Poppy Crum works to bridge the gap between technology and insightful, effective human interaction. As a multi-dimensional advocate of empathetic technology, she builds technologies that best leverage human physiology to enhance our experiences and how we interact with the world. Poppy serves as the Chief Technology Officer at NextSense and is an Adjunct Professor at Stanford University in the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics, as well as its Symbolic Systems Program. She is formerly the Chief Scientist at Dolby Laboratories. She is dedicated to the development of immersive technologies that leverage human physiology and perceptual realities to enhance our experiences and interactions in the world. She is a frequent speaker on topics related to the intersection of human experience, artificial intelligence, sensory data-science, and immersive technologies.

With a medical, scientific, and philanthropic career that spans more than 30 years, Dr. Sue Desmond-Hellmann has devoted her life to improving the human condition through innovation. Most recently, she was the CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, leading the organization’s vision for a world where every person has the opportunity to live a healthy, productive life. She was formerly the first female chancellor of University of California at San Francisco and spent 14 years at biotech firm Genentech, leading the development of a number of breakthrough medicines. An innovator and leader in life sciences, Dr. Desmond-Hellmann’s diverse training as an oncologist, scientist, and business executive leads to her endless curiosity about the world and her desire to change it for the better. In speeches, she shares her unique insights not only on revolutionizing global health, but also on effective and innovative leadership. Using lessons-learned as a trailblazing female leader of one of the world’s largest philanthropies, Dr. Desmond-Hellmann inspires audiences with her unparalleled perspective on how to foster an environment of collaboration and relentless innovation to drive disruptive solutions that make an impact.

Working at the intersection of psychology, neuroscience, behavior, technology, and science, Nichol Bradford’s mission is to empower human transformation and wellbeing by creating or curating new visions, opportunities, and tech-enabled tools for all. She catalyzes new ways to use technology to expand beyond our perceived limits and reach our fullest potential through her global non-profit Transformative Tech.org, working with talented researchers, founders, and investors across the globe who build wellbeing tech for human health and happiness. Bradford speaks extensively on human transformation, transformative tech, and the future of health, work, and human excellence. Using real-life examples and use cases from the latest trends in wellness technologies, she demonstrates to groups how these emerging advances can be applied to heal, upskill, and enhance human capability and benefit all of mankind.

Julia Pollak is the chief economist for ZipRecruiter who is moving the needle behind the scenes with forward-looking, integrated approaches to economics and the future of work. As the leading economic voice at one of the world’s top online employment enterprises, she leverages exclusive data to gauge the health of the labor market, identify hiring trends, and help organizations and individuals succeed in today’s ever-evolving economic landscape.

Anja Manuel is a founding partner and principal at Rice, Hadley, Gates & Manuel, LLC, a strategic consulting firm, which she co-founded along with former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and others. The firm assists CEOs and senior executives at major US companies in key emerging markets such as China, India, and the Middle East. She teaches at Stanford University’s International Policy Studies Program and is a leading expert on globalization, emerging markets, and America’s shifting role in international leadership. Anja is a former State Department official, an international lawyer, and the author of the book, This Brave New World.

Jane Chen is the co-founder and CEO of Embrace, a social enterprise that aims to help the 15 million premature and low birth-weight babies born every year, through a low-cost infant warmer. The Embrace infant warmer costs about 1% of a traditional incubator and is estimated to have helped over 250,000 babies to date. Most recently, Embrace Innovations launched a new line of baby products for the US market called Little Lotus Baby, which uses NASA inspired technology to keep babies at the perfect temperature so they can sleep better. They are using buy-one, give-one model: for every product sold, a baby is helped in a developing country by the Embrace infant warmer.

Debbie Sterling is the Founder and CEO of GoldieBlox, an award winning company on a mission to ‐"disrupt the pink aisle" with toys, games, and media for girls. Debbie is an engineer, entrepreneur, and one of the leaders in the movement toward getting girls interested in science, technology, engineering, and math. She was named TIME Magazine’s "Person of the Moment,” Business Insider’s "30 Women Who Are Changing the World,” and was recently added to Fortune Magazine’s prestigious “40 Under 40” list. In early 2015, Debbie was inducted as a Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship and honored by the National Women’s History Museum with a “Living Legacy” Award for her work to empower girls around the world.

Bea Johnson and her family are dedicated to living a Zero Waste lifestyle; they generate a mere quart of waste per year. Through her blog and with her book, Zero Waste Home, Bea inspires a growing international community to live simply and take a stance against needless waste. Her passion and positive outlook have earned her appearances on TV and in publications around the world. Grand prize winner of "The Green Awards" in 2011, she regularly speaks at universities, corporate events and conferences. She has become the spokesperson for the Zero Waste lifestyle or, as The New York Times puts it: “The Waste-Free Priestess”.

Dr. Lindsey Piegza is the Chief Economist for Stifel Financial. She specializes in the research and analysis of economic trends and activity, world economies, financial markets, and monetary and fiscal policies. Prior to her role with Stifel, she was the Senior Economist for an investment bank in New York City for eight years consulting clients in the U.S., Europe, Asia and the Middle East.