Networks and disruption

The exponential growth of disruptive technologies and ideas that rely on integrated networks has irrevocably changed and broadened the business landscape. Burgeoning technologies like machine learning are steadily pushing the envelope of decision-making and data analysis, while irrepressible & innovative startups are disrupting long established businesses and mindsets.

Participants will hear from leaders in human-machine learning networks, disruptive startups and innovative corporations about core concepts that will enable exploration in these spaces.

Bigger, Faster, Stronger: The rise of the innovative corporation

Session 1 / 11:00 pm - 12:30 pm

Learn about how large companies are fostering new cultures of disruption in order to more rapidly compete and innovate.

Location:

Cahn Auditorium

Speakers

Carter Cast Clinical Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship / Kellogg School of Management

Carter Cast teaches entrepreneurship and marketing at Kellogg, where he’s taught since 2011. Prior to that he was President and CEO of Netshops.com, a privately-held ecommerce company funded by Sequoia Capital and Insight Venture Partners. In 2009, Netshops rebranded and became Hayneedle. Internet Retailer named Hayneedle one of America's Hot 100 Retail sites in December of 2009. Cast previously was President and CEO of Walmart.com, where he led Walmart's e-commerce division to profitability on its way to becoming the third highest volume e-tail site behind eBay and Amazon.com. He currently is a venture partner at Pritzker Group Venture Capital.

Networks and Disruption Bigger, Faster, Stronger: The rise of the innovative corporation

11:00 a.m. Cahn Auditorium

Harris Damashek Head of Disruptive Design / Anheuser-Busch InBev

As Global Creative Director for ZX Ventures, a new disruptive growth start-up and incubator spun out of AB In-Bev, Harris is responsible for the creative vision, brands, design and user experience for future-focused pilots of products, platforms and business models globally, generally looking at ideas that may take 3 to 5 years to ferment and take hold. Previously, Harris was the owner of Damashek Consulting.

Networks and Disruption Bigger, Faster, Stronger: The rise of the innovative corporation

11:00 a.m. Cahn Auditorium

Laura Flanagan Former President, Snacks Division / ConAgra Foods

Laura Flanagan has spent the past 20 years in leadership roles in the consumer products industry. In her role as president of the Snacks Division at ConAgra Foods, Laura led the $1.6B P&L and overall growth strategies for the business, including innovation, marketing, supply chain, acquisition and sales/channel strategies. Prior to her roles at ConAgra, she was CMO of the Tropicana Shelf Stable Juice business at PepsiCo, and held other leadership roles on the Quaker Oatmeal and Rice-A-Roni/Near East franchises. Flanagan has a B.S. in Systems & Control Engineering from Case Western Reserve University and an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Networks and Disruption Bigger, Faster, Stronger: The rise of the innovative corporation

11:00 a.m. Cahn Auditorium

Jesper K. Frederiksen President and Vice President, CIO / Danaher Labs, Danaher Corporation

Jesper K. Frederiksen joined Danaher in 2008 as Global IT Director in Radiometer. In 2013 he was appointed Global CIO at Gilbarco Veeder-Root, in 2015 VP of R&D Danaher Labs, and later in 2015 he became President of Danaher Labs and Vice President and CIO for Danaher Corporation. Prior to Danaher, Jesper spent several years in various leading IT positions in companies like Coloplast, Applied Biosystems and Maersk.

Networks and Disruption Bigger, Faster, Stronger: The rise of the innovative corporation

11:00 a.m. Cahn Auditorium

Sonny Garg Utility Industry Lead / Uptake Technologies

Sonny Garg is energy solutions leader at Uptake. Previously, he held several senior positions at Exelon Corp, most recently serving as chief information officer, senior vice president and innovation officer. Sonny also was the senior vice president of Generation at Exelon Generation Company. Since joining Exelon in 2002, he has focused extensively on integration work, including process efficiencies and cost savings. Sonny holds a bachelor’s degree and an MBA from the University of Chicago and a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard University.

Networks and Disruption Bigger, Faster, Stronger: The rise of the innovative corporation

11:00 a.m. Cahn Auditorium

Alex Kandybin Principal / PwC

Alex Kandybin is U.S. principal with Strategy&, PwC's global strategy consulting business based in New York. He works with clients in the consumer healthcare and life sciences industries to develop strategies and capabilities that help them achieve competitive advantage. Kandybin has over twenty years of professional experience in innovation and strategy consulting, industry and academia. He has written several articles on the innovation and healthcare business that have appeared in strategy+business, HBR and Forum magazine and is a frequent speaker in the industry.

Networks and Disruption Bigger, Faster, Stronger: The Rise of the Innovative Corporation

11:00 a.m. Cahn Auditorium

Being the Disruptor

Session 2 / 1:30 pm - 3:00 pm

What does the future of business in the next decade look like? What are the new businesses that will crop up due to the disruptive landscape? What is the context of the world that we need to be aware of/expect for future markets? Find out the answers to these questions and more during this session.

Location:

Cahn Auditorium

Speakers

Uzair Dada '94 Founder and Chief Executive Officer / Iron Horse Interactive

Uzair Dada founded Iron Horse Interactive (IHI) in 2001. Since then, he has built the organization from a startup to an award-winning leader in the demand generation solutions industry. The company serves an array of Fortune 500 companies and global enterprise brands to help them build scalable, revenue-driving demand generation programs. Under Dada’s leadership, IHI has introduced a suite or proprietary demand generation solutions and technologies widely recognized for their innovation. Dada previously held senior positions at Intraware, Deloitte, Apple, Kidder, Peabody and Citi.

Networks and Disruption Being the Disruptor

1:30 p.m. Cahn Auditorium

Christina Kramlich '98 Senior Director / SoFi

Christina Kramlich is a Senior Director of Social Finance, Inc. (SoFi), building a new business initiative within the fast-growing lending startup company that is revolutionizing financial services for early career professionals. Previously, she was co-Head of Marketplace Investments and Investor Relations for SoFi from early in its conception. Prior to SoFi, she was Director, New Product Development at Integrated Insights Consulting, VP of Business Development at Moodlogic. Christina holds a B.A. in History from Columbia College an MBA from Kellogg School of Management.

Networks and Disruption Being the Disruptor

1:30 p.m. Cahn Auditorium

Howard Tullman CEO / 1871

Howard Tullman came to 1871 with over 45 years of start-up, management, IPO and turn-around experience and an extensive operations background in web development, online services, large-scale information assembly and delivery systems, database design and implementation, multimedia, computer games and audio/video digital content. Tullman previously held roles such as President and CEO, Tribeca Flashpoint Media Arts Academy, Chairman and CEO, Experiencia and President of Kendall College.

Networks and Disruption Being the Disruptor

1:30 p.m. Cahn Auditorium

Robert Wolcott Clinical Professor of Entrepreneurship / Co-Founder and Executive Director, Kellogg Innovation Network

Robert Wolcott teaches corporate innovation and entrepreneurship for Kellogg in Evanston, Miami and Hong Kong (with HKUST). His book with Dr. Michael Lippitz, Grow From Within: Mastering Corporate Entrepreneurship and Innovation, shares more than a decade of research into how established companies create innovation for business value; it has since been published in Chinese and Japanese. In 2003, Wolcott co-founded the Kellogg Innovation Network (KIN). The KIN’s annual summit, KIN Global, includes leaders from around the world from business, government, academia, non-profits and the arts who collaborate around issues of significance for their organizations and for humanity.

Networks and Disruption Being the Disruptor

1:30 p.m. Cahn Auditorium

Business Thought Partnership: Human and Machine Learning

Session 3 / 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm

Learn how machine learning is disrupting organizations and opening up markets.

Location:

Cahn Auditorium

Speakers

Moran Cerf Assistant Professor of Marketing / Kellogg School of Management

Moran Cerf is a professor of neuroscience and business at Kellogg and the neuroscience program at Northwestern University. Additionally, he holds a position at the department of neurosurgery, where he studies patients undergoing brain-surgery to examine behavior, emotion and decision-making. His research uses methods from neuroscience to understand the underlying mechanisms of our psychology. He has published works that address questions such as, "How are conscious percepts formed in our brain?” "How can we control our emotions?" and "Which brain mechanisms determine if we find content interesting and engaging?"

Networks and Disruption Business Thought Partnership: Human and Machine Learning

3:30 p.m. Cahn Auditorium

Andrew Fano Managing Director / Accenture Technology Labs

Andrew Fano is a Managing Director for Accenture Technology Labs where he leads the Data Insights R&D Group as well as the Accenture and MIT Alliance in Business Analytics. During his 19 years at Accenture he has served in the leadership of both the Technology Labs as well as Accenture Analytics. During his tenure Andrew has hosted and participated in hundreds of technology workshops with senior and C-level executives of Fortune 1000 companies intended to explore and expand their technology strategy. Andrew earned his PhD in Artificial Intelligence at Northwestern University.

Networks and Disruption Business Thought Partnership: Human and Machine Learning

3:30 p.m. Cahn Auditorium

Emőke-Ágnes Horvát Postdoctoral Researcher / Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems

Emőke-Ágnes Horvát’s research focuses on developing theory and methods at the intersection of physics, computer science and social phenomena and her current work spans the areas of collective intelligence, crowdfunding and the creative industries.

Networks and Disruption Business Thought Partnership: Human and Machine Learning

3:30 p.m. Cahn Auditorium

Thomas Oberlechner Chief Science Officer / AltX

Thomas Oberlechner is a founding partner and the Chief Science Officer at AltX. His extensive expertise on the psychology of financial decision-making drives the behavioral aspect of AltX in its goal to support investment decisions in systematic, data-driven ways. Before joining AltX, Thomas was a Senior Research Professor and Psychology Department Head at Webster University in Vienna. His published work includes the award-winning The Psychology of Ethics in the Finance and Investment Industry. His credentials include a PhD in Psychology, multiple master degrees in Psychology, Counseling and Consulting Psychology and Law, as well as a Habilitation in Psychology, the highest academic qualification conferred by European universities.

Networks and Disruption Business Thought Partnership: Human and Machine Learning

3:30 p.m. Cahn Auditorium

Adam Pah Clinical Assistant Professor / Kellogg School of Management

Adam Pah is a Clinical Assistant Professor at Kellogg School of Management, where his research primarily focuses on the diffusion of innovations in work-place networks. With collaborators at McCormick School of Engineering and Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Pah studies how teams of highly- and similarly-trained individuals adopt new techniques and treatments. Pah has a B.S. in Molecular Biosciences and Biotechnology from Arizona State University and his PhD in Biological Sciences from Northwestern University.

Networks and Disruption Human-Machine Learning and its Impact on Big Business

3:30 p.m. Cahn Auditorium

Brian Uzzi Richard L. Thomas Professor of Leadership and Organizational Change / Faculty Director, Kellogg Architectures of Collaboration Initiative

Brian Uzzi is a globally recognized scientist, teacher, consultant and speaker on leadership, social networks, and new media. His award winning and highly cited research uses social network analysis and complexity theory to understand outstanding human achievement in business, science, and the arts. He also co-directs NICO, the Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems, and holds professorships in Sociology at the Weinberg College of Arts of Sciences and in Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences at the McCormick School of Engineering.

Networks and Disruption Business Thought Partnership: Human and Machine Learning

3:30 p.m. Cahn Auditorium

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