Dr. Kristina M. Troyer, DPT, MBA, GCS, is a data scientist and geriatric specialist dedicated to leveraging data analytics for superior healthcare outcomes. With a Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) and an MBA with a data analytics concentration from the University of South Florida, she excels at transforming data into actionable insights.

Currently serving as a Data Scientist at Cypress Living in Fort Myers, Dr. Troyer spearheads the development of data collection solutions and custom dashboards. She efficiently utilizes AI and Machine Learning technologies to support business and clinical operations, contributing to the company's data strategy. Her role involves creating automation for workload reduction and efficiency gains.

Her diverse certifications, including Certified Geriatric Specialist (APTA Credentialed) and Credentialed Clinical Instructor (CCIP), reflect her commitment to excellence in healthcare. With a passion for data-driven healthcare solutions, Dr. Troyer is at the forefront of transforming patient care through innovative data analytics strategies.

Eric is a senior executive focused on creating new businesses, solving high value customer problems, while building and working with great teams. He has held leadership positions across Sales, Product, Engineering & Finance, which has driven a well balanced perspective and curiosity for new customer development, identifying and executing to broader industry trends, and betting on new technology stacks to enable better solutions.

He is focused on the exploding world of generative AI, and how individuals and businesses are taking advantage of LLMs to create innovative new services and optimize existing.

Armando Pauker is a co-founder and Managing Director of Tensility Venture Partners, a Chicago-based seed-stage fund focused on enterprise software applications of Artificial Intelligence. He has been in venture for more than 20 years investing in hardware and software businesses. Prior to venture, Armando served in senior management positions at several global technology companies and as a management consultant with Booz Allen Hamilton in technology industries. 

Select previous exits include: Duo Security (acquired by Cisco Systems), DocuSign (N:DOCU), FutureSimple (acquired by ZenDesk), BrightCloud (acquired by Webroot), Initiate Systems (acquired by IBM) and YCharts (acquired by LRR Partners).

Armando is a first generation immigrant, born in Colombia. He holds an MBA with High Distinction from the University of Michigan, and he received his BS in Electrical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology.

Jim Lecinski is a Clinical Associate Professor of Marketing at Kellogg where he teaches Marketing Strategy and Omni-Channel Marketing Distribution Strategy.

Prior to coming to Kellogg, he spent 30 years in the marketing industry, most recently twelve years at Google, where he was Vice President of Customer Solutions for the Americas.

His seminal book about the new marketing model, “Winning the Zero Moment of Truth” known as “ZMOT” (pronounced: "Zhee MAHT”) was published in 2011, and has been read by over 300,000 marketers worldwide and was featured in the New York Times, Advertising Age and Forbes.

His newest project, “The AI Marketing Canvas: A Five Stage Roadmap to Implementing Artificial Intelligence in Marketing” was published by Stanford University Press in Spring 2021.

Alex Castrounis is the founder and CEO of Why of AI and the author of AI for People and Business. He is also an adjunct for Northwestern University’s Kellogg / McCormick MBAi program, where he created and teaches the program’s core artificial intelligence and machine learning course.

Alex has spent the last two decades advising businesses of all sizes, from startups to Fortune 100s, on how to use data, analytics, and technology to drive business and customer success. A significant part of his work has been helping companies embed artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data science into every facet of their decision-making, operations, and products.

Alex also understands how analytics and data-driven decisions can help businesses gain and maintain a competitive advantage. As a former INDYCAR engineer and data scientist, he honed his ability to measure and analyze billions of data points to deliver an advantage in races where milliseconds separate winners from the rest of the pack.

Kaya Yurieff writes about the creator economy and social media. In April 2021, she joined the tech publication The Information to launch the Creator Economy newsletter and cover the fast-growing sector. She regularly covers Meta Platforms, TikTok, YouTube, Snap and X (Twitter), as well as startups focused on creators. Previously, she covered technology and social media platforms at CNN.

Laurence Hayward is the founding partner of ATOMS, a “hardtech” venture capital fund investing in engineering innovations that improve the human condition. Hayward is co-founder and partner at Independence Equity and advisor to Dipalo Ventures, both climate-tech funds. He has served on the Board of Directors of numerous portfolio companies. Previously, Hayward co-founded Cornerstone Angels, a Chicago-based angel group that invested in more than 50 companies. Hayward is the founding partner of VentureLab, a management consulting and investment banking firm. He holds Series 7 and 63 licenses and has completed more than 40 private placements.

Previously, Hayward was President of Vcapital.com, an internet-based, private-
equity exchange (and early version of crowdfunding). He started his career at
Arthur Andersen where he served as global marketing director of the Enterprise Group. There he was responsible for developing and managing company-wide marketing and sales initiatives with hundreds of professionals in 80 offices worldwide.

Sara is Co-Founder & Managing Director at Earth Foundry, an early-stage venture capital firm which has backed some of the most transformative energy and cleantech companies. Sara is the driving force of the firm, leading investment activity and actively building the fund’s portfolio companies, including Advanced Diamond Technologies (acquired by SMIN), Azumo, e-Zinc, Intellihot, NanoGraf, Network Perception, Polystyvert, Tank Utility (acquired by Generac), and Volexion.

Prior to Earth Foundry, Sara built a government advisory practice at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and helped climate tech startups raise $300M in non-dilutive funding. She also held roles with GE Energy and environmental consulting firm, GaiaTech.

Sara earned an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and an undergraduate degree from Emory University. She also holds a number of advisory roles including serving on the Investment Committee for accelerator Evergreen Climate Innovations, the Advisory Board for Chain Reaction Innovations, an incubator program at Argonne National Laboratory, and serving as an Executive-in-Residence at the Rustandy Center – Chicago Booth. Sara was recognized by Fortune as a “Top 13 Seed Stage Climate VC to Watch” and by Midwest Energy News “40 Under 40.”

Jacob Babcock is CEO and Founder of NuCurrent, Inc., a venture-backed wireless power company based in Chicago. NuCurrent is the world’s leading wireless power technology company, launching more products into mass production than any other wireless power company across auto, consumer, medical and industrial segments. Some notable applications include UPS’ package delivery computers, Whoop fitness bands, and Samsung mobile phones, and much more.

Jacob’s other experiences include: North American legal counsel for cleverbridge, Inc., a leading e-commerce provider for digital distribution; technology attorney at Foley & Lardner LLP, a 900-person global law firm; and high school teacher and football coach in St. Louis as part of Teach For America.

Jacob is a named inventor on over 30 patents, has a JD from Northwestern University School of Law, a BA from Indiana University, and lives in Chicago with his wife, two daughters and dog where he risks life and limb cheering for the Packers and Brewers.  

John Major is a seasoned executive and business leader with extensive experience in the technology industry. He has served as a board director for several publicly traded companies, where he played a pivotal role in driving growth and profitability.

Mr. Major has served on the boards of directors of Littelfuse (LFUS) since 1994 until 2022, Lattice Semiconductor Corporation (NASDAQ:LSCC) since 2018 until 2022, Lennox International Inc. (NYSE:LII) since 1993 until 2022, and ORBCOMM Inc. (NASDAQ:ORBC) since 2007 until 2022. He previously served as a director of Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ: BRCM) from 2003 until its acquisition by Avago Technologies in February 2016, and as a director of Pulse Electronics Corporation from 2013 until its acquisition by Yageo Corporation in May 2018, and as a director of Resonant, Inc. (NASDAQ:RESN) from 2013 until April 2019. Mr. Major holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering from the University of Rochester, an MS in mechanical engineering from the University of Illinois, an MBA from Northwestern University and a JD from Loyola University.

Throughout his career, Mr. Major has been recognized as a dynamic and visionary leader with a track record of driving growth and delivering results. His experience as a board director at publicly traded companies has given him a deep understanding of the complex challenges facing today's businesses, and he has proven himself to be a valuable asset to any organization he works with.

Gintaras Vaisnys is a Managing Partner in Inflection Equity, which has been investing in hardtech ventures in the medical device and technology spaces for the last decade. In the past, he founded or ran multiple medical device and technology companies and has built them from initial idea through to organizations with factories selling products around the world. He has successfully participated in and secured funding for various companies and seen a number through to exits. He holds 45 issued patents.

Previously, Gintaras was a CEO of Defibtech, LLC. He co-founded, built and ran the Company from inception to sale of the Company to Nihon Kohden. Defibtech is a defibrillator manufacturer selling in over 40 countries around the world, with more than 500,000 defibrillators and millions of consumables sold. Defibtech was named the number one fastest growing medical device company in the United States (7th overall) in the 2007 Deloitte “Fast 500” list. Defibtech and the products that Gintaras has personally helped design have won Medical Device Excellence awards (2005, 2011), IDSA (Industrial Designers Society of America) awards (2013 and 2004: IDEA awards; 2010: Design of the Decade), and numerous other product and business awards. One of his designs was exhibited at the MoMA (“Design Takes on Risk”, Museum of Modern Art, NYC).