Marc Lasry

Chairman, Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder, Avenue Capital

Marc Lasry is the Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Avenue Capital Group, a global alternative investment manager focused on specialty lending, distressed and undervalued debt and equity opportunities. In 1995, Mr. Lasry formed Avenue with his sister, Sonia Gardner, with less than $10 million in capital from friends and family. Today, Avenue is one of the largest distressed debt investors globally, managing assets of approximately $12.6 billion. Avenue is headquartered in New York, with three offices in Europe, four offices in Asia, offices in Silicon Valley and Abu Dhabi, and over 175 employees worldwide.

Mr. Lasry is known as a pioneer in distressed investing which has been the focus of his professional career for over 35 years.

After law school, Mr. Lasry clerked for the Honorable Edward Ryan, Chief Bankruptcy Judge for the Southern District of New York. He spent the following year practicing law at Angel & Frankel, which focused on bankruptcies.

Mr. Lasry subsequently became the Director of the private debt department at R.D. Smith, the firm where he first became involved in “trade claims,” the market in purchasing and selling to investors the unsecured claims of vendors and other creditors against a debtor. In 1987, he moved to Cowen & Company where he was Co-Director of the bankruptcy and corporate reorganization department. It was at Cowen that he caught the attention of the Texas investor Robert Bass, who was a client of the firm. When he left Cowen, Mr. Lasry went to manage over $100 million for the Robert Bass Group, where he invested in bank debt, senior bonds, and trade claims. The Bass fund Mr. Lasry oversaw, Amroc Investments, L.P., was, at the time, one of the largest distressed funds in the U.S. In 1990, he co-founded a boutique distressed brokerage firm, keeping the Amroc name and maintaining the affiliation with the Robert Bass Group.

Mr. Lasry is currently a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and he has served and will continue to serve on various other boards of advisors/directors of both for-profit and not-for-profit private and public companies. He is also the former co-owner of the Milwaukee Bucks NBA team.

Mr. Lasry received a B.A. in History from Clark University (1981) and a J.D. from New York Law School (1984).

Lorenzo Thione

Managing Director, Gaingels

Lorenzo Thione is a serial entrepreneur with a passion for the intersection of technology, art, design, communication and social value.

He’s the Managing Director of Gaingels and a co-founding chairman of StartOut, two of the leading groups dedicated to supporting and elevating LGBTQ+ leaders in the venture startup ecosystem. As the Managing Producer at Sing Out, Louise! Productions, Lorenzo is also a Tony-Award and Drama Desk winning Broadway producer (Hadestown, The Inheritance) and the co-creator and lead producer of Allegiance, the Broadway musical starring George Takei and Lea Salonga, of which he also directed and produced the 2016 film.

In developing Allegiance, he spearheaded social-media viral strategies that led to astounding growth and unprecedented awareness and audience engagement for George Takei, and to the founding of The Social Edge, for which he currently serves as Chief Executive Officer. He previously co-founded startups Powerset (acquired by Microsoft in 2008) and Artify.it; he is an investor, board member, and advisor for startups such as Figure Eight (now Appian), Weights & Biases, CrowdMed, Famo.us, Gobble, Just, and Lucid, and many more.

He's an outspoken LGBT advocate and was named one of the most influential LGBT people in tech in 2014 and 2018 by Business Insider. He was born and raised in Milan, and completed my studies at the University of Texas at Austin, from which he holds a M.S. in Computer Engineering.

Dr. Lawrence Rocks

President, Lawrence Rocks Associates

Dr. Rocks received his Masters of Science In chemistry from Purdue University, and his D.Sc (Doctor of Science) from Technische Hochschule Vienna, where he wrote his doctoral thesis in German in the field of analytical chemistry separating metal atoms in semi-aqueous solutions, which found that equilibrium constants are changed in semi-aqueous mediums, He went on to author the acclaimed book, The Energy Crisis in 1972, which was also published in Spanish, French, Japanese, and he was influential in creating the U.S. Dept of Energy.

He subsequently authored Developing your Chemistry Fundamentals and Fuels for Tomorrow, a sequel to his energy crisis book. He subsequently created the concept #WeatherStationMoon to assist studying climate change. In 2019 Topps baseball cards issued an official collectible card for Rocks. In 2020 Topps baseball cards named him 2020 Topps of the Class science spokesperson with MLB all-star Paul DeJong.

Dr. Rocks has since commenced novel research on isotopic antiviral compounds. During his career, Rocks’ philanthropy has focused on health related issues and has included Ronald McDonald House Charities, since his own son Burton overcame a life threatening childhood illness. Over the years Dr. Rocks has been featured in national print media ranging from The New York Times, USA Today, National Review, and on national television ranging from The Today Show, To Tell The Truth, MLB Network, ESPN Sunday Night Baseball, and MSNBC. In 2020 he launched Lawrence Rocks Associates, a consulting firm, is Professor Emeritus of Chemistry at Long Island University.

Julia Collins

Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Planet FWD

Julia Collins is a serial entrepreneur who realized food was her calling as a young girl in San Francisco where it was the epicenter of her community. She’s spent her career building food companies, having launched brands such as Mexicue, Murray’s Cheese Bar and Harlem Jazz Enterprises, the company responsible for the award-winning restaurant, The Cecil. She later went on to co-found Zume Pizza where she became the first Black woman to co-found a unicorn company. When she became a mother, she knew she needed to find a way to bring delicious food to people in a way that helped heal the planet for everyone including her son.

Today, Julia leads Planet FWD, a company on a mission to tackle climate change by expanding regenerative agriculture adoption. The company is building a software platform for regenerative agriculture alongside a climate-smart snack brand that will be bringing its first product - a cracker - to market later this year.

In addition, Julia serves on the board of Black Girls Code, sits on the advisory council for Launch with GS, serves on the All Raise operating committee and is an EIR for Cleo Capital. She is an active angel investor focused on funding female entrepreneurs and BIPOC founders.

Josh Harris

Co-Founder, Apollo Global Management

Joshua J. Harris is the Co-Founder of Apollo Global Management, Inc. Under his leadership, Apollo has grown into a global leader in alternative asset management, helping university endowments, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, charitable foundations, financial institutions and family offices to build better financial futures.

Mr. Harris is also the Founder and Managing General Partner of Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment (HBSE), a company created to accelerate growth and explore related strategic investment opportunities in sports, entertainment and media. Within the vast HBSE portfolio, Mr. Harris is the Managing Partner of the Philadelphia 76ers and the New Jersey Devils. Additionally, he is a General Partner of the Crystal Palace Football Club in the Premier League.

Mr. Harris serves on the Boards of Mount Sinai Medical Center, Harvard Business School, the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, the NBA and the NHL. In addition, he is Founder and Chairman of the Harris Family Charitable Foundation, which strives to improve lives and strengthen communities through the transformative power of sport, precision wellness, preventative medicine and leadership development.

Mr. Harris earned an MBA from Harvard Business School, where he was named a Baker Loeb Scholar, and a BS in economics from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, where he graduated summa cum laude. He and his wife reside in New York City with their five children.

Josh Giegel

Chief Technical Officer & Co-Founder, Virgin Hyperloop

Josh Giegel is the CTO and Co-Founder of Virgin Hyperloop where he is leading a world-class team of engineers making the hyperloop a reality.

Josh founded the company in 2014, when hyperloop was an idea drawn on a whiteboard in a garage. A little over two years later, VH built a full-scale prototype capturing the attention of governments worldwide. Today, Josh is leading the development of paradigm shifting electromagnetic, high power, autonomous technology, bridging the engineering work with unparalleled passenger experience, and working at the highest levels of government to develop a regulatory framework for hyperloop technology.

Previously, at SpaceX, Josh developed the world’s first reusable rockets and led the successful testing of six different rocket engines. From the final frontier to the horizon right here on the ground, Josh shifted his focus to power the earth with revolutionary waste heat-to-power energy technology, leading research activities at Echogen Power Systems.

Josh is passionate about the power of engineering to create solutions that enable people to live their lives how they want – where they want - in a way that is sustainable. This led him to leverage his expertise in high performance rocket engines with his grasp of clean energy generation to develop the world’s first autonomous, high-performance, electric mode of mass transportation.

Josh received an MS in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University where he was a Graduate Engineering Fellow. He holds a BSME from Penn State University where he graduated with honors and was first in his class.

John O. Brennan

Director, Central Intelligence Agency (2013-2017)

John O. Brennan served as director of the Central Intelligence Agency from March 2013 until January 2017. As director, he was responsible for intelligence collection, analysis, covert action, counterintelligence, and liaison relationships with foreign intelligence services. From January 2009 to March 2013, Mr. Brennan was assistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism, shaping the U.S. Government’s counterterrorism strategy and coordinating Obama administration policies on homeland security, counterterrorism, cyberattacks, natural disasters, and pandemics.

Mr. Brennan began his government service at the CIA, where he worked from 1980 to 2005 and specialized in Middle Eastern affairs and counterterrorism. He served as CIA’s intelligence briefer to President Clinton, Chief of Staff to then Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet, and Deputy Executive Director. In 2003, he led a multi-agency effort to establish what would become the National Counterterrorism Center, serving as the Center’s first Director in 2004. He retired from CIA in 2005 and worked in the private sector for three years.

Mr. Brennan graduated from Fordham University in 1977 with a bachelor’s degree in political science. He studied at the American University in Cairo in 1975-1976. He attended the University of Texas at Austin, earning a master’s degree in government with a concentration in Middle Eastern studies in 1980.

Mr. Brennan currently is a Distinguished Fellow at the Center on National Security at Fordham Law School, a Distinguished Scholar at the University of Texas at Austin, a senior intelligence and national security analyst for NBC and MSNBC, and an advisor to a variety of private sector companies.

Joe Scarborough

Co-Host, MSNBC’s Morning Joe

Former Congressman Joe Scarborough (R-Fla.) is co-host of MSNBC’s "Morning Joe" alongside Mika Brzezinski - a show with a reported increased viewership of 113% by Variety. "Morning Joe" starts each weekday conducting interviews with top newsmakers and discussing the day's headlines. The New York Times ranked Morning Joe as one of today’s top morning news shows and has praised Joe and Mika's natural repartee and off-the-cuff commentary. The New Yorker also described the show as "appallingly entertaining.” In 2016, Joe, joined by co-host Mika, was inducted into the Cable Hall of Fame.

Joe was named to the prestigious “Time 100” list of the world’s most influential people, and Vanity Fair named both Joe and Mika to their 2012 list of “Top Media Power Players.”

In addition to his television career, Joe is a two-time New York Times best-selling author. His first work, "Rome Wasn’t Burnt in a Day", predicted the collapse of the Republican majority and U.S. economy due to his party's reckless spending. His second work, "The Last Best Hope: Restoring Conservatism and America's Promise", draws on the forgotten genius of conservatism to offer a road map for the movement and the country. Joe also frequently contributes political opinion pieces to The Washington Post.

Joe's most recent publication, "Saving Freedom: Truman, The Cold War, and the Fight for Western Civilization”, recounts the historic forces that moved Truman toward his country’s long twilight struggle against Soviet communism. Truman’s triumph over the personal and political struggles that confronted him following his ascension to the presidency is an inspiring tale of American leadership, fierce determination, bipartisan unity, and courage in the face of rising Soviet threat.

Joe served as a member of Congress from 1994-2001. While in office, he was a member of the Judiciary, Armed Services, Oversight, and National Security committees.

Jim Sciutto

Chief National Security Correspondent & Anchor, CNN

Jim Sciutto is CNN's chief national security correspondent and anchor of CNN Newsroom. After more than two decades as a foreign correspondent stationed in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, he returned to Washington to cover the Defense Department, the State Department, and intelligence agencies for CNN. His work has earned him Emmy Awards, the George Polk Award, the Edward R. Murrow award, and the Merriman Smith Memorial Award for excellence in presidential coverage. A graduate of Yale and a Fulbright Fellow, he lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife, Gloria Riviera, who is a journalist for ABC News, and their three children.

Jim McKelvey

Co-Founder, Square

Jim McKelvey is a serial entrepreneur, inventor, philanthropist, artist, and author of The Innovation Stack: Building an Unbeatable Business One Crazy Idea at a Time. He is the cofounder of Square, and served as the chairman of its board until 2010, and still serves on the Board of Directors. In 2011, his iconic card reader design was inducted into the Museum of Modern Art. McKelvey founded Invisibly, an ambitious project to rewire the economics of online content, in 2016. He is a Deputy Chair of the St. Louis Federal Reserve.

Jim McCann

Founder & Executive Chairman, 1-800-Flowers.com, Inc.

Jim McCann is a successful entrepreneur, business leader, author and philanthropist whose passion is helping people deliver smiles. Jim’s belief in the universal need for social connections and interaction led to his founding of 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Inc., which he has grown into one of the world’s leading floral and gourmet gifting companies.

Jim’s willingness to embrace new technologies that enhance customer engagement, such as 800 phone numbers and e-commerce, has consistently kept 1-800-FLOWERS.COM ahead of the curve and positioned it as a leading innovator in the marketplace. These innovations have played a vital role in strengthening customer engagement, something that has always been a key element of Jim’s business philosophy. Jim’s strategy for growth has included an effective combination of birthing and acquiring new businesses and brands that resonate with customers for their gifting and celebratory occasions.

Jim is also deeply involved in philanthropy and especially devoted to helping individuals with developmental disabilities, which includes his continued work as Founder and Chairman of Smile Farms, a 501(c)3 organization established in 2015. Smile Farms provides meaningful jobs in agricultural settings to young adults and adults with developmental disabilities, allowing them to master new skills, experience teamwork, contribute to their community and, importantly, take home a paycheck.

In 2018, Jim established Clarim Holdings, a private holding company that expands market opportunities for clients by providing capital along with an extensive network of high-tier support partners. Jim also serves as a director for Amyris and International Game Technology PLC, as well as a variety of private and not-for-profit boards.

Jerry Pascucci

Managing Director & Head, Global Alternative Investment Solutions, UBS Financial Services

Mr. Pascucci is a Managing Director of UBS Financial Services and serves as Head of Global Alternative Investment Solutions for UBS, where he is responsible for research, sourcing, underwriting, structuring, risk management, administration and distribution of all alternative investment products, including hedge funds, commodity pools, as well as private equity, credit, real estate, infrastructure and impact offerings. He is the President and a Director of the Firm's registered investment advisor entities and its commodity pool operator. His responsibilities include oversight of product origination, manager selection, investment and operational due diligence, portfolio construction, and approval for distribution across regions of all alternative offerings.

Prior to joining UBS in 2010, he served in various capacities at Citigroup Global Market's Inc. and related entities since 1996. He was a Managing Director of Citigroup Alternative Investments LLC ("CAI"), a division of Citigroup that administered its hedge fund, fund of hedge fund, and commodity pool businesses, and served for several years as Chief Investment Officer of the Hedge Fund Management Group. He was President, Chief Investment Officer, and Director of Ceres Managed Futures LLC, a registered commodity pool operator and commodity trading advisor. Mr. Pascucci was also a Managing Director of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC, where he served as Chief Investment Officer of Alternative Investments from August 2009 to June 2010. He began his career at Citigroup Global Markets as a Senior Credit Risk Officer, focused primarily on market and counterparty risks associated with hedge fund and commodity pool clients.

Jeffrey A. Sonnenfeld

Senior Associate Dean for Leadership Studies, Yale University School of Management

Jeffrey Sonnenfeld is Senior Associate Dean for Leadership Studies at Yale University’s School of Management and The Lester Crown Professor of Management Practice, as well as the Founder, President of THE YALE CHIEF EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE– the world’s first “CEO College”. Previously, Sonnenfeld spent ten years as a professor at the Harvard Business School. He has been named one of the world’s “ten most influential business school professors” by Business Week and one of the “100 most influential figures in governance” by Directorship. He is also a winner of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor.

Sonnenfeld received his AB, MBA, and doctorate from Harvard University. He has published 200 scholarly articles and seven books including such best sellers as The Hero’s Farewell, Leadership & Governance from the Inside Out, and Firing Back: How Great Leaders Rebound From Adversity.

His work is regularly cited on all the major US TV networks. He is a commentator for CNBC, a columnist for Chief Executive Magazine, and a frequently cited management expert in The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, the New York Times, and the global media. He is the first academician to have rung the opening bells of both the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq Stock Exchange which he has done a dozen times.

Governor Jeb Bush

43rd Governor of the State of Florida

Jeb Bush is the 43rd governor of the State of Florida, serving from 1999 through 2007. He was the third Republican elected to the state’s highest office and the first Republican in the state’s history to be reelected. He was most recently a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016.

Governor Bush remained true to his conservative principles throughout his two terms in office – cutting nearly $20 billion in taxes, vetoing more than $2.3 billion in earmarks and reducing the state government workforce by more than 13,000. His limited government approach helped unleash one of the most robust and dynamic economies in the nation, creating 1.3 million net new jobs and improving the state’s credit ratings, including achieving the first ever triple-A bond rating for Florida.

During his two terms, Governor Bush championed major reform of government, in areas ranging from health care and environmental protection to civil service and tax reform. His top priority was the overhaul of the state’s failing education system. Under Governor Bush’s leadership, Florida established a bold accountability system in public schools and created the most ambitious school choice programs in the nation. Today, Florida remains a national leader in education and is one of the only states in the nation to significantly narrow the achievement gap.

Governor Bush is also known for his leadership during two unprecedented back-to-back hurricane seasons, which brought eight hurricanes and four tropical storms to the state of Florida in less than two years. To protect the state from loss of life and damage caused by catastrophic events, such as hurricanes, Bush worked tirelessly to improve the state’s ability to respond quickly and compassionately during emergencies, while also instilling a ‘culture of preparedness’ in the state’s citizenry.

Governor previously served as a Presidential Professor of Practice at University of Pennsylvania. He also served as a visiting professor and fellow at Harvard University, an executive professor at Texas A&M University, and has been awarded several honorary doctorates from collegiate institutions across the country. Governor Bush has been recognized for his contributions to public policy by national organizations including the Manhattan Institute, The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation and the Jack Kemp Foundation. Governor Bush earned his bachelor’s degree in Latin American Studies from the University of Texas at Austin.

Governor Bush currently serves as Chairman of Finback Investments Partners LLC and Dock Square Capital LLC, both merchant banks headquartered in Coral Gables.

Governor Bush maintains his passion for improving the quality of education for students across the country by serving as the Chairman of the Foundation for Excellence in Education, a national nonprofit education reform organization he founded to transform education in America.

He has written three books, Profiles in Character; Immigration Wars: Forging an American Solution; and Reply All: A Governor’s Story 1999-2007.

Governor Bush lives in Miami with his wife Columba. They have three children and four grandchildren.

Jason Cummins

Head, Research & Chief U.S. Economist, Brevan Howard

Jason Cummins is the Head of Research and Chief US Economist. In his role, he develops the firm's outlook for the economy, politics and markets, advises the traders on portfolio management, and manages the global research team. Jason serves as a trustee on the boards of The Brookings Institution (executive committee) and The Peterson Institute for International Economics (executive committee), and is a member of the Investment Committee of Swarthmore College. He was Chairman of the US Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee, a government-appointed panel that advises on debt management, market structure, and financial developments. Formerly, Jason was a Senior Economist at the Federal Reserve Board, where he led the macro forecasting team. Jason began his career as an Assistant Professor of Economics at New York University and also taught at Harvard University. Jason earned a Ph.D. in Economics from Columbia University and graduated with high honors from Swarthmore College.

Keith Cardoza, CFA

Chief Investment Officer & Co-Chair, Investment Strategy & Impact Investment Committee, Brownson, Rehmus & Foxworth

Keith is BRF’s Chief Investment Officer and co-chairs the firm’s Investment Strategy and Impact Investment Committees. He serves on BRF’s Private Equity and Credit, Public Markets, Real Estate, and Knowledge Management Committees. He leads the firm’s asset allocation and manager selection efforts.

Prior to joining BRF, Keith served as a Managing Director of Merrick Ventures, an investment firm focused on technology investments. The U.S. Patent Office awarded three patents to Keith, including one for the Ocean Tomo 300 Patent Index, the first intellectual-property based stock-index. Previously Keith chaired Boeing’s Investment Strategy and Asset Allocation Committee, responsible for the investment strategy for $41 billion in retirement assets. This committee included the Directors of Equities, Fixed Income, Alternative Investments, and Risk. Prior to Boeing, Keith managed the $6 billion equity portfolio for the Illinois State Board of Investment pension fund.

Keith received a BA in Economics from the University of Chicago. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation and is past chair of CFA Society Chicago. Keith serves as Assistant Treasurer of the Economic Club of Chicago. He serves on the board and investment committee of the Malta Human Services Foundation, which makes grants to support the charitable mission of the Sovereign Order of Malta. He has served on the executive committees of Chicago Children’s Choir, Steppenwolf Theatre, and Chicago Stock Exchange. He also served on the boards of Joffrey Ballet, the Chicago International Film Festival, and the Union League Club of Chicago. Keith is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago and The Chicago Club.

Karen Firestone

Co-Founder, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Aureus Asset Management

Kari is co-founder of Aureus Asset Management and serves as Chairman and CEO. Previously, she spent 22 years at Fidelity Investments, most recently as a diversified fund manager in the Growth Group with oversight of the Large Cap Fund, Advisor Large Cap Fund, Destiny I Fund, and several institutional non-profit and pension funds.

Prior to that, Kari managed several sector funds, including the Leisure and Entertainment Fund, the Media Fund, Air Transportation Fund, Transportation Fund, Biotechnology Fund, Health Care Fund, and Advisor Health Care Fund. Kari’s Fidelity career began in 1983 as an assistant fund manager to Peter Lynch on the Magellan Fund.

Kari received a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics, magna cum laude, from Harvard College and an MBA from Harvard Business School. She is the Chairman of the board of The Commonwealth School.

She has served on committees at Harvard University, and is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Boston and the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. In addition, Kari is a regular contributor to the Harvard Business Review blog and the Huffington Post.

Ida Beerhalter

Co-Head, IOME Private Investment Office

Ida Beerhalter is co-heading IOME, a private investment partnership of women principals from the Gulf with its head office in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Additionally she currently serves as Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Astia, USA, a unique not-for-profit organization build on a community of over 5,000 experts dedicated to propel women’s full participation as entrepreneurs and leaders in high-growth businesses, fuelling innovation and driving economic growth, as Member of the Advisory Council of Omnia Strategy LLP, United Kingdom, a pioneering international law firm that provides strategic counsel to governments, corporates & private clients, as Senior Advisor to Women In Parliaments Global Forum (WIP), Switzerland, the global network of female Parliamentarians, as Vice Chairman of the board of Trustees of First Light Trust, United Kingdom, a grassroots, community-based charity which assists the ‘hard to reach’ veterans by providing physical, emotional and psychological aid, as Member of the Board of Sauti Kuu, Kenia, a foundation which provides structures and teaches children and adolescents to become mentally, socially and financially self-reliant, as Investment Partner at MedXperts, a Germany-based investment and consulting firm with the focus in the HealthTech and Life Sciences Sectors, as Investment Advisor at Bellwald Partner GmbH, Switzerland, the investment arm of a multi-family office, as Strategic Advisor to Impact Investment Partners LLP, United Kingdom, specialized in investing in critical service sectors in emerging markets, as Advisor to Yunus Social Business GmbH, Germany, dedicated to setting up and investing in non-dividend companies created to solve sustainably social or environmental problems, as Global Fellow of the G20 Foundation, a platform acting as process enabler and a facilitator between governments, business, academia and the millennial generation, as Member of the advisory board of Social Business Earth, Switzerland, dedicated to raise the awareness on Social Business and to create new social businesses that will benefit the poor and the disadvantaged in countries around the globe, as Ambassador to TBLI Group, The Netherlands, dedicated to raising awareness and educating financial professionals on the benefits and opportunities of ESG and Impact Investing, as Advisor to the Sofia Foundation and the Female Board Pool Brussels Chapter, Belgium, a pan-European not-for-profit organization with the distinct focus and mission to encourage women to positions of equity and influence on Boards of Directors of companies and organizations, as Member of the advisory board of the Charité Entrepreneurship Summit, Germany, as Advisor to DevelopHer, a global competition that calls for the design of a toy or game aimed at girls ages 3 to 12 that engages girls in technology, engineering, and math, and as Advisor to MedPrivee, Germany, which she co-founded in 2011. Ida is registered acquisition coach at HighTech-Gruender-Fonds, Germany, which is managing two +250 mio € seed funds and which has helped to start up more than 300 companies since 2005 in Germany, and serves as expert reviewer and coach at the European Venture Contest, which identifies each year the most promising European companies from the LifeSciences, ITC and CleanTech sector out of more than 700 companies. She is also a seasoned Investor who manages her own investment portfolio. In 2015 Ida was selected as a 2015 TIAW World of Difference 100 Award recipient. Ida held positions as Director Corporate Affairs at Cardionovum GmbH, Investment Partner at BellwaldPartner Verwaltungs- & Beratungsgesellschaft mbH, Head of Business Development at NonWoTecc Medical GmbH, as Vice President, Business Development at mNEMOSCIENCE GmbH (Paperboy Ventures Familiy office), various senior level positions including Director of Business Development, Sales Manager and, Training and Education Manager at the KRAUTH group, as Marketing Manager EMEA at Medtronic Inc., and as Marketing Manager at both AVE GmbH and Cordis GmbH, the latter of which is where she started her career as Sales Area Manager in 1992.

Senator Heidi Heitkamp

Senator of the State of North Dakota (2013-2019)

Heidi Heitkamp is the first woman ever elected to be a U.S. Senator from North Dakota.

Senator Heitkamp grew up in a large family in the small town of Mantador, ND. Alongside her six brothers and sisters, she learned the value of hard work and responsibility, leading her to choose a life of public service.

She worked as an attorney for the Environmental Protection Agency before serving two terms as North Dakota State Tax Commissioner and two terms as North Dakota Attorney General as a member of the North Dakota Democratic-Nonpartisan League Party.

As attorney general, she was a leader in the national suit against the nations four largest tobacco companies, culminating in the landmark Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement, which required the companies to pay restitution to the states and transformed their marketing practices.

Senator Heitkamp saw firsthand the slow erosion of rural support for Democrats in rural states, which led to a landslide victory for President Donald Trump. After leaving Congress, she co-founded the One Country Project to reopen the rural dialogue between voters and Democrats and help remind Democrats that rural voters have traditionally been part of the Democratic coalition.

Vasudev Bailey, PhD

Partner, ARTIS Ventures

Vasudev (“Vas”) Bailey, PhD, is a partner at ARTIS Ventures where he focuses on investing in novel and breakthrough health and life sciences companies. He currently sits on 10 boards, including Eko, Unnatural Products, Inc., Aether, IDbyDNA, Association for Women in Sciences (AWIS), Johns Hopkins Biomedical Engineering, and The Trevor Project. He has led investments for the firm in Freenome and Climax Foods. He is the founder of the ARTIS Ventures Healthcare Pioneers, which brings together some of the world’s brightest minds to accelerate and incubate life-changing ideas in healthcare.

Vasudev received his PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine where he was recognized as both a Siebel and a Medtronic Scholar and member of Sigma Xi. He graduated magna cum laude and phi beta kappa from UC Irvine with a degree in biomedical engineering, and was both a Regents Scholar, Hodson Foundation fellow, Whitaker Foundation Fellow, and Henri Samueli Endowed Scholar.

Vasudev is a seasoned speaker, having presented on the topic of biotech, healthcare, and entrepreneurism at events including DTx West, Health 2.0, GIANT Health, Johns Hopkins Research Symposium on Engineering in Healthcare, AWIS Summit, and East/West CEO, and has been a distinguished guest lecturer at UC Irvine and Johns Hopkins. He has been quoted as an expert on biotech and healthcare in CNBC, Venture Capital Journal, HIT Consultant, Startupedia, International Business Times and more.