Join us on Tuesday, June 9 at The Boston Globe’s 2026 Tech Innovation Summit, where we will bring together the region’s top tech leaders focused on AI, Climate Tech, Health Tech, Fintech, and more for a day of networking and insightful discussions around Boston’s impact on technology around the world.
The summit’s programming will consist of dynamic discussions, expert-led panels, pitch contests and more that dive into the technological advancements being made right here in Boston. Attendees will engage with journalists shaping the narrative and the experts driving change in their respective industries.
Space is limited, register today!
The 2026 Tech Innovation Summit will take place at The State Room on the 33rd floor of 60 State St in Boston.
Join us virtually, for free! The link to join the livestream will be emailed to you the morning of the summit. Our sessions will also be posted to our Globe Events YouTube after the summit's conclusion.
We are committed to making Globe Events accessible. Special rates are available for government, academia, non-profit, startups, students, advocates, and more. If you need financial support to attend the 2026 Tech Innovation Summit, please contact events@globe.com.
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What is the Startup World Cup?
The Startup World Cup is a series of global startup conferences and pitch competitions powered by Pegasus Tech Ventures, featuring 100+ regional events across 60+ countries. These events culminate in our 2025 Grand Finale hosted in Silicon Valley (USA), where winning startups from each regional event will compete for a $1M prize on October 17th, 2025. The Tech Innovation Summit will host the East Coast Regional Pitch Competition as part of this global series.
What is Pegasus Ventures?
Pegasus Tech Ventures is a $2B global venture capital firm based in Silicon Valley (USA) that invests in emerging technology companies worldwide and supports their expansion in North America, Asia, and Europe.
Are there any eligibility requirements or restrictions?
The competition is open to all industries (except non-profits).
Startups must have a legal business entity (i.e., be incorporated).
There are no age restrictions
How are the top 10 finalists selected?
Finalists are chosen based on an assessment of their application. Submissions are evaluated similarly to how a venture capital firm would assess investment opportunities.
What will the pitch contest look like on June 10?
The live pitch contest will take place at the 2025 Tech Innovation Summit at 3:00 PM on the main stage. Each of the 10 finalists will have 3–4 minutes to present their pitch to a panel of judges and the full in-person Summit audience of around 200 in-person attendees and 700+ virtual attendees. The winner will be announced at the event once all pitches have been viewed and evaluated by the judges.
As AI becomes more embedded in real-world products and services, the center of gravity needs to shift from the cloud to the edge. From smartphones and laptops to vehicles and drones, edge devices are increasingly where AI needs to run—driven by demands for privacy, speed, reliability, and cost-efficiency.
But deploying AI on the edge isn’t just a technical challenge—it’s a paradigm shift. Shipping a model is only the beginning. Maintaining, updating, and optimizing AI systems across distributed hardware environments requires new thinking, new architectures, and new strategies.
This panel brings together leaders on the frontlines of edge AI to explore the why, how, and what’s next. They’ll discuss the biggest pain points enterprises face today, the tradeoffs between task-specific and general-purpose small language models, and what it will take to move from experimentation to scalable, ROI-positive deployment.
Governor Maura Healey talks with Joshua Miller, a Boston Globe editor, about the Trump Administration’s impact on innovation and the ways that Massachusetts is responding. In a spirited Q&A, they’ll discuss the news of the day and whether smart people can still be enticed to found the next great company in Massachusetts.
Ian Bowles is Managing Director of WindSail Capital, a private investment firm that has committed over $300 million to more than 40 companies focused on climate solutions. Ian was Massachusetts Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs where he worked with the Legislature to pass and implement six landmark laws that put MA at the forefront of climate and clean energy. He was the first Chairman of the MA Clean Energy Center. Ian also served on the senior staff of the National Security Council. A native of Woods Hole, Ian graduated from Harvard College and holds a Masters degree from Oxford University.
Jon Chesto covers the leaders who shape Boston’s business community. He has been reporting on business and politics in New England for the past two decades. Before joining the Globe, he was managing editor at the Boston Business Journal. Prior to that role, he was the business editor at The Patriot Ledger in Quincy. His weekly Ledger column, “Mass. Market,” won several national awards with the Society of American Business Editors and Writers. A graduate of Wesleyan University and Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism, he has also worked as a business reporter at the Boston Herald and as a political reporter with Ottaway Newspapers.
Dana Gerber is the Business Producer for the Boston Globe, where she helps oversee the section's digital presence and covers a range of topics — from developments in the local media landscape, to Gen Z workplace attitudes, to the financial toll of Long COVID, to the joys of Allston Christmas. As the section producer, she refines Business content for optimal digital reach, promotes it on all social platforms, and works with reporters and editors to devise innovative presentation strategies
Aaron Pressman is a business reporter covering technology, startups, A.I., and the electric vehicle transition. In a multi-decade career, he has covered the Internet bubble, the housing bubble, the crypto bubble, and the artificial intelligence...boom. Before joining the Globe in 2021, his work appeared in Fortune, BusinessWeek, Wired, and The Industry Standard, and at Yahoo Finance, Reuters, and Bloomberg.
Pressman won a "Best in Business" award from the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing, or SABEW, for coverage of AT&T's worker retraining effort and a silver medal from the American Society of Business Publication Editors for best business blog. Time Magazine named him one of the "140 most interesting people on Twitter."
Andy Rosen is senior assistant business editor, helping to guide the Globe's coverage of economic and financial issues. Andy grew up in Haverhill, Mass. and lives in Boston.
Now in his second stint at the Globe, Andy has been a key part of both the Globe’s business and breaking news teams. He has covered everything from the Boston Marathon’s Wellesley “scream tunnel” to the maritime mystery of Nathan Carman. Andy also was part of the team that revealed what happened during the early 2020 COVID outbreak at Biogen's Boston conference.
He has more than 15 years of newsroom experience, including as crime and courts editor at The Baltimore Sun. In that role, Andy oversaw coverage of stories including the takedown of the dark web marketplace Silk Road and the gang takeover of the Baltimore City Detention Center. Andy has also been a personal finance expert and writer at NerdWallet, breaking down complex investing concepts for consumers — including on NerdWallet’s popular YouTube channel and its Smart Money podcast.
Dr. Grace Wang, has served as Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s 17th president since April 2023. She leads the university with a focus on transformative STEM education, immersive student experience centering on well-being and belonging, and high-impact research, innovation, and entrepreneurship. Dr. Wang serves with the Government-University-Industry-Philanthropy Research Roundtable at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; New York Academy of Sciences; and FIRST. A 2024 fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, Dr. Wang earned her PhD from Northwestern University and held research, academic, and leadership roles at IBM, NSF, SUNY, and The Ohio State University.
With federal climate policy unraveling and the Mass Leads Act gaining momentum at the state level, Massachusetts finds itself navigating two very different realities at once. This panel examines what the state can realistically achieve on its own, and what's at stake for the climate tech companies, investors, and communities caught in the middle.
Some of the most compelling AI stories aren't coming from Silicon Valley. They're coming from logistics companies, healthcare operators, law firms, and retailers who never built a thing. This panel brings together leaders from across industries to explore what it really looks like to deploy AI as a business strategy, not a tech project.
Fetch's Defeat the Odds Pitch Competition brings college entrepreneurs from across the country to Boston to pitch their ideas live to a panel of industry leaders – competing for up to $30,000 in prizes, one-on-one mentorship, and access to Fetch's team and resources. Rooted in Fetch CEO Wes Schroll's own origin story, Defeat the Odds carries that same spirit forward. Catch the live finals on June 9 and come ready to be inspired.
Alicia Barton is the Chief Executive Officer of Vineyard Offshore, a leading offshore wind developer with a portfolio of more than 6 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind projects in North America. Projects include Vineyard Wind, the first commercial-scale offshore wind project to complete construction in the United States, and Excelsior Wind in New York. With over 15 years' experience in leadership roles in both the public and private sectors, Alicia has dedicated her career to solving the world’s most significant energy challenges through bold, large-scale innovation.
Nicole Collins is the Founder of Heartwood & Co, building human-centered AI for women in transition. A 15-year People & Culture leader turned grief educator — after personal losses showed her how poorly we handle hard conversations — she got into AI the way a lot of non-technical founders do: she had a real problem to solve. Supporting people through loss is high-stakes work, so she started training Claude on her coaching approach to rehearse difficult moments and vibe-coding personal dashboards for clients in the fog of grief. She's now developing an AI tool that protects newly widowed women from predatory financial advice.
Zaid Ashai is the CEO of Nexamp, where he has guided the company’s transformation into one of the most trusted and innovative leaders in the distributed generation and clean energy space. Under Zaid’s leadership, Nexamp has scaled significantly, empowering communities across the United States to access affordable renewable energy while championing a sustainable future. Zaid’s leadership reflects his unwavering belief that clean energy should be accessible to everyone and that innovative, community-focused solutions can reshape the future of energy.
Julie Chen became chancellor of UMass Lowell in 2022, leading efforts to increase enrollment and student success, strengthen research excellence and expand community partnerships. Under her leadership, UMass Lowell earned Research 1 designation and was named the No. 1 public university in Massachusetts by The Wall Street Journal in its 2026 rankings. Chen also oversaw the launch of the Lowell Innovation Network Corridor, a public-private initiative designed to drive economic growth and create new opportunities for students and faculty. Previously, she spent more than two decades at UMass Lowell as a faculty member and chief research officer. Chen earned three degrees from MIT.
Boston may be the region’s best-known innovation hub, but the next wave of growth will depend on strong ecosystems beyond the city core. Lowell is demonstrating how that happens: by linking research, commercialization, industry partnership, talent development and place-based investment in ways that support real scale. This panel would explore what gateway cities can contribute to Massachusetts' tech future and how collaboration across academia, industry and civic partners can unlock new opportunity.
A creative strategist and organizational leader, Aisha Francis, Ph.D., became president in 2020, becoming the first female president and CEO in the Institutes 100+-year history. A hallmark of Dr. Francis’ tenure was the construction of the new campus, which opened in January 2026. The 68,000-square-foot LEED-certified facility serves as an anchor institution in a vibrant neighborhood that 20 percent of its students call home. Boston Mayor, Michele Wu, described the new campus as “a major investment not only for Franklin Cummings Tech’s academic mission, but also for Nubian Square and the city.” Her leadership and scholarship have been recognized by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Aspen Institute. Dr. Francis is originally from Nashville, Tennessee. She completed her undergraduate education at Fisk University, then earned masters and doctoral degrees in English Literature from Vanderbilt University. She resides in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Boston with her husband and children.
Frank Ricciardi is chief executive officer of Weston & Sampson, a Massachusetts-based, 100% employee-owned firm specializing in infrastructure design and construction, environmental services, and climate resiliency and sustainability planning. During his tenure, Ricciardi has held a range of leadership and management roles and now leads the firm’s engineering, construction, maintenance, repair and services divisions. A registered professional engineer in numerous states and a Massachusetts licensed site professional, he has more than 30 years of experience in project management, environmental engineering, remediation system design and hazardous waste site assessment. Weston & Sampson has partnered with clients for more than 125 years.
Brandi C. Vann is vice president and chief strategy officer at Draper, where she leads annual strategy and business planning, business intelligence, legislative engagement and the company’s New Business Council. She joined Draper in 2025 after serving in senior leadership roles at the U.S. Department of Defense, including assistant secretary of defense for nuclear deterrence and chemical and biological defense policy and programs. Her work supported nuclear deterrence modernization, defense against weapons of mass destruction and compliance with international treaties. A recipient of the Meritorious Presidential Rank Award, Vann holds a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of South Carolina.
Amrutha Killada is an AI adoption strategist who helps traditional companies and enterprises turn artificial intelligence into tangible business outcomes. She has led applied AI initiatives across education, pharma, healthcare, and e‑commerce with a focus on operational efficiency and revenue impact. Amrutha not only defines AI strategy but works alongside business leaders to implement it. She is an MIT alumna and former Associate Director at the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship.
Hiawatha Bray is a technology writer for the Business section. A native of Chicago and a graduate of Knox College and Wheaton College, he formerly worked on the staff of the Lexington, Ky. Herald-Leader and the Detroit Free Press, where he wrote about a variety of topics, including banking, nuclear energy and the Kentucky bourbon industry.
Bray joined the staff of the Globe in 1995, and has covered the rise of the Internet and social media from their earliest beginnings. He famously predicted that Apple’s iMac computer would be a flop (wrong) and that the iPhone would transform the world (right). He has contributed to a number of publications, including Wired, Fast Company and Black Enterprise. He received an Overseas Press Club award for his series on the Internet in Africa, and has reported on technology issues from Taiwan and the Philippines. Bray has frequently appeared on local television and radio programs, most recently on the WBUR news show “Radio Boston.”
Bray has authored two books: “You Are Here,” a history of modern navigation technologies including inertial navigation, GPS and satellite imaging systems; and a conspiracy-thriller novel, “Power In the Blood.”
Greg Huang is the Boston Globe's business editor. Prior to joining the Globe, he was an editor and reporter at Xconomy, New Scientist, and MIT's Technology Review. His writing has appeared in Wired, Nature, and other publications. He graduated from MIT with a PhD in electrical engineering and computer science.
A self-made success and transformative force in global business, Mark Barrocas, CEO of SharkNinja, is a testament to the power of conviction, resilience, and the pursuit of excellence.
Under Mark’s leadership since 2008, SharkNinja has evolved from a modest home appliance company into a product innovation powerhouse with $6.4 billion in annual revenue in 2025, serving hundreds of millions of consumers across 38 international markets and 39 product categories. Mark rallies the company’s 4,000+ team members behind a steadfast commitment to delivering innovation, quality, and value for consumers through every single SharkNinja product. His bold growth strategy is fueled by an unwavering focus on consumer insights and a 24/7 product innovation cycle expertly choreographed by designers, engineers, and strategists across the globe.
Throughout his 18-year tenure, Mark has orchestrated a series of moves to expand and accelerate the business, including taking the company’s former parent public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2017 and listing SharkNinja on the New York Stock Exchange in 2023. His pioneering vision advances the company’s mission to positively impact people’s lives every day in every home around the world.
Mark’s philosophy of “Outrageously Extraordinary” defines SharkNinja’s culture, promoting fearless exploration and ambitious risk-taking. This ethos not only encourages exceptional performance but also attracts top-tier talent as SharkNinja strives to remain at the cutting edge of its industry.
SharkNinja CEO Mark Barrocas joins Boston Globe Business Editor Greg Huang to explore SharkNinja’s playbook for reinvention — from identifying opportunity in crowded markets to turning disruption into advantage. He shares how the company mobilized 200 executives within 24 hours of the tariff announcement, its practical approach to deploying AI across the business, and why he believes today’s uncertainty makes this one of the best times in a generation to build.
Over a career spanning more than 30 years in public education, Jeffrey Riley served in a wide variety of roles—beginning as a special education teacher in Baltimore City, Maryland and concluding as the Commissioner of Education for the state of Massachusetts.
As principal of Boston's Edwards Middle School, he orchestrated a nationally recognized school turnaround effort.Appointed by the Governor as the State Superintendent/Receiver of Lawrence Public Schools, Riley again achieved demonstrable results, closing achievement gaps and raising graduation rates.
Concluding his career as Massachusetts Commissioner of Education, he navigated the COVID-19 crisis, spearheaded the push for universal school meals, created a new health framework focusing on mental health, and led the state to the top ranking on national NAEP scores, also known as the Nations Report Card.
Kelly Friend is Nexamp’s Senior Vice President of Policy and Markets, bringing together the advocacy and stakeholder engagement strengths of the Policy team with the analytical expertise and market insight of the Market Strategy & Analytics team. Together, these teams identify market opportunities, open new pathways for growth, and safeguard Nexamp’s expanding portfolio of clean energy investments and customers. Under Kelly’s leadership, the Policy & Markets function positions Nexamp as a leading industry voice and a first mover in emerging markets—ensuring strategic alignment to an evolving regulatory and policy landscape. Prior to joining Nexamp, Kelly was a member of GE’s Government Affairs and Policy team and managed global government affairs for GE Hitachi.
Karl holds a PhD from MIT and was director of the MIT Robotic Mobility Group. He previously founded nuTonomy, the world’s first venture-backed driverless car software business, which was acquired by Aptiv for $450M. Under Karl’s leadership, nuTonomy was spun out into Motional, a $4B joint venture with Hyundai Motor Company. Karl brings a wealth of experience in scaling robotics companies from research through commercialization and now leads Vecna as CEO.
Elizabeth L. Bennett, a national, state, and local leader in Career and Technical Education, serves as the Associate Vice President of Career and Technical Education at Northern Essex Community College in Haverhill, MA. She is a graduate of Tufts University with a C.A.G.S. in Urban Justice and Sustainability, a Master's Degree from Rivier College in Educational Administration, a B.A in English from UMass Lowell and an Associate Degree in Liberal Arts from NECC.
Most recently, Elizabeth served as the Associate Commissioner of College, Career, and Technical Education at the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education where she provided oversight, technical assistance, professional development, and data analysis reporting for policies and programs that ensure students graduate high school college and career-ready.
Elizabeth’s background includes experience with educational leadership, policy and program development, workforce development and training, and fiscal and grants management. Her focus has been on equitable access to pathway programs, particularly for students from historically underserved communities.
Before her time at the Department, Elizabeth served as the Director of Grants and Community Relations at Greater Lawrence Technical High School and an administrator at Greater Lowell Technical High School.
Elizabeth has served on a number of boards and committees in the community, including the Massachusetts State Apprenticeship Council, The Commonwealth Corporation Board of Directors, The Massachusetts STEM Council, The Advance CTE Board of Directors, The Merrimack Valley Workforce Investment Board Youth Council, The Newburyport CTE Advisory Committee, and the Advisory Board for the Graduate School of Education at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. She was also in the first cohort of the Lawrence LEADS program.
Wes Schroll, CEO and Founder of Fetch, is a category-defining tech leader revolutionizing how value flows between consumers and brands. This powers his ambition to create the rewards destination for everyone. Schroll created Fetch, a leading rewards app, to cut consumers into the value they create for brands through everyday moments like grocery shopping, playing games, or watching their favorite shows. He also works closely with the world’s leading CPG, retail, and restaurant companies to help them acquire and retain lifelong customers, offering the largest retail-agnostic, SKU-level view of household spending, with visibility into $212 billion in gross merchandise value. A lifelong entrepreneur, Schroll founded Fetch during his sophomore year at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Since 2013, Schroll has grown the company across 4 major office hubs – Madison, Chicago, Boston, and New York – to a valuation closing in on $3 billion.
As President, Josh oversees day-to-day operations, including execution, marketing, policy, and people. He joined Axon in 2009 through its leadership development program and quickly built a strong record of results. In 2014, he led domestic body camera and cloud software sales to a record year, earning promotion to EVP of Global Sales. In 2018, he became Chief Revenue Officer, driving over 25% annual growth across global sales and services. He was named COO in June 2022. Josh is a disciplined operator focused on growth and execution. He serves on the Phoenix Police Foundation board and holds a B.S. from Harvard University.
As AI reshapes how people engage with brands, the next era of consumer experience will be defined by relevance, timing, and real utility. In this session panelists will explore how AI can move beyond buzz to create more balanced, consumer-first interactions that genuinely improve consumers’ daily lives. They will explore how brands can earn attention by delivering real value in the moments that matter, and what it will take to win in a world where consumers expect more, not just more noise.
Carrie is the Chief Investment Officer at Carat, where she combines a wealth of experience with a passion for innovation. She excels in building strong relationships, fostering creativity, and delivering strategic solutions that push boundaries and create value. Her leadership is defined by a steadfast commitment to championing curiosity, challenging norms, and driving results.
Before joining Carat, Carrie spent over 12 years at IPG’s Mediahub, where she led the transformation of the Partnership Investment team where she spearheaded first-to-market initiatives, broke barriers, and delivered groundbreaking campaigns for iconic culture-driven clients such as Chipotle, Netflix, New Balance, and Ulta Beauty.
Henry Schuck has served as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of ZoomInfo (formerly DiscoverOrg) since founding it in 2007 and led it to become the first tech company to IPO during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. Prior to founding ZoomInfo, Henry was VP of Research & Marketing at iProfile, a sales intelligence firm focused on the IT market (acquired by ZoomInfo in 2015).
Henry graduated cum laude with honors from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas with a B.S. in Business Administration and a second B.S. in Hospitality Administration. He holds a J.D., cum laude, from The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law. He is a licensed attorney in Washington and Nevada.
Henry was named to Fortune’s “40 Under 40” Class of 2020 list and is a two-time Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year finalist. In 2022, he was honored by the Technology Association of Oregon as the Sam Blackman Award Winner.
Henry is the driving force behind ZoomInfo’s annual employee donation drive, which raises millions of dollars for family-focused charities in the communities where its employees live and work, including Evergreen Family Community Resource Center, the Clark County Food Bank, and Share Vancouver. He supports the next generation through endowments at Moritz, UNLV, Massachusetts General Hospital for Children in Boston, and Doernbecher Children’s Hospital in Portland, Oregon.
Collin Yip is the founder and managing partner of Rafi Properties, a vertically integrated real estate firm with offices in Boston and Hong Kong. He has built a diverse portfolio of mixed-use residential and commercial assets anchored in his values of community, innovation, and authentic human connection.
Collin serves on the board of the Alliance for Climate Transition and Boston University’s Questrom School of Business and Innovate @ BU Advisory Boards. His leadership has been recognized with awards from the Somerville Chamber of Commerce and the Congress for New Urbanism.
Collin’s Boston portfolio includes a 7.4-acre, 300,000-square-foot innovation campus, Somernova. Designed at the intersection of innovation, community, and education, Somernova is a model for how real estate can become a catalyst for solving global challenges. The innovation campus is approved for a 1.6 million-square-foot expansion of R&D and commercial space to support scaling tough-tech companies pioneering advances in energy, AI and climate-tech. Current tenants include Commonwealth Fusion Systems, The Engine by MIT, Greentown Labs, Sublime Systems, and Form Energy, among others.
Aisa Aiyer is VP of Product Management at Axon, where she leads product for Axon Evidence — the digital evidence management platform used by law enforcement agencies nationwide. She oversees the platform's AI capabilities, including agents and automation tools that help officers and investigators eliminate manual, time-intensive workflows. She also leads the Axon Mobile App and core DEMS (Digital Evidence Management System) products.
Before Axon, Aisa spent nearly a decade at Amazon, most recently as Director of Product Management for Amazon Advertising, where she applied machine learning and generative AI to help thousands of advertisers optimize performance at scale. She also served as General Manager of Same Day Delivery, scaling it from zero to a $7B+ business in three years.
Aisa brings a grounded, operational lens to AI ethics — having deployed AI in two highly consequential domains: public safety and large-scale commerce. She is particularly focused on how organizations build AI that is trustworthy, explainable, and accountable to the people it affects. She holds an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business, and a BA from Wellesley College.
Laken Ferreira is Senior Director of Government Affairs at Axon, a public safety technology company known for innovations like TASER devices, body-worn cameras, and software that helps law enforcement and communities stay safer and more connected. She’s been with Axon for over nine years and leads a team dedicated to shaping state and local policy that enables the responsible and effective deployment of cutting-edge public safety technology. Prior to Axon, she worked in education policy. She earned her MSW from Boston College with a focus on Social Innovation and Leadership. Laken lives in the Boston area and is passionate about Axon’s mission to Protect Life.
Eric Watson serves as Acting Chief of Police and Chief Technology Officer, bringing nearly three decades of experience at the intersection of public safety, technology, and operational leadership.
Over his 29-year career, he has led the deployment of complex public safety technologies in some of the most highly regulated and scrutinized environments, with expertise spanning real-time crime centers, intelligence sharing, drones, mobile ecosystems, cloud collaboration, and large-scale surveillance and license plate recognition programs.
He founded and operationalized a Real-Time Information Center (RTIC), establishing a model for regional intelligence sharing and multi-agency collaboration while aligning technology with governance, policy, labor, legal, and community considerations.
In addition to his leadership in law enforcement, he has extensive experience in government procurement, contract negotiation, grant administration, technology strategy, and risk management. His work focuses on ensuring that technology deployments are not only effective, but trusted, sustainable, and aligned with public expectations.
He currently serves as Northeast Regional Director for the National Real Time Crime Center Association, contributing to national conversations on technology governance, intelligence-led policing, and responsible innovation in public safety.
As the gap between emergency and resolution continues to close, a new generation of public safety technology is transforming how agencies respond and protect communities. In Boston, recently ranked the safest major city in the U.S., AI and interoperable systems are connecting dispatchers, officers, courts, and communities into a seamless chain. This panel explores how integrated, trusted technology can improve outcomes from call to closure.
Kara Miller writes The Big Idea column for the Boston Globe, highlighting the city's key problems and the people trying to solve them. She also hosts It Turns Out, a podcast and YouTube show focused on making great research fascinating. She created and hosted the nationally broadcast public radio program Innovation Hub, which ran for ten years. She has taught at Babson College and the University of Massachusetts.
Michelle Micone is chief marketing and strategic initiatives officer, where she oversees Boston Globe Media’s marketing and communications as well as strategic initiatives and internal innovation programs, which help build the organization’s ability to nurture, cultivate and support creativity. Michelle works with every department to explore ideas and launch new verticals, products, and services to help Boston Globe Media expand, transform, and optimize its business and journalistic reach.
Michelle has a successful record of innovation and growth in multiple industries, including professional sports, entertainment, toys and packaged goods. During a 17-year career at Hasbro in Rhode Island, she led North American licensing and served as global brand strategy leader. As head of consumer products for the National Football League, she led the expansion of the NFL’s brands into new and expanded categories to reach larger audiences and increase revenue. She also expanded the league’s women’s apparel business and managed the NFL’s growing e-commerce site.