Executive Chairman, CognitiveScale; MD, The Entrepreneurs’ Fund; Chairman, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas/San Antonio; Former General Manager, IBM Watson.

Manoj Saxena is the Executive Chairman of CognitiveScale and a founding managing director of The Entrepreneurs’ Fund IV, a $100m seed fund focused exclusively on the cognitive computing and machine intelligence market with eight active investments.

Previously, he was IBM’s first general manager of IBM Watson (2011-14), where his team built the world’s first cognitive systems for healthcare, retail, and financial services. He received the IBM Chairman’s award for Watson commercialization and helped with the formation of Watson Business Group in January 2014 with a $1B investment from IBM.

Prior to IBM, he successfully founded, scaled, and sold two venture-backed software companies within a five-year span. Webify, an emerging leader in industry-specific SOA middleware, was acquired by IBM in 2006, and Exterprise, a business process collaboration company, was purchased by Commerce One in 2001.

Saxena also serves as Chairman for The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, San Antonio Branch and the Saxena Family Foundation. Holder of nine software patents.

An avid auto racing enthusiast, he has completed track, endurance and auto rally races around the world including 24-day Singapore-Malaysia-Thailand-Burma race, a 19-day Trans-America race, and a 10-day Madrid to Marrakesh race.

Saxena holds a masters degree in business administration from Michigan State University, and a masters in management sciences from the Birla Institute of Technology & Science in Pilani, India.

Kay Firth-Butterfield is a Barrister and part-time Judge who has worked as a mediator, arbitrator, business owner and professor in the United Kingdom. In the United States, she is the Executive Director of AI-Austin and the former Chief Officer of the Lucid.ai Ethics Advisory Panel. Kay is a Senior Fellow and Distinguished Scholar at the Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law, University of Texas, Austin and Vice-Chair, The IEEE Global Initiative for Ethical Considerations in Artificial Intelligence and Autonomous Systems Additionally, she is a Partner in the Cognitive Finance Group, a members of the technical advisory committee of the Foundation for Responsible Robotics and an adjunct Professor of Law. Kay is a humanitarian with a strong sense of social justice who has advanced degrees in Law and International Relations. She advises governments, think tanks, businesses, inter-governmental bodies and non-profits about artificial intelligence, law and policy. Kay co-founded the Consortium for Law and Policy of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics at the University of Texas and taught its first course: Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technologies: Law and Policy.

Founding Visionary of AIAustin, Michael has been an Austin-based AI entrepreneur and technology innovator for almost 30 years. During that time, he witnessed the critical importance played by public/private structures like MCC, Sematech, and others in fostering the right climate and support infrastructures in Austin for the growth of leading-edge technologies here. Working with and alongside those organizations helped shape Michael’s Founding-vision behind creating “AI-Austin” to help make the incredible city of Austin, TX the epicenter of Artificial Intelligence globally.• As far back as the late 1980’s, Michael served as a principal systems design specialist for the U.S. and other national governments, pioneering systems integration strategies and scaled architectures of next-generation knowledge computing and autonomous software agent systems, starting with one of his earlier companies and its work with the MCC Research Consortium in Austin and other organizations globally. Over the ensuing years, Michael has been leading the creation of innovative integrations of web-based and AI-related technologies in Austin and around the world, and is now the Chairman/CEO and Founder of Austin-based Lucid Holdings, Inc.• In addition to its successful deployments of AI solutions for global clients, Lucid was the first AI company in the world to create a public-facing Ethics Advisory Panel (EAP) comprised of renowned thought-leaders. Lucid’s deep ethical perspective and knowledge in the intersections of AI with such issues has led to collaborations and work with many national and uber-national governmental entities, academics, non-profits, and other global organizations in leading this incredibly important challenge.

Matt Sanchez is the Founder and CTO, leading the development of CognitiveScale’s core products and infrastructure. He serves as the principal architect and product visionary for the company’s cloud-based cognitive applications across various industries. Recently, Matt was the leader of IBM Watson Labs and was the first to apply IBM Watson to the financial services and healthcare industries. Before joining IBM, Matt was Chief Architect and employee number three at Webify, which was acquired by IBM in 2007. Matt earned his BS degree in Computer Science from the University of Texas at Austin in 2000, has been granted six US patents, and is the author of more than a dozen more.

Dr. Joydeep Ghosh (PhD ’88) is the Chief Scientific Officer at CognitiveScale, responsible for shaping corporate vision, influencing technology strategy, overseeing algorithmic science, and positioning the company for growth in the coming months and years. Dr. Ghosh is also the Schlumberger Centennial Chair Professor at the University of Texas (UT), Austin with appointments across multiple colleges involved in the theory, design and application of AI-related technologies and systems. He is the founder-director of UT-MINDS, considered among the top academic groups worldwide researching full-stack Machine Intelligence and Decision Systems. Dr. Ghosh has authored over 500 peer-reviewed publications related to data and knowledge driven insights, won 16 Best Paper awards, chaired or keynoted at top data mining and machine learning conferences, and led numerous successful projects for industry and government over the past 30 years.

Ashley is an engaged and innovative leader who has always had a deep interest in advancing the public good. Recently leaving her long-standing career in the public service where she was last Director of Data and Digital for the Government of Canada, she has now taken on the role of Executive Director of AI Global, a non-profit dedicated to creating practical tools to ensure the responsible use of AI. Throughout her career she has worked at the intersection of innovative technology and data, and its impact on providing better information and services.

Kate currently leads the Data and AI Cloud Solution Architecture team for Financial Services at Microsoft UK, helping organizations shape their data strategies in a scalable and responsible way. Her main focus lies in the intersection between technology and business, how data can shape organizations and AI systems. Prior to joining Microsoft, she worked at start-ups where she focused on leveraging big data and behaviour analytics to augment decision making.

Kate comes from a background in scientific research, specializing in neurobiological genetic engineering. During her research, she studied the influence of genetics on behaviour and survival mechanisms.

She holds a MSc in Molecular Biology from Bar Ilan University and a MBA from Tel Aviv University.

Cameron Davies is the SVP, Corporate Decisions Sciences for NBCUniversal responsible for the overall development and execution of the NBCU data and advanced analytics strategies designed to further NBCU priorities and support evolving business models. This includes areas such as defining and leading the overall NBCU Data Strategy, Forecasting, Content Efficacy, Pricing and Yield Management, Machine Learning, and advanced AI practices.

Prior to joining NBCUniversal in 2013, Cameron spent over 18 years at Disney developing and leading advanced analytical teams for a variety of business areas including Disney Parks and Resorts, Media Networks, Walt Disney Studios, Disney Interactive, and Disney Consumer Products. His final role was Sr. Director and GM, Management Science and Integration, leading the internal COE for Advanced Analytics. In this role he worked closely with executives across the enterprise to deliver advanced analytics tools to drive business priorities. Prior to joining Disney he spent time as a Professor of Business/Finance for Pensacola Christian College.

Cameron has an MBA and Master of Accountancy (MACC) from the University of West Florida and a BS Business Administration/Accounting from Pensacola Christian College.

Rajeev Ronanki serves as Senior Vice President, Chief Digital Officer at Anthem, Inc. He is leading the transformation of Anthem to become a digital/AI-first enterprise through driving the vision, strategy, and execution of Anthem’s Digital, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Exponential Technology, and Innovation Portfolios. Through these efforts, Ronanki is enabling Anthem to harness the power of AI and data to better understand healthcare consumers and provide tailored, personalized care. His experience spans over 20 years of innovation-driven industry and social change across healthcare and technology.

Prior to joining Anthem, Ronanki was a Partner at Deloitte Consulting, LLC where he established and led Deloitte’s Life Sciences and Healthcare Advanced Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, and Innovation practices. Additionally, he was instrumental in shaping Deloitte’s blockchain and cryptocurrency solutions and authored pieces on various exponential technology topics.

Ronanki also led Deloitte’s strategic partnerships across a wide range of innovation programs, such as doc.ai, Singularity University, Exponential Conference Series, and MIT Media Labs, that seek to evangelize disruptive technologies like artificial intelligence, blockchain, and precision medicine.

Ronanki obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Osmania University in India and a Master’s Degree in Computer Science from the University of Pennsylvania.

Gavin Munroe is the HSBC Global Chief Information officer (CIO) for Retail Banking and Wealth Management (RBWM) overseeing all Technology aspects of RBWM globally across all markets.

As the CIO for RBWM he works in close partnership with the different business lines of Retail Banking, Wealth Management, Insurance and Asset Management to deliver sustainable solutions that balance cost, risk and regulatory demands, while driving the digital transformation journey with the ability to rapidly innovate within RBWM. Gavin has a proven track record of delivering technology solutions at global scale, managing and building global teams, and leading large transformation programs aligned to business goals and strategies.

Based in London at HSBC’s global headquarters in Canary Wharf, Gavin has more than 20 years of the financial industry experience. He joined HSBC in November 2018 from Merrill Lynch/Bank of America where he was the Machine Learning (ML) CIO accountable for driving the digitization of ML technology. At Bank of America / Merrill Lynch he held a number of senior roles, most notability head of global consumer products (card, deposit, mortgage) and CIO for Wealth Management Technology teams. He oversaw the transformation of the wealth function, digitizing and modernizing its capability to drive growth.

Prior to that, he worked for Synechron as MD of Asia Pac, a specialist provider of business technology solutions for capital markets, insurance and mortgage banking, leading their expansion into Asia Pacific. he also held the positions of CIO Saxon, a subsidiary of Morgan Stanley and Head of Technology for the West Coast USA for Wachovia.

Gavin graduated at the University of Port Elizabeth, South Africa and has a Bachelor of Science Degree, with dual majors in both Computer Science and Physics.

Global & US Artificial Intelligence Leader, PwC US

Anand Rao is a Principal with PwC’s US Advisory practice, with over 24 years of industry and consulting experience, helping senior executives structure, solve and manage critical issues facing their organizations. He has worked extensively on business, technology, and analytics issues across a wide range of industry sectors including Financial Services, Healthcare, Telecommunications, Aerospace & Defense, across US, Europe, Asia and Australia.

Anand has also co-edited four books on Intelligent Agents and has published over fifty papers in Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence in major journals, conferences, and workshops. Anand was awarded the Most Influential Paper Award for the Decade in 2007 from the Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems (AAMAS) organization.

CEO, Hypergiant

Ben Lamm is a serial technology entrepreneur that builds intelligent and transformative businesses. He is currently the CEO and founder of Hypergiant. Lamm was the CEO and founder of Conversable, the leading conversational intelligence platform that helps brands reach their customers through automated experiences on all major messaging platforms. Conversable was acquired by LivePerson in 2018.

Lamm was also the the founder and CEO of Chaotic Moon, a global creative technology powerhouse acquired by Accenture. During his time at Chaotic Moon and as a Managing Director at Accenture, Lamm spearheaded the creation of some of the Fortune 500’s most groundbreaking digital products and experiences in the emerging tech world of IoT, VR, Connected Car, Mobile, Tablet, and Wearables.

CEO and co-founder of data.world

Brett is CEO of data.world a Public Benefit Corporation (and Certified B Corporation) focused on building the platform for modern data teamwork.

Brett founded and led Bazaarvoice as CEO from 2005-2012, through its IPO, follow-on offering, and two acquisitions (PowerReviews and Longboard Media). Prior to Bazaarvoice, Brett founded and led Coremetrics, which was rated the #1 Web analytics solution by Forrester Research and, like Bazaarvoice, expanded into a global company and category leader. Coremetrics was acquired by IBM in 2010 for around $300m.

Assistant Dean, School of Design and Creative Technology at the University of Texas

Doreen is a successful leader of global creative firms who advises and consults with companies from Fortune 100 to startups on design and innovation issues. The former president of the global design firms, frog and Quirky, she is now the Assistant Dean in the School of Design and Creative Technology at the University of Texas.

Doreen is also a co-founder of the mobile video insights firm Vidlet, a board member and advisor of several startups, and a columnist for Fast Company Co.Design. A recognized thought leader on business and design issues, she speaks publicly about her signature leadership style and the power of empathy to drive business results. Most recently Texas Monthly named Doreen as one of the 15 innovators reshaping Texas.

Dr. Bhatt Vadlamani is serving as VP of Enterprise Architecture at Jackson Enterprise Technologies, the U.S. based technology arm of the global insurance giant, Prudential Plc. In that capacity, he drives the Business Process Engineering Center of Excellence and the AI Center of Excellence that deliver data-driven insights to business teams at the speed of business to succeed in its digital ecosystem.

Dr. Vadlamani served as a Member of the G-20/B-20 Digitalization Task Forces during 2017-2018 as a subject matter expert on Digital Economy and holds a US Patent on Gamification of Analytics for digital marketing.

He is a Certified ITIL V3 Expert in operationalizing digital technologies. He has over three decades of experience in orchestrating Digital Transformations in large enterprises including Sun Microsystems, eBay, Disney, and Blue Shield of California by delivering innovative services including Digital Health, Cloud Platforms, High Performance Computing, Digital Analytics, and Digital Twin Organization to govern the deployment of digital products and AI models in global enterprises in ethical manner.

He has published in scholarly journals including Strategic Management Journal and International Journal of Technology Management. He did his Ph.D. in Strategic Management and M.S. in Analytics from Stern School of Business at New York University, M.B.A. in Strategic Management from Indian Institute of Management at Ahmedabad, and B.S. in Computer Science from Indian Institute of Technology at Delhi.