Joelle Pineau is a faculty member at Mila and an Associate Professor and William Dawson Scholar at the School of Computer Science at McGill University, where she co-directs the Reasoning and Learning Lab. She is also co-Managing Director of Facebook AI Research, where she oversees the labs in Montreal, Seattle, Pittsburgh, and Menlo Park.

She holds a BASc in Engineering from the University of Waterloo, and an MSc and PhD in Robotics from Carnegie Mellon University. Dr. Pineau’s research focuses on developing new models and algorithms for planning and learning in complex partially-observable domains. She also works on applying these algorithms to complex problems in robotics, health care, games and conversational agents. She serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research and the Journal of Machine Learning Research and is Past-President of the International Machine Learning Society. She is a recipient of NSERC’s E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship (2018), a Fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), a Senior Fellow of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR), a member of the College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists by the Royal Society of Canada, and a 2019 recipient of the Governor General’s Innovation Awards.

Alex `Sandy’ Pentland directs MIT’s Human Dynamics Laboratory and the MIT Media Lab Entrepreneurship Program, co-leads the World Economic Forum Big Data and Personal Data initiatives, and is a founding member of the Advisory Boards for Nissan, Motorola Mobility, Telefonica, and a variety of start-up firms. He has previously helped create and direct MIT’s Media Laboratory, the Media Lab Asia laboratories at the Indian Institutes of Technology, and Strong Hospital’s Center for Future Health. 

He is on the Board of the UN Foundations’ Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data, co-led the World Economic Forum discussion in Davos that led to the EU privacy regulation GDPR, and was central in forging the transparency and accountability mechanisms in the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.  He has received numerous awards and prizes such as the McKinsey Award from Harvard Business Review, the 40th Anniversary of the Internet from DARPA, and the Brandeis Award for work in privacy.

In 2012 Forbes named Sandy one of the `seven most powerful data scientists in the world’, along with Google founders and the CTO of the United States, and in 2013 he won the McKinsey Award from Harvard Business Review.  He is among the most-cited computational scientists in the world, and a pioneer in computational social science, organizational engineering, wearable computing (Google Glass), image understanding, and modern biometrics. His research has been featured in Nature, Science, and Harvard Business Review, as well as being the focus of TV features on BBC World, Discover and Science channels.  

Renée Cummings is a criminologist, criminal psychologist, therapeutic jurisprudence specialist, AI ethicist and the historic first Data Activist in Residence, at The School of Data Science, University of Virginia. 

Renée is also a community scholar at Columbia University. Advocating for AI we can trust, more diverse, equitable, and inclusive AI, she is on the frontline of ethical AI, generating real time responses to many of the consequences of AI.

Renée also specializes in AI risk management, justice-oriented AI, social justice AI, AI policy and governance, and using AI to save lives. She is committed to using AI to empower and transform communities by helping governments and organizations navigate the AI landscape and develop future AI leaders.

Renée works at the intersection of AI, criminal justice, racial justice, social justice, design justice, epidemiological and urban criminology, and public health. She has extensive experience in trauma-informed justice interventions, homicide reduction, gun and gang violence prevention, juvenile justice, evidence-based policing and law enforcement leadership. Her work extends to rehabilitation, re-entry and reducing recidivism. 

Renée is committed to fusing AI with criminal justice for ethical real time solutions to improve law enforcement accountability and transparency, reduce violence, enhance public safety, public health, and quality of life. 

A thought-leader, motivational speaker, and mentor, Renée is an articulate, dynamic, and passionate speaker who has mastered the art of creative storytelling and deconstructing complex topics into critical everyday conversations that inform and inspire.

Pierre Fitzgibbon was born in Montréal. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management from École des Hautes Études Commerciales de Montréal (HEC) and is a Quebec Chartered Professional Accountant. Before becoming involved in politics, Mr. Fitzgibbon served as managing partner at Walter Capital Partners, a private equity Firm, between 2015 and 2018. From 2007 to 2014, Mr. Fitzgibbon assumed the role of president and chief executive officer at Atrium Innovations, a company that develops, manufactures and markets value-added products for the health and nutrition industry.

From 2002 to 2007, he put his skills to work at National Bank Group, where he occupied the position of vice-chairman of National Bank Financial, where he mainly acted as head of investment banking and corporate finance services. He was also senior vice president of finance, technology and corporate affairs at National Bank of Canada.

Previously, Mr. Fitzgibbon also held executive positions in finance, as well as in company and business development at Télésystème Mobiles International, Chase Capital Partners Hong Kong, Domtar and Peerless Carpet Corporation. He began his career at PricewaterhouseCoopers in auditing and consulting services.

Over the last few years, Mr. Fitzgibbon has served on several boards of directors, including that of Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, WSP, Héroux-Devtek, TC Transcontinental, Cycle Capital Management, Neptune Technologies, Lumenpulse and Arianne Phosphate.

This committed businessman is involved in his community and in several organizations, including until recently, the Fondation du Dr Julien.

Valerie Pisano is President and CEO of Mila – Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute. Founded by Professor Yoshua Bengio, Mila is a global pole for scientific advances that inspires innovation and the development of AI for the benefit of all – namely through training talent, advanced research, collaboration projects and dialogue about the ethical and responsible development of AI. Valerie was previously Chief Talent Officer at Cirque du Soleil and cofounded The Mobïus Bias Project, an initiative focused accelerating the dialogue on female leadership roles. She began her career at McKinsey & Company after a Master Degree in Economics at HEC Montreal.

Phil Vokins runs Intel’s Americas and Canada AI business. He is a North American subject matter expert in the arena of Analytics, Artificial Intelligence and Public Policy and is a founding member of Intel’s Global AI Centre of Excellence.  He is a passionate believer in educational initiatives and has spent much of his free time working with young people in his home of Toronto, Canada, teaching programming and ethics in technology. 

He holds a first degree from the University of Huddersfield (UK), Post Grads from both Thames Valley University, London (UK) and the University of Washington (US), and an MBA from the Henley Business School.

Wendell Wallach is a scholar at Yale University’s Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics, where he chaired Technology and Ethics studies for eleven years. He is also a senior fellow at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, and a senior advisor to The Hastings Center. His latest book, a primer on emerging technologies, is entitled, A Dangerous Master: How to keep technology from slipping beyond our control.  In addition, he co-authored (with Colin Allen) Moral Machines: Teaching Robots Right From Wrong.  The eight volume Library of Essays on the Ethics of Emerging Technologies (edited by Wallach) was published by Routledge in Winter 2017.  He received the World Technology Award for Ethics in 2014 and for Journalism and Media in 2015, as well as a Fulbright Research Chair at the University of Ottawa in 2015-2016. The World Economic Forum appointed Mr. Wallach co-chair of its Global Future Council on Technology, Values, and Policy for the 2016-2018 term, and he is presently a member of their AI Council. Wendell is the lead organizer for the 1st International Congress for the Governance of AI (ICGAI).

Francesca Rossi is a professor of computer science at the University of Padova, Italy. Currently she is on sabbatical at Harvard with a Radcliffe fellowship.

Her research interests include constraint reasoning, preferences, multi-agent systems, computational social choice, and artificial intelligence.

She has been president of the international association for constraint programming (ACP) and she is now the president of IJCAI. She has been program chair of CP 2003 and of IJCAI 2013.

She is in the editorial board of Constraints, Artificial Intelligence, AMAI, and KAIS. She has been the editor in Chief of JAIR since 2015.

She has published over 160 articles in international journals, in proceedings of international conferences or workshops, and as book chapters. She has co-authored a book. She has edited 16 volumes, between conference proceedings, collections of contributions, and special issue of international journals. She has co-edited the Handbook of Constraint Programming (Elsevier, 2006).  Her h-index is 27. Her most cited papers have more than 560 citations. She has more than 100 co-authors.

Ryan Anderson has enjoyed a career as an expert in leading organizations through technology disruptions, focussing the last eight years on leading digital and analytics transformations.  He now leads Accenture’s Applied Intelligence practice in Canada. Ryan is committed to helping companies realize the promise of combining data, analytics and human ingenuity to reshape traditional business models. In his current role, he helps clients define an effective end-to-end strategy for adopting advanced analytics capabilities into their business with a focus on developing the analytics transformation strategy.

With proven sales and technical skills, Ryan has directed numerous large-scale business transformation solutions for various Fortune-500 companies. He has Held senior roles in top consulting and product development firms.

In his spare time, Ryan enjoys “non-digital” activities such as building furniture and traveling with his family.

Dr. Kathryn Hume is the interim Head of Borealis AI, the machine learning research lab backed by the Royal Bank of Canada. Prior to joining Borealis, Dr. Hume held leadership positions at Integrate.ai and Fast Forward Labs, where she helped over 50 Fortune 500 organizations develop and implement AI programs. Dr. Hume is a widely respected author and speaker on AI, with work appearing at TED, HBR and the Globe and Mail. She has taught courses on digital transformation and legal ethics at the business and law schools at Harvard, MIT, the University of Toronto and the University of Calgary. She holds a PhD in Comparative Literature from Stanford University and speaks seven languages

Craig is Head of Machine Learning at Lyft. He is also an adjunct professor of machine learning for Northeastern University’s Align program. Prior to joining Lyft, he was Head of Machine Intelligence at Dropbox and led a number of AI teams and initiatives at LinkedIn, including the development of the LinkedIn AI Academy. In an earlier life, he was a tenured professor at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA. He has a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Pennsylvania and is the co-author of the MIT Press book Great Principles of Computing.

Robert Thomas is Senior Vice President of IBM Cloud and Data Platform. He directs IBM’s product design and investment strategy, expert labs, global software product development, marketing and field operations across the company’s vast software portfolio. 

With a portfolio of over 1000 products, IBM has emerged as a leader in cloud, data and AI, spanning databases, data integration and governance, business intelligence, planning, data science and AI tools, and AI applications. Major product brands under Rob’s leadership include Watson, Db2, Cognos, QRadar, and Cloud Paks. He has overseen 4 acquisitions representing over $2.5B in transaction value.

Dr. Danny Lange is Senior VP of AI and Machine Learning at Unity. As Senior VP of AI and Machine Learning, Danny leads Unity’s efforts around AI (Artificial Intelligence) and Machine Learning. He joined from Uber, where he was Head of Machine Learning. At Uber, Danny led the efforts to build the world’s most versatile Machine Learning platform to support Uber’s hyper growth. Previously, Danny was General Manager of Amazon Machine Learning — an AWS product that offers Machine Learning as a Cloud Service. Before that, he was Principal Development Manager at Microsoft where he led a product team focused on large-scale Machine Learning for Big Data. Danny spent eight years on Speech Recognition Systems, first as CTO of General Magic, Inc., then through his work on General Motors OnStar Virtual Advisor, one of the largest deployments of an intelligent personal assistant until Siri. Danny started his career as a Computer Scientist at IBM Research.

Danny holds MS and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science from the Technical University of Denmark. He is a member of ACM and IEEE Computer Society and has several patents to his credit.

Dr. Mallory Freeman is the Principal Data Scientist of the UPS Advanced Technology Group. She has spent years researching and implementing data-driven solutions to complex problems. In her current role, she leads teams focusing on Simulation/Operations Research, Analytics/Machine Learning, and Visual Analytics / Mixed Reality working on R&D projects for UPS’s smart logistics network. Freeman is also an advocate for data for social impact

Matt Galvin is the Global Vice President of Ethics and Compliance for AB InBev, the world’s leading brewer. Matt is also the Vice-Chair of the Business Advisory Group (BIAC) on Anti-Corruption for the OECD.  Matt’s team covers anti-corruption, litigation, sanctions, anti-money laundering, data privacy, human rights and internal investigations. He is recognized as a leader in the application of data analytics to solve compliance problems and streamline compliance systems and processes. Matt is a New York and Hong Kong qualified lawyer who spent ten years in private practice before joining AB InBev in 2015.

Miriam is the President and CEO of EqualAI, a non-profit that was created to address and reduce unconscious bias in artificial intelligence (AI). Miriam is also a Senior Advisor to WestExec Advisors and teaches Technology Law and Policy at Georgetown University Law Center.

Previously, Miriam served in U.S. government leadership, including positions in the three branches of federal government. Most recently, she served as Associate Deputy Attorney General, where she advised the Attorney General and the Deputy Attorney General (DAG) on a broad range of legal, policy and operational issues. Under the direction of DAG Sally Yates, Miriam led the creation and development of the Implicit Bias Training for Federal Law Enforcement. Miriam also spearheaded the Department’s Intellectual Property (IP) efforts to identify and dismantle IP theft domestically and internationally and worked with the DAG to manage Department divisions’ multibillion-dollar budgets, resolve high-level challenges, and represent the Department in briefings for White House, Congressional and GAO staff on policy initiatives and oversight matters.

Miriam served in the White House in two Administrations, most recently as the Acting Director of Justice and Regulatory Affairs. She led the President’s Equal Pay Task Force to promote equality in the workplace. She also advised White House leadership on regulatory, women, economic, food safety and LGBT policy and a wide array of criminal justice matters.

Federico is a leader in McKinsey’s Financial Services Practice and leads McKinsey’s global Digital Service Operations/AI group, with a focus on financial institutions and corporate business functions across sectors. He serves numerous major financial institutions on a broad range of disruption, automation/AI implementation and transformation, innovating partnerships, finance transformation, operational efficiency, resilience, and future of work, and technology-related initiatives.

Dr. Alejandro Correa Bahnsen is the Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer at RappiBank. With a passion for machine learning, he considers himself a technology evangelist of data science. He has more than a decade of experience applying the use and development of Artificial Intelligence to real-world issues such as cybersecurity, risk management, and marketing.

In addition to advising the RappiBank executive team and its partners on unique data science challenges, Alejandro manages the AI and risk teams. He creates and develops machine learning algorithms related to credit risk, customer churn, user identification, fraud detection and growth. He is constantly working to improve RappiBank’s products with data science and artificial intelligence capabilities. Prior to joining Rappi, he worked at Cyxtera Technologies as Vice President of Research, a leading cybersecurity company, where he was responsible for the creation of next generation anti-fraud tools and algorithms. 

Alejandro is also an Adjunct Professor in the Industrial Engineering department of Universidad de Los Andes in Bogotá, where he teaches Deep Learning and Applied Data Science classes for the undergraduate and masters programs. He holds a PhD in Machine Learning and Pattern Recognition from Luxembourg University and has published over 20 academic and industrial papers in noteworthy, peer-reviewed publications. Furthermore, he holds 7 US patents on the usage of Artificial Intelligence in Fraud and Cybersecurity.

Matissa Hollister is an Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Desautels Faculty of Management at McGill University. Professor Hollister’s research examines how the employer-employee relationship has changed over the past five decades in developed countries. Particular areas of focus include the rise of job instability and the impact of technology and artificial intelligence on employment practices and outcomes. She is currently serving as the McGill University Fellow with the World Economic Forums’ Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, where she is leading an initiative on the responsible use of AI in Human Resources.

In his current role, Francis is responsible for leading Walmart Canada’s fleet and transportation operations. 

Prior to joining Walmart in 2018, Francis held a number of leadership roles including Vice President Operations for Eastern Canada with Sysco and Director of Integrated Business Planning for Dyno Nobel, one of the top three explosives manufacturers globally. 

With extensive experience in both retail and distribution operations, Francis’ passion for the business, operating a safety-first organization, focus on continuous improvement and commitment to investing in people is second to none. 

Francis holds a master’s degree in international relations, a bachelor’s degree in political science, and is also a six-sigma green belt.

Esther Lee is a Senior Product Manager in the AWS AI team focusing on language and speech services. Prior to joining AWS, she worked at a number of technology start-ups in a variety of management roles across product, marketing and business development. Esther started her career at Lucent Technologies and Apax Partners, where she focused on investments in the technology and telecommunications sectors. Esther holds a B.S. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and an M.S. from Babson College.

A former Deputy Minister at the Treasury Board of Canada, President and CEO, Alex now leads Microsoft’s global strategies for government cloud adoption. Prior to this, he led the national digital transformation practice at a Big Four firm. 

Alex Benay is an expert in the digital economy, digital strategy, and digital policy. Alex is known for his ability to lead and execute complex transformations, uniting diverse stakeholders from multiple levels and industries, often with divergent interests, to drive results quickly. 

Fluent in English and French, as well as a published author, he is a recognized global leader in digital transformation with senior level experience in both the public and private sectors. 

Alex serves on the board of the World Wide Web Foundation, an international not-for-profit organization established in 2009 by Sir Tim Berners-Lee (the inventor of the web). The World Wide Web Foundation, is the leading advocate for a web as a public good and basic right for everyone and its initiatives include the Contract for the Web, the Alliance for Affordable Internet, and the Women’s Rights Online network, For more information, see https://webfoundation.org/. 

Finally, he is also the co-founder (alongside Jim Balsillie), of the CIO Strategy Council, a group of 70+ CIOs from various industries, which helps to shape the national technology agenda of Canada, including national technology standards to increase global competitiveness in banks, governments, and other sectors.

Omar Benomar is the Director of AI and Software Engineering at Group Dynamite, a privately held company that creates, designs and distributes fashion clothing. He is also a lecturer at the Université de Montréal where he teaches Computer Science courses. Previously, Omar worked at IVADO Labs, a leading AI solution provider in the supply chain sector. Prior to IVADO Labs, he worked as Senior Research Scientist in the Search Engine Relevance Optimization team at Yellow Pages Group. He was involved in the management and implementation of several AI projects in various domains such as education, marketing, telecommunications and retail. As an AI advocate, Omar strives to bridge the gap between academia and industry and adapt theoretical AI aspects to real world problems. He holds a doctorate degree from the Université de Montréal where he studied the application of AI and Optimization techniques to solve Software Engineering problems. After his PhD, Omar pursued a postdoctoral fellowship at UQAM in the field of Software Quality. He has also published his research in peer-reviewed articles in renowned international scientific conferences.

After years of frustration with the available “solutions” in the fraud and financial analytics space, Solon founded MindBridge in April 2015 to address gaps in the industry. In addition to building the company’s first products, Solon attracted investors and assembled the management team, creating an organization focused on making the world a stronger, safer place by augmenting human potential with AI. Solon holds an MSc in Business Administration and Management from the Léonard de Vinci Management School (EMLV) in Paris and a Masters Certificate in Project Management from Carleton University.

“If a need exists in the market, it’s the responsibility of entrepreneurs to figure out a way to address that need. There is nothing more noble than innovation that helps people do their jobs better and that makes the world a safer place.”

Marie-Paule holds a Master’s in International Affairs, with a focus on international finance and economic policy, from Columbia University-SIPA, and a Bachelor of Laws from Université de Montréal. Marie-Paule took over the leadership of the Forum after working on the adoption of research, science and innovation policies within the Quebec government. Previously, she was an engagement manager at McKinsey & Company and a commercial litigation lawyer at Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg. Between 2016 and 2018, Marie-Paule took part in Québec’s first efforts to structure its rising AI ecosystem.

Ryan Den Rooijen joined Chalhoub Group to lead the data transformation stream with a goal to make using analytics as natural to the organization as using the Internet. 

Ryan has previously worked at Dyson and Google; he has been recognized for exceptional achievements and he brings a wealth of knowledge in the tech industry. Ryan spent four and a half years at Google, where he helped turn big data into big insights for international brands, he introduced their global sales analyst skills curriculum where he managed global analytical initiatives aimed at driving revenue and relationships.

Ryan completed an MSc in Social Science of the Internet at the University of Oxford. He is now an advisory board chair of MSc/DPhil in Social Data Science contributing to the development of the Oxford Internet Institute’s newest degrees. DataIQ repeatedly named him one of the most influential people in data-driven business. Most of his work involves the practical application of analytics and AI – impact, not buzzwords.

In line with the Chalhoub Group strategic transformation plans, Ryan’s mission will be instrumental to operationalize analytics & AI capabilities, and to develop data products for the Group and its trusted partners. Ryan’s recruitment marks another step towards building a sustainable and future-proof organization by welcoming the best-in-class talents.

Jeremy Bornstein leads Mastercard’s Data & Services business in Canada leading a team of 65 professionals helping partner banks, acquirers and merchants identify and execute loyalty, payment strategy, marketing, analytics and digital initiatives to enhance their business. Jeremy also serves as an Advisory Board member to four fintech companies in Toronto, San Jose, CA and Barbados. Prior to joining Mastercard, Jeremy was a Managing Director in Accenture’s Financial Services practice; the Head of Payments Innovation at RBC; and the Managing Director of Corporate Strategy at RBC. He holds a MBA and HBA degree from The Richard Ivey School of Business at The University of Western Ontario.

Nathalie joined Schneider Electric, through the acquisition of Invensys, and currently serves as the global President of Process Automation. Process Automation (PA) delivers market leading offers in system controls (EcoStruxure, Foxboro DCS), safety systems (Triconex) and SCADA. In addition, PA has an extensive portfolio of digital offerings including software and services employing the latest in IIoT, connectivity and cyber security.

Prior to leading the Process Automation business, Nathalie most recently held the role of SVP Industrial Automation Services, which included leadership of Schneider Electric’s transverse Global Cybersecurity Services and Solutions business. Other previous roles within Schneider and Invensys, which she joined in 1996, include VP of Global Performance and Consulting Services, VP of Marketing, North America, GM for the Canadian Business, and VP of Marketing, Systems Business Globally. Prior to joining Schneider, Nathalie spent over a decade in different roles, including Marketing and Engineering at ABB, and in the Process Industry as a Control Engineer.

With her diverse career, Nathalie brings extensive experience including P&L management, business development, services and marketing strategy, OT cyber security, finance, project management, engineering, customer services, supply chain management, staff recruitment, deployment and motivation. Nathalie holds a master’s degree in Applied Sciences along with an Engineering degree.

Dr Anurag Agrawal is Director of the CSIR Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology. After completing graduate medical education at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi (1994), he further trained in Internal Medicine, Pulmonary Disease and Critical Care at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, USA (2003), followed by a PhD in Physiology from Delhi University. His primary research is in respiratory biology and broader interests are in smart deployment of emerging technologies towards healthcare, where he serves on national thinktanks, co-chairs the Lancet and Financial Times commission on Governing Health Futures, and serves on related expert groups at the World Health Organisation and Global Partnership for Artificial Intelligence. He received the Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar Prize, the highest govt scientific award of India, in 2014, and is an elected fellow of the Indian National Science Academy and the Indian Academy of Sciences.

Luc Sirois holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from McGill University and an MBA from Harvard University. Recognized in Canada and around the world for his creative approach to innovation, M. Sirois is a leader and entrepreneur in digital technology, with investments in numerous startups and non-profit organizations focused on youth, health, science and education. He co-founded the health innovation movement Hacking Health as well as its digital health accelerator and pre-seed fund. He is co-founder of Resonant Medical, now Elekta Canada, a leading manufacturer in the field of radiation oncology and image-guided treatments. He has also served as Vice President of Consumer Health at TELUS Health, Telesystem and Nightingale, and as Manager at McKinsey & Company with offices in Montreal, Toronto, Zurich and Paris. 

Until recently, he was Managing Director of Prompt, a not-for-profit organization that facilitates R&D partnerships between the industry and research institutions to improve the competitiveness of companies in the ICT, artificial intelligence and other digital technology markets. Mr. Sirois is also strategic advisor to the Minister of the Economy and Innovation of the Quebec government. As such, he currently works on deploying new tech transfer models, on the culture of innovation in institutions, on issues of business creation and scientific entrepreneurship, as well as on the transfer of social innovations and their adoption in society.

In December 2020, he was appointed Chief Innovator of Quebec and Director General of the newly created Quebec Innovation Council.

Wendy Gonzalez is an executive passionate about building high-performing, high-functioning teams that develop and scale innovative, impactful technology. With two decades of managerial and technology leadership experience for companies including EY, Capgemini, Cycle30 (acquired by Arrow Electronics) and General Communications Inc, Gonzalez is currently the CEO of Sama, the provider of accurate data for ambitious AI, used by leading technology companies such as Walmart, Google, Nvidia and Getty. Before taking on her role as CEO, Gonzalez spent 5 years at Sama as COO, and is an active Board Member of the Leila Janah Foundation.

Frank Mühlon was appointed President of ABB’s E-Mobility division in 2017. 

For more than a decade, the global business has provided a complete range of charging and infrastructure solutions from slow AC charging, DC fast charging and Ultra-fast charging to eBus / heavy vehicle charging.. All chargers are cloud connected, offer a lot of additional functionality for the user as well as the operator, and are easily serviceable. With charging at the center, ABB offers also a whole range of low- and medium switchgear for larger sites, battery-energy storage and site load- and energy management controls.

Prior to this role, Frank was Global Head of the Low Voltage modular devices unit and Managing Director of ABB Stotz-Kontakt GmbH in Heidelberg, which is one of the manufacturing sites of those products. 

Before joining ABB in 2014, Frank had several global general management positions within the Automotive Division of Bosch and worked in Germany, China and the US. 

Frank has a master’s degree in mechanical engineering and business from the University of Darmstadt, Germany and lives close to Frankfurt, Germany.

Laurie has been the Director of Hydro Ottawa’s Distribution Engineering and Asset Management group since July 2019. Prior to joining Hydro Ottawa in 2017, Laurie held a number of leadership and continuous improvement roles within the manufacturing industry, most notably with Kraft Heinz (formerly Kraft Foods). 

Laurie holds an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering and is also a black belt in lean six-sigma. With her diverse background, Laurie brings a unique approach and perspective to the utility industry, which is currently undergoing significant transformation. Laurie is passionate about continuous improvement and is committed to driving change in a collaborative manner that leads to long-lasting and positive outcomes.

Jason Millar holds the Canada Research Chair in the Ethical Engineering of Robotics and AI, and is an Assistant Professor at the University of Ottawa’s School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science with a cross-appointment in the Department of Philosophy. He has authored book chapters, policy reports, and articles on the ethics, ethical design, and governance of robotics and AI. Jason consults internationally on policy, and ethical engineering issues in emerging technology. His work is regularly featured in the media, including articles in publications such as WIRED and The Guardian, and interviews with the BBC, CBC and NPR. He recently authored a chapter titled Social Failure Modes in Technology and the Ethics of AI: An Engineering Perspective, for the Oxford Handbook of Ethics of AI (OUP). He also authored a chapter on Ethics Settings for Autonomous Vehicles in Robot Ethics 2.0 (OUP), and co-authored a chapter on Hacking Metaphors in technology governance for the Oxford Handbook on the Law and Regulation of Technology (OUP). His research interests include developing tools and methodologies engineers can use to integrate ethical thinking into their daily engineering workflow, and focuses on applications in automated vehicles, artificial intelligence, healthcare robotics, social and military robotics.

Adrien Gaidon is the Machine Learning Lead at the Toyota Research Institute (TRI) in Los Altos, CA, USA. Adrien is working on open research problems in world-scale learning for automated driving, especially self-supervised learning and other techniques to go beyond supervised learning. He received his PhD from Microsoft Research – Inria Paris in 2012 and has over a decade of experience in academic and industrial Computer Vision, with over 40 publications, top entries in international Computer Vision competitions, multiple best reviewer awards, international press coverage for his work on Deep Learning with simulation, and was a guest editor for the International Journal of Computer Vision.

You can find him on Linkedin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrien-gaidon-63ab2358/) and Twitter (@adnothing).

Olivier is the Head of Data Science and Transformation at Moov AI, a Canadian company bringing the power of artificial intelligence and machine learning to businesses. He is a data science expert whose field-leading expertise and cutting-edge knowledge of AI and machine learning has led him to support many companies’ digital transformations, as well as implementing projects across a variety of different industries.

He is a mentor for Creative Destruction Labs’ Artificial Intelligence Stream and helps start-ups succeed in AI. He leads the Moov AI data team and has assisted a range of leading organizations put in place a data culture – such as Pratt & Whitney Canada, L’Oréal and GSoft

Olivier is the laureate of the prestigious “30 under 30” prize (Infopresse – 2019). He is also co-author of a patent for an advanced algorithm that evaluates the credit worthiness of a borrower.

Carina practises in all areas of intellectual property litigation, with a focus on IP litigation and applications under the Patented Medicines Notice of Compliance Regulations. She has an in-depth knowledge of Canadian administrative law and practice, including judicial review.
Carina’s background in computer engineering allows her to be of particular assistance to technology clients in patent, copyright and intellectual property licensing matters.
She has appeared before the Trademarks Opposition Board, the Federal Court, the Canadian International Trade Tribunal and the Federal Court of Appeal.
Carina served for two terms as a Tribunal Member for the Military Grievances External Review Committee, adjudicating disputes in the federal government context.
Prior to her legal career, she was an aeronautical engineering officer with the Canadian Forces and an engineering contracting officer and project manager for the Department of National Defence.
Carina is fluent in English and French

Bob leads the WW ML Services Specialist team, responsible for the AWS ML Services go-to-market strategy.  Bob has been leading teams focused on helping customers adopt machine learning at AWS for the past 3 years, having joined AWS in mid-2017 focused on AWS Strategic Accounts, then heading up the Americas’ Machine Learning BD Specialist team in 2019 prior to taking on his current role.  Prior to AWS, Bob ran corporate strategy for two start-ups, and held various executive positions at HP, including heading up the HP / Microsoft FrontLine Alliance, and leading the strategy & operations team for the x86 server division which included running HP’s server OEM business. A USNA Graduate with an MBA from University of Virginia, Bob began his professional career as a business consultant at Coopers & Lybrand Consulting.

A visionary with a relentless will to spark entrepreneurial spirit within large organisations, Federico Puebla is the head of SNC-Lavalin Innovation Lab in Montreal. SNC-Lavalin is one of the world’s largest engineering firms with offices in over 50 countries. 

Federico was the craftsman behind Desjardins Lab, the first innovation lab at Desjardins Group, Canada’s largest financial coop. In 2018, Desjardins Lab won the Corporate Champion of the Year Award at the Montreal Startup Community Awards. Federico was also the co-creator of Cooperathon, Canada’s largest open-innovation challenge, and the director of Start-up in Residence Incubator. In addition, Federico is a guest blogger at Journal Les Affaires

Dr. Padmashree Gehl Sampath brings over two decades of experience in policy forecasting and analysis, policy design and implementation of relevance to global and national governance in various sectors, particularly the digital economy, life sciences and renewable energy. As a widely renowned thought leader in these areas, she influences policy and strategic decisions by assessing and predicting the emergence of new market opportunities, current and future competition patterns, and identifying strategic areas of intervention to promote change. Most recently, she served as Head-Policy of the International Renewable Energy Agency, and at the Berkman Klein Center, Harvard University, her work particularly focuses on the ways in which the digital technologies can be leveraged through new business models in the public and private sectors. Topics of work include leveraging AI for growth and prosperity, government-as-a-platform in the global South, digital development strategies, privacy and control for the public good, and new business and governance models for plural, participatory futures in the digital economy. 

She works with industry leaders and private companies, market makers, regulators from national governments globally and international agencies. In the past, she has advised the national governments of Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, USA, UK, apart from a range of African, Asian, and Latin American governments, international policy organizations such as World Intellectual Property Organization, World Health Organization and various other United Nations organizations, regional agencies and regional banks, and other associations which influence business and government policies. She has authored over sixty publications on these topics, including five widely acclaimed books, white papers and position papers that have been implemented widely, and other publications.

Debbie Gamble is the Chief Officer, Innovation Labs and New Ventures at Interac. A seasoned digital commerce executive, entrepreneur and thought leader with over 30 years of experience, Debbie has been involved in early iterations of the digital economy including crypto currency, mobile commerce and digital ID on an international scale. Recipient of numerous industry awards including, ‘FemTech Leader of the Year’, ‘Most Influential Women in Payments’, ‘Top 50 Women in FinTech’ and ‘Distinguished Payments Professional’, Debbie is passionate about digital innovation and business transformation.

Debbie sits on the Board of Communitech and holds advisory roles at MaRS Discovery District, Luge Capital, Women in Payments, FINCA and is a founding member of Verity Women’s Club in Toronto

Yuhong Guo is a Professor in the School of Computer Science at Carleton University, a Canada Research Chair in Machine Learning, and a Canada CIFAR AI Chair at Amii.  Her research interests span machine learning, computer vision, and natural language processing, with an emphasis on expanding the autonomy of machine learning methods by reducing dependence on extensive human guidance and extending applicability to more diverse annotation scenarios.  Prof. Guo received her PhD in Computing Science from the University of Alberta, and previously worked at the Australian National University as a research fellow and at Temple University as an assistant then tenured associate professor.  She has received paper awards from multiple international conferences, including IJCAI and AAAI. Prof. Guo is an Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, serves on the Editorial Board of the Artificial Intelligence Journal, and has also served as an Area Chair for AAAI and IJCAI. 

Fiona J McEvoy is an AI ethics writer, researcher, speaker, and thought leader based in San Francisco, CA. She was named one of the 30 Women Influencing AI in San Francisco by RE•WORK, and was recently honored in the inaugural Brilliant Women in AI Ethics™ Hall of Fame, established at the end of 2020 to recognize “brilliant women who have made exceptional contributions to the space of AI Ethics and diversity.”

Fiona is the founder of YouTheData.com, a platform for the discussion of the societal impact of tech and AI, and she has had numerous articles published in media outlets including Slate, VentureBeat, The Next Web, Offscreen, and All Turtles.  Fiona is also regularly asked to present her ideas to AI conferences across the US and internationally, and in recent years has addressed events in Canada, Spain, Portugal, and Mexico. Her work has been referenced in books, including Francine Banner’s Crowdsourcing the Law, David Vance’s Business Essentials, and Jeff Mapua’s Virtual Reality and You.

Fiona holds a graduate degree in Philosophy, with a special focus on ethics and technology.

Mari Joller is the Founder and CEO of Snackable AI, content discovery engine for the audio-first world. She is known for her ability to translate market insights into product vision and build high-performing teams to deliver against the opportunity.

Mari is a repeat entrepreneur in the audio-meets-AI space. For the past six years, she has been in the trenches driving AI-based startups, observing first-hand the psychology of how people interact with machines and its impact on designing AI-powered products.

Snackable uses artificial intelligence to add structure and metadata into spoken word audio / video, transforming monolithic content blocks into neat packages that are transparent, easy to search, access and share.

Before Snackable, Mari successfully founded and sold her company Scarlet, a cloud platform for delivering personal and branded content to the emerging audio ecosystem. Prior to Scarlet she co-founded Snazz, software for powering live events for businesses and brands. She previously built and scaled products at Virgin Mobile and Nokia.

Mari has an MBA from Harvard and a BA from Middlebury College.

Gabe Batstone is the co-founder & CEO of contextere. He brings to the company two decades of experience in implementing emerging technology into complex regulated environments. This has included industrial innovations in AI, ML, IoT, VR, and AR. Gabe has worked for technology leaders in the aerospace & defense and automotive markets including NAVTEQ, CAE, and NGRAIN.

Gabe serves on the Board of Directors of the Canadian American Business Council (CABC) promoting continental trade policy. Gabe also founded Teagan’s Voice a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting children’s rights following the murder of his 8-year-old daughter in 2014.

Gabe holds a Bachelor of Applied Arts, specializing in Geographic information Systems, from Ryerson University in Toronto and a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Baltimore. Gabe is a frequent public speaker, published writer, and has completed postgraduate studies at the United Nations Institute for Training & Research, University of Chicago, and Harvard Law School.

Jean-Simon Venne is a co-founder and CTO of BrainBox AI. As a technology expert specializing in the fast and efficient migration of technological innovations to commercial applications, Jean-Simon has over 25 years of experience developing and implementing new technology to solve long-standing commercial issues in the fields of telecommunications, biotechnology, and energy-efficiency.

Prior to joining BrainBox AI, he was responsible for the successful integration of M2M technology in over 200 Smart Buildings across North America, Europe, and the Middle East. Jean-Simon holds a B.Eng. in Industrial Engineering from École Polytechnique de Montréal and a Certificate in Logistics from the University of Georgia Tech.

Sarah Larose is a Director, Business Development, Foreign Attraction Investment at Investissement Québec. She is responsible for the elaboration and roll-out of customised strategies required to attract and retain foreign investment. These include structuring viable financial solutions by showcasing all the financial tools managed by Investment Quebec and its partners.

Prior to joining Investissement Québec, Sarah worked for three years at Element AI, an artificial intelligence startup, both as a Strategic Account Executive and later, as a Government Relation Manager. Her first role was to engage with Csuite and VP level executives at global companies to generate new business revenue, while also building rapport with senior level executives and advising on best practice business solutions. As a founding member of Element AI’s Government Relations and Public Policy team, she informed governments and regulators regarding the significant future implications of data and AI.

Previously, she also worked at Montreal International where she assisted and advised foreign companies looking to invest in the Greater Montreal region. She also was a Trade Commissioner at Global Affairs Canada where she assisted Canadian companies with export development, innovation, and with investment strategy and sourcing.

Dr. Nasrin Sadeghianpour is a Senior Smart Grid & AI Scientist at BluWave-ai. Prior to that, she was a Ph.D. scholar at the smart grid team in IDLab. During her tenure in IDLab, Nasrin successfully applied AI in four major industry projects, developing solutions using statistical modelling, machine learning, and deep reinforcement learning, to facilitate practical demand response algorithms for residential customers and electric vehicles in the smart power grid.

Nasrin’s Ph.D. research led to several high impact international publications. She obtained her Ph.D. in computer science from the Faculty of Engineering, Ghent University, Belgium, in 2018.  

Nasrin loves travelling, exploring different cultures, and meeting new people.

Curtis is passionate about innovation, design, technology and intellectual property strategy. Innovative companies, their investors and advisors trust Curtis to help them strengthen their competitive advantage and create barriers to entry for competitors. He works with clients in areas from telecommunications and medical devices to autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence and 3D printing.

He has developed an innovative suite of strategic intellectual property advisory services, to help companies use IP to drive business success.

Curtis, one of the top 300 IP strategists in the world according to the IAM Strategy 300, is a professional engineer, registered patent agent and design expert. His more than 20 years’ experience brings a unique combination of deep expertise and board-level strategic insights to startups, scale-ups and world-leading multinationals. Companies rely on Curtis’ strategic thinking, curiosity, problem solving expertise and investment in long-term relationships.

Read MoreRead Less

Curtis is a director of the Intellectual Property Institute of Canada (the voice of intellectual property professionals in Canada) and treasurer of AIPPI Canada. He is a member of BLG’s Innovation Thought Leadership Committee, chair of BLG’s Ottawa Charitable Donations Committee, and a former member of the Diversity and Inclusion Committee (2008-2018).

Prior to joining BLG, Curtis was a senior patent examiner at the Canadian Intellectual Property Office.

Ciara Riordan is an award-winning journalist, presenter, reporter and producer. The Irish native is currently the social news editor at BBC News. This involves overseeing some of the largest social media accounts in the world including the BBC News Facebook page, @BBCBreaking, @BBCNews and @BBCWorld on Twitter, and the BBC News Instagram account. She manages a global digital news team with hubs in Washington DC, Toronto and Singapore.

You can see Ciara presenting on BBC News digital platforms to millions of views. Her interview with Sir David Attenborough went viral when she asked him what animal would he be for a day! (Answer: A sloth!).  

She has also reported live from major breaking news stories including the Westminster and Manchester attacks.

Before her current digital role, she was a reporter with BBC World TV News, a producer on BBC Breakfast TV and LBC Radio. Ciara started her career in Ireland at Newstalk radio, had her own breakfast show on Radio Kerry, worked for RTE, and even did a stint at Australia’s ABC NewsRadio.

James Briggs is the founder and CEO of AI Collaborator. An innovation-driven entrepreneur and technologist, James has spent 20+ years translating new technology innovations into impactful businesses and products that have helped enterprises globally adapt to win the future. At AI Collaborator, James is committed to helping enterprises of all sizes leverage a collaborative, responsible approach to AI deployment to enhance digital transformation. Passionate about diversity and inclusion, James seeks to bring greater awareness to the potential negative ramifications of unmonitored artificial intelligence initiatives on the lives and livelihoods of underrepresented communities. James received his BS degree from Purdue University and an MBA from The Pennsylvania State University. James is a frequent presenter at conferences globally and has been a contributor to top publications, including Forbes, Ad Age, Entrepreneur, Inc., WSJ, and Huffington Post.

Nush founded Naaut which provides a 360 approach to innovation strategy to space agencies, startups, academia, AI accelerators, primes, and tech companies. As well as Naaut, Nush co-founded the London Space Network (LSN) in Jan 2019, the London Space Network organises monthly networking events across London to build and strengthen the UK space community. Recognised as one of the Top 100 most influential BAME tech leaders in the UK. – Financial Times. Nush has been active in the tech ecosystem across the UK, Europe, and the USA. Nush has championed diversity across the global space and tech ecosystem. She was appointed POC tech community ambassador for Google for Startup Campus and has been a key figure across the ecosystem connecting people to networks. She champions diversity of perspectives to drive and foster collaboration to drive innovation as we take our steps to go back to the Moon, Mars and beyond. Nush is and Advisory Board member of YSYS -Your Startup, Your Story is a startup community for founders, developers, creatives, investors and more on a mission to make a difference.

Dr. Alexis Hannart, Chief Scientific Officer and partner is in charge of Axionable scientific activities which aim at developing sustainable AI solutions for our clients across several sectors and geographies. Alexis has more than 20 years of experience in the academic and private sector across Europe, South America and North America, focusing on the development of AI methods for use in the realm of climate science and climate change mitigation/adaptation.

Kristen earned her JD degree at the University of Ottawa, and holds a BA (Hons.) in Anthropology from McMaster University and an MA in International Affairs from Carleton University. She is currently completing her PhD in Law at the University of Ottawa, where her dissertation focuses on public space privacy intrusions facilitated by robots/artificial intelligence (e.g. drones, facial recognition technology). Prior to beginning her doctoral studies, she served as law clerk to the Honourable Madam Justice Rosalie Abella at the Supreme Court of Canada and clerked for the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench, as well as articling for Alberta Justice. 

Kristen has published her research in several articles and book chapters, most recently a piece on “Robots, Regulation, and the Changing Nature of Public Space” in the Ottawa Law Review. She is a regular public commentator in the mainstream media and other channels and serves on the Legal Expertise Committee of the Foundation for Responsible Robotics, as well as the International Committee for Robot Arms Control. At Windsor Law, she taught in the areas of privacy law, torts, and robotics law and policy. At Allard Law, she will be teaching “Special Topics in Law and Technology: Law, Robotics, and Society” in Winter 2021.

Giovanna graduated as a Civil Engineer from Politecnico di Milano and has a wealth of professional experience within the P&C insurance sector. Over 10 years, she progressed in technical and underwriting within the mid-corporate sector at Zurich in Milan. 

In 2011, Giovanna joined Allianz in Munich, where she headed the technical management of SME insurance for the Group within Global P&C center of competence. 

She moved to France in 2013 and spent 5 years as Technical Director for Property within the Mid Corporate sector, before becoming Director of Climate and Emerging Risks for a newly formed team in late 2018.  The aim of the department, directly attached to a member of the Executive Committee, is to develop a steering strategy for the P&C book of business in relation to its exposure to natural hazards, taking into account climate change effects and their impact on insurance’s social responsibility. 

François Croteau completed his bachelor’s degree in history, art history and sociology at the Université de Montréal. He continued his studies at ESG-UQAM, where he received an MBA in 2007, and a doctorate in urban studies in 2017 under the supervision of Pierre Delorme. His thesis focused on the urban governance of Montréal and the management of stakeholders.

He was first elected as Mayor of the borough Rosemont− La Petite-Patrie in 2009, and was re-elected in 2013 and 2017. He is known for his innovative environmental policies, particularly in the areas of urban agriculture, sustainable transportation, urban planning and effective management of public services. He is also a member of the Executive Committee of the City of Montréal, responsible for Information Technologies, Innovation, Smart City and Higher Education.

Krishna is the co-founder and CEO of Fiddler, an Explainable AI Monitoring company that helps address problems regarding bias, fairness, and transparency in AI. Prior to founding Fiddler, Gade led the team that built Facebook’s explainability feature ‘Why am I seeing this?’. He’s an entrepreneur with a technical background with experience creating scalable platforms and expertise in converting data into intelligence. Having held senior engineering leadership roles at Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and Microsoft, he’s seen the effects that bias has on AI and machine learning decision-making processes, and with Fiddler, his goal is to enable enterprises across the globe solve this problem.

Max Jarvie is a senior associate in the Privacy and Data Protection practice group at BLG LLP. He provides assistance and strategic advice to organizations relating to privacy and data protection, the use of machine learning, distributed ledgers and other technologies, information governance, data trusts, technology licensing, consumer protection, and corporate commercial matters.

Max is sought after as a public speaker on privacy law and the legal implications of technology, including artificial intelligence, privacy-protecting technologies, distributed ledger technologies, IoT and smart cities, and has taught students on the tax implications of cryptocurrencies at McGill’s Faculty of Law. Max also publishes regularly, most recently two book chapters contributed to Eloïse Gratton’s and Elisa Henry’s Managing Privacy in a Connected World (2020) and two articles relating to decentralized automatic exposure notification and contact tracing systems in The Lancet Digital Health (June 2020) and the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association (June 2020). He has also served as a law clerk at the Supreme Court of Israel for Justice Hanan Melcer and at the Court of Appeal of Québec for the Honourable Nicholas Kasirer.

Prior to joining BLG, Max practiced business, privacy and technology law at the Montreal office of a national law firm. During his legal studies, Max worked as an editor for both the McGill Law Journal and the McGill Journal of Law and Health, and edited and published the 8th edition of the Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation. Before studying law, Max worked in information technology as a project manager and departmental director at a number of private companies and public institutions.

Daniel Otzoy is an international digital transformation specialist with more than 15 years of experience working in Latin America and the Caribbean in Digital Health projects (up to 15 years) funded by PAHO/WHO, Inter-American Development Bank, CDC, Global Fund, USAID and other more, implementing digital technologies in public health and healthcare sectors, and promoting the adoption of digital health strategies like EHR/EMR, telemedicine, mHealth, among others.

Nowadays, he works with the PAHO/WHO as Health Informatics Consultant for the Immunization Unit in the Headquarter in Washington D.C. , with the IDB in several countries in LAC region as digital health and digital transformation consultant, and with the UNDOC as senior digital transformation advisor for the ROPAN Office. 

He is co-founder partner and coordinator of the Central American Health Informatics Network (RECAINSA) an initiative founded in 2013 with the purpose to support the national digital health strategies in the Central American countries, and currently is a Latin American network with the participation of people from all the Latin American region.

Vasco Pedro is the co-founder and CEO of Unbabel. Originally from Lisbon, Portugal, Vasco holds a Ph.D. in Language Technologies from Carnegie Mellon University and is a faculty member of Singularity University. Vasco has played a key role in strengthening the Portuguese tech ecosystem, through mentorship initiatives including Beta-i, Startup Portugal, and the Founders Initiative. Under Vasco’s leadership, Unbabel has raised a total of $91 million in funding to enable enterprises to serve customers in their native languages, with always-on, scalable translation across digital channels.

Harish Doddi graduated with a Masters in Computer Science degree from Stanford. He specialized in the Systems and Databases field. He started his career in Oracle. Then, he moved to Twitter to work on open source technologies. He managed the Snapchat stories product from scratch. He also managed the pricing team at Lyft. He has finished his undergrad in Computer Science from International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT-Hyderabad).

Beatriz Botero Arcila is an affiliate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University and an incoming professor of Cyberlaw at Sciences Po Law School. Her research and expertise focus on the governance of smart city technologies and the data they produce. She holds an LLB from Universidad de los Andes in Bogota, Colombia, and an LLM and SJD from Harvard Law School. 

Minetou has strong experience in insurance particularly in products & services and regulatory topics. She supports insurers in their transformation & remediation projects. She works with departments such as compliance, risks, innovation & offers and helps them to design, upgrade or realign their services or rules. Currently, she focuses on sustainable insurance and how AI & innovation can address, manage & monitor risks and opportunities associated with environmental, social and governance issues.

Celeste Kidd is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, where her lab investigates learning and belief formation. The Kidd Lab is one of few in the world that combine technologically sophisticated behavioral experiments with computational models in order to broadly understand knowledge acquisition. Her lab employs a range of methods, including eye-tracking and touchscreen testing with human infants, in order to show how learners sample information from their environment and build knowledge gradually over time. Her work has been published in PNAS,Neuron, Psychological Science, Developmental Science, and elsewhere. Her lab has received funding from NSF, DARPA, Google, the Jacobs Foundation, the Human Frontiers Science Program, and the Templeton Foundation. She is a recipient of the American Psychological Science Rising Star designation, the Glushko Dissertation Prize in Cognitive Science, and the Cognitive Science Society Computational Modeling Prize in Perception/Action. Kidd was also named as one of TIME Magazines 2017 Persons of the Year as one of the “Silence Breakers” for her advocacy for better protections for students against sexual misconduct.

Yossi Matias is Vice President, Search & AI, at Google and the founding Head of Google’s site in Israel. He is leading efforts in Search (Google Autocomplete, Search Live Results, Google Trends, Search Console), Conversational AI (Google Duplex, Call Screen, Live Caption, Live Relay, Euphonia, Recorder, Pronunciation practice and Read It), and Research initiatives (from foundations to applications in Health). He is the global lead for Crisis Response (SOS Alerts, Public Alerts, Flood Forecasting) and the founding co-lead of Google’s AI for Social Good initiative. He is the founding executive lead of Google’s Launchpad program.

In addition to his experience as entrepreneur and executive, Prof. Matias is on the Computer Science faculty at Tel Aviv University, and previously a Research Scientist at Bell Labs and visiting professor at Stanford. He published over 100 papers and is the inventor of over 50 patents. He pioneered some of the early technologies for the effective analysis of big data, internet privacy, and contextual search, and is a member of a national committee about strategy for AI.

Yossi is a recipient of the Godel Prize and is an ACM Fellow.

See also https://yossimatias.net/

Deepak Agarwal is a vice president of engineering at LinkedIn where he is responsible for all AI efforts across the company. He is well known for his work on recommender systems and has published a book on the topic. He has published extensively in top-tier computer science conferences and has coauthored several patents. He is a Fellow of the American Statistical Association and has served on the Executive Committee of Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (KDD). Deepak regularly serves on program committees of various conferences in the field of AI and computer science. He is also an associate editor of two flagship statistics journals.

Steven is a member of the IBM Canada senior leadership team. He is the VP of development for our Data and AI (Artificial Intelligence) and Hybrid Data Management and Business Analytics technology. He also leads the IBM Canada Labs for all of Canada and is located in the Markham location, which is one of our IBM Global labs supporting a number of our development products used by clients around the globe. Most recently Steven has been leading the Machine Learning and Data Science strategy for IBM’s Data and AI group, has delivered key strategic solutions including IBM Machine Learning, Watson Studio and is a Co-Author of Artificial Intelligence Evolution and Revolution. Steven is recognized for his expertise in leading large enterprise development teams. He’s worked with Clients and IBM teams as an experienced change agent to drive improvements and efficiency in how technology is used. He is recognized for being able to combine the deep technical knowledge with a Business lens, as clients work through their next chapter in digital reinvention and transformation journeys.

Samy Bengio (PhD in computer science, University of Montreal, 1993) is a research scientist at Google since 2007. He currently leads a group of research scientists in the Google Brain team, conducting research in many areas of machine learning such as deep architectures, representation learning, sequence processing, speech recognition, image understanding, large-scale problems, adversarial settings, etc.
He was the general chair for Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS) 2018, the main conference venue for machine learning, was the program chair for NeurIPS in 2017, is action editor of the Journal of Machine Learning Research and on the editorial board of the Machine Learning Journal, was program chair of the International Conference on Learning Representations (ICLR 2015, 2016), general chair of BayLearn (2012-2015) and the Workshops on Machine Learning for Multimodal Interactions (MLMI’2004-2006), as well as the IEEE Workshop on Neural Networks for Signal Processing (NNSP’2002), and on the program committee of several international conferences such as NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, ECML and IJCAI.

Jodie Wallis is Managing Director for Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Applied Intelligence at Accenture in Canada. Jodie is responsible for expanding Accenture’s business presence in the AI ecosystem, attracting top talent, and bringing innovation and global AI expertise to Canadian clients across all industries.
In her role, Jodie works with clients to develop AI strategies, discover sources of value and implement AI solutions. She also leads Accenture’s collaboration with business partners, government and academia and oversees Accenture’s investments in the Canadian AI ecosystem, including its sponsorship of the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence.
Through more than 25 years at Accenture, Jodie has developed deep expertise in management and technology consulting. She is a frequent speaker and contributor on the implications of AI for society and the future of work. Recent engagements include Collision (May 2019), the G7 Multistakeholder Conference on Artificial Intelligence: Enabling the Responsible Adoption of AI (Dec. 2018) and the Canada-UK Colloquium on Artificial Intelligence & Society: Choices, Risks and Opportunities (Nov. 2018).
Jodie is also co-host of Accenture’s award-winning podcast series “The AI Effect,” and was named one of the “10 Toronto artificial intelligence experts you should know” by ITBusiness.ca. Capping off an incredible year, she was recognized as Digital Leader of the Year at Canada’s Women in IT Awards.
Jodie earned her Bachelor of Mathematics with Honours from the University of Waterloo, where she majored in Operations Research and minored in Statistics and Computer Science. She actively volunteers in the Toronto community, serving as co-chair of the organizing committee for the Covenant House Guts + Glory Corporate Challenge, which raises funds for Canada’s largest agency serving at-risk, homeless and trafficked youth.

César A. Hidalgo is a Chilean-Spanish-American physicist, author, and entrepreneur. He currently holds a Chair at the Artificial and Natural Intelligence Toulouse Institute (ANITI), an is also an Honorary Professor at the University of Manchester and a Visiting Professorship at Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

From 2010 to 2019, Hidalgo lead MIT’s Collective Learning group, and was an Associate Professor at MIT. Prior to joining MIT, Hidalgo was a research fellow at Harvard.

Hidalgo is also a founder of Datawheel, an award winning company specialized in the creation of data distribution and visualization systems.

Hidalgo holds a PhD in Physics from the University of Notre Dame and a Bachelor in Physics from Universidad Católica de Chile.

Hidalgo is known for creating the field of Economic Complexity, which uses high resolution data and network methods to explain and predict patterns of industrial and economic development. Hidalgo is also known for the creation of multiple data visualization and distribution systems, and for advancing ideas on the use of Artificial Intelligence in democracy.

Hidalgo’s contributions have been recognized with numerous awards, including the 2018 Lagrange Prize, multiple Webby Awards (DataUSA, DataAfrica, & Streetchange), an Information is Beautiful Award (DataUSA), and the Bicentennial Medal of the Chilean Congress, among others. Hidalgo’s is the author of Why Information Grows (Basic Books, 2015), which has been translated to over ten languages and was a finalist for the Hayek Prize. Hidalgo is also a lead author of The Atlas of Economic Complexity (MIT Press, 2014), a highly cited book on the basic principles and methods used in economic complexity.

AJung Moon is an Assistant Professor at McGill University (Dept. of Electrical & Computer Engineering). She is an experimental roboticist specializing in ethics and responsible design of interactive robots and autonomous intelligent systems. She studies how our interaction with machines influence people’s behaviours and decisions and investigates different ways to integrate our societal values in the design and deployment of autonomous systems. Prior to joining McGill, she served as a Senior Advisor for the UN Secretary-General’s High-level Panel on Digital Cooperation, a taskforce that investigated the need for improved technology governance and policy across national borders. She also ran a start-up AI ethics consultancy, Generation R Consulting and founded the Open Roboethics Institute, a Canadian nonprofit that investigates societal and ethical implications of robotics and AI.
She completed a BASc (University of Waterloo) in Mechatronics Engineering, and a MASc and a PhD (University of British Columbia) in Mechanical Engineering. She became a Vanier Scholar in 2013 and developed interactive robot behaviours that allows for a human and a robot to nonverbally negotiate their way out of conflicts that arise in human-robot teamwork. She currently serves on the Government of Canada Advisory Council on Artificial Intelligence among others.

Jose A. Murillo established and leads the Analytics Business Unit at Banorte –the second largest financial group in Mexico. His group has been recognized as a success story within the data and analytics industry. The value created with analytics on 2018, the third year of operations of his group, exceeded 700 million USD–during his tenure the value created has exceeded 1.7 billion dollars. This case was published at Harvard Business Review as an example of a company which made its analytics investments pay-off (2018). Also, his team obtained the Lafferty Global Award on Credit Card Excellence for the impact of analytics on customer equity (2016). Jose was named among the top analytics and data professionals in North America by Corinium in its first and second edition. He has been published in several industry and refereed journals, he is a frequent speaker at analytics forums and he is a member of Queen’s University Advisory Board for the Masters in Management Analytics.

Prior to Banorte, Jose was a top-ranking official at Mexico’s Central Bank and participated for more than a decade at the Monetary Policy Committee holding the staff’s view on inflation –a key variable for policy decision. Also, he was an advisor to the International Monetary Fund on statistics and led missions to Ecuador and Chile. At the academia he taught economics at Rice University, ITAM and El Colegio de Mexico. He holds a PhD in economics from Rice University and graduated from ITAM (Cum Laude and received national prizes from the Chamber of Commerce and Tlacalel Prize).

Constanza is interested in achieving an inclusive Fourth Industrial Revolution in emerging countries. This led her to found and direct C Minds (www.cminds.co), an impact technology agency based in San Francisco and Mexico City. From C Minds, Constanza works with governments and institutions in the development of public policy and programs on issues of digital transformation, seeking to enhance the benefits of new technologies in emerging countries. She also leads initiatives to explore the power of technology to accelerate financial innovation, sustainable mobility, safety, health and education, among other issues. Other initiatives that C Minds coordinates, such as the AI for Good Lab, seek to deepen the ethical debate on the social and labor consequences of the technological transformation we are experiencing, particularly in Mexico. C Minds is also collaborating with the Jalisco Government and Tec de Monterrey University to develop a first AI center in Guadalajara as part of a regional network to be built.

Constanza has been a consultant for the United Nations, the World Bank and national and local governments. Her work has been recognized in international media and she was named Global Shaper by the World Economic Forum, Gifted Citizen by City of Ideas, British Government’s International Leader by the Government of the United Kingdom, winner of the SU Global Impact Challenge in Mexico and a Singularity University GSP graduate, among other recognitions.

Mina Hanna is the Chair of the IEEE-USA Artificial Intelligence and Autonomous Systems Policy Committee, the current Co-Chair of the Policy Committee of the IEEE Standards Association’s Global Initiative on Ethics of Autonomous and Intelligent Systems and the current Vice Chair of the IEEE-USA Research and Development Policy Committee. He serves as Editor of the Science Policy Column and member of the editorial board of IEEE Computer magazine. He is also a member of the IEEE Computational Intelligence Society, the IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology and IEEE TechEthics and is a Global Shaper of the World Economic Forum.
Mina is also a senior software consultant at Synopsys, Inc. Prior to joining Synopsys, he worked for 6 years at Intel Corporation in the Platform Engineering Group on the Intel Atom Processors and SOCs, having contributed to 10+ design tapeouts. Mina received his MSc in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University, and his BSc in Electrical Engineering from the University of Texas, Austin. His research interest lies in evaluating the impact of artificial intelligence, autonomous & intelligent systems and disruptive technologies on public safety, national security, responsible governance and social inclusion, and in exploring the political economy and policies surrounding the development of AI.

Adrien Gaidon is the Machine Learning Lead at the Toyota Research Institute (TRI) in Los Altos, CA, USA. Adrien is working on open research problems in world-scale learning for automated driving, especially self-supervised learning and other techniques to go beyond supervised learning. He received his PhD from Microsoft Research – Inria Paris in 2012 and has over a decade of experience in academic and industrial Computer Vision, with over 40 publications, top entries in international Computer Vision competitions, multiple best reviewer awards, international press coverage for his work on Deep Learning with simulation, and was a guest editor for the International Journal of Computer Vision. You can find him on Linkedin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrien-gaidon-63ab2358/) and Twitter (@adnothing).

Tobias Rees is Founding Director of the Transformations of the Human program at the Berggruen Institute in Los Angeles; Reid Hoffman Professor at Parsons/the New School in New York; and a Fellow of the Canadian Institute For Advanced Research (CIFAR).

Previously he held positions at the University of Zurich/Switzerland and at McGill University in Montreal/Canada, where he served as William Dawson Chair.

He holds degrees in philosophy (Heidelberg/Germany); anthropology (Berkeley/USA); and neurobiology (Paris/France).

Rees is a globally recognized expert on the history of thought – on how the categories that silently structure our ways of thinking and doing emerged and changed over time.
His research focuses on how events –– the sudden or slow and accumulative emergence of the unanticipated –– undermine such categories of though and transform the previously taken for granted into questions no one has answers for.
More specifically, he is interested in how such events reconfigure or render obsolete the categories of the human, of nature, and of technology.

Alone and together with colleagues Rees has sought to build new conceptual and institutional possibilities for rendering visible the philosophical, aesthetic, and political stakes of contemporary technology and science.

He has worked as advisor to many North American and European Universities on how to re-invent the human sciences and has collaborated with curators and museums around the world.

Rees has a long-standing history of working with artists.

Craig Martell is the Head of Machine Intelligence at Dropbox. Prior to joining Dropbox, he led a number of AI teams and initiatives at LinkedIn, including the development of the LinkedIn AI Academy. Before LinkedIn, Craig was a tenured computer science professor at the Naval Postgraduate School specializing in natural-language processing (NLP). He has a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Pennsylvania and is the co-author of the MIT Press book Great Principles of Computing.

Dr Sujoy Kar is the Chief Medical Information Officer & Vice President at Apollo Hospitals. Previously, he was the Director Medical Services at Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals Kolkata. He obtained his post graduate MD in Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Disease and is an alumnus of MIT Sloan School of Management (EPGM). He is a Certified Six Sigma Master Black Belt (Indian Statistical Institute) and member of professional organisations like ACHE, VRARA (Member – Healthcare Sub Committee), CHIME, Harvard Square (LE) and very recently was selected as Member Task Group for Centre for Innovation for BioMedical Design (CIBioD) – a joint initiative of ICMR and PGIMER Chandigarh.

Sujoy is currently associated with IIT Kharagpur & IIM Calcutta as Adjunct Professor for Healthcare Analytics and Management. He has led teams in multiple award winning Patient Safety & Process Improvement projects. His current and ongoing research interests are in adoption of Clinical Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare setting, Living Labs, Digital Health Platforms and Design Thinking in Healthcare.

Jana is a consultant for the Slovakian Government, Deputy Prime Ministers Office, on two agendas, AI and Women in Digital. She was appointed a Gender Equality Rapporteur for CAHAI, and has a legal and technical background.
She focuses on work related to AI regulatory frameworks within Council of Europe, the European Commission and the domestic Slovakian regulatory framework. She collaborated on Slovakian Digitalisation Strategy 2030 together with the Action plan focused on measures targeting design and deployment of artificial intelligence. These two documents came into effect mid-2020.
Prior to this, Jana’s most recent work in private sector was leading work on a rulebook of Robotics Process Automation (RPA) governance within a tier 1 investment bank within their technical architecture team, and establishing comparison and feasibility study on RPA vs. RDA implementation in large legacy technology stacks corporate environments. A designed instance of RPA and deployed into production environment became a software robot which can be used across multiple industries, and thanks to process engineering and AI functions, like Optical Character Recognition, automates repetitive and manual error prone mundane human tasks.
Jana’s extra curriculum work has involved setting up coding weekends for girls at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in London, and volunteering for CodeFirst:Girls London General course. She is passionate about activities promoting and supporting girls and women in their interests and uptake of STEM related fields of study and career.

Brian Cantwell Smith is Reid Hoffman Professor of Artificial Intelligence and the Human, as well as being Professor of Information, Philosophy, Cognitive Science, and the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, and a Senior Fellow at Massey College.
Smith holds BS, MS and PhD degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). From 1981 to 1996 he was a Principal Scientist at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) and Adjunct Professor of Philosophy at Stanford University. He was a founder of the Center for the Study of Language and Information at Stanford University (CSLI), a founder and first President of Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR), and President (1998-99) of the Society for Philosophy and Psychology (SPP). From 1996 to 2001 he was Professor of Cognitive Science, Computer Science, and Philosophy at Indiana University, and from 2001 to 2003 was Kimberly J. Jenkins University Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and New Technologies and professor in the departments of Philosophy and Computer Science at Duke University.
Smith moved to the University of Toronto in 2003, initially to serve as Dean of the Faculty of Information (2003–2008).

As Executive Director of CX Product Management for Comcast, Dan oversees the strategic planning and roadmap development for the Xfinity Assistant – Comcast’s virtual assistant, which uses machine intelligence and natural language understanding to deliver informed, personalized customer service solutions while reducing cost and increasing efficacy.

Prior to Comcast, Dan worked in Amazon’s Kindle group where he developed the innovative KDP Select program for independent authors and publishers. He has also served as Partner and President of Absinthe Pictures, the Emmy award-winning marketing production group, where he oversaw operations, business development and shared in creative responsibilities. Dan joined Absinthe Pictures after two years with online film network, IFILM, as VP of Product Development where he ran the company’s strategic planning initiatives, production and creative. During his career before Comcast, he served as the VP of Programming for CNET, where he was part of the founding team and responsible for developing CNET’s slate of television programs and heading their on-air promotions.

Dan graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics. He returned to the University of Pennsylvania in 2010 to receive his MBA from the Wharton School.

Before founding Deeda:DO, a company reinventing the classic board game experience for the DOers of tomorrow using cutting edge technology to reintroduce games that have been proven through history to nurture logic thinking and emotional skill in kids, starting with chess, Adi was the co-founder and CEO of RealFace, a startup company specializing in mobile authentication products using revolutionary face recognition and liveness algorithms. RealFace was acquired in 2017 by the largest US corporation.
In the years before founding Realface, Adi was the VP of Marketing and Business Development at Syneron Beauty and was part of the founding team within Syneron Medical (Nasdaq: ELOS) to open the Home-Use device unit, that later was acquired by Unilever.
Adi is a marketing executive that started her career in brand management at Procter & Gamble. She holds an MBA from Columbia University and a B.Sc. in Computer Science (graduate of the Zell entrepreneurship program) from IDC Herzliya and was also the captain of the IDC Chess team.

John C. Havens is Executive Director of The IEEE Global Initiative on Ethics of Autonomous and Intelligent Systems that has two primary outputs – the creation and iteration of a body of work known as Ethically Aligned Design: A Vision for Prioritizing Human Well-being with Autonomous and Intelligent Systems and the recommendation of ideas for Standards Projects focused on prioritizing ethical considerations in A/IS. Currently there are fifteen approved Standards Working Groups in the IEEE P7000™ series.
He is also Executive Director for The Council on Extended Intelligence (CXI) that was created to proliferate the ideals of responsible participant design, data agency and metrics of economic prosperity prioritizing people and the planet over profit and productivity. CXI is a program founded by The IEEE Standards Association and MIT whose members include representatives from the EU Parliament, the UK House of Lords, and dozens of global policy, academic, and business leaders.
Previously, John was an EVP of Social Media at PR Firm, Porter Novelli and a professional actor for over 15 years. John has written for Mashable and The Guardian and is author of the books, Heartificial Intelligence: Embracing Our Humanity To Maximize Machines and Hacking Happiness: Why Your Personal Data Counts and How Tracking it Can Change the World.

Deval is Data Science Lead for Assets and New Energies at Data Science CoE in Shell and one of the 100 Global Future Energy Leaders at World Energy Council. He holds a Doctorate in Mechanical Engineering and a Masters in Aerospace engineering. He is passionate about the role of digitalization in Energy Transition and is co-founder of Future Energy Lions network in Shell. Deval advises PandataTech, a Houston based startup as a board member and co-leads Data science sub-committee for Houston Exponential. Outside work, he enjoys cooking, traveling and reading.

Jean-Simon Venne is a co-founder and CTO of BrainBox AI. As a technology expert specializing in the fast and efficient migration of technological innovations to commercial applications, Jean-Simon has over 25 years of experience developing and implementing new technology to solve long-standing commercial issues in the fields of telecommunications, biotechnology, and energy-efficiency.

Prior to joining BrainBox AI, he was responsible for the successful integration of M2M technology in over 200 Smart Buildings across North America, Europe, and the Middle East. Jean-Simon holds a B.Eng. in Industrial Engineering from École Polytechnique de Montréal and a Certificate in Logistics from the University of Georgia Tech.

Alice Xiang is the Head of Fairness, Transparency, and Accountability Research at the Partnership on AI, where she leads a team of interdisciplinary researchers. Core areas of her research include bridging technical and legal approaches to algorithmic bias, assessing explainability techniques in deployment, and examining risk assessment tools. Alice’s work sits at the intersection of social justice and AI; she seeks to tackle the ways in which algorithmic decision-making can further entrench societal biases and inequalities.
She recently taught a course on “Algorithmic Fairness, Causal Inference, and the Law” at Tsinghua University’s Yau Mathematical Sciences Center, where she was a Visiting Scholar. She has also given lectures and speeches at events hosted by the AAAS, IEEE, Simons Institute, Harvard Institute of Quantitative Social Science, Tsinghua Statistical Sciences Center, RE•WORK, and others.
Alice’s research has been published in peer-reviewed machine learning conferences, statistics journals, and law reviews. She has also been quoted in Axios, Mercury News, and VentureBeat, among others, for her work on algorithmic bias and transparency, criminal justice risk assessment tools, and the limitations of AI.
Prior to joining PAI, Alice worked as an attorney at Gunderson Dettmer, representing startups and venture capital firms. She has also worked in civil appellate litigation at the Department of Justice, econometrics research at the Federal Reserve, and data science at LinkedIn. Alice holds a Juris Doctor from Yale Law School, a Master’s in Development Economics from Oxford, a Master’s in Statistics from Harvard, and a Bachelor’s in Economics from Harvard.

Fiona J McEvoy is an AI ethics writer, researcher, speaker, and thought leader based in San Francisco, CA. She was named one of the 30 Women Influencing AI in San Francisco by RE•WORK, and was recently honored in the inaugural Brilliant Women in AI Ethics™ Hall of Fame, established at the end of 2020 to recognize “brilliant women who have made exceptional contributions to the space of AI Ethics and diversity.”

Fiona is the founder of YouTheData.com, a platform for the discussion of the societal impact of tech and AI, and she has had numerous articles published in media outlets including Slate, VentureBeat, The Next Web, Offscreen, and All Turtles.  Fiona is also regularly asked to present her ideas to AI conferences across the US and internationally, and in recent years has addressed events in Canada, Spain, Portugal, and Mexico. Her work has been referenced in books, including Francine Banner’s Crowdsourcing the Law, David Vance’s Business Essentials, and Jeff Mapua’s Virtual Reality and You.

Fiona holds a graduate degree in Philosophy, with a special focus on ethics and technology.

Artash Nath has been working at the interface of space, robotics and artificial intelligence for the last few years. He is interested in deep space exploration and has been applying machine learning models to space challenges, including – predicting risk index of an asteroid collision with Earth and detecting atmospheres of exoplanets using simulated data from space telescopes. His ongoing project is on creating curious and intelligent machines that learn by being placed in an immersive environment. They make efforts to understand cause and effect and are not hesitant to ask “why”.
Artash has presented his projects at several conferences including at the 2020 ARIEL Science Mission and community Conference in the Netherlands, the 2019 Planetary Defense Conference in Washington DC, the 2019 Montreal Space Symposium, and the 2018 Toronto Machine Learning Summit. He regularly participates in Kaggle and citizen science challenges on astronomy and machine learning. Artash was the winner of NASA Space Apps Challenge Toronto 2018, 2017, 2014, and the 2017 Jesse Ketchum Award of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada for his astronomical equipment related to Solar Eclipse. In 2014, he co-founded his organization: HotPopRobot.com to bring space and astronomy education to the next generation.

Isabella is on a mission to leverage tech to solve some of the world’s biggest problems. She’s an activator at The Knowledge Society, and olympic level training program for problem solvers. She focuses on food and housing innovations. She’s an advisor for Aleph Farms, and has worked on food and biotechnology projects. Her other passion for the future of living lead her to work with organizations like Sidewalk Labs and IKEA. She studies, and builds projects with emerging technologies like 3D printing, gene-editing and Artificial Intelligence.

As an Advanced Analytics Specialist, Alexandre helps organizations in Quebec and in the federal government to solve their business issues by using Data Science and AI.

Spécialisé en analytique évoluée, Alexandre aide les organisations au Québec ainsi qu’au gouvernement fédéral à résoudre leurs problèmes d’affaires par l’utilisation des sciences des données et de l’intelligence artificielle.

An analytics and information software technical specialist, Steven holds a degree in computer science, a master’s degree in Business Administration, and over 20 years of experience in information management, integration, quality and governance initiatives. With extensive skills in information management strategies, Steven creates successful solutions across hybrid deployments, and varying architectures collaboratively with Enterprise Architecture, Business Intelligence, Data Science, Data Management and Infrastructure teams.

Spécialiste technique en logiciel et analytique de l’information, Steven détient un diplôme en informatique et une maîtrise en administration des affaires, possèdant plus de 20 ans d’expérience en initiatives de gestion, intégration, qualité et gouvernance de l’information. Grâce à ses compétences étendues en stratégies de gestion de l’information, il crée des solutions efficaces destinées à des déploiements hybrides et différentes architectures, en collaboration avec les équipes d’architecture d’entreprise, d’intelligence d’entreprise, de sciences des données, de gestion des données et d’infrastructure.

Pablo Dávalos is in charge of developing data-based intelligence to automate and streamline processes such as credit or fraud risk assessment, generating an optimal offering for clients, ensuring resource optimization in the collections process, among other responsibilities.
Pablo is convinced that cutting-edge science and technology can generate a positive impact on Mexico. He is thrilled to see that Kueski is driving this change through its financial product offering. He was part of the team that won the Datatlón, an event organized by Epicentro and the Government of Zapopan, in 2014. Furthermore, Pablo is a member of the National Council for Science and Technology (CONACYT).
Pablo has a major in Mathematics by the Universidad de Guadalajara. He also has a masters by the Center for Mathematical Research (CIMAT), which is located in Guanajuato, and a PhD in Mathematics by the Institute of Pure and Applied Mathematics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Additionally, he was part of a research stay at the University of Paris VI in France, and at the Technische Universität in Dresden, Germany. Pablo spent a Post-PhD research sojourn at the Universidad de São Paulo in Brazil.

Mari Joller is the Founder and CEO of Snackable AI, content discovery engine for the audio-first world. She is known for her ability to translate market insights into product vision and build high-performing teams to deliver against the opportunity.

Mari is a repeat entrepreneur in the audio-meets-AI space. For the past six years, she has been in the trenches driving AI-based startups, observing first-hand the psychology of how people interact with machines and its impact on designing AI-powered products.

Snackable uses artificial intelligence to add structure and metadata into spoken word audio / video, transforming monolithic content blocks into neat packages that are transparent, easy to search, access and share.

Before Snackable, Mari successfully founded and sold her company Scarlet, a cloud platform for delivering personal and branded content to the emerging audio ecosystem. Prior to Scarlet she co-founded Snazz, software for powering live events for businesses and brands. She previously built and scaled products at Virgin Mobile and Nokia.

Mari has an MBA from Harvard and a BA from Middlebury College.

Pascal Weinberger is an AI researcher and entrepreneur. He started his career working at the intersection of machine learning and neuroscience, building algorithms that more closely mimic the human brain. Subsequently, he joined Google Brain as an engineer on a number of the company’s AI projects. After then founding and successfully exiting a company operating in the AgTech space, he moved to Telefonica Alpha, where he founded and led the company’s AI team. Most recently, Weinberger co-founded Augustus Intelligence to create the products and services that will be necessary to bring scalable AI to enterprise environments. He is currently based in New York and is also actively investing and advising various AI companies as a venture partner in a deep tech AI fund and personally

Gregory Dudek is Lab Head and VP Research at the Samsung AI Center Montreal. He is also a Chaired Professor at McGill University’s School of Computer Science (on leave of absence), a member of the McGill Research Centre for Intelligent Machines (CIM) and an Associate member of the Dept. of Electrical Engineering. From 2008-2016 he was the Director of the McGill School of Computer Science. He is the former Scientific Director of the NSERC Canadian Field Robotics Network (NCFRN) and is the director of its successor the NSERC Canadian Robotics Network. He is also the former Director of McGill’s Research Center for Intelligent Machines, a 25-year-old inter-faculty research facility. In 2008, he was made James McGill Chair. In 2010 he was awarded the Fessenden Professorship in Science Innovation. In 2010, he was also awarded the Canadian Image Processing and Pattern Recognition Award for Research Excellence and also for Service to the Research Community. In 2019 he was the General Chair of the International Conference on Robotics and Automation. He is co-author of over 250 refereed scientific publications.

Yannick Meneceur is a French judge, seconded to the Council of Europe, assigned as an advisor in digital transformation and artificial intelligence. He is also an associate researcher at the IHEJ (Institut des Hautes Etudes sur la Justice) and a former student of the IRA (Institut Regional d’Administration – specialised in computer science). As a magistrate, he has carried out criminal functions, particularly in the fight against cybercrime and counterfeiting. He also managed a major national IT project at the Ministry of Justice. At the Council of Europe, he contributed to the comparative analysis of European judicial systems and developed an expertise in digital transformation, in particular with regard to the regulation of artificial intelligence. Occasional speaker at the School of Judiciary (Ecole Nationale de la Magistrature) and the University of Strasbourg, he is also a member of the scientific councils of the digital poles of the Club des Juristes and the PRESAJE Institute.

Haydar has been with Nuance Communications for nearly 10 years, where he became an expert in applied AI technologies for speech and language processing, as well as biometrics for authentication and fraud prevention. Haydar is a leader in the adoption of biometrics systems by enterprise organizations, ensuring that these systems are set up and deployed to surpass business objectives and help secure people’s identities. He has worked directly with many of the world’s largest financial institutions, telco providers, and companies in other industries.
Haydar is also the inventor of ConversationPrint – a new, AI-based biometric capability that analyzes people’s use of language towards improving authentication and increasing security in voice or written interactions.
He holds a Biomedical Engineering PhD from the University of Bern, specializing in Medical Image Analysis and surgical technologies.

Matt Galvin is the Global Vice President of Ethics and Compliance for AB InBev, the world’s leading brewer. Matt’s team covers anti-corruption, competition, litigation, sanctions, anti-money laundering, data privacy, human rights and internal investigations. He is recognized as a leader in the application of data analytics to solve compliance problems and streamline compliance systems and processes. Matt is a New York and Hong Kong qualified lawyer who spent ten years in private practice before joining AB InBev in 2015.

Colleen McDowell is an experienced Associate Partner in Cognitive Process Transformation. She is focused on helping clients build solutions that leverage cognitive solutions including AI + Analytics, Data Platforms, Automation. She has a strong proven record in project management, operations management, global delivery, IT strategy and PMO services. Ms. McDowell is actively involved in mentoring programs, PMI certified, and is passionate about supporting both the IBM LGBTA Employee Diversity Network Group Advisory Committee and the IBM Mental Wellness Executive Advisory Committee.

Danny is a Research Scientist at Google Brain in Montreal, Adjunct Professor in Computer Science at McGill University, and an Associate Member of the Mila Quebec AI Institute. His research interests are in the application of machine learning to problems involving highly structured data, with a particular interest in the intersection of machine learning and programming languages. He holds a Ph.D. from the Machine Learning group at the University of Toronto.
Previously Danny was a Researcher at Microsoft Research Cambridge UK and Research Fellow at University of Cambridge. His work has appeared broadly in the press (NPR Morning Edition, TechCruch, Wired, VentureBeat, Slate, Quartz) and has won awards at several conferences, including a Best Paper award at NeurIPS.

Dr. Florian Martin-Bariteau is an Assistant Professor of Law and Technology at the Faculty of Law, Common Law Section, the Director of the University of Ottawa Centre for Law, Technology and Society, and the Scientific Director of the AI + Society Initiative. As a legal scholar, his research focuses on Technology and Intellectual Property Law; with a special interest in Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity, Secrets and Whistleblowers.

François Croteau completed his bachelor’s degree in history, art history and sociology at the Université de Montréal. He continued his studies at ESG-UQAM, where he received an MBA in 2007, and a doctorate in urban studies in 2017 under the supervision of Pierre Delorme. His thesis focused on the urban governance of Montréal and the management of stakeholders.

He was first elected as Mayor of the borough Rosemont− La Petite-Patrie in 2009, and was re-elected in 2013 and 2017. He is known for his innovative environmental policies, particularly in the areas of urban agriculture, sustainable transportation, urban planning and effective management of public services. He is also a member of the Executive Committee of the City of Montréal, responsible for Information Technologies, Innovation, Smart City and Higher Education.

Jonathan Dion is a Senior Developer Advocate at Amazon Web Services focusing on machine learning, serverless and architecture. In this role, he helps customers discover AWS services along with emerging technologies and industry developments by delivering presentations, developing and running product demos and leading discussions.
With more than 12 years of IT industry experience, Jonathan has worked across broad technology areas including cloud, application architecture and development, security and networking. He started at AWS by helping customers develop and optimize their cloud application as part of the Solutions Architecture team. Realizing his passion for sharing knowledge in technology, he joined the AWS Training team to develop the skills of thousands of customers on machine learning, architecture, development and security in AWS.

Saeed Aghabozorgi Ph.D. is senior ML Specialist in AWS, with a track record of developing enterprise level solutions that substantially increase customers’ ability to turn their data into actionable knowledge. He is also a researcher in the artificial intelligence and machine learning field.

Sean Perryman is the Director of Social Impact Policy and Counsel at Internet Association. He is responsible for leading IA’s policy efforts around artificial intelligence (AI), diversity, inclusion, and immigration-related policies at the local, state, and federal level.
Prior to joining IA, Sean served as Counsel on the House Oversight Committee, Democratic staff where he conducted investigations and advised on technology policy including AI, cybersecurity, and privacy issues. Before working on the Oversight Committee, Sean practiced civil litigation both in Texas and D.C.
Sean is passionate about issues of equity and inclusion. He serves on the FCC’s Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment. Outside of work, he is the President of the Fairfax County NAACP–the youngest President in the branch’s 101-year history. He also regularly writes about issues related to race, policy, and equity.
Sean earned his B.A. from City University of New York- Baruch College. He received his J.D. from Vanderbilt University Law School.

Everyone knows that AI decision making is important, but how do we support data scientists and AI models to ensure accurate data is available at the right time to make the correct decisions? Andrew is a Business Solution Architect and a member of Bell Canada’s IT team. He leads an AI/ML infrastructure team with the goal of building an end-to-end AI/ML enterprise platform to facilitate development and operationalization of AI models. This platform will bring together historical and real-time data to support AI decision making, and support transparency and accountability.

Carina practises in all areas of intellectual property litigation, with a focus on IP litigation and applications under the Patented Medicines Notice of Compliance Regulations. She has an in-depth knowledge of Canadian administrative law and practice, including judicial review.
Carina’s background in computer engineering allows her to be of particular assistance to technology clients in patent, copyright and intellectual property licensing matters.
She has appeared before the Trademarks Opposition Board, the Federal Court, the Canadian International Trade Tribunal and the Federal Court of Appeal.
Carina served for two terms as a Tribunal Member for the Military Grievances External Review Committee, adjudicating disputes in the federal government context.
Prior to her legal career, she was an aeronautical engineering officer with the Canadian Forces and an engineering contracting officer and project manager for the Department of National Defence.
Carina is fluent in English and French

Étienne is an actuary who spent most of his career in property and casualty insurance, doing pricing and research initiatives. At the turn of the millennium, he quickly realized the potential of predictive models and machine learning to improve his work. At Desjardins General Insurance Group, he founded the Modelling and Research Excellence Center to develop AI applications in Marketing, Distribution, Claims and Underwriting functions. In 2018, he took the role of Director Advanced Analytics at Desjardins Group the largest cooperative financial institution in Canada. Étienne leads a team of more than 25 data scientists to deliver machine learning initiatives which provide fresh customer insights to better serve the needs of Desjardins members and clients and contribute to improving the economic and social well-being of people and communities.

Jay Stanley is Senior Policy Analyst with the American Civil Liberties Union’s Speech, Privacy and Technology Project, where he follows new technologies and helps the organization anticipate, explain, and reduce their potential impact on our privacy, free speech and other civil liberties.

Stanley has authored and co-authored hundreds of blog posts as well as a variety of influential ACLU reports and policy papers on new and emerging technologies, most recently “The Dawn of Robot Surveillance” on the implications of AI video analytics. Stanley is also an experienced media strategist and spokesperson who regularly appears on and is quoted in major broadcast and print outlets.

Before joining the ACLU in 2001, Stanley was an analyst at the technology research firm Forrester, where he focused on Internet related policies, including online privacy, taxation, and antitrust issues. Before that he did graduate work in 20th century American History at UVA, worked as a newswriter and editor for a New York publishing company, and held several technology-oriented jobs. He is a graduate of Williams College and holds an M.A. in American History from the University of Virginia.

Mona Wang is a staff technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation
fighting for Internet security and against corporate and government
surveillance. She maintains encryption projects promoting and explaining
Internet security technologies like STARTTLS Everywhere and Certbot, the
official Let’s Encrypt client. She also consults on impact litigation
and technology policy initiatives.

As the technical advisor on EFF’s AI and algorithmic decision-making
working group, Mona fights against the deployment of poorly designed
technologies that threaten to entrench societal inequities. She also
researches the spread of censorship and surveillance technologies across
the world as a member of EFF’s International policy working group.

Mona has a BS in Computer Science from Stanford University, where she
researched computer security and distributed systems.

TandemLaunch is a unique startup foundry and seed fund based in Montreal, that works with driven entrepreneurs to turn research from the world’s best universities into exceptional technology companies. Their portfolio includes a mix of hardware and software companies with high value offerings in the fields of artificial intelligence, human-computer interaction, video processing, advanced sensors, computer vision, and audio technology. Eleonora joined TandemLaunch in 2015 to help talented entrepreneurs turning cutting edge research into consumer technology products. As Program Director, Eleonora manages TandemLaunch Entrepreneur-in-Residence program, where she supports and guides entrepreneurs into their journey into the foundry, from their venture ideation to their graduation from the program. A scientist at heart, Eleonora is an experimental physicist and holds a PhD in Physics.

Dr. Sasha Luccioni is researcher working on AI for Humanity initiatives at the Mila AI institute, using Machine Learning to propose and develop solutions for key problems in areas such as the environment, health, education and ethics and bias.

Sasha got her PhD in Cognitive Computing from UQAM university in 2018, developing an Intelligent Tutoring System for language learning. After spending two years working in applied AI research, specifically in applying Deep Learning in industries such as customer service and banking, she decided to dedicate her skills in AI to making a difference in the world, joining Mila as a postdoctoral researcher in early 2019.

Since then, she has worked on research projects spanning Computer Vision and Natural Language Processing, in areas such as Climate Change awareness and education, as well as ethics and health. She has co-organized and participated in many conferences and workshops. She is also highly involved in community initiatives, serving on the Research and Policy Committee of Women in Machine Learning (WiML), as Chair of Content for Climate Change AI, and on the Advisory board of Kids Code Jeunesse.

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.

Ashee is the Regional Market Leader for Omnia AI – Deloitte’s Artificial Intelligence practice. She also heads the Montreal Greenhouse program, an immersive think thank that helps clients to resolve complex business challenges, fast.
For over 17 years, Ashee has helped hundreds of clients and executives to drive innovation, strategic transformation and to integrate emerging technologies in an era of constant flux.
As a leader for AI, she is passionate about bridging the gap between the science and the business needs while bringing to bear the combined talent of the Global firm. Devoted to helping clients and the Montreal ecosystem be world class in the field of AI, she works with cross-functional teams to separate the hype from the practical, to develop transformational journeys that are aligned to long-term business goals, and to bring Deloitte Cognitive Advantage value to the industry.

Currently a Senior Product Manager at Samasource, Audrey guides cross-functional teams to create thoughtful product solutions. She has guided teams of designers and engineers at HUGE Inc. and NBCUniversal, and monitored user analytics at the Wall Street Journal. With a BA in history from Harvard, an MA in anthropology from Columbia and an MBA from UNC Chapel Hill KFBS, Audrey is passionate a using technology and data analytics facilitate social impact and environmental solutions through technology.

Caitrin holds a BA&Sc in Cognitive Science and an MSc in Computer Science, both from McGill University. She has extensive expertise in applying computational techniques to new domains with complex human data, including work in software development for mental health, and as a researcher in computational social science. She is thrilled to put this knowledge to work and lead Aifred’s development efforts to produce a revolutionary evidence-based AI tool.

CEO and Co-Founder of Marinus Analytics, Cara is passionate about high tech implementations that maximize the efficiency, and by extension, impact, of agencies. She has managed the commercialization of Marinus Analytics’s Traffic Jam software from its research incubation at Carnegie Mellon University to its operational role in supporting law enforcement throughout the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Traffic Jam is a digital policing tool which aids investigations into sex trafficking, organized crime, and missing persons cases. She has a wealth of experience ranging from computer engineering, social entrepreneurship, and best practices for victim-centered policing.

For 15 years Cesar has been helping organizations of all sizes embrace Digital Transformation, enabling them to achieve business outcomes and reach their full potential through technology, while reducing cost and complexity. Prior to joining Qumulo, he worked at Rubrik and Dell EMC in Canada, at Lenovo in France and at Hewlett-Packard in Switzerland, giving him a very good understanding of the IT industry. Cesar is based out of Montreal and supports the province of Quebec at Qumulo.

As the VP of Technology at Cognigy, Derek delivers insights and understanding of Conversational AI and Chatbots as the next level of Automation. For the past 15 years, Derek has focused on bringing innovation to the enterprise, a place where it doesn’t easily fit. He uniquely combines a passion for technology with an honest dialog about its possibilities and limitations in real-world organizational contexts. Derek graduated with a PhD and JD from Stanford University and immediately entered the technology industry, working with startups from initial funding through public offerings and acquisition.

Evan is Nectar’s co-founder and Chief Science Officer. He holds MSc. in Bioresource Engineering from McGill University, where he prototyped beehive sensor networks in Dr. Adamchuk’s precision agriculture lab. Before Nectar, Evan interned at NASA developing machine learning drought prediction models. At Nectar, Evan oversees all model development, research and development activities and collaborations, as well as manages Nectar’s 10 beehives.

18-year-old founder of three startups, tech podcast and economics magazine, Joana is a social entrepreneur and public speaker, all whilst studying towards her Economics & Management Degree at the University of Oxford. Her social enterprise, She Dot, works to reverse social prejudice and bridge the socio-economic gap for young women through a series of children’s picture books reaching over 15 countries and having received key endorsements from the likes of Peter Tatchell and Miriam Margolyes OBE. Her knowledge of young people has led to her becoming an advisor for the Institute for the Future of Work, which is formed within the House of Commons, and was fully funded by the US embassy to attend a female leadership and empowerment conference hosted by Harvard, Babson and Converse. Joana is a 2-time TEDx speaker, with other notable talks including speaking at Facebook’s International Women’s Day 2018, for both Oxford and Cambridge University, and to HRH Princess Anne. She is humbled to be the winner of several awards including the WeAreTheCity Rising Stars Entrepreneur & Startups Award, InspiringJuniors 2018, Women in Tech Most Promising Junior 2018, and the youngest ever recipient of the Women of the Future Young Star Award.

Pascal Filion brings more than 20 years of Systems Architecture experience in high performance production environments. Prior to Qumulo, Pascal was the CIO of Moment Factory, where he helped redefine the future of Content Creation workflows and Information Management strategy. Before joining Moment Factory, Pascal led the IT infrastructure renaissance at the National Film Board of Canada.

Yang Wang is the CTO of Element, focusing on the research and development of deep learning and computer vision technology for mobile-based digital identity solutions. He holds a Ph.D. (Stony Brook University) and M.E. (Tsinghua University) in Computer Science. At Siemens Corporate Research, he led a global engineering team to develop learning-based solutions to automate object detection, tracking, and modeling in medical image analysis for improved diagnosis. Prior to that, Dr. Wang conducted his research at Carnegie Mellon University to develop learning-based detection and recognition algorithms in a large interdisciplinary project to facilitate mental health diagnosis and treatment. Dr. Wang published more than 30 publications and served as a referee in multiple top-ranked conferences and journals in the computer vision and machine learning field.

Rami Wehbe is the Co-founder and CTO of GlobalDWS (Digital Workplace Solutions) He is a senior technology strategist and program lead with more than 20 years of experience in IT strategy formulation, business strategy transformation, business scenario development, and innovation. He has profound knowledge of service architecture development, IT governance design, new technology evaluation, and IT risk management. Rami holds B.S. Electrical & Electronic Engineering from METU (Turkey), Mini-MBA from McGill University, Master certification in Strategic Leadership & Innovation from York University, as well as technical certifications from Microsoft (43), Cisco, PMI, Harvard and University of Toronto (Rotman)

Alexis Hannart holds an engineering degree from École Polytechnique Paris (1997), a master’s degree in data science from ENSAE Paris (1999) and a PhD in environmental statistics from Sorbonne University (2010). He joined Axionable in January 2020 as Chief Scientific Officer and partner, for this consulting firm specialized in sustainable AI. He leads all the R&D activities of the company, with the goal to develop innovative, sustainable and relevant AI solutions for businesses, in close collaboration with its customers and academic partners. A data scientist throughout his twenty years career, he has an extensive experience in the innovative application of his expertise to concrete problems originating from various fields. He participated in the design and implementation of data-driven systems aimed at environmental and climatic applications, in risk management, in finance, or in economic intelligence. Having held research positions in the academic sector (CNRS, McGill) as well as the private sector (Capital One), he has an in-depth knowledge of the specific challenges associated to applied research and technology transfer.