Speakers at Think 2018 You Don’t Want to Miss

From Monday, March 19 to Thursday, March 22, technology experts will arrive in Las Vegas to discuss some of the topics that matter most in the sector while attending Think 2018, a conference organized by IBM.

There are some speakers at Think 2018 weighing in on Sunday, March 18, too. Here are 21 experts you shouldn’t overlook.

1. Robert Schwartz

The Global Leader of Strategy and Design for IBM iX, Schwartz focuses on personalization experiences. As one of the speakers at Think 2018, he’ll give a presentation about brand transcendence — equipping established brands to fight back against challenges — happening Tuesday at 12:30 p.m.

2. Gerry Murray

Gerry Murray is a Research Director for Marketing and Sales Technology at IDC, a global provider of market research and advisory services. He’s another one of the speakers at Think 2018 and is presenting a session on Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. about the emerging role of artificial intelligence in marketing.

3. Femke Goedhart

Panagenda is a company that offers software solutions to optimize collaboration between IT departments, and Femke Goedhart is a business consultant for the firm. Many of the speakers at this conference offer real-life case studies and Goedhart is no exception. She’ll talk about helping and managing end users during a discussion beginning at 10:15 a.m. on Sunday.

4. Eric Bokelberg

As someone who specializes in ways to use AI for talent acquisition purposes in his role at IBM, Bokelberg is well equipped to speak on the matter during Think 2018. He’ll discuss how AI will lead to the digital reinvention of human resources during a session occurring at 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

5. Lisa Ling

Lisa Ling is an Emmy-award-winning journalist and someone you may have seen while watching her CNN show, “This Is Life with Lisa Ling.” Be sure to catch her discussion about how the worldwide stories she’s covered have had a substantial impact on her life. It happens at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday.

6. Dr. D.J. Patil

On Thursday at 10:30 a.m., Patil will speak about his role in making the United States’ government a data-driven enterprise. He was the Chief Data Scientist in the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy, so surely Dr. Patil has a wealth of information to share.

7. Jeff Jonas

As the CEO, Founder and Chief Scientist at Senzing, a company that aims to help people learn more about their user data for GDPR compliance reasons, Jonas certainly has interesting things to say about data. He’ll share some of them during a talk on Thursday at 9:30 a.m. about achieving GDPR compliance and positioning a company for a competitive advantage.

8. Phaedra Boinodiris

Phaedra Boinodiris is the senior lead for EdTech, IBM’s new program that explores ways to apply technology to educational curriculums. She’s also an author and has six patents related to gaming. On Tuesday at 3:30 p.m., she’ll have a session regarding how to revolutionize today’s schools with innovations.

9. Wade Davis

Davis is a gay former NFL player. He didn’t come out until his professional retirement and his post-football life centers on using sports to bring communities together about matters of social injustice. Hear him speak at 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

10. Frank Yiannas

Frank Yiannas is the Vice President of Food Safety for the world’s largest food retailer — Walmart Inc. On Wednesday at 3:30 p.m., he’ll be on a panel with Laurence Haziot, the Global Managing Director and General Manager for Worldwide Consumer Industries at IBM, discussing how people involved in retail and consumer products can maximize value for customers.

11. David Katz

David Katz is a business innovator associated with The Plastic Bank, which seeks to monetize plastic trash in the world’s oceans for people of underdeveloped nations. On Wednesday at 9:30 a.m., he’ll talk about how a significant threat to our marine life could become an opportunity for impoverished individuals.

12. Jessica Pointing

Jessica Pointing is a quantum computing researcher at Harvard and MIT. She’ll explain how the behavior of atoms and subatomic particles can expand the abilities of classic computing during a session that occurs on Wednesday at 2:30 p.m.

13. Dr. John Graham-Cumming

Currently the CTO of Cloudflare, Dr. John Graham-Cumming received his Ph.D. in Computer

Security from Oxford University and is the author of two books. On Thursday at 12:30 p.m., he’ll provide insights on how to implement safeguards against increasingly advanced attacks from cybercriminals.

14. Bettina Warburg

Bettina Warburg is the co-founder of Animal Ventures, which brings executives together to create, invest in and implement some of the most exciting up-and-coming technologies. On Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. you can hear her beliefs about how blockchain will contribute to the rise of a decentralized economy.

15. Gabriella Davis

Davis is the Technical Director at The Turtle Partnership, a company that assists clients with turning their strategies into realities by focusing on technical expertise. On Sunday at 10:35 a.m., you won’t want to miss her thoughts on how to maximize personal branding efforts.

16. Chris Manzeck

Have you ever thought about how weather data might impact business operations? Chris Manzeck sheds light on that subject during sessions occurring at 8:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Manzeck is a meteorologist and a sales engineer for The Weather Company, an enterprise associated with IBM.

17. Kalman Gyimesi

If the potential of connected cars fascinates you, don’t miss this speaker’s presentation on Monday at 2:30 p.m. Within his role at IBM, Gyimesi works with automotive marketing and technologies associated with the Internet of Things (IoT).

18. Emanuele Mora

As a leader in the Global Strategy and Planning department at the Whirlpool Corporation, Emanuele Mora is on the cutting edge of some of the smart home technologies that could be staples in future homes. Be sure to attend his talk at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, when Mora reveals some of the connected appliances in the works at his company.

19. Daniel Yellin

Daniel Yellin is part of IBM’s Cloud Division as the Leader of Mobile Offerings. It makes sense, then, that he’s giving a talk about how to deliver exceptional experiences to customers using mobile platforms. Be sure to put it on your schedule for Wednesday at 11:30 a.m.

20. Daniel Thompson

From the time he was 18, Thompson made a career out of his passion for the IT field. With IBM as his current employer, this speaker is well positioned to talk about the latest developments in ransomware, especially since a specialty of his is data protection. You can hear him on Monday at 11:30 a.m.

21. Bob Furniss

For more than three decades, Bob Furniss has made it his mission to improve customer experiences. He’s with IBM as the Vice President of the Global Service Cloud Practice and will speak on Monday at 3:30 p.m about how to use some of the most widely-used platforms from IBM and Salesforce to build better chatbots.

The standard ticket rate for Think 2018 is $2,295 when you buy your pass in advance. One-day admissions are also available for $895. If you’re ready to hear some valuable ideas and get inspired about what’s ahead in the tech world, Think 2018 is a must-attend conference.