Grand Keynote

John Chambers, founder and CEO of JC2 Ventures, focuses on helping disruptive startups from around the world build and scale. He invests in companies that are leading market transitions. Chambers is also the Chairman of the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) and was most recently appointed Global Ambassador of the French Tech by President Emmanuel Macron of France.

In addition to investing in and mentoring startups, Chambers promotes entrepreneurship, gender equality, and accelerating overall new business creation around the world to create startup nations and a startup world, as he believes that startups will be the core driver of economic growth and job creation in the Digital Age.

Prior to founding JC2 Ventures, Chambers spent 25+ years with Cisco, serving as CEO, Chairman and Executive Chairman. He currently holds the title of Chairman Emeritus with the organization. 

Scott Thurm is a senior editor at The Information. He has been living in and covering Silicon Valley for more than 25 years. Most recently, he was business editor at Wired. Previously, he spent 18 years as a reporter and editor at The Wall Street Journal, and earlier at the San Jose Mercury News. He shared a Pulitzer Prize for work at the Louisville, Ky., Courier-Journal and is a two-time winner of the Gerald Loeb Award for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism.