Connecting Entrepreneurs Across the Globe
When & Where
About this Track:
Connectivity has been the defining characteristic of technology evolution. The Pandemic brought our 24/7 rapid pace of lifestyle to a screeching halt. While we collectively felt we were not indomitable, the human grit made us come together stronger and better to succeed at rethinking our priorities. Our progress is increasingly interdependent on sharing our creativity, education, research, scientific, and technological innovations.
In the Global Connectivity track, we explore how investors are connecting with entrepreneurs who are building scalable solutions for the most pressing problems across verticals. How companies are adapting to the new work environment and realigning, retraining, and retaining their human resource talent. And how global regions are adopting conducive policies to promote their natural and human resources, promote investments, and facilitate trade and talent for collaborative growth.
Track Agenda
- 05/08/2021 | 9:00 am - 9:30 am PDT
- 30 mins Hall BSpeakers
Dr. Omkaram (Om) Nalamasu is senior vice president and chief technology officer (CTO) for Applied Materials. He brings extensive experience and passion to the role of CTO, where he is leading the development of new product pipelines, securing government funding for key strategic projects, and building a world-class team to maintain Applied Materials' technology leadership in the industries it serves and enable growth into new markets.
Dr. Nalamasu is also the president of Applied Ventures, LLC, the venture capital fund of Applied Materials, overseeing the financial and strategic investments in early and growth-stage privately held companies. A world-renowned expert in materials science and technology and one of our industry's respected forward thinkers, Dr. Nalamasu has championed a renewed focus on the company's innovation culture through various internal development programs and open innovation methods. He has strengthened Applied Materials's strategic relationships with universities and research institutes around the world including IIT Bombay.
Dr. Nalamasu joined Applied Materials in 2006, after serving as vice president of research at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). He has held key research and development leadership positions at AT&T Bell Laboratories, Bell Laboratories/Lucent Technologies, and Agere Systems, Inc., and was director of Bell Laboratories' Nanofabrication Research Laboratory, MEMS and Waveguides Research, and Condensed Matter Physics organizations. His research interests include nanomanufacturing, nanopatterning, electronic and photonic materials, and lithography, with special emphasis on applying patterning and materials know-how for device fabrication for electronics, photonics, and energy applications.
Dr. Nalamasu has made seminal contributions to the fields of optical lithography and polymeric materials science and technology. He has received numerous awards, authored more than 180 papers, review articles and books, and holds more than 35 patents. Dr. Nalamasu is a member of the board of directors of Semiconductor Research Corporation and The Tech Museum and serves on the National Academies Panel on Materials Science and Engineering. He sits on several technical advisory boards and university advisory committees and received his Ph.D. from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
Anand Kamannavar is the Global Head of Applied Materials' venture capital fund. In this role, he manages Applied's $300M global venture investment portfolio of 90+ companies across 16 countries. Mr. Kamannavar has led over a dozen venture investments with successful exits including Adesto (NASDAQ: IOTS), Enphase (NASDAQ: ENPH), and Voltaix (acquired by Air Liquide).
Mr. Kamannavar has over two decades of experience in the technology and venture capital industry and new business development. He first joined Applied Ventures in 2006, with a focus on identifying and leading investments in the area of Semiconductor, Energy, Materials, and India. He then went on to head Applied's new business group which led to Applied's entry into Optics, Life Sciences, Materials, and other high growth markets. Previously Mr. Kamannavar worked at Atlas Ventures and Arch Development Partners looking at startups in the broader Alternative energy, Internet, Web 2.0, Media, Software, and Medical sectors.
Before his career in venture capital, Mr. Kamannavar held various engineering and business development roles with Hewlett-Packard's server group in Richardson, TX where he was awarded key U.S. patents. He also co-founded Precision Information Systems which provides financial data and tools to leading financial institutions like Ameritrade, New York Life, and Intuit.
Mr. Kamannavar received an MBA with Honors from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and holds graduate and undergraduate degrees in Electrical and Electronics Engineering.
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- 05/08/2021 | 9:30 am - 9:45 am PDT
- 15 mins Hall BSpeakers Abraham Sofaer (Moderator)George P. Shultz Distinguished Scholar and Senior FellowHoover Institution Abraham SofaerGeorge P. Shultz Distinguished Scholar and Senior Fellow
Hoover InstitutionAbraham D. Sofaer was appointed the first George P. Shultz Distinguished Scholar and Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution in 1994. Named in honor of former US secretary of state George P. Shultz, the appointment is awarded to a senior scholar whose broad vision, knowledge, and skill will be brought to bear on the problems presented by a radically transformed global environment. Sofaer's work focuses on the power over war within the US government and on issues related to international law, terrorism, diplomacy, and national security. His most recent books are Taking on Iran: Strength, Diplomacy, and the Iranian Threat (Hoover Institution Press, 2013) and The Best Defense?: Legitimacy and Preventive Force (Hoover Institution Press, 2010). From 1985 to 1990, he served as a legal adviser to the US Department of State, where he resolved several interstate matters, including the dispute between Egypt and Israel over Taba, the claim against Iraq for its attack on the USS Stark, and the claims against Chile for the assassination of Orlando Letelier. He received the Distinguished Service Award in 1989, the highest state department award given to a non–civil servant. From 1979 to 1985, Sofaer served as a US district judge in the Southern District of New York. From 1969 to 1979, he was a professor of law at Columbia University School of Law and wrote War, Foreign Affairs, and Constitutional Power: The Origins. From 1967 to 1969, he was an assistant US attorney in the Southern District of New York, after clerking for Judge J. Skelly Wright on the US Court of Appeals in Washington, DC, and the Honorable William J. Brennan Jr. on the US Supreme Court. He practiced law at Hughes, Hubbard and Reed from 1990 to 1994. A veteran of the US Air Force, Sofaer received an LLB degree from New York University School of Law in 1965, where he was editor in chief of the law review. He holds a BA in history from Yeshiva College (1962). Sofaer is a founding trustee of the National Museum of Jazz in Harlem and a member of the board of the Koret Foundation. Sofaer was born and raised in Bombay, India until age fourteen, and is third generation descendant of Jewish Immigrants from Iraq. Kenneth I. Juster has over 40 years of experience as a senior business executive, senior government official, and senior law partner. He served as the 25th United States Ambassador to the Republic of India from November 2017 to January 2021. He led the third largest U.S. Mission in the world, with approximately 2,500 employees representing over 30 U.S. government departments, agencies, and offices. For his service, Juster received the highest honors of several U.S. government agencies, including the State Department's Distinguished Service Award, the Defense Department's Distinguished Public Service Award, the Director of National Intelligence's Exceptional Service Award, and the Energy Department's Excellence Award. Juster previously served from January to June 2017 as the Deputy Assistant to the President for International Economic Affairs and Deputy Director of the National Economic Council. He was a senior member of both the National Security Council and the National Economic Council. Prior to that, Juster was a Partner and Managing Director, from 2010 to 2017, at the global investment firm Warburg Pincus, where he focused on a range of issues, including geopolitical risk, global public policy, and regulatory matters. From 2005 to 2010, Juster was Executive Vice President of Law, Policy, and Corporate Strategy at salesforce.com. He oversaw corporate development, legal affairs, global public policy, enterprise risk management, human resources, internal audit, worldwide real estate, and procurement. Juster served as U.S. Under Secretary of Commerce from 2001 to 2005, in charge of the Bureau of Industry and Security. In that capacity, he oversaw issues at the intersection of business and national security, including strategic trade controls, imports and foreign investments that affect U.S. security, and enforcement of anti-boycott laws. Juster co-founded and served as the U.S. Chair of the U.S.-India High Technology Cooperation Group. He was also one of the key architects of the Next Steps in Strategic Partnership initiative between the United States and India, which provided the foundation for the historic civil nuclear agreement between the two countries. Upon completion of his term, Juster received the William C. Redfield Award, the Commerce Department's highest honor. From 1992 to 1993, Juster served as the Counselor (Acting) of the U.S. Department of State, and from 1989 to 1992 as the Deputy and Senior Adviser to Deputy Secretary of State Lawrence S. Eagleburger. Juster was one of the key officials involved in establishing and managing U.S. assistance programs to Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Upon completion of his term, Juster received the Distinguished Service Award, the State Department's highest honor. From 1981 to 1989 and 1993 to 2001, Juster practiced law at the firm Arnold & Porter, where he became a senior partner. His work involved international arbitration and litigation, corporate counseling, regulatory matters, and international trade and transactions. Juster holds a law degree from the Harvard Law School, a Master's degree in Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Government (Phi Beta Kappa) from Harvard College.
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- 05/08/2021 | 9:45 am - 10:00 am PDT
- 15 mins Hall BSpeakers Gullapalli RaoFounder & Chair
L V Prasad Eye InstituteAfter a successful career in the US as an academic Ophthalmologist, in 1987 Dr. Gullapalli N Rao established the L V Prasad Eye Institute in Hyderabad, India 33 years ago and is the Founder & Chair of that Institute. L V Prasad Eye Institute is a complex modern eye hospital with advanced training programs for ophthalmologists and paramedical personnel, an eye research center, a rehabilitation program, product development, and high-quality eye care models for underserved areas. Dr. Rao received his basic medical education in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, and completed his postgraduate residency training at Dr. Rajendra Prasad Centre for Ophthalmic Sciences, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. In the US, he trained at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, and later at the School of Medicine, the University of Rochester, where he continued on the faculty until 1986. Academic and Research Achievements Honorary Doctorates from the University of Melbourne and University of New South Wales, Australia, Dr. NTR University of Health Sciences, India, University of Bradford, UK and GITAM University, India • President of "Academia Ophthalmologica Internationalis (AOI)", group of 80 of the most eminent academicians in ophthalmology in the world • Visiting professor to many Universities in the U.S, Europe, Australia, and Asia • Published about 300 papers in peer-reviewed international journals • Editorial Boards of several international journals of ophthalmology • "Fellow qua surgeon" of the "Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons", Glasgow • Fellow of two of the Science Academies of India • Fellow of National Academy of Medical Sciences. Other Contributions • Former Secretary-General and later Chair of the Board and CEO of the International Agency for Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) in which role played a pivotal role in developing and fostering the global initiative to eliminate avoidable blindness along with WHO - VISION 2020: The Right to Sight in partnership with World Health Organisation (WHO) • Board of Trustees, International Council of Ophthalmology (ICO) • Leadership Position in many National and International eye care organizations • Founder & Chair of L V Prasad Eye Institute, India • Boards of many national and international organisations.Awards and Honours • Naumann Award from International Council of Ophthalmology for "outstanding global leadership in eye care" • Bernardo Streiff Gold Medal from Academia Ophthalmologica Internationalis for outstanding contribution made to the advancement of ophthalmology • Kupfer Award from Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology for outstanding accomplishments as a researcher, ophthalmologist and humanitarian • Jose Rizal Medal from Asia Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology for outstanding contributions to eye care in Asia Pacific region • World Cornea Congress Medal from International Cornea Society (Among the first ten) for outstanding contribution to the field of cornea • International Blindness Prevention Award from American Academy of Ophthalmology • Pisart Award by Lighthouse International, New York • Outstanding Humanitarian Service Award from American Academy of Ophthalmology • ARVO - Alcon Keynote Lecture • Barrie Jones Lecture of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists, U.K • Many named lecturers around the world in scientific meetings and universities • Five awards from the All India Ophthalmological Society • Three awards from the Asia Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology • First Association of Eye Banks of Asia Award at the Asia Cornea Society Scientific Meeting of Asia Cornea Foundation • Many other awards from both National and International organisations • Inducted into "Ophthalmology Hall of Fame" at the meeting of American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS) in Los Angeles. 57 ophthalmologists from around the world have been inducted into the Hall of Fame in the past three centuries • Inducted as a Commander, Order of the Star of Africa for distinguished service to the ‘Republic of Liberia' and to ‘Africa in public service and sciences' by President of Republic of Liberia • Lifetime Achievement Award by All India Ophthalmological Society • "Gullapalli N. Rao - AIOS Endowment Lecture" created by the All India Ophthalmological Society in the year 2020. (one of the first five of all times, honored in 2020) Awarded Padma Shri, Indian Government's civilian award. Civil Status Married to Pratibha; son Raghav married to Raelene; Daughter Vaidya married to Scott; Four grandchildren Ajit Rangnekar is the Director-General of Research and Innovation Circle of Hyderabad, a Telangana The government initiative, India. He also heads the PSA supported Hyderabad City Cluster initiative which is a collaborative network of research and academic institutions, industry, start-ups, civic bodies and government, to implement science and technology Innovations for mass impact. Mr Rangnekar retired as the Dean of Indian School of Business, India's highest-ranked Business School. He has been a member of many global committees in Business Education. He is Governing Board member of IIITH, a founding member of T-Hub, Board member of companies, and Director of Social Venture Partners, India where he volunteers with NGOs to help them increase their impact. Before ISB, he was in Hong Kong for over 20 years, 14 of those with Price Waterhouse Consulting, handling various roles including Country Head, first of PW and then of PwC Hong Kong Consulting practice, and East Asia Head of PwC Telecomm practice and Learning and Development. Ajit Rangnekar is a graduate of IIT, Bombay, and did his post-graduation in Management from IIM, Ahmedabad, India.
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- 05/08/2021 | 10:00 am - 10:30 am PDT
- 30 mins Hall BSpeakers Andy Tsao is a Managing Director and leads SVB's Global Gateway, which assists innovation companies in the emerging markets with their US and international market expansion. He brings more than 20 years of experience banking dynamic companies in technology industries worldwide. In his roles, Andy manages SVB's relationships with venture capital and private equity firms outside the U.S., and also helps emerging market companies as they seek U.S. market entry and U.S. companies as they seek to expand abroad. In both capacities, Andy provides these firms with strategic advice and banking services, including debt financing, based on a deep understanding of their needs. Previously, Andy led and helped found SVB's U.K.-based operation, SVB Financial Group UK Ltd, which was established in 2004. For six years, he was responsible for building senior debt relationships with high-growth technology, life sciences and clean technology companies in the U.K. and Europe. Tsao routinely speaks about technology and venture financing at conferences such as events held by the Latin American Venture Capital Association (LAVCA), AMEXCAP, and the Global Entrepreneurship Summit. Andy is on the Board  and was a former President of the Asia America MultiTechnology Association (AAMA) , on the Advisory Board of Asia Society Northern California, Advisory Board of BayBrazil, TiE Silicon Charter Member and Venture Council of LAVCA. Steve co-founded DN Capital in June 2000 and is currently Managing Partner based in the Sand Hill Road office, running DN Capital's US operations. Steve Schlenker began his career in venture capital and private equity in 1990. His investment experience has been in software and software related businesses. His sectors of focus include enterprise software, fintech and digital health. Amongst his select investments are Auto1, Datanomic (acquired by Oracle), Endeca (acquired by Oracle), Familybuilder (acquired by Intelius), Lagan/Kana (acquired by Verint), RecargaPay, Remitly and Parallel Wireless. Steve was previously at SUN Capital Partners, based in their London office, where he served as chief investment officer for technology investments. At SUN Capital Partners, he spent five years investing in US and European technology companies as well as assisting raise and manage a growth equity emerging markets fund and making private investments in growth companies. His investments there include eMode (acquired by Monster.com), Endeca (acquired by Oracle), SUN Brewing (listed on Luxembourg, then acquired by Interbrew). Prior to SUN Capital Partners, Steve was one of the first analysts for the buyout firm Interlaken Capital in Greenwich, CT, where he was involved with sourcing companies and applying technology to augment profitability and investment returns in legacy industries such as food processing, industrial distribution and facilities management. Steve is a mentor for Stanford undergraduate students via the E145 technology entrepreneurship course and graduate students via the ME273 course. Areas of interest: Fintech, SaaS, Digital Health Christine Kenna is a Partner at IGNIA, a cross-border venture capital fund focused in Latin America. Christine invests in innovative companies that are reinventing the way to do business with the emerging middle class in Latin America in sectors such as fintech, edtech, Saas, and marketplaces. In addition, Christine serves on the Board of Directors of The Mexican Association of Venture Capital (AMEXCAP). Previously Christine worked in various operating roles in EF Education First, Google, the Guggenheim Foundation, and EY Parthenon. As a passionate advocate for developing high-potential professional women and networks, Christine co-founded Mujeres Invirtiendo (Women in Venture Capital in Mexico), MBA Mujeres de México, and was recognized as one of the top female investors in Latin American by the Latin American Venture Capital Association. Christine graduated from Duke University, Harvard Business School, and is a Kauffman Fellow with Class 23. Edith is a General Partner at Race Capital - an early-stage Silicon Valley venture capital fund. A few sectors we are particularly interested in infrastructure, fintech, and deep tech verticals. She has invested in over 50 startups including Agora.io (Nasdaq: API), Lightyear/Stellar (valued $1.2B), Silk Labs (acquired by Apple), Chirp (acquired by Apple), Fleksy (acquired by Pinterest), Human (acquired by Mapbox), Solana, Oasis Labs, Hooked, DayDayCook, AISense, and many more. Prior to Race Capital, Edith was a partner at 500 Startups, the world's most active early-stage fund and incubator invested in Twilio, Credit Karma, Grab, and 2000 more companies. Before 500, Edith was the general manager at Dolphin Browser, a Sequoia-backed mobile browser with over 150 million installs worldwide. Edith also worked with many Fortune 500 companies such as Siebel, AMS, AT&T Wireless, and Autodesk. She frequently speaks on China and Silicon Valley technology and investment landscape. She is also a frequent guest lecturer at Berkeley and Stanford and commentator on BBC, CNBC, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, SCMP, Techcrunch, etc. Robert HersovFounder & Chair
Invest AfricaRobert Hersov, 60, is a South African/UK entrepreneur, senior executive and private investor currently based in Cape Town (after 30+ years in the US, Europe and mainly the UK). He currently serves as chairman (and founder) of Invest Africa, chairman (and founder) of African Capital Investments, chairman of Alternative Capital (and founder), chairman/CEO of the S-Group (100% owner and founder), and deputy chairman of the VistaJet advisory board. Hersov's grandfather, Bob Hersov, founded AngloVaal, one of Southern Africa's largest mining and industrial companies, which his father, Basil Hersov, ran from 1973 to 2001. Rob has been a member of many public and private boards and founded and owns companies in the aviation, resource, media/marketing, member network and finance sectors. He has been focused in the last decade on investing in Africa, a continent close to his heart given his upbringing and family ties. In May 2013, Rob founded Invest Africa with the specific purpose of delivering on the demand for high quality relationships within growing African markets amongst investors and the business community. The private club has amassed over 400 high level members. Rob also founded African Capital Investments in 2014 to build an Africa-focused investment platform. And more recently he founded both: AltCapInvest (2017), a London-based international Family Office advisory and placement firm which is growing rapidly; and, the S-Group (2019), an exclusive international business- and community-focused private members organization with a mantra of "pay the goodness forward". In 2020, Rob bought Fisantekraal Airport (to be renamed Cape Winelands Airport) and is launching a SPAC - African Gold Acquisition Corp (expected to go public on NASDAQ Q1 2021). Rob received a B.B.S. from the University of Cape Town and a M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School (class of '89). He is married, with four children, plays golf and enjoys swimming in open seas and in cold water. His nickname is "Chief". He is not politically correct at all.
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- 05/08/2021 | 10:30 am - 11:00 am PDT
- 30 mins Hall BSpeakers James was editor of Private Equity News, part of Dow Jones and The Wall Street Journal in London, for nearly four years until May 2010 when he launched Global Corporate Venturing as an independent title from his own publishing company. This was followed by the launch of the second publication, Global University Venturing, in January 2012 to help students and faculty, and academia more broadly launches or develop their entrepreneurial businesses and work with external peers. The company, Mawsonia’s, third title, Global Government Venturing, was launched in May 2014 and rebranded to Global Impact Venturing in February 2019. As well as editing Private Equity News, James coordinated leveraged buyout and venture capital coverage for use by other titles in the Dow Jones and News Corporation group, acted as a spokesman on BBC radio and television, and chaired awards and conferences for a host of media groups, including the BVCA awards and event for more than 1,000 people in October 2009. Previously, James had freelanced for a host of national and trade media titles, including the BBC, Financial Times, Economist, Independent on Sunday, Sunday Express, and Dow Jones Newswires; provided research for Nick Davies’s book, Flat Earth News; was a foreign correspondent in central and eastern Europe, and was an international editor for FT Business.
Microsoft Word - Roland_short_bio_engl..docx Roland Manger is a Co-Founder and Partner at Earlybird. As part of his 23-year investment track record, he also initiated Earlybird Digital East, a line of Venture Capital funds dedicated to Emerging Europe. The investment in UiPath ?s Seed round was part of Digital East Fund I.
He gained entrepreneurial experience with Cybernet AG, a provider of Internet and system integration services which was listed on NASDAQ and Frankfurt Stock Exchange, and at Ditec AG, a German spin-out from Digital Equipment Corporation in Boston, where he was Director of Business Development.
Previously he worked as a strategy consultant with The MAC Group and Gemini Consulting in the telecom and media industries. He studied Computer Science, Operations Research, and business at KIT in Germany, graduating with a MSc equivalent degree, and an MBA from Georgetown University in Washington D.C.
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- 05/08/2021 | 11:00 am - 11:30 am PDT
- 30 mins Hall BSpeakers
Asha Jadeja is a Silicon Valley-based venture capitalist who has invested in over 200 technology startups in the Bay Area. As an entrepreneur herself, her investing philosophy is designed to ignite young entrepreneurs into becoming disruptive change makers. "Making a dent in poverty requires money. Without a strong focus on economic growth, developing countries like India will continue to be stuck in a cycle of poverty.
The need of the hour is to let technology-driven growth enable India to break out of the cycle of poverty. It is critical that we identify and remove legacy obstacles to growth as fast as possible."
All of Asha's venture and philanthropic initiatives in India have been designed to help the nation break free of this cycle of poverty. "Exponential growth is possible through technology-enabled entrepreneurship, lean government, world-class education, and women's leadership."
Gender equality, inclusive growth, lean government, and national security are core interests of MITLI (Motwani Institute for Thought Leadership in Innovation) - an unprecedented bridge between the US and India. Asha created MITLI as an advocacy platform designed to drive policy changes in India.
A firm believer in the power of grassroots socio-economic movements Asha created MakerFest in 2013. A powerful network of makers and innovators that pro-actively problem-solve for their own communities. Makerfest is now prolific in Africa, India, and more recently in Brazil. She created India's first network of dozens of Fablabs designed to spark a just in a time manufacturing environment in India.
With help from Prof Sugata Mitra, Asha also set up India's first self-supported School in the Cloud in Ahmedabad. This has now grown to over 60 locally managed and sustained "schools in the cloud" within South Asia.
Asha is a prolific thought leader rooted within the milieus of Stanford, UC Berkeley, Google, Hoover Institute, Council on Foreign Relations, and Brookings USA. She is a limited partner in over 20 Bay Area venture funds, Acumen Fund NY, and Kawasafi Fund, Africa. As a prolific collector of Indian art, Asha is currently engaged with Stanford University Cantor Art Museum in bringing top Indian artists into a global forefront.
Vasudev Bhandarkar (Founder/CEO, ScoreData Corporation) is a veteran of the enterprise software industry. As co-founder and executive Vas has successfully co-founded and helped build several highly valued companies Selectica & Remedy (both IPOed on the Nasdaq), and outsourced product engineering company Globallogic (recently acquired by Hitachi for $9.6B. Vas has also been an active angel investor in leading edge technology companies for over a decade has invested in bitcoin and blockchain companies since 2012, including DMGGF (Blockseer) and Maicoin (Coinbase of Taiwan), in healthcare data exchange company Innovaccer, and 5G company Highway9Networks.
Vas is a strategic thinker envisioning breakthrough product lines linked to the realization of business objectives. He has recruited and led high performance executive/professional teams and has in-depth operating experience building multi-disciplinary organizations from founding to IPO. Vas earned his spurs building complex software teams and products at AT& T Bell Labs, Apple Computer, and Hewlett-Packard Corporation.
His innovative approach to building companies involves the execution of a global vision at inception, indirect versus direct approach to selling, and establishing cross-border teams, and targeting global markets. Vas is an active angel investor and has been a mentor and investor in several successful startups in India and the US. Vas has been an enthusiastic supporter of AIMA and the organization's cross-border initiatives.
Vas holds Masters degrees in Computer Science from Colorado State University, and Physics from IIT-Bombay, and pursued graduate studies and executive education in business, corporate governance, and finance, at Santa Clara University, and the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
He is a Distinguished alumnus of the Colorado State University. He is an avid bicyclist, has completed several 100-mile rides, an avid hiker, and a prolific photographer. He has scaled several 14Kft. mountains in continental North America, and recently climbed to the Everest Base Camp at the foot of the Khumbu Falls.
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Track Chairs
TiE Global
Mateen is the founding partner of Bizhance, a strategy consulting firm focused on adding value to scalable businesses through strategy, structure, connectivity and partnerships. Mateen has over 20 years of entrepreneurial and professional experience in the Silicon Valley ecosystem. He advises, mentors and speaks on innovation, leadership, entrepreneurship and networking platforms. He advises entrepreneurial organizations and government agencies on conducive business policies to connect, leverage cross border opportunities and build entrepreneurial vibrant hubs.
Mateen has been an integral part of TiE, an organization renowned for fostering entrepreneurship globally. For over 15 years he has been part of the leadership team of TiEcon - one of the largest entrepreneurial conferences; and chaired its many programs, including TiE 50 Awards, Visionary Circle, Startup Bootcamp, Media, Entertainment and Ops. He was the Global Connectivity Chair of TiE Detroit, and was the founding chair of TiE 20 Startup Awards.
He is passionate about capturing and sharing accomplished entrepreneurial journeys through his contribution to research works for WEF, Stanford University, UC Berkeley and TiE. He has interviewed over 700 prominent World Leaders, Entrepreneurs, Global CXOs, VCs, Policy Makers and Academicians. Some of the notable names being Elon Musk, Jack Welch, Steve Wozniak, Steve Case, Mike Moritz, John Chambers, Marissa Mayer, George Schultz, Condoleezza Rice, Shaukat Aziz, Vicente Fox, Muhammad Yunus, Amartya Sen, Sal Khan, Shahid Khan, Vinod Khosla, Desh Deshpande, Romesh Wadhwani, Manoj Bhargava, Vinod Dham, Anand Mahindra, Narayana Murthy, and more.
Track Advisor
TiEcon 2021 Tracks
- AI & Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning
All eyes on the business and human impact of AI
- Cloud & Security
Cloud & Security
Exciting new paradigms in cloud and security with a zero-trust position
- Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship
Exploring the revolutionary future of entrepreneurship
- TiE Youth
- Healthcare Reimagined
Healthcare Reimagined
Reinventing healthcare in the age of the global pandemic
- Future of Work
Future of Work
Exploring the nature of work, workplace and workforce with the 4th industrial revolution
- Global Connect
Global Connect
Scaling global connectivity post digital transformation
- CXO Forum
CXO Forum
The CXO track provides an opportunity for the highest potential startups to interact with their biggest potential customers
- Diversity and Inclusion
Diversity and Inclusion
The Diversity & Inclusion track will focus on generating best practices for harnessing diversity and inclusion to drive innovation today and for the future.
- Social Impact
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Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning
All eyes on the business and human impact of AI
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Cloud & Security
Exciting new paradigms in cloud and security with a zero-trust position
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Entrepreneurship
Exploring the revolutionary future of entrepreneurship
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TiE Youth
Fostering youth entrepreneurship
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Healthcare Reimagined
Reinventing healthcare in the age of the global pandemic
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Future of Work
Exploring the nature of work, workplace and workforce with the 4th industrial revolution
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Global Connect
Scaling global connectivity post digital transformation
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CXO Forum
The CXO track provides an opportunity for the highest potential startups to interact with their biggest potential customers
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Diversity and Inclusion
The Diversity & Inclusion track will focus on generating best practices for harnessing diversity and inclusion to drive innovation today and for the future.
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Social Impact
Dare to Change the World for Good