Mary Barra is Chair and Chief Executive Officer of General Motors. She was elected Chair of the GM Board of Directors in 2016 and has served as CEO of GM since 2014.
Under Barra’s leadership, GM envisions a world with zero crashes, to save lives; zero emissions, so future generations can inherit a healthier planet; and zero congestion, so customers get back a precious commodity – time.
She is focused on creating the best customer experience and strengthening GM’s core vehicle and services business, while also working to deliver transformative technologies such as electrification, autonomous driving and software.
Prior to becoming CEO, Barra served as GM executive vice president, Global Product Development, Purchasing and Supply Chain, and as senior vice president, Global Product Development. In these roles, Barra and her teams were responsible for the design, engineering and quality of GM vehicle launches worldwide.
Previously, she served as vice president, Global Human Resources; vice president, Global Manufacturing Engineering; plant manager, Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly; and in several other executive engineering and staff positions.
Barra began her career with GM in 1980 as a General Motors Institute (Kettering University) co-op student at the Pontiac Motor Division. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering in 1985, followed by a Master of Business Administration from the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1990.
Barra serves on the Board of Directors of the Walt Disney Company, the Duke University Board of Trustees and the Detroit Economic Club.
Mary’s Sessions
How Mary Barra is Shaping GM’s Tech Future
Over her decade-long tenure, Chairman and CEO Mary Barra has pushed to transform General Motors into a technological powerhouse — and one that will lead in electrification, software and autonomous driving though their self-driving subsidiary Cruise. We’ll take stock of her progress — including the unexpected speed bumps along the way — and dig into her plans for the future, including where GM is investing capital.
A.C. Charania
Agency Chief Technologist
As the Agency Chief Technologist, A.C. Charania serves as principal advisor to NASA’s administrator on technology policy and programs. He also leads technology innovation at the agency and aligns NASA’s agency-wide technology investments with mission needs across the six mission directorates. Charania oversees technology collaboration with other federal agencies and the private sector while coordinating with external stakeholders.
Charania is an experienced leader in entrepreneurial space and aviation ventures, whose private sector work also includes projects under contract for NASA, the Air Force, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). His breadth of experience spans multiple areas, including launch vehicles, hypersonics, human/robotic exploration, lunar landers, planetary defense, small satellites, and aviation autonomy. Before joining NASA, he served as vice president of product strategy at Reliable Robotics.
A.C.’s Sessions
Cislunar: The Next Frontier
Cislunar space – the region from Earth out to the Moon – is quickly becoming the next frontier for commercial space activity and a gateway for future space exploration. This panel will explore how the convergence of cutting-edge technology, innovative business models, and strategic partnerships is turning bold visions for the Moon – from space stations to sustainable lunar infrastructure – into reality. Industry leaders will discuss the opportunities and challenges of building a thriving lunar ecosystem and how the commercial sector is positioning itself at the heart of this new era of exploration.
Denise Dresser
Chief Executive Officer
Denise Dresser is the CEO of Slack. For over 20 years, Denise has spearheaded business transformations within many of the world’s largest and most innovative companies. At Slack and as a part of Salesforce, Denise leads the team of Slack technologists, product innovators, marketers, communicators, and customer success professionals who are grounded in Slack’s mission to make people’s working lives simpler, more pleasant, and more productive. Denise previously served as President of Accelerated Industries Sales at Salesforce, leading the distribution and go-to-market strategy for some of Salesforce’s most strategic accounts and for the company’s industry-leading cloud solutions. Prior to Salesforce, she was a sales leader at Oracle. Denise graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is a member of the Ad Council Board of Directors, a passionate mentor to future women leaders and top talent, and the executive sponsor for ALSForce, a Salesforce equality group focused on raising awareness about ALS. Denise is based in San Francisco and is the mom to two amazing teenage boys.
Denise’s Sessions
Embracing Slack’s Evolution Under Salesforce and Vision for the Future
Join us for a one-on-one chat with Slack CEO Denise Dresser, who is approaching her one year anniversary while leading her organization through a time of turbulence, especially with the AI boom, and navigating being part of the Salesforce family and all that entails. During this session, learn how Slack’s latest advancements are empowering teams to work smarter, faster, and more efficiently, and get a glimpse into Slack’s next chapter of innovation and growth.
Sara Foster
General Partner / Co-Founder
Sara Foster is the co-founder of clothing and lifestyle brand Favorite Daughter, now with two of its own stores and sold at Moda Operandi, Nordstrom, and Saks. Sara is also an executive producer on “Nobody Wants This,” a Netflix show to be released in September 2024, starring Kristen Bell and Adam Brody. Her and her sister Erin have also launched Oversubscribed Ventures, a venture capital firm aimed at investing in consumer brands and tech. Sara and Erin also have a weekly podcast called The World’s First Podcast, which discusses dating, bettering yourself, and the fights they get into. Sara also has an extensive personal portfolio, investing in companies like Summersalt and Rowan.
Sara’s Sessions
Consumer, Culture, and Creators with Erin and Sara Foster
Two of the industry’s most famous sisters sit down alongside business partner Phil Schwarz to talk about consumer investing, culture curation, and what it means to be a creator in the modern age.
Colin Kaepernick
Founder & CEO
Colin Kaepernick is the Founder and CEO of Lumi, a groundbreaking platform that empowers creators by providing them with the tools needed to independently create, publish, and merchandise their stories both digitally and physically. In 2016, he took a knee during “The Star Spangled Banner” to bring attention to systemic oppressions against Black and Brown people, and quickly became known as one of America’s foremost civil rights activists. As an NFL player, Colin led the San Francisco 49ers to Super Bowl XLVII and is the holder of the all-time NFL record for most rushing yards in a game by a quarterback. He has been awarded a number of prestigious honors including Amnesty International’s Ambassador of Conscience Award, the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Ripple of Hope honor, GQ magazine’s “Citizen of the Year,” the NFL’s Len Eshmont Award, the Sports Illustrated Muhammad Ali Legacy Award, the ACLU’s Eason Monroe Courageous Advocate Award, and the Puffin/Nation Institute’s Prize for Creative Citizenship. Since 2016, he has founded and helped to fund three organizations—Know Your Rights Camp, Kaepernick Media, and Kaepernick Publishing—that together advance the liberation of Black and Brown people through storytelling, systems change, and political education. In 2019, Kaepernick helped Nike win an Emmy for its “Dream Crazy” commercial. In 2021, Colin released Colin in Black & White, a 6-episode limited series on Netflix exploring his high school years, which won two NAACP Image Awards. In 2022, he became a New York Times bestselling author for his acclaimed children’s picture book, I Color Myself Different. He will release his next children’s book, We Are Free, You and Me in October 2024, co-authored with his wife Nessa and published in partnership with Scholastic.
Colin’s Sessions
Colin Kaepernick Helps Creators Own Their Story
If anyone knows a thing or two about losing control of your own narrative, it’s Colin Kaepernick. Now the former NFL quarterback and civil rights activist runs an AI storytelling platform, Lumi, to help creators tell and own their stories. We’ll chat about the media landscape, how AI can empower storytellers, and biases in today’s AI models.
Vinod Khosla is an entrepreneur, investor, and technology fan. He is the founder of Khosla Ventures, focused on impactful technology investments in software, AI, robotics, 3D printing, healthcare and more. Mr. Khosla was a co-founder of Daisy systems and founding CEO of Sun Microsystems where he pioneered open systems and commercial RISC processors. One of Mr. Khosla’s greatest passions is being a mentor to entrepreneurs, assisting entrepreneurs and helping them build technology-based businesses. Mr. Khosla is driven by the desire to make a positive impact through technology to reinvent societal infrastructure and multiply resources. He is also passionate about Social Entrepreneurship. Vinod holds a Bachelor of Technology in Electrical Engineering from IIT, New Delhi, a Master’s in Biomedical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Vinod’s Sessions
Vinod Khosla Looks into the Past to See the Future of AI
Join legendary investor Vinod Khosla for an electrifying fireside chat on the future of AI. Khosla will share his perspective on the groundbreaking opportunities AI unlocks — along with the seismic disruptions it will unleash. Given Khosla’s penchant for straight talk and his proven ability over the years to see around corners, you won’t want to miss this conversation.
Alex Pall
Producer, The Chainsmokers & Partner and Co-Founder
Grammy® Award-winning and Billboard Chart topping artist/producer duo, The Chainsmokers, have evolved into a dominating musical force with a diverse repertoire of songs that have led them to become one of music’s hottest recording artists.
Comprised of Alex Pall and Drew Taggart, their signature sound deftly reaches across indie, progressive and pop realms and has seen them develop some of the biggest breakthrough songs over the course of the last few years. Now in 2020,
The Chainsmokers are currently working on their next chapter of music for their fourth full length album while simultaneously focusing on charitable and business ventures. From donating 20,000 N95 masks to hospitals in New York City and Las Vegas at the peak need for PPE during the pandemic to donations for charities aiding in wildfire relief in Australia and fighting for equal rights across the globe, Alex and Drew are always looking for ways to give back to causes that hit close to home.
Most recently, The Chainsmokers were featured on the cover of Forbes for their entrepreneurial achievements as well as being named by Forbes as the highest paid DJs in the world. Using their ability to identify trends, Drew and Alex have built a track record as seasoned angel investors.
Following their passion for supporting other brilliant entrepreneurs, they joined forces with a seasoned investment team, led by tech investors and entrepreneurs Milan Koch and Jeffrey Evans, to form a new venture capital firm called Mantis. Mantis Venture Capital invests in Seed & Series A consumer companies within the industries of Media & Entertainment, Fintech, and Health & Wellness that focuses on the Gen Z and Millennial population.
Alex’s Sessions
How the Chainsmokers Bring Value Beyond their Celebrity Status
While a lot of celebrities invest in startups, the Chainsmokers are different. Instead of angel investing, Drew Taggart and Alex Pall launched a formal fund, Mantis Venture Capital, invest out of a formal closed-end fund, and back companies in industries their celebrity prowess can’t always help in, like security startups and analytics platforms. In this session, Taggart and Pall will be joined by Dan Lorenc, the founder of Chainguard, to talk about how they are an asset to their B2B startups.
StrictlyVC @ Disrupt
This year, TechCrunch joined forces with StrictlyVC to create smaller, more intimate evenings for our readers. Already this year, we’ve hosted these nights in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington, DC, and London. Now you can join us at TechCrunch Disrupt for a special StrictlyVC event, delivering exclusive, insider content while facilitating meaningful connections among leading investors, entrepreneurs and executives. Attendees can anticipate engaging discussions, thought-provoking insights and ample opportunities to forge new connections.
– Investor Pass required
Assaf Rappaport
Co-Founder and CEO
Assaf Rappaport is the Co-Founder and CEO of Wiz, the world’s fastest-growing startup securing everything organizations build and run in the cloud. Wiz serves over 40% of the Fortune 100 and has raised over $1.9 billion at a $12 billion valuation in just four years, with investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Index Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Cyberstarts, Howard Schultz, and others. Before founding Wiz, Assaf was the founder and CEO of the security company Adallom, which was acquired by Microsoft for $320 million in 2015. He then served as Microsoft’s youngest-ever General Manager, overseeing the company’s Cloud Security Group and Israeli R&D Center.
Assaf’s Sessions
Assaf Rappaport: from Zero-Day to Hero
Fresh off a $1 billion funding round, Wiz has shot to fame as one of the fastest-growing, impactful cloud security startups ever. And one of the most sought after: earlier this year it rebuffed a $23 billion M&A offer from Google. Come hear its CEO talk about his journey as a founder and the challenges (and opportunities) ahead.
Bret is Co-Founder of Sierra. Most recently, he served as Co-CEO of Salesforce. Prior to Salesforce, Bret founded Quip and was CTO of Facebook. He started his career at Google, where he co-created Google Maps. Bret serves on the board of OpenAI.
Bret’s Sessions
From Salesforce to Sierra: Bret Taylor’s Journey in Tech Innovation
Former Salesforce co-CEO Bret Taylor, who recently co-founded Sierra, a new startup building a customer experience AI agent, will join us to talk about why he thinks AI agents are going to transform enterprise software. We’ll also chat about what it’s like going from a big company like Salesforce to a brand new startup – and his life as a mover and shaker in Silicon Valley, including being board chair of several high-profile companies including Twitter and OpenAI.
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