2021 MIT Platform Strategy Summit

We are using the Twine platform – Twine is a simple and compelling tool that allows attendees to network and connect during virtual events.

• David Verrill – Executive Director, MIT IDE

• Peter Evans – Managing Partner, Platform Strategy Institute (Summit Co-Chair)
• Geoff Parker – Professor, Dartmouth College & Digital Fellow, MIT IDE (Summit C0-Chair)
• Marshall Van Alstyne – Professor, Boston University & Visiting Scholar, MIT IDE (Summit Co-Chair)
• Pinar Ozcan – Professor, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford

• Kai-Fu Lee – Chairman and CEO, Sinovation Ventures
• Andrew McAfee – Co-director, MIT IDE

Andrew McAfee will talk to Kai-Fu Lee about how Chinese platforms differ from American ones, the state of innovation and entrepreneurship in the two countries, who will win the race for tech supremacy in the 21st century, whether the Internet will split up and whether we should care if it does, what our goals for AI should be, and other top of mind topics as we move deeper into the Second Machine Age.

Italian born, London based, Alice Pisano had a bright entrance to the scene in 2019 with her heart-warming EP ‘Celebrate Life’. Released with no label or backing, ‘Celebrate Life EP’ picked up immediate editorial support on Spotify, critical acclaim from online tastemakers including Atwood Magazine and support from BBC Introducing and National Dutch Radio NPO Radio 2. The title track ‘Celebrate Life’ has since amassed over 3.6 million streams on Spotify.

Alice’s upbeat, bubbly single ‘Crush’ dropped in January 2021: it was added to 10 Spotify New Music Fridays (Global, Sweden, Italy, Denmark etc.), played on the National Dutch Radio and on Amazing Radio UK. Single ‘Seventeen’ – an acoustic-led emotive ballad – was featured on Clash Magazine. Both tracks entered the iTunes Pop Chart.

Alice’s uniquely warm vocal and natural ability for writing emotive pop songs has led her to collaborating with Benjamin Francis Leftwich, Ian Barter (Dermott Kennedy, Izzy Bizu), John Foyle (Maisie Peters, Years & Years) and Troy Miller (Emeli Sandé, Jamie Cullum).

New single ‘Open Up’ is out on 2nd July.

“Effervescent songwriting, her lilting voice carries a huge degree of emotion” -Clash Magazine.

“Alice writes wonderful songs that speak directly to people” – Richard Gottehrer, songwriter and founder of The Orchard.

• Paul Browning – President & CEO Mitsubishi Power Americas and Chief Regional Officer, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and the Americas, Mitsubishi Power
• Ilham Kadri – CEO, Solvay
• Laszlo Varro -VP for Global Business Environment, Shell
• Cathy Zoi – CEO, EVGo
• Moderator: Peter Evans – Managing Partner, Platform Strategy Institute (Summit Co-Chair)

The need to transition the world’s energy system is well understood.  The question now is how this great energy transition will happen and where are opportunities to accelerate it.   This esteemed panel of CEOs on the front line and the Chief Economist of the International Energy Agency will examine the relationship between platforms and a cleaner global energy system.  Specifically, the panel will explore the following questions: What are the opportunities to harness platform business models to drive energy transformation at scale?  Where are the best opportunities to create positive self-reinforcing network effects to drive net-zero carbon solutions?  How can platform models advance clean energy technology adoption by facilitating transactions and more efficiently connecting key market participants?  Can platforms enable peer-to-peer sharing services that improve overall asset utilization?  How can platform strategies organize and deliver complex energy services, such as providing clean electricity power purchase agreements for international companies with global operations or advance new solutions such as green-hydrogen and continental EV charging networks?   

15-minute networking break. We are using the Twine platform – Twine is a simple and compelling tool that allows attendees to network and connect during virtual events.

• Emma McGuigan – Global Lead, Intelligent Platform Service, Accenture
• ThembaLihle (Themba) Baloyi – Innovative Business Leader and Founder, Discovery Insure
• Sophia Velastegui – CTO, AI for Dynamics 365 Applications, Microsoft
• Bruno Zerbib – Executive Vice President, Chief Platform and Technology Officer, Schneider Electric

How are incumbent firms transforming to platforms? How do platforms foster innovation? And, what are the challenges facing incumbent firms?  Come hear experts offer their experience.  Speaking at the MIT Platform Summit will be the Founder of Discovery Insure, Accenture’s Global Lead of Intelligent Platforms, and CTO for Microsoft AI.

Los Angeles—based pop recording artist David Davis is having a breakout year after winning NBC’s Songland for “Everything It Took To Get To You” by Ben Platt. That winning song charted at #1 on the New Pop Chart and #2 on the Pop Chart. Davis’s sound is described as a fusion of Pop, R&B/Soul and contemporary music which makes his sound, as described by the legendary Quincy Jones, “unique and electrifying to witness on stage”. With lush soundscapes and big choruses, his music draws influence from artists like Stevie Wonder, Donny Hathaway, and Janelle Monae. Davis’s first album, The Long & Short of It, debuted in 2018 and since then he has collaborated with many well-known producers like RedOne (Usher, Lady Gaga, MIKA) and Ryan Tedder (Beyoncé, Adele). Recently, Davis released “Body High”, the 5th single off his sophomore album Future Fortunes, which is due later this year.

• Gisbert Rühl – CEO Emeritus, Kloeckner Steel
• Geoff Parker – Professor, Dartmouth College & Digital Fellow, MIT IDE (Summit C0-Chair)

In this fireside chat, Geoff Parker will ask Gisbert Rühl to share his experience with leading major digital transformation and platform initiatives at Klockner Metals. In particular, the discussion will probe the forces driving Ruehl to implement radical change in a traditional industry and the challenges he faced in doing so.

• John Horton – Labor Economics & Online Marketplaces Research Group Lead, MIT IDE

• Peter Evans – Managing Partner, Platform Strategy Institute (Summit Co-Chair)
• Geoff Parker – Professor, Dartmouth College & Digital Fellow, MIT IDE (Summit Co-Chair)
• Marshall Van Alstyne – Professor, Boston University & Visiting Scholar, MIT IDE (Summit Co-Chair)

We are using the Twine platform – Twine is a simple and compelling tool that allows attendees to network and connect during virtual events.

Themba is the Founder of Discovery Insure Insure Ltd, a Motor Insurance Company launched in 2011. He joined Discovery in 2001 spearheading numerous initiatives culminating in his innovative and relentless drive to launch his 10-year vision of Discovery Insure. Themba is member of the board in the following organisations: YPO-WPO Africa Regional Board, Henley Business School Academic and Advisory Board; South African Insurance Association (SAIA); South African Insurance Crime Bureau (SAICB); and Institute of Insurance South Africa (IISA). In 2003 he co-founded Black Insurance Professionals of Southern Africa (BIPSA). Themba was awarded the Green Number in 2012 (for obtaining Ten Comrades Marathon-89.9kms Medals). He is the initiator and Pretoria Chapter Chair of the mentorship programme for the Young Presidents Organisation (YPO) designed to guide high potential future leaders to achieve greatness. Prior to joining Discovery, Themba worked for Rubico Consulting Services, Siemens Ltd and Durban Metro Waste Water Services where he was responsible for budgeting and accounting systems. A cost and management accountant by training, Themba holds an Executive MBA from Henley Business School (UK). He also has other qualifications on leadership and management from various academic institutions such as Duke University Fuqua School of Business (US), Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS- South Africa); University of Cape Town- Graduate School of Business (UCT/ GSB).

 Paul F. Browning was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of Mitsubishi Power Americas, Inc. on April 1, 2016 and was appointed Chief Regional Officer of the Americas, and Chief Regional Officer of Europe, Africa and Middle East on April 1, 2020. As CEO of the Americas, he leads two global businesses that are headquartered in the United States, and three regional businesses in North and South America. As Chief Regional Officer, he works with Chief Executives and their management teams to coordinate strategic planning, brand management and other long-term planning in the region and globally. 

Mitsubishi Power Americas is headquartered in Lake Mary, Florida. With more than 2,200 employees, the company mission is to provide power generation and storage solutions to its customers, empowering them to affordably and reliably combat climate change and advance human prosperity. Mitsubishi Power Americas operates four manufacturing and repair centers and provides a wide variety of products and services. Power generation solutions include gas, steam, and aero-derivative turbines; power trains and power islands; geothermal systems; PV solar project development; environmental controls; and services. Energy storage solutions include green hydrogen, battery energy storage systems, and services. Mitsubishi Power also offers intelligent solutions that use artificial intelligence to enable autonomous operation of power plants. Mr. Browning has led the company’s expansion into Central and South America, positioning Mitsubishi Power Americas as a top competitor in the Latin American energy market. He has also expanded the business into renewable power project development, energy storage and artificial intelligence products and services. 

Mr. Browning has extensive global leadership experience in distributed and centralized power generation, as well as in North American midstream and downstream oil and gas operations. He has worked in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Germany and has commercial experience around the world. He has also served on the Board of Directors of eSolar and Fuel Cell Energy. 

Prior to joining Mitsubishi Power Americas, Mr. Browning was President and Chief Executive Officer of Irving Oil Company Limited. Irving Oil owns and operates Canada’s largest oil refinery and crude oil import terminal, and is a joint venture partner in Canada’s only LNG import terminal. The company markets its products in eastern Canada and the northeastern United States. 

Before joining Irving Oil, Mr. Browning was President and Chief Executive Officer of the Thermal Products Division of GE Power & Water in Schenectady, New York. At General Electric, he and his team developed new products for the power generation industry and sold and executed utility scale power generation projects throughout the world. 

Earlier in his career, Mr. Browning worked for Caterpillar Corporation in a variety of leadership positions, including Managing Director of Caterpillar Motoren in Kiel, Germany, Vice President of Turbomachinery Products for Solar Turbines in San Diego, CA and General Manager of a manufacturing facility in Tijuana, Mexico. He began his career at GE Corporate Research and Development in Niskayuna, New York. 

Mr. Browning holds a B.S. degree in Metallurgical Engineering & Materials Science from Carnegie Mellon University, as well as an M.S. degree in Materials Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. 

Moderator & Event Host

Ilham Kadri has been appointed CEO of the Solvay Group, Chairman of the Executive Committee, member of the Board of Directors​, by Solvay’s Board of Directors, with effect from March 1st, 2019. Dr. Kadri is a world citizen with Moroccan-French roots and professional experience across four continents. During her 22-year career, she has held diverse positions at top multinationals including Shell-Basell, UCB-Cytec, Huntsman, Rohm Haas-Dow Chemical and Sealed Air.

Prior to her arrival at Solvay, Ilham Kadri was President and Chief Executive Officer of Diversey, a global leader in hygiene, cleaning solutions, food safety and infection prevention. Dr. Kadri is also board member at A.O. Smith, a U.S.-based leading global manufacturer and supplier of water heating equipment. Her prior responsibilities have included research & development, strategy, business and digital in industries spanning automotive, aerospace, oil & gas, mining, water desalination, construction, consumer goods, food service, hospitality and healthcare. She has overseen transformations through multiple mergers and acquisitions. Ilham Kadri led the turnaround of Diversey, starting in 2013, when she joined Sealed Air, the company’s owner at the time. She grew Diversey’s performance and in 2016, led the spin-off of operations which resulted in the acquisition by Bain Capital. At Diversey, she delivered annual double-digit profit and revenues growth since 2013, while the company expanded into high-performance sectors such as health care and food service. Employee engagement doubled to a record of 80% in 2016 as she gave the business a clear purpose in strengthening performance and rewarding merit.

Ilham Kadri is committed to diversity and inclusion, mentoring young women and promoting female leadership in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Throughout her career, she received awards for fighting illiteracy, for developing charity and for her business leadership.

Dr. Kai-Fu Lee is the Chairman and CEO of Sinovation Ventures (www.sinovationventures.com/) and President of Sinovation Venture’s Artificial Intelligence Institute. Sinovation Ventures, managing US$2.5 billion dual currency investment funds, is a leading venture capital firm focusing on developing the next generation of Chinese high-tech companies. Prior to founding Sinovation in 2009, Dr. Lee was the President of Google China, and senior executives at Microsoft, SGI, and Apple. Dr. Lee received his Bachelor degree from Computer Science from Columbia University, Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University, as well as Honorary Doctorate Degrees from both Carnegie Mellon and the City University of Hong Kong. He is the Co-Chair of Artificial Intelligence Council for World Economic Forum Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Times 100 in 2013, WIRED 25 Icons , Asian Business Leader 2018 by Asia House, and followed by over 50 million audience on social media.

Emma McGuigan leads Accenture Intelligent Platform Services, which helps clients achieve enterprise-wide transformation by bringing Accenture’s deep technology, functional and industry expertise across SAP, Microsoft, Oracle, Salesforce, Workday, Adobe and other leading platforms. For these IPS platforms, Emma oversees Accenture’s relationships, strategy and capabilities globally and across all industries. She is a member of Accenture’s Global Management Committee.

Emma also is the global lead for the Accenture Microsoft Business Group and Chair of the Board of Avanade, the company’s joint venture with Microsoft. She is responsible for driving Accenture’s overall Microsoft business—including strategy, innovation, market differentiation, the Microsoft alliance relationship and Avanade, Accenture’s delivery capability for Microsoft solutions.

During her tenure of more than 20 years at Accenture, Emma has held a variety of positions. Before leading the Accenture Microsoft Business Group, she was group technology officer for Accenture’s Communications, Media & Technology operating group. In that role, Emma was responsible for the group’s technology strategy, overseeing current and future partnerships, and positioning around emerging technologies including machine learning, artificial intelligence and cognitive computing to help drive leading-edge technology consulting and innovation to clients.

Previously, Emma was the managing director for Accenture’s Technology business in the United Kingdom and Ireland and was the global sponsor for Accenture Technology’s talent transformation program, impacting more than 170,000 professionals.

Emma was named as one of the 50 most influential women in UK IT by Computer Weekly magazine for four years (2015-2018), was listed in Computer Business Review’s 10 most successful women in UK technology, and was the Forward Ladies National Women in Business STEM category winner in 2016. In 2013, Emma was made a fellow of The Chartered Institute for IT.

Emma joined Accenture in 1994 and became a managing director in 2006. She earned her master’s degree in Electronics from the University of Edinburgh.

Pinar Ozcan is Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Saïd Business School, Oxford University. She is also the academic director of the Oxford Future of Finance and Technology (Fintech) Initiative at Oxford.

Pinar specializes in strategy, entrepreneurship, and technology markets. Her current research includes AI and business models in fintech, open banking and digital disruption in banking, and the rise of big tech platforms.

Pinar completed her Ph.D. at the Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP) at the Stanford University Management Science and Engineering Department, and also holds a Master of Science and dual Bachelors degrees from Stanford.

At Stanford, Pinar directed the AEA Stanford Executive Institute, a summer executive program for the high tech industry for three consecutive years. She also organized the Stanford Entrepreneurship Thought Leaders Seminars, and helped create the Stanford Entrepreneurship Corner for entrepreneurship educators worldwide.

Since completing her PhD, Pinar has received the Excellence in Research Award at IESE, the EFMD Best Teaching Case Award, the IDEA Entrepreneurship Thought Leader Award, and Best Paper Nominations and Awards at Academy of Management Journal and Strategic Management Society. Pinar is also the 2015 recipient of the British Academy Newton Grant for the study of open innovation, the 2016 SWIFT award for the study of the UK Banking industry’s transition into open application programming interfaces (API’s), and the 2016 Best Conference Paper Award at Strategic Management Society.

In 2017, Pinar had the honor to be selected to the Top 40 Business School Professors under 40 by Poets and Quants. In 2018, Pinar received the Strategic Management Society Research in Organizations Award for her work on the disruption in the banking sector in partnership with Swift Institute. She was recently selected to the globalThinkers 50 list for emerging thinkers with the potential to make lasting contributions to management theory and practice. Finally, in 2019, she was chosen as a British Academy Mid-Career Fellow for her work on the disruption of banking in Europe and the UK.

Pinar is a founding partner of Blanchard International Turkey. Her work experience also includes management consulting at Siemens Corporation in Munich, Germany, and strategy consulting with technology ventures and venture capital firms in the Silicon Valley.

Moderator & Event Host

Following several leadership roles in industry and management consulting, Gisbert Rühl initially joined the Klöckner & Co Management Board as CFO in 2005 before stepping up as CEO in 2009. As of May 2019, he once again assumes responsibility for finance alongside his duties as CEO. Gisbert Rühl is currently spearheading the digital transformation of Klöckner & Co as well as the development of an open industry platform, an area where the company is playing a pioneering role in the steel industry.

Moderator & Event Host

Ms. Sophia Velastegui is a renown technologist and business leader with a track record of productizing emerging technology at Microsoft, Google, and Apple. Ms. Velastegui currently is the Chief Technology Officer, Artificial Intelligence in Microsoft’s Dynamics and serves on the board of Blackline (NASDAQ: BL). She is the chair at the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council and Emerging Technologies Initiative highlighting new business models created by technology. Before Microsoft, Ms. Velastegui served as Doppler Lab’s Chief Product Officer. Prior to Doppler, she headed Google’s Nest Silicon/Architecture Roadmap team where she scaled the organization from startup to growth business unit in Google. Previously at Apple, she led the Advanced Tech “Platform Architecture ” program management leveraging AI and emerging technologies across all Apple’s product lines.

Ms. Velastegui serves on Georgia Tech’s College of Engineering board where she advises on the creation of the online master’s programs and Create X incubator. She was named by Business Insiders “The Most Powerful Female Engineer” for her work in AI and emerging technology in 2017 and 2018.  She is a sought-after speaker and/or writer for the World Economic Forum, Fortune, IEEE, and Scientific American magazine on topics related to the intersection of: human experience, artificial intelligence, and emerging technologies. Ms. Velastegui received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech.  She earned her M.S. from UC Berkeley in Mechanical Engineering.  She completed executive education programs from Stanford Law School and Harvard Business School.  When she is not working, Velastegui enjoys reading, hiking, and rock climbing with her family.

Bruno Zerbib is the Chief Platform and Technology Officer, Schneider Electric, since 2021. His mission is to drive digital innovation across Schneider Electric by delivering new compelling value propositions enabled by transformative technology such cloud and edge computing, platforming, AI and IoT.

Prior to assuming this role, Bruno served as Chief Technology Officer, Energy Management Business. In the past, he held diverse leadership positions, including Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at Altice Group, HP Cloud Product Vice President at Hewlett Packard Enterprise. He has more than 20 years of experience in leading product management and software engineering organizations in companies such as Yahoo and Cisco.

Bruno holds a Master’s degree in Computer Science from Paris Diderot University and in Telecommunication from Télécom SudParis.

He is passionate about solving customer problems and creating opportunities with unique value propositions. He connects the technology with emerging problems in creative manners and harnesses the relations of technology for human interactions in digital environements.

Cathy Zoi joined EVgo as CEO in 2017 and has led the company’s growth and its establishment as the preeminent public fast charging network in the US. Zoi came to EVgo as a distinguished executive with decades of experience in the clean energy, investing, and policy communities.

She has held numerous CEO and senior executive positions in the energy industry, government, academia and non-profit sectors. She was President and co-founder of Odyssey Energy, a distributed generation software company she continues to chair. She was founding CEO of Frontier Power, a rural electrification company incubated by SunEdison. Zoi was an energy investor at Silver Lake and Bayard Capital, a board member for Ice Energy, SES, and Pacific Solar, and a management consultant at ICF and Next Energy. She served in the Obama Administration as Assistant Secretary and Acting Under Secretary at the Department of Energy, where she oversaw more than $30 billion in energy investments. Zoi was also the founding CEO of both the Alliance for Climate Protection, established and chaired by U.S. Vice President Al Gore; and the Sustainable Energy Development Authority, a $50m fund to commercialize clean energy technologies in Australia. In the early 1990s, Zoi was Chief of Staff for Environmental Policy in the Clinton White House and she pioneered the Energy Star program while at the U.S. EPA. Zoi was also an adjunct professor and Precourt Energy Scholar at Stanford University, where she taught and did research between 2012 and 2017.

Zoi has a B.S. in Geology from Duke University and an M.S. in Engineering from Dartmouth.