Speakers - theinnovationfestival

CONFERENCE SPEAKERS

THE KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Captain Barrington Irving

Founder & CEO | Flying Classroom

Nancy Mwirotsi

Founder & Executive Director | Pi515

Jennifer Radosevich

Worldwide Director, Research and Innovation | Hill's Pet Nutrition

Beth Montelone

Senior Associate Vice President for Research | Kansas State University

Rebecca Robinson

President & CEO | K-State Innovation Partners

ANIMAL HEALTH & AG TECH

Delaney Bouska

Development Scientist | Argenta Research

Rob Hunter

Chief Science & Regulatory Officer | Veterinary Health Research Centers

Blake Bextine

DARPA

Bill Wilson

Research Microbiologist & Senior Science Advisor | NBAF

Adetola lamidi

Graduate Research Assistant | Kansas State University

BIOTECHNOLOGY

Lisa Stehno-Bittel

CEO | Likarda

Anil Kumar

Biomanufacturing Lead | RNAissance Ag

Diana Acevedo

Postdoctoral Research Associate | St. Jude's Research Hospital

Kun Cheng, PhD, FA

Curators' Distinguished Professor | University of Missouri

Luca Popescu, DVM, PhD

Capability Manager | MRIGlobal

Tushar Sharma

CEO | Vivifi Medical

Sarah Neuman

Staff Scientist | University of Wisconsin-Madison

Sahil Sethi

Graduate Research Student | University of Nebraska Medical Center

Leslie Brian Essel

MPhil Pharmacology | University of Missouri - Kansas City

TJ Beadnell

Senior Scientific Manager, R&D | Eurofins-Viracor BioPharma

Ted Price

Ashbel Smith Professor & Director | Center for Advanced Pain Studies, University of Texas at Dallas

Dayakar Badri

Principal Scientist | Hill's Pet Nutrition

Mark Hoffman

Chief Research Information Officer | Children's Mercy Kansas City

Dennis Ossie Perez-Lopez

Doctoral Candidate | University of Missouri, Columbia

Nuria Lara

Senior Research Associate | UMKC

Maria Spletter

Assistant Professor| UMKC

Sharien Fitriasari

Graduate Student | Stowers Institute For Medical Research

Enzo Unzain Moreno

Graduate Student | Kansas State University

Michael Coe, DVM PhD

Chief Scientific Officer | Phoreus Technology, Inc

Yves Chiswili Chabu

Assistant Professor | University of Missouri

Brian Thomas

MD-PhD Candidate | University of Missouri School of Medicine

Amanda Burkardt

CEO | PHIOGEN

BUSINESS

Thomas Luebbering

Partner | Hovey Williams, LLP

Matthew Mangels

Director of Information Security | Moonshot Solutions

Michael Carmona

Senior Director | KCSourceLink

Ryan Kane

Senior Director of Government Affairs & Business Development | NightHawk Biosciences, Inc

Liz McGuire

Consulting Director of Supply Chain | Clarkston Consulting

Emily Short

National Director of Cyber Product | Baldwin Risk Partner

Kayleigh Shuler

Attorney | Polsinelli

Blake Bryant

Program Director and Professor of Practice | KU Edwards Campus

DIGITAL TECH

Rebecca MacKinnon

CEO & Founder | 5th Dimension Strategies Digital Health

Chris Jones

Founder | Match Rite Care

Doug Hohulin

Chapter President - KC | VRARA

Craig Mason

Founder & CEO | Raise Health Innovations

Kara Lowe

President & CEO | KC Tech Council

Phillip Lyman

Director of Process Modeling | Arcadis DPS Group

Brandon Clough

Chief Revenue Officer | PSC Biotech

Michael Annis

Partner | Husch Blackwell

George Brooks

Founder & CEO | Crema

Anita Newton

Chief Innovation Officer | CommunityAmerica Credit Union

Stephanie Pasas-Farmer, PhD

President & Principal Consultant | BioData Solutions, LLC | President & Founder | Ariadne Software, LLC

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Trent Armburst

EnterpriseKC

Megan Brandt

Director | Maple Studio

Maria Thacker-Goethe

Founding Chief Executive Officer | Center For Global Health Innovation

Hank Norem

CEO | Ramco Innovations

Steven Anthony

Executive Director of Business Development | Economic Development Corporation of Kansas City, Missouri

ENGINEERING

Elizabeth McQuade

Biocontainment Specialist | CURIS System

Alex Belkofer

Senior VDC Director | McCarthy Building Companies

Eric Quarnstrom

Department Manager, Process Engineering | Arcadias DPS Group

Molly Oller

Director of Process Architecture | GBA

Ryan Thompson

Senior Specialist, Industry 4.0 | CRB

Dr. Kirthi Kumar Kutumbaka

Scientific Manager For Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) and Molecular Assays | Eurofins Viracor Biopharma

Ben Linder

President | BAAM.Tech

Roy Johnson

Client Account Manager | Black & Veatch

Megan Hart

Associate Professor & UV/SGM Co-inventor | University of Missouri Kansas City

Steve McDowell

President & CEO | BNIM

Niranjan Kulkarni

Sr Director, Consulting Services | CRB

Tabitha Darko, NOMA, LEED Ga

Project Architect | Multistudio

Dhoolappa Melinamani

INSA Visiting Fellow | Karnataka Veterinary, Animal, and Fisheries Sciences University

Komal Hatti

Director, Architectural Specialist | IPS

HEALTH

Shai-anne Nalder

PhD Candidate | University of Utah

Ikenna Onyekwelu

Doctor of Philosophy in Biological and Agricultural Engineering | Kansas State University

Jonathan Knect

KC Global Design/ KCADC

Zach McAdams

Graduate Research Assistant University of Missouri – Columbia

Allen Duplantier, PhD

Principal Consultant | Latham BIoPharm Group

Tim Deinart

Sprayer Marketing Manager | John Deere

Brandy Archie

Founder & CEO | AskSAMIE

Catherine Olguin, MS, BSN, RN

Lieutenant Commander (LCDR) | US Department of Health and Human Services

Cuthbert Simpkins, MD

Founder, President & Chief Innovation Officer | Vivacelle Bio, Inc

Theresa A. Quintana

Kansas State University | PhD Student in AgTech/Animal Health

TALENT RECRUITMENT

Eric Lundstrom

Site Training Lead | Pfizer

Karen Ninemire

Lead Recruiter, Central, Mid-Atlantic | IPS

Rhett Flood

FORGE Executive Director | Go Topekas

Valerie Welter

Site Quality Lead | Pfizer

Kelsey Strobel

Lead Recruitment | CRB

Trina Goss

Director of Business & Talent Initiatives | Go Topeka

TOOLS & TECHONOLGY

Gayani Wijegunawardena

PhD Candidate | Wichita State University

Jordyn Westergaard

Research Scientist | Viracor Eurofins

Dustin Masser

Senior Field Applications Scientist | Roche Sequencing and Life Science

Scott Leigh

Chief Revenue Officer | Ronawk, Inc

#THEINNOVATIONFESTIVAL