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The AI Leadership Forum agenda has been shaped in close collaboration with a committee of experienced board members and executives, ensuring the program addresses the most critical and relevant topics for today’s leaders.
CEO and Chief AI Strategist, Averanda Partners; Board Chair, Director & Advisor
Joyce Li, CFA is a seasoned investor, board director, entrepreneur and AI strategist. With nearly two decades of experience managing multi-billion-dollar investments and serving on boards, Joyce is recognized as a “Top Artificial Intelligence Voice” on LinkedIn.
She serves as an advisory board member to OpenBB, at the forefront of bringing open source to the financial services industry. Joyce is a member of the NYSE Board Advisory Council Network, and co-chair of the AI task force at Athena Alliance.
Sonita Lontoh isa public company board director, strategic advisor and former Fortune 100 senior executive who focuses on digital innovation, artificial intelligence and sustainability. She has extensive global experience in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. She serves on the NACD’s Blue Ribbon Commission on board culture and on the NACD/World Economic Forum/CGI’s Climate Advisory Council.
In addition to her role on the boards of Sunrun and TrueBlue, she serves on the advisory board of UC Berkeley Engineering’s Jacobs Institute of Design Innovation and as a advisor to Sway Ventures, a VC firm investing in early to mid-stage category-creating enterprise or consumer companies.
Dr. Helmuth Ludwig is a Professor of Practice for Strategy and Entrepreneurship at SMU’s Cox School of Business in Dallas, where he teaches MBA courses, e.g., on Technology and AI Strategy. He serves on the Boards of Directors of Hitachi Ltd and Humanetics Group. He is also a senior advisor to Bridgepoint LLC and Zscaler, Inc.
From 1990 until 2019, he worked at Siemens in different functions and regions: global CIO (until 2019), CEO of Siemens Industry Sector North America (until 2014), and President of Siemens PLM Software (until 2010). Earlier in his career, Helmuth had several international assignments at Siemens in Europe, Latin America, and Asia.
Alissa Hsu Lynch is a member of board directors of The Honest Company and American Ballet Theatre and host of the podcast The Leadership Dance.
She rose rapidly through the ranks at Johnson & Johnson from Assistant Brand Manager to Worldwide Vice President and made her imprint on iconic consumer brands including Johnson’s Baby, Aveeno, Neutrogena, and CeraVe (at Bausch Health), as well as J&J’s medical device business. She then made a leap to Google, where she pioneered strategic partnerships with Fortune 500 companies to drive digital transformation in healthcare through the innovative application of data, analytics, and AI. She is a Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute, holds two design patents,and was an Entrepreneur in Residence at DigitalDx Ventures.
Dominique Shelton Leipzig founded the Global Data Innovation Teams at two successful international law firms where she provided strategic guidance to companies with a cumulative market capitalization of more than $3 trillion. Dominique has trained and coached over 50,000 professionals on AI privacy and security, including Fortune 100 executives, board members and leaders at major companies and universities, and judges on privacy, AI, and cybersecurity to keep your business ahead of the curve. She is also a trusted advisor to policymakers in Washington, where she is working closely with lawmakers charged with crafting the nation’s first legislative and regulatory framework on artificial intelligence.
She has authored three books on data leadership, with a fourth forthcoming from Forbes. She serves on the Advisory Board of the AI Governance Center and the Board of Directors of the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP).
As Avanade’s Chief AI Officer, Florin Rotar drives the global AI strategy and execution across all parts of the business, spanning leadership, sales, solutioning, delivery, capability and partner ecosystem. He also accelerates Avanade’s internal transformation, identifying new ways AI can disrupt—and improve—how we work, operate and deliver for our clients.
Florin previously served as Chief Technology Officer at Avanade, where he led the strategic development of a portfolio of solutions and services centered on emerging technologies and innovation. He is a member of the Forbes Technology Council and was recognized by Entrepreneur magazine as one of the Top 10 CTOs to Watch in 2023. Florin is passionate about people-first AI innovation and co-authored the book, We the People: Human Purpose in a Digital Age: A Guide to Digital Ethics for Individuals, Organisations and Robots of All Kinds.
JoAnn Stonier serves as a Mastercard Fellow focusing on Data, AI and Privacy, having previously served as their Chief Data Officer and Chief Privacy Officer. She is a recognized global data strategist with extensive experience in artificial intelligence, data governance, science, platforms with an emphasis on responsible data design. She has advised industry executives, governments and NGOs on both commercial and non-profit solutions.
Currently, she serves as the co-chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Data Equity, is a member of the United Nations Expert Group on Governance and Artificial Intelligence and is a member of OmniCon Group’s AI Advisory Board.
Eric Vaughan is an experienced technology and M&A executive recognized for his innovation in the enterprise technology space. As IgniteTech’s CEO, Eric is responsible for setting and executing the company’s vision, leading and motivating the global, remote-based IgniteTech team to continue to drive the company’s business to success in the eyes of its customers.
As the previous founder and CEO of 3 software and services companies, Eric is well known throughout the industry as an innovator, architect, and developer of a number of software, hardware, and integration solutions. With extensive technology-M&A experience on both the buy and sell sides, Eric has led teams through the full cycle of activities for over 60 M&A transactions including public-company buyouts, private equity/venture capital sales, and several divestiture transactions from IBM, with direct integration and CxO accountabilities for the acquired businesses post-close.
