Sophie Wade is author of Embracing Progress. Next Steps for the Future of Work which is an Executive MBA Program and management leadership textbook. She has held senior management, strategy and finance roles around the world working in media, technology, and venture capital, for companies such as IMG, Yahoo, and SONY. Sophie has a BA from Oxford University and an MBA from top international business school, INSEAD.

Sophie is Founder and Workforce Innovation Specialist at Flexcel Network, a Future-of-Work-focused consultancy. She helps companies to future-proof their work environments and create compelling, competitive, and digitally-integrated workplaces to attract, engage and retain their multigenerational and distributed talent.

Michael Hopkins is an award-winning writer, magazine executive, and content strategy leader who finds and tells stories that illuminate the rapidly emerging future of work.

He helped build the Inc. Magazine brand as its longtime executive editor, turned around the MIT Sloan Management Review, created The Build Network (the “catalog of ideas” for C-suite leaders at mid-sized businesses), and pioneered innovation research and digital publications for The Monitor Group, Boston Consulting Group, The Financial Times, and Dow Jones, among many.

He is co-founder of The Solo Project, a team exploring the end days of the “job” as we’ve known it, and is currently writing a major book uncovering lessons from the vanguard of indie professionals and the innovative organizational leaders who collaborate with them. (Beta title: “The Joy of Work: How to create and lead your Big Solo Life in a world where we’ll all, sometimes, be on our own.”)

Tom Cheesewright is one of the most respected consultants and commentators on tomorrow’s world. As an Applied Futurist, Tom helps people and organisations around the world to see what’s next and to build a coherent response.

Tom is a frequent presence on TV and radio, explaining today’s world of high frequency change and the technology that drives it. He has appeared thousands of times over the last decade across the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, and Sky News as well as in many print and online publications including The Guardian, The Times, and The Evening Standard.

Tom consults with clients looking for greater foresight into the near future, and teaches and licences a range of tools for building more agile organisations. He is a frequent speaker on the future across a range of industries. Customers include global corporations such as BASF. BP, KPMG, LG, Nikon, and Unilever, as well as universities, charities and public bodies.

Tom’s first book, High Frequency Change, will be published in 2019. Find out more at https://tomcheesewright.com

Elizabeth Kiehner leads a global, cross sector team responsible for C-suite engagement and business development at IBM. Her passion and creativity have impacted some of the world’s most recognized enterprises, and as an entrepreneur at heart, Kiehner excels at generating business results.  She is a believer in the positive impact of human and machine collaboration and its benefits to the future of work.

For two decades Kiehner has united creative, business, and technology teams to produce ground-breaking ideas for organizations including Google, Microsoft, Ford, John Deere, Viacom, American Express, Apple, Turner, Fidelity, Schwab, GM, GE, Khan Academy and many more.  With a background in marketing and advertising Kiehner’s focus on digital reinvention bridges the gulf from traditional media to AI.

Powered by a mission to transform customer experiences into meaningful innovations that drive growth, Kiehner’s day ranges from identifying and mentoring the newest crop of talent to capturing the pulse of an ever-changing data and technology landscape. Her strategy and sales acumen drive go to market teams for pioneering platforms and products designed for our data driven, cognitive era.  Her thought leadership has been shared at TED, EG, Adobe, SxSW, CES, New Context Conference, Cannes, and Promax/BDA.

Pavel is the VP Technology, Media Networks for Activision Blizzard, the world's most successful standalone interactive entertainment company.

Blizzard is pushing the boundaries of esports fan engagement with online competition, rich media delivery, and interactive watch experiences. Its portfolio includes some of the biggest franchises in all of entertainment, developed by the incredibly talented teams at Activision Publishing, Blizzard Entertainment, King Digital Entertainment, Activision Blizzard Studios, Major League Gaming, and its independent studios, including Toys for Bob, Infinity Ward, Sledgehammer Games and Treyarch. Its central corporate operations provide shared services such as Finance, IT, Sales and Supply Chain, Human Resources and Legal.

Ryan Merkley is CEO at Creative Commons. CC licenses are the global standard for sharing, supported by a distributed staff in the US, Canada, Chile, Brazil, and Kenya, and international community in over 80 countries. He is focused on building a vibrant, usable commons powered by collaboration and gratitude. Ryan is also the co-producer and host of Plays Well With Others, a podcast about the art, science, and mechanics of collaboration. Last year, CC launched Search, indexing over 270M images online, with a goal of including all of the 1.4 billion CC licensed works on the web. Ryan was previously COO at the Mozilla Foundation, and served as Director of Communications for Vancouver during the 2010 Winter Olympics. As Senior Advisor to former Toronto Mayor David Miller, he led the city’s budget, and launched its open data initiative. He lives in Toronto with his wife Kelsey, his daughter, and their dog Barkley.

Leveraging a deep technical heritage from iRobot, Ava Robotics designs and builds autonomous robots that comfortably coexist with humans in workplaces and other large spaces. Ava Robotics is transforming what it means to collaborate by combining autonomous mobility with Cisco's high definition video conferencing. Ava Robotics’ engineers are developing these products based on what we call “practical teleportation”, enabling workers to easily and safely move around a remote location as if they are physically there.  

Alaa Murabit is a medical doctor, Canadian Meritorious Service Cross recipient, one of 17 Global Sustainable Development Goal Advocates appointed by the UN Secretary General, and a UN High- Level Commissioner on Health Employment & Economic Growth. In 2016 she founded a global Mentorship Programme for emerging leaders and co-founded The Omnis Institute, an independent non- profit committed to challenging critical global issues through the empowerment of emerging local leaders, and became the Executive Director of Phase Minus 1, which provides thought leadership in conflict resolution and inclusive security. Alaa previously founded The Voice of Libyan Women at the age of 21.

An MIT Media Lab Director's Fellow, Ashoka Fellow and International Deliver For Good Influencer, Alaa serves as a board member for The Malala Fund, Women’s March Global, International Alert, and Malaria No More.

Her efficacy in security, health policy & sustainable development was most recently recognized as one of Canada’s 25 Most Influential Women. She also received the 2018 Nelson Mandela International Award from The Mandela Family.

In 2017 she was named a Forbes 30 Under 30, Aspen Institute Spotlight Scholar, and Bay St. Bull Canada's 30x30. Her leadership in global policy and in elevating the role of women, particularly young, minority women, on global platforms was recognized by Harvard Law who named her the youngest 2017 Woman Inspiring Change.

Rosie leads a multidisciplinary team of designers and engineers focusing on research, design, and development of human robot interaction behaviors. She joined PFF in 2015 after graduating from the Harvard Graduate School of Design, and is one of the founding team members that invented the intelligent mobile carrier, gita®.

Founded in 2015 by the Piaggio Group, Piaggio Fast Forward (PFF) creates lightweight, intelligent mobility solutions for people and goods. We design for a culture of movability that reduces congestion for our planet, enabling everyone to move more freely. Velocity today is more than speed and acceleration, it is mental and social. We aim to change the paradigm from seeing walkers as pitiable to powerful. We believe in technology that extends people's capabilities. Crossing threshold of mobility, activity, and variety with fluidity. Anywhere. Indoors, outdoors, home and work.