Rayid Ghani is a Distinguished Career Professor in the Machine Learning Department and the Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University. Rayid is a reformed computer scientist and wanna-be social scientist, but mostly just wants to increase the use of large-scale AI/Machine Learning/Data Science in solving large public policy and social challenges in a fair and equitable manner. Among other areas, Rayid works with governments and non-profits in policy areas such as health, criminal justice, education, public safety, economic development, and urban infrastructure. Rayid is also passionate about teaching practical data science and started the Data Science for Social Good Fellowship that trains computer scientists, statisticians, and social scientists from around the world to work on data science problems with social impact.

Over his 37-year career, Rishad Tobaccowala has worked across almost every area of marketing including brand advertising, media, database, as well as direct and interactive marketing. As a pioneer in digital marketing, Tobaccowala helped create one of the first interactive groups and digital agencies 20 years ago and has helped launch a series of initiatives over the years from groups focused on gaming, social, mobile, and search engine marketing. Starcom IP, Play, Giant Step, SMG Search, and Denuo are some of the brands Tobaccowala helped incubate.

Asha Rangappa is a Senior Lecturer at the Yale University’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs and a former Associate Dean at Yale Law School. Asha served as a Special Agent in the New York Division of the FBI, specializing in counterintelligence investigations. Her work involved assessing threats to national security, conducting classified investigations on suspected foreign agents, and performing undercover work. Asha has published op-eds in The New York Times, The Atlantic, and The Washington Post, among others, and has appeared on NPR, BBC, and several major television networks. She is an editor for Just Security and is currently a legal and national security analyst for CNN.

Prior to joining Teneo, Mr. Kajiwara was the director of Strategic Clients at Eurasia Group and a member of the firm’s Operating Committee. In this role, he led the firm’s business development efforts with strategic financial markets and corporate clients and managed relationships with some of the world’s largest hedge funds, private equity groups, wealth management firms, sovereign wealth funds, securities exchanges and family offices. Mr. Kajiwara played an active role in promoting the firm’s research agenda and developing its macro views. A sought-after public speaker, Mr. Kajiwara regularly presents to a wide range of audiences worldwide on geopolitical risks and trends and their implications for markets and corporate strategies. Prior to joining Eurasia Group, Mr. Kajiwara was a director and head of institutional equity sales in the New York office of the Spanish bank BBVA. Earlier, he spent eight years in international institutional equity sales with Bear, Stearns & Co. in New York and San Francisco focusing on global emerging markets. Mr. Kajiwara received a BA in Economics from Vassar College.

Shayla Rivera is an aerospace engineer and former NASA rocket scientist turned salesperson, corporate trainer, and now international keynote speaker, TEDx speaker, radio host, emcee/host, comedian, actor, writer, producer, seminar facilitator, panel moderator and, as of 2017, director of the ENGR[x] program and Professor of Practice with the College of Engineering at Texas A&M University. However, none of these labels tells you much about her. She best describes herself as a spiritually irreverent mystic and awareness expert. What many would call a Renaissance Woman.

An entrepreneur by heart, a designer and biologist by training, and a maker for life, Cecilia is known internationally as an innovation activist in empowering communities and organizations with exponential technologies. She is founder of several companies such as MOB, Makers of Barcelona, the largest co-working community in Barcelona, and FabCafe, digital fabrication lab meets coffee shop. She is currently Singularity University Barcelona Chapter Ambassador and a recent fellow of SU at NASA Research Center at Ames. Cecilia received her Master as an architect at Harvard University as well as biology from Emory University. Cecilia is an adjunct professor at Parsons New School, a product strategy expert at Google Developers Group and a mentor at Google Launchpad and Harvard Innovation Lab.

After graduating from Harvard Business School, Neil Pasricha spent a decade as Director of Leadership at Walmart, the world’s largest company. While there he wrote the 50-million-hit, award-winning blog 1000 Awesome Things and the New York Times bestsellers The Book of Awesome and The Happiness Equation which have been on international bestseller lists for over 200 weeks and sold over a million copies. Neil’s research and books on happiness, mindset, and human potential have received attention from Harvard Business Review, The New Yorker, The Sunday Times, CNN, and BBC. Onstage his style is an endangered species: an incredibly rare blend of raw, hilarious, and heartwarming. His high-energy, takeaway-laden, application-not-motivation speeches are often voted tops at any conference or event.

Lanhee J. Chen, Ph.D. is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution and teaches in the Public Policy Program at Stanford University. His current research focuses on campaigns and elections, health policy, economic policy, and California policy and politics. Chen, a veteran of several high-profile political campaigns, has also served in government, the private sector, and academia. Dr. Chen also served as Governor Romney’s chief policy adviser, a senior strategist on the campaign, and the person responsible for developing the campaign’s domestic and foreign policy.

Fatima Bhutto, born and raised in Pakistan, is an acclaimed poet, writer, columnist, and journalist. With a steep family history in politics, she is also a renowned activist and has undertaken work for women’s rights and humanitarian issues, as well as broader world politics.

Helen H. Wang is an award-winning author and expert on China’s middle class. She is the founder of The Helen Wang Group, an organization that provides innovative programs and strategic consulting for companies doing business in China.Originally from China, Wang has lived in the U. S. for over twenty years. After finishing her masters degree at Stanford University, she joined at a prestigious think tank, Institute for the Future, in Menlo Park, California, and consulted for Fortune 500 companies including Apple Computer, Oracle, and Bank of America.

From the youth to the corporate world, Thurl Bailey, a former NBA player for the Utah Jazz, inspires others to win whatever the odds or disappointments. A master storyteller and an accomplished speaker, he inspires companies and individuals to focus on what matters most: to persevere, build winning teams, encourage peak performance, develop leadership, and discover opportunity in change. He is also a gifted inspirational singer and songwriter who has had multiple successful and best-selling albums.

Alex Sheen is the Founder of because I said I would, the international social movement and nonprofit dedicated to the betterment of humanity through promises made and kept. Sparked by the loss of his father, Alex began sending promise cards to anyone who requested them at no cost. Since his father’s passing on September 4, 2012, because I said I would has sent over 8.4 million promises cards to over 150 countries.