Speakers

2023 GUEST SPEAKER

Dominic D. J. Endicott
Co-Author of Knowledge Towns
Partner at Northstar Ventures
Advisor at the MET Fund

Dominic Endicott is co-author, with Professor David J. Staley, of ‘Knowledge Towns: Colleges and Universities as Talent Magnets’, a 2023 book published by Johns Hopkins University Press proposing how town and gown can collaborate in achieving sustainable economic, environmental, and social progress. He is currently working on ‘The Wealth of Places’ a book exploring the intersection of technology, placemaking, and talent in developing generational wealth strategies in the AI Economy.

The founding team at Cluster set up Nauta Capital in 2005 (AUM $500M), and Dominic was tasked with setting up and managing Nauta’s US operations, in what has become the best performing market for Nauta. At Nauta, he led the first VC investment in Great Call, a US-based firm oriented around technology for older customers and caregivers. Great Call grew from $1M revenue at investment to around a $300M revenue run-rate and was acquired by Best Buy in 2018 for $800M. Other successes include PromoteIQ, acquired by Microsoft for $100m, and InCrowd, recently sold for close to $300m. Dominic is also a partner and board member of Northstar Ventures, which is focused on Society Tech investment, and operates out of Newcastle, London, and Boston. He is also an Advisor at the MET Fund, started out of MIT and focused on the Built Environment.

‘Knowledge Towns’ was based on a fully remote collaboration between Dominic Endicott and David Staley beginning in 2019. The genesis of the book was the massive societal disruption unleashed by Covid-19. At the core of the Knowledge Town thesis is the idea that a new knowledge-infused revolution is sweeping across the United States, akin to the Industrial Revolution of the 19th century, and with an equally significant impact on place, wealth, and society. The US, by dint of its highly decentralized geography and the distributed nature of its colleges and universities, is ideally positioned to lead this knowledge revolution, as long as it removes critical impediments blocking sustainable growth.

Knowledge Towns: Colleges and Universities as Talent Magnets, David J. Staley and Dominic D.J. Endicott, March 2023 https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/12918/knowledge-towns

2022 Speakers

Antony Slumbers
Speaker, Advisor, Writer, Entrepreneur

Antony is a globally recognized speaker, advisor and writer on proptech and space-as-a-service. A serial entrepreneur, he has founded and exited several proptech software companies and now consults real estate boards on their transformation, technology and innovation strategies.

He writes an influential blog at antonyslumbers.com and is a prolific Tweeter (@antonyslumbers).

Michelle "Sonic" Ruehl
Executive Consultant, Afterburner
Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Air Force

Michelle Ruehl is an executive consultant with Afterburner, Inc. and a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Air Force. She is an instructor pilot and aerospace policy expert who has flown over 800 combat hours in Afghanistan where she provided intelligence and reconnaissance to ground forces during Operation Enduring Freedom. Most recently, Michelle served as a White House Fellow where she was a speechwriter for the Vice President of the United States. Prior to the White House, she was an English professor, theater director, and instructor pilot at The United States Air Force Academy. Michelle used her certification as a PATH therapeutic riding instructor to create and direct the nonprofit Parwana LEADership Legacy, where she uses horses, sports and music to provide leadership and resiliency programs for veterans and their families. Michelle is appointed to several community boards including Mt Carmel Veterans Service Center, the Colorado Springs Airport Commission, and a local school board. She received her bachelor’s degree from the U.S. Air Force Academy, then earned master’s degrees in both English and Psychology, and now she is working on her Ph.D. Michelle is currently stationed at the Pentagon as a military strategist and lives in Arlington, Virginia with her husband who flies for a major airline and their two small children.

Ben Waber
Co-Founder & President
Humanyze

Ben Waber is the president and co-founder of Humanyze, a workplace analytics company. He is a visiting scientist at the MIT Media Lab, previously worked as a senior researcher at Harvard Business School, and received his Ph.D. in organizational science from MIT. Waber’s work has been featured in major media outlets such as the New York Times, Wired, the Wall Street Journal, and NPR. His book, People Analytics, was published by the Financial Times Press in 2013 and is an international bestseller.

2019 Speakers

Michael Murphy
Founding Principal and Executive Director
MASS Design Group

MASS Design Group is an architecture and design collective that leverages buildings, as well as the design and construction process, to become catalysts for economic growth, social change, and justice. Since MASS's beginnings, their portfolio of work has expanded to over a dozen countries and span the areas of healthcare, education, housing, urban development, and more recently, food systems, indigenous sovereignty, and the public monument. MASS’s work has been published in over 400 publications and awarded globally. Most recently, MASS has been recognized as the winners of the national Arts and Letters Award for 2017 and the 2017 Cooper Hewitt National Design Award. Michael’s 2016 TED talk has reached over a million views, and was awarded the Al Filipov Medal for Peace and Justice in 2017. MASS's most recent project, the National Memorial for Peace and Justice was named the single greatest work of American architecture in the 21st century. Michael has taught at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, University of Michigan, and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture Planning and Preservation. Michael is from Poughkeepsie, NY, and holds a Master of Architecture from Harvard Graduate School of Design and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Chicago.

Jeremy Heimans
Co-Founder and CEO
Purpose

Purpose is a global organization headquartered in New York that builds and supports movements for a more open, just, and habitable world. Purpose has advised organizations such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Google and UNICEF. He is co-founder of GetUp!, an Australian political organization with more members than all of Australia's political parties combined, and Avaaz, the world’s largest online citizens’ movement, now with nearly 50 million members worldwide. Heimans is a recipient of the Ford Foundation's 75th anniversary Visionary Award for his work as a movement pioneer and chaired the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Civic Participation. He has been named one of Fast Company’s Most Creative People in Business and The Monthly has observed that Heimans “might be the most influential Australian in the world”. With Henry Timms, Jeremy is co-author of the 2018 bestseller “New Power”, praised by the New York Times’ David Brooks as “the best window I’ve seen into this new world” and by The Guardian as “a manual on how to navigate the 21st century”. Their thinking on “new power” has been featured as the Big Idea in Harvard Business Review, and Jeremy’s TED talk on the topic has been viewed more than 1.4 million times. Heimans was educated at Harvard University and the University of Sydney and began his career at McKinsey and Company. He lives in New York.

2018 Speakers

Mirjam Link
Senior Project Manager, Development
Boston Properties, San Francisco

Mirjam Link, with over 15 years of combined work experience in Real Estate Development, Investment and Architecture, serves as Senior Project Manager on Boston Properties’ San Francisco Development team. She has led several ground-up developments and repositioning opportunities in San Francisco and Silicon Valley. She is responsible for overseeing all phases of projects from acquisitions, pre-development, construction, marketing/leasing through dispositions. Mirjam holds a Master of Science in Real Estate Development from Columbia University and a Master of Science in Architecture from Stuttgart University, Germany. She is a fellow of the Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes (German Academic Scholarship Foundation), an active member of ULI, and serves on the Commercial Product Council. (@SalesforceTower)

Helen Han
Marketing Director
Boston Properties, San Francisco

Helen Han is the Marketing Director in Boston Properties’ San Francisco Region. Helen oversees the marketing, events, and community relations efforts for Boston Properties on the west coast. As part of her role, Helen works with community leaders, elected officials and government agencies to strengthen Boston Properties’ presence in the Bay Area market. Helen currently sits on the board of BOMA PAC, BOMA California, the Yerba Buena Community Benefit District, the East Cut Community Benefit District and the Transbay Joint Powers Authority Community Advisory Committee. Helen is a graduate of the University of California Los Angeles. (@SalesforceTower)

Dr. Jon Iadonisi
Founder and CEO
VizSense

Dr. Jon Iadonisi designs and builds new types of technology businesses that tackle antiquated methods and legacy thinking. He’s successfully founded, scaled, and exited two profitable technology companies that spanned public safety and cyber security industries. Currently, he is the Founder and CEO of VizSense, a Dallas-based Influencer Marketing and Sales Intelligence Firm that works with Fortune 500 clients, delivering highly specialized marketing and sales campaigns engineered to a specific brand’s DNA. Jon is a computer scientist and former Navy SEAL, who invented new capabilities for the Special Operations Community and Central Intelligence Agency. He is a combat-wounded and decorated veteran who earned a B.S. in Computer Science from the US Naval Academy, and M.S. in Homeland Security from San Diego State University, and a Ph.D. from the University of New Haven, with a focus on Cyber-Crime. He also volunteers and serves on the board of Operation Restored Warrior, a nonprofit that facilitates healing of PTSD for veterans. Jon is also a frequent contributor to national news outlets and conference venues.
(@VizSense; LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/vizsense)

Nancy H. Rothstein
Director
CIRCADIAN® Corporate Sleep Programs and The Sleep Ambassador®

Nancy H. Rothstein, M.B.A., Director of CIRCADIAN® Corporate Sleep Programs and The Sleep Ambassador® inspires a new respect for sleep and its impact on all aspects of work, life and well-being. Through consulting, public speaking, media engagements and writing, Nancy presents strategic solutions to empower people to make sustainable shifts to optimize their sleep quality/quantity. Nancy and the CIRCADIAN® Corporate Sleep Programs team consult and lecture to Fortune 500 companies, awaking leadership to the ROI of a good night’s sleep for their workforce and providing sleep education/training initiatives for employees. Circadian’s Sleep Well/Live Well online sleep improvement program provides a scalable solution to reach employees at all levels of an organization. Nancy recently completed her term as a member of the NIH Sleep Disorders Research Advisory Board, currently serves on the Steering Committee of MyApnea.org and the Board of the Foundation for Airway Health. Nancy is the author of My Daddy Snores, published by Scholastic - the book has sold over 400,000 copies. Nancy has a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
(@CircadianSleep; www.linkedin.com/showcase/circadian-corporate-sleep-programs)

Dr. Joseph G. Allen
Assistant Professor of Exposure Science
Department of Environmental Health
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Dr. Joseph G. Allen is an assistant professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He began his career conducting forensic health investigations of sick buildings in several hundred buildings across a diverse range of industries, including healthcare, biotechnology, education, commercial office real estate and manufacturing. At Harvard, Dr. Allen directs the Healthy Buildings program where he created ‘the 9 Foundations of a Healthy Building’, and he is the faculty advisor to the Harvard Healthier Building Materials Academy. He presents internationally on the topic of Healthy Buildings, and his work has been featured widely in the popular press, including the Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, National Geographic, Time, NPR, Newsweek, Washington Post, and Fortune. Dr. Allen’s research is widely published in academic journals and he is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology. He earned his Doctor of Science (DSc) and Master of Public Health (MPH) degrees from the Boston University School of Public Health and a Bachelor of Science (BS) degree in Biology from Boston College. More information on his research can be found at: www.ForHealth.org; Twitter: @j_g_allen.

2017 Speakers

Spencer P. Glendon, Ph.D.
Senior Managing Director, Partner and Macroanalyst
Wellington Management Group LLP

Spencer P. Glendon helps lead Wellington Management in analysis and discussion of economic, thematic, and social issues around the world. He pursues an active, idiosyncratic research agenda on topics ranging from climate change to the relationships between data, markets, and society. Spencer earned his PhD (1999) and AM (1996) in economics from Harvard University. In addition, he holds a BS in industrial engineering from Northwestern University (1991) and was a Fulbright scholar at the Universität zu Köln in Germany (1992).

J. F. Finn, III, AIA
Principal, Gensler

J.F. Finn considers design as a tool that can create multi-purpose destinations while utilizing land and resources intelligently. With almost 30 years at Gensler, J.F. recently relocated to Boston where he directs the growing Lifestyle Studio. His global portfolio ranges from community master plans and transit facilities, to luxury resorts and mixed-use developments (including Boston Properties’ The Hub on Causeway). J.F. views mixed use as scalable, enriching the human experience and reinforcing community. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Architecture at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.

Chris Kelly
Co-Founder, President and Chief Development Officer of Convene

Chris Kelly is the Co-Founder, President, and Chief Development Officer of Convene. Convene has set out to change the way the world works by partnering with the largest landlords in commercial real estate to design and service the next generation office building – one that feels more like a full-service, lifestyle hotel. Convene’s integrated “workplace-as-a-service” platform gives building tenants and enterprise clients access to a growing network of premium meeting and event spaces, private workspaces, hospitality services, and curated experiences, all connected by Convene’s technology platform. Chris is an active thought leader and industry spokesperson, and has spoken at WORKTECH, Cornell Baker School of Real Estate, NYU Shack Institute of Real Estate and MIT Center for Real Estate. He has been recognized as Service Provider of the Year by CoreNet NYC, a Top Entrepreneur by Crain’s New York Business, and is the only person to have been twice recognized on Inc. Magazine’s “30 Under 30” list of Most Promising Young Entrepreneurs.

Andrew McAfee
Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Initiative on the Digital Economy and Principal Research Scientist
MIT Sloan School of Management

Andrew McAfee is the Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Initiative on the Digital Economy and a Principal Research Scientist at the MIT Sloan School of Management. He studies how computer technologies are changing business, the economy, and society. His 2014 book on these topics, The Second Machine Age: Work Progress and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies, has won several prestigious awards and has been both a New York Times and Wall Street Journal top ten bestseller. His newest book, Machine, Platform, Crowd: Harnessing our Digital Future, published June 2017, offers an executive guide to succeeding during this turbulent era when technologies are hurtling forward at such a startling pace. Andy also writes popular blogs, academic papers, and articles for publications including Harvard Business Review, The Economist, The Wall St. Journal and The New York Times. He has talked about his work at the World Economic Form, TED and the Aspen Ideas Festival. Andy was educated at Harvard and MIT. He lives in Cambridge, watches too much Red Sox baseball, doesn’t ride his motorcycle enough and starts his weekend with the NYT Saturday crossword.

2016 Speakers

William C. Taylor
Co-founder and Founding Editor of Fast Company

William C. Taylor is a writer, speaker and entrepreneur who chronicles the best way to compete, innovate, and succeed. As co-founder and founding editor of Fast Company, Bill launched a magazine that won countless awards and earned a passionate following around the world. Bill has also written three books on leadership and change. His latest book, Simply Brilliant: How Great Organizations Do Ordinary Things in Extraordinary Ways, will be published on September 20, 2016. He also created the “Under New Management” column for The New York Times and has published numerous essays and CEO interviews in the Harvard Business Review. Bill is a graduate of Princeton University and the MIT Sloan School of Management.

J. Ira Winder
Research Scientist, MIT Media Lab, MIT CityScope

J. Ira Winder does end-to-end design, development, and implementation of tangible-interactive, augmented reality decision support system (/city-simulation) for Changing Places Group and the City Science Initiative at MIT Media Lab. Ira invented MIT CityScope, an integrated hardware and software platform. He works with industry, academia, and public agencies to build executive-level tools for solving complex spatial problems. Ira has spoken and exhibited at venues throughout the world and his work has been featured on CBS, Financial Times Magazine, The Atlantic’s CityLab, and a White House Report to the President on “Technology and the Future of Cities.” Ira has a Master in City Planning (MIT, 2013) and a Bachelor of Science in Design (MIT, 2010).

Dr. Ryan C. C. Chin
CEO and Co-founder of Optimus Ride Inc.

Optimus Ride Inc. is an MIT spinoff company based in Cambridge, MA that develops self-driving technologies that enable safe, sustainable, and equitable mobility access. Dr. Chin was the Managing Director of the City Science Initiative at the MIT Media Lab (2012-2015). He conducted Smart Cities research in the areas of urban mobility, housing, energy, and big data analytics. He researched Autonomous Mobility-on-Demand (MoD) Systems - a network of self-driving, shared-use, electric vehicles (EVs). He developed EVs including the Green Wheel, RoboScooter, and the CityCar - a foldable, electric, two-passenger vehicle. His research led to the MIT Press publication of Reinventing Reinventing the Automobile: Personal Urban Mobility for the 21st Century by Mitchell,
Borroni-Bird, and Burns in 2010. Dr. Chin also advises industry and government agencies on Smart Cities Innovations. He is a member of PCAST’s (President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology) working group on”Technology and the Future of Cities.”

Judy Chun
Manager, Advanced Technology & Process, at ThyssenKrupp Elevator Corporation.

Judy has been in the industry since 2007 serving as Application Mechanical Engineer - Modernization, Sales Engineer - Destination Dispatch, Service Sales Manager, and Advanced Technology Manager. Judy received a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering at Rutgers University in 2007 and a Master of Business Administration at Bauer School of Business, University of Houston, Texas in 2014.

2015 Speakers

Roy Hirshland
CEO, Co-Founder, T3 Advisors

Roy Hirshland is the CEO and Co-Founder of T3 Advisors. Roy has helped build T3 into a global real estate firm that inspires companies to think more strategically about real estate and their workplace. For over 25 years, he has counseled executives to think more creatively about their company’s growth. Roy is a frequent speaker on the changing dynamics of the workplace and corporate culture. In June 2014, he was awarded Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young Global Limited.

Hasier Larrea
Founder & CEO, MorphLab

Hasier Larrea is an engineer, designer, and Founder and CEO of MorphLab, a spin-off company out of the MIT Media Lab. He holds a Masters Degree both in Mechanical Engineering and Media Arts and Sciences. Before founding MorphLab, Hasier led the Architectural Robotics research area at the Media Lab, which focuses on creating a new generation of hyper efficient and responsive urban spaces. His team developed robotic tools that allow traditional architectural and furniture elements to transform and intelligently connect to the world around us. His work on the CityHome and CityOffice has been featured in The New York Times, Time Magazine, Fast Company, Wired, and TechCrunch among others.

Marc Yaggi
Executive Director, Waterkeeper Alliance

After working more than 15 years within the Waterkeeper Movement, Marc Yaggi was appointed Waterkeeper Alliance’s Executive Director in March 2011. Before joining Waterkeeper Alliance, Marc was a Senior Attorney and Watershed Program Director for Riverkeeper, Inc. Prior to joining Riverkeeper, Marc served as a Staff Attorney with the Environmental Law Institute in Washington, D.C. Marc has authored several articles on the U.S. Supreme Court, clean water, marine mammal protection, road salt, impervious surfaces, sprawl and clean air. Marc is a graduate of the Pennsylvania State University and earned a J.D. from the Pace University School of Law. Marc also obtained an LL.M in Environmental Law.

Dr. Joseph Coughlin
Director of MIT's AgeLab

Joseph F. Coughlin, Ph.D is Director of MIT’s AgeLab. His research provides insights on how demographic change, technology, social trends and consumer behavior will converge to drive future innovations in business and government. Author of more than 100 publications, he teaches policy and systems innovation in MIT’s Department of Urban Studies & Planning and Sloan School of Management, He is author of the Disruptive Demographics. A regular contributor to Wall Street Journal MarketWatch, he was named Fast Company Magazine’s ‘100 Most Creative People in Business’ and by the Wall Street Journal as one of ‘12 pioneers inventing the future of retirement and how we will all live, work and play tomorrow.’

2014 Speakers

Nikhil Naik
MIT, StreetScore

Nikhil Naik is a Ph.D Student working with Ramesh Rasker at MIT Media Lab. Nikhil is interested in developing applications for big visual data. In the past, he has worked with a trillion-frames-per-second camera to detect materials and interned at Microsoft Research and Samsung Research America. Nikhil's latest project is StreetScore, an algorithm that can predict how safe a street view looks to a human observer.

Michael Gross
Chief Financial Officer, WeWork

Michael Gross is the Chief Financial Officer of WeWork Companies. Previously, he served as the Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Morgans Hotel Group.

Stephen Chung
Architect, Educator, Host of PBS' "Cool Spaces"

Stephen Chung, AIA, LEED AP is a registered architect and Principal of Stephen Chung, Architect. His Boston-based studio focuses on small to midsize residential and hospitality projects. Stephen is the creator and host of a new television show for PBS entitled "Cool Spaces: The Best of New Architecture" and takes viewers on a tour of the world's newest and most provocative architecture.

2013 Speakers

Maegan Demko
Data Analyst, Sociometrics Solutions, Inc.

Maegan was a Lead Analyst at Sociometric Solutions where she worked and collaborated with Dr. Sandy Pentland and Ben Waber, the company founders and authors of the best selling books "Honest Signals" and "People Analytics". Maegan has a BA from Boston University in Mathematics and a Masters in Statistics from John Hopkins University.

Spencer P. Glendon
PhD, Senior Vice Preident, Partner, and Director of Macroanalysis Research.

Spencer is responsible for leading the Macroanalysis Group and the firm in analysis and discussion of economic, thematic, and social issues around the world. In addition, he pursues an active idiosyncratic research agenda on topics ranging from the evolution of markets to the relationships between data, people and society. Spencer earned a PhD and AM in economics from Harvard University. In addition, he holds a BS in industrial engineering from Northwestern University and was a Fulbright scholar at the Universität zu Köln in Germany.

David Chilinski
President and Co-founder of Prellwitz Chilinski Associates.

David has practiced Architecture, Interiors and Urban Design for 30 years. Educated at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, he holds a National Council of Architecture Registration Boards Certificate in 17 states. David sits on the Harvard Square Business Association and Agassiz Neighborhood Council Boards. He also serves on the Mass College of Art Corporate Advisory Group and the United Way Real Estate Committee, and has presented as a guest lecturer at MIT, Harvard's Graduate School of Design, Rhode Island School of Design, Roger Williams College, BU's School of Management and the Boston Architectural College.

2012 Speakers

Dave Lathrop
Director of Research and Strategy for Steelcase Inc.

Steelcase is the world’s preeminent designer of products and services that help create great experiences, wherever work happens. Appointed to this position in March, 2008, Dave is responsible for developing a cross-disciplinary point of view of the future of work, workers and workplaces. Dave has led Steelcase’s knowledge management activities, and has been a thought leader in research and development, advanced concepts, corporate strategy, product development, and corporate marketing. Dave is also a founder of Steelcase’s ad hoc Future’s group.

Alex ‘Sandy’ Pentland
Founder and director of the Human Dynamics group and the Media Lab Entrepreneurship Program

Professor Alex ‘Sandy’ Pentland is a pioneer in organizational engineering, mobile information systems, and computational social science. Sandy’s research focus is on harnessing information flows and incentives within social networks, the big data revolution, and converting this technology into real-world ventures. He is founder and director of the Human Dynamics group, and the Media Lab Entrepreneurship Program. Sandy is among the most-cited computer scientists in the world, and in 1997 Newsweek magazine named him one of the 100 Americans likely to shape this century.