Executive Director, ChicagoNEXT

Alya Adamany Woods is the Executive Director of ChicagoNEXT, World Business Chicago’s dedicated effort to drive growth and opportunity for Chicago’s tech economy. Governed by a council of technology leaders, ChicagoNEXT strategic focus areas include capital, talent, industry and community and her portfolio of programs includes the Chicago Venture Summit, ThinkChicago, and the Blackstone Inclusive Entrepreneurship Challenge.

Prior to her role at World Business Chicago, Alya was the Managing Director for Innovation Initiatives at the Illinois Science & Technology Coalition (ISTC), a statewide advocacy group dedicated to cultivating technology-based economic development in Illinois. She co-founded and managed the ISTC’s award-winning Corporate-Startup Challenge, a program designed to create a bridge between major corporations and startup and emerging growth technology firms. She was also the co-creator of the Illinois Innovation Index, a monthly publication developed in conjunction with World Business Chicago to benchmark the city and state’s ability to attract capital, create and retain talent and business, and drive dynamic technologies.

Prior to that, Woods worked for the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, where she most recently served as the Assistant Director for studies, and prior to that as the Interim Director for the Global Midwest Initiative. There, she tackled global policy issues including energy, immigration, and agriculture.

Alya received her bachelor’s degree in political science from Yale University and a master’s degree in international relations from the University of Chicago. She has lived in Chicago since 2002 and currently resides in Logan Square with her family.

Founder, Center for the Lost Arts and Founder, Kickstarter

A Kickstarter co-founder, designer, and lifelong nomad. Born in the U.K., raised in the U.S., living life exploring the world. Previously founded the now defunct web-based arts magazine Subsystence as well as Source-ID, a multi-disciplinary design studio. Since 1994, much of his work has centered on supporting independent artists. Additionally, he is a passionate runner, cyclist and outdoorsman. Nature heals.

Executive Director and Co-founder, mHub​

Haven Allen is an entrepreneur and technology strategist who most recently concentrated on growing the manufacturing industry and strengthening its community throughout Chicagoland. As an economic development strategist at World Business Chicago, he directed the Advisory Council for Chicagoland Manufacturing through which he established and led the implementation of an economic development agenda to support growth and job creation in the manufacturing sector.

During his graduate education, Haven served as a Mayoral Fellow at the City of Chicago. As a fellow he provided research and analysis on policy initiatives dealing with infrastructure, electricity markets and municipal marketing. In order to give back to his country, Haven joined the Peace Corps and served as a community economic development volunteer in Panama where he worked to strengthen the management and leadership capacities of rural cooperatives and local organizations in order to increase economic opportunities. In addition, Haven was a small business owner in the production and publishing industry.

Haven has a Master of Public Policy and a Certificate of Graduate Studies in Science, Technology and Public Policy from the University of Michigan and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from University of Illinois at Chicago.

Founder & CEO, Teacher Care, Women Tech Founders

Terri connects progressive people, organizations, and ideas. She is the founder and CEO of TeacherCare, a national agency for private teachers and Women Tech Founders, a grassroots organization that advances women into technology. Terri is on the board of mHub, the Chicago Leadership Alliance, and the Chicago Woman Magazine. She directs children's activities at Shelter Inc, speaks at leadership conferences, and has been published in numerous publications including Forbes. Terri been recognized through numerous leadership awards, including Chicago Inno, the Trib and Tech week. She hopes her life will help to break the barriers that hold underrepresented people back.

Managing Director, Global Development and Innovation, CIVIQ Smartscapes

George Burciaga is an international thought leader and subject matter expert in entrepreneurship, government and IoT technology. He specializes in the areas of Innovation, Digital Intelligent Cities and Connected Technology. George is highly regarded for his software development across smart cities and recent IoT deployments.

Among his numerous accolades, Burciaga is an inductee of the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame for Technology, a Chicago Who’s Who (2014) and honored in Washington D.C. by two U.S. Presidents as a National Technology leader. These accolades, decades of leadership and business relationships have positioned him exceptionally to offer the following engagements.

Founding Director, Urban Center for Computation and Data; Senior Computer Scientist, Argonne National Laboratory; and Senior Fellow, Computation Institute of the University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory

Charlie Catlett is the founding director of the Urban Center for Computation and Data, UrbanCCD. He is also a Senior Computer Scientist at Argonne National Laboratory and a Senior Fellow at the Computation Institute of the University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory. Crain’s Chicago Business recognized him in 2014 as one of Chicago’s “Tech 50” technology leaders and in 2016 Government Technology Magazine named him one of the Top 25 “Doers, Dreamers & Drivers.” He has held previous roles including Chief Information Officer at Argonne National Laboratory, Director of the National Science Foundation's TeraGrid initiative, and Chief Technology Officer at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has co-authored more than sixty scientific papers in international journals, international conference proceedings and edited volumes.

Vice president of Product, Uptake

Joseph Catrambone, III, VP of Product at Uptake. Joe leads the Product, Innovation, and Ideation functions at Uptake, a $28 predictive analytics company for industrial giants like Caterpillar and Berkshire Hathaway Energy. Joe comes from a strong data analytics application background in the legal industry (kCura) and the logistics industry (Echo Global Logistics). His career has been focused on transforming development organizations to performant Agile environments by leading with Product Management excellence.

Social Entrepreneur, Investor, Philanthropist, Youtopia

First with Legos, then with code, Cameron Croft has always learned best by building. His latest challenge is taking good non-profits and transforming them into great ones. Studying Industrial and Enterprise Systems Engineering at the University of Illinois was a natural fit. While at school he was active in building his network, leading several organizations like the Illinois Society of General Engineers and The Illini Waterski Club.

After graduation, he served a two-year term as President of the Chicago Illini Club, and visits Champaign often to speak to classes and catch some Illini Basketball. He is known in Chicago’s young professional community for hosting dozens of charity events and galas each year like Lookingglass Theatre’s Madhatter’s Ball, Art Institute’s Night Heist, and ChicagoTEN’s Alumni Challenge, and has helped raised over a million dollars for charity.

Chief Technology Officer and First Deputy Commissioner, City of Chicago

Danielle DuMerer is Chief Technology Officer and First Deputy Commissioner of the City of Chicago’s Department of Innovation & Technology (DoIT). She is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the City’s central IT department and oversees its key technology initiatives. Since joining the City, Danielle has directed the development of WindyGrid (the City’s award-winning situational awareness and incident response system), its Office 365 migration, data center relocations, digital inclusion programming, and Data Portal. Danielle also serves on the Smart Chicago Collaborative's Operations Committee, an organization founded in part by the City and focused on improving lives through technology. Before joining the City of Chicago, Danielle developed K-12 educational technology products at the McGraw-Hill Companies, and worked in the Library and Archives field, serving a variety of educational and non-profit organizations. Danielle holds a Master of Library Science from the University of Maryland, College Park and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Lead Organizer, Chi Hack Night

Derek is an entrepreneur, developer and one of the leaders of the civic technology community in Chicago. He is founder and partner at DataMade, a company that tells stories and builds tools with data, co-founder of Open City, a collective that makes civic apps to to improve transparency and understanding of our government, and organizer for the Chi Hack Night, America's premier weekly event for building civic technology with open data.
 

He has built and collaborated on dozens of civic and data applications including 2nd City Zoning, Chicago Lobbyists, Look at Cook, Chicago Councilmatic and Dedupe.

Mayor​, City of Chicago​

Rahm Emanuel has served as the 55th mayor of the city of Chicago since 2011. During that time he has made the tough choices necessary to secure Chicago’s future as a global capital. The Mayor added more than 200 hours to the school day and year, taking Chicago from having the least educational time of any large school district in the country to being on par with its peers. He implemented full-day kindergarten for every Chicago child, and fought for and won new accountability measures to ensure every teacher and principal had the necessary resources to succeed. The Mayor’s comprehensive public safety strategy is focused on expanded prevention programs for at-risk youth, smarter policing strategies, and empowering parents and communities to reduce violence in their neighborhoods. He attracted numerous companies to Chicago and helped to build the next generation of start-ups, while investing in the infrastructure, public transportation, open space and cultural attractions that make Chicago a great place to live, work, and play. And he has worked to make our government more effective, to deliver better services at a more competitive price, and to open government to the public.

Prior to becoming Mayor, Emanuel served as the White House Chief of Staff to President Barack Obama and served three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives representing Chicago’s 5th District. He previously served as a key member of the Clinton administration from 1993 to 1998, rising to serve as Senior Advisor to the President for Policy and Strategy.

Mayor Emanuel graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1981 and received a Master's Degree in Speech and Communication from Northwestern University in 1985. He is married to Amy Rule, and they have three children.

CEO & Founder, VisMed 3D

Dima Elissa is CEO and founder of VisMed-3D, a biomedical design and consulting firm that designs and 3D prints body parts. Dima was selected by Chicago magazine as one of the top Women in Tech, ChicagoInno’s 50 on Fire, MakeItBetter’s Top Chicago Women in Science and by Chicago Tribune’s BlueSky Vault as one of the Top 100 entrepreneurs in Chicago. Alongside this novel start-up, she is pursuing her passion — devoting time, energy and guidance to women founders and entrepreneurs leveling the playing field for girls and women in STEM.

As an LGBT White House delegate on Technology and Innovation, an adjunct faculty member teaching Entrepreneurship or as an in-demand speaker, she exemplifies her commitment to giving back and paying it forward. Her most recent designation as the American Medical Woman’s Association (AMWA) Tech and Innovation Lead under the Diversity, Inclusion & Innovation (DI&I) sector, she is building an accelerator to drive STEMM for girls and women seeking healthcare careers or who want to commercialize business ideas to improve the practice of medicine.

Dima also serves as a member of the board of trustees of Hanover College, board member for mHUB, is Chicago Chapter President for Women in Bio, and Chair of the STEM steering committee for the Apareció Foundation. Dima holds a B.A. in Chemistry from Hanover College and has earned her MBA from Texas A&M’s May’s School of Business with a concentration in Finance.

Founder and Managing Director, mHUB

Bill Fienup, managing director and co-founder, is a mechanical engineer, product developer and serial entrepreneur who has designed toys for Hasbro and researched fusion energy for Los Alamos National Laboratory. Bill holds both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was a co-founder and president of Catalyze Chicago, which provided space, equipment, mentorship and community to dozens of early-stage product development entrepreneurs.

Before merging into mHUB, Catalyze occupied 8,000 square feet, served close to 200 members who filed 80 patents, raised $21M, generated $57M in revenue and created dozens of new jobs. Bill started his career as a product design consultant for IDEO and Insight Product Development, where he was noted for his imaginative, innovative solutions to client needs. With deep experience in mechanism design, product development and complex electromechanical systems, Bill shifted from consulting to become an entrepreneur. He started several companies, including Ecofurn and MB Labs, which focused on connected devices. Bill holds 11 patents — including a bandage dispenser, biopsy needle and a NERF Atom Blaster™ with more pending, including several related to 3D printing.

Bill’s reputation as a thought leader extends beyond Chicago. In addition to being a repeat visitor to the White House for topics ranging from international trade to the maker movement, Bill has appeared on national television with his inventions.

Tovala, ThinkChicago Alum

Peter a ThinkChicago Alum is the lead engineer of Tovala. He just wrapped up his PhD in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Illinois. Before joining the Tovala team, he started BreakfastBox, an automated breakfast appliance.

Deputy Mayor, City of Chicago

Steven Koch is the deputy mayor of Chicago. His responsibilities include oversight of the Mayor’s Economic Council, as well as focuses on job creation and retention, budget issues, municipal finance and revenue, and economic development throughout Chicago.

Prior, Koch spent 27 years at Credit Suisse. During his tenure at CS, he both ran and was the Chairman of the global Mergers and Acquisitions business. In his career, Steve has advised on landmark transactions across a broad range of industries that together comprise more than $1 trillion worth of transactions.
 
Koch also has a deep interest in service to the community. He served as Chairman of the Board of both the Sinai Health System of Chicago and the Greater Chicago Food Depository; Co-Chairman of the Green Ribbon Committee on Sustainability and Climate Change of Chicago; and as a life trustee of the Francis Parker School. He helped develop and taught in the Director's Consortium, a seminar sponsored by Dartmouth, the University of Chicago and Stanford Business Schools that trains corporate directors and served as a Presidential appointee to the Independent Advisory Panel of the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board.

Chief Technology Officer & Co-founder, LitHit

Director, Program Design, City Digital

Katie Olson is the Deputy Director of City Digital at UI LABS. In her role, Katie oversees all lab operations and leads partner communications and outreach to industry, university, government, and start-ups to facilitate the development and growth of the consortium. Before joining UI LABS in February 2014, Katie led the Neighborhood and Place-Based Assets strategy at World Business Chicago to drive Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s Plan for Economic Growth & Jobs. Previously, she worked for The Reinvestment Fund, a Philadelphia-based community development financial institution, and served as a Mayoral Fellow for the City of Chicago in 2011.

Katie holds a master’s in City and Regional Planning from the University of Pennsylvania, and a bachelor’s in Communications, Economics, Legal Institutions & Government from American University. Katie also served as a U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer in Malawi from 2008-2010.

Chief Data Officer, City of Chicago

Tom Schenk is a researcher, author, and an expert in a number of fields, including open government, data visualization, business and research and policy in education. He is currently the Chief Data Officer at the City of Chicago, which includes overseeing Chicago’s open data portal, advanced analytics team, and the City’s data and business intelligence team. He leads the strategic use of data to improve the efficiency of city operations and improve the quality of life for residents.

Tom has lead the expansion of Chicago’s leading open data portal, deployed predictive analytics in the City to improve data services, and has streamlined the City’s data operations. Tom wrote Circos Data Visualization How-To, an introductory book on using the biology data visualization libraries for use in the social sciences. He has previously served as a consultant for Institutional Effectiveness and Accountability at the Iowa Departments of Education, where he led efforts to use student-level longitudinal data to evaluation education programs, including an evaluation of Project Lead The Way and calculating rates of return for community college graduates. He also led science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) policy in Iowa and a coauthor of Iowa’s STEM roadmap.

Tom was a visiting scholar with Iowa State University’s Office of Community College Research and Policy where he studied graduate-student unionization. He was also a lecturer at Grand View University where he taught statistics and economics. He earned a Master’s degree in economics from Iowa State University and a Bachelor’s from Drake University.

Director & Community Advocate, Microsoft Chicago

They say that great work stems from a combination of passion and commitment, something that Shelley certainly possesses when it comes to her life and career. She currently serves on the boards of the Women’s Business Development Center, the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, Thrive Chicago, Year Up and LISC Chicago. At Microsoft Chicago, she’s the Director of Civic Engagement, working at the intersection of computing and community, promoting STEM programs and using Microsoft technology to spur growth in the community. So no matter if it's work, play, or giving back, Shelley always makes sure her drive and professionalism help her complete her life's goals.

CEO of 1871

Mr. Tullman has over 45 years of start-up, management, IPO and turn-around experience and an extensive operations background in web development, online services, large-scale information assembly and delivery systems, database design and implementation and the development, creation and production of all types and formats of multimedia, computer games and audio/video digital content. He has designed and developed GUI and natural user interfaces, interactive and immersive games and instruction systems and other electronic entertainments, training products and services, as well as other information-based products and services in a variety of fields including automotive, insurance, CRM, employment, real estate, consumer goods and social media.

Chief Security Officer, Blue 1647

 Kenneth Watkins is a Mobile and Web developer, speaker and instructor from Chicago. Kenneth also designed, and created applications (mobile and web) for organizations and Hackathons. Kenneth has worked with various sized organizations from startups to corporations. Additionally, Kenneth teaches and mentors high school and university students who are building applications and developing hardware products. He has keen awareness of multiple organizational perspectives, and has the skills to coordinate these functional views to achieve business goals.

General Counsel, Lenovo Mobile Business Group

Courtney V. Welton as Global MBG General Counsel leads legal matters across Lenovo’s Mobile Business Group in North America, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and EMEA. Previously, she led commercial legal teams focused on relationships with Lenovo’s key suppliers and channel partners. Courtney was also instrumental in re-launching Motorola’s philanthropic Foundation, including overseeing the company’s charitable work, engaging employees as volunteers, and fostering relationships with strategic nonprofits. Prior to joining the company, Courtney clerked for the Honorable David W. McKeague on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, litigated global disputes at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and led a large health care facility. She also recently served on the board of directors for a successful software company. Courtney received her B.A. from Hope College, and her J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law, where she served on the executive board of the NU Law Review. Courtney is based in Chicago and serves on the board of the Chicago Foundation for Women.