Ella Hilal, PhD

Ella Hilal is an active researcher and a subject matter expert with more than 15 years of experience in data intelligence, machine learning, ambient intelligence, autonomous systems, and Internet of Things, backed by versatile experience in academia and the tech industry in proactive innovation, solution development, and turning novel ideas into revenue-generating products. Dr. Hilal has been recognized as one of the leading women in the Internet of Things and Machine-to-Machine space by the Connected World forum. She has a Doctorate degree in Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence from the University of Waterloo. She is the Director of Data Science and Engineering for Plus and International at Shopify. Dr. Hilal is also an adjunct assistant Professor at the University of Waterloo. Dr. Hilal has been recognized numerous prestigious awards, most prominent of which are NSERC IRDF, NSERC CGS, Fulbright, DAAD, and OGS. Dr. Hilal is an active evangelist for responsible innovation, women in tech, and STEM. She has also been recognized by the Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship as a Google scholar for her active role and leadership in supporting women in technology. She has been recognized as a champion in a Women in Technology Peer2Peer group, where professionals in the Waterloo region explore challenges and share insights to encourage retention and advancement of women in technology.

How to Effectively Scale ML & AI in Any Organization(Business Talk)

David Gilmore

David Gilmore is a serial entrepreneur with a track record of building elite global teams, creating and launching enterprise software products built on emerging technologies, and executing complex GTMs in healthcare, adtech, national security, and finserv. Currently, David leads federated (multi-cloud) and privacy-preserving analytics products at LiveRamp where he serves as the Head of Privacy Tech Solutions. Previously, David was the CEO at Datafleets, which was acquired by LiveRamp in February 2021.

A Framework for Evaluating Privacy-preserving Data Infrastructure for Collaboration(Business Talk)

Francesco Murdaca

Francesco is a senior data scientist/software engineer at Red Hat and he is part of the AI Centre of Excellence (AICoE) and Office of the CTO. He works with the Thoth team, where they created a recommender system to help developers (including data scientists) to focus on important problems offloading many tasks that are automated and performed by pipelines and bots. He has a passion for AI, software and space. He previously worked on a research project with the European Space Agency (ESA) and industrial partners mixing AI and space to create a recommender system for the design of satellites. He loves to read, travel and learn languages.

Reproducibility and Dependencies for Jupyter Notebooks(Business Talk)

Nick Elledge

Nick Elledge is the head of operations for privacy technology at LiveRamp, where he is responsible for accelerating the development of the company’s privacy-enhancing technologies. His extensive experience bringing privacy-first solutions to market is integral to LiveRamp’s international growth. Prior to LiveRamp, Nick founded DataFleets, a privacy-preserving analytics platform. He previously was vice president and chief investment officer of E.L. Rothschild. Before that, he was a venture capital investor at Andreessen Horowitz, an innovation consultant to the United Nations World Food Programme, and a business analyst at McKinsey & Company.

Nick holds an MBA from Stanford University, a Master’s of Public Administration in international economics from Harvard University, a bachelor of science and bachelor of arts in economics and public policy from Southern Methodist University. He loves international travel, ultimate frisbee, and improv comedy.”

A Framework for Evaluating Privacy-preserving Data Infrastructure for Collaboration(Business Talk)

Jay Fraser

Jay is a tech executive and military leader with 15 years of multinational experience including general management of small to mid-size organizations. He currently leads Global Business Development efforts in HP’s Data Science Business. Jay joined HP in 2015 after spending 8 years on active duty as a Marine Infantry Officer serving in a variety of leadership roles and deploying across the globe. He holds a BS from the US Naval Academy and an MBA from UCLA. Although he was born and raised in Boston and his loyalty lies with New England sports teams, he enjoys living with his wife in beautiful San Diego!

The Power of Data Science – Real World Use Cases(Business Talk)

Tom Coyle

Tom is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and served 7 years as an Army Officer. Following his Army service, he became a diplomat where he served in numerous overseas postings and conducted various trips abroad. Upon returning to Washington, DC, he became interested in technology and started exploring the startup work. He also joined a task force to help bring AI and other emerging technology to the government. He also started a leadership company called Adventures in Leadership. Starting in 2019, he devoted the company to teaching AI for Decision Makers. He helped clients plan, develop, and procure AI solutions to their business use cases and taught AI classes for C-Suite executives.

In 2020, he joined DataRobot where he worked as Director of Strategic Initiatives under CEO and Founder Jeremy Achin. While there, he helped outline government strategy and led the development of several COVID-19 related projects. He also developed a fantasy football application using DataRobot. He also led teams in developing cyber security and insider threat solutions for government customers and also taught AI classes for U.S. government customers.

He is the CTO and co-founder of Sciencella LLC, an early stage health tech startup. He currently serves as an AI advisor for Veloxxity LLC and Royal Technology and Agriculture. He is the author of Leadership Lessons from the Battle of Gettysburg, which also includes lessons on what happens when leaders do not adapt to new technology. He is an avid musician, reader, husband, and father.

Leadership and AI(Business Talk)