Boston at the Crossroads of Tech and Work

Kara Miller is the host and executive editor of the public radio program Innovation Hub, which she helped launch in 2011. The program now airs on more than 120 stations, including New York, Chicago, Boston, Houston, and Philadelphia. Innovation Hub is a weekly, hour-long show that focuses on big ideas and new research. As a host, Kara has interviewed Steve Wozniak, Sherry Turkle, Jared Diamond, Sal Khan, Yo-Yo Ma, Marissa Mayer, and Garry Kasparov, among others. Her writing has appeared in The Boston Globe, The National Journal, TheAtlantic.com, The Huffington Post and The International Herald Tribune. Kara has also contributed to other national radio programs, including “The Takeaway,” “Marketplace Tech,” and “The World.” Kara holds a Ph.D. from Tufts and a B.A. from Yale.

Daniel Theobald is the Co-Founder of Vecna (1998), a global leader in autonomous solutions for the logistics and service industries and Co-Founder of MassRobotics (2014), a non-profit dedicated to the global advancement of the robotics industry. He has decades of experience leading research scientists and teams of engineers in developing cutting edge robotics technology. He has 27 issued patents and over 90 patents pending and is dedicated to the idea that technology can be used to improve life for everyone on the planet. Daniel has expertise in mechanical, electrical, and software engineering, as well as artificial intelligence and machine vision. Daniel received a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Mechanical Engineering from MIT. Tweet at @VecnaLogistics

Tom Ryden is an experienced senior executive who has devoted his career to creating viable businesses based on technology, covering domains ranging from factory to battle eld to healthcare. He has overseen the development and introduction of leading mobile robotics products, and executed product development and marketing contracts with major automotive, telecommunications and healthcare companies. Tom is active in the robotics community, helping lead trade associations and advising numerous startups. Tom received a Bachelor’s of Science, Electrical and Electronics Engineering from the University of Vermont, and an MBA, in Finance, from the Elkin B. McCallum Graduate School of Business at Bentley College. @TRVgo

Elizabeth Reynolds works on issues related to systems of innovation, regional economic development and industrial competitiveness. Her current research focuses on the pathways that U.S. entrepreneurial rms take in scaling production- related technologies, as well as advanced manufacturing, including the globalization of the biomanufacturing industry. She is a member of the Massachusetts Advanced Manufacturing Collaborative Executive Committee. Elisabeth has an A.B. from Harvard in Government and was the Fiske Scholar at Trinity College, Cambridge. She holds a MSc. from the University of Montreal in Economics and a Ph.D. from MIT in Urban and Regional Studies. Elisabeth has been named Executive Director of the “MIT Task Force on the Work of the Future”. Tweet at @LReynoldsMITIPC

Kathleen Kennedy currently serves as the Director of Special Projects, working with the Center for Collective Intelligence at the MIT Sloan School to help coordinate campus initiatives and build collaborations with organizations around the world. From July, 2016-June 2017, Kathleen served as a lead organizer of The Engine (engine.xyz), a new MIT initiative created to advance innovation. Kathleen was awarded the Folio: 40, which recognizes the most innovative and influential people in the media industry, and named by the Women of the Harvard Club as one of Boston’s Most Influential Women of 2017. Tweet at @kathleenkennedy

Greg Toppo is a senior editor for _Inside Higher Ed_. Before that, he spent 15 years as the national education reporter for _USA Today_. A graduate of St. John’s College in Santa Fe, N.M., he taught in both public and private schools for eight years before moving into journalism. Toppo was a 2010 Spencer fellow at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism and a 2016 Yale University Poynter Fellow. He is the author of the book The Game Believes In You: How Digital Play Can Make Our Kids Smarter (April 2015). In 2017, he became president of the Education Writers Association. He is co- authoring a book with Dr. Jim Tracy about the future of jobs, analyzing how arti cial intelligence and robotics will change employment and education opportunities in the future. Tweet at @gtoppo