The Evolution of Technology Continues: What is the Future of Technology in 2025?
October 28, 1：00 – 2:10 pm EST
New technologies are being created at lightning speed. The tsunami of innovations is creating a steep learning curve and those who surf ahead of this wave will be the ones who succeed. Technology and market disruptors are forcing companies to adapt quickly to remain competitive. Trailblazers from the technology industry will discuss the evolution of technology in the next 5 years, and share ideas and thoughts on turning emerging trends into innovation and growth opportunities.
Keynote & Panelist
Lorrissa Horton
VP & GM of Webex Calling and Strategy Collaboration Team Group, Cisco
Lorrissa is Vice President and General Manager of Webex Calling and Strategy. She leads a global team responsible for Cisco’s collaboration portfolio strategy and the future growth of the Calling portfolio. With the recent acceleration of remote work and new ways of working, Lorrissa is laser focused on the innovation of Webex to meet the growing demand of Cisco customers.
Prior to this role, Lorrissa drove the product evolution of Webex Teams. Transforming the modern work experience with a single app that keeps work moving regardless of location. Empowering people to work anyplace and anytime with best-in-class messaging, video meetings, calling and collaboration capabilities, in the cloud and on-premise. An area that she knows very well given her direct experience as a working mom who leads global teams and leverages remote capabilities to be successful. Webex technology and innovation is at the core of who she is as a person and as an industry leader.
Lorrissa brings more than 15 years of experience in product management, productivity software in Microsoft Office, natural language processing, and machine learning with search and NUI experiences, hardware development for sound and video, analytics with Microsoft PowerBI, and business applications for human capital management. She is extremely passionate about innovation and has a track record of thinking outside-the-box with the development of 10 patents over her career.
Moderator
Sharda Cherwoo
Former Senior Partner, Ernst & Young LLP (EY)
Sharda Cherwoo served as a Senior Partner with a 37+ year career at Ernst & Young LLP (EY) with a legacy of creating enterprise value through building and leading successful businesses. Most recently, as the Intelligent Automation Leader, Sharda championed the vision, spearheading EY’s efforts in Intelligent Automation. She inspired market-leading business strategy, successfully led complex business model transformation and built an award-winning advisory business in digital transformation.
As CEO of EY’s Global Shared Services, Sharda pioneered EY’s first offshore shared services initiative and led the strategy formation and implementation, accelerating operational efficiency and talent transformation, which has driven significant value for EY.
Sharda serves on the Board of World Fuel Services Corporation, a F100 Company, and on the board of Tax Analysts as well as on the Board of Trustees of International House, whose mission is to empower the next generation of global leaders.
As a strategic global thinker and thought leader, Sharda has received several accolades and awards including the 2018 Stevie® for Most Innovative Woman of the Year.
Speakers
Jalak Jobanputra
Founding Partner, Future\Perfect Ventures
Jalak Jobanputra is Founding Partner of Future\Perfect Ventures, an early stage venture capital fund in NYC focused on next generation technology such as blockchain and machine learning. FPV’s portfolio includes Abra, Blockstream, Bitpesa, Fusemachines, Everledger and Blockchain. Jalak was awarded Institutional Investor’s Most Powerful Fintech Dealmakers from 2016-2018. In May 2018, Jobanputra was awarded Microsoft’s VC Trailblazer Award for “her early and bold” investments in the sector. She has been listed as a 100 Most Influential Fintech Leader of 2016 and 2017 based on her investment strategy at FPV. In 2017, she was cited as a “Top 5 Investor Powering the Blockchain Boom” and Crunchbase noted FPV as one of the top VC funds in blockchain “before it was cool.” Since founding the firm, she has spoken on blockchain technology, IoT, and artificial intelligence at many global conferences, including the Milken Global Institute, Dutch Development Bank/FMO Annual Meeting, and The Economist Buttonwood Gathering. She also founded Collective Future, an organization to foster diversity and inclusion in the nascent blockchain sector. FPV’s incubator FPV Labs was selected by the NYC Economic Development Corporation in January 2019 to operate the NYC Blockchain Center, a unique private-public partnership formed to serve as an access point to the growing blockchain ecosystem and collaborate with elected officials on policy initiatives.
Prior to FPV, Jobanputra was the Director of Emerging Market Mobile Investments at Omidyar Network, a philanthrocapitalist fund started by Pierre Omidyar, co-founder of eBay. Previously, she worked at Intel Capital investing in enterprise software in Silicon Valley from 1999-2003, as well as New Venture Partners and the NYC Investment Fund where she formed one of NYC’s first seed funds and helped establish the Fintech Innovation Lab in 2010. She started her career as a media/tech/telecom investment banker in NYC and London. Jobanputra is also active in supporting education reform and social entrepreneurship. She served as a Trustee of Achievement First Bushwick Charter Schools (Brooklyn). She is on the Board of Directors for the Center for an Urban Future, Advisory Board of L’Oreal’s Women in Digital Initiative, member of Mayor DeBlasio’s Broadband Taskforce, and former Access to Capital Committee member of the US Secretary of State Clinton Women’s Leadership Council. She is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, with a B.S. in Economics (concentration in Finance) from The Wharton School and a B.A. in Communications from the Annenberg School. She received her MBA from Kellogg in 1999. She has been active on twitter since 2007 at @jalak.
Zarina Lam Stanford
Chief Communications & Marketing Officer, Rackspace Technology
As CCMO of Rackspace Technology, Zarina Lam Stanford leads with a customer-centric, insights-driven, and outcome-based approach to branding, communications, demand generation, field marketing, and product marketing. A recognized growth catalyst, Zarina is passionate about design thinking, agile marketing, and purpose.
Zarina is a seasoned leader with a unique blend of sales and marketing tenure at IBM, SAP, and private equity portfolio company Syniti. She has in-depth experience in North America, Asia Pacific & Japan, and other growth markets.
A champion for diversity and inclusion, and a global citizen, Zarina serves on the Board of BeyonDiversity Foundation. She was named Women Worth Watching by Diversity Journal in the US and Women of the Decade in Technology & Innovation at the Women Economic Forum in New Delhi, India, in 2016 and 2018, respectively.
Born and raised in Hong Kong, Zarina is a nature lover, an ikebana apprentice, a published writer, an aspiring sailor, and a Mini and Tesla fan. She describes herself as a proud daughter, sister and mother. Thanks to cloud technology, Zarina meets with her two NY-based sons on a remedial basis as the Next Normal.
Zarina is a Marketing Academy CMO Fellow, a Southern Methodist University MBA, and a graduate of the Asian Advanced Leadership Program at Stanford University. She also holds a BA in Journalism from the University of North Texas. She is currently authoring a self-leadership book, #DareToGrow.
Performer
Michi Fuji
Violinist
Michi Fuji was born in Toyota City, Aichi Japan.Started playing the violin at the age of 3.After graduating from Sugiyamajogakuen Senior High School,she attended Aichi Prefectural University of Fine Arts!and Music,graduated with a Bachelor Degree of Fine Arts and!Instrumental Music.After graduation, Michi completed one additional year ofPost Undergraduate Studies at Aichi Prefectural University of Fine Arts and Musicmajoring in Violin Research.During this period of time, Michi became a member of the Aichi Chamber Orchestra.In 2008, Michi moved to New York to continue her musical studies at the New School for Jazz andContemporary Music where she studied with Junior Mance.Upon graduating from the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, Michi became a permanent memberof the Junior Mance Trio and has toured with him extensively throughout the world. Michi is featured onJunior Mance’s latest CD, “ The Three of Us” which was released in 2012. In addition, Michi released herfirst CD “ Flight No.822 “ in 2008
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