Paul Baldassari is president of manufacturing and services at Flex, the manufacturing partner of choice that helps a diverse customer base design and build products to improve the world. Along with Flex’s strong workforce spanning 30 countries, he is responsible for driving the global operational strategy and execution, maximizing leverage of Flex’s worldwide footprint, scaling manufacturing technology, and managing responsible, sustainable manufacturing and logistics services for the company.
Mr. Baldassari holds a B.S. in electrical engineering and a doctoral degree in business administration from the Vienna University of Economics. He currently serves on the boards of directors at HealthTap and IPC.

Prakash Kumar Karunakaran is the Head of NervCentre, a group responsible for driving digital transformation in PETRONAS's plant, facilities, and projects space. As head of NervCentre (or NC), he is responsible for the development and deployment of several techno-digital initiatives, including the award-winning PETRONAS Digital Twin project, the Remote and Autonomous Operations (or RAO) initiative, and optimizing processing facilities by utilizing machine learning on large data sets. Previously, Prakash was the Group Technical Authority in PETRONAS, leading the charge for the Advanced Process Control discipline. Prakash has spent more than 30 years in the Oil and Gas Industry with substantial field experience in several operating facilities.

Wojciech Matusik is a Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at MIT, where he leads the Computational Design and Fabrication Group and is a member of the Computer Graphics Group. Wojciech is a cofounder and CTO at Inkbit. Prior to joining the MIT faculty, Wojciech worked in computer graphics and additive manufacturing research at Mitsubishi, Adobe, and Disney Imagineering. He studied computer graphics at MIT and received his PhD in 2003. He also received a BS in EECS from the University of California at Berkeley in 1997 and MS in EECS from MIT in 2001. He holds more than 40 US patents.

Ujjwal Kumar is the Group President of Teradyne Robotics, an advanced robotics platform which includes Universal Robots and Mobile Industrial Robots (MiR), the pioneers and global market leaders of human-scale collaborative and autonomous mobile robots. Ujjwal has a 25-year career spanning multiple industries and major multi-national corporations, including General Motors, General Electric, and Honeywell. Prior to this role Ujjwal was President and CEO of Honeywell's Process Solutions business.

Ujjwal has a Master of Business Administration from the University of Michigan's RossSchool of Business, a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maryland and Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the IndianInstitute of Technology.

Dawn Fitzgerald, CTO of SharkNinja, is leading the advanced technology development for Shark and Ninja product lines.  Areas of focus include advanced embedded systems, digital solution platform development, connected devices technology, IoT and AI/ML.

Over the course of her career, Dawn has served in leadership positions at American Family, Schneider Electric, IBM and numerous high-tech startups. A SpringBoard Women Entrepreneur startup funding recipient, Dawn co-founded and was vice president of engineering for a chip startup company where she designed digital signal processors for image processing. Dawn has served in executive roles at multiple angel and VC-backed startup companies in various industries including: medical devices; software applications; sustainable products; robotics; and consumer devices.

Dawn’s areas of expertise include product development, operations, IT, information security, and digital transformation strategy. She is a recipient of The Boston Business Journal’s “Women to Watch in Science and Technology” award.

In addition to her BS in Electrical and Computer Systems engineering from RPI, she holds a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from MIT and an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Since her graduation from MIT, Dawn served as a mentor for MIT’s Venture Mentor Services and MIT Start Six Entrepreneurship, and is currently a mentor for the MIT’s Operation Lab.  Dawn is a member of the Rensselaer School of Engineering Leadership Council and the Rensselaer New England Network Executive Council.  She is also the founding chairperson for the MIT Machine Intelligence for Manufacturing and Operations, has been a columnist for AI Trends and industry speaker on AI adoption for enterprise and startup companies.

Michael L. Winterrose is a Data Scientist at Northrop Grumman Aeronautics Systems in the Advanced Manufacturing Technology Group, with a focus on data pipeline development and machine learning for forecasting, anomaly detection, and computer vision. He holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in Applied Computational Physics from the California Institute of Technology. With over a decade of experience in defense analytics, artificial intelligence, and simulation, he has developed data-driven solution to complex problems across an array of domains. Prior to his current role, Dr. Winterrose made significant contributions at Lockheed Martin and MIT Lincoln Laboratory, focusing on digital twins, predictive maintenance, space systems, and cybersecurity.

Saman Farid is the founder of Formic, the leading Robotics-as-a-Service provider enabling SMB and Mid-Market US Industrial businesses to easily bring automation into their production processes. He has been involved with technology and robotics throughout his career, building and selling two technology companies. Prior to Formic, Saman ran the global investment fund for Baidu Ventures focusing on AI, Machine Learning, and its effects on the way we work and live. He is the founder of Comet Labs - an AI-focused investment fund and incubator and currently serves as an investor or board member for a mix of 25+ robotics, technology, and AI focused businesses. He resides in the San Francisco Bay area, is passionate about youth empowerment, and works with local non-profits to promote technology education.

Kenneth Matthew Hutchison is an Assistant Professor at the Pennsylvania State University Applied Research Laboratory. His research contributions to government and industry include: quality control and anomaly detection using time series analysis, design of test and evaluation frameworks for computer vision, the application of AI to Product Lifecycle Management Systems and the application of AI to detect errors in business process data. The lattermost of which, Production Bill of Material Quality Assurance using Artificial Intelligence, made him a recipient of the 2021 Defense Manufacturing Technology Achievement Award via the Department of Defense Manufacturing Technology Program (DoD ManTech) and Joint Defense Manufacturing Technology Panel (JDMTP).

Dr. Hutchison holds a B.S. and M.S. in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and a Dual-Title PhD in Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering and Operations Research from the Pennsylvania State University.

Dan Kearns leads Falkonry's product team. For over 20 years, he's designed and built new software products focused on large enterprises and analytics. Dan's startup background includes creating the no-code cloud applications tool Coghead, the RNA sequencing and genotyping platform Maverix Biomics, and the enterprise AI platform C3.ai. His public company experience includes new product development at Siebel and Cisco, and the launch of the Guidewire Data Platform. Dan holds a Degree in Mathematics from the University of Chicago.

Dr. Duane S. Boning is the Clarence J. LeBel Professor in Electrical Engineering, and Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in the EECS Department at MIT. He is affiliated with the MIT Microsystems Technology Laboratories, and serves as MTL Associate Director for Computation and CAD. He is also the Engineering Faculty Co-Director of the MIT Leaders for Global Operations (LGO) program, serving in that role since September 2016. His research interests include the modeling and control of variation in IC, photonics, and MEMS processes, devices, and circuits

John Hart is Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Director of the Laboratory for Manufacturing and Productivity, and Director of the Center for Advanced Production Technologies at MIT. John’s research focuses on additive manufacturing, materials processing, machine design, and computational methods. John has been recognized by awards from the United States NSF, ONR, AFOSR, DARPA, SME, and ASME, along with two R&D 100 awards. He has also received the MIT Ruth and Joel Spira Award for Distinguished Teaching in Mechanical Engineering and the MIT Keenan Award for Innovation in Undergraduate Education, for his leadership in undergraduate manufacturing education using new pedagogical models and digital resources. He is a co-founder of Desktop Metal and Vulcan Forms, and a Board Member of Carpenter Technology Corporation.

Dr. Larry Sweet is currently Director, Engineering at the Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing (ARM) Institute. He is a widely recognized robotics and automation expert, working in both commercial organizations and academia. He brings experience in bringing emerging technologies into production by increasing their Technology Readiness Level, concurrent with improvements in factory floor processes and workforce skills. At Amazon heled technology transition of all internally developed robotics and automation products from lab status into end-to-end systems in Amazon’s global network, cumulatively 70% of Amazon’s installed robotics. The ROBIN robot deployed duringCovid19 to meet urgent customer demand required field deployment at scale, concurrent with innovations of AI/ML algorithms, advanced manipulation, exception handling, and synchronization with mobile robot traffic flows. As CTO at Symbotic he led development of systems now deployed across Walmart’s network, delivering aisle-specific pallets to grocery stores, an NP-hard problem with over 20,000 SKU’s of varying dimensions, weights, compliance, and aisle assignment, while delivering cartons to palletizing cells in precise sequence by fleets of high-speed AMR’s picking orders from a multi-level storage structure. As Frito-Lay VP Engineering and Technology, with three industry-first inventions, he transformed 1,200 integrated automated seasoning, packaging, and case packing lines with from inflexible single-to multi-SKU capability, enabling 2xgainin 24/7product flows. Larry also held senior manufacturing and technology roles as ABB Industrial & Building Systems, United Technologies, GE Fanuc VP Numerical Controls Business, and GE Corporate Research. Industry recognition includes33 patents, the Edison Award and Manufacturing Leadership Council Outstanding Achiever Award for Supply Chain Excellence for the Symbotic system, IR-100 Award. He co-authored the US National Roadmap for Robotics Research, Service Robotics, co-author “Real-time planning and control” section, and was a founding Associate Editor, IEEE Transactions on Robotics and Automation Systems. Larry received his Ph.D. and M.S. degrees from MIT, and a B.S from the University of California, Berkeley. He was a tenured faculty member and Guggenheim Foundation Fellow at Princeton University, Associate Director, Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Machines (IRIM)at Georgia Tech, and Founding Associate Editor, IEEE Transactions on Robotics and Automation Systems

Retsef Levi is the J. Spencer Standish (1945) Professor of Operations Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management. He is a member of the Operations Management Group at MIT Sloan and affiliated with the MIT Operations Research Center. Levi also serves as the Faculty Co-Director of the MIT Leaders for Global Operations (LGO).Levi's current research is focused on the design of analytical data-driven decision support models and tools addressing complex business and system design decisions under uncertainty in areas such as health and healthcare management, supply chain, procurement and inventory management, revenue management, pricing optimization and logistics.

Elliot Robson is the CEO at Eduworks–providing the first AI microservices platform to revolutionize the management of divergent data for complex organizations. He is a leader in technology application with expertise building tech teams, leading product, and developing cutting-edge technologies across industries. Mr. Robson has a broad knowledge base including classic analytics methods, ML/NLP, linguistics, generative AI, and human philosophy. Mr. Robson holds a B.A. from Yale University and a Masters from the University of Michigan.

Pete is an Associate Partner within McKinsey’s Advanced Industries practice and heads the Next Gen Manufacturing Excellence offering. He leads performance improvement and growth efforts at automotive, aerospace, and industrial technology clients.

He is also one of the Firm’s leaders on Digital Manufacturing and Industry 4.0, having led McKinsey’s digital capability center (an I4.0 focused training facility) and supported clients on their digital manufacturing and supply chain journeys. He leads McKinsey’s partnership with MIT MIMO as well.

Pete holds an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management, an SM in Mechanical Engineering from MIT, and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Prior to MIT, Pete worked for Dell Inc. for four years where he focused on operations strategy.

Dr. Anthony is Director of MIT’s Master of Engineering in Manufacturing Program, Co-Director of the Medical Electronic Device Realization Center, and Associate Director, MIT.nano. With over 20 years experience in product realization, Dr. Anthony designs instruments and techniques to monitor and control physical systems.  His work involves systems analysis and design and calling upon mechanical, electrical, and optical engineering, along with computer science and optimization, to create solutions. In addition to his academic work, he has extensive experience in market-driven technology innovation, product realization, and business entrepreneurship and commercialization at the intersection between information technology and advanced manufacturing.

Philipp Simons is currently a Senior Manager of Operations Strategy and Business Resilience at Amgen, where he led the development and implementation of industry-leading IoT tools for Amgen’s newest manufacturing facility in New Albany, Ohio. Using advanced real-time analytics and AI, the tools Philipp helped develop will enable significant increases in factory productivity and equipment reliability – supporting Amgen’s mission to serve patients.

Philipp holds a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from MIT, where he developed the world’s smallest potentially implantable glucose fuel cell. In addition, he earned an MBA from MIT Sloan through the LGO program, and a B.Sc. in Physics and M.Sc. in Energy Science and Technology from ETH Zurich.

Josh Weisberg is a Digital Operations Manager at Re:Build Manufacturing, implementing various analytics tools in order to develop and manufacture Thermoplastic Composite products. He is responsible for the installation of instrumentation & telemetry in order to ensure processes in the factory can adapt to input variations and adhere to controls which ensure high quality. In addition, he ensures captured data is well positioned to facilitate the development of new products, bringing confidence in Re:Build Oribi’s thermoplastic manufacturing capabilities to prospective customers. He recently completed his Masters in Civil Engineering as well as his MBA at MIT. Previously, he developed new aircraft manufacturing methods using data & analytics. In his free time, he enjoys riding his bike and exploring Colorado’s mountains.

Suzie leads the DePuy Synthes Supply Chain Digital Applications Team in J&J MedTech. The team is responsible for accelerating the digital transformation in J&J’s global orthopedics supply chain to restore quality of life and mobility for patients. The core remit of the team is to establish scalable and cost-effective agile cloud development practices and deploy a range of digital solutions to drive value for the supply chain. The active digital initiatives include a broad range for technologies, everything from BI analytics to ML and GenAI to AR/VR. The team is also accountable for developing the digital roadmap and strategy, digital portfolio management and governance, and driving initiatives to improve the digital acumen of the organization.

Suzie joined J&J after completing the Leaders for Global Operations (LGO) dual degree program at MIT, where she received an MBA and Master's in Civil Engineering, focused in data science and supply chain digital transformation. Prior to MIT, she spent 3 years working as an R&D Chemist at materials science startups, and 4 years working as a Process Engineer at an automotive parts supplier, where she had the opportunity to spend ~2 years in China managing the tech transfer and startup of a new manufacturing plant. A proud Polar Bear and liberal arts undergraduate, she earned a BA in Biochemistry and French at Bowdoin College in beautiful Brunswick, ME.

Robert Rudnitsky (PhD) is Associate Director and Division Chief for Planning and Strategy at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Office of Advanced Manufacturing, leading the creation of public-private initiatives to develop new technologies for use in manufacturing.

He previously worked as Physicist and Scientific Advisor to the Director of the NIST Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology, and at the U.S. State Department, where he Chaired of the U.S. National Nanotechnology Initiative international working group, which coordinated United States Government international activities related to nanotechnology.  He was founding chair of the OECD Working Party on Nanotechnology and has served as Chair of the NATO Science for Peace and Security (SPS) Advisory Committee. In the private sector, he worked as an investment banker specializing in acquisitions, including of manufacturing and technology companies.

Robert received a Ph.D. in Applied Physics from Stanford and a B.A. from Yale.

Kyle is an Engagement Manager within McKinsey’s Operations Practice. He leads transformation and performance improvement efforts for aerospace, Higher Ed, and manufacturing clients across capital excellence, lean manufacturing, and product development & procurement contexts.

Kyle holds an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management, and SM in Mechanical Engineering from MIT, and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Nevada-Reno.

Prior to MIT, Kyle worked for The Boeing Company focused on Weight & Mass Properties Engineering in new product development and operational contexts.