Best Startup
At Best Startup US we track over 1,000,000 US startups and over 3 million people who hold key positions in these companies. We use this directory of startups to highlight top employees, founders and board members we think deserve more appreciation than they are currently getting.
This list showcases the top United States based CEO’ operating in the Automotive space. If you think a CEO’ is missing from this list, feel free to contact our editor on editor@beststartup.us.
The individuals on this list have been included because of exceptional performance in one of the following categories:
- Innovation – Operating as a key part in an extremely innovative business or startup.
- Growth – Operating as a key figure in the growth and upscale of a market leading business or startup.
- Management – Showing exceptional management skills.
- Societal impact – Putting their business on the map for their positive societal or environmental impact.
Our Data – We source our data from OSINT (open source intelligence) and public directories such as Crunchbase, SemRush and many more. The data from these sources should be treated with a degree of caution and verified yourself.
Mary Barra
Chairman and CEO of General Motors
Mary Barra is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of General Motors Company. Barra was elected Chairman of the GM Board of Directors on January 4, 2016, and has served as CEO of GM since January 15, 2014. Under Barra’s leadership, GM is working to lead the transformation of personal mobility through advanced technologies such as connectivity, electrification and autonomous driving. Barra has also established a strategic direction based on putting the customer at the center of everything the company does, all around the world. Prior to being named CEO, Barra served as Executive Vice President, Global Product Development, Purchasing and Supply Chain since August 2013, and as Senior Vice President, Global Product Development since February 2011. In these roles, she was responsible for the design, engineering, program management and quality of GM vehicles around the world. Previously, Barra served as GM Vice President, Global Human Resources; Vice President, Global Manufacturing Engineering; Plant Manager, Detroit Hamtramck Assembly; Executive Director of Competitive Operations Engineering; and in several engineering and staff positions. In 1990, Barra graduated with a Masters in Business Administration from the Stanford Graduate School of Business after receiving a GM fellowship in 1988. Barra began her career with GM in 1980 as a General Motors Institute (Kettering University) co-op student at the Pontiac Motor Division. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering in 1985. Barra is a member of the General Dynamics Board of Directors. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Detroit Economic Club and as a member of The Business Council. She is also a member of the Stanford University Board of Trustees, the Stanford Graduate School of Business Advisory Council and the Board of Trustees for the Detroit Country Day School. In 2014, Barra and her husband, Tony, chaired the Detroit International Wine Auction, raising a record $2.4 million for scholarships and community arts programs through the College for Creative Studies. In 2012, they chaired the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute’s 30th annual dinner, which raised nearly $1.7 million for cancer research. In 2015, Barra was ranked first on Fortune magazine’s list of the “50 Most Powerful Women in Business.” In 2014, she was named to the Time 100 and Forbes magazine named her one of the “World’s 100 Most Powerful Women.”
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About General Motors: General Motors manufactures, markets, and distributes vehicles and vehicle parts.
Alex Timm
CEO & Co-founder of Root Insurance
Alex Timm is the CEO and co-founder of Root Insurance Company. He is a former Senior Consultant, Corporate Strategy and Financial Leadership Rotational Associate at Nationwide Insurance.He earned his BSBA and BA in Actuarial Science, Accounting, and Mathematics at Drake University.
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About Root Insurance: Root Insurance is a property casualty insurtech that offers personalized, affordable coverage in an app.
Richard Parrillo
Founder & CEO of United Automobile Insurance Company
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About United Automobile Insurance Company: Provide a high quality and low cost insurance product to the non-standard automobile insurance market.
Jonathan Matus
Founder & CEO of Zendrive
Jonathan Matus Prior to Redpoint, Jonathan Matus spent 6 years at Facebook and Google, where he’s been focused on various mobile and speech-recognition projects. At Google, one of the early Android team members, Jonathan managed product marketing for the platform’s software releases and device launches globally. During his tenure, the OS grew from zero to global best-selling mobile platform. In his role as Head of Product Marketing in Asia Pacific Jonathan lived in Tokyo and jumpstarted regional device launches and relationships all over Asia. Jonathan received the Google Founders Award and Android Founders Award in recognition for his contributions.
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About Zendrive: Zendrive leverages mobile sensor data to provide actionable insights that improve safety for passengers and drivers worldwide.
Johnson Shan
CEO & Co-Founder of Black Sesame Technologies
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About Black Sesame Technologies: Black Sesame Technologies is an AI digital imaging technology firm that creates solutions for real-world AI challenges.
James Kuffner
Chief Executive Officer of Woven Planet Holdings
Prior to being named CEO at TRI-AD in March 2018, Dr. Kuffner was the Chief Technology Officer at TRI. Dr. Kuffner received a Ph.D. from the Stanford University Dept. of Computer Science Robotics Laboratory in 1999, and was a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Tokyo working on software and planning algorithms for humanoid robots. He joined the faculty at Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute in 2002. Before joining TRI, Dr. Kuffner was a Research Scientist and Engineering Director at Google from 2009 to 2016. Dr. Kuffner was part of the initial engineering team that built Google’s self-driving car. Dr. Kuffner was appointed head of Google’s Robotics division in 2014, which he co-founded. Dr. Kuffner continues to serve as an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University.
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About Carnegie Mellon University, Toyota Research Institute – Advanced Development, Woven Planet Holdings: Woven Planet Holdings develops technologies designed to achieve zero casualties and provide mobility for all.
Matt Cohen
Special Projects Consultant, Office of the CEO of Woven Planet Holdings
Matt Cohen is the Special Projects Consultant at Woven Planet Holdings.
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About Capital Factory, Woven Planet Holdings: Woven Planet Holdings develops technologies designed to achieve zero casualties and provide mobility for all.
John Krafcik
CEO of Waymo
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About Waymo: Waymo improves transportation by developing self-driving technology developed in Google’s labs.
Aarjav Trivedi
CEO and Co-Founder of Ridecell
Aarjav is the founder and CEO of RideCell. Before RideCell, Aarjav worked in engineering at SpiDynamics (Acquired by HP) and as a research engineer at CipherTrust and Secure Computing (Acquired by McAfee) where he helped invent and ship security systems used by over 40% of the Fortune 500 as well as the Pentagon. Aarjav has a Masters degree in Computer Science from Georgia Tech and a Bachelors in in Computer Science from University of Mumbai.
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About Ridecell: Ridecell provides car-sharing, ride-sharing, short-term leases, and autonomous vehicle fleet services for car rental companies.
Geoffrey Martin
President and Chief Executive Officer of CCL Industries
Geoffrey Martin joined CCL as President of CCL Label in April 2001. In May 2005 he assumed the role of President and COO of CCL Industries and President and Chief Executive Officer in May 2008. He is responsible for all CCL’s operating units including the Label, Avery and Container businesses. Martin is an international business leader with a proven track record in turnarounds, mergers and acquisitions. Prior to joining CCL, he was the Senior Group Vice President, Worldwide Converting Graphic and Specialty Tapes with Avery Dennison.
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About CCL Industries: CCL is the largest label company in the world and provides innovative solutions.
Michael Patterson
Founder & CEO of Battle motors
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About Battle motors: Battle motors is a technology leader in the electrification of commercial vehicles.
Bryan Frist
CEO & Co-Founder of Yoshi
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About Friále, Yoshi: Yoshi fills a vehicle’s tank wherever a driver wanted instead of the owner having to stop at a gas station.
Mark F. O’Neil
Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Dealertrack
Mark F. O’Neil is Chief Operating Officer of Cox Automotive, a position he has held since March 2016. Previously he served as Chief Executive Officer of Dealertrack, a position he had held since May 2005. From August 2001 to May 2005, he was Chief Executive Officer and President of Dealertrack. O’Neil began his career at Intel Corporation, where he first developed his knowledge of the technology industry. He subsequently worked for McKinsey & Co. before moving to the automotive industry in the late 1980s, where he was President of Ertley MotorWorld, a dealer group based in Pennsylvania. O’Neil went on to co-found and lead the development and rollout of CarMax, Inc. He was President and Chief Operating Officer of Greenlight.com, an online automotive sales website, from June 2000 through January 2001. He currently serves as a Director of DealerTire LLC, a privately held company. O’Neil holds a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
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About Dealertrack: DealerTrack is a provider of on-demand software for the automotive industry in the United States.
John B. Rogers
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Local Motors
John B. Rogers, Jr. is the CEO and co-founder of Local Motors, a technology company based in Phoenix that designs, builds and sells vehicles. This disruptive company is redefining vehicle development by pairing micro-manufacturing with co-creation. Local Motors is the first company to utilize Direct Digital Manufacturing (DDM) in vehicle production, as evidenced when it debuted the world’s first 3D-printed car, the Strati, in September of 2014. Rogers founded Local Motors after serving for seven years in the United States Marine Corps, where he was an Infantry Company Commander. He has worked as a consultant for McKinsey & Co., as an investment analyst at Ewing & Partners, and at a startup medical device company in the People’s Republic of China. He serves as the Chief Investment Officer and Director of the RBR Foundation, a philanthropic foundation focused on education and healthcare. A graduate of Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Rogers holds a Masters in Business Administration from Harvard Business School (Baker Scholar).
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About Local Motors: Local Motors is an American motor vehicle company that creates and delivers safe and accessible mobility solutions for local communities.
Zack Hicks
CEO Toyota Connected & CIO Toyota Motors North America of Toyota Motor
Zack Hicks is senior vice president and chief information officer at Toyota Motor North America (TMNA). He is also the chief executive officer and president of Toyota Connected, Inc. Additionally, he has a global role leading information security management department for Toyota Motor Corporation. As senior vice president and CIO of TMNA, Hicks drives the strategy, development, and operation of all information security systems, solutions and technology. Hicks is focused on aligning the efforts of business operations, strategic planning, and technology to drive business innovation and efficiency. In his role as CEO and President of Toyota Connected, he is responsible for leading global efforts that reinvent the way people think about mobility. Through the use of advanced technology and predictive intelligence, Hicks leads the development of solutions that excite customers and anticipate their needs. Hicks is also a member of the North American Management Committee, board member of The Toyota Foundation and Toyota Insurance Management, Toyota Diversity Board, Toyota PAC Board, and chairs the Executive Steering Committee. Since joining Toyota in 1996, Hicks has championed a global telematics ecosystem and facilitated the implementation of cloud-based collaboration tools for Toyota employees, accelerating communication across the company. He also led the development of an award-winning social media analytics platform enabling Toyota to capture the voice of the customer and intimately connect with them in new ways. Hicks has held several management positions within the company, including telematics, eBusiness, and IT management, where he led the establishment of a demand-management function, the development of next-generation dealership technology, and designed a CIO Magazine award-winning information systems strategy framework to align business and IT strategies. He also served as vice president of administrative services. Recently, he received the award of “Innovator of Year” from D-CEO magazine (2016). He has been named by CIO Magazine as Ones to Watch and awarded multiple recognitions by CIO Magazine’s CIO 100 list. Hicks was named one of the top 10 Global Breakaway CIO Leaders by Evanta/CIO Leadership Network and a Premier 100 IT Leader by Computerworld. He is an active member of the CIO Strategy Exchange, Corporate Executive Board for Chief Information Officers, and Research Board. Formerly, Hicks served as vice chairperson of the UCLA IS Associates, a Trevor Project Board member, and was active with the March of Dimes Foundation. Hicks graduated from Pepperdine University with a bachelor’s degree in business management and a master’s of Business Administration in business and technology from the University of California at Irvine. He received Pepperdine’s Distinguished Alumnus Award at the Graziadio School of Business and Management.
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About Toyota Connected, Toyota Motor: Toyota is an automotive company that manufactures and markets vehicles to over 170 countries and regions.
Soroush Salehian
Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Aeva
Soroush Salehian is a Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Aeva.
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About Aeva: Aeva develops a sensing and perception paradigm for autonomous machines.
Michia Rohrssen
Co-Founder, CEO of Prodigy
Michia Rohrssen is CEO at Prodigy, a growing Auto Startup.
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About Prodigy, Upstart: Prodigy digitizes the process to save customers’ time while improving trust and satisfaction.
Dean Foate
Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer of Plexus Corporation
Dean Foate is our Chairman of the Board of Directors, President and Chief Executive Officer. Dean joined Plexus in 1984 as a Design Engineer in our Engineering Solutions Group. After holding a number of leadership roles in our engineering organization, he was named president of the business unit in 1992. He was next promoted to Executive Vice President, where he assumed leadership over the company’s strategic growth initiatives. In 2001, Dean became our Chief Operating Officer, which led to his appointment as President and Chief Executive Officer in 2002. In 2013, Dean was named the Chairman of the Board of Directors. Dean holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a master’s degree in engineering management from the Milwaukee School of Engineering.
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About Plexus Corporation: Plexus uses unique Product Realization service model to transform your concepts into branded products and deliver to your target markets.
Christian Ferri
CEO of Geer™
Former PwC technology executive and expert in DLT and digital currencies, focusing on the intersection of gaming, brands and blockchain. Speaker at 60+ events and conferences across the world, including the World Economic Forum, the S&P 500 Global Platts and the Blockchain Economic Forum. DLT expert guest on CNBC, Al Jazeera, RT, Forbes, BBC, Millionaire and Coin Telegraph. Cross-vertical advisor to several companies including Atari, Lottery.com and Swarm Fund. Venice born. Palo Alto based.
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About Geer™, NFTPRO™: Premier NFTs platform for blue-chip brands
Hemant Sikaria
CEO & Co-founder of Sibros
Hemant Sikaria is the CEO and co-founder at Sibros. Sibros is a leader in automotive cloud solutions that provides over-the-air (OTA) software updates, data logging, fleet management, and advanced data analytics. Under his direction, Sibros is marrying the intricacies of embedded firmware development and cloud software development. This has led to the creation of a secure end-to-end platform that has scaled to serve millions of vehicles with daily log data collection on the petabyte scale. Hemant plays a pivotal role in building a world class team, setting the gold standard for software quality, and ensuring 110% happiness for both his team and his customers. Before Sibros, Hemant spent five and a half years at Tesla, joining the team in 2011 as the ninth firmware engineer. One of his most notable accomplishments is the design, implementation, and deployment of the very first large-scale OTA software update system. This system currently handles updates to the entire Tesla fleet and has completed millions of software updates. By the time Hemant retired from Tesla, he was in charge of the Body and Chassis Firmware teams for all car models. As part of his role, he oversaw the design, implementation, and integration of systems such as the Model X Falcon Wing doors, the air suspension, seat controls, self-presenting door handles, keyfob, security, and authentication to the vehicle.
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About Sibros: Sibros offers automotive cloud solutions including OTA software updates, data logging, fleet management, and vehicle analytics.
Sam L. Susser
President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Susser Holdings Corporation
Sam L. Susser has served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the general partner of Susser Petroleum Partners LP since its initial public offering in in 2012. Mr. Susser also serves as President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Susser Holdings Corporation. Prior to founding the Southguard Corporation (the predecessor to Susser Holdings) in 1988, Mr. Susser spent 1985 to 1987 with Salomon Brothers Inc. in New York City and in Dallas in the corporate finance division and the mergers and acquisitions group. He received a BBA in Finance from the University of Texas at Austin in 1985.
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About : Susser that operates 630 convenience stores in Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma, with 583 under the Stripes® banner.
Chris Spanos
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Urgently
Chris Spanos is the Co founder and CEO of Urgent.ly. He is the Advisor of Startups. Prior to this, he worked as General Manager at Repair.com. He was the Founder & CEO of SeniorChecked. He worked as General Manager, Vice President, Director, International Product Management, Sr. Manager, Brand Development and Marketing Consultant at AOL LLC. He worked as Award Winning Producer at Independent Film Producer. He was the Consultant to CEO of 1-800 Members/DHL. He worked as Consultant to President at VidiSolutions. He served as Consultant to VP Product Management at RealNetworks. He worked as Consultant to U.S. Director of Business Development at Moonfruit. Before that, he worked as Consultant to VP of Broadband at Starwood Hotels & Resorts.
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About Pax Momentum, Urgently: Urgently features a roadside assistance industry to the benefit of global brands and roadside assistance professionals.
Andy Moss
Founder and CEO of Roadster
Andy Moss is CEO at Fabkids.
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About Roadster: Roadster provides consumer-driven commerce solutions for today’s modern dealership.
Vlad Voroninski
CEO of Helm.ai
Vlad Voroninski is an applied mathematician, AI researcher, and entrepreneur, with thirteen years of R&D experience in algorithmic development. His PhD thesis in mathematics at UC Berkeley made fundamental algorithmic contributions to phase retrieval and quantum tomography, causing these topics to became an intensive focus of study in the applied math community. For this work he received several awards, including the university wide award for best applied math thesis award from UC Berkeley and the SIAM Outstanding Paper Prize awarded to 3 out of 3000 papers for ”work that brings a fresh look at an existing field or that open up new areas of applied mathematics”. He was previously on the faculty at MIT and has solved open problems in optimization, quantum mechanics, deep learning and computer vision, publishing in prestigious math journals and top computer vision and machine learning conferences such as ECCV, NIPS and COLT. He served as Chief Scientist at Sift Security (acquired by Netskope), a cybersecurity machine learning startup, before co-founding Helm.ai.
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About Helm.ai: Helm.ai is a scalable artificial intelligence for autonomous vehicle.
Keith Cozza
President, CEO & Director of Icahn Enterprises
Keith Cozza has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Icahn Enterprises L.P. and its general partner, Icahn Enterprises G.P., Inc., since February 2014, and as a director since September 2012. Mr. Cozza served as Executive Vice President from February 2013 to February 2014. Mr. Cozza has served as the Chief Operating Officer of Icahn Capital, a wholly owned subsidiary of Icahn Enterprises and Icahn Enterprises Holdings, since February 2013. Mr. Cozza has served as the Chief Financial Officer of Icahn Associates Holding LLC, a company controlled by Carl C. Icahn, since 2006. From 2004 to 2006 Mr. Cozza served as Controller at Icahn Associates Holding LLC. Prior to that Mr. Cozza was a senior assurance associate at Grant Thornton LLP. Mr. Cozza has been a director of: The Pep Boys – Manny, Moe & Jack, an automotive parts installer and retailer, since February 2016; a director of: FCX Oil & Gas Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Freeport-McMoRan Inc., since October 2015; IEH Auto Parts LLC, since June 2015; Tropicana Entertainment Inc., since February 2014; PSC Metals Inc., since February 2014; Herbalife Ltd., a nutrition company, since April 2013 and XO Holdings, a competitive provider of telecom services, since August 2011. Mr. Cozza has also been a member of the Executive Committee of American Railcar Leasing LLC since June 2014. Mr. Cozza was previously a director of CVR Refining GP, LLC, the general partner of CVR Refining, LP, from January 2013 to February 2014; and MGM Holdings Inc., an entertainment company focused on the production and distribution of film and television content, from April 2012 to August 2012. XO Holdings is indirectly controlled by Carl C. Icahn. Mr. Icahn also has or previously had non-controlling interests in Freeport-McMoRan, Herbalife and MGM Holdings through the ownership of securities. Mr. Cozza brings to his service as a director his significant experience in leadership roles as director of various companies as discussed above. In particular, his experience as the Chief Financial Officer of Icahn Associates Holding LLC enables him to understand the complex business and financial issues that we may face.
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About Icahn Enterprises: Icahn Enterprises L.P. (NASDAQ: IEP), a master limited partnership, is a diversified holding company engaged in nine primary business.
Manju Hegde
CEO and Co-Founder of Uhnder
Manju Hegde is corporate vice president, AMD Global Business Unit, with responsibility for leading the development of the software ecosystem around AMD products. As head of AMD’s Content, Applications and Solutions team, Manju is responsible for driving and executing AMD’s ecosystem, strategy across the technology, marketing and business functions as well as directing AMD strategy and collaboration in engaging the computing ecosystem to shape the next generation of devices, environment, tools and application experiences made possible by the AMD‘s product roadmap. Before joining AMD, Manju was vice president of CUDA technical marketing at NVIDIA, where he focused on training and enabling researchers and developers to leverage the parallel architecture and performance of the GPU for general purpose applications. Prior to joining NVIDIA in 2008, Manju was co-founder and CEO of AGEIA Technologies (acquired by NVIDIA in 2008) since 2002, when he began his mission to minimize the challenge of physics in game development. From 1999 to 2001, Manju was co-founder and CTO of Celox Networks, which developed the industry’s leading edge router able to deliver high bandwidth applications with QoS. Manju was also a professor of electrical engineering at Washington University in St. Louis and at Louisiana State University. Manju earned his Bachelors of Electrical Engineering degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, and his Ph. D in Computer Information and Control Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He also has his master’s degree in management from the University of Bombay.
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About Uhnder: Uhnder develops a digital automotive radar-on-chip designed to automate systems for safety and better feedback response.
Janelle Wang
Co-founder & CEO of ACTON
Janelle Wang joined ACTON as CEO & Cofounder in 2013.
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About ACTON: ACTON creates micro mobility package that amplify the power of the human body, reduce traffic, and manages urban fleets efficiently.
Joe Justice
Founder & CEO of Wikispeed
Joe Justice is a consultant at Scrum, Inc., a TEDx speaker, and coach for agile hardware and manufacturing teams around the world. Scrum, Inc. is the principle thought leadership and training body on Scrum and agile development. He is the founder of Team WIKISPEED, an all Scrum volunteer-based, “green” automotive prototyping company, with a goal to change the world for the better. Joe consults and coaches teams and companies on implementing Scrum at all levels of their organization, both in software and physical manufacturing. Joe has been featured in Forbes 5 times, CNN Money once to date, interviewed by Fast Company, featured on the Discovery Channel, and other media outlets globally for his work reducing time to value in companies globally and within the non-profit social good do-tank, Team WIKISPEED. Joe founded Team WIKISPEED in 2006, and with the distributed, collaborative, volunteer team tied for 10th place in the Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize and in the process formalized eXtreme Manufacturing, a process adapting the fastest moving methods of fast moving software startups to non-software development, testing, and manufacture. As a result, he is lucky enough to serve on the board of advisors for groups from aerospace engineering to manufacturing to education. Joe has spoken and/or launched teams at UC Berkley, Cambridge, Google, Microsoft, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, John Deere, and others; in Vietnam, India, China, Switzerland, Germany, France, Romania, the UK, Brazil, Canada, the United States, and others. Lucky for Joe, this is tremendously enjoyable and rewarding work, resulting in faster time to value in industries from medical devices to construction.
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About Wikispeed: Wikispeed is a green automotive-prototyping company dedicated to offering mass-production road-legal vehicles.
Isaac Deutsch
Co-Founder & CEO of WaiveCar
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About REEF, WaiveCar: Waive’s goal is to bring the cost of mobility to zero by utilizing cutting edge ad tech.
Steph Pettit
CEO of Clean Earth Systems
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About Clean Earth Systems: Clean Earth Systems, Inc. has provided industry, government, and individuals with state-of-the-art containers for storage, transportation.
Scott Mercer
Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Volta Charging
Scott Mercer is the founder and CEO of Volta, an electric vehicle charging network with the most-utilized stations in the US. An entrepreneur fascinated by both cars and future-focused technology, Scott founded Volta to bridge the gap between electric vehicles and the mainstream. The network delivers free electric vehicle charging in areas where stations are most needed, as determined by Volta’s proprietary machine learning algorithms. Under Scott’s leadership, Volta is experiencing consecutive 3x year-over-year revenue and footprint growth. Scott launched Volta in 2010 in Hawaii, where he was named Entrepreneur of the Year by the Hawaii Venture Capital, 40 Under 40 by Pacific Business News and Hawaii Business’ 20 for the Next 20. Previously, Scott ran a business buying, restoring and selling vintage cars in his early 20s. He sold a restored 1967 Jaguar XKE to seed the beginnings of Volta, which has now raised $62 million in funding. Scott currently rides an electric motorcycle, drives an electric Fiat, and occasionally, a 1971 Alfa Romeo.
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About Volta Charging: Volta Charging designs, installs, and maintains a network of electric vehicle charging stations.
Han Bin Lee
CEO of Seoul Robotics
Han-Bin Lee, born of South Korea – raised in the US, is an Engipreneure leading Seoul Robotics since 2017. He studied at Pennsylvania State University, with a focus on 3D simulation on distributed Linux system. He wants the computers to understand as well as humans do – through 3D sensors.
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About Seoul Robotics: Making Robots Intelligent – Building advanced Lidar perception software for self driving cars and robots
George Palikaras
Founder, President/CEO of Metamaterial Inc.
Founder at Metamaterial Technologies
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About Metamaterial Inc.: Mastering Light using Smart Materials & Photonics. Changing the way we use, interact and benefit from Light.
Joshua Aviv
Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of SparkCharge
Joshua is a certified Data Scientist and the Founder and CEO of SparkCharge, a company specializing in the portable charging of electric cars. His experience in entrepreneurship and startups spans over 4 years and he is a dynamic figure in the cleantech community. Joshua is also the most recent winner of the New York Business Plan Competition and won awards in over seven business competitions. Joshua holds B.A. in Economics and Masters in Information Management from Syracuse University.
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About SparkCharge: SparkCharge is an automotive company that manufactures and develops charging stations for electric vehicles.
Mark Malcolm
President and Chief Executive Officer of Tower International
President and Chief Executive Officer of Tower International, Inc. since August 2007. Senior Advisor to Cerberus Capital Management from 2006 to 2007. Executive Vice President and Controller of Ford Credit from 2004 to 2005. Director of Finance and Strategy, Global Purchasing of Ford from 2002 to 2004. Mr. Malcolm currently serves as a director of Tower International, Inc.
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About Tower International: Tower International is a leading integrated global manufacturer of engineered structural metal components and assemblies.
Greg Johnson
President, Chief Executive Officer of O’Reilly Auto Parts
Greg Johnson, Executive Vice President of Supply Chain, has been an O’Reilly Team Member since 2001 when the company purchased Mid-State Automotive. Greg’s career in the automotive industry began in 1982. Greg’s primary areas of responsibility are Distribution Operations, Logistics, Purchasing, Inventory Management, Merchandise, Pricing, and Advertising. Greg’s career began as a part-time distribution center team member and progressed through the roles of Retail Systems Manager, Warehouse Management Systems Development Manager, Director of Distribution, Vice President of Distribution Operations, and Senior Vice President of Distribution Operations. Greg has held the position of Executive Vice President of Supply Chain since 2014.
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About O’Reilly Auto Parts: O’Reilly Automotive, Inc. is a specialty retailer of automotive aftermarket parts, tools, supplies, equipment and accessories.
Guy Kaplinsky
CEO/Cofounder of ASKA dba NFT Inc.
Guy Kaplinsky is a successful serial entrepreneur, with in-depth knowledge and expertise in technology-related projects and international business. He is the Chairman and Cofounder of NFT, Inc., a growth stage Silicon Valley startup that bridges aviation and automotive and focused on future mobility transportation solutions. The ASKA™ is first viable Electric Vertical Take-off and Landing vehicle (eVTOL) with drive and fly capabilities, providing door to door transport for daily commuters and designed with a reasonable cost factor. Guy began his career at Nissho Iwai Corporation as an executive at their Tel-Aviv Liaison Office. After NIC ceased operations in Israel in 2001, Guy established his first startup with Maki Kaplinsky, a dynamic Japanese female entrepreneur. This global company facilitated multi-million dollar government-related projects in over 15 countries. The second start-up, IQP Corporation, was an early innovator in the Internet of Things and concluded as a multi-million dollar M&A deal with GE Digital in 2017.
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About ASKA dba NFT Inc.: Developer of the ASKA™ eVTOL drive and fly vehicle
Junwei Bao
Co-Founder & CEO of Innovusion
During his career, he has spent nearly 20 years developing innovative technologies and products in the precision instrument and optical sensor space. Prior to founding Innovusion, Junwei led the Sensor and Hardware Team for the Autonomous Driving Business Unit at Baidu. In other previous roles, he co-founded Timbre Technologies, Inc., the startup that invented and productized OCD, the “microscale LiDAR” for semiconductor manufacturing, and led Tokyo Electron’s metrology division in Silicon Valley. Junwei holds a B.S. in Physics from Peking University. He received his M.S. and PhD in Electrical Engineering at UC Berkeley. He has more than 40 patents in the area of optical metrology and semiconductor process control.
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About Innovusion: Innovusion is an autonomous vehicle LiDAR technology developer.
Joel Milne
CEO of RepairSmith
Joel Milne is the Chief Executive Officer of RepairSmith.
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About RepairSmith: RepairSmith provides a full-service digital solution for car repair and maintenance.
Dave Grannan
Co-Founder & CEO of Light
Prior to Light, Dave was CEO of Vlingo, the first natural language speech recognition service for mobile phones. Vlingo provided speech recognition for the first Siri app and powered Samsung’s S-Voice product. Nuance Communications acquired Vlingo in 2012. He previously held leadership roles at Nokia, Sprint PCS, and Geoworks. He began his career in the US Marine Corps and holds an MBA from the University of California, Berkeley.
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About Light: Light enables machines to see like humans using a camera-based perception platform that revolutionizes perception for ADAS/AV.
Donny Hall
Co-Founder & CEO of SureSale
Donny helped build successful SoCal tech companies including LowerMyBills.com, HomeLoanCenter.com and Leadpoint.com prior to building one of the largest DTC auto warranty sellers in the US which he sold to Innovative Aftermarket Systems.
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About SureSale: SureSale’s Certification as a Service platform and marketplace allow dealers and private sellers to certify and market used vehicles.
Brad Norton
Chief Executive Officer, Federal-Mogul Motorparts of Federal Mogul
Brad Norton is Co-Chairman of the Board and Co-Chief Executive Officer of Federal-Mogul Holdings LLC, and Chief Executive Officer, Federal-Mogul Motorparts. He was also elected to the Board of Managers of Federal-Mogul LLC. Prior to this appointment, Norton was Senior Vice President, Chassis & Service, Federal-Mogul Motorparts. Norton has more than 25 years of global automotive experience in both original equipment and the aftermarket. Prior to joining Federal-Mogul Motorparts in 2014, Norton was President and a board member of Freudenberg-NOK, the Americas joint venture between Freudenberg GmbH and NOK Corporation. Previously, he held a series of increasingly responsible leadership positions in operations, supply chain, commercial and organizational strategy with BorgWarner, Nissan North America, AlliedSignal and other companies. Norton earned a bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Akron in Akron, Ohio, and a master’s degree in business administration from Ashland University in Ashland, Ohio.
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About Federal Mogul, Federal-Mogul Motorparts, Tenneco: Federal-Mogul is an developer, manufacturer and supplier of powertrain components and vehicle safety products.
Mark Haidar
Co-Founder & CEO of Vinli
Mark Haidar is a serial entrepreneur who combines advanced technological skills with astute business knowledge. Throughout his career, Mark was able to build more than 42 different notable products and grow several technology-based businesses. Mark started his first technology company in Lebanon at age 17. By the age of 21, he had built the first fully integrated web-based university management system in Lebanon, the first 3D game engine built locally in the Middle East, the first wireless application protocol based internet-to-home remote control system in Lebanon, and won a People’s Choice Award for Best Web Product in the Middle East for transforming municipality records from paper to digital. In 2006, Mark moved to the US and led the development of a state of the art research and development project for the US Army Tank Automotive Research Development Engineering Center (TARDEC). He was able to successfully create an original service-oriented intra and inter-vehicle communication system for transportation, robotic, and military systems that enhanced each vehicle’s situation assessment and awareness in military combats and have the potential to help create safer and more efficient highway systems. With a huge demand for innovative and scalable technology solutions, Mark co-founded Dialexa, a global product-focused technology innovation and development company headquartered in Dallas, Texas. Dialexa has been growing at an exponential rate with clients ranging from venture-backed startups to Fortune 20 companies and governments around the world. In 2014, Dialexa started a division under the name of Dialexa Labs, a self-funded venture lab that develops internal products or services that spins out new companies. In September 2014, Dialexa Labs launched Vinli, the first connected car technology platform at Techcrunch Disrupt. Mark is currently serving as the CEO of Vinli. Mark also serves on the board of directors for Dialexa Labs portfolio companies Robin and Silvr. Mark has numerous journal publications, pending patents, and is a regular speaker at global technology conferences. Most recently Mark founded Peace.Report, an online news aggregator that focuses on current conflicts around the world. It collects news articles that promote peace. Peace.Report is scheduled to go live early 2015. Mark has also launched LISA (Levant International Startup Association), which helps startups in the Levant region to launch and scale their companies in international markets. Mark is trilingual and holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering and a master’s degree in Electrical Engineering.
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About Dialexa, LISA, Robin Autopilot, Vinli: Vinli is a universal car-to-cloud data computing platform that turns any car into a connected car.
Horace Luke
Chairman and CEO of Gogoro
Horace Luke is the Chairman and CEO of Gogoro, where he has overseen product development and corporate strategy from the outset. Previously, Horace served as chief innovation officer at HTC, where he played an instrumental role in leading the company’s transformation from a white label hardware manufacturer to one of the most desirable and innovative mobile phone brands in the world. From 2006 to 2011 at HTC, he led product strategy from concept to delivery, garnering a variety of industry awards, including the GSMA’s “Best Smartphone of the Year” in 2010 for the HTC Hero, the GSMA’s 2011 Device Manufacturer of the year. Prior to HTC, Horace spent ten years at Microsoft, where he led product ideation and brand development for a variety of Microsoft’s most important franchises, including the first-generation Xbox, Windows XP, and Windows Mobile. Horace also served at Nike, where he played a key role in brand development across a number of progressive brands.
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About Gogoro: Gogoro is an electric scooter maker and a battery swapping system provider.
Chris Urmson
Co-Founder and CEO of Aurora
Chris Urmson is the chief executive officer and co-founder of Aurora, where he leads a world-class team in bringing self-driving technology to the transportation industry quickly, broadly, and safely. Over the last 15 years Chris has worked to advance self-driving technology and bring it to market. Chris helped found the self-driving car team at Alphabet and led the team for seven years. Prior, Chris was a faculty member at Carnegie Mellon University, and was the technical director for the winning team of the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge. Chris has a Ph.D in Robotics from Carnegie Mellon University.
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About Aurora: Aurora is a self-driving vehicle company providing a platform that brings software and data services to operate passenger vehicles.
Alex Rodrigues
CEO & Co-Founder of Embark Trucks
Embark is working to make the self-driving future a reality. While most of the spectacle has been around passenger vehicles, Embark is working to revolutionize $700 billion commercial trucking industry, the backbone of our economy. Commercial transport stands to reap untold benefits by deploying automated trucks – particularly during the “long haul” stretches. Alex studied Mechatronics Engineering at the University of Waterloo.
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About Embark Trucks: Embark develops self-driving truck technology designed for freight and logistic services.
Eric Allen
CEO & President of LISNR
Eric Allen President former CTO (Japanese conglomerate), CEO (2 Exits);former Gracenote GM running $250M business unit in audio fingerprinting.
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About LISNR, LISNR: LISNR enables secure and seamless data transmission using the most advanced ultrasonic data technology
Joseph Huang
CEO of StartX (Stanford-StartX Fund)
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About StartX (Stanford-StartX Fund): StartX is an educational non-profit that helps Stanford’s top entrepreneurs.
Tom Egan
Chief Executive Officer of MV Transportation
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About Hewlett Packard Enterprise, MV Transportation: MV Transportation is a privately-owned passenger transportation contracting firm that provides paratransit services.
Marshall Chesrown
Chairman/CEO of RumbleON
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About RumbleON: RumbleON provides an e-commerce platform that facilitates to sell, buy, trade pre-owned recreation vehicles.
Eric Gundersen
CEO of Mapbox
As CEO of Mapbox, Eric coordinates product and business development. Eric is passionate about open data and building open source data visualization tools focused on speed and design. Prior to Mapbox, Eric co-founded Development Seed. Eric is a recognized expert on open data and open source software and has been featured in publications including the New York Times, Nightline, NPR, and others. He holds a master’s degree in international development from American University in Washington, DC, and has dual bachelor’s degrees in economics and international relations.
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About Mapbox: Mapbox is a location data platform for mobile and web applications.
Justin Wickett
CEO and Co-founder of Informed.IQ
Justin Wickett is the CEO and Co-founder at Informed.IQ.
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About Informed.IQ: Informed is a developer of a consumer auto financing platform designed to collect and analyze loan documents.
William Billiter
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Acertus
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About Acertus: Acertus operates as an automotive logistics company, providing unparalleled service and visibility into the transportation process.
Steve Jillings
Founder & CEO of Signal Automotive
Steve has more than 30 years of business-building experience, specifically in the areas of corporate finance, sales, marketing and technology. He has been responsible for eight startups throughout his career, taking them from inception to commercialization and in several cases leading to successful liquidity events. Most recently as CEO at TeleSign, Steve raised $79MM in growth capital and lead TeleSign to become the #1 Company in the Two Factor Authentication and Digital Identity category. Starting with 12 employees and single digit millions in revenue, TeleSign grew to 300 employees and more than $100MM in profitable annual revenue. Steve was also chairman and CEO of Vantage Media, an online digital marketing firm, where he and his investment partners raised $80MM to acquire in Vantage February 2007. Vantage Media grew into one of the largest performance-based online marketers in the country. As president and CEO of FrontBridge Technologies, Steve took the company from a startup to a global leader in SaaS email security services. Raising a total of $28MM of funding, this allowed the team to build a broad portfolio of services combined with the largest global distribution footprint in the email security category. This lead to the successful sale of FrontBridge to Microsoft in August 2005 for more than $200MM. Specialties: – Helping start-ups grow fast – Ensuring that the Go-To-Market strategy is the right one. – Raising money (I’ve raised more than $200m) – Product strategy – Sales and marketing strategy – Attracting the right people to win
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About Signal Automotive: Signal is a technology-enabled automotive wholesale platform that employs data to optimize wholesale dealer trades.
Sahas Katta
CEO + Founder of Smartcar
CEO of Smartcar.
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About Smartcar: Smartcar is the car API for developers. Our platform allows web and mobile apps to locate and unlock cars using simple HTTP requests.
Gautam Narang
Co-Founder & CEO of Gatik
Gautam Narang is the CEO and co-founder of Gatik, developing Autonomous Vehicles for B2B Short-Haul Logistics.
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About Gatik: Gatik is developing technology for autonomous light & medium duty trucks for B2B short-haul logistics.
Earl Hesterberg
President, Chief Executive Officer & Director of Group 1 Automotive
Mr. Earl J. Hesterberg, Jr has been the President and Chief Executive Officer of Group 1 Automotive Inc. since April 9, 2005. Mr. Hesterberg served as a Group Vice President of North America Marketing, Sales and Service for Ford Motor Co. from October 1, 2004 to April 11, 2005. Prior to joining Group 1 Automotive, he held various senior executive level sales, marketing, general management, operations and customer service positions in the United States and Europe.
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About Group 1 Automotive: Group 1 Automotive owns and operates about 130 franchises at approximately 100 dealerships, as well as about 25 collision service centers
George Thanopoulos
Chief Executive Officer of Metaldyne Performance Group
George Thanopoulos was named our Chief Executive Officer in August 2014 in connection with the merger of Grede, HHI and Metaldyne and has served on our board of directors since August 2014. George Thanopoulos is the founder of HHI and served as its Chief Executive Officer since September 2005. Prior to founding HHI, he was a group president of Oldco M Corporation (the former Metaldyne Corporation) and, prior to that, held multiple positions at MascoTech, Inc., the predecessor company to Oldco M Corporation, over a 15-year period, including engineering, plant management and executive management. George Thanopoulos served as a member of the board of directors of Global Brass and Copper Holdings, Inc., a converter, fabricator, distributor and processor of specialized copper and brass products in North America, from 2011 to 2014. George Thanopoulos also served as a director of JL French Automotive Castings, Inc., a supplier of die cast aluminum components and assemblies, from 2006 to 2012 and as a director of Chassis Brakes International, a supplier of automotive foundation brakes and brake components, from 2012 to 2013. George Thanopoulos holds a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering (magna cum laude) from the University of Michigan. George Thanopoulos was chosen as our director because of his extensive experience in management and in the manufacturing industry.
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About Autokiniton, Metaldyne Performance Group: Metaldyne Performance Group provides diverse metal-forming and advanced machining and assembly
Thiru Ganesan
President & CEO of Kyyba, Inc. of Kyyba Inc.
Thiru Ganesan is the President & CEO of Kyyba, Inc., a Global IT Services company specializing in software development, staff augmentation, TurnKey solutions and business process outsourcing. Thiru, the co-founder and former Chief Operating Officer of Kyyba, Inc. was instrumental in building the company’s business when he joined in 2007. He carried the overall responsibility for the Strategy and Operations, Development, Marketing, Infrastructure Support, Training and HR operations of the organization. Prior to Kyyba, he worked as Lead IT Consultant in Principal Financial group and Nationwide Financial. Thiru is PMP certified from Nationwide Financials and has extensive experience in converting legacy application system to a GUI front end. He has received numerous accolades during this career in Principal and Nationwide.
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About Kyyba Inc.: Staffing, IT, Engineering
Florian Bohn
CEO & Co-Founder of GuRu
Florian has always felt compelled to understand the way the world works. His curiosity moved him to study Electrical Engineering at Caltech (B.S. Cum Laude), to receive an M.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from UC Santa Barbara, and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Caltech. At GuRu, Florian is thrilled to be building technology that will enrich people’s lives on a global scale. He is also proud to be building a community of passionate and like-minded engineers at the organization. As a co-founder and CEO at GuRu, Florian brings years of technology experience. At Axiom Microdevices, he helped define and implement high-frequency RF integrated circuits which have shipped more than 400 million units. At Agilent Laboratories (formerly HP Labs) he worked on clock and data recovery circuits as well as novel test and measurement systems. As a Caltech Lead Scientific Researcher, Florian guided engineering and operational aspects of implementing the microwave system at Caltech’s Space Solar Power Initiative.
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About GuRu: Enables safe, effective and customizable transmission of power over-the-air using proprietary mmWave and Smart RF Lensing technology
Jon Rudolph
President and CEO of Action Fabricators
Jon represents the second generation of leadership at Action. His involvement with the company and the industry extends to the very beginning of the company’s manufacturing and converting operations. He has over 20 years of industry experience and extensive knowledge of materials, processes and industry standards. Jon holds an MBA from Western Michigan University and a BA in Business from Taylor University.
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About Action Fabricators: Action Fab provides custom-made tapes, adhesive and non-adhesive-backed foams, rubbers, plastics and other specialty materials.
Victor Darolfi
Founder & CEO of RoboTire
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About RoboTire: RoboTire automates vehicle maintenance by combining robots and computer vision.
Adam Roe
Founder and CEO of Zero Labs Group
Founder, CEO and Product Architect for Zero Labs Group – a privately held Southern California based business incubator and idea development firm for business and retail strategies, product ideation, business model architecture and exit strategy. ZLG has a specific focus on innovation for EV Automotive, Digital Retail, Snowsport Equipment and Conservation sectors. Adam competed as a skateboarder for 14 years. With a background in Advertising and design, and inspired by skateboardings energy and creativity, he started Lunchbox Studios in 1991 as an type-foundry, advertising and design company landing MTV as his first client. After, Adam went on to produce advertising and branding for hundreds of top level clients, founded New York’s Pavement Magazine, Reelhouse Footage and FX. Along with former partners, Adam reopened the Los Angeles office of Lunchbox in 2004 as the agency CEO to develop business solutions for Walmart, Unilever, P&G, Time Warner and Viacom. Adam also is a Licensed Master practitioner Neuro Linguistic Programming, Licensed Clinical Hypnotherapist, Certified NLP Communication Skills Master, Time Line therapist and has certifications from Society of NLP, American Institute Hypnotherapy and American Board Hypnotherapy among others.
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About Zero Labs Group: Private Business Incubator/Lab with a specific focus on innovation for EV Automotive, Retail, and Conservation technology.
Matthew Levin
Co-Founder and CEO of Donut Media
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About Donut Media: A digital network for the next generation of automotive enthusiasts.
Bruce Farrell
CEO of Berglund Automotive Group
Bruce M. Farrell is CEO of Berglund Automotive Group in Roanoke, Va. He started in the automotive business in 1963, working as a technician at Commonwealth Chevrolet in Boston, Mass., and today owns and operates nine dealerships throughout southwest Virginia. Farrell represent Virginia’s franchised new-car dealers on the board of directors of the National Automobile Dealers Association.
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About Berglund Automotive Group, Commonwealth Chevrolet: At Berglund Automotive, the focus is always on satisfying the needs of the customer.
William C. Rhodes
President and Chief Executive Officer for Customer Satisfaction of AutoZone
William C. Rhodes, III, was named Chairman of AutoZone during fiscal 2007 and has been President, Chief Executive Officer and a director since March 2005. Prior to his appointment as President and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Rhodes was Executive Vice President – Store Operations and Commercial. Previously, he held several key management positions with the Company. Prior to 1994, Mr. Rhodes was a manager with Ernst & Young LLP. Mr. Rhodes is currently a member of the Board of Directors for Dollar General Corporation.
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About AutoZone: AutoZone retails and distributes automotive replacement parts and accessories.
Christopher Heiser
Founder & CEO of Renovo Auto
Christopher Heiser is a Founder & CEO at Renovo Auto
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About Renovo Auto: Renovo builds AWare the software platform for autonomous vehicles
Taras Kravtchouk
Founder , CEO & Designer of Tarform Motorcycles
Taras Kravtchouk is the Founder , CEO & Designer at TARFORM.
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About Craftsman Ave, Tarform Motorcycles, TriplAgent: Electric, zero-emission premium motorcycles, developed using sustainable materials and smart connectivity.
John Hayes
Founder & CEO of Ghost
John Hayes joined John Colgrove to co-found Pure Storage in 2009 after serving in Yahoo!’s Office of the Chief Technologist, where he investigated web architectures for collaborative development of highly-reliable systems. He joined Yahoo! via the acquisition of Bix, where he was a founding engineer. His work prior to Yahoo! focused on developing distributed platforms for real-time interpersonal interaction in a variety of areas including entertainment, medicine, psychology, and defense. During this time, he became interested in the underlying architecture of reliable distributed systems, particularly those built from unreliable components. His diverse experiences have led him to develop new approaches to make today’s increasingly complex distributed systems more reliable. John holds a degree in Computer and Systems Engineering from Guelph University in Ontario, Canada.
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About Ghost: Ghost is developing the revolutionary technology that finally makes self-driving safe.
Jon Belmonte
Chief Executive Officer of AutoVitals
Jon Belmonte is Chief Executive Officer at AutoVitals.
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About AutoVitals: Automotive repair shop management software to help shop owners grow ARO, improve shop efficiency, and unleash their team’s full potential.
Daksh Gupta
Group Chief Executive Officer of Marshall Motor Holdings
Daksh has over 20 years’ experience in the automotive retail sector and joined the Company in 2008 as its Chief Executive Officer. Daksh was previously Group Managing Director for Ridgeway Group and the Chief Operating Officer of Accident Exchange Group PLC in 2007. He was also Franchise Director for Inchcape for seven years where he was responsible for the Volkswagen, Audi and Mercedes-Benz brands. In July 2015 Daksh was named as CEO of The Year by Motor Trader magazine and in January 2016 the same industry renowned publishers also named him as the 4th most influential person in the automotive industry. He is a Fellow of the Institute of the Motor Industry (FIMI) and Vice President of BEN, the charity for those who work or have worked in the automotive and related industries. His dedication to BEN was recognised in July 2011 when he was presented an outstanding achievement award for services to the charity and also for turning around the performance of Marshall Motor Group. Daksh is also a Freeman of the City of London.
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About Ben, Marshall Motor Holdings: MMH PLC one of the UK’s leading Motor Groups with 71 franchises covering the United Kingdom and delivering the whole range of premium.
Juan Calle
CEO of Classic
Juan Diego Calle, a serial entrepreneur, is the founder and CEO of .CO Internet S.A.S., the registry operator for the .CO top level domain. Under Juan’s leadership, .CO was launched internationally in July of 2010, and has quickly become one of the most successful domain extensions in history. At the ripe, old age of 20, Juan co-founded TeRespondo.com, the largest online search advertising network in Latin America. The company operated in USA, Brazil, Mexico and Argentina, prior to being acquired by Yahoo, Inc. in 2005. Subsequently, Juan founded FederatedTravel.com, a large, global network of premium travel websites, including popular destination sites like ParisHotels.com, NewYorkHotels.com and LondonHotels.com, among others. A committed triathlete and increasingly competent dad of two, Juan is a voracious learner whose greatest passion is business and entrepreneurship. He is a graduate of the Harvard Business School’s Owner-President Management Program.
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About Classic, Straat Investments: Classic is an early-stage startup that engages in search engine and analytics platforms for the classic car industry.
Tobias Hartmann
Chief Executive Officer of Scout24
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About Scout24: Scout24 operates digital marketplaces in the real estate & automotive sectors.
Brad Title
President, CEO and Founder of Gubagoo
Brad Title is the president, CEO, and founder of Gubagoo. Prior to that, Brad served as the vice president of sales at DME Automotive. He is a former national program manager at Cobalt and president and CEO of Cowboy Corp.
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About Gubagoo: Gubagoo is a leading provider of dealer live chat, text, video and Messenger solutions for the automotive industry.
Michael F. Roman
Chief Executive Officer & Chairman of the Board of 3M
Mr. Michael F. Roman has been Senior Vice President of Business Development of 3M Company since 2013 and served as its Vice President and General Manager of Renewable Energy Division of 3M Company from February 2009 to 2011. Mr. Roman served as an Executive Officer of Korea of 3M Company.
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About 3M, 3M New Ventures: 3M operates as a diversified technology company, manufacturing more than 55,000 products, including adhesives, laminates, and many more.
Kenneth M. Roessler
CEO of BWAY
Kenneth M. Roessler is President and Chief Executive Officer of BWAY Holding, Inc. He has been a member of the Board of Directors since December 2008. BWAY, with sales of $1.5 billion, is a leading North American supplier of general line metal and rigid plastic containers. The company operates 22 plants and employs approximately 3,000 people in Canada, Puerto Rico and the United States. It manufactures and markets containers and packaging primarily for industrial and consumer products, including paints, inks, coatings, chemicals and adhesives, and also markets product to the food and military segments. The company traces its roots back more than 130 years. Ken has held a number of senior executive positions over the past decade guiding BWAY’s transitions and transformation through public and private ownership. His leadership roles also have included Chief Operating Officer and Senior Vice President for BWAY Corporation, and recently CEO at Mauser Corporation. Since joining BWAY as Executive Vice President Sales & Marketing in February 2000, Ken has overseen a strategy of organic growth and add-on acquisitions in core markets. During his tenure, this focus has resulted in nine acquisitions, most recently Ropak in January, 2013. Earlier in his career, Ken served in senior management roles for Southcorp Packaging USA for more than six years, and held similar leadership positions with Berwind Corporation, a private investment management company. He has more than 20 years of experience in the Packaging industry. He serves on the Board of Directors of the American Coatings Association. Ken holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Villanova University in Villanova, Pennsylvania.
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About BWAY, Mauser: BWAY is one of the largest manufacturers of rigid metal and plastic containers in North America.
Eyal Amir
CEO & Founder of Ai Incube
Eyal Amir is the CEO & Founder at Parknav.
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About Ai Incube, FasPark, Parknav, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: Ai Incube is an API for the Live Street, for every street in the world 24/7. It’s first product, Parknav, is an API for on-street parking.
Grant Feek
Founder & CEO of TRED
Grant Feek is the Co-Founder, CEO at Tred.
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About TRED: Tred is the most trusted peer to peer used car marketplace.
Peter Rawlinson
CTO and CEO of Lucid Motors
Peter Rawlinson is the Chief Technology Officer and VP of Lucid. He leads the outstanding team developing Lucid’s premium electric vehicle. Peter has over 30 years of vehicle engineering experience and is best known for developing the Tesla Model S. Formerly Vice President of Vehicle Engineering at Tesla and Chief Engineer of the Model S, Peter led the engineering of the Model S from clean-sheet to production readiness while simultaneously building a world class engineering team. Peter conceived of and implemented an innovative product development methodology enabling this process to occur in just three years. As a hands-on engineer, he also holds a significant proportion of the Model S vehicle patents. Prior to Tesla, Peter was Head of Vehicle Engineering at Corus Automotive, Chief Engineer at Lotus Cars, and Principal Engineer at Jaguar Cars. In these roles, Peter developed key innovations for Alcoa, Aston Martin, BMW, Daimler, Ford, GM, Audi, Bentley, Jaguar, Land Rover, Lockheed Martin, and Prodrive. Peter holds a B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from Imperial College, University of London.
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About Lucid Motors: Lucid Motors is an automotive company that specializes in electric cars.
Bernard Tse
CEO of Lucid Motors
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About Lucid Motors: Lucid Motors is an automotive company that specializes in electric cars.
Renee Krug
Chief Executive Officer of GlobalTranz
As GlobalTranz’s Chief Executive Officer, Renee brings tremendous leadership skills, domain knowledge and 30+ years of multi-discipline experience that drive the overall strategy and direction of the company. She is an action-oriented executive who drives meaningful initiatives that create success. Prior to becoming the company’s CEO, she served as the company’s CFO where she helped drive GlobalTranz’s record growth and position as a market leading transportation management solutions and technology.
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About GlobalTranz: GlobalTranz is a logistics management firm that specializes in carrier, supply chain, and warehouse management.
David Michery
CEO & Founder of Mullen Technologies
David Michery is CEO & Founder at Mullen Technologies. David Michery is a successful businessman and music executive. Born in California, David Michery attended Garfield High School. Michery began his music career as a teenager and went on to produce or executive produced more than a dozen18 award-winning gold and platinum records. In 2012, after 27 years in the music industry, David Michery purchased Mullen Motors from Arthur Allen, a Vietnam veteran and West Point graduate. David Michery’s company was re-named Mullen Technologies in August 2014, and now produces energy-efficient vehicles that are environmentally-friendly and affordable. In April 2018, Mullen Technologies opened its California-based Energy Division facility, which operates as a battery manufacturer division with a, battery pack testing facility and renewable energy research and development center.
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About Mullen Technologies: Mullen Technologies is a car manufacturer and distributor.
Kevin Czinger
Founder and CEO of Divergent 3D
Kevin Czinger serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of Miles Electric Vehicles. He has extensive operating experience and a proven track record of performance in start-up and emerging growth companies. Czinger has served as a senior executive with Goldman Sachs, Bertelsmann AG, the Webvan Group and Global Signal. He has also been active at Benchmark Capital and as a senior Managing Director of Fortress Private Equity Funds.
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About Divergent 3D: Divergent 3D aims to revolutionize the auto industry through 3D printing.
Bek Abdullayev
Founder & CEO of Super Dispatch
Founder & CEO of Super Dispatch.
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About Super Dispatch, TED: The advanced auto transport platform built for everything carriers and shippers need to move cars faster, smarter, and easier.
Jeffrey Chou
CEO & Co-Founder of Sonatus
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About Diamanti, Sonatus: Sonatus builds game-changing vehicle and cloud-based software solutions that create a future-proof foundation for software-defined vehicles.
Carl A Ortell
Chief Executive Officer of Holman Automotive
Mr. Ortell joined the Holman family of companies in 1986 as an internal auditor, transferring to ARI in 1987. In his time with ARI, he served in multiple operational and financial positions with increasing responsibility, including chief financial officer and chief operating officer, eventually serving as president of the company from 2010-2015. Mr. Ortell led the company through turbulent economic times while continuing to grow the business, expanding to new global markets, and most notably, building on the culture of learning and employee development that put ARI on FORTUNE’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” list. He holds a B.S. in Accounting from LaSalle University.
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About Holman Automotive: Holman Automotive is an automotive services company.
Bruce Reading
Chief Executive Officer of Perceptive Automata
Bruce Reading is the Chief Executive Officer of Perceptive Automata.
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About Containers 2 Clinics, Perceptive Automata: Perceptive Automata enables those vehicles to understand what people might do next so they can navigate safely and smoothly around humans.
Doug Parker
Chief Executive Officer & Chairman of American Airlines
Doug Parker is Founder, chairman and chief executive officer of American Airlines Group. Parker became CEO of American Airlines following the merger of US Airways and American Airlines in 2013. Previously, Parker was chairman and CEO of US Airways. Prior to the merger of US Airways and America West Airlines in 2005, he was chairman, president and chief executive officer of America West. Parker became the CEO at America West just 10 days before Sept. 11, 2001, and led the carrier through the crisis. Under Parker’s leadership, US Airways achieved record revenue growth and operational performance and profit margins that outpaced most industry peers. Parker has been one of the most vocal proponents of airline industry consolidation, which has provided a more stable and competitive industry for employees, customers, communities and stockholders. Parker’s experience prior to joining America West in 1995 includes four years with Northwest Airlines as vice president and assistant treasurer, and vice president of financial planning and analysis. From 1986 to 1991, he held a number of financial management positions with American Airlines. Parker received a Bachelor of Arts in economics from Albion College in 1984 and a Master of Business Administration from Vanderbilt University in 1986.
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About American Airlines, Callis Communications: American Airlines focuses on providing travel experience across the globe.
Ludwig Willisch
CEO and President of BMW of North America
Ludwig Willisch is CEO and President at BMW of North America.
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About BMW of North America: BMW of North America is a automotive company that manufactures luxury and performance vehicles.
Peter C. Georgiopoulos
CEO of Gener8 Maritime
Peter C. Georgiopoulos is General Maritime’s founder and currently serves as Chairman. From 1991 to 1997, Peter C. Georgiopoulos was the principal of Maritime Equity Management a ship-owning and investment company that he founded in 1991. From 1990 to 1991, Peter C. Georgiopoulos was affiliated with Mallory Jones Lynch & Associates an oil tanker brokerage firm. From 1987 to 1990, Peter C. Georgiopoulos was an investment banker at Drexel Burnham Lambert. Prior to entering the investment banking business, Peter C. Georgiopoulos had extensive experience in the sale, purchase and chartering of vessels while working for ship-owners in New York and Piraeus Greece. Peter C. Georgiopoulos is a member of the American Bureau of Shipping. Peter C. Georgiopoulos holds an MBA from Dartmouth College.
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About Gener8 Maritime: Gener8 Maritime combines art and science to deliver disruptive solutions in high growth industries.
Alden Woodrow
Co-Founder & CEO of Ike
Co-Founder & CEO at Ike
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About Ike: Ike is a self driving truck startup, focused on building automation technology to help improve the trucking industry.
Maha Achour
Founder & CEO of Metawave
CEO and Founder of Metawave, Maha is senior leader with more than 20 years’ experience in both public and entrepreneurial start-up companies in the RF, wireless, optics and networking industries. Demonstrated track record of: developing an idea from concept to product, delivering industry leading technologies, building teams and companies. Strong technology background combined with leadership, business and marketing skills. Previously, Maha served as co-founder and CTO of Rayspan, where she commercialized the first Metamaterial antennas and RF front-end subsystems for the cell-phone and WLAN industries. She has also pioneered the first broadcast HDTV system over satellite, mm-wave/Free-Space Optical systems for last mile connectivity, and led various DARPA projects in wireless MIMO and Optical devices.
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About Metawave, Polyceed Inc.: Metawave is a wireless technology company that builds intelligent and high-performance automotive radars by leveraging metamaterials and AI.
Jason Devitt
CEO of Compound Eye
Jason Devitt is CEO and co-founder of Mr. Number, a company that helps consumers to control who can call their mobile phone and when. An advocate for open networks, open devices, and open development platforms, Jason has testified on these issues before Congress and the FCC. Previously, Jason co-founded Skydeck, a company that enabled consumers to back up and manage all of their cell phone data online. Jason developed the idea for Skydeck while an entrepreneur-in-residence at iHatch, a venture capital firm that focuses on the mobile market. Prior to Skydeck, Jason co-founded Vindigo, one of the first companies to publish content and applications for mobile phones in the US. Products included Mapquest Mobile, MovieGoer, and the Vindigo City Guide. Jason led the company from inception to over $10 million in revenue and profitability in 2005. Jason spent four years working for the technology-driven investment firm D. E. Shaw & Co. in London and New York, where he structured OTC equity derivatives. He grew up in Ireland and has a Master’s Degree in Electronic Engineering and a Diploma in Law from UCD and the King’s Inns in his hometown of Dublin.
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About Compound Eye: Compound Eye develops 3D vision systems for autonomous machines.
Niko Vuori
Founder & CEO of Drivetime
Founder & CEO Drivetime, co-founder & COO of Rocket Games, product at ToyTalk & BranchOut, GM Zynga Poker, founder & CEO Informifi.
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About Drivetime: Drivetime provides an online platform designed to help users play games while they drive.
Jeffrey Edwards
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Cooper Standard
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About Cooper Standard: Cooper Standard, headquartered in Novi, Mich. USA, is a leading global supplier of systems and components for the automotive industry.
Corey Brundage
CEO, Founder of HONK
Serial entrepreneur. Founder at HONK, betterSHIFT, KorMethod, SendLove.to and Sentient Systems. Investor and startup advisor.
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About HONK: HONK is an innovative roadside assistance platform that uses both technology and a unique business model.
Ami Dotan
CEO, Co-Founder of Karamba Security
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About Karamba Security: Karamba Security provides embedded cybersecurity solutions to protect all types of connected systems from attacks.
Juha Christensen
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of CloudMade
Juha Christensen serves as a Venture Partner of Catagonia Capital GmbH. Juha Christensen serves as the Chief Executive Officer of CloudMade Ltd. Juha Christensen is Founder Sonopia Corporation and serves as its Chief Executive Officer. He is Co-Founder and Partner of Progression Partners. He Founded Cogniance, Inc. in February 2008. Juha Christensen was a Founding Venture Partner at Sunstone Capital A/S. He was a Venture Partner of Vækstfonden. He has driven and participated in multiple exits within mobile, software and Internet. Juha Christensen served as an Executive Vice President of Macromedia Inc. He served as the President and General Manager of Mobile and Devices unit of Macromedia since January 2004. He led the core team responsible for bringing together joint venture and was a Board Member and Executive Vice President in charge of product management, marketing, sales, business development, evangelism, and supplier relationships. Juha Christensen served as a Corporate Vice President of the mobile devices division at Microsoft Corporation, building its franchise in the mobile industry. He ran Microsoft Corporation’s mobile platform efforts, bringing to market Pocket PC and Smartphone. Juha Christensen was also responsible for Microsoft’s participation in several worldwide wireless standards bodies and developed the strategy for company-wide mobility solutions and scenarios. Before this, he wrote the business plan, led the negotiations that brought Nokia, Motorola, Ericsson, Sony, Samsung and others together to create Symbian, and co-founded Symbian Limited in 1998. Previously, Juha Christensen worked at Psion Plc, where he served as the Vice President of Licensing. He serves as the Chairman of ExpandIT Solutions A/S and CloudMade Ltd. He has been Chairman of Cogniance, Inc. since February 2008 and serves as its Director. He serves as a Director of Independent Dispatch, Inc., United Software Corporation and Pelican Imaging Corporation. Juha Christensen served as a Director of Teleca AB. since 2004 and Emerging Technologies AB. He served as the Chairman of VirtualLogix, Inc. since January 2010 and its Independent Director since 2008. He served as a Director of The Qt Company AS (a/k/a Qt Development Frameworks and Trolltech AS) since September 2005. He served as a Director of Action Engine Corporation and Unwire. Juha Christensen is an experienced Coach and Board Member to Chief Executive Officers, providing sparring in areas like strategy, scaling companies, offshore development, and constructing high performance teams. He is an entrepreneur, industrial thought leader, and a key pioneer in the development of mobile operating systems and wireless applications. Juha Christensen has broad senior management, Board level, and investment expertise across Europe, the United States, and Asia. He has voted as one of the 25 most influential Europeans in Technology by Time Magazine. He studied Business Administration at London Business School, specializing in strategy, finance, new venture development and dynamic modeling.
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About CloudMade, Star: CloudMade delivers excitement through simplicity to automotive OEMs and Tier 1s
Lawrence E. Dewey
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Allison Transmission Holdings
Mr. Dewey joined Allison in February 1989. Mr. Dewey currently serves as the Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Allison and has served in that capacity since the sale of Allison to Carlyle and Onex in August 2007. Prior to the sale, Mr. Dewey served in various capacities at Allison, including as President of Allison, a role he assumed in 2000; worldwide Director of Marketing, Sales and Service, Managing Director of Allison Transmission Europe, B.V., based in The Netherlands; Central Region (U.S.) Sales Manager; Marketing Manager; Manager of Aftermarket Products; and Production Manager. From 2003 until 2007, concurrent with his role as President of Allison, he took on the responsibilities of Group Director of Marketing, Sales, Brand Management and Customer Support for General Motors Powertrain group. Before joining Allison, Mr. Dewey held several positions of increasing responsibility in General Motors’ Diesel Equipment Division and Rochester Products Division. He began his career in 1974 as a General Motors co-op student at General Motors Institute (now Kettering University). Mr. Dewey currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Indiana Chamber of Commerce, the Indiana Sports Corporation and the Greater Indianapolis Progress Committee.
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About Allison Transmission Holdings: Allison Transmission has continuously discovered new ways to make work easier and more efficient.
Mihnea de Vries
Founder and CEO of Scooterson
Mihnea de Vries is entrepreneur and filmmaker, with 20+ years of experience in technology start-ups, marketing, and film. Back in 1996, Mihnea launched the first Internet Service Provider (ISP) in his hometown. Later, he started filming and directing TV ads and music videos, also pioneering aerial cinematography with drones. His latest quest is to change the way of how we ride around the cities.
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About Scooterson: Intelligent electric vehicles of the future.
Mahi Reddy
Founder and CEO of SemaConnect
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About SemaConnect: SemaConnect is a provider of electric vehicle charging stations and software solutions for station owners and electric vehicle drivers.
