Philly Tech Week 2019

Michelle Sipics is the Senior Editor of the Accenture Technology Vision at Accenture Labs. The Technology Vision is Accenture’s premiere thought leadership, used to guide growth strategies for the company and its top-tier clients. In her role at Accenture, Michelle is passionate about enabling communications and interplay between technical and non-technical teams, giving companies the opportunity to maximize workforce contributions. Prior to joining Accenture, Michelle led content and strategy planning for numerous technical and research organizations. She lives in Philadelphia and holds BS and MS degrees in Computer Engineering from Drexel University, as well as a master’s degree in Science Writing from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

John Moore is an angel investor with both Robin Hood Ventures and with Social Venture Circle Philadelphia. He is also the Executive Chair of ImpactPHL, an alliance to promote and grow the impact investing ecosystem in the greater Philadelphia region. He serves on the Board of Directors for Social Venture Circle, the world’s largest and most active impact investor angel group, Good Company Ventures, an accelerator for social impact companies, and several startup companies including Wash Cycle Laundry and Milkcrate.

Garrett Brown invented the Oscar-winning Steadicam® stabilizer and used it on nearly 100 movies beginning with ‘Rocky’. His Skycam®, Mobycam and Divecam still pursue athletes worldwide and in ‘09 chased their inventor into the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame.

A legend in Hollywood for 40 years, Garrett still lives and works in Philadelphia, venturing out around the globe to teach camera workshops and inventing seminars.

Brown is a 2013 inductee into the National Inventors Hall of Fame, but he is neither a scientist nor an engineer—just an extraordinarily motivated, at-times comically challenged, incredibly persistent human being.

Owner of Family Tree Entertainment

“I’m passionate about getting my clients a fair shot at achieving their dreams. I work diligently to ensuremy rap artist get the same chances as any country artist and my R&B artist have access to the same tools and opportunities as a rock band”.

Michael “Blue” Williams, without a doubt, is an entertainment industry game-changer. With a management career spanning more than two decades, Blue has guided the careers of some of the biggest names in entertainment; Outkast, Nick Cannon, Eric Benet, Ceelo Green, Macy Gray, Nas, Faith Evans, Big Sean, just to name a few. He is also credited for helping to discover and launch the career of teen sensation Cody Simpson.

With Blue at the helm, artists have sold more than 50 million albums combined. Beyond music, Blue has created business opportunities that many artists only dream of. Whether it is helping to develop lucrative portfolios or expanding their influence across industries like television, film, fashion, and technology, Blue has earned the moniker, The Best Manager. His success, loyalty and out-the-box solutions are what make him the manager to call when artists are ready to take their career to the next level.

Success did not come easy for Blue and a career in entertainment wasn’t something he considered as a young man. He grew up on Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx, an area otherwise known as the birthplace of Hip Hop. It was a place where hanging in the park also meant watching Slick Rick and Dougie Fresh battle. While music was a natural part of his life, it wasn't where Blue saw his future. Instead, he attended Central State University with a goal of becoming a lawyer or working in law enforcement.

Blue didn't choose the music business; the music business chose him.

A chance meeting with Jodeci changed the trajectory of his life. He recalls, “We clicked so they invited me to come hang with them in Chicago and Detroit. Being backstage at the concerts, hanging in the hotel, all the excitement and energy got me hooked.” Being “hooked” turned into an opportunity to work as a “roadie” for Jodeci. That opportunity coupled with his persistence and dedication, landed him a series of promotions. He quickly rose through the ranks from “roadie” to road manager. Blue’s hard work also got him noticed by Queen Latifah’s manager and owner of Flavor Unit Management, Shakim Comper who hired him as manager. In that capacity, Blue worked with a variety of artists, managing their careers, creating partnership opportunities and developing tours. In an industry built on reputations and relationships, Blue created a name for himself and was promoted to President of Flavor Unit Management.

In 1995, while he was still with Flavor Unit Management, LA Reid urged him to meet Outkast, the meeting that eventually led to music industry history. Under Blue’s management, the once unknown southern rap group experienced a meteoric rise. He recalls, “With Outkast, I wanted to make them one of the best rap groups of all time. Then, I wanted to make them one of the best bands of all time. When they became the best rap group to receivea Grammy for Best Album, as well as the first to achieved Diamond status with the Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, I knew Iachieved my goal.”

The success of OutKast led to his desire to branch out on his own. In 1998, he amicably parted ways with Flavor Unit Managementto create Family Tree Entertainment, a management company with an independent record label, as well as a film and TV division. In January of 2010, Blue forged a management deal with Primary Wave Music that allowed both companies to leverage the assets of the other. This partnership allowed Blue to expand the reach and effectiveness of his brand while creating additional revenue streams for Primary Wave Music. In September of 2011, Blue orchestrated the lucrative deal that merged Primary Wave Musicand Violator Records, creating Primary/Violator.

Blue partnered with Nick Cannon, the one-man entertainment mogul to create Ncredible Management & Brand Solutions, a full service management company with a record label and marketingarm. They are poised to make major waves and cause a seismic shift in the industry.

Passion mixed with the ability to make the impossible possible, means there are great things to come with Michael “Blue” Williams’ name on it.

Bryan-Michael Cox is an American record producer and songwriter who is notable for his extensive work with multiple platinum-selling artists including Usher, Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige, and Toni Braxton.[1] Among his most notable productions are "Be Without You" for Mary J. Blige, "Burn", "Confessions Part II" and "U Got It Bad" for Usher, and "Shake It Off", "I Stay In Love" and "You Don't Know What To Do" for Mariah Carey.

Cox also attained a Guinness World Record for the longest consecutive period of chart success (after spending over five years on the Billboard chart continuously), breaking the record previously held by The Beatles. After growing up in Houston, Texas (where Cox was good friends at high school with Beyoncé, often producing records for the members of Destiny's Child before they signed with Columbia Records), Cox relocated to Atlanta to pursue his professional music career and soon established a close working relationship with his frequent production partner Jermaine Dupri.

During his career Cox has been responsible for over 100 million album sales,[2] 35 number one hits, and 12 Grammy Award nominations (including 9 wins). Cox is widely regarded as one of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful songwriters and producers in the history of contemporary R&B. In 2009, Cox was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame for his outstanding contribution to music.

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.