See beyond the noise.

Sylvia Acevedo is an engineer, rocket scientist, tech entrepreneur, and the CEO of Girl Scouts of the USA. She began her career as a rocket scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where she created algorithms and analyzed data from Voyager 2’s spacecraft flyby of Jupiter and two of its moons, Io and Europa. She went on to work as an engineer and executive at Apple, Dell, Autodesk, and IBM.

Sylvia Acevedo was appointed CEO in May 2017, coming full circle from her youth as a Girl Scout in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Through Girl Scouts, Sylvia discovered her passion for space, science, and math. Her interest in STEM subjects would lead her to a career as a rocket scientist, engineer, technology executive, and award-winning STEM entrepreneur.

Sylvia has championed girls in STEM, the outdoors, entrepreneurship, and leadership. In May 2017, she directed the largest rollout of merit badges in nearly a decade. In total, 39 of the 47 new offerings are in STEM subjects, including weather-pattern analysis, space science, robotics, and cybersecurity. Twenty-three of the badges are currently available, while the other 24 will be rolled out in summer 2019.

A strong civic and education leader, Sylvia understands the role education plays in creating opportunities for children and developing the workforce of the future. She was one of the first Hispanic students, male or female, to earn a graduate engineering degree from Stanford University—an MS in industrial engineering—and she holds a bachelor of science degree with honors in industrial engineering from New Mexico State University.

Sylvia has been recognized widely for her accomplishments in business and education, and for her work to bring more girls into the STEM pipeline. In 2018 she was named one of Fast Company’s “100 Most Creative People in Business,” as well as “Cybersecurity Person of the Year” by Cybersecurity Ventures. Forbes named her as one of America’s Top 50 Women in Tech, and in 2019 InStyle magazine placed her at number seven on its list of “Women Who Are Changing the World.”

Sylvia is the author of Path to the Stars: My Journey from Girl Scout to Rocket Scientist, a memoir for middle school students that inspires readers to live the lives of their dreams.

Bill Aulet is a Professor of the Practice at MIT Sloan in the area of entrepreneurship and is changing the way the subject is understood, taught and practiced around the world. He is an award-winning educator and author whose current work is built off the foundation of his 25-year successful business career first at IBM and then as a three-time serial entrepreneur.

Since 2009, he has been responsible for leading the development of entrepreneurship education, across IT, at the Martin Trust Center. His first book, Disciplined Entrepreneurship, released in August 2013, has been the content for three online courses taken by hundreds of thousands globally.

Dr. Barbara Wixom is a Principal Research Scientist for MIT’s Center for Information Systems Research (CISR). Her research explores how organizations deliver business value through data. She has deep expertise in data warehousing, business intelligence, and business analytics capabilities, with particular interest in organizational success, business value, and emerging trends. Prior to joining MIT CISR, she enjoyed a fifteen-year academic career at the University of Virginia, where she was a tenured faculty member at the McIntire School of Commerce.

Efosa Ojomo is a Research Fellow and leads the Global Prosperity research at the Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation. His work focuses on understanding how best to create prosperity in low- and middle-income countries.

In January 2019, Efosa, with co-authors Clayton Christensen and Karen Dillon, released The Prosperity Paradox: How Innovation Can Lift Nations Out of Poverty.

Previously, Efosa worked as a researcher under Professor Christensen at the Forum for Growth and Innovation at the Harvard Business School. He also co-founded Poverty Stops Here, a nonprofit organization that provides Nigerian communities with access to wells, small business microloans, and primary education for children.

Efosa earned a BS in Engineering from Vanderbilt University and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.

Iyad Rahwan of the MIT Media Lab is one of the foremost developers of AI and computer technology. Rahwan, is the AT&T Career Development Professor and leader of the MIT Media Lab’s Scalable Cooperation Group. An expert on AI and the future of work, Rahwan argues that automation will not eliminate jobs as much as the need for certain skills. Rahwan’s latest research focuses on how AI developers are ignoring the role of ethics at the risk of imperiling society. Rahwan, who is a native of Aleppo, Syria, holds a doctorate from the University of Melbourne, Australia. Rahwan’s research and writing is regularly featured in major media outlets, including The New York Times, The Economist and The Wall Street Journal.

Benson Hsu, MD, MBA, is the Vice President of Population Health at Sanford Health. Previously, he served as the Chief Medical Analytics Officer advising corporate leadership on the strategic application of healthcare analytics from big data to artificial intelligence. Prior to this role, he served as the Vice President of Enterprise Data and Analytics, leading a centralized team of over 70 members with responsibility over data and analytics use across all lines of business.