Spring 2022 ILP's in-person conferences will be open to fully vaccinated individuals only, excepting those individuals who have a medical condition or religious exemption. Conference attendees will use an application developed at MIT -- Tim Tickets -- to grant campus access or scan into an event.
Masks are strongly encouraged.
The 2022 MIT Startup Ecosystem Conference is a celebration of entrepreneurship, offering a window into the exciting technology, projects, and research being led by the MIT community and beyond.
Throughout the day, entrepreneurs, business leaders, and innovation groups will come together to discuss strategy, partnerships, diversity, and community, among other topics. The event also features some the most promising startups emerging across campus at MIT.
The conference is a must-attend for executives at industry-leading corporations, especially for those who work in innovation, emerging technology, corporate venture capital, and/or corporate development/strategy.
REGISTRATION FEE
***REGISTRATION IS CLOSED: ONSITE REGISTRATION WILL BE AVAILABLE***
* Startup Exchange Member: Complimentary Send email for code. * MIT Alum: 70% discount Send email for a discount code. * Sloan Exec Ed & Professional Education Member: 70% discount Send email for a discount code.
Visiting MIT: https://www.mit.edu/visitmit/
Where to Stay: https://institute-events.mit.edu/visit/where-to-stay
Registration Questions: ocrevents@mit.edu
ACCOMMODATIONS
Limited number of rooms are available at Boston Marriott Cambridge for $309 USD group rate per night. (Last Day to Book: Tuesday, April 12) Book your room now.
John Roberts has been Executive Director of MIT Corporate Relations (Interim) since February 2022. He obtained his Ph.D. in organic chemistry at MIT and returned to the university after a 20-year career in the pharmaceutical industry, joining the MIT Industrial Liaison Program (ILP) in 2013. Prior to his return, John worked at small, medium, and large companies, holding positions that allowed him to exploit his passions in synthetic chemistry, project leadership, and alliance management while growing his responsibilities for managing others, ultimately as a department head. As a program director at MIT, John built a portfolio of ILP member companies, mostly in the pharmaceutical industry and headquartered in Japan, connecting them to engagement opportunities in the MIT community. Soon after returning to MIT, John began to lead a group of program directors with a combined portfolio of 60-80 global companies. In his current role, John oversees MIT Corporate Relations which houses ILP and MIT Startup Exchange.
Catarina has been working with the Cambridge/Boston startup ecosystem for over 10 years and joined Corporate Relations with a solid network in the innovation and entrepreneurial community. Prior to MIT, she was part of the team that designed and launched the startup accelerator IUL MIT Portugal, which was later rebranded as Building Global Innovators. She was based in Lisbon and worked in direct relation with the Cambridge team. She held positions including Operations Coordinator, Program Manager, and Business Developer. The accelerator soon achieved steady growth in large part due to the partnerships that Catarina led with regional and global startup ecosystems. After that, she worked at NECEC, leading a program that connects cleantech startups and industry. In this role, she developed and built a pipeline of startups and forged strong relationships with both domestic and European companies. She has also held positions in Portugal and France, including at Saboaria e Perfumaria Confiança and L’Oréal as Technical Director and Pharmacist. Catarina earned her bachelor's in chemistry and pharmaceutical sciences in Portugal. She went on to earn her Master of Engineering for Health and Medicines in France.
Chirfi Guindo is Executive Vice President, Head of Global Product Strategy and Commercialization. He has served on the Executive Committee since November 2017. Mr. Guindo joins Biogen from Merck, where, most recently, he was President & Managing Director of Merck Canada. His experience at Merck includes several leadership positions in Canada, the USA, France, Africa and the Netherlands. Mr. Guindo brings more than 27 years of experience in the global pharmaceutical industry during which he has worked across a range of functions, including Finance, Sales & Marketing, General Management and Global Strategy/Product Development in specialty, acute and hospital care. Mr. Guindo holds a degree in Engineering from Ecole Centrale de Paris (France) and obtained an MBA in Finance/Economics from New York University’s Stern School of Business.
What does it take to go to market? Should all companies aim to go global? And can large corporations and startups work together toward mutual, successful growth? During this fireside chat Chirfi Guido, Biogen, and John Roberts, MIT, will discuss different aspects of commercialization, from product/business model innovations to strategic alliances as well as growth opportunities and the challenges of a global expansion, experienced by companies of all sizes.
Marcus Dahllöf leads MIT Startup Exchange, which facilitates connections between MIT-connected startups and corporate members of the MIT Industrial Liaison Program (ILP). Dahllöf manages networking events, workshops, the STEX25 accelerator, opportunity postings, and helps define the strategic direction of MIT Startup Exchange. He is a two-time tech entrepreneur (one exit in cybersecurity), and has previously held roles in finance, software engineering, corporate strategy, and business development at emerging tech companies and Fortune 100 corporations in the U.S., Latin America, and Europe. Marcus was a member of the Swedish national rowing team and he is a mentor at the MIT Venture Mentoring Service.
Vladimir Bulović is a Professor of Electrical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, holding the Fariborz Maseeh Chair in Emerging Technology. He directs the Organic and Nanostructured Electronics Laboratory, co-leads the MIT-Eni Solar Frontiers Center, leads the Tata GridEdge program, and is the Founding Director of MIT.nano, MIT's new 200,000 sqft nano-fabrication, nano-characterization, and prototyping facility. He is an author of over 250 research articles (cited over 50,000 times and recognized as the top 1% of the most highly cited in the Web of Science). He is an inventor of over 100 U.S. patents in areas of light emitting diodes, lasers, photovoltaics, photodetectors, chemical sensors, programmable memories, and micro-electro machines, majority of which have been licensed and utilized by both start-up and multinational companies. The three start-up companies Bulović co-founded jointly employ over 350 people, and include Ubiquitous Energy, Inc., developing nanostructured solar technologies, Kateeva, Inc., focused on development of printed electronics, and QD Vision, Inc. (acquired in 2016) that produced quantum dot optoelectronic components. Products of these companies have been used by millions. Bulović was the first Associate Dean for Innovation of the School of Engineering and the Inaugural co-Director of MIT’s Innovation Initiative, which he co-led from 2013 to 2018. For his passion for teaching Bulović has been recognized with the MacVicar Fellowship, MIT’s highest teaching honor. He completed his Electrical Engineering B.S.E. and Ph.D. degrees at Princeton University.
Jinane Abounadi is Executive Director of the MIT Sandbox Innovation Fund Program. She brings a unique combination of experiences, from academic research to senior operational and strategic roles in start-up companies and large businesses. As the founding Executive Director, she has built MIT Sandbox into a leading student entrepreneurship program, funding over 500 student ideas per year and supporting over 1,000 aspiring entrepreneurs per year. Since the launch in 2016, MIT Sandbox has supported the launch of numerous successful and highly innovative startups. Jinane was recently honored with the 2021 Monosson Award for Entrepreneurial Mentorship for her leadership in supporting entrepreneurship at MIT, and the Underscore VC 2021 Core Award for her contributions to Boston's academic entrepreneurial ecosystem and her leadership in empowering the next generation of student founders.
Prior to MIT Sandbox, Jinane held leadership roles in two of the most successful local Boston area start-ups, ITA Software and Kayak, where she gained deep knowledge about the travel technology sector. Most recently, she ran a global portfolio of 3rd party products for Travelport, giving her the opportunity to establish partnerships with companies across the globe and to advise and evaluate a number of start-ups in the travel sector. She earned her PhD in electrical engineering and computer science at MIT, a BS in electrical engineering from Caltech, and a BA from Bryn Mawr College. She has several publications in the fields of machine learning and communication networks and is passionate about teaching and working with college students.
Reed is a General Partner on the investment team at The Engine. He serves as a Board Member for Celestial AI, Hyperlight, Rise Robotics, C2Sense, The Routing Company, Cambridge Electronics, and Emvolon. Reed was a founder and Managing Director at Project 11 Ventures and Techstars Boston. He attended MIT and has a background in software. He ran Microsoft Startup Labs in Cambridge and was VP of Technology at Idealab, Boston. Early in his career he created Freelance Graphics which was acquired by Lotus Development Corp. He has been a lecturer at MIT Sloan and is a frequent speaker at MIT entrepreneurship courses and programs.
How do startups form at MIT and how are they nurtured to become companies that can transform industries? What motivates students, alums, researchers, and faculty to take the risk of starting ventures? What resources exist to make technologies into companies?
We will discuss answers to these questions from the perspective of four key programs in the MIT startup ecosystem, each one providing resources that are essential to early-stage tech startups, e.g., lab equipment, corporate access, venture capital, mentoring, and starting capital. Our panel discussion will provide perspectives on how MIT helps build startups, how the different groups collaborate supporting entrepreneurs, and how corporates can get involved on campus., Attendees will get the opportunity to learn skills and lessons they can apply to their own internal corporate innovation programs.
Jennifer Strong is the host and executive producer of "In Machines We Trust," a podcast about artificial intelligence, and the executive producer of "The Extortion Economy," a podcast about the ransomware epidemic. "In Machines We Trust" has appeared on podcast charts in more than 70 countries. The show was a finalist for the 2021 Webby for "Best Tech Podcast" and was nominated for an Ambie, the podcast industry's award for excellence in audio. Strong previously led long-form audio for The Wall Street Journal, where she created and hosted The Future of Everything podcast—winner of the 2019 Webby for “Best Tech Podcast,” the New York Press Club Award for “Best Podcast,” and an iHeartRadio Podcast Awards finalist.
Sangeeta N. Bhatia MD, PhD is an inventor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor and biotech entrepreneur who adapts technologies developed in the computer industry for medical innovation. At MIT, she is the John J. and Dorothy Wilson Professor of Engineering, Director of the Marble Center for Cancer Nanomedicine at the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, and Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Trained as both a physician and engineer, Sangeeta’s laboratory leverages miniaturization tools from the computer industry for medical innovation with applications in liver disease, cancer and infectious diseases. She and her over 150 trainees have contributed to more than 50 issued or pending patents, launched multiple biotechnology companies to improve human health, and published more than 200 peer-reviewed papers. Bhatia was the 25th person in history to be an elected member of all three US National Academies: NAS, NAM, and NAE. She has been honored with the Lemelson-MIT Prize (known as the “Oscar” for inventors), the Heinz Medal, and the Othmer Gold Medal for groundbreaking inventions and advocacy for women in STEM fields. She has presented her vision for the application of engineering solutions to solve medical problems on international stages such as the World Economic Forum, TED, the Gates Grand Challenges, and the Biden Cancer Moonshot. She currently serves as a Trustee at Brown University and Director at Vertex Pharmaceuticals.
Emily Malina is Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer of Spoiler Alert. Emily started Spoiler Alert to help the food industry sell more, waste less, and solve some of the most pressing environmental and social challenges of our time. Before co-founding Spoiler Alert, Emily worked at Deloitte Consulting, where she specialized in technology adoption and supply chain transformation. Emily also has held a variety of product marketing, customer success, and sales roles at Yammer (acquired by Microsoft) and the Corporate Executive Board (acquired by Gartner). Originally from New York, Emily has an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management and a BA from Emory University.
Rita Martins is the Head of FinTech Partnerships, for Global Functions, at HSBC. Building and managing relationships with high-potential startups and driving collaboration between FinTechs and traditional financial services.
Rita worked previously at Ernst and Young and Accenture, advising C-Suite on the applicability of RPA and AI tools in finance and driving large scale transformation projects, gaining deep insight on best practices across the industry.
A recognised FinTech expert, Rita was recognised in the Top50 Inspiring Women in UK Tech (InspiringFiFty 2021) by AccelerateHer and Women in FinTech Powerlist 2020 by Innovate Finance. She is a regular speaker at Financial Industry events panels and a judge at FinTech innovation awards.
Rita advises a number of technology startups, is a mentor at several accelerator programmes such as Techstars Web3 Accelerator and sits on the Advisory Board of FinTech Connect and Tech London Advocates (TLA) FinTech working Group.
The world is full of inspiring women working across sectors. These women support and lead projects and companies, overcome obstacles, and lead their teams to success. However, no matter how good our statistics are, we still need to empower women further. This panel brings together four women at the forefront of innovation, media, and academia. They will talk about the initiatives they are leading to keep changing the status quo, and what, from their view, still needs to be done so future generations grow in a gender- equitable world.
Ariadna Rodenstein is a Program Manager at MIT Startup Exchange. She joined MIT Corporate Relations as an Events Leader in September 2019 and is responsible for designing and executing startup events, including content development, coaching and hosting, and logistics. Ms. Rodenstein works closely with the Industrial Liaison Program (ILP) in promoting collaboration and partnerships between MIT-connected startups and industry, as well as with other areas around the MIT innovation ecosystem and beyond.
Prior to working for MIT Corporate Relations, she worked for over a decade at Credit Suisse Group in New York and London, in a few different roles in event management and as Director of Client Strategy. Ms. Rodenstein has combined her experience in the private sector with work at non-profits as a Consultant and Development Director at New York Immigration Coalition, Immigrant Defense Project, and Americas Society/Council of the Americas. She also served as an Officer on the Board of Directors of the Riverside Clay Tennis Association in New York for several years. Additionally, she earned her B.A. in Political Science and Communications from New York University, with coursework at the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey in Mexico City, and her M.A. in Sociology from the City University of New York.
Elizaveta (Lisa) Freinkman joined Immunai as Director of Strategic Research in January 2022. Her effort focuses on ensuring that Immunai’s single-cell multi-omics and AI platforms are strategically and programmatically positioned to deliver value for both the internal therapeutic discovery pipeline and external partnerships.
Lisa’s technical background is in protein and lipid biochemistry and metabolomics. After earning a Ph.D. in Chemical Biology at Harvard, Lisa co-founded and then directed the Metabolite Profiling Core Facility at the Whitehead Institute of MIT, where her work contributed to over 25 high-profile peer-reviewed journal articles. Lisa subsequently joined the R&D group at Metabolon in Durham, NC, focusing on lipidomic platform development, novel metabolite identification, and generation of molecular-level insights from large-scale datasets. A growing interest in translational research and program management took Lisa to Locus Biosciences, where she rose to the rank of Director of Translational Medicine. In this capacity, she led a team of six scientists in the design and execution of rodent models of infectious disease and IBD, including IND-enabling studies of the company’s lead therapeutic asset. In parallel, Lisa also served as the program/alliance lead for a large pharma-partnered research collaboration.
Livio focused his career at the intersection between scientific innovation and public-private partnerships, with specific focus on expanding access to healthcare technologies. Prior to co-founding Vaxess, he worked as an economist at the United Nations, where he financed and implemented silk production programs across Asia. Livio received a Masters in Public Policy (MPP) from Harvard Kennedy School of Government and a bachelor and masters in economics and management from Bocconi University in Milan, Italy.
Kfir Schreiber is Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at DeepCure Inc. where he reimagines small-molecule drug development using a revolutionary Artificial Intelligence platform. Kfir is an AI enthusiast and firmly believes in its immense potential to transform the pharmaceutical industry by unveiling new chemical horizons, and delivering affordable and improved therapeutics to patients. Kfir is a passionate mathematician as well as a pilot and officer in the Israeli Air Force, where he headed diverse teams and various large-scale R&D projects, consisting of tens of people, and 200 million of USD under management. The systems he developed are deployed on multiple platforms and used in active duty. For his research in the field of AI and drug development, Kfir was honored with the inaugural Marvin Minsky Fellowship for AI researchers of great promise. He holds numerous prizes and awards including the Air Force Outstanding Officer Award and the E14 Fellowship. Kfir received a Master of Science degree from the MIT Media Lab, and a B.Sc. in Mathematics and Computer Science degree from The Open University of Israel.
Megan O’Connor is co-founder and CEO of Nth Cycle, a metal processing company that has developed technology to enable a clean, domestic, and streamlined supply of critical minerals for the clean energy transition. Dr. O’Connor leverages years of experience working on sustainable technology in many of America’s top research labs, where she helped develop the electro-extraction processes she and her team are commercializing at Nth Cycle. Prior to founding Nth Cycle, Dr. O’Connor was an Entrepreneurial Fellow in the Innovation Crossroads program at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and was a visiting researcher at Yale University’s Center for Green Chemistry & Green Engineering. Dr. O’Connor received her PhD in environmental engineering from Duke University and was recognized by Forbes on its “30 under 30” energy list in 2019.
Nth Cycle is based in Boston, Massachusetts, and is supported by a world-class team of investors including Clean Energy Ventures, VoLo Earth Venture Fund, the Department of Energy, and Elemental Excelerator.
After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering with a minor in Mathematics, I worked for ExxonMobil for almost 9 years in various roles across commercial shipping, refining, and logistics. My headquarters experience included optimizing regional marine fleets to move crude oil & refined products most efficiently, global digital project design and implementation, and managing regional inventory levels and supply chains for all North America specialty refined products. While at the Baton Rouge refinery, I led several projects at the intersection of manufacturing and logistics that developed new products, increased sales, and improved the customer experience without sacrificing refinery throughput or cost in the specialty refined products & asphalt markets. I have been the Business Development Lead at Amogy since December 2021, where my role is to establish, develop, and maintain connections with industry partners as well as to develop our strategy and lead some of our maritime projects.
Adam Wallen is a proven entrepreneurial talent, with noted successes in Venture, Cleantech, MedTech and Healthcare IT. He brings two decades of executive experience, earned at organizations like British Petroleum (BP) and Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV), and he has developed and marketed several innovative technology, product, and service businesses. Adam is now the CEO at VEIR developing next generation high voltage transmission line technology.
Dr Phil Budden is a Senior Lecturer at MIT's Management School, in Sloan's TIES (Tech Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Strategy) Group, where he focuses on 'corporate innovation’ and multi-stakeholder innovation ecosystems, especially how corporates can get value from the latter (including start-up enterprises). He works closely with corporate executives and leaders of other large organisations on such strategies, through MIT Corporate Relations/ILP, the Corporate Innovation Program (https://corporateinnovation.mit.edu), Executive Education (https://executive.mit.edu/ci) and MIT’s global REAP program (https://reap.mit.edu), as well as custom and consulting work.
In 30 years with Procter & Gamble, Kevin has worked in a variety of different roles and businesses including consumer products, pharmaceuticals, and social marketing startup Tremor. In his current work, Kevin leads startup innovation for P&G’s Global Business Development organization. Kevin helps link P&G businesses and functions to the global startup ecosystem. He is also the Co-Founder of The Signal Accelerator, P&G’s startup innovation engine focused on identifying and piloting solutions to business needs in the eBusiness, eCommerce, and brand building space. Based in San Francisco, Kevin leads innovation outposts in the US, Brazil, London, Berlin, Paris, Tel Aviv, Singapore, India, and China.
Jana Eggers is CEO of the neuroscience-inspired artificial intelligence platform company, Nara Logics. Eggers is an experienced tech exec focused on inspiring teams to build great products. Eggers has started and grown companies and led large organizations at public companies. She is active in customer-inspired innovation, the artificial intelligence industry, the Autonomy/Mastery/Purpose-style leadership, as well as running and triathlons. Eggers has held technology and executive positions at Intuit, Blackbaud, Los Alamos National Laboratory (computational chemistry and super computing), Basis Technology (internationalization technology), Lycos, American Airlines, Spreadshirt (ecomm), and multiple startups.
Procter & Gamble and Nara Logics entered into a strategic partnership in 2019. Besides this partnership, they both have a solid track record, in the right proportion, when it comes to collaborating with peers. Kevin Mccarthy and Jana Eggers will tell us why and how they joined forces, and the impact of such collaboration. They will talk more broadly about the nuts and bolts of corporate & startup partnerships and what can derail a winning strategy.
Kate Isaacs advises senior leaders and teams on organizational strategy and innovation-focused stakeholder partnerships that generate economic and social value.
She draws on design thinking, system dynamics, and developmental psychology to help leaders create conditions for collective intelligence, agile performance, and transformative change. She is a Shadow Work coach who focuses on the positive potential in people and organizations—noticing and expanding what is working, and transforming obstacles and habits that block people's natural orientation towards creativity, growth, and health.
Kate is a Lecturer at the MIT Sloan Leadership Center where she teaches courses on Nimble Leadership and Inclusive Innovation. She is an Executive Fellow at the Center for Higher Ambition Leadership, where she and colleagues run CEOs Leading Local, a network of business coalitions that work to accelerate positive social and economic change at the local level
She writes and speaks about leadership, innovation, and sustainability for publications including the Harvard Business Review, strategy+business, Chief Executive, The Hill, and the Academy of Management Journal.
Kate holds a PhD in organization studies from the MIT Sloan School of Management, an MS degree in technology and policy from the MIT Engineering Systems Division, an MS degree in conscious evolution from the Graduate Institute, and a BS in biology from the Oakland University Honors College.
She lives in Concord, Massachusetts with her family, and loves running, biking, swimming, yoga, skiing, gardening, and working on cars. She occasionally commutes to Colorado in the winter, where she finds no greater joy than telemark skiing in fresh Rocky Mountain powder.
MIT Sloan Research Scientist Kate Isaacs will share how nimble leadership can be achieved, enabling a team-based, networked organization where people at all levels can dream up new ideas and bring them to life. All while maintaining strategic alignment and accountability without bureaucracy.
Zoë Cayetano is the Head of Product and Chief of Staff at Pathr.ai™. With a deep background in data science and artificial intelligence, Cayetano drives product strategy and vision. Most recently, she was a Senior Product Manager for AI and IoT at Intel, leading product growth and strategy for Intel® Distribution of OpenVINO™ toolkit, an AI developer software tool, and product management for the Intel® Neural Compute Stick 2 and VPU-based developer kits. Prior to Intel, Cayetano was a data science researcher for a particle accelerator lab at Arizona State University. In 2020, she was a Nominee for Venture Beat's AI Rising Star Award. Cayetano holds B.S. degrees in Engineering Physics/Applied Physics with Honors and Marketing from Arizona State University. She is also the author of the book "Unlearn Dogma".
Rachelle Villalon is Co-founder & CEO of Hosta A.I., and received her Master's & Ph.D. in Computer Vision and Architecture from MIT, a program that only accepts two candidates per year. She's led over $1B in building projects for strategic innovative initiatives and built over 60+ computational tools. Her work focused on the intersection of A.I. and architecture, which serve as the foundation for Hosta’s mission: merging intelligence and infrastructure.
Kota Weaver is a co-founder and CTO of Skylla Technologies, located in Lexington, Massachusetts, and a spin-off from Prof. Harry Asada’s lab at MIT. Skylla is transforming the manufacturing industry with its Jetstream Controller, a robot intelligence platform that features human-aware navigation and exceptional endpoint positioning accuracy. Skylla can help customers quickly and cost effectively deploy mobile manipulators and other vehicular robots for a wide range of applications in manufacturing, construction, and public service. Kota has prior experience at Neurala and Boston Incubation Center, working on various AI/ML, computer vision and robotics projects. He has a BS degree in Computer Science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Debbie Yu is the Co-Founder and COO/CFO of ISEE. She spearheads all go-to-market and customer business operations and also oversees scaling of the organization. Having grown up in an entrepreneurial family, Debbie is passionate about building products to solve real-life problems and deliver real value to customers. Her experience spans building startups, investing, and strategy. Before co-founding ISEE, she was an angel investor in over twenty early stage tech startups and co-founded a spatial tech startup that leverages satellite images data and machine learning to predict air pollution and environmental issues. Prior to that, Debbie led growth capital investments in clean energy, automotive parts, and medical device industries at a multi-billion dollar private equity fund. Debbie was recently named a 2022 Power Player in the self-driving space by Business Insider.
Prior to founding Einblick in 2019, Emanuel was a postdoc in the database group at MIT and got his PhD in Computer Science from Brown University. During this time, he worked with Tim Kraska and Andy van Dam on various interactive tools for visual data exploration and analysis. Most of them either influenced or are direct predecessors of Einblick, such as Vizdom that won the VLDB best demo award in 2015.
Elaheh Ahmadi is a co-founder and CEO of Themis AI. She received her BSc and MEng in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT. Ahmadi and her peers at MIT CSAIL spun-off Themis AI with the vision to bring fair AI into the industry. Themis AIis a leader in providing high-performance and risk-robust AI solutions — identifying and tackling bias, uncertainty, and other real-world generalization challenges.
Dr. Leonardo Bonanni is the founder and CEO of Sourcemap. Dr. Bonanni is a frequent lecturer on supply chain transparency and has testified before the US Senate Finance Committee on forced labor enforcement. He has published articles in Fast Company and has been featured in publications including the Wall Street Journal, Fortune, GreenBiz and Sourcing Journal. He has been named among America’s Most Promising Social Entrepreneurs by Bloomberg Businessweek, among the 100 Most Influential People in Business Ethics by Ethisphere and as a 2021 Environment and Energy Leader 100 Honoree. He holds a PhD and Masters degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Victoria Gonin joined the MIT Alumni Association in February, 2020, as the executive director of alumni relations. Gonin provides leadership and oversight to the Office of Alumni Relations to plan and execute the strategy and vision related to alumni engagement. She and the alumni relations team formulate and implement comprehensive and innovative Alumni Relations programs that utilize the rich and varied resources of the Institute and offer value to MIT’s 141,000+ alumni who are geographically diverse and have a wide array of personal and professional interests. Previously, Gonin was at Dartmouth College, where as deputy director of alumni relations, she led a number of successful initiatives. Her work at Dartmouth was the latest chapter in a career that has included IDG Publications (founded by the late Patrick J. McGovern Jr. ’59), IBM, Resources Global Professionals, and Women’s Solution Group, a women’s leadership consulting firm she formed and ran. Gonin earned a BA from Middlebury College.
Caitlin Reimers Brumme is the Acting Chief Executive Officer of MassChallenge. Prior to MassChallenge, Caitlin led the Impact Collaboratory at the Harvard Business School, a multi-faceted effort to develop world class academic leadership on the topic of “Investing in the 21st Century” including sustainable, ESG and impact investing. Caitlin holds an MBA with high distinction from Harvard Business School, where she was a Baker Scholar, and a B.A. with honors from The Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University.
Molun Zhang leads the Open Innovation efforts of The Coca-Cola Company. With her Founders First mentality, she offers start-ups that are relevant to The Coca-Cola Company various ways to collaborate through experimenting together. Prior to this role, Molun managed product development across EMEA and South Pacific regions. She earned her Bachelor and Master’s degree in biosciences and food engineering from the Catholic University of Leuven.
Thriving communities consisting of key role players from academia, entrepreneurs, accelerators, incubators, government, industry, corporates, and investors, are vital to bringing innovations to fruition.
This panel will feature key speakers from MIT, Masschallenge, and The Coca-Cola Company, who will tell us how they are growing their networks, what keeps them engaged, and what led them to look for other ecosystems. They will also discuss the challenges they face and how they come together to support businesses.
Matthew S. Kressy, founding trustee and head of innovation at the New England Innovation Academy, founding director of the MIT Integrated Design & Management (IDM) master’s degree program, is an expert in product design and development. As an entrepreneur and founder of Designturn, he has designed, invented, engineered, and manufactured products for startups, Fortune 500 companies, and everything in between.
Kressy believes in the use of Human Centered Design as a foundation for thoughtful, inspired leadership, and as a process to foster compassion and empathy throughout organizations and society. His courses are interdisciplinary, hands-on and collaborative, and practice design-driven problem solving derived from deep user research, creative concept generation, and rapid iteration.
Since 1999, Kressy has co-taught collaborative courses in product design and development at top design and business schools including the MIT Sloan School of Management, the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), and Harvard Business School.
As IDM director, Kressy leads curriculum development and teaches the program’s primary and required courses. He holds a BFA in industrial design from RISD.
Great products make great companies, and the key to both is having deep understanding of the needs and emotions of the customer. Many companies are capable of great innovation, but they lack the corporate culture to bring them to market. Founding Director of MIT’s Integrated Design & Management (IDM) Matthew Kressy will talk about the power of human-centered design to facilitate innovation, as well as enabling thoughtful, inspired leadership leading to impactful results.