2023 EDISON AWARDS

Schedule of Events

Schedule is subject to change.

Wednesday, April 19th

Welcome Reception

All registered guests are invited to attend our opening reception at The Edison and Ford Winter Estates to meet fellow attendees and start cultivating connections. We’ve seen many new collaborative relationships arise following a chance meeting at one of our events, leading to fruitful and profitable new ventures. Tour the estates beforehand, or join your new friends for dinner afterwards in downtown Fort Myers.

Location: Edison and Ford Winter Estates, The Coconut Grove
2350 McGregor Blvd, Fort Myers, FL 33901

Attire: Resort Casual/Business Casual. Keep in mind that the event is outdoors.

4:00 pm

Private Tour of The Edison and Ford Winter Estates

Limited quantity available. Trolley transportation to the Estates is available. Attendees should meet in Luminary Hotel lobby at 3:45 p.m.

6:00 pm – 8:00 pm

Welcome Reception at The Edison and Ford Winter Estates

Sunset

Dine Around Downtown Fort Myers

Enjoy the lively nightlife of the downtown area, dine outdoors, enjoy a rooftop drink, or a sweet snack. A wide variety of food options and activities are waiting to be explored during this self-paced optional excursion time.

Thursday, April 20th - DAYtime Agenda

Meet the Innovators Forum

Participate in executive-level networking and presentations involving a spectrum of innovators and experts covering future focused diverse topics. Connect with fellow innovators and talk to the teams that created the Edison Award winning products and services at the  Innovators’ Showcase.

Location: Caloosa Sound Convention Center
1375 Monroe St., Fort Myers, FL 33901

Attire: Business Casual

7:30 a.m.

Continental Breakfast  /  Registration Check-in Opens

All attendees of the 2023 Edison Awards must be registered to attend.

7:30 a.m.

Innovators’ Showcase Exhibition Hall Opens

The Innovators’ Showcase gives guests a hands-on look at nominated products and services between sessions. Throughout the day, guests can visit with Edison Award finalists and share their experiences.

8:30 a.m.

Meet the Innovators Forum Welcome

Andrea Kates
Partner, Suma.com/Get To NEXT– FORUM HOST

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2023 Edison Awards Speaker

Andrea Kates

Andrea Kates (akates@suma.com) is a Silicon Valley-based innovation advisor, former tech CEO, and author of the award-winning book, Find Your Next, a complete guide for transforming ideas into concrete actions. She is also the creator of the end-to-end leadership training program on strategic futures called Get to Next.

She advises large enterprises (Ford, Shimizu, Cisco), innovative organizations (Mayo Clinic, Stanford Center for Responsible Digital Leadership), governments (National Science Foundation, Copenhagen Fintech), and nonprofits (NextMedHealth) to drive impact for their stakeholders, customers, investors, partners, and communities and has spearheaded significant transformation across multiple industries, including future of work, mobility, healthcare, manufacturing, energy, education, and technology across 5 continents.

Previously, she was the CEO of the Silicon Valley SaaS company that pioneered the application of the lean startup process with more than 13,000 corporate teams and R&D labs funded by the US Government I-Corps. Andrea's original research has been featured in Harvard Business Review and Research and Technology Journal. A dynamic thought leader, Andrea is in high demand globally as a speaker and has delivered keynotes at some of the world’s most prestigious conferences, including the TED main stage, Aspen Ideas Festival, Dubai2020, the Edison Awards, Rueda de Innovación, Nordic Fintech, OpenFinance Mexico, Innov8rs, and the CXO Forum in Tokyo. Andrea is Senior Fellow with The Conference Board. You can learn more about Andrea at www.Suma.com

8:40 a.m.

Keynote: Pat Gelsinger

Patrick Gelsinger
CEO, Intel; 2023 Edison Achievement Award Honoree

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2023 Edison Awards Speaker

Patrick Gelsinger

Patrick (Pat) Gelsinger is chief executive officer of Intel Corporation and serves on its board of directors. On Feb. 15, 2021, Gelsinger returned to Intel, the company where he had spent the first 30 years of his career.

Before rejoining Intel, Gelsinger was CEO of VMware. In that role, he transformed VMware into a recognized global leader in cloud infrastructure, enterprise mobility and cyber security – almost tripling the company’s annual revenues. Gelsinger was also ranked the best CEO in America in 2019, according to an annual survey by Glassdoor. Prior to joining VMware in 2012, Gelsinger was president and chief operating officer of EMC’s Information Infrastructure Products business, overseeing engineering and operations for information storage, data computing, backup and recovery, RSA security and enterprise solutions. Gelsinger began his career in 1979 at Intel, becoming its first chief technology officer, and also serving as senior vice president and the general manager of the Digital Enterprise Group. He managed the creation of key industry technologies such as USB and Wi-Fi. He was the architect of the original 80486 processor, led 14 microprocessor programs and played key roles in the Intel® Core™ and Intel® Xeon® processor families, leading to Intel becoming the preeminent microprocessor supplier. Gelsinger earned several degrees in electrical engineering: an associate degree from Lincoln Technical Institute, a bachelor’s degree from Santa Clara University and a master’s degree from Stanford University. He holds eight patents in the areas of VLSI design, computer architecture and communications, is an IEEE Fellow, and serves as a member of the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee. Gelsinger and his wife have been married for over 30 years; they have four children and eight grandchildren. He is also a published author and speaks frequently on faith, work and philanthropy.

Jennifer Trammell
Podcast & Television Host, Simple Vision Consulting

9:25 a.m.

Introducing the 2023 Lewis Latimer Fellows

The Lewis Latimer Fellowship Program provides access and mentorship to an exceptional small group of Black innovators. The one-year fellowship is designed to help participants unlock the potential of exponentially-advancing technologies, such as artificial intelligence & robotics, digital biology, nanotechnology and computing systems, and collide that with the arts and culture to build societally beneficial and profitable new ideas. During this session, the 2023 Lewis Latimer Fellows will be introduced.

Frank Bonafilia

Frank Bonafilia Executive Director, The Edison Awards; Co-founder, Lewis Latimer Fellowship

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2023 Edison Awards Speaker

Frank Bonafilia

Frank Bonafilia is both the Executive Director of the Edison Awards and co-founder of Edison Universe, a non-profit organization focused on fostering the next generation of innovators. In 2020, Frank co-founded the Lewis Latimer Fellowship–a program that supports the advancement of Black Innovators through mentorship. Frank is a 25-year marketing executive with an award-winning career in financial services, advanced retail solutions and the successful development and launch of profitable new products and services. Early in his career Frank was involved with the Edison Awards when he managed the Sponsorship and Awards Division of the American Marketing Association. In that capacity, he was responsible for the Division’s overall profitability and extension of the Edison Awards brand, which is manifested in the Edison Awards’ current status as an independent organization. Frank holds an MBA from Saint Xavier University and a BA in International Communications from the University of Kansas. When he’s not working he enjoys traveling and spending time with his wife Anna watching their three children Franco, Dante and Gianna participate in sports and school activities.

Jon Cropper
Founder, Futurlogic Advanced Concepts; Co-founder, Lewis Latimer Fellowship

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2023 Edison Awards Speaker

Jon Cropper

Jonathan Cropper is a respected luxury brand strategist, global creative director and futurist. Envisioneering and futurecrafting is his trade and passion.

Jonathan is the founder of Futurlogic Advanced Concepts, a highly confidential, business development, design, and branding studio.

Current areas of focus:
- Future of home-living
- Future of food
- Luxury 3.0
- Post-Covid, social impact entrepreneurship
- Immersive, interactive, content development

He has designed and implemented innovation strategies with the leadership of:

Aston Martin, Credit Suisse Private Bank, Airbus, Feadship, Sir David Adjaye, Four Seasons (Private Jet Program), Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, BIG Architects, S3 Architecture, ITV, Warner Bros / DC Comics, Hearst, Lockheed Martin, Zaha Hadid Architects, and Ralph Lauren, to name a few.

Futurlogic is also an agent representing Aston Martin Design, and is an experience design affiliate for NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab at CalTech.

Most recently, Jon was the Head of Global Real Estate, Aviation & Marine Partnerships for Aston Martin Lagonda.

In this unique role, he was responsible for creating the overall strategy, alliance formation, and execution of the brand’s expansion into these new verticals.

Jon began his career at MTV: Music Television, where he helped design the business plans for MTV’s expansion into Asia, Latin America, and South Africa.

After MTV, he was recruited by cultural icon Quincy Jones, to serve as Director of Business Development for his media company at Time Warner. He was responsible for sourcing and evaluating all multimedia and new venture opportunities.

Jon later joined Nissan North America as Senior Manager, Head of Youth and Urban Communications (a new internal unit that he created). In this capacity, Jon was responsible for all youth, multicultural marketing, and strategic alliances for both the Nissan and Infiniti brands. Jon efficiently managed a $100 million annual budget, and oversaw the production of dozens of multimedia communications campaigns.

Jon was recognized by Brandweek Magazine as the “Best Marketer Under 40 in America” for his marketing innovations.

He was also the Chief Marketing Officer for Badboy Worldwide Entertainment Group, Sean “Diddy” Combs’ collection of companies. During his tenure, Jon was instrumental in developing partnerships with Estee Lauder (launched the "Unforgivable" fragrance that became the #1 men's fragrance in the U.S.), Sprint, and Diageo (designed the repositioning strategy for Ciroc Vodka, one of the biggest successes in recent spirits industry history).

Prior to his role at Badboy Worldwide, Jon was an Executive Creative Director and Senior Vice President at Young & Rubicam Brands, where he led diverse creative teams, and formed an advanced mobile media and communications think tank. He designed and executed numerous campaigns for clients such as Sony, Vodafone, Starbucks, Telefonica, Jaguar and AT&T.

Jon received his BA in International Economics from the University of Pennsylvania. He enjoys travel, multimedia art, collecting first-edition magazines, beautiful architecture, and science fiction.

Carmichael Roberts
Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Material Impact and Co-Lead, Investment Committee, Breakthrough Energy Ventures

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2023 Edison Awards Speaker

Carmichael Roberts

Carmichael is co‐founder and managing partner of Material Impact, a fund that builds resilient technology companies developing products to solve real‐world problems using innovative materials. He is also the co‐lead of the investment committee at Breakthrough Energy Ventures, a mission‐oriented group chaired by Bill Gates committed to creating and building companies that address climate change and the long‐term sustainability of the planet.

Prior to venture, as an entrepreneur, Carmichael built several successful companies that create innovative products by applying material science. His strategy as a venture investor is based on his successful career as an entrepreneur in materials innovation, blending a unique business model of licensing university technology and commercializing it through targeted partnerships with Fortune 500 companies.

Prior to his career as an investor, Carmichael co‐founded several ventures, in which he served as President and CEO or Chairman.

Prior to his entrepreneurial career, Carmichael worked in business development at GelTex Pharmaceuticals, acquired by Genzyme for $1.3 billion, and in new product and business development at Dow Chemical (formerly Union Carbide Corporation).

Elected to the Board of Trustees of Duke University in 2013, Carmichael currently serves as Vice Chairman. He was appointed to the Duke University Health System Board of Directors in 2017 and currently serves on the Audit and Compliance Committee.

Carmichael also serves on the boards for the Consumer Technology Association, WGBH, and Massachusetts General Hospital Physicians Organization. Carmichael was selected by the Aspen Institute to participate in the Finance Leaders Fellowship program as a senior leader in the venture capital industry.

Carmichael received his BS and PhD in organic chemistry from Duke University and completed his postdoctoral National Science Foundation fellowship at Harvard University. Carmichael also has an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management.

10:00 a.m.

Break / Innovators’ Showcase

10:15 a.m.

The New Economy: Building Critical Human Infrastructure that Matters Today – Panel Discussion

Infrastructure is one of the last industries to innovate, and long perceived as bureaucratic and slow to change. We are here to update this notion, and look at interesting infrastructure-related solutions – around water preservation, using digital twin and 3-D mapping software, designing sustainable communities, and engineering with resiliency in mind. 

This panel will explore the role of startups, venture capital, accelerators, and business development in relation to leveraging infrastructure innovation to promote economic growth. 

Mike Orth
President, Governments and Environment, Black & Veatch

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2023 Edison Awards Speaker

Mike Orth

Mike Orth is the president of the Governments and Environment market sector at Black & Veatch, which focuses on serving the needs of government clients at the federal, state and municipal level as well as the growing field of environmental services. During his 32 years with Black & Veatch, Mike most recently served as executive vice president and managing director of the company’s water business in the Americas, where he guided the company’s growth in supply, storage, treatment and conveyance. Mike was appointed to the Black & Veatch Board of Directors in August 2022.

Lucienne Pears
Vice President of Economic & Business Development, Babcock Ranch Kitson & Partners

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2023 Edison Awards Speaker

Lucienne Pears

In her role as Vice President of Economic & Business Development, Lucienne strives to create a sustainable economy in Babcock Ranch. She grew up in rural upstate New York, graduated from Salisbury University on Maryland's eastern shore studying environmental science and urban planning.

Living in SW Florida since 2002, Lucienne spent nearly a decade consulting on land development projects. In 2009 Lucienne shifted her focus to economic development, committed to improving the lives and opportunities of residents. During her years in Charlotte County’s EDO, Lucienne was recognized twice (2017 & 2018) as one of the Top 50 Economic Developers in North America by Consultant Connect, a consortium of site selection consultants, economic developers, and industry CEOs. She has also been honored as a Person to Watch by Florida Trend magazine. Under Lucienne’s leadership, the EDO secured several key-commitments: the sale of Murdock Village, over $2 billion in capital investment in Charlotte County, and over $3.2 million in grant funding for infrastructure improvements to support economic development.

Since joining Kitson & Partners in 2018, Lucienne has been a key teammate in attracting projects and funding to Babcock Ranch, including securing $7M in funding from the FL legislature for the construction of a regional emergency shelter. In addition to attracting primary employers to create jobs in keeping with the Babcock Ranch vision for sustainability, Lucienne also works to support and grow the existing business community and focuses on long term strategies to keep Babcock Ranch at the cutting edge of Innovation.

Diana Zhou
Venture Partner, Eclipse Ventures

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2023 Edison Awards Speaker

Diana Zhou

Diana is a Venture Partner at Eclipse Ventures. Previously, Diana was the Senior Director of Global Business Development at Virgin Hyperloop and led the company’s go-to-market initiatives around the world to deploy and deliver hyperloop transportation projects through public-private partnerships with governments and private entities. Prior to joining Virgin Hyperloop, Diana was a management consultant at Oliver Wyman in New York, where she advised private sector companies and governments around the world on business and corporate strategies, risk and economic modeling, product development and market entry decisions, and strategic and regulatory trends. Previously, she was also a member of the Global Shapers community, an initiative of the World Economic Forum. Diana holds an MBA from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and an MPA-International Development from the Harvard Kennedy School, where her focus was on the intersection of business, technology, and economic development. She received a grant from the Harvard Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation for her research on the development of an electric vehicle industry in China. She received her BA in Economics and International Studies from the University of Chicago.

11:00 a.m.

Game Changers

11:10 a.m.

The Future of Economic Development: Optimizing for Impact – Panel Discussion

Panelists provide insight on strategies that leverage innovation to deliver more impactful economic benefits to our society. Traditional measures of business success have always been centered around the bottom line. While those are and should indeed be the measures of any business success, this definition must be expanded since the business also depends on people and environmental resources such as water, energy, oxygen, and gas which are limited in nature. Given the vast array of issues economic leaders face to secure successful operations, ranging from natural disasters, AI takeover, and a generational gap, it would benefit to join the conversation as we explore how meeting talent needs, attracting and supporting early-stage entrepreneurs, and embracing a diversified workforce can optimize the impact of our business strategies.

Gracelyn Byrd
Agronomist, US Sugar

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2023 Edison Awards Speaker

Gracelyn Byrd

Gracelyn Byrd is an agronomist at U.S. Sugar, a vertically integrated farming company in Clewiston, FL that produces sugarcane, sweet corn, and winter vegetables such as green beans, lettuce and other leafy greens. Her role involves designing experiments and conducting research to help U.S. Sugar’s farmers identify and implement data-driven solutions to agronomic problems. Byrd’s early career has been defined by her pursuit of valuable skill-building opportunities that set her apart from other young professionals in the agriculture industry. After graduating from Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, earning a B.S. in Agriculture with a concentration in Agribusiness Management, Byrd moved to Clewiston, FL in May 2017 to join Ag Technologies, LLC as a precision agronomist. She honored the company’s mission of creating an environment for growers to confidently identify, develop, implement, and maintain precision agriculture technology solutions on their farms. Byrd became a Certified Crop Advisor, a benchmark of professionalism for agronomists in North America, to strengthen her agronomic problem-solving skill set. She eagerly accepted the agronomist position with U.S. Sugar in 2019, recognizing it as an opportunity to combine her experience with precision agriculture technology and her agronomic skills to develop comprehensive solutions to enhance U.S. Sugar’s long-standing legacy of innovation, sustainability, and stewardship. In addition to gaining professional experience, Byrd has been building her career through academics and leadership development programs. In 2022, she graduated from the University of Florida with her M.S. in Agronomy with a concentration in Agroecology and from the Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association’s Emerging Leader Development Program. She is currently enrolled as a Ph.D. student at the University of Florida. Her research will focus on characterizing spatial and temporal variability in Florida soils to determine their impact on the yield and quality of cropping systems.

Robert Harvey
General Counsel, Enterprise Florida; Executive Director, Florida Opportunity Fund

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2023 Edison Awards Speaker

Robert Harvey

Prior to joining Enterprise Florida, Inc. (“EFI”) in November 2022, Robert was a Founding Partner of Jenks & Harvey LLP (“JH”) in West Palm Beach, Florida. While at JH, Robert concentrated his practice in securities litigation, arbitration, and regulation. He represented brokerage firms and financial institutions, directors, officers, and financial advisors, in complex financial litigation in both state and federal courts, and FINRA arbitration. Robert also defended financial institutions and individuals in regulatory proceedings before the SEC, FINRA, and state regulatory authorities. Robert also represented individual and institutional investors who suffered monetary losses as the result of securities fraud.

Robert began his career with the United States Navy, where he served on active duty from 1987-1990 as a Navy Judge Advocate and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney. After leaving active duty, he entered private practice in Chicago, Illinois, specializing in personal injury defense and insurance coverage.

Robert has over 30 years of legal and business experience. In 1992, he joined startup Meridian VAT Reclaim North America in New York, NY (“Meridian”). Meridian, now known as Meridian Global Services, is the worldwide leader in providing corporate international Value Added Tax compliance and consulting services. Mr. Harvey became Meridian North America’s Senior Vice President of Operations & General Counsel in 1996. Headquartered in Ireland, Meridian was acquired in 1999 by Profit Recovery Group International (NASDAQ: PRGX), and is now privately held.

After leaving Meridian in 1999, Mr. Harvey became Director of Operations for MBIA MuniServices Company, a subsidiary of MBIA, Inc. (NYSE: MBI) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Mr. Harvey later served as Chief Operating Officer of Imperial Software in Great River, New York.

From 2003-2014 Mr. Harvey was the Managing General Partner of Kensington Capital Fund LP. Kensington specialized in restructuring and growth opportunities for publicly held “Micro-Cap” companies in the areas of information technology, telecommunications, and healthcare.

Born and raised in Joliet, Illinois, Robert, and his wife Debra reside in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

Danielle Mousseau
Manager of Economic Development, Florida Power & Light, 35 Mules

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Danielle Mousseau

Danielle is manager of 35 Mules, where she leads efforts to grow early-stage startups in the program and support Florida’s growing startup ecosystem.

Danielle joined FPL in 2008, and has held various roles across the organization, including client and event management, product and email marketing, electric vehicle infrastructure project management and, most recently, economic development.

In her previous roles, Danielle’s achievements include marketing efforts that earned second in the nation for email communications among utilities from J.D. Power for 2013. When FPL began growing its clean vehicle fleet, Danielle led and managed more than 70 charging station infrastructure projects across company service centers and offices. In economic development, she was named as one of North America’s Top 50 Economic Developers in 2020.

Danielle currently serves on the boards of Florida Venture Forum, Synapse, GrowFL’s Advisory Board and the Jupiter Police Foundation’s Advisory Board. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in strategic communication from the University of Minnesota. A native Floridian, born and raised in South Florida, Danielle currently resides in Tequesta, Florida.

11:45 a.m.

Lunch Break / Live Demos / Innovators’ Showcase

1:00 p.m.

On Stage Demonstration

1:05 p.m.

Young Edison Challenge

Justin Brand, Chief Development Officer of the Charlotte Community Foundation will introduce the 2023 Young Edison Challenge Student Winners, Sonia Patel, Kayla Davis, Isis Fleming, Amaya Etcheverry, and Aldrich Heinz Alvarez.

Justin Brand
Chief Development Officer, Charlotte Community Foundation

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Justin Brand

Justin Brand joined the Community Foundation in 2018 as the Director of Community Engagement.

Justin has been in Charlotte County for 4 years and has worked with many nonprofits such as the United Way – serving as a Board member for 2 years, the Charlotte County Chamber of Commerce Board member for 3 years, as well as the class of 2017 Leadership Charlotte Event Chair.  Justin has a BBA in Hotel and Resort management which will prove to be a benefit when meeting with potential donors and working with partner agencies and nonprofits by providing a sense of hospitality and friendliness.

Justin’s knowledge of the community and his ability to keep his finger on the pulse of Charlotte County will be helpful in the growth of Charlotte Community Foundation. “The most exciting element of this position for me is that I know each and every day, no matter what I do, I will have made a difference in the legacy of an individual that will benefit Charlotte County for years to come.

1:20 p.m.

The Global Perspective: Leading Sustainable Business – Panel Discussion

Exercise your mind and discuss pressing challenges leaders face as we move toward a sustainable future together. Be it carbon neutral measures, shifting to renewable energy, designing an environmentally conscious supply chain, or the use of biodegradable packaging, sustainability is more than a trend. It is core to the longevity of our ecosystem and key to the success of our society given that collectively we all rely on natural resources for business, leisure activities, and basic survival.

At the Edison Awards, it is our mission to foster an innovation community that creates a positive impact in the world. We hope you will join us in exploring innovative initiatives in Leading Sustainable Business.

Bob Maughon, Ph.D.
Executive Vice President, Sustainability, Technology & Innovation and Chief Technology and Sustainability Officer, SABIC

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Bob Maughon, Ph.D.

Bob Maughon is the executive vice president, Sustainability, Technology & Innovation and Chief Technology and Sustainability Officer at SABIC.  He oversees a global organization with 20 research centers around the world and a talented team focused on driving process, product and application innovation to support SABIC’s growth agenda.  Additionally, Maughon has responsibility for Corporate Sustainability, Product Stewardship, Technology Licensing and Technology Ventures.

Dr. Maughon joins SABIC after a 21 year career at Dow, where he most recently served from 2013-2019 as the R&D vice president for Packaging & Specialty Plastics and Hydrocarbons at Dow.

Maughon serves as a board member of the University of Michigan Engineering Leadership Advisory Board and the AspenTech Executive Advisory Board.

He holds nine U.S. Patents and has numerous publications and presentations at external conferences.

Maughon earned his BA degree in chemistry from Rice University and his PhD in organic chemistry from the California Institute of Technology.

Carmichael Roberts
Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Material Impact and Co-Lead, Investment Committee, Breakthrough Energy Ventures

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Carmichael Roberts

Carmichael is co‐founder and managing partner of Material Impact, a fund that builds resilient technology companies developing products to solve real‐world problems using innovative materials. He is also the co‐lead of the investment committee at Breakthrough Energy Ventures, a mission‐oriented group chaired by Bill Gates committed to creating and building companies that address climate change and the long‐term sustainability of the planet.

Prior to venture, as an entrepreneur, Carmichael built several successful companies that create innovative products by applying material science. His strategy as a venture investor is based on his successful career as an entrepreneur in materials innovation, blending a unique business model of licensing university technology and commercializing it through targeted partnerships with Fortune 500 companies.

Prior to his career as an investor, Carmichael co‐founded several ventures, in which he served as President and CEO or Chairman.

Prior to his entrepreneurial career, Carmichael worked in business development at GelTex Pharmaceuticals, acquired by Genzyme for $1.3 billion, and in new product and business development at Dow Chemical (formerly Union Carbide Corporation).

Elected to the Board of Trustees of Duke University in 2013, Carmichael currently serves as Vice Chairman. He was appointed to the Duke University Health System Board of Directors in 2017 and currently serves on the Audit and Compliance Committee.

Carmichael also serves on the boards for the Consumer Technology Association, WGBH, and Massachusetts General Hospital Physicians Organization. Carmichael was selected by the Aspen Institute to participate in the Finance Leaders Fellowship program as a senior leader in the venture capital industry.

Carmichael received his BS and PhD in organic chemistry from Duke University and completed his postdoctoral National Science Foundation fellowship at Harvard University. Carmichael also has an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management.

Florian Schattenmann
CTO and VP of R&D and Innovation, Cargill

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Florian Schattenmann

Florian Schattenmann is Cargill’s Chief Technology Officer and Vice President for Innovation and Research & Development (R&D). He oversees a global team that is driven by the vision of relentlessly creating value for Cargill and its customers via research, application and product development, and technical service support across agriculture, food, animal feed and bioindustrial markets. He also leads the Strategic Growth Business Accelerator, designed to accelerate and scale cross enterprise innovation- and science-driven strategic growth businesses. Current focus areas include alternative protein and human health technologies.

Prior to joining Cargill in November 2018, Florian spent eight years at The Dow Chemical Company. His most recent role was Vice President for Performance Materials & Coatings R&D, where he led innovation across a diverse set of specialty businesses. Florian has also held leadership roles at SulphCo Inc. and GE-Bayer Silicones. Earlier in his career, Florian managed several research laboratories at GE’s Global Research Center.

Florian is a certified Six Sigma Master Black Belt, holds seven U.S. patents and has numerous publications. He serves on the Scientific Advisory Boards for Texas A&M AgriLife and College of Agriculture & Life Sciences, the College of Science and Engineering at University of Minnesota, and the Department of Chemistry at University of Wisconsin-Madison. He earned his Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA and his Diplom Chemiker degree from the Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany. Florian and his family live in Golden Valley, MN. Besides spending time with his family, he loves playing the bass, road cycling and working out.

2:00 p.m.

Break / Innovators’ Showcase

2:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.

Interactive Breakout Sessions

Get To NEXT: Hands-On Skills to Make Innovation Work

Location: Luminary Hotel – 1st Floor Workshop

Join us for an opportunity to synthesize your Meet the Innovators Forum experience through the lens of an introduction to the “Get to NEXT” methodology. A program specifically facilitated by innovation strategist Andrea Kates that will equip leaders to:

•    Translate insights from the conference into concrete action
•    See emerging opportunities with fresh eyes
•    Master 3 key tools that will advance progress inside your organization
•    Learn how to build commitment with your teams, peers, and collaborators

Andrea Kates
Partner, Suma.com 

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2023 Edison Awards Speaker

Andrea Kates

Andrea Kates is a San Francisco Bay Area-based authority at moving innovation to revenue. She focuses on uncovering untapped opportunities and galvanizing strategic vision. For 20 years she’s led bold initiatives in virtually every sector and every geography that help companies figure out where to place their bets on emerging products, services and technologies and to scale dynamic business models. In essence: How do you disrupt before being disrupted, avoid the blind side and get ahead of the future? Leaders who work with Andrea develop a new mindset about future growth, informed by both data and new insights.

Andrea was CEO of the San Francisco SaaS software company that pioneered the application of Lean Startup with scaleup and large companies. In that capacity, she had visibility into more than 13,000 commercialization, technology, and innovation initiatives covering a broad spectrum of companies within the innovation ecosystem from government research labs to large companies (3M, Intel), and a wide range of startups.

Based on her experience, she developed the original Get to Next methodology which is specifically designed to equip corporate teams to ACTIVATE Innovation. The core components are: ENVISION emerging opportunities with fresh eyes, EXPAND rapidly through new lenses and future-focused technologies, BUILD initiatives from early stage through to scale, and ENGAGE leaders and teams with the new direction.She has “futureproofed” teams in virtually every sector including mobile (Ford US + China, GM, Audi), manufacturing/energy (ABB, Audi, GM, Shell-Asia Pacific + Europe), technology/mobile (Fujitsu, HP, Cisco); healthcare (Atrium Health, Mayo Clinic, Roche), B2C consumer goods/hospitality (United Airlines, Sodexo, ALFA-Middle East) and financial services (Allstate, AIG, Citi). Her original research in cross-industry growth was published in her book, Find Your Next.

Andrea has been the featured keynote speaker and global thought leader on the TED main stage, Aspen Ideas Festival, CXO Forum in Tokyo, Rueda de Innovación (Colombia), and in corporate settings (3M, Cisco, Phocuswright: The Future of Travel, OpenFinance Mexico: The Future of Finance, Dubai 2020). Her board affiliations include: Embrace Global, Copenhagen Fintech, OpenFinance Mexico, and Stanford University’s global institute on Responsible Digital Leadership.

Today, Andrea works with leaders to discover their best future with a tangible, practical set of steps called: GET TO NEXT.

How to Secure Funding in Today's Environment

Location: Luminary Hotel – 4th Floor Edison Room

Bring your ideas, pitches, and other funding questions you are struggling with to receive feedback from the facilitators during this ‘office hours’ discussion.

Dr. Christine Gulbranson

Dr. Christine Gulbranson
CEO, U+Nova; CIO, Treehouse Studios

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2023 Edison Awards Speaker

Dr. Christine Gulbranson

Dr. Christine Gulbranson is an entrepreneur, investor, and innovator who has built new markets and transformed a breadth of industries including cleantech/renewables, mobility, big data/IT, materials, agriculture, and healthcare while mitigating financial risks throughout her career as CEO, chief innovation officer, VC investor, board director and adviser for large & small, public and private corporations, family offices, and nonprofit organizations. She highlights the need for innovation and its key drivers to transform markets and society in her book Transformative Innovation: Today’s Capital Drives Tomorrow’s Exponential Growth & Profits to Advance the World.

Christine is the CEO of U+Nova and CIO of Treehouse Studios. She previously served as CEO and director of a Silicon Valley private family (Sergey Brin) foundation/office, chief innovation officer of the University of California System overseeing a $100B+ technology investment portfolio and $37B operations budget, general partner at VC firm GCP, senior investment advisor to a $4B European family office, television personality for Discovery Channel and scientist at LLNL.

Dr. Gulbranson has served as a director on more than twenty private and public service boards and has been recognized by Silicon Valley Business Journal as one of the top 40 Under 40 business leaders in Silicon Valley, as innovator for the twenty-first century by MIT’s Technology Review and as UC Davis’ distinguished engineering alumni in business.

Christine grew up in rural Northern California and Germany and is a first-generation college graduate. By age twenty-five, she earned five degrees from UC Davis – BS in physics, a BS, MS, and PhD in materials science and engineering, and an MBA. She holds patents in the fields of nanotechnology and lighting.

Diana Zhou
Venture Partner, Eclipse Ventures

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2023 Edison Awards Speaker

Diana Zhou

Diana is a Venture Partner at Eclipse Ventures. Previously, Diana was the Senior Director of Global Business Development at Virgin Hyperloop and led the company’s go-to-market initiatives around the world to deploy and deliver hyperloop transportation projects through public-private partnerships with governments and private entities. Prior to joining Virgin Hyperloop, Diana was a management consultant at Oliver Wyman in New York, where she advised private sector companies and governments around the world on business and corporate strategies, risk and economic modeling, product development and market entry decisions, and strategic and regulatory trends. Previously, she was also a member of the Global Shapers community, an initiative of the World Economic Forum. Diana holds an MBA from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and an MPA-International Development from the Harvard Kennedy School, where her focus was on the intersection of business, technology, and economic development. She received a grant from the Harvard Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation for her research on the development of an electric vehicle industry in China. She received her BA in Economics and International Studies from the University of Chicago.

Artificial Intelligence: the Good the Bad and the WTF?

Sandy Clark
Infosec Research Scientist and Cyber Security Analyst, Apple Inc

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2023 Edison Awards Speaker

Sandy Clark

Sandy's work is instrumental in understanding the mechanisms underlying vulnerability, exploitation and defense. Building models and tools to help defenders make the best use of security resources while limiting risk and liability. Sandy is also interested in developing security metrics that help analyze the efficacy of various software life-cycle processes. Sandy's PhD research focused on developing dynamic, adaptive defensive strategies against an ever evolving and often hostile cyber-ecosystem.

Thomas Stutesman
Principal Solution Architect, Pure Storage

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2023 Edison Awards Speaker

Thomas Stutesman

Thomas Stutesman started his career in technology in 1978 when a local business contacted his high school to see if anyone in the computer club could help them with a system problem. Tom solved the problem and received payment for his work. That was the start of his technology consulting career.

Throughout his career he has held various engineering, product management, marketing and sales engineering leadership roles. He has performed technology engagements with 90 of the Fortune 100 companies.

His most rewarding roles have been working with youth and community service.

As an officer in the Civil Air Patrol, he coached and mentored the CyberPatriot program, which is a national cyber defense competition for Middle and High school students. The teams he worked with won state and regional competitions, including going to the National Championships beating out over 5000 other groups.

For over 20 years he coached and refereed youth soccer. He also launched a traveling soccer program that grew from a few teams to over 100 in just three years. When he retired from the program he had coached over 2000 games and refereed nearly 1000 games.

In the area of community service he was an elected official in his community serving 22 years as a trustee. In that time frame he helped raise bonds to purchase over 1000 acres to create open space and parks. He also worked on restoring hundreds of acres of land to natural wetlands which greatly improved water quality.

In Business Thomas’ area of expertise is in Applications, Database analytics and performance.

In the 1980’s he launched a data analytics company which focused on consumer buying patterns. After several years of successful profitable operation it was acquired. He then took a role focusing on sales of marketing of the tools he helped create.

He has managed the creation of several products that drove over 1 Billion Dollars of revenue each.

He specialized in pre-IPO organizations helping them determine marketing, product and sales strategies. One company, Powersoft, he managed Global Field Marketing and worked on the merger with Sybase in 1994 for 940 Million.

He has held technical marketing leadership roles at Informix (Acquired by IBM), StorageTek-Sun (Aquired by Oracle). At NetApp he was hired to manage the technical partner relationship with IBM, he helped drive over 100 Million is partner sales his first year.

At Hitachi he helped form the Converged Solution Organization and managed solution development, technical sales and marketing. This group grew from zero revenue to 250 Million annual revenue in 24 months.

He then transitioned to focusing on database technologies becoming the Global Expert on Database for all of Hitachi. Creating numerous tools and integrations his engineering teams were always on schedule and under budget.

Presently he is working with Pure Storage where he is the Principal Solution Architect in the office of the CTO.

His daughter is a graduate of The United States Air Force Academy and an active duty Captain. His son is a cybersecurity specialist in the United States Airforce. His wife, business partner and High School Prom date make their home in Florida.

Getting to Scale: IgniteX Accelerator & Corporate Innovation

Location: Luminary Hotel – 4th Floor Firestone Room

An “office hours” session with Black & Veatch’s IgniteX team to discuss your questions, lessons learned, experience, and ideas about internal corporate innovation, corporate run accelerators, startup + startup partnering.

Jason Haney, CPM
Project Manager, Growth Initiatives & Innovation, Black & Veatch

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2023 Edison Awards Speaker

Jason Haney, CPM

Jason Haney is in the Kansas City area and is the program manager of Black & Veatch’s IgniteX Start-up Accelerator, a program where Black & Veatch partners with start-up companies offering scalable solutions for critical human infrastructure. As part of the innovation group, he helps drive smart, rapid, profitable growth; discover opportunities; and challenge convention. He co-founded and co-lead an internal corporate innovation team to develop, test, and de-risk new solutions and business models to solve the housing crisis. Prior to joining the innovation group, Jason was a senior performance consultant where he assessed business challenges and risks and developed and implemented performance improvement initiatives to improve business objectives. Prior to joining Black & Veatch, Jason served as the Director of Performance Improvement for a State Government agency in Kansas. Jason started his professional career as a commissioned officer in the United States Navy. Jason holds an MSA from Central Michigan University and a BS from the University of Kansas.

Andrew Foster
Innovation & Strategy – Health, Safety, and Emergency Management, Black & Veatch

Fireside Chat

Location: Luminary Hotel – 4th Floor Langford Room

Conversation around innovation with Bracken Darrell, President and CEO of Logitech, an award-winning design company that is leading the industry in pursuing a more sustainable world.

Bracken Darrell
President and Chief Executive Officer, Logitech

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2023 Edison Awards Speaker

Bracken Darrell

Under Bracken Darrell’s 10 years of leadership as president and CEO, Logitech has reinvented itself into an award-winning design company, an industry force pursuing a more sustainable and equal world, and a top performer on the SIX Swiss Exchange and Nasdaq Global Select Market. As a result, Logitech has been the recipient of numerous awards. These include more than 200 design awards over the past three years from the likes of CES, iF Design, Red Dot, Good Design and IDA, as well as repeated recognition by Fast Company as a leading innovator by design. Logitech has also won numerous sustainability accolades, including first in a 2021 list of climate-conscious Swiss companies and inclusion on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for Europe. Bracken himself has been named Swiss CEO of the year by Obermatt three times in the past four years, won the P&G Alumni Innovation Award, and the 2022 Edison Achievement Award. Bracken joined Logitech as president in April 2012, and assumed the role of chief executive officer in January 2013. He brings to Logitech nearly thirty years of experience in product, people and brand management through design. Prior to joining Logitech, Bracken was executive vice president of Whirlpool Corporation and president of Whirlpool EMEA, where he guided the company through the economic downturn of 2008. Previously, he was with Procter & Gamble, most recently as the president of Braun, the home appliance business. In addition to a total of twelve years with Procter & Gamble – in executive management positions as well as earlier years in brand management – Bracken served with General Electric Company for five years, most recently as the general manager of Consumer Home Service. He began his career with Arthur Anderson and then PepsiCo. Bracken is on the Board of Dean Advisors of Harvard Business School and serves on the board of directors of Life Biosciences, a longevity company. Bracken holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a B.A. in English from Hendrix College in Arkansas.

Jennifer Trammell
Podcast & Television Host, Simple Vision Consulting

Thursday, April 20th - Evening Agenda

Edison Awards Gala

Celebrate with fellow innovators while we recognize and honor the best in innovation and innovators!

Location: Caloosa Sound Convention Center
1375 Monroe St., Fort Myers, FL 33901

Attire: Black-tie Preferred

6:00 p.m.

Opening Reception

Start the evening with a cocktail reception and mingle with those met earlier in the day while sampling decadent hors d’oeuvres.

7:00 p.m.

Dinner & Ceremony

The 2022 Edison Awards Gold, Silver, and Bronze Winners will be announced and the prestigious Edison Achievement Award will be presented to Pat Gelsinger, CEO of Intel, and Sir Jonathan Ive, Co-Founder of LoveFrom and former Chief Design Officer at Apple Inc.

Katie Linendoll
TV Personality, Consumer Technology Expert – MASTER OF CEREMONIES

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2023 Edison Awards Gala Host

Katie Linendoll

As one of the most in-demand technology experts worldwide, Linendoll is recognized by a wide-range of audiences for her reporting and frequent appearances as a regular expert contributor for major media outlets including The TODAY Show, The Rachael Ray Show and numerous other outlets including The Weather Channel, CBS Sports Radio, Robert Irvine Magazine, and more.

In addition to frequent live, in-studio media appearances, Linendoll runs her own production company which allows her to shoot, produce, and edit her own tech news stories in some of the most exotic and extreme locations—ranging from a remote community in the Philippines in the wake of Super Typhoon Haiyan to NASA’s zero-gravity training lab 63-feet underwater off the coast of the Florida Keys. Linendoll’s cutting-edge technology stories have been featured as TV and digital segments and series on The Weather Channel, Popular Science, and Sports Illustrated to name a few.

Linendoll is one of the first women in tech to make significant contributions to the industry, starting her career at the age of 12 when she began coding and earning networking certifications before graduating from high school. Linendoll went on to receive a degree in Information Technology New Media from the Rochester Institute of Technology. Following graduation, she began working behind-the-scenes in production for ESPN where she won an Emmy Award for her work on SportsCenter and later contributed more than 60 written and digital pieces as a sports tech expert. Following her work at ESPN, Linendoll was nominated for a second Emmy Award for her work as a co-host on A&E’s We Mean Business, a reality show designed to help revamp small businesses across the country.

During her career, Linendoll has hosted more than a dozen shows and series focused on technology and innovation and has also been named a special correspondent at major tech conferences including Comic-Con, CES, E3, Toy Fair, and Maker Faire. She is frequently booked as an emcee and keynote speaker at major corporate events with top international brands including IBM, Dell, Global Semiconductor Alliance, Lenovo, Deloitte, QuickBooks, Intel, Mercedes-Benz, SAS, Kronos, Society of Manufacturing Engineers, The Outdoor Association, Teradata, and GE to name a few.

Linendoll is a Silicon Valley Visionary Award Recipient, which celebrates Silicon Valley leaders in technology, education, venture capital, and entrepreneurship. Alongside her two Emmy nominations, and one win, Linendoll also holds a Guinness World Record for the “Most High Fives in One Minute”.

Linendoll calls Boston and NYC home. She leads an active, faith-filled lifestyle as a runner, fitness enthusiast, musician, and avid traveler. She also devotes a large percentage of her time to select philanthropic causes in healthcare, tech & US Veterans.

Jon Cropper
Founder, Futurlogic Advanced Concepts; Co-founder, Lewis Latimer Fellowship

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2023 Edison Awards Speaker

Jon Cropper

Jonathan Cropper is a respected luxury brand strategist, global creative director and futurist. Envisioneering and futurecrafting is his trade and passion.

Jonathan is the founder of Futurlogic Advanced Concepts, a highly confidential, business development, design, and branding studio.

Current areas of focus:
- Future of home-living
- Future of food
- Luxury 3.0
- Post-Covid, social impact entrepreneurship
- Immersive, interactive, content development

He has designed and implemented innovation strategies with the leadership of:

Aston Martin, Credit Suisse Private Bank, Airbus, Feadship, Sir David Adjaye, Four Seasons (Private Jet Program), Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, BIG Architects, S3 Architecture, ITV, Warner Bros / DC Comics, Hearst, Lockheed Martin, Zaha Hadid Architects, and Ralph Lauren, to name a few.

Futurlogic is also an agent representing Aston Martin Design, and is an experience design affiliate for NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab at CalTech.

Most recently, Jon was the Head of Global Real Estate, Aviation & Marine Partnerships for Aston Martin Lagonda.

In this unique role, he was responsible for creating the overall strategy, alliance formation, and execution of the brand’s expansion into these new verticals.

Jon began his career at MTV: Music Television, where he helped design the business plans for MTV’s expansion into Asia, Latin America, and South Africa.

After MTV, he was recruited by cultural icon Quincy Jones, to serve as Director of Business Development for his media company at Time Warner. He was responsible for sourcing and evaluating all multimedia and new venture opportunities.

Jon later joined Nissan North America as Senior Manager, Head of Youth and Urban Communications (a new internal unit that he created). In this capacity, Jon was responsible for all youth, multicultural marketing, and strategic alliances for both the Nissan and Infiniti brands. Jon efficiently managed a $100 million annual budget, and oversaw the production of dozens of multimedia communications campaigns.

Jon was recognized by Brandweek Magazine as the “Best Marketer Under 40 in America” for his marketing innovations.

He was also the Chief Marketing Officer for Badboy Worldwide Entertainment Group, Sean “Diddy” Combs’ collection of companies. During his tenure, Jon was instrumental in developing partnerships with Estee Lauder (launched the "Unforgivable" fragrance that became the #1 men's fragrance in the U.S.), Sprint, and Diageo (designed the repositioning strategy for Ciroc Vodka, one of the biggest successes in recent spirits industry history).

Prior to his role at Badboy Worldwide, Jon was an Executive Creative Director and Senior Vice President at Young & Rubicam Brands, where he led diverse creative teams, and formed an advanced mobile media and communications think tank. He designed and executed numerous campaigns for clients such as Sony, Vodafone, Starbucks, Telefonica, Jaguar and AT&T.

Jon received his BA in International Economics from the University of Pennsylvania. He enjoys travel, multimedia art, collecting first-edition magazines, beautiful architecture, and science fiction.

Patrick Gelsinger
CEO, Intel; 2023 Edison Achievement Award Honoree

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2023 Edison Awards Speaker

Patrick Gelsinger

Patrick (Pat) Gelsinger is chief executive officer of Intel Corporation and serves on its board of directors. On Feb. 15, 2021, Gelsinger returned to Intel, the company where he had spent the first 30 years of his career.

Before rejoining Intel, Gelsinger was CEO of VMware. In that role, he transformed VMware into a recognized global leader in cloud infrastructure, enterprise mobility and cyber security – almost tripling the company’s annual revenues. Gelsinger was also ranked the best CEO in America in 2019, according to an annual survey by Glassdoor. Prior to joining VMware in 2012, Gelsinger was president and chief operating officer of EMC’s Information Infrastructure Products business, overseeing engineering and operations for information storage, data computing, backup and recovery, RSA security and enterprise solutions. Gelsinger began his career in 1979 at Intel, becoming its first chief technology officer, and also serving as senior vice president and the general manager of the Digital Enterprise Group. He managed the creation of key industry technologies such as USB and Wi-Fi. He was the architect of the original 80486 processor, led 14 microprocessor programs and played key roles in the Intel® Core™ and Intel® Xeon® processor families, leading to Intel becoming the preeminent microprocessor supplier. Gelsinger earned several degrees in electrical engineering: an associate degree from Lincoln Technical Institute, a bachelor’s degree from Santa Clara University and a master’s degree from Stanford University. He holds eight patents in the areas of VLSI design, computer architecture and communications, is an IEEE Fellow, and serves as a member of the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee. Gelsinger and his wife have been married for over 30 years; they have four children and eight grandchildren. He is also a published author and speaks frequently on faith, work and philanthropy.

Andrea Goldsmith
Dean of Engineering and Applied Science and Professor of Engineering, Princeton University

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2023 Edison Awards Gala Host

Andrea Goldsmith

Dr. Andrea J. Goldsmith was elected to Intel’s board of directors in July 2021 and joined the board in September 2021 as an independent director. Goldsmith serves as dean of engineering and applied science and the Arthur LeGrand Doty Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Princeton University. Prior to Princeton University, Goldsmith served on the faculty of Stanford University from 1999 to 2020 in various roles, including as the Stephen Harris Professor of Engineering. Starting in 2010, Goldsmith co-founded and served as the chief technology officer at Plume WiFi (formerly Accelera Inc.), a provider of software-defined wireless networking technology. And beginning in 2005, Goldsmith co-founded and served as chief technology officer for Quantenna Communications (formerly mySource Communications Inc.), a producer of silicon chipsets designed for high-speed wireless networking. Goldsmith has served since 2019 on the board of directors of Medtronic and since 2018 on the board of Crown Castle International Corp., both public companies. Goldsmith is a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the founding chair of the IEEE board of directors Committee on Diversity, Inclusion and Ethics.

Sir Jonathan Ive
Co-Founder, LoveFrom

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2023 Edison Awards Gala Host

Sir Jonathan Ive

Sir Jonathan Ive KBE is a designer.

He joined Apple in 1992. As chief design officer, Jony was responsible for all hardware, user interface and packaging design, as well as the major architectural projects Apple Park and Apple retail stores. He led the design team for more than two decades, creating the iMac, PowerBook, MacBook, iBook, iPod, iPhone, iPad, AppleWatch, AirPods and HomePod.

Co-founder Steve Jobs referred to Jony as his creative partner.

He holds more than 14,000 patents worldwide, uniquely spanning both software and hardware design.

Born in London, Jony studied industrial design at college. He was appointed a Royal Designer for Industry (RDI) in 2003, an honorary fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (HonFREng) in 2006. Jony was awarded the RSA’s Benjamin Franklin Medal in 2004 and the Professor Stephen Hawking Fellowship by the Cambridge Union Society in 2018. He holds honorary doctorates from Oxford and Cambridge Universities, Rhode Island School of Design, University of the Arts London and the Royal College of Art, where he currently serves as chancellor.

In 2019, Jony and long-time friend and collaborator Marc Newson gathered the creative collective LoveFrom, which includes Airbnb, Apple and Ferrari amongst its first collaborators. Jony is frequently voted one of Britain’s most culturally influential figures.

Clinton O. Robinson

Clinton O. Robinson
Associate Vice President, Black & Veatch Corporation

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2023 Edison Awards Gala Host

Clinton O. Robinson

Clint is the father of three publicly educated girls; a recovering school board member; and a registered professional engineer in a global engineering corporation. Individually none of these accomplishments are significant but in concert they are a powerful force towards better connecting education and business.

Clint is the great grandson of one of the first three professors at the University of Kansas teaching Greek and Latin back in 1865. He is also the great grandson of an attorney that made elixir in his basement and founded the Burma Vita Corporation. This company was responsible for one of the most successful advertising campaigns with roadside jingles for the first brushless shaving cream, Burma Shave. It is not surprising then that Mr. Robinson has dedicated himself to finding ways to improve education and how we sell it.

While serving on the Blue Valley School District School Board he helped create and implement the successful Center for Advance Professional Studies (CAPS) which revolutionized how business and education work together for a common goal. Now while providing thought leadership in his industry to the US Conference of Mayors and National League of Cities he is never very far away from the topic of how to create jobs, fill the pipeline, and change the landscape of education forever. His motto is “learn to teach” which means 1) if you can teach it then you know it and 2) there is no value in learning something if you are not willing to teach it to someone else.

Wendell Weeks
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Corning Incorporated

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2023 Edison Awards Gala Host

Wendell Weeks

Wendell P. Weeks has served as Corning’s chief executive officer since April 2005 and chairman of the board since April 2007. He has been a member of the company’s board of directors since December 2000. As CEO, Weeks has focused on creating new growth drivers and building a bigger, stronger, and more agile company.

Weeks began his career with Corning in 1983 in the finance group. In his 40 years with the company, he has held a variety of financial, business development, commercial, and general management roles, including strategic positions in the company’s television, specialty glass, and optical communications businesses.

In 1996, Weeks was named vice president and general manager of Corning’s optical fiber business. In early 2001, he was named president of Corning’s Optical Communications division, where he led through both dynamic market growth and the subsequent challenges of market declines. Weeks became Corning’s president and chief operating officer in April 2002. In this role, he helped lead the company’s restructuring and return to profitability following the telecommunications industry crash. During his tenure as CEO, he has overseen acquisitions in Optical Communications, Life Sciences, and Display Technologies. He has also played an instrumental role in numerous innovations, including the development of Corning® Gorilla® Glass. Furthermore, he has earned 34 U.S. patents.

Weeks is a graduate of Lehigh University and earned a Master of Business Administration from Harvard University as a Baker Scholar. He serves on the board of directors at Amazon.com, Inc. and is a member of the Liveris Academy Honorary Board. He is also on the board of trustees for the Corning Museum of Glass and for the Institute for Advanced Study.

Weeks received Harvard Business School’s 2014 Alumni Achievement Award. In November 2014, he was awarded the Gold Tower Order of Industrial Service Merit from Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy for contributions to the display technology industry.

10:00 p.m.

VIP After Party

All winners are invited to celebrate at a reception after the awards ceremony at the The Oxbow Rooftop. Enjoy panoramic riverfront views on the Caloosahatchee River, just a short walk from the Caloosa Sound Convention Center.

Location: The Oxbow
1300 Hendry St, Fort Myers, FL 33901

Friday, April 21st

Community Day

Enjoy an exciting day designed to engage students and the community at large in future-forward thinking. The event is sponsored by Edison Universe, Charlotte Community Foundation, Florida Gulf Coast University, and ADDMAN Engineering. 

Location: Caloosa Sound Amphitheater
1375 Monroe St., Fort Myers, FL 33901

Attire: Casual

9:05 a.m.

Welcome

Kevin B. Anderson
Mayor, Fort Myers, FL

Katie Linendoll
TV Personality, Consumer Technology Expert – COMMUNITY DAY HOST

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2023 Edison Awards Gala Host

Katie Linendoll

As one of the most in-demand technology experts worldwide, Linendoll is recognized by a wide-range of audiences for her reporting and frequent appearances as a regular expert contributor for major media outlets including The TODAY Show, The Rachael Ray Show and numerous other outlets including The Weather Channel, CBS Sports Radio, Robert Irvine Magazine, and more.

In addition to frequent live, in-studio media appearances, Linendoll runs her own production company which allows her to shoot, produce, and edit her own tech news stories in some of the most exotic and extreme locations—ranging from a remote community in the Philippines in the wake of Super Typhoon Haiyan to NASA’s zero-gravity training lab 63-feet underwater off the coast of the Florida Keys. Linendoll’s cutting-edge technology stories have been featured as TV and digital segments and series on The Weather Channel, Popular Science, and Sports Illustrated to name a few.

Linendoll is one of the first women in tech to make significant contributions to the industry, starting her career at the age of 12 when she began coding and earning networking certifications before graduating from high school. Linendoll went on to receive a degree in Information Technology New Media from the Rochester Institute of Technology. Following graduation, she began working behind-the-scenes in production for ESPN where she won an Emmy Award for her work on SportsCenter and later contributed more than 60 written and digital pieces as a sports tech expert. Following her work at ESPN, Linendoll was nominated for a second Emmy Award for her work as a co-host on A&E’s We Mean Business, a reality show designed to help revamp small businesses across the country.

During her career, Linendoll has hosted more than a dozen shows and series focused on technology and innovation and has also been named a special correspondent at major tech conferences including Comic-Con, CES, E3, Toy Fair, and Maker Faire. She is frequently booked as an emcee and keynote speaker at major corporate events with top international brands including IBM, Dell, Global Semiconductor Alliance, Lenovo, Deloitte, QuickBooks, Intel, Mercedes-Benz, SAS, Kronos, Society of Manufacturing Engineers, The Outdoor Association, Teradata, and GE to name a few.

Linendoll is a Silicon Valley Visionary Award Recipient, which celebrates Silicon Valley leaders in technology, education, venture capital, and entrepreneurship. Alongside her two Emmy nominations, and one win, Linendoll also holds a Guinness World Record for the “Most High Fives in One Minute”.

Linendoll calls Boston and NYC home. She leads an active, faith-filled lifestyle as a runner, fitness enthusiast, musician, and avid traveler. She also devotes a large percentage of her time to select philanthropic causes in healthcare, tech & US Veterans.

9:10 a.m.

Young Edison Challenge

Justin Brand, Chief Development Officer of the Charlotte Community Foundation will introduce the 2023 Young Edison Challenge Student Winners, Sonia Patel, Kayla Davis, Isis Fleming, and Amaya Etcheverry.

Justin Brand
Chief Development Officer, Charlotte Community Foundation

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2023 Edison Awards Speaker

Justin Brand

Justin Brand joined the Community Foundation in 2018 as the Director of Community Engagement.

Justin has been in Charlotte County for 4 years and has worked with many nonprofits such as the United Way – serving as a Board member for 2 years, the Charlotte County Chamber of Commerce Board member for 3 years, as well as the class of 2017 Leadership Charlotte Event Chair.  Justin has a BBA in Hotel and Resort management which will prove to be a benefit when meeting with potential donors and working with partner agencies and nonprofits by providing a sense of hospitality and friendliness.

Justin’s knowledge of the community and his ability to keep his finger on the pulse of Charlotte County will be helpful in the growth of Charlotte Community Foundation. “The most exciting element of this position for me is that I know each and every day, no matter what I do, I will have made a difference in the legacy of an individual that will benefit Charlotte County for years to come.

9:40 a.m.

Leadership Opportunities: Finding Your Path

Kim Braun
CEO, Braun Ambulances

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2023 Edison Awards Speaker

Kim Braun

Kim Braun is President of Demers Braun Ambulances U.S. Division, a leading international ambulance manufacturer with production facilities based in the United States and Canada. With over three decades of experience in the cross-over field of automotive and medical equipment, Kim is a respected leader in the emergency vehicle industry.

As the Division President, Kim is responsible for overseeing the company’s operations in the United States, including the execution of strategic initiatives and driving growth through the management of product development, sales, manufacturing and service. She is committed to providing broad ambulance solutions that meet the evolving needs of the healthcare industry and improve patient outcomes.

Kim holds a Master’s degree in business administration, serves as a member for various industry, education and community boards, and is an active member of several industry associations. She is also a proud mother of two… Austin (24) serving in the U.S. Army as an Airborne Ranger and Alyssa (19) a student at University of Toledo OH studying Pre-Med.

Mike Kaufmann
Former CEO, Cardinal Health

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2023 Edison Awards Speaker

Mike Kaufmann

Mike Kaufmann is a former Fortune 15 chief executive officer (CEO) and a longtime healthcare industry leader, an active Board Member, an engaged community member, and an executive speaker on leadership and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). He spent more than 30 years of his career at Cardinal Health, a global, integrated healthcare solutions company providing vital products, world class services and customized solutions for providers along the continuum of care.

10:00 a.m.

Audience Perspective: What Is Your Vision for the Future of Fort Myers?

10:15 a.m.

‘Shark Tank’ Pitch Panel

Featuring 2023 Edison Award Finalists, the panel will be moderated by Timothy J. Cartwright, Partner, Fifth Avenue Family Office. 

Priya Ahluwalia
Moaloo Ventures; Community Day Co-host

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2023 Edison Awards Speaker

Priya Ahluwalia

Priya is a true entrepreneur at heart. She serves as the Co-Founder of MoAloo Ventures. She is currently helping three tech-startups launch in the market - PlateRate (a food tech startup), Linguiyo (an Ed-Tech startup), and Shandoka (an electric motorcycle startup). She is also a language professor in Hindi and Mandarin. She loves traveling, trying new wines, and discussing space exploration.

Timothy J. Cartwright
Partner, Fifth Avenue Family Office

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2023 Edison Awards Gala Host

Timothy Cartwright

Timothy Cartwright specializes in closely held businesses and alternative assets. Closely held and family businesses often represent a significant percentage of a family’s net worth. Tim leverages his extensive transactional experience to guide an intentional succession planning process required for the legacy and illiquid nature of this asset. Tim coaches and mentors our entrepreneurial families with his unique ability to distill complex, often time sensitive, issues into elemental components creating a simple and executable action plan. Across the expanse of alternative assets, Tim has deep experience in private equity, venture capital, and early and seed stage investing. He is the founder of the Tamiami Family of Angel Funds, the first ever member managed Angel Funds in Southwest Florida.

Byron Jones
Cornerback for the Miami Dolphins

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2023 Edison Awards Gala Host

Byron Jones

Byron Jones is a cornerback for the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League (NFL) He holds the unofficial world record for the standing long jump at 12 feet 3 inches. Jones has a BA in Political science at the University of Connecticut and is a member of I Am Nation, a prestigious collective of professional athletes interested in community development, legacy building and investing.

Winston Justice
Investment Advisor, Bernstein; Former NFL offensive tackle with the Philadelphia Eagles, Indianapolis Colts and Denver Broncos

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2023 Edison Awards Gala Host

Winston Justice

Winston Justice is an Investment Advisor at Bernstein. After his NFL career (2006-2015) with the Philadelphia Eagles, Indianapolis Colts and Denver Broncos, Winston entered the financial industry. Under Wells Fargo Securities, he was an analyst and managed money for Institutions and Family Offices. Along the way, he co-founded MJC Capital, an early stage investment vehicle; Elixr, an award-winning gourmet cafe and roastery and served as the portfolio manager for PIA’s Alternative Investments Group.

Winston holds a holds an MBA from George Washington University, BA in Public Policy from the University of Southern California and the Certified Investment Management Analyst (CIMA) designation from The Yale School of Management. His deep dedication to philanthropic work includes board member positions, 2010 Walter Payton Philadelphia Man of the Year Award, Habitat for Humanity of Collier County, Nashville Symphony, Big Brothers Big Sisters and The Adventure Science Center. He also serves as a finance adjunct professor for The Lipscomb School of Business. He recently relocated to Nashville with his wife Dania and their three children – Selah Israel, Calais Shalom, and Talitha Nazareth.

Mike Kaufmann
Former CEO, Cardinal Health

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2023 Edison Awards Speaker

Mike Kaufmann

Mike Kaufmann is a former Fortune 15 chief executive officer (CEO) and a longtime healthcare industry leader, an active Board Member, an engaged community member, and an executive speaker on leadership and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). He spent more than 30 years of his career at Cardinal Health, a global, integrated healthcare solutions company providing vital products, world class services and customized solutions for providers along the continuum of care.

11:15 a.m.

Pro-Athletes: Overcoming Obstacles

11:30 a.m.

Closing Remarks

Christopher S. Bernier Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools Lee County

Mark Saberton
Founder & Chief Technical Officer, ADDMAN Engineering

11:40 a.m.

Lunch / Demonstrations / Entertainment

1:00 p.m.

Event Closes