Speakers
Sensors + IoT: Auto, Mobility, Transportation
8th December 2021

As the Product Cost Lead for the Autonomous Sensors and ADAS system, Ajay Muthuswamy is currently responsible for providing Material Cost and Vendor Tooling inputs from Ramp through End of Life for various GM programs. He oversees AV sensors financial health and work around solutions to optimize cost performance. He has developed a nuanced understanding of Emerging Technologies landscape and created parametric cost models to support Negotiation and facilitated optimal sourcing of electronic components. Previously he worked as a Cost Engineer for the Automotive Interior Systems where he provided critical cost support on project management of BOM cost targets at product and system level. 

Ajay has more than 7 years of experience with General Motors working across different teams in Cost Engineering and Value Chain Engineering. He is a self-starter and is passionate towards working on challenging projects through which he aspires to make a difference. He holds a master’s degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering from University of Michigan, Dearborn and a Bachelor’s degree in Production Engineering from PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore, India. 

Leading business innovation and consultancy with new technologies and digital transformation in the automotive industry for 15 years. He worked for 9 years at Daimler A.G (Mercedes-Benz) and has actually worked as a Project Leader Manager inside Volvo Group since 2015 (7 years). Alexander has a Bachelor in Logistics System Management (Engineering) an MBA in Strategic Business Management from USP – University of São Paulo (2nd Higher Academic University for LatAm) and a specialization graduate course in Cloud Computing and Data Science for SENAC-SP and A.I Course for Engineers at Stanford University. Actually, Alexander is a master of science student at Federal University of Paraná – UFPR for industrial engineering 4.0. He has several publications in the area of engineering, telematics systems, and connected solutions. He contributes as a speaker and participates in several congresses as FutureCom and Connected Fleet USA and works as a member of 5G Technology Automotive Fórum, and he is the automotive president at ABINC (Brazilian Internet of Things Association).

Birkan Atlamaz has almost 15 year of engineering experience for OEMs and supplier companies within the commercial automotive sector. Following graduation in 2006, he started his career at BMC as Electrical-Electronics system designer where he was an engineer and team leader, doing designs for commercial vehicles – trucks oriented. Thereafter, Birkan took a Project Leader role at NESAN, which serves as electrical-electronics components supplier for OEMs in Turkey. Then he became an OEM again at ANADOLU ISUZU, where he has since had numerous roles including Senior Design Engineer, Team leader, Chief Engineer and Head of Department for Electrical-Electronics Systems.

Between 2018 to 2020, Birkan was Deputy Chairman for Intelligent Transportation Committee in Automotive Manufacturers Association (OSD) and he has several certifications in project management, software testing, scrum and information security. Birkan completed the Executive Development Program at Sabanci University in 2020, has a Masters in Engineering Management from Izmir Institute of Technology (2012) and graduated in Electrical-Electronics Engineering at Ege University in Izmir, Turkey in 2006.

Cristina Mihaela Drăgan is a Thermal Analyst Expert in the Continental Automotive Company, in Advanced Driver Assistance Systems department. Her experience is in thermal management of different electronic control unit for different environment conditions. Additional to thermal management experience, she has experience in Design for Six Sigma. Her thermal studies include passive cooling solutions and active solutions: liquid cooling, fan cooling, heat pipes, and Peltier. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degree in Mechanical Faculty at the University Politehnica Timisoara, Romania and currently she is enrolled for PhD in Thermal Optimization for Electronic Control Units in Automotive Industry.

Dr. Walter K. Davis is a Product Engineering Specialist for Autonomous Vehicle Systems, at Honda Motor Company. In his current role, Dr. Davis serves as liaison between Vehicle Research and New Product Introduction, integrating autonomous vehicle sensing and adaptive safety designs from concepts to production at Honda’s flexible manufacturing facilities. Previously, he worked to integrate new products and create intellectual property management systems for defensive avionics, commercial appliances, and government specializing in electromagnetic sensors technologies, electronic controls, networking hardware, and vehicular communications. Walter’s experience spans engineering and analyst roles processing technology patents for the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, engineering development in multinational companies such as Northrop Grumman Aerospace and General Electric Appliances and while serving in the U. S. Army Signals Intelligence Command. 

Walter served eight years as technical specialist in the U.S. Army, supporting satellite and vehicular communication systems for the 2nd Infantry, Stryker Brigade and to Arctic Warfare Special Operations Forces. Dr. Davis received his Doctorate and MBA Cum Laude in Business Administration from Capella University with emphasis in Intellectual Property Development Strategy, and Operations Management, a Master’s in Project Management from the University of California, Irvine, professional certification in Intellectual Property Law from the U. S. Patent & Trademark Office, and a BASc, in Electronic Engineering Technology from ITT Technical Institute. Dr. Davis is a new published author of the book Career Advantages: An Interdisciplinary Approach, and volunteers as a graduate mentor assisting Doctoral business and technology students at Capella University’s Career Center located in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Eliane Moreno Gomez Tagle is a mechatronics engineer whose focus is on mobility and IoT smart city eco-systems. She is highly motivated in how to transform mobility & transport improving business models and solutions through innovation & strategic vision. Currently, Eliane is working as a product and portfolio manager in the Data Lab, a high-tech and intrapreneurship environment for developing software innovation for the Volkswagen Group & Hub for advanced analytics & artificial intelligence.

She has more than 5 years of international experience working across different industries to bring innovative solutions from healthcare, educational robotics, infrastructure and automotive industry. Eliane has a master’s degree in Business Administration & Engineering and is continuously taking on diverse studies in innovation management, design thinking and AI.

As the Entrepreneur in Residence at BMNT, Heather works alongside the US Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community to create ecosystems of innovators and investors to engage in national security-focused problem solving on all levels. Based in Palo Alto, CA,

she is the founder of the Defense Investor Network which fuses the private capital investment ecosystem and the national security enterprise to promote agile innovation and transition while reducing the threat of foreign direct investment (FDI).

BMNT provides a platform where innovators can work together at the intersection of business, government, academia and society. Our platform brings to bear deep, mutually supporting networks of innovators, researchers, defense and national security officials to identify and solve complex problems for military, intelligence community, and defense innovation base clients.

Jack Weast is an Intel Fellow and Chief Technology Officer of the Corporate Strategy Office as well as a Vice President for Automated Vehicle Standards at Mobileye. In this dual role, Jack is responsible for researching and evaluating new technological strategies, their implications and potential outcomes in enabling Intel’s business needs while also leading a global team working on AV safety technology and the related standards that will be needed to understand what it means for an AV to drive safely. 

In his over 20-year career at Intel, Jack has built a reputation as a change agent in new industries with significant technical contributions to a wide range of industry-first products and standards in industries that are embracing complex high performance heterogeneous computing for the first time. With an End to End Systems perspective, Jack combines a unique blend of embedded product experience with a knack for elegant System and Software design. 

Jack is the co-author of “UPnP: Design by Example” and is the holder of over 40 issued patents with dozens pending. Jack was recently inducted into Portland State University’s Maseeh College Academy of Distinguished Alumni in recognition of Jack’s achievements, leadership and service to the Engineering and Computer Science Profession, as well as to Society. Outside of work he is a classical pianist and never turns down an opportunity to take the karaoke stage. 

Originally a founding-member of Device Authority Ltd, (formerly known as Cryptosoft), James has over 13 years’ experience in both internal and external facing technical roles. James leads the technology strategy and is the technical leader of the business, working closely with the engineering team to improve and develop our IoT security software platform – KeyScaler. James also works closely with a number of key customers and strategic partners to ensure our products fulfil current market requirements, are easy to integrate and use, and meet the IoT security use cases for key industry verticals – IoMT, IIoT, Automotive and Smart Connected Products. 

Prior to Cryptosoft, James was the lead technical consultant for a European software reseller responsible for designing and delivering PKI-based data security solutions for variety of customers, including SMBs, government agencies, and multinational corporations. 

János Golumba studied Mechanical Engineering at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics and completed his diploma thesis in 2007. He has worked for several Engineering Services Companies before joining Ford Motor Company (i.e. Ford Werke GmbH) in 2015. János has broad knowledge from his time in the Body Engineering Department, in Body Meshing and Joining techniques in BiW Structure for CAE purposes. Also, János was an active member of the cross-OEM based xMCF 3.0 Connection definition Working Group.

He had the privilege to work in R&D at FFA and understand and actively support the research and development steps of Residual Spot-welding and Laser welding focused on CAE Applications. During the time at FFA János met his future Supervisor, who invited János to join his Team in Merkenich based Multidisciplinary Design Optimization (MDO) Team, where he is still active. Within this group, he has learned several optimization tools and techniques, and this is the place where János came across Machine Learning. His team deals with several Gauge and Grade Optimization challenges and are currently experiencing higher demand in Morphing and Topology Optimization assignments. Their knowledge allows them to support cross development activities and help departments with optimization tasks.

Jen Cohen makes technology work for business. Since the 1990s, she’s helped companies like Toyota Research Institute, Cisco, and Birkenstock adopt solutions that drive meaningful business results, including rebooting inefficient operations teams, establishing world-class best practices, and streamlining processes to optimize performance. She’s also helped several startups modernize platforms, streamline processes, and scale their operations to prepare for successful acquisitions.

Her specialties include improving uptime to 99.999%; rebooting and modernizing platforms and teams; streamlining, scaling, and automating processes; implementing change management processes; and rearchitecting aging core infrastructures.

She cares as much about finding the right solutions as she does about easing users’ fears and getting them comfortable with new tools and systems. Although getting the technology and processes right is important, Jen believes successfully making these changes comes down to one thing: the people. Her motto is “It’s always about the people, and when we value each other and work together, we can accomplish amazing things.”

Jen is committed to coaching and mentoring people at all levels within an organization, especially women in tech. And she maintains and nurtures relationships with former direct reports and colleagues even years after they’ve worked together.

Mac Sullivan aspires is to facilitate a retooling and upskilling of the logistics industry through promoting collaboration between education, business, and technology.

Mac often speaks at international logistics and technology events and enjoys mentoring university students and recent graduates as often as his schedule permits. His work in sales and marketing in the logistics industry prompted him to pursue his PhD in Political Theory from ECNU where he is finalizing his dissertation on how government policies deal with the opportunities and challenges of logistics industry’s digital transformation. Self-study and a passion for this topic has helped him recently become the Head of Technology and Digital Promotion, where he is facilitating the digital transformation of NNR Global Logistics, a division of the Nishitetsu Group.

Mac has an EMBA from Hult International Business School and a bachelor’s degree in Communications from the University of Georgia. Mac spent nearly a third of his life as an ex-pat, living in Spain, Thailand and China during his 20’s.

Lastly, he is excited to share that his first book, “The Digital Transformation of Logistics: Demystifying Impacts of the Fourth Industrial Revolution” is available on Amazon since early 2021.

Martha Cosgrove is an Associate with AEI HorizonX, where she focuses on sourcing and deal execution within the environmental tech sector.

Prior to joining AEI HorizonX, Martha Cosgrove was a member of Boeing HorizonX Ventures. Her investments include Virgin Galactic (NYSE: SPCE), Circulor, SparkCognition and C360 Technology. Cosgrove started her career at Greentown Labs, the nation’s largest cleantech incubator. In 2017, she received a fellowship from Venture for America.

Cosgrove graduated from Yale University with a B.S. in Geology and Geophysics, with a concentration in paleoclimatology and isotopic geochemistry. She was born and raised outside of Boston, MA and now lives in Los Angeles, CA.

Matthias Hub is Tech Lead at Forward31, the company building unit of Porsche Digital. In this role he builds new ventures together with founders and makes sure, they are using a suitable technology approach. With his “getting things done” mindset he enables the ventures to validate their hypothesis quickly and with constantly challenging the status quo he challenges the founders to think beyond. 

Beforehand he worked in the field of Smart Mobility and Connected Car at Porsche, bridging the gap between the software development within the vehicle and in the cloud – this effort led to the Volkswagen Automotive Cloud. Prior to that he founded an Internet of Things startup in Shenzhen, China, and before he worked in several roles in consulting and software development. 

Martin is an independent writer, researcher, and podcaster specialising in automotive and future mobility. He has over 20 years of experience in automotive industry research, consulting, business journalism, and publishing, and has moderated conferences in Detroit, California, India, and Europe covering everything from passenger cars to heavy duty trucking. Martin is also co-host of Ride: The Urban Mobility Podcast which explores the business models and new technologies shaping the movement of people and goods. 

You can read some of Martin’s recent work and connect with him directly at www.kovetic.com. 

Nicole Magiera is Head of Smart: City for Volkswagen Group IT and leads a team for Big Data in Urban Mobility at Volkswagen Data: Lab in Munich.

Her team’s products enable Volkswagen to further contribute to improving the mobility ecosystem of cities worldwide.

The Data: Lab is collaborating closely with cities like Wolfsburg, Lisbon, and San Francisco in order to reduce congestion and effectively redesign traffic flow.

Orlie Gruper is a Mobility Nerd with 16 years of experience in the field. She was the first female entrepreneur in the Smart Mobility Community founding an electric motorcycle company, represented the Israeli transport sector in the European Commission then lead the EcoMotion Community as the executive director for the past 4.5 years where she remains on the Advisory Board and now is an investor in the field as VP Strategy of Mobilitech Capital among many other things such as founding Women in Mobility.

Paul is the VP EMEA at Device Authority leading both Partner /Alliance and customer engagement. He has over 25 years’ industry experience, delivering value-based customer solutions, building GTM strategy and creating shared success. For the last 10 years Paul has focused on building rapid growth start-up technologies and markets and prior to that he worked within the Enterprise solutions divisions for companies such as EMC and Computacenter focussed on the Global 500 sector.

Rob is Vice President of Technology Partners at Device Authority and has over 30 years of experience across cybersecurity, Internet Of Things, industrial OT & ICS, SaaS, Semiconductors and Software engineering. He has worked on many complex IoT projects for in the areas of Transport/Automotive, Industrial & Smart Factory and Health Care (IoMT). Rob engages key partners across the IoT & Cybersecurity Ecosystems, where he architects, markets and brings compelling joint solutions to market. He has been involved with several successful start-ups and is also a keen event speaker who has spoken at many leading events on the topics of IoT and Cybersecurity.

Robert (Robb the Robot Guy) Cheek is the robotics and emerging technology analyst for Hyundai Motor Securities, the investment-banking arm of the Hyundai Motor Group. In his role at Hyundai, Mr. Cheek identifies, analyzes, and recommends robotics and emerging technology companies and related technologies for investment or partnership by internal and external clients. In addition to his role with Hyundai, Mr. Cheek serves as an advisor to several robotics companies in the US, South Korea, and Germany.

Prior to joining Hyundai, Mr. Cheek served as the director of business development for Yujin Robot’s Innovation Lab where he spearheaded the GoCart project, one of the world’s first AMRs (autonomous mobile robots). The success of the technologies created at the Innovation Lab resulted in a EUR50mn investment by the German consumer electronics company Miele.

Mr. Cheek has also served in several key roles for Sapinda Group’s investments in technology start-ups including Fyber, a digital media company that trades on the DAX where he worked on the IPO, and Azubu, an eSports broadcaster and content developer where he organized the first League of Legends Champions live eSports event held in Seoul in 2012.

Mr. Cheek has won numerous awards for his work in the robotics industry, including the Best Robot/Drone of CES 2017 by Engadget, 2017’s Best Drone by Robotics Business Review, Top Tech for CES 2018, Best Drone for Racing by Digital Trends CES 2018, Best Commercial Drone CES 2019, Best of CES 2019, and others.

Mr. Cheek has published a number of research papers about robotics for investors, as well as articles for various media outlets, including a project with TED regular Derek Sivers. He has made frequent appearances at media events in the US, Asia, the MENA region, and Europe. In addition, he has co-authored several pieces on start-ups and is currently writing a book about robotization and education.

Mr. Cheek holds an MBA from the Helsinki School of Economics, and a BA from the University of Florida. In addition, Mr. Cheek attended Cambridge University and holds several licenses and certifications, including a Project Management Certificate from Stanford University.

Salvatore Grimaldi is the head of the Leonardo Aircraft Division Innovation Management, with the responsibility to drive the Company innovation cultural transformation, to explore, to turn into industrial solutions and incubate disruptive technologies. Coordinating a group of senior Innovation Architects, Research Fellows, University Researchers and Internal Specialists, SG is furthermore responsible for Leonardo Labs dedicated to Aircraft applications and for the creation of the Division innovation ecosystem made of Academia, Start-ups, Innovative SMEs and Big Companies.

He deals with emerging technologies (e.g. Artificial Intelligence, Autonomy, Electrification, Digital Factory, Adv. HMI, Digital Twin, etc.), identification and incubation of high risk / high return business solutions, Open Innovation management.

Before this assignment, Grimaldi was responsible for the Division Innovation & Technology Strategy.

Grimaldi began his career at Leonardo in 2003. During his experience, he had the opportunity to work with different Company department.

Grimaldi graduated with honours from Federico II University, Naples in 2002 with a Mechanical Engineering degree and received an MBA from Finmeccanica Education & Knowledge Management Office in 2007.

He was born in Naples, in 1976, but since 2004 he has been living in Turin with his wife and his two daughters. He loves playing piano, reading, listening music.

Shanila is a Business Analyst in the IT field specialized in practices such as process modelling, requirement management and system developments.

Strong experience in analyzing a full range of business concerns, needs, and requirements to identify and recommend processes, products, and solutions to meet goals and objectives.

Expert in translating business user concepts and ideas into understandable and comprehensive business requirements and design documents.

Solid collaboration skills with relationship managers, IT developers, and upper management to prioritize workflow and deliver projects on time. Expertise in agile Project Management using SCRUM methodologies.

Demonstrates strong leadership, communications skills and professional presence.

Responsible, independent, proactive, solution-oriented, customer satisfaction oriented and a good team player. Works in both English and French.

Shyam Sundar heads technology product management at Faraday Future, focused on innovations in computing and software-defined features. In this role, he has driven technology roadmaps, product innovation, and hardware/software architectures for ADAS/Autonomous Driving and Connected Infotainment features across the vehicle portfolio. He has also been instrumental in building key partnerships and global strategic alliances. Faraday Future plans to launch their flagship luxury EV, FF 91, in Q3 2022. At launch, the FF 91 will feature the best technology capabilities in computing, communication, and autonomy that Shyam has been instrumental in defining. It will also progressively deliver an innovative suite of software-defined, intelligent vehicle features that his team has envisioned and built.

Shyam enjoys solving problems at the deep intersection of technology and business. He holds a Masters’ degree in Computer Science from Wayne State University, Detroit, and an MBA from UCLA Anderson School of Management. Prior to Faraday Future, Shyam led several Snapdragon Android projects at Qualcomm, launching several mobile consumer devices over many years. He bootstrapped Qualcomm’s early Automotive Infotainment efforts and was instrumental in their first key OEM design wins for Android Automotive. Shyam also led early-stage Autonomous Driving programs at NVIDIA. He advises start-ups and is a frequent speaker at automotive technology conferences.

Steve Rymell joined Airbus in 2000, having held roles within the IT & Security organisations of well-known companies from the Automobile sector to Fast Moving Consumer Goods.

He started at Airbus as IT strategist within the satellite division and was appointed as CIO in 2003.

In Jan 2007, he took a Directorship within the UK government, ensuring security for overseas parts of the government. 

He returned to Airbus in April 2011 and moved to the CyberSecurity organisation. Since then Steven has been part of the executive team, shaping the development of the organisation through 9 years of rapid growth.

His 38 years of experience are focused on leading Cyber Technology Strategy, choosing cyber technologies, and developing future capabilities.

Zuzana has been a Sales Engineer at IST AG since January 2018. Her background is in analytical chemistry and technical sales, with experience within T1 and T2 automotive suppliers. Zuzana holds the responsibility for sales within Austria and the following states in Germany: Bayern, Thüringen, Sachsen, Sachsen–Anhalt, Brandenburg, Berlin und Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.