Keynotes
Rajeev Nayar
Rajeev Nayar is the Vice President and CTO of Data and Analytics at Infosys. Rajeev has over 25 years of experience in the tech and IT industry, with a focus on data and analytics. Rajeev has also held multiple other senior leadership positions at Infosys including Associate Vice President, Principal Technology Architect for Big Data. His career spans a unique breadth of experiences from building complex products for product companies to building services, solutions and practices for services companies. He has envisioned, built and managed products in diverse areas like ERP, Supply Chain, e-commerce and built practices around performance engineering, strategy & architecture, digital data and AI for various vertical areas for Financial Services to Manufacturing. Prior to Infosys, Rajeev held technical and product management roles at i2, Hyperformix, and JFS. Rajeev Nayar attended the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University where they completed an executive program. Rajeev also holds a MS in Electrical Engineering from Louisiana State University as well as a BE from the College of Engineering at Ohio University.
Gaming Keynote
Jesse Janosov
Jesse Janosov entered the game industry as a developer at Microsoft in 1998 and has since worked on all aspects of game technology from client to cloud. Jesse also has extensive experience leading all disciplines of game development and production across many game platforms and business models. He led product development at Playdom (sold to Disney) and subsequently headed Zynga casino division which he grew to record revenues and margins. Mr. Janosov worked in Venture Capital where he funded and advised game and consumer companies. After running Lumberyard and Mobile Game development at Amazon, Jesse returned to Microsoft to lead the Xbox Community/Xbox Live business, and now runs FIG (Foundations, Intelligence, and Growth) for Xbox. Jesse holds an MBA from Harvard Business School as well as bachelor’s degrees in both Computer Science Engineering and Economics from the University of Pennsylvania.
Panels
AI in Business: Building for an AI-Driven Future
Lisa Luh
Lisa is a Senior Product Marketing Manager at C3 AI, where she currently leads product marketing for C3 AI’s Reliability suite of applications and C3 Generative AI. Prior to C3 AI, Lisa drove market development at IBM in the healthcare, life sciences, and government & education sectors. Lisa holds a MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a BS in Business Administration from the University of California, Berkeley.
Brittany Bankston
Brittany Bankston is a Principal and Director of Product at BCG X.Ventures, with deep experience in the financial services, industrials, and social impact practice areas. At BCG, Brittany has launched numerous new business units and products for companies including National Grid and Spotlyte. She also was the 2nd Product hire at MainStreet, a fintech startup, after its $60M Series A at $500M valuation, where she launched 4 products into the market within a year. Notably, Brittany co-founded and served as CEO of the Black Product Managers Network, a thriving community supporting over 2,100 Black professionals in their development and placement into product manager roles. Brittany holds a BS in Biomechanical Engineering and MS in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University.
Sajjad Jaffer
Sajjad is the Head of Data Analytics and Machine Learning and a member of the Investment Committee at GrowthCurve Capital. He joined GrowthCurve at its inception in 2021 as part of the founding Senior Leadership Team.
GrowthCurve Capital is a private equity firm focused on building world-class businesses by leveraging data, analytics, and machine learning, combined with a comprehensive approach to human capital, to accelerate growth and drive value creation. Founded by Sumit Rajpal, former Global Co-Head of the Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking Division, the firm focuses on control private equity investments primarily across the financial and information services, healthcare, and technology sectors.
Prior to joining GrowthCurve, Sajjad co-founded Two Six Capital, the Silicon Valley firm that pioneered Data Science for Private Equity. Sajjad’s arc at Two Six began as a startup entrepreneur in 2012 when he found 25 years of Ph.D. research developed by Wharton Professors Eric Bradlow and Peter Fader. Two Six was launched in 2013 with a team of Data Scientists and Data Engineers that applied this research to private equity investing.
The company evolved into a technology platform as the team deployed large-scale engineering and data science models to over $30 billion of global private equity deals closed across industry sectors. This technology platform was acquired in 2020 as an AI asset by West Monroe Partners at which point Sajjad concluded his Two Six tenure through its successful exit.
Sajjad’s work and Two Six have been profiled by Private Equity International, Mergers and Acquisitions magazine, Knowledge@Wharton, Private Equity Technology podcast, Forbes, FT Fundfire, Institutional Investor, and Business Insider.
He holds a B.A. from Bowdoin, where he double majored in Computer Science and Government and minored in Economics, and an M.B.A. from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He serves on the Board of AI and Analytics at Wharton.
Tech Horizons in Emerging Economies: Unveiling Trends and Transformations
Ayo Arikawe
Ayo Arikawe is the Co-Founder of ThriveAgric, a fast-growing agricultural technology company that is passionate about ensuring food security and productivity in Africa by empowering smallholder farmers through its flagship proprietary products; Agricultural Operating System (AOS).
Till date, ThriveAgric has partnered with several organizations to unlock over $200m financing for farmers; worked with over 700,000 smallholder farmers; produced and traded over 800,000 metric tonnes of grains; impacted over 2800 communities across 26 Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya and targets 10,000,000 farmers in 2027.
Thrive Agric also directly employs over 2,500 people with an average age of 27 and indirectly engages over 40,000 youths all over Africa.
Ayo leads the market access thematic group of the Nigeria Economic Summit Group (NESG); a notable platform for public-private dialogue in Nigeria and he serves on the Advisory board of Ukhanyo Farmer Development (a non-profit organization that helps South African farmers unlock finance).
He holds a Bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering from Covenant University and is an alumnus of YCombinator, Google Launchpad, and World Food Programme Accelerator. Recently he emerged Global winner of the 2022 Visa Everywhere Initiative. In 2019, he also emerged Top 10 Jack Ma Foundation Africa Netpreneur Prize Initiative (ANPI) and is a 2019 YTech 100 recipient from the Future Awards Africa.
Ayo is also a partner at velocity, where they have invested in over 50 African startups till date.
Aaron Nio
Aaron is a USC accounting and finance alumni who has across a variety of finance, strategy, and investment roles in his professional career. He started out in investment banking before moving back to Asia and doing management consulting.
He then cofounded the largest online dating startup in Indonesia (Setipe.com), where he spearheaded their finance, business intelligence, and fundraising functions. After raising several venture rounds, Setipe was acquired by the largest traditional, premium online matchmaking company in Southeast Asia.
Aaron then moved to the sell-side of the startup space, working as part of the investment team in several prominent Southeast Asian VCs. He is currently managing partner of Foremast Ventures (an early stage VC) and Novae Capital Partners (a newly launched mid-market Private Equity fund).
Prashant Tandon
Prashant is co-founder and CEO of TATA 1mg, India’s largest digital health platform.
Prashant has been one of India’s leading entrepreneurs in Indian Digital Healthcare since 2009, having co-founded & led 1mg & HealthKart, both industry-defining companies in their space. In addition, Prashant has also been leading, evangelizing & representing the industry across multiple forums – he Chairs the HealthTech Committee at IAMAI (Internet and Mobile Association of India) & FICCI ePharmacy Working Group, helms DHP (Digital Health Platforms) – an association of India’s top e-health companies as their first President. He is also the Co-chair for TiEcon Delhi 2023. Prashant is recognized as a key industry leader and contributes actively across the Indian healthcare ecosystem and public policy.
Under his leadership, TATA 1mg has disrupted the standard model of healthcare delivery and grown to operate India’s largest online Pharmacy, Diagnostics and eConsultation platform powered by the gold standard in medicine content in India – thus making healthcare understandable, accessible and affordable for millions of Indians.
Till 2009, before he returned to India, Prashant worked at McKinsey & Company in San Francisco where he focused on the healthcare sector. He started his career with the Business Leadership Program at Hindustan Unilever India. Prashant is an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business and a graduate from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.
Naseer Mandozai
Naseer stands at the forefront of corporate development with a forward-thinking approach to business growth and inorganic development strategies. Currently spearheading corporate development at Nextdoor, Naseer infuses social media innovation with a keen sense for community engagement at Nextdoor. Previously, at Rakuten Americas, he led the company's corporate development for the Americas region, driving significant expansions and strategic initiatives. He secured his MBA from INSEAD and a finance degree from York University, complemented by his designation as a CFA Charterholder.
Founders Fireside
Caroline Strzalka
Caroline Strzalka is a media executive, startup founder, and proud Penn undergrad and Wharton MBA alum. She began her career taking companies public while in Equity Capital Markets at Salomon Smith Barney/Citibank. After completing her MBA she ran digital media business development at Sesame Workshop and Scholastic. Caroline's latest endeavor is Overplay, a no-code patented platform where you can turn any video into a game and share it with the world in minutes.
Zack Gray
Zack Gray is the founder and CEO of Ophelia Health, a virtual provider of opioid addiction treatment that serves thousands of patients across the U.S. with a special focus on Medicaid. Ophelia launched out of Y Combinator and has raised $68 million in venture capital from investors including General Catalyst, Menlo Ventures, and Tiger Global. Zack holds an MBA from Wharton (2019) and a BA from Columbia (2011), where he studied astrophysics and philosophy.
Aliza Berger
Aliza is a Philly-native (Go Birds!) and she is an Entrepreneurship & Innovation major here at Wharton in the Class of 2024. Prior to Wharton, she was an emerging tech consultant at Deloitte in Washington DC and San Diego. She is the Founder and CEO of LCKR - a sports and activities rental marketplace that turns curiosity into adventure.
Rob Huberty
Rob Huberty is the Chief Operating Officer & Co-Founder of ZeroEyes. Before founding ZeroEyes in 2018, Rob worked as a Pathways Operations Manager at Amazon, leading cross-functional teams. He served in the U.S. Navy as a Navy SEAL where he collaborated with international governments to conduct special operations, trained foreign forces to ensure mission success, and employed innovative problem solving. Mr. Huberty earned an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where he concentrated in Finance and General Management, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and Government from the University of Arizona.
Growth with GenAI
Stephanie Song
Stephanie Song is the CEO and a Co-Founder of Dili, a Y Combinator Summer 2023 batch company. Dili automates investment due diligence with AI. She steered her career on Wall Street from fixed income trading to investment banking. After executing over half a billion dollars worth of deals, her roles in traditional finance and on the Corporate Development and Ventures team at Coinbase ignited her drive to simplify the deal-making process, culminating in Dili's inception. As a @buysidesteph TikTok creator, she empowers young finance professionals. A Wellesley College graduate hailing from Chicago and living in NYC, Stephanie is reshaping due diligence and inspiring the finance industry.
Kevin Park
Kevin Park is an advisor for Healiom, a healthcare tech startup that leverages aggregated health data, marketplace logistics, and genAI to activate fully virtual or hybrid care for hospitals and clinics, enabling them to sustainably scale. In addition, he is a VP of Product for J.P. Morgan Chase focused on building a new digital wallet payment solution. Prior to that, he led various product and data initiatives at Healthcare.com, Octane Lending, and Capital One. He holds a Bachelors from Wharton, where he concentrated in Finance, Management, and Social Impact and Responsibility.
Kashish Hora
Kashish Hora is a Product Manager at Grammarly, an artificial intelligence software company providing communication assistance products for millions of users across the world. At Grammarly, he's helped grow the B2B business from zero and is now leading generative AI product development to augment professionals' communication across a variety of use cases. He holds a Bachelors in Computer Science and a Bachelors in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania.
Lauren Felice
Lauren Felice leads strategic partnerships in Corporate Business Development at Amazon, with a focus on GenerativeAI. Her work has propelled growth at the nexus of technology and customer experience. Prior to Amazon, she led Under Armour’s commercial digital transformation and previously consulted at McKinsey. She holds a Bachelors and a Master of Business Administration from Stanford University and resides in Seattle.
Future Frontiers: Revolutionizing Defense, Electrification, & Manufacturing
Chris Morales
Chris is a Principal on the Investment Team at Point72 Ventures where he invests in defense tech and enterprise businesses, tackling a variety of challenges across the public and private sectors. Prior to joining Point72 Ventures, Chris was a Technology, Media, Telecommunications Associate at Goldman Sachs in their Investment Banking division. Chris also served as an F/A-18 Super Hornet Weapons Systems Officer in the U.S. Navy, where he flew combat missions in support of Operations New Dawn and Enduring Freedom. During his last two years on active duty, he was assigned as a flight instructor responsible for teaching aircrew the techniques, tactics, and procedures of the F/A-18.
Chris is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy and has his JD/MBA from Wharton.
Quincy Lee
Quincy Lee is the CEO and Founder of Electric Era, a company founded by SpaceX engineers to make EV fast charging ubiquitous and affordable. Electric Era builds storage backed and AI-optimized EV fast charging stations. Prior to founding Electric Era he was a mechanical engineer at SpaceX where spent 7 years working on the Dragon Spacecraft, Falcon 9 rocket and Starlink constellation. He oversaw the global deployment of the Gateway ground station program for SpaceX Starlink. He was an All American and Olympic Trial qualifying swimmer for the Ohio State University.
Sviat Dulianinov
Sviat is a seasoned strategy executive with 10 years of strategic management, management consulting, and startup experience across the United States and Europe. Prior to joining Bright Machines, he served as Chief Strategy Officer at Dutch retailer SPAR. Previously, Sviat had a distinct consulting career at Bain & Company and co-founded an airport mobility company. Sviat holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Foreign Languages from MGIMO University and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Tech in Other Industries: Unlocking Innovation Through Tech
Richard O'Leary
Richard is President of CultureTech Inc., a software company automating copyright management in the art sector. Prior to co-founding CultureTech, a NYC based company, Richard was in marketing services first at WPP & then IPG, leading global client teams across sectors managing clients like MasterCard, AT&T, Verizon, Citi, Burger King, Kohl’s, PriceWatehouseCoopers, and many others.
Luca Mezossy-Dona
Luca is a cross-disciplinary thinker with a background in psychology and neuroscience, an MBA, and a career in clean energy ventures. She is part of the founding team of deep-tech startup IONATE. Leading strategic engagement across industry, investment, and government, her focus is on fostering an innovation culture and getting people excited about energy systems.
Will Essilfie
Will Essilfie is a technologist and product leader passionate about building community-powered products. He is a Lead Product Manager at TPT, the world's largest marketplace for PreK-12 resources, where he leads teams focused on user acquisition, seller tooling, and search relevance systems to help teachers connect with one another and share their collective wisdom. Prior to TPT, Will worked as a Product Manager at RangeMe, where he helped drive Marketplace Health, and as a Data Scientist at Facebook, where he supported women in emerging markets by helping them find safe communities.
Will holds a BA in Computer Science with a concentration in Business Management from Columbia University.
Workshops
Unlocking AI: Elevate your recruiting preparation
Jaden Dicopoulos
Jaden Dicopoulos is a Data Scientist and AI Specialist at Analytics at Wharton. With a keen interest in both education and innovation, Jaden has spearheaded workshops centered on AI applications, prominently featuring tools like Coding Co-pilots. As the Data Manager for the Analytics Accelerator Program at Analytics at Wharton, he has demonstrated his adeptness in leading and implementing data-driven student projects. Before joining Wharton, Jaden worked at the Rutgers University Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences, where he was instrumental in developing advanced technology pipelines and contributed significantly to weather research and forecasting models.
Leungo Norman
Leungo Norman is a Wharton undergraduate studying finance and entrepreneurship. She played a key role in developing and implementing 'Grey AI,' a versatile chatbot trained in Cambridge subjects like languages, math, sciences, and economics. Leuy also conducted data scraping to enhance the chatbot's capabilities. She successfully introduced Grey AI into government schools in Botswana, impressively securing a meeting with the Ministry of Education. Leuy further collaborated with Grey-X on predictive maintenance bots for Debswana, a top global diamond mine, showcasing her adaptability and AI expertise across industries. Currently, she actively contributes to the AI department at Wharton.
Future in Tech: Role exploration & Interview Success
Aanchal Ramani
Aanchal Ramani is currently a Product Manager at Google, where she works on face-related machine intelligence for Google Photos. Prior to that, she worked in data analytics for Meta's Social Impact org, as well as in product strategy at Series I startup Thumbtack. She holds an MBA from The Wharton School and a BA from Stanford University. In her free time, she enjoys trivia, trying new cocktail bars, and dancing.
Stephanie (Albino) McGrath
Stephanie is currently a Senior Manager of Strategy & Ops at FanDuel. Prior to this, she was a consultant at Bain & Company. She is a graduate of Wharton’s 2021 MBA class. Stephanie started her career in institutional equity sales and has an undergraduate degree from Villanova University. While Stephanie lives in New York, she remains an avid Philadelphia sports fan.
Naseer Mandozai
Naseer stands at the forefront of corporate development with a forward-thinking approach to business growth and inorganic development strategies. Currently spearheading corporate development at Nextdoor, Naseer infuses social media innovation with a keen sense for community engagement at Nextdoor. Previously, at Rakuten Americas, he led the company's corporate development for the Americas region, driving significant expansions and strategic initiatives. He secured his MBA from INSEAD and a finance degree from York University, complemented by his designation as a CFA Charterholder.
AI foundations
Matt O’Donoghue
Matt graduated from Wharton in 2022 and joined C3 AI’s Federal business unit, where he leads new business opportunities across the Department of Defense, Intelligence Community, and Civilian agencies. At Wharton, Matt majored in Entrepreneurship and Innovation and interned at multiple early-stage technology companies serving the aerospace and defense market. Before business school, Matt was an engineer in the defense industry and worked at Boeing and Northrop Grumman.