DISTINGUISHED GUESTS & SPEAKERS
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Rohan Khaunte
Minister of IT
Government of Goa
Rohan Khaunte is the Minister of Revenue, Information Technology, and Labour & Employment for the Indian state government of Goa. Rohan Khaunte is also an entrepreneur and is known for employing technology to bring about change in the daily lives of the citizens of Goa, through initiative like LiveFree, which bring free high speed internet to Goans. He holds the accolade of being the first independent candidate to be re-elected in the entire state of Goa.
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Ameya Abhyankar
IAS, Secretary (IT)
Government of Goa
Ameya Abhyankar is the IT director for the Indian state government of Goa. Prior to this, he also held the position of Secretary of Goa Public Service Commission. He is also the chief executive officer of the Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG), and he oversees the organisation of the International Film Festival of India (Iffi).
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Abhishek Pitti
CEO & Founder
Nucleus.Vision
A Harvard Business School dropout, Abhishek has donned the entrepreneur's hat to realize his vision for Nucleus Vision. He is a seasoned management professional with a penchant for startups and entrepreneurship. In his decade-long professional career, Abhishek worked as an aeronautical engineer for Gulfstream and as a management consultant for Blackstone. Prior to Nucleus Vision, Abhishek scaled his first entrepreneurial venture, LorvenSoft Tech, a company providing software services with operations in USA, Canada and India.
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Jehan Chu
Co-founder & MD
Kenetic Capital
Jehan Chu is the co-founder and managing partner of Hong Kong based venture firm Kenetic, a Blockchain platform focused on technology, advisory, asset management and community. Jehan Chu is best known for being one the earliest investors in Bitcoin and he invested his returns in starting a 100 million dollar fund, which is Kenetic today. Jehan Chu is very active in the cryptocurrency community and is an advisor to several blockchain companies around the world.
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Ian Balina
General Partner
100X Advisors
Ian Balina is an influential Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Investor, Advisor, and Evangelist. A former Analytics Evangelist at IBM, Ian has brought a data-driven, "money-ball" approach to investing in cryptocurrency token sales (ICOs). He leads a global cryptocurrency investor syndicate that invests up to $10 million in promising blockchain startup's token sales. Ian is currently an advisor to Nucleus Vision, Phantasma Protocol, and Pareto Networks.
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Min H.Kim
Founder
Blocultural Studios
Min H Kim is the founder of Blocultural Studios. Min worked with Tim Draper on new blockchain related initiatives for Draper University. Min studied Economics modified with Mathematics at Dartmouth College and has a successful track record of helping blockchain startups achieve viral growth through marketing, community building and PR. Min was also the Chief of Staff at the retail IoT hardware startup, Percolata.
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David Roebuck
Principal
Sora Ventures
David Roebuck is the Principal & COO at Sora Ventures, Asia's first crypto-backed venture capital firm dedicated to blockchain and digital currency investments. David graduated from the University of Florida and did his Entrepreneurial Studies from the Draper University. He has been a fellow of The Kairos Society, which connects students with the current leaders in business, politics, and non-profit and also a fellow of the StartingBloc, a platform that connects emerging leaders.
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Amit Kanodia
CEO
Host.Games
Amit is an entrepreneur, Investment Banker, a Blockchain enthusiast, and professional Poker player. He is the Founder CEO of Host.games, a Blockchain powered online Casino gaming protocol. Before his Post-graduate Diploma in Management from the Indian Institute of Management, Indore, Amit was responsible for automation of Position and Market Value Reconciliation of securities at the DE Shaw Group. Amit was also the CEO of Kanodia Industries.
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Joshua Garcia
Principal
Ketsal Consulting
Joshua Garcia is a crypto lawyer, who works closely with cryptocurrency exchanges, investors, and blockchain developers to navigate the complex legal risks of bleeding edge technology. He did his JD program from the University of Michigan Law School and served as an Associate at renowned law firms like Goodwin Procter LLP, White & Case LLP, and Cooley LLP. Currently, he is working with the brightest mind in the crypto space.
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Talal Tabbaa
COO
Jibrel Network
Talaal Tabba is a Blockchain Advisor and Crypto enthusiast. He is a co-founder of Jibrel Network, a blockchain based protocol to manage traditional assets. Talaal Tabba is also the Business Development Lead with Jibrel Network, Advisory Board Member at The British Blockchain Association. He is a member of Enterprise Ethereum Alliance and Crypto Valley Association. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Industrial engineering from the Purdue University and an expert in Supply Chain Management.
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Oleg Ivanov
CEO and Founder,
Crypto Bazar fund
Oleg Ivanov is a co-founder at CryptoBazar, an International crypto fund investing in perspective blockchain projects. Oleg has Entrepreneurial and Management experience in projects from the start-up phase to the annual revenue of $ 1.7 billion since 1998 in 20 countries, including USA, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Portugal, Croatia, Greece, Turkey, and Russia. He founded startups such as InvestBazar, BusinessLift, Innovate, and GDF International. He founded the energy drink company Tornodo and made it one of the top beverage brands in Russia.
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Jeremy Gardener
Cofounder and managing Partner
Ausum Ventures
Jeremy Gardner is an early investor in Bitcoin, a serial entrepreneur, and Blockchain evangelist who claims himself as a Blockchain Booster. He co-founded several startups including SAAVHA and Augur Projects. Jeremy also founded the Blockchain Education Network and serves as the chairman for the global network of student organizations. He was an Advisor to Bitcoin Shop Inc and Founding Editor-In-Chief at The Distributed Ledger. A Political Strategy graduate from the Bard College, Jeremy is currently a co-founder and managing partner at Ausum Ventures.
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Kishva Ambigapathy
Chairperson
Commonwealth Youth Council (CYC)
Kishva Ambigapathy is the Chairperson of Commonwealth Youth Council (CYC) and Young Professional Bureau. He was awarded the Entrepreneur Youth Icon award by the Malaysia Entrepreneurship Foundation and Chevening Scholarship Award from the Government of UK. A graduate in Political Science and Government, Kishva is also a Special Advisor to the Government of Perak, Malaysia.
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Frans Kempen
Blockchain Lead for Logistics & Supply Chain Industry
IBM
Frans Kempen is the Blockchain Lead for Logistics & Supply Chain Industry at IBM BeNeLux. He has a deep rooted understanding and hands-on experience in the Blockchain technology and drives the distributed technology adoption life cycle with the clients of IBM. An MBA graduate from the Erasmus University Rotterdam, Frans worked with Unilever as a Marketing Manager and BT Global Services as a Channel Account Director for HP and IBM. He has been with IBM for more than a decade and held several leading positions with the company.
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Oz Sultan
Chief Strategist
Sultan Interactive Group
Oz Sultan is an entrepreneur and Blockchain Advisor. He is currently serving as the Chief Strategist for Sultan Interactive Group, a Big Data, Crypto, and CT Solutions provider. Sultan is an advisor for Prasaga Ltd, an IoT Data Management and Administration PaaS and QuickX Protocol. He is a technologist and strategist, who designed multi-million dollar companies in a career spanning 20 years. His research on Social Media Counter Terrorism lead to analysis of Dark web spending across the blockchain.
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Jehan Chu
Co-founder & MD
Kenetic
Jehan Chu is the co-founder and managing partner of Hong Kong based venture firm Kenetic, a Blockchain platform focused on technology, advisory, asset management and community. Jehan Chu is best known for being one the earliest investors in Bitcoin and he invested his returns in starting a 100 million dollar fund, which is Kenetic today. Jehan Chu is very active in the cryptocurrency community and is an advisor to several blockchain companies around the world.
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Srinivas Kollipara
COO, T-Hub
Telangana, India
Srinivas Kollipara is the COO of T-Hub, India’s largest startup incubator. His vision to turn Hyderabad into a leading startup city has led to the launch of T-Hub. He has over 20 years of international experience in product strategy, product management, and business development. Srinivas is also an angel investor and Hyderabad Director for the Founder Institute, the world's largest entrepreneur training & startup launch program.
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Arnav Kishore
Founder and CEO
Boltt Sports
Arnav Kishore is an entrepreneur and business strategist. He is the Founder CEO of Boltt Coin, the world’s first ever Digital Health Currency based on Blockchain technology. Arnav is also the co-founder of Boltt Sports Technologies Pvt Ltd and Globalite Industries Pvt Ltd. He was awarded and featured under CNBC-TV18’s Young Turks. Boltt Sports Technologies was listed among the top 10 startups in the world for the year 2016 by CNBC.
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Rama Rao
Founder
Bloqcube Inc
Rama Rao is a Blockchain entrepreneur and an adjunct professor of Finance at Fairleigh Dickinson University. He has a passion for partnering with healthcare leadership teams to deliver science based solutions for physicians and had been a part of Novartis Pharmaceuticals in various leadership positions. Rama Rao did his MBA in Finance from INSEAD.
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Pankaj Diwan
Founder and Managing Director
Idealabs
Pankaj Diwan is the Founder and Managing Director of Idealabs. A technology evangelist, Pankaj also co-founded Block91, a global blockchain development and consulting firm. He holds several responsibilities in the startup ecosystem of Hyderabad such as an organizing team member of TEDxHyderabad, convenor of the steering council at Hyderabad Hackers, the co-chair of SIG on Open Innovation at State Innovation Council.
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Nikhil Nayab
Global head of Blockchain
Conduent Labs
Nikhil Nayab is the Global head of Blockchain at Conduent. He is based out of our headquarters in New Jersey, USA and is responsible for driving our blockchain agenda across all the industries we serve. A business leader with strong experience in strategy development and execution in large organizations and startups; Nikhil’s 20+ years of experience in technology development – give him a unique understanding and perspective on how this technology can be integrated / used to create an ecosystem and impact organizations that are a part of the ecosystem. Nikhil has a master’s in Information Systems from the George Washington University and an MBA from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.
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Rama Iyer
Senior Vice President, T-Hub
evangelist@IBC
Rama Iyer is Senior Vice President at T-Hub and is responsible to stitch and nurture strategic relationship and create CoE programs that can help the startup community at T-Hub. He was an Advisor to Naya Ventures, a Dollas based venture fund. An engineering graduate from the University of Mumbai, Rama worked with organizations such as TCS, Ericsson, Cisco, and Motorola Solutions etc. in his career spanning more than 20 years and held several key responsibilities.
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Vasant Verma
COO, Co-Founder
Drivezy
Vasant Verma is the Co-founder and COO of Drivezy inc. Under his leadership, Drivezy has scaled its operations to a fleet of 4000 plus vehicles in 7 cities. Vasant has studied engineering at NIT Allahabad and has worked in the Fixed Income division at Nomura. Vasant is an alum of Y. Combinator�s Summer 2016 batch. His Expertise is in sharing economies and Blockchain.
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William Herkelrath
Sales and Business Development
Alphapoint
William herkelrath is a Blockchain, digital asset, and Fintech expert and is an advisor Alkymi and StreetReadera. He takes care of the sales department in AlphaPoint Corp, a financial technology company. An Economics graduate from the George Washington University, William drove the business development of TIM group and AlphaSense Inc.
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CATHY GUO
Global Strategy Lead
Dunya labs
Cathy Guo is a Phi Beta Kappan and a John Jay Scholar. She is currently the Global Strategy lead at Dunya Labs, a technology consultancy and innovation lab. A graduate in Economics-Philosophy and East Asian Studies from the Columbia University in the City of New York, Cathy is also a Content Marketer with Chain Intelligence and holds responsibilities in the Chairman's office of Mythra Energy.
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Kenneth Hsia
Founding Partner
Badwater Capital
Kenneth Hsia is an entrepreneur and an early investor in blockchain projects such as Vechain, Red Pulse, APEX, and ICON. He is also an advisor to IHT, Trinity, and Dream Team. He invests in startups through his Badwater Capital, which he founded in 2017. He co-founded startups such as Critiq and Huohua. Kenneth attended the Bowdoin College and Draper University.
