Cecilia Alm (Ph.D., UIUC) is a professor at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) where she is the joint program director for the MS program in Artificial Intelligence, directs the Computational Linguistics and Speech Processing Lab, and serves as an associate director for the Center for Human-aware AI. Her research interests focus on human-inspired multimodal AI systems, AI in affective computing,and AI workforce preparation. She has taught courses in natural language processing, speech processing, artificial intelligence, and linguistics.

Gregor Hofer, Chief Executive Officer at Speech Graphics: Gregor Hofer has held various roles throughout their career. Gregor started as a Research Associate at the Ludwig Boltzman Institute for Urban Ethology in 2002 and worked there until 2003. Gregor then joined the University of Edinburgh as a Researcher from 2009 to 2011. In 2011, they had multiple positions, including Senior Researcher at the Telecommunications Research Center Vienna and Supervisory Board Member at System Industrie Electronic Holding, AG. In the same year, they became the Chief Executive Officer of Speech Graphics and held the position until an unspecified date. In 2020, Gregor Hofer founded another company called Rapport and is currently serving as its Chief Executive Officer. Gregor Hofer has a strong education background. In 1998, they started their undergraduate studies at Rochester Institute of Technology in the field of Psychology and Computer Science. Gregor successfully completed their Bachelor of Science degree in 2002. Following this, Gregor proceeded to pursue their higher education at The University of Edinburgh. From 2004 to 2009, they focused on obtaining their PhD in Speech Technology. Overall, Gregor's education history showcases their dedication and expertise in the fields of Psychology, Computer Science, and Speech Technology.

Mike Gioia, COO, Pickaxe: Mike is a writer and LLM engineer. After working in Hollywood writers rooms for several years, Mike now develops LLM pipelines that can produce realistic, high-quality, highly variable outputs from models. He has designed several LLM systems for using in television production, museum exhibits, and other applied use cases. At Pickaxe, Mike is committed to building the no-code infrastructure that will usher in the mass adoption of AI as a consumer tool. He also writes essays on the emerging landscape of AI filmmaking at his blog Intelligent Jello.

Curt Doty, Founder, RealmIQ: Curt Doty, former studio executive and award-winning marketer, brings leadership experience across the entertainment and branding worlds. As a creative entrepreneur, his consultancy CurtDoty.co specializes in integrated marketing, multi-channel storytelling, branding, identity and user experience with client engagements with NCI, Wizard World, Topps, The Grammys, Maserati, AARP, Spalding, Z-Living, HighGarden Collective, enViibe, Starz, The Santa Fe International Film Festival and many more. Curt has specialized in mobile focused vertical storytelling, branded and original content with recent clients of Viacom, Nickelodeon, MTV, BET, ClixTV, Snapchat and IGTV. Curt has an extensive legacy in television which began at Pittard Sullivan, having worked on broadcast design, network branding, and image campaigns for clients such as Warner Bros TV, TV Guide, Discovery, ABC, FX, StarTV Asia and SAT.1. His experience in movie marketing includes clientele such as Universal Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Fox Searchlight, Dreamworks, Focus Features, Miramax, and Warner Bros. His Fortune 500 clientele have included GM, Carl’s Jr., Bausch + Lomb, Pond’s, Covered California, Degree, GoGo, Genentech, Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, TracFone, USPS, Ubisoft, Abbott, US Army, Housing of Urban Development and Motorola. Curt’s last 15 years have been focused on technology and innovation. With R&D projects with Apple, Toshiba and Microsoft, he pioneered interactive content (Advanced Content) for mobile, Blu-ray and multi-touch eBooks while leading divisions at Trailer Park and Bemis Balkind. As the web is evolving, Curt has recently focused on Web3, decentralization, blockchain and the creator economy through his branding, UX design and marketing. He is a successful fractional leader, acting as CCO and CMO for multiple startups. He recently launched MediaSlam, a content platform discussing the intersection of Design, Content and Tech and also launched RealmIQ, a change management consultancy focused on AI.

Patrick Levy-Rosenthal is the CEO and CTO of MetaSoul Inc. He is presented to the Artificial Intelligence Council of the United Nations; he won the IST Prize from the European Union and is written about in Forbes magazine. TEDx speaker his 2006 worldwide-acclaimed invention, Virtual Lens, is used today by more than 1.3 billion people on Snapchat and Instagram daily. He moved to NYC to work and develop his passion and ideas surrounding bio-inspired emotion synthesis. He studied the relationship between cognition and emotion, the root of the cognitive processes underlying each emotional response, emotions synthesis, and the influence of emotion on decision-making. Patrick has developed EPU (Emotion Processing Unit) MetaSoul technology for AI, NPC, digital humans, and robots, which allows 64 trillion nuances every 1/10th of a second in wave form to create more life-like human interactions.

Jason Mars is a professor of computer science at University of Michigan, President of Jaseci Labs, and co-founder of Myca.ai. Jason Mars’ work is at the intersection of science, technology, and entrepreneurship with the mission to have meaningful impact in the world. This commitment is demonstrated by a long list of intellectual and technical contributions. As a professor of computer science at the University of Michigan, he directs Clarity Lab, one of the world’s most productive research labs in topics spanning artificial intelligence, large scale computing systems, and programming languages. Among numerous contributions, Jason Mars has pioneered Jaseci, a cutting edge novel technology stack, and Jac, a programming language, that together raises the level of abstraction for the creation of sophisticated software powered by Generative AI. Within its first three years of development, it has already been adopted to power a half-dozen production platforms including Myca.ai, Tobu Life, and ZeroShotBot. Jason Mars also founded a number of companies including most recently Jaseci Labs, a company dedicated to leveraging the open source innovations in Jaseci to help companies build world class AI technologies. His prior companies has had significant impacts bringing cutting edge AI solutions to over 20 million users in the Banking,  Healthcare, Automotiveand Food Service industries. Mars track record includes raising over 62 million of venture capital dollars, and has grown business to $200m+ valuations. Mars was named Bank Innovations #2 Most Innovative CEO in Banking 2017, #4 in Top 11 Technologists in Voice AI 2019, Crain’s Detroit Business’ 2019 40 under 40 He has also been recognized with a CARAH Award in 2021 putting alongside Eric Holder, Andrew Young and Usain Bolt as prior winners. Jason Mars is also the bestselling author of “Breaking Bots: Inventing A New Voice In The AI Revolution” where he expresses controversial insights on the surprising progress in AI and what the future holds while deconstructing the DNA that underlies true AI innovation and disruption. The book also serves to inspire aspiring leaders to build something that can change the world and tells Jason’s personal story of comeuppance.

Rich Sutton, Managing Partner, DMRS Advisory, LLC: Highly regarded and with proven success in digital media, Sutton has more than 30 years of experience in management, marketing, startups, turnarounds and working to grow world-class brands. Sutton's been Chief Revenue Officer at Everyday Health, Trusted Media Brands and The Daily Mail. Previously, he was Senior Vice President of consumer markets at WebMD, where he tripled and broadened the company’s client base. Prior to joining WebMD, Sutton served as Senior Vice President for Warner Bros. Entertainment where he led digital media sales and client marketing for Warner Bros. Online for more than 13 years. Sutton’s work with brands has been recognized by Ad Age, Forbes, AAAA, and Adweek, among other industry publications, and online and marketing awards. He is the author of “Best Practices in Branded Entertainment” for the Association of National Advertisers, as well as several White Papers for Trusted Media Brands, including: “The Future of Digital Video” and “Can Video and Native Formats Rule Mobile Advertising?”. In 2018 Digiday named Sutton "Top Boss.” Partnered with Doug McFarland, Sutton today is Managing Partner of DMRS Advisory, LLC.  www.dmrsadvisory.com  With a wide range of clients, start-ups to Fortune 100 companies, DMRS Advisory consults on business growth, go-to-market strategy as well as fundraising. Rich lives on Long Island with his wife of 30 years Wendy who consistently beats him at Scrabble.  Sutton’s side hustle is commercial voice over work:  www.richsuttonvoiceover.com