Chris Urmson leads Google’s self-driving car program and is an adjunct professor at Carnegie Mellon University. Google’s self-driving vehicles have driven over 400,000 miles on California roads. Chris was the Director of Technology for the team that won the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge. He earned his PhD in 2005 from Carnegie Mellon and his B.Sc. in Computer Engineering from the University of Manitoba in 1998.

Andrew McAfee studies the ways that information technology (IT) affects businesses and business as a whole. His research investigates how IT changes the way companies perform, organize themselves, and compete. At a higher level, his work also investigates how computerization affects competition, society, the economy, and the workforce. Read more »

As Chief Technologist of High Volume Linear Products, Bill Krenik manages advanced technical developments in support of advanced system solutions. HVL products include analog, digital, and power electronic devices for a wide range of customer end-products. Over his 28 year career in the semiconductor industry, Bill has held technical and management roles for a variety of end applications including medical products, wireless communications, radio frequency products, data storage products, automotive products, sensor interfaces, consumer electronics, and other areas. Read more »

Jason Schulz is Partnership Manager for Toyota Motor Sales (TMS) 21st Century Business Partnerships group. As a part of Toyota’s North American Business Strategy Department, his responsibility is to lead a team to research, identify and leverage new technologies and companies to uniquely develop automotive products and services for the 21st Century. Read more »

Tim Ryan is a relentless advocate for working families in Ohio's 13th District. He was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2002 and was sworn in on January 7, 2003. Successfully reelected five times, he is now serving in his sixth term. Congressman Ryan currently serves as a member of the powerful House Appropriations Committee which controls the expenditure of money by the federal government. Ryan is also a member of the House Budget Committee which has oversight over the federal budget process. Read more »

Since January of 2007, U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown has held more than 200 community roundtables across Ohio’s 88 counties with students, local leaders and business owners, entrepreneurs and educators, workers and families to find ways to rebuild our economy. Read more »

Minh Le is the Director of the Solar Energy Technologies Office within the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, where he helps manage and balance the portfolio of Research, Development, Demonstration, and Deployment programs in achieving our national SunShot goals. Prior to his current role at the Energy Department, Minh spent his career in industry developing technologies and scaling new technologies to high volume manufacturing. Minh earned his SB and SM degrees from MIT where he held fellowships by the Department of Defense, Department of Energy, and the Bose Foundation.

Austin Brown is a senior analyst in the Washington, DC office of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). His work focuses on clean transportation, including efficient and electrified vehicles, renewable fuels, and transportation system interactions with the built environment. He also moonlights as Deputy Chief Technology Officer for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy in the U.S. Department of Energy, specializing in energy analysis, tools, and opening up data sets for innovation. Read more »

Francisco J. Sánchez serves as Under Secretary for International Trade at the U.S. Department of Commerce, a post he was appointed to by President Barack Obama in 2009.

As Under Secretary, Sánchez leads the International Trade Administration, an organization of 2400 employees with offices throughout the United States and in 72 countries. Sánchez leads the efforts to improve the global business environment by helping U.S. businesses compete abroad. Read more »

Dr. Felker is the Director of the National Wind Technology Center (NWTC) at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The NWTC is the principal research center for wind energy in the United States, where Dr. Felker directs a team of 100 scientists, engineers and technicians working to develop the next generation of wind energy systems. His early experience includes 15 years at NASA’s Ames Research Center working on rotorcraft analysis and testing. Dr. Felker holds one patent and is the author of 35 publications. Read more »