Noelle LaCharite is an evangelist at heart. She is passionate about Mindful Leadership, work-life harmony and empowering people to achieve their potential through emerging technology. She also specializes in helping brands develop skills for Amazon Alexa. She is the co-founder of a skill development company, Voice Skills Inc. She has spent many years as a trainer, architect, and evangelist for IBM, RedHat, EMC, Amazon and now Microsoft, whee she is now Director of Evangelism for DevCollective. She has taught thousands of people the value and importance of voice technology, Democratizing AI, and mindful leadership and has delivered keynotes, workshops and conferences around the world.
Adrien Schmidt is an internationally renowned engineer, keynote and entrepreneur. In 2004, he co-founded Squid Solutions, a software company based in Paris that provides usage analytics to publishers around the world. As Squid Solutions rapidly turned companies into data-driven enterprises, he went on to open offices for Squid Solutions in Beijing in 2006 and San Francisco in 2014. On a mission to become a market leader in a new generation of analytics tools, he co-founded Bouquet.ai in 2015, creating a product that brings a fulfilling experience of analytics to thousands of users in their daily jobs with the implementation of a chatbot powered by artificial intelligence and natural language processing. He is a frequent contributor and thought-leader for major publications, speaks five languages and based in Silicon Valley.
Adva Levin is an Alexa champion and the founder of Pretzel Labs, an award winning voice-first studio that creates playful experiences for kids and families. Pretzel Labs' work includes Kids Court, an Alexa based judge that settles kids fights (Top 25 Alexa skill of 2018); Freeze Dancers, a dancing game for the most energized children; and Big Talk, a platform that encourages young English learners to enjoy conversational English.
Amy Stapleton is Founder of Tellables, a publisher of voice first conversational stories. Apart from designing voice apps, Stapleton is a writer and editor of content for the Tellables Amazon Alexa story experiences "Tricky Genie" and "My Box of Chocolates." Stapleton retired from a career at NASA to pursue her vision of transforming talking devices into a platform for engaging new story experiences.
Ann has focused her career on understanding how people use speech and natural language to communicate with each other and with technology. She's held voice UI and UX roles at large corporations as well as small start-ups. As Head of UX and Design at 22otters, she designed multi-modal conversational mobile interfaces for patient self-care. At Nuance, she worked on multiple client projects, established VUI best practices based on user data, and taught others the ins and outs of voice design. She's been a VUI designer at Amazon Lab 126, and done R&D in language ID and emotion detection, retries and discourse structure. Currently Voice UI/UX Design Leader at Sound United, Ann continues her goal of creating user-centered VUI designs. She's co-author of the upcoming book Voice-First Development. Ann holds a PhD in Cognitive Science and Linguistics from UC San Diego.
Anne Weiler is CEO and co-founder of Wellpepper, a clinically-validated and award-winning platform for interactive treatment plans. Wellpepper is the winner of the Alexa Diabetes Challenge, and an early adopter of voice interfaces in healthcare. Anne previously held global product management roles at Microsoft, in new product development and emerging markets. She spent 3 years at Microsoft Russia leading the $300M Information Worker Business. Anne joined Microsoft in 2001 with the acquisition of Canadian web content management company, Ncompass Labs.
Archana Vemulapalli, General Manager, Global IS Offering Strategy, Management, and Development has end-to-end responsibility for IS offering design and co-creation with clients, offering management and development of market-led digital. Previously at IBM, Archana lead IBM's Networks Services and Project & Implementation Services globally, securely delivering agile, resilient and intelligent networks for public and private sector clients across the globe in support of their cognitive and cloud transformation. Prior to joining IBM in January 2018, Archana led next-generation technology initiatives at a variety of organizations from start-ups to major consulting firms to government, including serving as the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for Washington, DC. Archana is the recipient of several honors, including the Washington Business JournalÕs C-Suite Award, The Washingtonian Tech Titan Award, StateScoopÕs Golden Executive of the Year Award & Top Women in Tech Award, as well as DCÕs Top 50 Women in Tech Award.
Cathy Pearl is Head of Conversation Design Outreach at Google, and the author of the O'Reilly book, "Designing Voice User Interfaces".Ê She's been designing and creating Voice User Interfaces (VUIs) for nearly 20 years and is passionate about helping everyone make the best conversational experiences possible.Ê Previously, Cathy was VP of User Experience at Sensely, whose virtual nurse avatar helps people stay healthy.Ê She has worked on everything from programming NASA helicopter pilot simulators to designing a conversational iPad app in which Esquire magazine's style columnist tells users what they should wear on a first date.Ê She has an MS in Computer Science from Indiana University and and BS in Cognitive Science from UC San Diego.
Christina Mallon is a digital marketer, inclusive designer and disability advocateÊat the forefront of an important movement working to combine inclusivity within technology and advertising. Christina's arms slowly became paralyzed at the start of her career. The transition to ÕdisabledÕ was challenging, but has never slowed her down. As a young digital marketing professional with a physical ÒdisabilityÓ she felt under-represented as a consumer. Rather than being discouraged, she recognized the opportunity to grow awareness and make a meaningful impact which drew her to her current positions as board member of Open Style Lab and Accessibility lead of POSSIBLE NY. In addition to these two positions, she consults brands like Macy's, IKEA, and The Wing on how to be more inclusive. ChristinaÕs work around inclusive design has received nation-wide attention and has been featured in Fast Company, Yahoo Style, NBC News, Vouge, BBC, and The New York Times.
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David is an entrepreneur at heart. For the last decade, David, with the help of his team, has grown Voices.com from the ground up to become the leader in the voice industry. As Chief Executive Officer, David is responsible for setting the vision, executing the growth strategy, creating a vibrant culture, and managing the company on a day-to-day basis. He is frequently published in outlets such as The Globe & Mail, Forbes, and The Wall Street Journal.
Galina Madjaroff is the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and a Clinical Associate Professor at the Erickson School for Aging Studies at University of Maryland Baltimore County. Her duties include administrative and leadership responsibility for the undergraduate and graduate degree-granting programs, supervision of teaching assistants, coordination with all full and part-time faculty, course scheduling, scholarship programs and serving on the key committees at the University that help the Erickson School fulfill their role as a member of the academic and service community at UMBC. Dr. Madjaroff holds a Doctorate in Information Systems with a concentration in Human-Centered Computing. Her research focuses on improving the lives of older persons through the use of accessible technology as well as alleviating privacy and security concerns online for older persons. Her most recent work focused on alleviating caregiver and care recipient burden after the onset of cognitive impairment through the use of the Amazon Echo ÒAlexaÓ intelligent agent. She continues to focus her research on how Voice Userface Interface technologies such as the Amazon Echo can support older adults. Dr. Madjaroff has presented her research at venues around the country and internationally, as well as consulted with technology companies on the design of new devices for older persons. She has published on various topics including Person-Centered Technology and Quality of Life, Narratives of Older Adults with Mild Cognitive Impairment and Their Caregivers and Supporting Caregivers and Care Recipients after the Onset of Cognitive Impairment with Home Based Technology, Amazon Alexa. Most recently Dr. Madjaroff was awarded a three-year, $500,000 National Science Foundation Grant to explore Negotiating Cyber Systems Access for Older Adults with Mild Neurocognitive Disorder.
Dustin Coates is Voice Search Go-to-Market Lead at Algolia. He has written Voice Applications for Alexa and Google Assistant (Manning Publications), co-hosts VUX World, and writes about voice tech at Talking to Computers. He lives in Paris with his wife and smart home devices.
Ed Sewell is the CEO and Founder of Velocity AI. He is a thought leader in smart cities, smart buildings and autonomous, connected vehicle infrastructure. Velocity AI is a member of the NVIDIA Inception program for Artificial Intelligence startups. Voice is a natural interface to interact not just with the world around us, but also with physical assets and things, such as connected devices - including lights and autonomous vehicles. Velocity AI helps accelerate growth and innovation in voice technology investments. In addition to Velocity AI, Ed was the founder and architect of Virtual DNA. A global cyber security firm specializing embedded voice biometrics and machine learning.
Emily Binder is an entrepreneur, voice marketing strategist, and founder of Beetle Moment Marketing, a voice first marketing agency. Past: quarterback for dozens of successful marketing initiatives from startups to global brands. Present: helping businesses stay relevant and grow with forward-looking strategies focused on voice assistants, smart speakers, branded audio content, and social media. Emily speaks and writes about marketing, technology, and career. She hosts two shows about marketing and likes rollerblading, ergonomics, and hacking credit card points. Fun facts: 1) Emily attended high school where The Breakfast Club originated, 1.5 miles from the Home Alone house. 2) In 2010, Emily launched social media for RMS Titanic Inc., the salvor-in-possession of the wreck of Titanic. Listen to the 5-star Beetle Moment Marketing Flash Briefing: search for "Beetle Moment" on Alexa or Google. Marketing blog, podcast, clients & case studies, and more: beetlemoment.com Everywhere: @emilybinder and @beetlemoment
Halim is a high tech innovator who spearheaded world-class data science projects at game changing techs like eBay and Teradata. Formally educated in Machine Learning, his professional expertise span Information Retrieval, Natural Language Processing, and Big Data. Halim has a proven track record of applying state of the art data science techniques across industry verticals such as eCommerce, web & mobile services, airline, BioPharma, and the medical technology industry. He currently leads the AI department at Cognoa, a data driven behavioral healthcare startup in Palo Alto.
Heidi Culbertson is the Founder and CEO of Marvee, a Voice-First Strategy & Design studio specializing in voice experiences for our aging population. The mission is simple, to create context-aware voice experiences to make life better for older adults, families, and those who surround them throughout the aging journey.
James Vlahos is the author of TALK TO ME: How Voice Computing Will Change the Way that We Live, Work, and Think (Houghton Mifflin, March 26, 2019). Covering the business, technological, cultural ramifications of the voice revolution, the book has been described by readers such as Wired editor-in-chief Nicholas Thompson as "brilliant and essential." Vlahos is also the creator the Dadbot, an conversation-making program that shares the personality and life story of his late father, and of an Alexa skill, The Voice Computing Book. Vlahos contributes to the New York Times Magazine, Wired, Popular Science, The Atlantic, and GQ.
Currently, Jim is the founding CEO of NeuroLex Labs, a company that is making voice computing accessible to everyone. He is also the author of Introduction to Voice Computing in Python, a textbook that outlines a new definition for voice computing with 200+ starter scripts on GitHub to train the next-generation of voice computing experts. Previously, Jim was a founding Partner of NeuroLaunch and CyberLaunch which invested in and grew over 22 companies in the neuroscience, cybersecurity, and machine learning verticals. He holds BS in biomedical engineering from Georgia Tech.
As NPRÕs Vice President for New Platform Partnerships, Joel Sucherman guides strategy and leads the teams that build NPRÕs presence on voice assistants and other emerging platforms. Under SuchermanÕs leadership, NPR has become a preeminent brand on smart speakers, developing skills and actions on Alexa and Google Assistant platforms used by millions of people each month. SuchermanÕs teams were also responsible for NPR One, an IOS and Android app that uses a combination of algorithms and human curation to provide a personalized radio news/podcast experience. Prior to working in public radio, Sucherman was instrumental in the digital transformation of USA TODAY, re-imagining storytelling for the ÒNationÕs NewspaperÓ on various platforms.
Juergen leads the Speech & Digital Assistants team at Mercedes-Benz Research & Development North America (MBRDNA) in Sunnyvale, CA, which builds software that lets Mercedes-Benz customers talk to their cars – inside of the car, through the built-in #HeyMercedes voice assistant, and outside the car through integrations with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.
This team has partnered with SoundHound on evolving the decades-old voice control of Mercedes-Benz cars into a full-fledged digital assistant, that can answer many questions about and also beyond the vehicle. The #HeyMercedes voice assistant premiered with the new Mercedes-Benz User Experience (MBUX) in the A-Class.
Juergen joined MBRDNA in 2018, after previously leading the Platform & APIs Product Management team for smart speaker manufacturer Sonos. After getting his German University Diploma in Math and CS many moons ago, Juergen spent 15 years at Enterprise Software vendor SAP, working on many projects such CRM, in-memory databases, developer ecosystems and cultural transformation. He also did AI when AI wasn’t cool.
Justina Nguyen is a Senior Developer Evangelist for Dashbot where she fosters relationships with developers to understand their pain points and help them integrate advanced conversational analytics. She received a Bachelor's degree from U.C. Berkeley, Haas School of Business where she was a mentor for Berkeley Women in Business. A fierce advocate for women in technology, Justina is a San Francisco Lead for Women in Voice where she works to educate and introduce people to the #VoiceFirst community. Justina also served on the Advisory Board of the San Francisco Chapter of Girls in Tech between 2015-2017.
Marli Mesibov is the VP of Content Strategy at the digital UX agency Mad*Pow. Her work spans strategy and experiences across industries, with a particular interest in healthcare, finance, and education. She is a frequent conference speaker, a former editor of the UX publication UX Booth, and was voted one of MindTouchÕs Top 25 Content Strategist Influencers in 2016. Marli can also be found on Twitter, where she shares thoughts on UX Design, content strategy, and Muppets. You can learn more about her and her work at http://marli.us
Nekpen Osuan, PMP is a Manager at Deloitte Consulting where she leads the consulting expansion for Analytics and Cognitive Insights. She is also the CEO & Co-Founder of @WomenWerk, a womenÕs empowerment non-profit reaching 5500 women and girls annually in New York City. Nekpen enjoys building diversity and inclusion in tech and social impact. She was recently named a BlogHer 2018 Voice of the Year, the 2017 Baylor University Young Alumna of the Year, a 2018 92Y Woman in Power Fellow, a 2018 Walkers Legacy Women in Leadership Honoree, and a 2017 Council of Urban Professionals Fellow. Nekpen serves on the DNCÕs Young Professionals Committee and Women's Leadership Forum, and is a volunteer on professional boards for The Lower Eastside Girls Club, The New Leaders Council, and the famed Apollo Theatre.
Dr. Nicol Turner Lee (she, her) is a fellow in the programÕs Center for Technology Innovation and a contributor to TechTank. She comes to Brookings from the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council (MMTC), a national non-for-profit organization dedicated to promoting and preserving equal opportunity and civil rights in the mass media, telecommunications, and broadband industries, where she served as vice president and chief research and policy officer. At the Center for Technology Innovation, Dr. Turner Lee researches public policy designed to enable equitable access to technology across the U.S. and to harness its power to create change in communities across the world. Dr. Turner-LeeÕs research also explores global and domestic broadband deployment, regulatory, and internet governance issues. She is also an expert on the intersection of race, wealth, and technology within the context of civic engagement, criminal justice, and economic development. Dr. Turner Lee graduated from Colgate University magna cum laude and has a M.A. and Ph.D. in Sociology from Northwestern University.
Polina is a strategist, designer, and thought leader focused on voice-first products, Machine Learning and Product Delivery craftsmanship. She is interested in creating novel products and meaningful experiences that help businesses grow and simultaneously inspire, engage and empower users. As co-founder of Voice Tech TO Polina is dedicated to growing and supporting the community of practitioners, who are interested in voice and helps develop plays and tactics to ensure successful voice-first product delivery.
Rachel Batish is VP of Product at Audioburst where she leads where she leads product roadmap and strategy thinking, connecting unique audio and content listening experiences to consumers on cars, 3-party-speaker and headphones devices and apps. Prior to Audioburst, Batish was founder of Conversation.one, a build-once-deploy anywhere platform for voice and chat conversational applications, focusing on non-developers and complex use cases. She held a similar role at Zuznow. Rachel is also the author of Voicebot and Chatbot Design and has founded and participated in a number or organizations to promote networking and education in the AI and voice space including TechStars and NYC Enterprise and Mobility Meetup. Batish received her BA in Political Science and International Relations from Technische Universitat Dermstadt and MA in European Studies from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She resides in Silicon Valley.
Robert has been working in the connected car area since 2014 and is a Software Engineer at Mercedes-Benz Research and Development North America based in Sunnyvale, CA. He used to be a Scrum Product Owner for web frontend development before focusing on the connection of IoT and mobility use cases. On this quest, he is part of the engineering team who integrates voice assistants with connected car interfaces to enhance vehicle interaction. He is passionate about meaningful speech applications and finding the ÒeverydayÓ use cases in the mobility sector.
Ryan Bales is the Director of Analytics Engineering at DialogTech. HeÕs an active member of the Cleveland technology community, CLE Data Science and R Meetup groups. Ryan is a content contributor and class facilitator for the Python Data Science course track at DriveIT. When not writing code or trying to learn more about data science you can find Ryan trying to not lose at online video games. Ryan lives in Cleveland, Ohio.
Sina Kahen hails from the medical devices and voice technology industries. He is currently the Head of Strategy and Design at VAICE, a pro-bono consulting group that help brands discover the benefits of voice and conversational AI, from strategy to experience. He identifies the challenges presented after the recent wave of voice technology adoption, and aims to solve them with principles from design-thinking, biomimicry, and philosophy. He graduated as a Biomedical Scientist, and has an MBA from Imperial College Business School.
Stuart Crane is a software entrepreneur of 30+ years. Stuart co-founded a software company, CPR+, in 1993 and grew it successfully for 20 years to become the leading provider of enterprise software to the Specialty Pharmacy industry. After CPR+ was acquired in 2013, Stuart founded Voice Metrics, a company building software platforms for businesses to connect data to Voice Assistants, supporting Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri. Voice MetricsÕ most recent platform is SurveyLine Ð Surveys By Voice, allowing any company or individual to create surveys to be taken BY VOICE. Stuart can be reached at: stuart@stuartcrane.com
Tom is a Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Newark Venture Partners (NVP), a $50M venture fund and accelerator based in downtown Newark, NJ. NVP is backed by Amazon, Prudential and a number of other notable investors, entrepreneurs and politicians. In addition to driving financial returns, NVP mission is to attract and grow great tech start-ups in Newark, build the local tech/business ecosystem and drive economic benefits to the city in the form of jobs, residents, taxes and foot traffic. www.Newark.vc Tom also manages RosePaul Investments, his family office, and its proprietary fund, RosePaul Ventures that invests in tech start-ups and VC/PE funds. RosePaul's tech start-up portfolio is focused on software enabled business. www.rosepaul.com He is an active early stage investor and adviser to start-ups, venture capital, private equity and growth-stage companies. Tom is member of New York Angels, an early stage investment group. He serves as a board member and adviser to a number of early stage ventures. Prior to this Tom was a Partner at the management consulting firm Baldwin Bell Green (BBG) where he focused on Financial Services, Technology and Private Equity clients. His practice area was advising senior management in the areas of Strategy, Operations and IT. Prior to joining Baldwin Bell Green in 2008, Tom worked independently for 7 years as an adviser to private equity/venture capital firms and on two occasions joined the management team of a portfolio company. Prior to 2000, he spent 7 years as a management consultant at Mitchell Madison Group where he was a Partner. Prior to business school, Tom worked at Morgan Stanley in technology development and investment banking. Tom holds a BA in Physics and Philosophy from Clark University and an MBA from Dartmouth. He lives in NYC with his wife and two children.
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