Stay tuned for our 2025 Speakers. Presented here are our 2024 Speakers.
Vint Cerf
Chief Evangelist
Vint Cerf
Chief Evangelist
Google
Widely known as one of the “Fathers of the Internet,” Vinton (Vint) G. Cerf is the co-designer with Robert E. Kahn of the TCP/IP protocols and the architecture of the Internet. Cerf’s tireless commitment to the Internet’s evolution, improvement, oversight, and evangelism throughout its history has had an indelible impact on the world. It is largely due to his efforts that we even have the Internet—and it is largely due to the Internet that we have changed the way we live today. The Internet has enabled a large part of the world to receive instant access to news, brought us closer to friends and loved ones, and made it easier to purchase products online. It’s improved access to education, scientific discourse, made smartphones useful, and opened the door for social media, cloud computing, video conferencing, and streaming. Cerf saw early on the importance of decentralized control, with no one company or government completely in charge of the Internet.
In the 1980s, Cerf served as vice president of MCI Digital Information Services, where he led the engineering of MCI Mail, the first commercial e-mail service to be connected to the Internet. In the 1990s, Cerf, Kahn and others co-founded the Internet Society in aid of standards and policy development for the Internet. In the 2000s, he promoted the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a non-profit that helps to ensure a stable, secure, and interoperable global Internet and served as its chairman from 2000-2007. Cerf has worked continuously speaking around the world to evangelize the Internet’s growth and adoption in service of the public good.
Cerf has received many accolades for his work on the Internet, including the US National Medal of Technology, the US Presidential Medal of Freedom, US National Medal of Technology, the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering, the Japan Prize, the Charles Stark Draper award, the ACM Turing Award, and more.
An IEEE Life Fellow, Cerf is vice president and chief Internet evangelist, Google, Reston, Virginia, USA.
Al Tadros
Chief Technology Officer
Redwire Space
Al Tadros
Chief Technology Officer
Redwire Space
Al Tadros is the Chief Technology Officer of Redwire. In this role, he is focused on making strategic investments that support Redwire’s customers, advancing technology development and commercialization, and maintaining a nimble and collaborative technical culture. With nearly three decades of experience as an aerospace executive, Al is a thought leader in in-space servicing, assembly and manufacturing with a proven track record in maturing satellite and space systems programs for exploration, national security, and commercial innovation.
Previously, Al was Chief Growth Officer and Executive Vice President of Space Infrastructure at Redwire. In this role, he oversaw the company’s long-term growth strategy and business development activities, and was responsible for advancing development, increasing adoption, and building momentum for Redwire’s mission-enabling capabilities within the civil, defense, and commercial space sectors.
Prior to Redwire, he served as Vice President of Space Infrastructure and Civil Space at Maxar Technologies, where he led significant innovation in next-generation spacecraft design and space infrastructure, integrating robotics and in-space satellite manufacturing, servicing, and assembly capabilities. Over the course of his career at Maxar, Al contributed to 13 missions and launch campaigns, many of which deployed cutting-edge communications and remote sensing systems. Al has worked with both commercial enterprises and government agencies to develop space systems for communications, satellite servicing, remote sensing, and exploration.
An authority in in-space servicing, assembly, and manufacturing, Al holds patents in the field of attitude control systems and was responsible for early telerobotics research for the International Space Station.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering and a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Tom Coughlin
President - Couglin Associates, Preisdent of IEEE
Coughlin Associates
Tom Coughlin
President - Couglin Associates, Preisdent of IEEE
Coughlin Associates
Tom has worked 40+ years in the digital storage industry as an engineer, engineering manager and senior executive. His company produces reports on digital storage and applications and provides industry consulting services. He founded and organized major storage and memory industry events and is a frequent invited speaker. His regular column for Forbes.com covers storage and memory trends. Tom published >500 articles, book chapters, reports and a book. He is an inventor in 6 patents. He has a Physic BS, an Electrical Engineering MS (from UMN) and an Electrical Engineering PhD (Shinshu University, Japan). Tom is an IEEE Life Fellow, has three years on the IEEE Board and is a member of HKN. He has a long history of diverse IEEE leadership and is active in SNIA and SMPTE. He received an MGA Leadership Award in 2020. He was Chair of the Silicon Valley section and Region 6 Director.
Carolyn Andrews
Founder
Inspired Leaders Now
Carolyn Andrews
Founder
Inspired Leaders Now
Carolyn is the founder of Inspired Leaders Now and is a certified business and executive coach. Her business experience ranges from Fortune 100 companies to organizations with fewer than 50 staff members. She is recognized as an outstanding business strategist and leader. Her true passion is working with business owners to help them develop leadership capacity, grow their business and achieve
maximum results. She is instrumental in implementing strategies and building relationships that positively impact growth, increase effectiveness, improve operational efficiency and help owners enhance their leadership skills while driving for results.
She has extensive senior executive leadership experience in information systems and technology, risk management, marketing and finance with demonstrated ability to guide major global initiatives to successful completion for a Fortune 100 company. Her experience includes management of over 400 resources in multiple locations as well as senior leadership responsibility for multi-million-dollar international projects. She also has more than 15 years of experience in small business management including starting up new businesses and coaching existing businesses.
Carolyn has excellent communication, negotiation and interpersonal skills with a reputation for forming productive business relationships at all levels. She works with her clients to achieve results and focuses on helping them create an environment that is collaborative and inclusive, resulting in improved information sharing and team building. She helps create greater synergy within organizations and transforms learning into results.
Her combination of technology and business background enables her to ensure that all areas are successfully represented and recognized. Carolyn believes that shared outcomes with a customer satisfaction focus and collaboration are key to success. She is recognized for the ability to align people, processes and information technology with business objectives.
Carolyn strongly supports many community organizations and was given the Hon Kachina Award for Volunteerism. She is active in her church and strongly supports expanding volunteer opportunities in the community through her work with Big Brothers/Big Sisters, HandsOn Phoenix and the Salvation Army as well as supporting educational growth through the Future City Competition involving youth in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).
She holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from the Thunderbird Graduate School of Global Management with undergraduate studies in business and computer system analysis. She is an Amazon best-selling author and a national and international speaker and trainer.
Rusty Thomas
SVP & GM, Space Applications Sector, CTO
Sierra Nevada Corporation
Rusty Thomas
SVP & GM, Space Applications Sector, CTO
Sierra Nevada Corporation
Rusty Thomas is the SVP & General Manager of Sierra Space’s Space Applications Sector and Chief Technology Officer, driving the development and operations of our team.
With nearly 34 years of experience in the space industry, Thomas has spent his career leveraging commercial approaches for on-time, zero-defect, delivery of spacecraft and launch vehicles. Thomas joins Sierra Space from Amazon where he led the Kuiper Government Solutions team, responsible for leading Kuiper Government engagement and advanced project teams.
Prior to Kuiper, Thomas led the Project Blackjack and Pit Boss teams for DARPA’s Tactical Technology Office that are demonstrating the military utility of proliferated LEO small satellites, including autonomous operations and direct tactical communication links from space assets to warfighters.
Prior to DARPA, Mr. Thomas was Senior Director of Dragon Production at SpaceX, where he led the team that built the first commercial spacecraft to resupply the International Space Station. His team also manufactured the Falcon9 landing legs and actuators.
He has held positions at Motorola on the original Iridium satellite integration and launch team, worked on Space Shuttle and SpaceLab structural analysis, led the DARPA MiTEX mechanical design team, and held multiple program management positions at Northrup Grumman’s (previously Orbital) advanced projects groups developing and launching classified spacecraft.
Rusty holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical and Astronomical Engineering from Purdue University and a Master of Science degree in Engineering Mechanics, Aerospace, from the University of Texas at Austin.
Mark Schneider
President
Schneider Smart Design
Mark Schneider
President
Schneider Smart Design
Design, leveraging his experience and knowledge to deliver innovative solutions for smarter designs for a sustainable world. Mr. Schneider has recently retired from Bentley Systems, where he was responsible for driving digital advancement for Infrastructure and Digital Twins for large global organizations.
Mark is a pioneer in computer engineering design and digital workflows. He has over 40 years of knowledge and experience in civil engineering and computer enabled engineering. He has over twenty years of experience in civil engineering, starting with
computer aided 3D design and modeling in 1982 on mainframe systems. In 1997, Mark joined a Bentley System integrator, then transitioned to Bentley Systems in 2001. At Bentley Systems, Mr. Schneider has gained experience with global technical leadership for integrated Infrastructure lifecycle solutions from design applications to digital twins for construction and operations in a common data environment.
John McDonald
Founder & CEO
JDM Associates, LLC
John McDonald
Founder & CEO
JDM Associates, LLC
John D. McDonald, P.E., is Founder & CEO of JDM Associates, LLC. John has 49 years of experience in the electric utility transmission and distribution industry. John received his B.S.E.E. and M.S.E.E. (Power Engineering) degrees from Purdue University, and an M.B.A. (Finance) degree from the University of California-Berkeley.
John is a Life Fellow of IEEE (member for 52 years), member of IEEE-HKN (inducted 52 years ago) and Tau Beta Pi (inducted 50 years ago), member of the Delta Sigma Phi Fraternity, and was awarded the
IEEE Millennium Medal, the IEEE Power & Energy Society (PES) Excellence in Power Distribution Engineering Award, the IEEE PES Substations Committee Distinguished Service Award, the IEEE PES Meritorious Service Award, the 2016 CIGRE Distinguished Member Award, the 2016 CIGRE USNC Attwood Associate Award, the 2021 CIGRE Honorary Member Award and the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative (SECC) Lifetime Achievement Award.
John is Past President of the IEEE PES, the VP for Technical Activities for the US National Committee (USNC) of CIGRE, the Past Chair of the IEEE PES Substations Committee, the IEEE Division VII Past Director, and a member of the National Academy of Engineering. John was on the Board of Governors of the IEEE-SA (Standards Association), is an IEEE Foundation Director and Chair of its 50 th Anniversary Celebration Committee and is a Founding Board Member of the SECC.
John received the 2009 Purdue University Outstanding Electrical and Computer Engineer Award and the 2023 Purdue University Distinguished Engineering Alumni Award. John teaches Smart Grid courses at the Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, and Smart Grid
courses for various IEEE PES local chapters as an IEEE PES Distinguished Lecturer (since 1999). John has published one hundred fifty papers and articles, has co-authored five books and has one US patent.
Michael Andrews
Managing Partner
Andrews & Associates
Michael Andrews
Managing Partner
Andrews & Associates
Mr. Andrews is Managing Partner of Andrews & Associates (https://andrews-associates.com), a consulting firm specializing in new product creation, product and service innovation, business leadership and management development, operations and logistics, and Emergency Planning for business, schools, and government entities.
Mike is also a Founding Partner of the Inception Advisory Group (https://inceptionadvisorygroup.com), a consulting firm that provides design, development, construction, operations, strategic planning, and financing solutions to entities in the cannabis industry.
Mr. Andrews is a Senior Life Member of IEEE and is currently serving IEEE members as the Past Director (Director 2013-14), AdCom member for the Technology and Engineering Management Society (TEMS) and past Vice President of Membership, Marketing and Communications; IEEE Awards Board Presentation and Publicity Committee Chair; IEEE Vision, Innovation and Challenges Summit (VICS) Chair; IEEE Life Members Committee and Region 6 Life Members Affinity Group Coordinator; EPICS Committee; Executive Producer and Champion of the IEEE Rising Stars Conference, Creator of the inaugural Life Member Conference 2024, and member of the Phoenix Section Executive Committee in multiple roles.
Mr. Andrews’ commitment to the community includes serving as President of the Smart Education Foundation, host to the SMART Competition; the Arizona Region Coordinator for the Future City Competition; the Salvation Army Advisory Board past chair and current member, Commissioner on the City of Phoenix Youth and Education Commission; member of the Grand Canyon University Engineering Advisory Board; and member of the Williams Institute for Ethics and Management Board of Directors.
Mike was awarded the Salvation Army Sally Award for outstanding volunteerism, the Hon Kachina Award (Excellence in Volunteerism, State of Arizona), and the American Institute of Architects (AIA) – Arizona Award of Distinction. He has also received the IEEE Millennium Medal for outstanding achievements and contributions to IEEE, the IEEE-USA George F. McClure Citation of Honor Award, and the IEEE-USA Robert S. Walleigh Award for Distinguished Contributions to Engineering Professionalism.
Heather Monigan
Global Engineering Executive Director and Senior Business Strategist - Founder
Brevir Solutions LLC
Heather Monigan
Global Engineering Executive Director and Senior Business Strategist - Founder
Brevir Solutions LLC
[insert bio here]
Leo Szeto
Director of Control Systems and Electrical Engineering
Nusano
Leo Szeto
Director of Control Systems and Electrical Engineering
Nusano
Leo Szeto has served in a wide variety of teams and companies of different sizes, from research groups, start-ups, established companies, and multi-national corporations. After graduating from UCLA, Leo became an Imagineer, creating magic as a Ride Controls Engineer for the Shanghai Disney Resort. A strong believer in the creative potential of everyone, Leo has given numerous talks in the US and China on the “Technical Creative”; People who can dream, design, and execute, with vision and passion.
Leo is currently the director of Controls Systems and Electrical Engineering at Nusano, a series B funded startup that has is building a first-of-its-kind facility to produce medical radioisotopes at scale, enabling the development of radiopharmaceuticals for personalized cancer therapies.
Dr. Catherine Fang
Co-founder & Chief AI Officer
AiCare Corporation
Dr. Catherine Fang
Co-founder & Chief AI Officer
AiCare Corporation
Dr. Fang is Distinguished Service Professor at Carnegie Mellon University, and a research faculty at Harvard. She is also a seasoned entrepreneur with 20 years of experience in the software industry. Dr. Fang's research and product expertise lies in personalized healthcare and clinical trials, AI-based therapy for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and data mining on digital audience behavior profiling and targeting. With multiple US patents to her name, she also serves as an associate editor for the IEEE reliability society. Dr. Fang's entrepreneurial spirit has led her to co-found two companies, including AiCare, a cutting-edge AI and cloud-powered Healthcare & Medical platform, and Apple Pi Inc., mentoring young entrepreneurs and bootstrapping startups in Silicon Valley, California. Prior to this, Dr. Fang served as Global/Sr. Product Manager and Architect at LinkedIn, Yahoo, Bluekai (acquired by Oracle), and Sun Microsystems.
Volaree Rendon
Director-Solutions Engineering
Bentley Systems
Volaree Rendon
Director-Solutions Engineering
Bentley Systems
Experienced, solutions-oriented Senior Manager with notable success implementing a broad range of Transportation digital solution initiatives while promoting new and innovative approaches to address business challenges and problems.
In her current role, Mrs. Rendon manages and supports a team of Solutions Engineers and Solutions Architects who are Transportation Solution specialists and subject matter experts with regards to Bentley Civil Engineering desktop applications (ie. OpenRoads Designer) as well as cloud solutions such as Bentley Infrastructure Cloud. Volaree is responsible for coordinating across organizations and together with Account Managers, Mrs. Rendon is instrumental in planning, developing, and implementing solutions architecture for deployment across industry professional organizations.
Mrs. Rendon has twenty-nine years of civil engineering industry experience, and prior to her role as Director, Volaree was a Senior Manager for User Success Services, managing a team of consultants responsible for developing and deploying configurations for OpenRoads Designer as well as providing training and project support services and articulating best practices for design modeling and digital deliverables. She has extensive experience developing and implementing training programs for state departments of transportation, engineering consulting firms and federal agencies, as well as developing training content utilizing Bentley applications such as OpenRoads Designer.
Jyotika Athavale
Director RAS Architecture
Synopsys
IEEE Computer Society President
Jyotika Athavale
Director RAS Architecture
Synopsys
IEEE Computer Society President
Jyotika is a Director and Principal Architect at Synopsys, leading Silicon health and Lifecycle Management RAS architecture for automotive and data center use cases. Prior to Synopsys, she was Lead Technologist, Functional Safety Architecture at NVIDIA, driving capability development, safety architectures and methodologies, system safety engineering activities and pathfinding for safety critical systems. Prior to NVIDIA, Jyotika was Principal Engineer (Director) at Intel Corporation where she led corporate-wide RAS and Functional Safety methodologies and architectures for automotive, data center and avionics use cases.
Jyotika also serves as the 2024 President of the worldwide IEEE Computer Society, overseeing overall IEEE-CS programs and operations.
She chairs the IEEE P2851 Standard on Functional Safety interoperability which has WG membership from over 30 companies.
For her leadership in service, Jyotika was awarded the IEEE Computer Society Golden Core Award in 2022. She was also recognized as a Distinguished Alumna by her alma-mater VJTI.
She has authored patents and many technical publications in various international conferences and journals.
Mark Bohenick
Engineering Manager
Naval Nuclear Laboratory
Mark Bohenick
Engineering Manager
Naval Nuclear Laboratory
Mark Bohenick is a graduate of Penn State University where he honed his problem solving and systems engineering skills while majoring in Engineering Science (BS, MS). Over his 16-year career at the Naval Nuclear Laboratory, Mark has taken on leadership positions in various engineering disciplines working on advanced and innovative systems. Today he is the engineering manager of a team of electrical, computer and software engineers who are tasked with qualifying mission-critical instrumentation and control system software. When not helping his team overcome obstacles and solve problems, Mark is active with his wife and kids, and chocolate Lab, Guinness.
Greg Morrison
Chief AI Officer
White Tip Sharks
Greg Morrison
Chief AI Officer
White Tip Sharks
Greg is the Chief AI Officer at White Tip Sharks, an Intelligent Automation company based in San Diego, CA. Greg will be sharing valuable insights for harmonizing Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Human Intelligence in the enterprise. Greg has an impressive background in delivering innovative business solutions at scale to the technology market. His innovation portfolio spans both leading technology providers and Fortune 500 companies. He also played a key role in the development of the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) framework, as a contributing author, which continues to be the de facto standard for IT Best Practices worldwide.
Dr. Preeti Chauhan
Technical Program Manager
Data Center Quality and Reliability, Google
Dr. Preeti Chauhan
Technical Program Manager
Data Center Quality and Reliability, Google
Dr. Preeti Chauhan is a Technical Program Manager (TPM) in the Data Center Quality and Reliability group at Google. Previously, Dr Chauhan was a Quality and Reliability TPM at Intel and led the Assembly and Test certification of Foveros 3D packaging technology and Server microprocessors. She is a senior member of IEEE and co-editor of the data column in the Computer magazine. Preeti is a member of Reliability Society Administrative Committee and Reliability Society liaison to IRPS Board of Directors.
Heet Shah
Technical Product Manager
eBay Inc
Heet Shah
Technical Product Manager
eBay Inc
Heet Shah is a Technical Product Manager at eBay, currently based in San Jose, California and originally from Mumbai, India. In his role at eBay, he leads the end-to-end journey from discovery to deployment of cybersecurity products. He believes that entrepreneurship is a key quality of a leader & aims to become an entrepreneur. As someone who enjoys collaborating on startup ideas, his projects have won multiple competitions and been cited in business newspapers like LiveMint and Mumbai Times. He completed his Bachelor of Engineering from Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (VJTI) and did his Master of Engineering Management from Duke University.
Stephanie Gillespie
Associate Dean
Tagliatela College of Engineering at the University of New Haven
Stephanie Gillespie
Associate Dean
Tagliatela College of Engineering at the University of New Haven
Dr. Stephanie Gillespie is an Associate Dean at Tagliatela College of Engineering at the University of New Haven in West Haven, Connecticut, USA. She has been a service learning practitioner for 5 years, including the development of community partners and supporting student teams with real-world, client-based engineering for nonprofit organizations.
Her current research interests span multiple areas of engineering education including makerspaces, multidisciplinary teams, gender diversity and minority retention, and entrepreneurial mindset. Her PhD from Georgia Tech focused on machine learning and signal processing for affective computing, specifically detecting stress and depression in adults with communication disorders.
She is currently serving as the 2023 Chair of the EPICS in IEEE committee and also sits on the IEEE Humanitarian Board as the Liaison for Educational Activities.
Joe Grand
Principal Engineer
Grand Idea Studio, Inc.
Joe Grand
Principal Engineer
Grand Idea Studio, Inc.
Joe Grand, also known as Kingpin, is a computer engineer, hardware hacker, teacher, advisor, daddy, honorary doctor, occasional video maker, member of legendary hacker group L0pht Heavy Industries, and proprietor of Grand Idea Studio. He has been creating, exploring, and manipulating electronic systems since the 1980s.
Russel Harrison
Managing Director
IEEE USA
Russel Harrison
Managing Director
IEEE USA
Russell Harrison is the Managing Director of the IEEE-USA, which focuses on the unique needs and concerns of IEEE members in the United States. Over his 20-year career with IEEE-USA, Russ has represented IEEE members to the American government on dozens of policy issues including autonomous vehicles, digital privacy, AI, federal research funding, export control, and immigration. In addition to directly engaging with policy makers, Russ strives to build bridges between technology professionals and politicians. He has spoken at over 300 local, national, and international events about public policy and the need for technology professionals to interact with their elected leaders.
Dr. Steven Li
Chair, Associate Professor
IEEE Reliability Society, Western New England University
Dr. Steven Li
Chair, Associate Professor
IEEE Reliability Society, Western New England University
Dr. Li is professor with the Department of Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management at Western New England University in Springfield, MA, USA. Dr. Li’s research interests include quality and reliability engineering, AI/ML, data analytics, applied statistics, and operations research. He received his Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from the University of Washington. He is an ASQ Certified Reliability Engineer and Caterpillar Six Sigma Black Belt (SSBB). He is serving on editorial boards for IEEE Transactions on Reliability and IEEE Access Reliability Society Section. He has served as a board member of IISE Quality Control and Reliability Engineering (QCRE) Division and IEEE Reliability Society. Dr. Li is currently the President of the IEEE Reliability Society 2022-2024.
Sukanya Meher
Member of Technical Staff
Hypres Inc
Sukanya Meher
Member of Technical Staff
Hypres Inc
Sukanya S. Meher is a Member of Technical Staff at Hypres Inc, NY. In her role, she focuses on the design and development of energy efficient superconductor electronic circuits with diverse applications in digital signal processing, sensors, computing, and communication systems. She earned her Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University, NY, in 2016 and her Bachelor’s degree in Electronics and Communication from Manipal University, India in 2014. Sukanya’s proficiency spans circuit design, modeling, simulation, tool development, and testing of superconductor chips under cryogenic conditions. Sukanya's passion lies in contributing to sustainable and energy-efficient computing solutions.
Beyond her technical role, Sukanya maintains an active involvement with the IEEE Young Professionals Climate and Sustainability Taskforce by supporting the team in various events. She recently played a key role in orchestrating a Young Professionals Dialogue Session with the UNFCCC during New York Climate Week. Her proactive involvement underscored her commitment to addressing climate challenges and fostering meaningful discussions among young professionals in the field. Additionally, Sukanya serves as a committee member of the IEEE Young Professionals Council on Superconductivity. Her commitment extends to volunteering for AnitaB.org and the Grace Hopper Celebration, and advocating for empowerment of women in technology.
Outside her professional and volunteer commitments, Sukanya pursues her passion for dancing, hiking, blogging, and traveling.
Roger Ritchey
Vice President of Development Systems and Academic Programs
Microchip Technology
Roger Ritchey
Vice President of Development Systems and Academic Programs
Microchip Technology
Rodger Richey currently serves as Vice President of Microchip’s Development Systems division and Academic Programs. He earned his BSEE from University of Arizona in 1990 and started his career at Planning Systems Inc working on underwater electronics for the US Navy and various underwater research organizations. Rodger joined Microchip in 1994 and has served many roles in 8-bit and 16-bit MCUs, Apple and Android accessories, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth software. He currently manages Microchip’s Development Systems group which develops IDEs, compilers, debuggers and other tools for Microchip’s programmable devices. Rodger also manages Microchip’s Academic program that provides support to universities for setting up labs, adopting curriculum and guest lectures based on Microchip’s devices and technologies.
Ravi Shivnath
Principal Engineer
Naval Nuclear Laboratory
Ravi Shivnath
Principal Engineer
Naval Nuclear Laboratory
Ravi holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the City College of New York, and a master’s in engineering management from Clarkson University. Ravi has 20 years of experience in embedded control systems design, Quality Assurance, nuclear reactor operations, and fleet support. Most recently, Ravi was the lead NNL electrical/computer/software recruiter, Test Lead for Reactor Plant Instrumentation and Control systems, and manager of the Test Systems development group. In his spare time, Ravi enjoys meeting people, yoga, biking, and the outdoors with his wife and two kids (Nico, 9, and Jaiya, 12).
Andrei Gavrilov
Engineer-In-Training
IEEE Southern Alberta Section Young Professionals
Andrei Gavrilov
Engineer-In-Training
IEEE Southern Alberta Section Young Professionals
Andrei Gavrilov is a 2021 Dean's Honour List Graduate and APSC Rising Star from the University of British Columbia, Canada. He holds a Bachelor of Applied Science, specializing in Computer and Mining Engineering and minoring in Commerce. Andrei has over three years of experience in the Data & Analytics sector through his work experience in the public and energy industries. Andrei has held positions in various organizations, including Data Analyst in Advanced Analytics at Suncor, Project Engineer at Suncor, Business Continuity Student at City of Calgary 9-1-1 Emergency Services and Engineering Assistant at City of Vancouver Project Delivery Branch. He is also an active IEEE member since 2019, volunteering with IEEEXtreme, the IEEE Canada Student Activities Committee and Region 7 Young Professionals Committee. He has conducted four research projects on the topics of machine learning, biometric facial recognition and parametric building design and holds three publications. Having attended the IEEE Rising Stars Conference last year, Andrei hopes he will inspire students and professionals alike through his unique presentation and engagement style.
Alberto Tam Yong
Senior Electrical Engineer; IEEE Region 6 Young Professionals Chair
Applied Medical
Alberto Tam Yong
Senior Electrical Engineer; IEEE Region 6 Young Professionals Chair
Applied Medical
Alberto Tam Yong is a Senior Electrical Engineer at Applied Medical in Rancho Santa Margarita, CA, innovating on the Technology and Development, Electrical, team to advance medical devices for minimally invasive surgery. He has experience in the design, prototype, and development of hardware electrical systems, and specializes in analog and digital circuit design. He leads and collaborates with engineers to address complex design challenges and implement engineering solutions. He received his BSc in Electrical Engineering from the University of California, Riverside, in 2016. As the 2015-2016 Chair of the IEEE Student Branch at the University of California, Riverside, he led a highly dynamic group of volunteers, engaged members with technical, social, and professional opportunities, and guided the organization to earn the IEEE Region 6 Outstanding Large Student Branch Award. As Co-Director of Citrus Hack 2016, he organized a 36-hour hackathon that gathered over 300 students to create, collaborate, and challenge each other. Mr. Tam Yong continues to volunteer for IEEE at the local Section level and has been serving IEEE Region 6 in roles promoting student and young professional engagement since 2017. He served as the 2017-2019 Vice Chair of the IEEE Foothill Section and has supported IEEE conferences, such as the IEEE Rising Stars Conference and the IEEE Sustech 2021 Conference. Currently, Alberto Tam Yong is the Young Professionals Chair for IEEE Region 6, Chair of the IEEE Orange County Section, and is a member of the organizing committee for the IEEE Rising Stars Conference.
David Sandhu
Senior Financial Advisor
Wise Wealth
David Sandhu
Senior Financial Advisor
Wise Wealth
David formerly worked for SpaceX, Raytheon and Lockheed Martin as an engineer before he transitioned to the financial services industry.
After his father passed away, David helped his mom through the financial planning process, and that gave him the spark to pursue a career in financial planning.
David is passionate about serving others and lives by Zig Ziglar’s famous saying, “You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help enough other people get what they want.” He knows first-hand that true happiness is experienced when helping others and he is always looking for ways to encourage others to reach their goals.
David is a Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor and Financial Advisor with Wise Wealth, LLC – an SEC Registered Investment Advisory Firm. David has a passion for education and understands that the key to successful retirement planning begins with knowledge.
Elizabeth Farkas
Bluetooth Software Engineer
Apple
Elizabeth Farkas
Bluetooth Software Engineer
Apple
Elizabeth is a Bluetooth Software Engineer at Apple. She graduated with her B.S. in Computer Engineering from UC San Diego in 2019. She has served on the Rising Stars committee for many years on the Publicity Committee, and serves as Vice Chair of the 2024 Conference.
Megha Ben
2024 - '26 Board of Governors, Associate PM
IEEE Computer Society / Siemens
Megha Ben
2024 - '26 Board of Governors, IEEE Computer Society
Associate PM, Siemens
IEEE Computer Society / Siemens
Megha Ben is an Associate Project Manager at Siemens Smart Infrastructure, based out of North Carolina, USA. This two-time Richard E Merwin Scholar from India and holds a Bachelor of Technology from College of Engineering Trivandrum and a Master’s in Engineering Management from Duke University.
Megha has been an active member of IEEE since 2014 and has volunteered in over 15 leadership roles at the regional and global levels. She currently serves as the MGA representative to IEEE CS Board of Governors and was recently elected to serve on the IEEE CS Board of Governors from 2024 - 2026.
In addition to her corporate career, Megha dedicates her time as a part-time Associate in Research at Duke Pratt School of Engineering. Her focus is on enhancing the student experience by fostering stronger industry and alumni connections.
Sajith Wijesuriya
National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Sajith Wijesuriya
Postdoctoral Researcher
National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Sajith is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory of the United States. His research involves grid-level decarbonization, increasing resilience of human settlements against extreme climates, advanced building energy modeling and advanced thermal energy storage systems analysis. In addition to that he is a Visiting Scientist at the Colorado School of Mines where he contributes to research on the same topics above.
He works for and assist co-manage three Clean Energy Ministerial work streams. (i) Clean Energy Solutions Center (CESC), which provides assistance to developing countries to design and implement clean energy policies, and resolve deployment-related challenges, (ii) NICE Future Initiative on Nuclear Energy policy assistance (iii) 21st Century Power Partnership which serves as a platform for public-private collaboration to advance policy for the large-scale deployment of renewable energy in combination with deep energy efficiency and smart grid solutions.
Additionally he chairs the Climate and Sustainability Task Force of the IEEE Young Professionals (IEEE YP CSTF). It is a task force that serves nearly 125,000 young practitioners mostly working in sectors related to the energy transition. Specifically, IEEE standards run the global electricity grid and the internet which makes IEEE YP constituency one of the most crucial youth groups for just technology advancement.
He held positions in the MGCY/CYI (Board) and YOUNGO (BLT). In 2019 he coordinated a process leading to formation of SDG7 Youth Constituency. His organization Science Policy Circle is the Founding GFP of the SDG7 Youth Constituency from 2020-2022. Most recently the UN Energy invited him to the Global Expert Group Meeting on SDG7 at a Midpoint Review. He has led research for two Voluntary Peoples Reviews (VPR) in Sri Lanka.
Chris Humphreys
The Anfield Group
Chris Humphreys
Founder
The Anfield Group
Chris Humphreys is an internationally recognized thought leader and evangelist in the industry verticals of Cybersecurity, Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP), Intelligence Operations, and Regulatory Compliance. With over 18 years of experience, Chris has written National-Level policy on cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure Protection as well as been solely responsible for the enforcement and implementation of cybersecurity regulation for Electric Utilities within the Texas Region and across North America. Chris currently serves at the CEO and founder of The Anfield Group (www.theanfieldgroup.com), which is an Austin TX-based Cybersecurity and Regulatory Compliance Consulting firm. Under Chris' guidance, The Anfield Group has built a solid reputation since 2009 of designing and delivering cybersecurity programs that are both secure and sustainable. The Anfield Group's message continues to be focused on a holistic approach to security across multiple regulatory frameworks (NERC, NIST, Sox, HIPAA, PCI, FISMA) that produce compliance outputs as natural byproducts through sound policy and controls design, governance, and integrating the appropriate automation technologies to influence a more proactive approach to risk mitigation and compliance versus a reactive posture to the ever-changing regulatory climate. Prior to founding The Anfield Group, Chris served as the Director of Audits and Investigations at the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) for the NERC Cybersecurity Framework for the entire state of Texas. He also was the founding chair of the NERC Critical Infrastructure Protection Compliance Working Group (CCWG) who was tasked with authoring the Audit process in place today for all of North America. Before going into the Private Sector, Chris was able to foray his time as a Signals Intelligence Officer in the US Army into a stellar career inside the beltway in Washington DC. He served as one of the founding managers for the Department of Homeland Security's National Infrastructure Coordinating Center (NICC) and the United States Computer Emergency Response Team (US CERT). Before leaving DC to return to Texas, Chris was the Senior Program Manager and Director of Counterintelligence Operations for the Department of Defense's Counterintelligence Field Activity (CIFA) in the areas of Cyber, Critical Infrastructure Protection, and Research and Technology Protection. In 2017, Humphreys was appointed by the Texas Dept of Information Resources (DIR) through Texas Governor Greg Abbott as one of three voting members to the State’s Cybersecurity Council. This Council will be tasked with leading a bipartisan effort to implement House Bill 8 “The Texas Cybersecurity Act” which will establish the cybersecurity framework and tools to protect all Texas Critical Infrastructure and Industrial Control Systems. Chris served as the Utilities Voting Representative from 2017-2020 and now represents the Public Health Sector on the Council. In addition to being CEO of The Anfield Group, Humphreys became CISO for Austin-based start-up Diligent Robotics in 2019. With the launch of their AI Robot Nurse “Moxi”, he has designed the security model and architecture to meet the security requirements of healthcare/hospital systems and pioneer security best practices in the Robotics Industry.
Aaron Lin
Data Informatics Analyst
Workday
Aaron Lin
Data Informatics Analyst
Workday
Aaron is the Co-founder of Startup East Bay, a mentorship network of community-minded students, faculty, staff, and alumni of Cal State East Bay, dedicated to promoting innovation and entrepreneurship in the East Bay and beyond, through community building events. Startup East Bay follows the mantra of gathering the community, sharing resources, and building ideas. From student leader to past-chair of Oakland-East Bay Section at IEEE, Aaron continues to uplift the community. He led the Young Professionals Affinity Group within the section, and advised the American Marketing Association at Cal State East Bay. Currently, Aaron serves on special interest groups (SIGHT) as well as Society on Social Implications of Technology chapters with the focus on STEM education and DEI initiatives. Aaron is also a Rotarian at East Palo Alto Bayshore Rotary. Aaron has worked in the industries such as: semiconductor manufacturing, government, various Universities, pharmaceuticals, logistics and transportation. Currently, Aaron works in software as a service (saas) at Workday in Data Governance and Data Quality.