Stay tuned while we confirm additional guest speakers for this conference. We will add their biographies in the coming weeks, so please check back soon!
Riitta Katila, Ph.D., W.M. Keck Professor and Faculty Director of the Stanford Technology Ventures Program, Stanford University
Riitta Katila is the W. M. Keck Sr. Professor of Management Science, Faculty Director of the Stanford Technology Ventures Program and HAI Sabbatical Scholar at Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence at Stanford University. Her research is in the intersection of technology strategy and organizational learning, using machine learning, statistical analysis and mixed methods. She is an expert on innovation, competition, and entrepreneurship in large firms, and her current research centers on digital platforms, regulation of technology ecosystems, decentralization of decision-making, and responsible and inclusive innovation. Katila's research pushes the theoretical boundaries of institutional logics, resource dependence and evolutionary search theories to understand how organizations innovate and change.
Rachel Gillum, Ph.D., Vice President of Ethical & Inclusive Product, Salesforce
Rachel Gillum is Vice President of Ethical & Inclusive Product at Salesforce where she and her team work to ensure Salesforce technologies, including AI, are developed and used responsibly. In 2022, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce appointed Rachel as a Commissioner on its Artificial Intelligence (AI) Commission on Competition, Inclusion and Innovation, with the goal of developing bipartisan AI policy solutions. Rachel is an affiliated scholar at Stanford University and a mentor for the Techstars Oakland accelerator program. Rachel previously worked alongside former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, former National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley and former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates at the strategic consulting firm RiceHadleyGatesManuel LLC, where she led the firm's portfolio of technology and venture capital companies. She holds a doctorate and master’s from Stanford University and a bachelor's from the University of Washington.
Jon Zieger, co-founder and former Executive Director, Responsible Innovation Lab
Jon Zieger is co-founder and former Executive Director of Responsible Innovation Labs, an independent nonprofit organizing the venture capital and startup community to create a better technology industry. Prior to RIL, Jon was the General Counsel and Global Head of Public Policy for Stripe, and held a variety of other senior legal positions at Microsoft. Mr. Zieger is an active angel investor and advisor for dozens of startups.
Neil Goldberg, Founder Praxis Design
Neil Goldberg has been at the forefront of Human Centered Design since the 1980s - via his early career at the workplace innovator Herman Miller, at his Silicon Valley innovation agency Praxis Design and in a series of ventures in the co-working, digital photography and solar power industries. Along the way he has made contributions to life-patterns bound in ergonomic work-places, turn-by-turn navigation, video-conferencing, mobile computing, mobile medical imaging, co-working, social photography and other emergent product systems that have become commonplace. He has taught product design and human centered design-thinking at leading universities including here at SF State in both the Design and Business schools. He has developed and currently teaches a course in Design Thinking for Social Change at the Graduate Theological Union and Pacific School of Religion. There he is engaged in promoting conversation between designers and religious scholar to explore ways in which the world’s wisdom traditions can inform industrial creative praxis, and vice versa.
Chris McClean, Global Lead for Digital Ethics, Avanade
Chris McClean is the global lead for digital ethics at Avanade, a tech consulting and innovation company with over 60,000 employees worldwide, In this role, Chris drives the company’s internal responsible tech and responsible AI efforts, and he leads the company’s digital ethics advisory practice. Prior to Avanade, Chris was a research director and industry analyst at Forrester Research, leading the company’s analysis and advisory for risk management, compliance, corporate values, and ethics. He’s been a featured keynote speaker and subject matter expert for podcasts, live TV, and print media. Chris earned his Masters in Business Ethics and Compliance in 2010, and he’s currently a PhD candidate with the University of Leeds, studying applied ethics with a focus on risk and trust relationships.
Meagan Mitchell, Strategic People and Operations Leader, New_Public
Meagan Mitchell (she/her) is a strategic people and operations leader, brand-builder, and creative systems thinker who has spent the last decade helping bold visions come to life. Prior to joining New_ Public, Meagan was a co-director at Mobius, overseeing operations and brand in service of the mission to create a more compassionate and just future with technology. She comes from a background in creative project management, as a senior program manager at SYPartners, a transformation strategy and design consultancy based in San Francisco and New York, and as a project director at IDW, an independent creative studio in Oakland. She is a mom to two wonderful kids and lives in Oakland.
Andrew Roderick, Assistant Vice President for Academic Technology at San Francisco State University
Andrew Roderick is the Assistant Vice President for Academic Technology at San Francisco State University. He is responsible for coordinating technology needs across the Academic Affairs division and broader academic organization, aligning services, initiatives, and resources as they impact teaching, learning, research, and administration. Roderick sets strategic direction for academic technology programming, managing a wide-range of services, teams, and initiatives including enterprise academic systems, user support services, application development, infrastructure and systems administration, desktop services, and IT project management. He is also responsible for integrating IT groups and services across the Academic Affairs division and co-leading on campus-wide IT strategy, governance, and collaborations with the campus CIO and campus leadership. Roderick is an active participant in a wide range of IT leadership initiatives within California State University (CSU) system, the largest and most diverse public higher education system in the United States.
Nasser Shahrasbi, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Information Systems, San Francisco State University
Nasser Shahrasbi is an Associate Professor of Information Systems at the Lam Family College of Business, San Francisco State University. He is also the Director of the Lam-Larsen Initiative for Emerging Technologies and a member of the AI Taskforce at SFSU, contributing to the university's efforts to advance AI research and education. Dr. Shahrasbi’s research interest encompasses emerging technologies and their impact on organizations, communities, and societies. He has published several articles in top-tier academic journals and conferences. He is also actively engaged in collaborations with industry partners, and organizing several workshops and conferences to foster the dialogue among scholars, practitioners, and policymakers.
Miles Brundage, Ph.D., Head of Policy Research, OpenAI
Miles Brundage is currently serving as the Head of Policy Research at OpenAI, he began his journey with the organization in 2018 as a Research Scientist. Prior to joining OpenAI, he held the position of Research Fellow at the University of Oxford's Future of Humanity Institute from 2016 to 2018. In addition to his role at OpenAI, he is an Affiliate of the Centre for the Governance of AI and contributes to the AI Task Force at the Center for a New American Security. He also served as a member of Axon's AI and Policing Technology Ethics Board from 2018 to 2022. He earned his PhD in Human and Social Dimensions of Science and Technology from Arizona State University in 2019, under the guidance of his dissertation committee, including David Guston, Erik Fisher, Joanna Bryson, and Lauren Keeler. His academic endeavors have received support from esteemed institutions such as the National Science Foundation, the Bipartisan Policy Center, and the Future of Life Institute. Before pursuing his doctoral studies, he gained valuable experience at the Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E) for two years. Additionally, he interned at the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC) and undertook various internships related to energy policy during his undergraduate years, where he earned a BA in Political Science from George Washington University.
Smita Trivedi, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Business and Society/Sustainable Business, San Francisco State University
Smita K. Trivedi, Ph.D., Ed.M. is Associate Professor of Business and Society/Sustainable Business in the management department at the Lam Family College of Business. She is also the Director for the Student Engagement Initiative at the LFCoB, where she runs the student ambassador program as well as the Leadership Edge program. She teaches BUS 682 (Seminar in Business and Society), BUS 440 (Ethics at Work,) BUS 884 (Business Ethics, Society, and Sustainability), and has taught undergraduate strategy as well. She taught high school social studies for several years before working as the senior program officer for education and youth programs at global humanitarian aid agency Mercy Corps and starting her own social justice education non-profit project. During her doctoral studies, Dr. Trivedi worked on urban policy at the White House Domestic Policy Council, and she was the graduate teaching assistant for a special class taught at the George Washington School of Business by Dr. Ben Bernanke, the then-Chairman of the Federal Reserve. Professor Trivedi currently holds the Lam-Larsen Distinguished Teaching Professorship (since May, 2023).
Yong Li, PhD, Lee Professor of Entrepreneurship, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Yong Li is the Lee Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, and Research Director of the Troesh Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. He currently serves as the Co-Editor of Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, a leading entrepreneurship journal. His research focuses on how firms make investment decisions in highly uncertain contexts such as venture capital, crowdfunding, new venture innovation and international investment. He has published in leading management and entrepreneurship journals such as Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, Academy of Management Journal, Organization Science, and Strategic Management Journal. He serves on the editorial boards of Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Journal of Business Venturing and Journal of International Business Studies. He received PhD from the University of Illinois.
David G. Sirmon, Ph. D., the Robert Herbold Professor in Strategy, the University of Washington-Seattle
David Sirmon is the Robert Herbold Professor in Strategy at the Foster School of Business at the University of Washington-Seattle and an incoming Co-editor of Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal. He previously held the Pamela M. and Barent W. Cater ’77 Faculty Research Fellow in the Mays School of Business at Texas A&M University. He earned his Ph.D. (2004) from the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. His research focuses on the intersection of entrepreneurship and strategy with a primary focus on the role managers’ play in orchestrating firm resources to achieve competitive advantage. Additional research interests include emerging technologies, online communities, certification, mergers and acquisitions as well as firm governance with a focus on family business and boards of directors.
Stefan Hoffmann, Ph.D., Director of the Institute of Business Administration, Professor of Marketing, and Co-Founder of Kiel Institute for Responsible Innovation, Kiel University
Stefan Hoffmann is Professor of Marketing at Kiel University (Germany) and he is co-founder of the Kiel Institute for Responsible Innovation (KIRI). He received a diploma in psychology from the University of Mannheim as well as a doctoral degree and a second promotion (habilitation) in business administration from the Technical University of Dresden. His research is founded in psychology and he is working with empirical methods. His main research interests are ethical, responsible, and sustainable consumption, digital marketing, and responsible innovation. He has published in several marketing journals, including the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Retailing, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Journal of Service Research, and Journal of Consumer Psychology, as well as in journals about ethics and sustainability, such as the Journal of Business Ethics and Ecological Economics.
Chiahuei Wu, Ph.D., Professor of Management, King's College London
Chia-Huei Wu is Professor in Management at King’s Business School. His research in organizational behaviour concerns the person–environment dynamics and has two research streams: Employee Proactivity (i.e., why, when, and how employees can use their proactivity to change and improve the work environment) and Work and Personality Development (i.e., whether and how work experiences shape one’s personality development). His work has appeared in top-tier journals, including Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Management, among others. He is the author of the book, Employee proactivity in organizations, a co-author of the book, Work and Personality Change, and the co-editor of the book, Emotion and Proactivity at Work. He was an associate editor for the Journal of Management and previously worked at the London School of Economics, Durham University, and the University of Leeds.
Denise Kleinrichert, Ph.D., Professor of Management and Ethics, San Francisco State University
Denise Kleinrichert, Ph.D. is a Professor in Management and Ethics. She is a former Interim Associate Dean of the Lam Family College of Business, as well as the past Director of the Center for Ethical and Sustainable Business (CESB). This Center integrates ethics and sustainable business teaching and service to community and the university, as well as research. She also has served as Chair of the College of Business' annual Business Ethics Week from 2007-2018, is founder of the Ethics & Compliance Workshop series, co-developed the Ethical AI Certificate (multi-disciplinary: Business, Computer Science, & Philosophy Depts.), Business Certificate in Ethics & Compliance, and the MBA Emphasis in Ethics & Compliance. She has focused her academic career in the areas of business ethics and compliance, corporate social responsibility (CSR), sustainability, and women social entrepreneurs. She teaches two undergraduate courses: Seminar on Business & Society and Ethics at Work. She also teaches MBA seminar courses: Ethics and Compliance, Political, Social, Legal Environment of Business, and Sustainability and Business Opportunity. Her research publications include numerous peer reviewed journal articles and two book chapters on topics in ethics, risk and corporate boards, CSR, sustainability, and women entrepreneurs. She also has earlier corporate executive and management experience in risk management and human resources in the banking, healthcare and property/casualty insurance industries.
Susanne C. Liebermann, Ph.D., Professor in Human Resource Management, West Coast University of Applied Sciences, Germany
Susanne C. Liebermann is a Professor in Human Resource Management at the West Coast University of Applied Sciences, German and a member of the West Coast Institute of Human Resource Management. She received a diploma in Psychology from the University of Mannheim as well as a doctoral degree in Organizational Psychology from the Technical University of Dresden. She teaches in the area of (International) Human Resource Management, Health Management and Work- and Organizational Psychology. Her research and transfer activities focus on various aspects of personnel and organizational development processes. In particular, she examines the effects of team diversity on collaboration and individual health in teams, antecedents of employee retention in different phases of the life-work cycle and health-promoting conditions in the course of change and digitalization processes. She has published her work in peer-reviewed journals, such as European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, Work, International Journal of Training and Development, Aging and Retirement, German Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, and Journal of Advanced Nursing.
Lihua Wang, Ph.D., Professor of International Business Management, San Francisco State University
Lihua Wang is a professor at the International Business Department, Lam Family College of Business, San Francisco State University. She holds a Ph.D. degree in Management and Organizations from Northwestern University, an M.B.A. degree from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and a bachelor’s degree in International Economics from Nankai University, China. Her research interests include the internationalization of firms in emerging markets, corporate social responsibility, stakeholder management, and inter-firm relationships. She has extensive teaching experience in the areas of corporate strategy, organizational theory, cross-cultural negotiation, comparative management, international business, and global strategy. She has taught at Stanford University, Columbia University, the National University of Singapore, and San Francisco State University. She has published numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals, such as Strategic Management Journal, Industrial and Corporate Change, Journal of Business-to-Business Marketing, Management and Organization Review, Journal of World Business, Chinese Management Studies, Family Business Review, Asian Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of International Consumer Marketing, Management Decision, and Journal of Business Research.
Yiwen Chen, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Marketing, San Francisco State University
Yiwen Chen is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at San Francisco State University. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Missouri. Her research interests include digital marketing, digital entrepreneurship, and international marketing. Her most recent work investigates the effectiveness of influencer marketing campaigns on social media. She publishes widely on these topics with papers appearing in the International Journal of Electronic Commerce, European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Management, International Journal of Advertising, Management International Review, and Journal of Business Venturing Insights.
Sungha Jang, Ph.D., Professor of Marketing, San Francisco State University
Sungha Jang is an Associate Professor of Marketing and the director of the Master of Science in Business Analytics at San Francisco State University. His primary research goal is to examine underlying mechanisms of marketing phenomena and develop quantitative models. Specifically, he is interested in consumers’ search behavior/choice decisions and firms’ advertising/targeting strategies. His current research focuses on measuring the effectiveness of digital marketing on firms’ various performance. He has published in Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Journal of Business Research, and Journal of Empirical Finance among others. He earned his Ph.D. degree from the University of Texas at Dallas. Prior to his academic career, he worked in the field of credit risk management for five years, during which he conducted several consulting projects for financial companies.