Among other topics, Umar discusses the following with Metis Strategy:
Umar Saif’s Biography:
Umar is the Vice Chancellor of the Information Technology University in Pakistan, a newly created university that aims to implement a unique teaching methodology and cross-disciplinary research that is grounded in real-world problem solving to educate the next generation of innovative and entrepreneurial engineers. Umar has an ideal background for this, having spent time both in academe and in the start-up setting.
Prior to his current role, Umar was an Associate Professor in the department of computer science at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). He is also the founder of one of the first startup incubators in Lahore, Pakistan, called SCI. He has worked on a number of start-ups including SMSall, BumpIn.com, SeeNreport.com, and Ticketmy.com.
Umar was named one of the top 35 young innovators in the world (TR35) in 2011. He was selected as a Young Global Leader (YGL) by the World Economic Forum in 2010. He also received the Google Faculty Research Award in 2011 and the MIT Technovator Award in 2008 among many other accolades.
Umar has a Bachelor of Science degree from LUMS, a PhD from the University of Cambridge, and a post-doctorate from MIT, all in computer science.
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Among other topics, Dan discusses the following with Metis Strategy:
Dan Huttenlocher’s Biography
Dan is the Dean and Vice Provost of the Cornell NYC Tech Campus. As Dean, he has overall responsibility for programmatic aspects of the new campus, including the academic quality and direction of the campus’ degree programs and research. Working with both internal and external stakeholders, he is developing strategic plans for the most effective ways of working with companies and early stage investors in New York City as well as overseeing the faculty recruitment and entrepreneurial initiatives of the campus.
Dan has a mix of academic and industry background, having worked at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) and served as CTO of Intelligent Markets, as well as being a faculty member at Cornell for two decades.
Dan received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and both his Master’s and Doctorate degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); and currently serves as a Trustee of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
Among other topics, Anant discusses the following with Metis Strategy:
Anant Agarwal’s Biography
Anant is President of edX, a not-for-profit MOOC-based online learning destination founded by MIT and Harvard Universities.
Anant taught the first edX course on circuits and electronics from MIT, which drew 155,000 students from 162 countries. He has served as the director of CSAIL, MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, and is a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at MIT. He is a successful serial entrepreneur, having co-founded several companies including Tilera Corporation, which created the Tile multicore processor, and Virtual Machine Works.
Anant won the Maurice Wilkes prize for computer architecture, and MIT’s Smullin and Jamieson prizes for teaching. He is also the author of the textbook “Foundations of Analog and Digital Electronic Circuits.”
Anant holds a Ph.D. from Stanford and a bachelor’s from IIT Madras.
Among other topics, Simon discusses the following with Metis Strategy:
Simon Nelson’s Biography
Simon is the CEO of FutureLearn, a massive open online course (MOOC) founded in late 2012 as a company majority owned by the UK’s Open University.
Simon also oversees digital activities for Phaidon Press, a role he retained while joining Futurelearn Ltd as CEO in late 2012.
Prior to his current roles, Simon led a number of projects in the TV, radio and publishing sectors for companies including Random House, UKTV, Specific Media and New York Public Radio. He also spent more than a decade at the BBC, leading all digital activities for the BBC’s television divisions where he helped launch the iPlayer and built an award winning portfolio of online and cross platform services.
Simon is a graduate of University of Cambridge and holds an MBA from University of Manchester.
Among other topics, Salman discusses the following with Metis Strategy:
Salman Khan’s Biography
Sal is the founder and executive director of the Khan Academy, a not-for-profit organization with the mission of providing a free world-class education to anyone, anywhere.
As of December 2013, the Khan Academy channel on YouTube attracted 1,553,000 subscribers and the Khan Academy videos have been viewed over 334 million times. In 2012, Time named Sal in its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. Forbes magazine featured Sal on its cover with the story “$1 Trillion Opportunity”.
Prior to founding Khan Academy, Sal was the portfolio manager at Khan Capital Management and a Senior Analyst at Wohl Capital Management. He also spent time at MVC Venture Capital, Scient Corporation, and Oracle Corporation.
Sal received his MBA from Harvard Business School where he was president of the student body. He also holds a Masters degree in electrical engineering and computer science, a Bachelors degree in electrical engineering and computer science, and a Bachelors degree in mathematics from MIT where he was president of the Class of 1998.
Among other topics, Mike discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy:
Mike Feerick’s Biography
Mike is the founder and CEO of ALISON (Advance Learning Interactive Systems Online), a MOOC-based e-learning platform headquartered in Galway, Ireland.
ALISON is considered by some to be the first ever MOOC, as Mike launched the company in 2007, which has since became a noted global provider in the e-learning community, and in September of 2013, ALISON was announced as one of six winners at the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) awards, an initiative of the Qatar Foundation.
Prior to founding ALISON, Mike founded YAC, a unified messaging/telecoms company (acquired by J2COM NASD in July of 2007), and he also founded Advance Learning, a global provider of interactive multimedia courseware for IT literacy. Mike also served as Acting MD of Interactive Investor and on the Board of BMG Music UK.
Mike holds a BBS (University of Limerick) and MBA (Harvard University).
Rob is the Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer of Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, known as Freddie Mac, a public government sponsored enterprise. He is a member of the company’s senior operating committee and reports directly to CEO Don Layton.
Rob is responsible for the company’s Information Technology (IT) assets and services. In this capacity, he oversees end-to-end technology solutions that ensure delivery of strong operational platforms and integrated services throughout Freddie Mac’s businesses.
Prior to coming to Freddie Mac, Rob was a Principal at Towers Watson, the Chief Architect for GMAC Financial Services, and the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for GMAC Residential Capital (GMAC RESCAP), among other positions in a 30 year career in IT.
Rob earned an M.S. in Management of Technology from the University of Pennsylvania and a B.S. in Commerce and Engineering from Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA.
Daphne is the co-founder and co-CEO of Coursera, an education company that partners with many of the top universities and organizations in the world to offer courses online for anyone to take, for free.
She is also the Rajeev Motwani Professor in the Computer Science Department and the Oswald Villard University Fellow in Undergraduate Education at Stanford University. She is the author of over 180 publications.
Daphne pioneered in her classroom many of the ideas that are key to Stanford’s massive online education effort.
Among the many awards she has won include a 2004 MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, and she was inducted into the National Academy of Engineering in 2011.
Daphne has a bachelor’s and master’s degree from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a PhD from Stanford University.
Sebastian is the CEO and cofounder of Udacity, a for-profit education company offering massive open online courses or MOOCs. Prior to his time at Udacity, Sebastian was a Google VP and Fellow, where he was involved in the creation of Google Glass, the driverless car initiative, and Google Street View. Among his academic posts, Sebastian has been a Professor of Computer Science at Stanford University.
Sebastian led development of the robotic vehicle Stanley, which won the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge, and which has since been placed on exhibit in the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History.
In recognition of his contributions, Sebastian was elected into the National Academy of Engineering and also into the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina in 2007. Fast Company selected Sebastian as the fifth most creative person in business in the world.
Brook is Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, an educational and trade publisher. He has held this role since January 2013. In this role, he is responsible for core IT operations and infrastructure services across HMH’s global office network.
Prior to his time at HMH, Brook was the CIO of the White House, a role he had held since the beginning of President Obama’s first term.
Prior to that, he held several senior IT leadership roles, including roles within the Democratic National Convention Committee, The American Red Cross’ Hurricane Recovery Program and QRS Newmedia.
He has been recognized for exceptional information technology leadership in Computerworld’s 2012 Premier 100 IT Leaders, Federal Computer Week’s The Federal 100, and InformationWeek’s The Government CIO 50 lists.
Brook holds a bachelor’s degree with honors in Political Communications from The George Washington University.
