Philly Tech Week 2019

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.

Tracey is a sought after expert, advisor and advocate for women in technology. She is co-founder and CMO of Philadelphia-based software developer firm Chariot Solutions, founder of the Women In Tech Summit series, and founder of TechGirlz. Tracey is a frequent commenter on women in technology-related careers, and advises a number of leading companies on their STEM programs. She has shared insights and solutions from the stage at leading conferences, as a contributor to Huffington Post and Forbes, and as a speaker at the Philadelphia Women’s March. Tracey began her career in retail management and advertising sales, before acquiring child transportation company KangaKab and expanding it to Pennsylvania. In addition to leading the branding and marketing strategy for Chariot, she helped grow the company 5x since its launch. Tracey sits on the Pennsylvania Governor’s Women’s Commission, is a founding board member of Philadelphia Startup Leaders, board member for WXPN and Creating IT Futures.

My days are spent finding talent, building brilliant teams, and improving people operations. For me, this means being human, asking the right questions, and making smart, data-driven decisions. I'm forever curious, with a real knack for people, data, and problem-solving. Especially when they're all tangled together as a sparkly new challenge. YAY!

When I'm not talking talent or wrapping my head around a project, I have some hobbies. Like filling my studio with as many plants as possible, showering them with love, and being the best cat mom I can be. I'm an aspiring yogi, novice runner, and a sucker for cycling (both indoor and outdoor). I love long walks through Whole Foods, good arch support, and an ice cold kombucha.

Currently a Search Outreach Specialist at Google, Aurora supports site owners and content creators in improving content accessibility through search. Before joining Google in her previous role as a Brand Specialist, Aurora spent time at Twitter and Youtube, and also has a background in journalism. Before moving to the San Francisco Bay Area, Aurora lived in Dublin and Madrid.

As the Atlantic Outreach Liaison for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Elizabeth Dougherty carries out the strategic direction of the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO, and is responsible for leading the USPTO's east coast stakeholder engagement. Focusing on the region and actively engaging with the community, Ms. Dougherty ensures the USPTO’s initiatives and programs are tailored to the regions unique ecosystem of industries and stakeholders.

A 27 year veteran of the USPTO, Ms. Dougherty previously served as the Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO. In this role, she worked closely across the Agency's leadership to implement the policies and priorities for the USPTO. She began her career at the USPTO as a patent examiner after graduating from The Catholic University of America with a bachelor's degree in physics. While a patent examiner, Ms. Dougherty went on to obtain her J.D. from The Columbus School of Law at The Catholic University of America and served as a Senior Legal Advisor in the Office of Patent Legal Administration for a significant part of her career. Over the years, she has also served in the USPTO’s Office of Petitions, the Office of Innovation Development, and the Office of Government Affairs. Ms. Dougherty has dedicated much of her career to the USPTO's outreach and education programs focusing on small businesses, startups and entrepreneurs. In this effort she has developed, implemented, and supervised programs that support the independent inventor community, small businesses, entrepreneurs, and the intellectual property interests of colleges and universities. Similarly Ms. Dougherty has spearheaded a number of special projects with federal, state and local governments, and private organizations to promote and support invention and innovation in the United States.

Ms. Dougherty is a member of the Virginia Bar, the Giles S. Rich American Inn of Court, the Pauline Newman American Inn of Court, the American Bar Association, the Federal Circuit Bar Association, the American Intellectual Property Law Association, the Patent and Trademark Office Society, the Supervisory Patent Examiners and Classifiers Organization, Women in Science and Engineering, Federally Employed Women, and the Network of Executive Women.

As Head of Johnson & Johnson Innovation, JLABS in New York, Kate is responsible for external engagement, innovation sourcing, company onboarding, portfolio management, operational excellence, educational programming and P&L. She catalyzes and supports the translation of science and technology into valuable solutions for patients and consumers across the pharmaceutical, medical device, consumer and healthtech sectors.

Kate joins JLABS with 15 years of experience working across the Healthcare industry, starting in R&D before moving onto roles in Marketing, Business Development, External Alliances, Medical Affairs, Health Outcomes and most recently Disruptive Innovation. During her career Kate has been part of teams that have discovered new drugs, worked to develop and gain approval for blockbuster diabetes products and is passionate about being part of the future of healthcare where science intersects with the rapid advancements in health care technology.

Kate holds an undergraduate degree in Pharmacology & Toxicology from King’s College London, and a PhD in Pharmacology & Toxicology from University of California, Irvine Medical School. She received her MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.

Meghan Miller is a Director of Consulting Services at CGI leading digital initiatives in the Health and Life Sciences industries. Focused on helping her clients identify what’s next for their organizations, Meghan and her team are helping pharmaceutical companies to adapt and innovate with agility in a rapidly changing industry. Prior to joining CGI, Meghan led sales and marketing for two software firms in the Greater Philadelphia area. A native to Delaware County, she is a graduate of Villanova University and recently finished her MBA in Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Marketing at Saint Joseph’s University.

Ben Greene is a regional technical leader at Snowflake. His background is in the design, development, implementation of distributed / multi-tiered software infrastructure for data warehousing & analytics, machine learning, enterprise search, and unstructured data analytics related to text, video, video, imagery and audio.