Ross Kennedy is the Global Vice President of AI Startups & Emerging Growth at Microsoft, based in New York. With two decades of experience scaling technology organizations from startup to hyperscale, he leads Microsoft's efforts to help AI startups innovate, grow, and become market makers. Before Microsoft, he was a key force behind Google Cloud's expansion from $5.8B to over $30B in revenue, leading the global Strategic Deal Pursuit division for four years. Earlier, he scaled Liferay's international operations from 200 to 900 employees across 30+ countries. His guiding philosophy: culture beats strategy.
Kees Hertogh is Vice President of Public Sector & Healthcare Marketing at Microsoft, based in Redmond, Washington. A Netherlands-born executive who joined Microsoft via the 2002 Navision acquisition, he has spent over two decades at the company rising from product management on Microsoft Dynamics AX through to VP-level leadership over the global marketing strategy for Microsoft's healthcare, life sciences, education, and government verticals. He is the primary public face of Microsoft Dragon Copilot - the AI clinical workflow assistant reaching 100,000+ clinicians - and a prolific industry blogger and conference speaker on responsible AI in healthcare.
Matt Booty is the EVP and Chief Content Officer of Microsoft Gaming, overseeing content strategy and development across nearly 40 studios including Xbox Game Studios, Bethesda, Activision Blizzard, and King. A Purdue-trained engineer with an MFA, he began his career at Midway Games in 1991 - working on Mortal Kombat and NBA Jam - before rising to CEO of Midway in 2008. He joined Microsoft in 2010, led the Minecraft global team, and has since orchestrated some of the largest acquisitions in gaming history, including the $7.5B ZeniMax/Bethesda deal and the $68.7B Activision Blizzard King acquisition.
Orisa Cherenfant is SVP of Industry Relations & Strategic Growth at Twilio, the cloud communications platform powering billions of messages, calls, and interactions globally. A first-generation college graduate from Cape Verde who earned dual degrees in Finance and Marketing from Boston College, she built her career through GE's leadership development programs before moving into tech. At Twilio, she leads industry partnerships and growth strategy, speaks at major conferences like MWC Barcelona and Twilio Signal, and was named a 2025 Entreprenista 100 Award winner. She is based in Los Angeles with her partner Eli and their twins, Margaux and Maverick.
Raji Dani is VP & Deputy CISO for Microsoft Business, overseeing cybersecurity across Microsoft's Customer & Partner, Finance, and Marketing divisions. With over 25 years in technology and product engineering, she joined Microsoft in 2006 and built her career through Office 365 security, identity and access management, and cloud security leadership. She is a recognized voice on securing customer support ecosystems and preventing lateral movement attacks, with published guidance and RSA Conference appearances to her name.
Ross Wilkie is VP of Global Communications & Public Affairs at Google, based in San Francisco. A biologist-turned-communications-strategist, he spent over 15 years rising through GlaxoSmithKline before serving as Chief Communications Officer at Danaher Corporation. In February 2024, he joined Google to oversee global communications and public affairs for one of the world's most scrutinized technology companies.
Song Zou is Vice President of the Edge Growth Team at Microsoft, where he leads the growth strategy for one of the world's most widely-used browsers. A 25-year Microsoft veteran, he has shaped the user experience of nearly every major Windows release - from MSN Money to Vista's desktop to Windows 7's taskbar and Start menu - before steering the pivotal migration of Microsoft Edge to the Chromium engine and building the microservices infrastructure behind it. Trained as an electrical engineer at Georgia Tech and Shanghai Jiao Tong University, he is a rare operator who bridges deep systems-level engineering with executive-scale product growth.
Albert Ko is the CEO of Auctane, the Austin-based shipping software powerhouse behind ShipStation, Stamps.com, ShipEngine, and Metapack. A Korean immigrant who arrived in Los Angeles speaking Korean and Farsi but no English, Ko climbed from McKinsey consultant to Yale/Harvard-educated operator who grew Zelle into the largest peer-to-peer payments network by dollar volume — then took the helm at Auctane in June 2023 to bring operational discipline to one of the most consequential companies in global e-commerce logistics.
Bob McCollum is the long-serving CEO and driving force behind R.S. Hughes Co., Inc., an employee-owned industrial distributor headquartered in Sunnyvale, California that has grown into a $527 million enterprise spanning North America. A University of Michigan alumnus and former college quarterback, McCollum spent decades building RS Hughes into one of North America's top 50 industrial distributors, known for its culture of integrity and genuine care for employees. He has been recognized for significant philanthropic contributions to the University of Michigan athletics program, endowing the quarterbacks coaching position with a $2 million gift in 2022.
Bobn L is the Chief Executive Officer of GoodRx, the Santa Monica-based digital health company that has become America's most-used prescription savings platform. GoodRx tracks drug prices across 75,000+ pharmacies nationwide, delivering coupons and transparency to millions of Americans navigating the opaque world of prescription pricing. Under executive leadership, GoodRx has grown to nearly $800 million in annual revenue, gone public on Nasdaq (GDRX), and expanded into telemedicine - all in service of a single idea: that patients deserve to know what their medications actually cost.
Brook Mayer is a senior technology executive at OpenTable, the global restaurant reservation and discovery platform owned by Booking Holdings. With over 25 years of experience spanning engineering, product, and executive leadership roles - including stints as CTO, CPO, Chief Architect, and VP of Engineering - Mayer brings a deep technical foundation to the hospitality technology space. Based in San Jose, California, Mayer has been associated with OpenTable's leadership during a period when the company manages millions of diners and tens of thousands of restaurant partners worldwide. The Facebook and Twitter accounts linked to Mayer's profile point to Foodspotting, the restaurant dish-discovery app acquired by OpenTable in 2013 for approximately $10 million, suggesting an involvement with that product's leadership and integration.
David 'Dave' Ripley is Co-CEO of Kraken, one of the world's largest and longest-running cryptocurrency exchanges. He joined via Kraken's 2016 acquisition of Glidera, a bitcoin wallet service he co-founded, and rose from COO to CEO to Co-CEO as Kraken expanded aggressively — completing $1.5B acquisitions, raising $800M in 2025, and filing confidentially for a U.S. IPO. A former BCG principal and electrical engineer turned crypto operator, Ripley has shepherded Kraken from a 50-person startup to a 2,600+ employee global exchange while navigating major SEC enforcement actions and a shifting regulatory landscape.
Mark Primeau is a San Francisco based healthcare executive currently associated with the San Francisco Department of Public Health and operating as CEO of P B Strategies, a consulting practice focused on healthcare strategy and operations.
Yucheng Zheng is listed as Deputy CEO at Zoom, the San Jose-based video communications company, working from the Bay Area. Public information about this individual is limited; this profile draws on verifiable details about the role context and Zoom itself.
Takeshi Numoto is the Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at Microsoft, appointed in October 2023 after his predecessor Chris Capossela's 32-year tenure. A University of Tokyo law graduate and Stanford MBA, Numoto joined Microsoft in 1997 after serving as a trade negotiator for Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry. Over nearly three decades at Microsoft, he has been the architect behind the marketing strategies that powered the explosive growth of Azure, Dynamics 365, and Microsoft 365, and now leads all worldwide marketing for the company's AI-driven Copilot era — overseeing brand, advertising, product marketing, events, and communications globally.
Afshan Azhar is the Chief Executive Officer of Mural, a leading visual collaboration platform headquartered in San Francisco, California, with over 900 employees and $193 million in total funding. Based in Islamabad, Pakistan, Azhar leads a company that has become a cornerstone of enterprise collaboration - enabling remote and hybrid teams to brainstorm, map customer journeys, run design sprints, and facilitate workshops through an AI-powered digital canvas. Mural serves thousands of enterprises globally, integrating deeply with Microsoft 365, Slack, and other productivity ecosystems.
Kathleen Schnering is the Chief Executive Officer of Clover Network, one of the largest cloud-based point-of-sale platforms in the United States. Under the Fiserv umbrella, Clover serves more than 800,000 merchants across retail, restaurant, and services verticals, processing hundreds of billions in payments annually. Schnering leads a platform generating over $2.7 billion in annual revenue with a workforce of approximately 1,500 employees, steering Clover's expansion into international markets and value-added services as it targets $4.5 billion in revenue by 2026.
Kevin Lee is an executive at Substack, the subscription newsletter and media platform based in San Francisco that reached unicorn status with a $1.1 billion valuation in 2025 after raising a $100 million Series C. Substack has grown to host over 50,000 paid publications, with creators collectively earning more than $600 million annually and 20+ million monthly active subscribers on the platform.
Sirasom Si is the Chief Executive Officer of Fandom, the world's largest fan platform and wiki hosting service headquartered in San Francisco. With over 350 million monthly visitors, Fandom hosts tens of thousands of fan communities spanning gaming, TV, movies, anime, and pop culture. Based in Bangkok, Thailand, Si leads a company that has raised over $239 million in funding and generates approximately $175 million in annual revenue, sitting at the intersection of community-driven content, entertainment media, and digital advertising.
Chris O'Neill is a veteran technology executive with 25+ years of leadership across Google, Evernote, Glean, and Xero. Best known for leading Evernote's turnaround as CEO (2015-2018) and doubling its user base, he joined GrowthLoop as CEO in August 2024, steering the composable CDP startup through its AI transformation and Series D funding. A Tuck School of Business (Dartmouth) MBA and former Google Canada Managing Director who scaled that business to billions in revenue, O'Neill is also a board director at Gap Inc. and a published contributor to Fast Company and Fortune on the themes of AI, leadership, and compound growth.
Christa Quarles is the CEO of Parallels, a KKR-backed desktop virtualization and remote-work software company spun out of Corel Corporation in 2026. A former Wall Street analyst who helped take Google public, she pivoted to operating roles at Playdom, Disney Interactive, Nextdoor, and OpenTable before becoming CEO of Corel Corporation in 2020. Known for her 'leadership by haiku' philosophy and a track record of driving subscription transformation, she grew Parallels Workspace to 49% net new ARR in 2025 and scaled Parallels Desktop to over one million customers. She also serves as Lead Independent Director at Affirm Holdings.
Elizabeth Ames is a technology executive and advocate for women in product management, best known as the CEO who led Women In Product from 2019 to 2024. Under her leadership, the nonprofit community doubled to over 34,000 members across 24 local chapters, growing from a single annual conference into a year-round platform for training, coaching, and career development. Before Women In Product, she spent five years as SVP of Strategic Marketing, Alliances, and Programs at AnitaB.org, the organization behind the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing. Her earlier career spans marketing and strategy roles at Apple, Verifone, Netcentives, Vontu, Certive, and Plastic Logic, plus a stint as Founder and CEO of RETHINK Partners.