The second edition of SPM Summit in North America will take place at University of California, Berkeley’s Clark Kerr Campus on December 6th 2024. REGISTER HERE
Global AI Products: Challenges and Opportunities in Taking an AI Product to International Markets.
Please view schedule here.
Meet some of our featured speakers
Click on a speaker's name to view their LinkedIn profile
Senior Product Manager-Technical, Amazon
Abhai is an accomplished Senior Product Leader with over 9 years of experience spearheading AI/ML-driven products used by millions worldwide. He has extensive background developing and launching innovative technologies, with 3+ years focused on building and shipping AI/ML products at Amazon's Alexa division. His entrepreneurial mindset is backed by expertise in using Generative AI to craft compelling product strategies.
Guest Faculty, Responsible Innovation & AI, SCET, University of California, Berkeley
Alka Roy is a Bay Area innovator, technologist, author, keynote speaker, and independent advisor who guides and coaches industry leaders, entrepreneurs and policy makers to make awesome organizations, products, and tech with or without AI. As an ex-director of new product and technologies at AT&T, Alka has built and launched over 100+ AI, Wireless & Cloud products at scale working with startups and Fortune 500 companies. She has evaluated and coached hundreds of AI and emerging tech startups and as the founder of (RI) Labs, LLC and The Responsible Innovation Project, she has briefed and advised Startups, Universities, Policy Makers & Industry Leaders on Emerging Tech, Gen AI and Innovation strategy, design and best practices.
Alka’s Responsible Innovation Framework has appeared in a peer-reviewed academic journal and in Forbes. Alka holds patents for policy and security frameworks and has lectured at UC Berkeley in Silicon Valley. Her online courses on 5G & AI and Ethics in AI & Data Science for the Linux Foundation have been accessed globally in over 83 countries/regions. She has served on advisory boards for startups, industry groups, nonprofits, and human rights organizations. In addition to Computer Science & Electrical Engineering degrees, Alka also holds an MFA in creative writing & literature. Two questions preoccupy her: How are we designing our world? And how is that design, designing us?
CEO, Behavioral Signals
Bio: Rana Gujral is an accomplished entrepreneur, keynote speaker, and CEO of Behavioral Signals, an enterprise software company that develops AI technology to analyze human behavior from voice data. Prior to his current role, Rana founded and scaled the machine learning SaaS startup TiZE to an acquisition by Alchemy. He has also held senior roles at Logitech S.A. and Kronos Inc., overseeing the development of industry-leading products.
An active investor and advisor, Rana contributes to TechCrunch and Forbes and has been recognized as ‘Entrepreneur of the Month’ (CIO Magazine), a ‘Top 10 Entrepreneur to Follow’ (Huffington Post), and an ‘AI Entrepreneur to Watch’ (Inc Magazine), among other accolades. His insights have reached global stages such as the World Government Summit, LEAP, DeepFest, TheNextWeb, DSC Europe, and Mobile World Congress. Holding degrees from MIT Sloan, UMass, and TACK U.K., Rana’s achievements have been featured in TechCrunch, Forbes, Fast Company, and other leading publications.
Founder & Managing Director, Startup Patterns
Bio: Sam McAfee is a seasoned technology leader with over 25 years of experience in Silicon Valley. He specializes in helping companies improve their tech leadership, unlocking sustainable growth for the long term. Sam has a rich background in building and scaling new digital products, finding product-market fit, and enhancing product development capabilities.
As the founder and managing director of Startup Patterns, Sam and his team have worked with companies of all sizes, including industry leaders like Adobe, Unilever, Procter & Gamble, GE, Sharethrough, Teach for America, Anthem, PG&E, Blackstone, and Credit Karma. Startup Patterns is trusted by technology organizations, from startups to enterprises, to help develop better technology leaders, build high-performing product development teams, and drive organizational growth. Sam is the author of the book Startup Patterns and a frequent speaker at product and engineering events across the United States.
Chief Operating Officer, Strategy of Things
Bio: Benson Chan serves as the Chief Operating Officer at Strategy of Things, an innovation consulting firm headquartered in Silicon Valley. With over 30 years of experience, he has successfully scaled innovative businesses and technologies across Fortune 500 companies and startups. Throughout his career, Benson has held key roles in organizations such as NASA, Hughes Electronics, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Cisco. His expertise spans artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things (IoT), smart cities, engineering, innovation management, market development, and go-to-market strategies.
For the past decade, Benson has focused on IoT and emerging technologies, with a particular emphasis on the intersection of AI and IoT. A recognized thought leader, Benson is highly regarded in the fields of IoT, smart cities, innovation management, cloud business models, and go-to-market strategies. In 2022, he was appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce as chair of the NIST Federal IoT Advisory Board and currently co-chairs the CompTIA IoT Industry Advisory Council. Benson has been recognized as one of Onalytica's Top Ten IoT Influencers for Smart Cities (2020) and IoT Experts (2022). A frequent speaker and writer, his work is published in leading industry journals.
Benson holds a Bachelor’s degree in Aeronautical Engineering from California Polytechnic State University, a Master’s degree in Engineering from Purdue University, and an MBA from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Founder & CEO, WeStory.ai
Bio: Juyong Do is an AI leader and entrepreneur dedicated to transforming AI advancements into meaningful, practical solutions that address real human needs. With a strong focus on reducing system inefficiencies and solving everyday pain points, Juyong is passionate about leveraging AI to create impactful change.
Juyong holds an MS and PhD from Stanford and is the CEO and Founder of WeStory.ai, an end-to-end AI-powered autobiography platform that connects loved ones through deeply personal life stories. His 20-year career spans diverse areas of AI and R&D, including defect detection in computer vision for manufacturing at Instrumental, privacy and family safety AI applications at Avast, and indoor localization at Qualcomm. He is also the author of 8 academic publications and has filed over 70 patents.
CEO and Founder, AI X Network
Bio: Matt Fok is on a mission to make AI accessible for SMEs and Non-Profits through his innovative AI-powered applications and Smart Community platform. As a Fractional Chief AI Officer, Matt helps small businesses and startups enhance lead generation, knowledge sharing, and recruitment, creating a seamless network that drives high ROI and sustainable growth.
Founder & CEO, CARAIO Technologies
Bio: Sreekanth Pallavoor is an accomplished AI entrepreneur and seasoned Director of Product Management with extensive experience in technology, strategy, and operations. With a strong background in AI and digital product development, as well as IT services, Sreekanth specializes in building innovative products and high-performing teams that leverage cutting-edge technologies.
An alumnus of UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, Sreekanth combines technical expertise with managerial acumen to drive impactful digital initiatives. His expertise in product and program management is demonstrated through a proven ability to lead AI-driven projects and establish best practices for AI application.
As the Founder & CEO of CARAIO Technologies, Sreekanth has been at the forefront of developing transformative AI solutions in the MedTech sector. Under his leadership, CARAIO has achieved recognition as a standout startup during its incubation at Berkeley SkyDeck, selected from over 1,500 global applicants.
Head of Product and Business Development, Mach-AI
Bio: Stevie is a seasoned technical product and marketing leader with extensive experience in driving the adoption of digital platforms, IoT smart sensing, and AI/ML-based algorithms across emerging technology sectors, including consumer electronics, space/military, and connected healthcare. As the VP of Business Development and Marketing at Mach-AI, Stevie leads both technical and commercial initiatives to develop and launch AI-powered integrations for Mach-AI’s SaaS platform, utilizing vector database scalability to deliver a project portfolio management solution that empowers C-suite teams to optimize key performance indicators such as ROI, costs, resourcing, and speed to market.
Before joining Mach-AI, Stevie held various leadership roles in Product Marketing and Applications Engineering within the silicon hardware and software IP space, bringing a decade of international experience in markets including Japan and the EU.
Technical Product Director, EY
Bio: Martin is an experienced IT leader with a proven track record in global, blue-chip companies. He is highly skilled in IT strategy and portfolio architecture transformation, IT leadership, solution design, and delivering large-scale programs. Martin thrives in challenging environments, excelling at the board level and building high-performing teams. He is a strategic and critical thinker, adept at quickly understanding complex problems and providing pragmatic solutions.
He brings broad technical expertise across various industry sectors, enabling effective problem-solving. His career highlights include successfully leading in a receivership scenario, delivering a global IT strategy, and developing significant IT strategies for government entities and leading companies.
Recognized for his outstanding client service, Martin has also participated in prestigious leadership programs. His key skills include IT strategy and architecture development, service and portfolio management, IT delivery, turnaround management, IT effectiveness, mergers and acquisitions, and driving innovation. He has served industries such as financial services, oil and gas, public sector, technology, and pharmaceuticals.
Co-Founder & CEO, VOICEplug AI
Bio: Jay Ruparel is the Co-founder and CEO of VOICEplug Inc., where he is driving innovation in voice commerce and applied AI. With over 23 years as a tech entrepreneur, Jay has a rich experience in launching and successfully scaling startups. Under his leadership, VoicePlug have built their patented Voice AI technology that powers Voice Commerce for businesses to take orders using AI while offering a personalized and delightful guest experience. Before starting VoicePlug, Jay co-founded and led Azure Knowledge as their CEO helping build and scale their market insights and data analytics business.
Jay has been awarded the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2018. In 2019 and 2018, under Jay’s leadership Azure was ranked among the 500 Fastest Growing Companies in America by Inc. and ranked in the Top 100 on the Deloitte Fast 500 companies in America. Jay holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management and actively engages with entrepreneurial organizations like the Young Presidents Organization and Entrelliance.
He also teaches Entrepreneurship at Northeastern University, mentors aspiring entrepreneurs, and speaks at Applied-AI and Voice-AI events. Beyond work, Jay enjoys long-distance running and mentoring students and early-stage entrepreneurs, driven by his passion for innovation and making a positive impact globally.
PROGRAM COMMITTEE
ISPMA at Berkeley, Student Chapter President
ISPMA Chairman
ISPMA Administrative Director
ISPMA North America Chairman