Philly Tech Week 2019

Conrad Benner is a photographer, podcaster, curator, and founder of StreetsDept.com, a photo-blog that discovers art on the streets of Philadelphia. Conrad’s blog has been named one of the ‘Best Blogs for Travellers’ by The Guardian, and his photography highlighted by Mashable and Instagram, as well as printed in Time Magazine and the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Winner of the 2011 Philadelphia Geek Award for ‘Geek Culture Journalism,’ Conrad was named ‘Best Art Curator’ in 2014 by Philadelphia Magazine, ‘Rad Guy of the Year’ at the 3rd Annual Rad Awards in 2017, and one of ‘The 100 Most Influential People in Philadelphia’ by Philadelphia Magazine in 2017.

Conrad has used his growing influence not only to celebrate Philly’s burgeoning arts scene, but also to affect change. Most notably with his successful #SEPTA247 campaign, in 2014, which pushed the South Eastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) to reintroduce overnight weekend service to Philadelphia’s elevated and subway trains. As well as with his work on Next Stop: Democracy, a Knight Cities Challenge winning project, which aims to increase voter turnout in Philly with the help of local artists. And his work in 2016 with Covenant House Pennsylvania to create #AmICutOut, a pop-up art installation to help raise awareness and money to end youth homelessness in Philadelphia. And in the Trump-era, with his work co-organizing Signs of Solidarity, an inauguration day public art protest in opposition to hate and in protest of any and all that embolden divisiveness; co-organizing Collective Action, a silent art auction which raised over $23k for 10 local and national social justice organizations; and curator and organizer of Revolutionary: A Pop-Up Street Art Exhibition, a six-week exhibition, commissioned by Visit Philadelphia, which featured the work of 13 contemporary Philly-based artists who are challenging the current political and social status quo installed at 13 locations across Philadelphia’s Historic District.

Born and raised in the heart of the Fishtown neighborhood of Philadelphia, Conrad has indeed eaten a WAWA hoagie for breakfast before, and on many occasions, and he’s not mad about it.

Kris is a Partner Solutions Architect and the Global Machine Learning Segment Lead for the AWS Partner Network. Kris started his career as a Quantitative Strategist at Goldman Sachs, developed predictive maintenance apps as an AI Engineer at ATT, and prior to AWS was Computer Vision Architect at GoPro. He founded and sold 2 Silicon Valley startups in Finance and Network Monitoring: ClearStation and SiteRock. As the technical lead for horizontal support of AI/ML he's the 1st line of support for AWS Partners looking to develop or expand their use of these technologies across all markets including: Finance, Healthcare and Life Sciences, Public Services, Telecommunications, E-Commerce.

Phil is Think Company's Executive Vice President, overseeing organizational strategy, design processes, knowledge management, and consulting on new business opportunities. He was hired as Think Company's second employee in 2008. Phil has been consulting, teaching, and writing about innovation, design, and technology since 1992. He has led consultative design teams across many industries including Life Science, Finance, Consulting, Retail, Healthcare, and Big Data. Additionally, Phil was an adjunct faculty member for the Digital Design program at Jefferson University (formerly Philadelphia University) from 1995-2014 and led experience design for the team that won the Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE in 2017.

Wayne Kimmel is a sports tech venture capitalist, entrepreneur and the author of Six Degrees of Wayne Kimmel.

Wayne has been named a Top Innovator by Philadelphia Magazine and is on the Philadelphia Business Journal's Power 100 list.

He is the Managing Partner of SeventySix Capital, the venture capital company he founded in 1999, and invests in startup consumer facing tech companies in the sports, health and retail industries. Wayne has invested in over 50 startup technology and healthcare companies, including SeamlessWeb (now public as GrubHub, Take Care Health Systems and Nutrisystem. Among the Fortune 500 companies that have acquired his portfolio companies are Aramark, Intel, IBM, Walgreens and Yahoo!

His partners at SeventySix Capital are Jon Powell, CEO of Kravco Company LLC, a leading real estate company that developed the King of Prussia Mall, and Ryan Howard, Major League Baseball National League MVP and 2008 World Series Champion with the Philadelphia Phillies.

With a rise in global entrepreneurship and the inclusion of technology in sports, Wayne focuses part of his investment strategy on sports, sports betting and esports. At SeventySix Capital, Wayne was an early investor in Whistle Sports, a global sports media company, Philadelphia-based N3rd Street Gamers, a community of competitive and recreational video gamers that produces a series of esports tournaments, leagues, and casual gaming events, and Vegas Stats & Information Network (VSiN), the first media network dedicated to delivering the news, data and expert analysis of the rapidly growing sports betting industry, co-founded by acclaimed sportscaster Brent Musburger.

SeventySix Capital’s Athlete Venture Group allows players to invest, learn, and work directly with top sports tech startups and entrepreneurs. The firm aims to bridge the gap between athletes, entrepreneurs, and investors by creating opportunities for athletes to become tech investors and for entrepreneurs to access the financial and social capital that professional athletes have to offer. Athlete Venture Group members, including Ryan Howard, DeMarco Murray and Ralph Sampson, work hands-on with SeventySix Capital's portfolio companies in esports, sports betting, data collection, data analytics, media and more.

Wayne, Jon and Ryan are also a partners in Rubicon Talent, a sports marketing and talent agency with a wide range of clients including NFL and NBA stars, Hall of Famers, MVPs, Heisman Trophy winners, Olympic icons, media personalities, and celebrity chefs.

Wayne is on the Board of Einstein Healthcare Network and was on the Board of Jewish Federations of North America, Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, and the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. He is a graduate of the University of Maryland at College Park and the Delaware Law School. He is passionate about Philly’s pro sports teams and about working to make the world a better place.

Ben DiCandilo is the Marketing Manager for the Philadelphia Flyers. In his role,he oversees the team’s digital advertising strategys well as coordinates promotions, branding projects,and marketing initiatives. DiCandilo joined the Flyers organization in March,2018. He previously worked with the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack and ECHL’s Greenville Road Warriors.DiCandilo grew up in Berwyn, Pennsylvania and graduated from Boston University with a degree in Journalism. In his spare time, DiCandilo enjoys hiking, reading about history,and playing with his dog,Parker.

Mr. Brian Orrell has more than 25 years of technology consulting experience in a variety of industries and technologies. His emphasis is on the delivery of enterprise solutions. His areas of expertise include designing, developing and maintaining distributed systems, mobility, cloud platforms and artificial intelligence.

Mr. Orrell has led large-scale development engagements for large utility companies, airlines, educational organizations, shipping companies and non-profit organizations. His technical experience has led to multiple speaking engagements regarding the management of large-scale development projects and custom software development. Mr. Orrell has also taught courses on development methodology, design and systems thinking.

Mr. Orrell has served at BSG Alliance IT and has served in leadership positions at Southwest Airlines, Tactica Technology Group and Hitachi Consulting. His leadership experience includes managing teams to deliver: online bill pay services for a large utility; a scheduling and tracking system for a large airline; an online educational testing system for states; a supply-chain tracking and routing system for one of the largest logistics companies in the world.

In his role as CTO at Pariveda Solutions, he focuses on the emerging technologies that will provide strategic value for Pariveda and its clients.

Michael O’Bryan is widely recognized as an expert practitioner and thought leader in the fields of community development, organizational culture, and trauma-informed practices. Since 2015, O’Bryan has served as the Director of Youth and Young Adult Initiatives at the Village of Arts and Humanities, a nonprofit headquartered in North Philadelphia. He holds a bachelor’s degree in music from the University of the Arts and a certificate in Childhood Trauma Studies from Jefferson University. O’Bryan is currently a Corzo Fellow at The Corzo Center for The Creative Economy at The University of the Arts, and an Innovation Fellow at Drexel University’s Lindy Institute for Urban Innovation, in support of a startup venture focused on the advancement of behavioral skills and equity in the field of workforce development. Prior to that, O’Bryan spent more than a decade working directly with underserved populations — including veterans, adults in recovery, returning citizens, and families experiencing homelessness — and as a consultant and advisor for multiple nonprofits, businesses, and local government agencies. O’Bryan speaks to audiences nationwide about his work, including convenings hosted by Cornell University, The Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia, NeighborWorks America, and the famed Apollo Theatre in New York. His commitment to service has also helped him amplify his contributions to the Philadelphia region by serving on the boards of two philanthropic institutions: The Samuel S. Fels Fund and The Philadelphia Cultural Fund.