from Bangkok Post.

Session Panelist: ScaleUp Mastery & Venture Vantage

Pete Thurlow is an experienced patent lawyer, focused on presenting strategies to help protect inventors, small businesses, and multinational corporations’ intellectual property rights.

Pete has built a versatile and sophisticated practice largely focused on companies actively engaged in innovation and looking for funding to get started. To address this need, he hosts a variety of investor meetings and events aimed at facilitating relationships between businesses and family-owned investors with national and international portfolios. This activity has led to partnerships with the Center for Advancing Innovation, 361 Firm, Ivyfon and other major players in the family investor niche of global investment.
Pete was the President of the New York Intellectual Property Law Association (NYIPLA) in 2018-2019, the primary intellectual property law association in New York with more than 1,000 members. Based on Pete's extensive experience working on matters at the USPTO, he served on the USPTO's Patent Public Advisory Committee (PPAC) from 2012 to 2018 based on an appointment from the U.S. Secretary of Commerce.

Having spent a decade in the U.S. Navy Reserve following graduation from the U.S. Merchant Academy, Pete has coupled his military background with his legal experience in his current work with Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). As an Advisor to DARPA, he is helping DARPA with IP and patent matters, identifying opportunities for DARPA to commercialize their technology, especially with respect to national security matters, and introducing DARPA to strategic partners.

Session Panelist: Electrifying the Economy: Sources of Battery Materials for Renewable Energy

William Tobin is a program assistant at the Atlantic Council Global Energy Center, where he focuses on energy and climate policy. William’s research efforts center on energy transitions in emerging markets and developing economies; clean energy supply chains and critical materials; the future of oil and gas; and emerging technologies such as clean hydrogen and advanced batteries.

William is co-author of the publication Alternative Battery Chemistries and Diversifying Clean Energy Supply Chains, regularly contributes to EnergySource, and has been quoted in Radio Free Asia.

William is also active in planning and executing the Global Energy Center’s programming in Washington, D.C., as well as internationally at the UNFCCC Conference of Parties (COP) and the Atlantic Council’s annual Global Energy Forum.

William served previously for the US Department of State at a Regional Environment, Science & Technology, and Health Office; and for two members of the US House of Representatives.

He is a graduate of the University of Florida, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in biology.

Session Panelist: Smart Grids: The Template of Renewable Energy

Dr. Karen Wayland is CEO of GridWise Alliance and Principal at kW Energy Strategies, where she provides strategic consulting on grid modernization and clean energy policy. She is a recognized expert in national energy and environmental policy and served in leadership positions at the highest levels of government and nonprofits, including as policy advisor at the U.S. Department of Energy and to the Speaker of the House. She serves as Director on the Board of Center for Sustainable Energy and is a Distinguished Associate at Energy Futures Initiative, a Nonresident Senior Fellow at Boston University Institute for Sustainable Energy and an Equity in Energy Ambassador at the US Department of Energy. She holds a Master of Science from the University of Connecticut and a Dual Ph.D. in the fields of geochemistry and resource development from Michigan State University.

Session Panelist: Latest Trends in Workforce & Workplace

A dedication to improving her community and a driving need to find innovative solutions to complex
problems has led Jennifer Williamson to become a regional workforce expert. She is the facilitator of the Greater Washington Apprentice Network as part of her role as the Vice President of Workforce and Member Engagement for the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce. Jennifer also leads the work of the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce Foundation which includes longitudinal workforce research as well as actively facilitating greater connections among the regional workforce community.

Session Panelist: Fund Architecture: Cash Catalyst & Wealth Wizardry

Mr. S. Tien Wong is Chairman of Opus8, Inc., a private investment, strategic advisory, and conference management firm based in the Washington, DC area.

Opus8 provides strategy and fundraising advice to technology companies and investors. The firm organizes tech networking events as well as fundraising missions for private equity and VC firms to meet overseas LPs. As an investor, Opus8 invests in BPO, ITO, call center, CRM, mobility, and datacenter/cloud technologies and services.

Mr. Wong is Chairman & CEO of Tech 2000, Inc. a Herndon, Virginia-based world leader in technology training, mobile virtual education, and mobile content management software. The company leverages its patented mobility technology to create products and solutions for organizations including Fortune 100, Federal Government, nonprofit, and SMB clients around the world.

He is also Chairman of Lore Systems, Inc., a Silver Spring, Maryland-based provider of enterprise network engineering and cloud computing services to enterprise, government and SMB markets. Lore is an SBA-certified HUBZone company.

In 1991, Mr. Wong co-founded and served as CEO of CyberRep, Inc. until its acquisition in 2003 by Affiliated Computer Services (NYSE: ACS). At the time of its acquisition, CyberRep was one of the largest CRM outsourcing companies in the world, operating 6 customer interaction centers throughout the USA with over 2,300 employees and $80 million in revenue. Today, the CyberRep/ACS business unit is one of the largest call center operations in the world, with nearly $2 billion in revenue as a division of XEROX. In addition to garnering such prestigious awards as Customer Inter@ction Solutions magazine’s MVP Quality Award and Customer Interface magazine’s ACCE (Award for Call Center Excellence), CyberRep was ranked in INC. magazine’s 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2000′s “Inc. 500″ as the 51st, 53rd, 72nd and 408th fastest growing private company in the USA, respectively. CyberRep was profitable for eleven consecutive years and was backed by Allied Capital Corporation, a $5 billion investment company (NYSE: ALD).

Mr. Wong is a recognized international expert in CRM, direct marketing, and BPO. He has presented at dozens of industry events around the world, and has written numerous articles on the CRM and BPO spaces. He has also provided commentary on the ABC, Fox, NBC, CNBC, Maryland Public Television, and China’s CCTV networks, as well as print media including Time magazine, the Washington Post, Inc. magazine, and Success magazine.

Mr. Wong was the recipient of the 2001 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award for Greater Washington. An “Entrepreneur in Residence” at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business, he frequently guest lectures on entrepreneurship, leadership and finance at Georgetown, the University of Maryland, George Washington University, and the University of Virginia.

Mr. Wong was appointed by Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley to the 9-member Maryland Venture Fund Authority which allocates and manages $84 million in VC-invested capital. He serves on the Investment Advisory Board of the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Center for Innovative Technology GAP Fund (cit.org) and the Board of Directors of the Potomac Officer’s Club (potomacofficersclub.com). He is an Organizing Board member of Startup Maryland (startupmaryland.org) and Founding Board Member of FounderCorps (foundercorps.org).

Previous Board positions include Treasurer and National Board Member of the American Teleservices Association/PACE (paceassociation.com), Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (bsomusic.org), Chairman of the Executive Leadership Committee for the Network For Teaching Entrepreneurship (nfte.com), the Technology Council of Maryland (techcouncilmd.com), Association for Corporate Growth - National Capital (acg.org), and the Monte Jade Science and Technology Association (mj-dc.org).

Mr. Wong also is an Advisory Board Member of some of the most promising technology companies in the US, including Parature (parature.com), Transactis (transactis.com), DataRPM (datarpm.com), and SpydrSafe (spydrsafe.com).

He is a graduate of Dartmouth College where he majored in Government, and writes about leadership and "hypergrowth in the Entrepreneurial Economy" on his blog, Winning Ideas (tienwong.wordpress.com).

Session Panelist: Forms of Renewable Energy – The State of the Art in Solar, Wind, Hydro & Geothermal

Julia Wood is a founding partner of Rock Creek Energy Group, a boutique energy law firm based in Washington, DC. Julia has focused her practice primarily on hydroelectric and electric power
matters since 2003. She provides strategic counsel to a broad variety of electric industry participants, including independent power producers, power marketers, investor-owned utilities, and state and municipal entities. She advises clients on issues involving the Federal Power Act, National Environmental Policy Act, Clean Water Act, and other federal statutes affecting energy and water development.

Julia has significant experience with the regulation of hydroelectric projects before the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), federal and state regulatory agencies, and the U.S. Courts of Appeal. She advises clients on project development, licensing, compliance, and in the negotiation of multi-party licensing settlement agreements. She currently serves as counsel in a number of hydroelectric licensing, relicensing, license amendment, and license surrender
proceedings before FERC.

Julia is a graduate of Dickinson College and American University, Washington College of Law. She is an active member of the trade association for the hydroelectric industry, the National Hydropower Association, and of the Northwest Hydroelectric Association, Women’s Council on Energy and the Environment, and Women’s Energy Network.

Julia has been recognized in The Legal 500 and Best Lawyers for her energy regulatory work.

Session Panelist: Electrifying the Economy: Sources of Battery Materials for Renewable Energy

Danielle Woodring is the Director of Legislative and Regulatory Affairs of the Ambassador Alfred Hoffman, Jr. Center for Critical Minerals Strategy at SAFE. Danielle brings real-world geological and science policy expertise to the Center. After obtaining her Master of Science in structural geology and geological mapping, Danielle worked as a geologist for the Washington Department of Natural Resources, Washington Geological Survey, and the U.S. Geological Survey. Prior to her master’s research, she served as a Policy Associate for the American Geosciences Institute and worked for the American Geophysical Union. Her multi-faceted career provides her with insights into the science and policies informing all aspects of the critical minerals supply chain, from discovery and extraction to development and manufacturing.