Disruption & Innovation Speakers

Dr. Hakeem Olyuseyi, author of a highly-anticipated upcoming memoir, The Stars in My Soul: My Unlikely Journey through Space and Time, is an internationally-recognized astrophysicist, science TV personality, and global education advocate who has had a long, distinguished career in academia and scientific research. Currently, he is stationed at NASA Headquarters, where he serves as an Astrophysicist and Space Science Education Lead for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. A former TED fellow, Dr. Oluseyi holds three degrees, eight U.S. patents, four E.U. patents, and co-hosts several shows on Science Channel and Discovery International, including Outrageous Acts of Science, How the Universe Works, Space's Deepest Secrets, Strange Evidence, You Have Been Warned, and Strip the Cosmos. Dr. Oluseyi’s success is even more impressive given his incredible personal background and story. Motivating audiences globally with his message of persevering past naysayers, self-doubt, and seemingly immovable obstacles, he is exclusively represented by Leading Authorities.

Neil Jacobstein is the chair of the Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Track at Singularity University, an organization whose founders hail from Google and the X PRIZE Foundation and has a goal “to educate, inspire and empower a new generation of leaders to apply exponential technologies to address humanity’s grand challenges.” Jacobstein shares one of the most thoughtful and up-to-date looks at the future of technology and how it will impact a variety of industries. He explores innovation, disruption, and artificial intelligence as he offers audience a glimpse into the future and its real-world applications.

Michael (Mike) Steep is the executive director of Stanford Engineering School's Center for Disruptive Technology and Digital Cities and the former senior vice president of global business operations at innovation mega-hub, PARC Xerox. He draws on first-hand experience and anecdotes from time spent with the biggest names in Silicon Valley to instruct audiences on how to get ahead of disruptive innovation. Viewing new technology as opportunity, Mike highlights the importance of allowing innovation to trump company culture and legacies—and not the other way around.

Don is a former Apple and Kodak executive and a successful and revered Silicon Valley entrepreneur. The mind behind the world's first consumer digital camera, Strickland rose from an engineer at Kodak to a top executive leading a team of 15,000. He left to become Apple's Vice President of Imaging and Publishing before founding and eventually selling his own start-up, PictureWorks Technology.

A leading expert in robot ethics, Dr. Kate Darling is a research specialist at the MIT Media Lab, where she investigates social robotics and conducts experimental studies on human-robot interaction. Forever interested in how technology intersects with society, Kate has a background in law & economics and intellectual property, she explores the emotional connection between people and life-like machines, seeking to influence technology design and policy direction. Her writing and research anticipate difficult questions that lawmakers, engineers, and the wider public will need to address as human-robot relationships evolve in the coming decades. Dr. Darling’s work has been featured in international media, and she has authored multiple academic publications and contributed to industry publications from Vogue to Die Zeit to the BBC, and in 2017, the American Bar Association honored her legal work with the Mark T. Banner Award in Intellectual Property.