Clearing the Fog: A Panel Conversation About AI + IoT

Lead Innovation Manager, Internal Innovation, Target

Cory has over ten years of experience in technology, merchandising and innovation at Amazon.com and Target. He currently runs the Techstars Retail accelerator for Target and is focused on growing the company's startup engagement programs. Cory received his B.A. from the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities in Entrepreneurship and Communications.

Sr. Manager, Strategic Product Management, Applied Innovation, Thomson Reuters

Kate is an attorney with a strong passion for technology. In the Applied Innovation Group, she is currently tracking emerging product technologies, generating innovative opportunities for their use, and leading efforts to develop proof-of-concepts, partnerships, and products based on these technologies. Most recently, Kate has most recently enjoyed leading projects leveraging virtual reality, mixed reality, and virtual personal assistants. She was recently honored with the 40 under 40 Award by the Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal. Kate received her BA from Marquette University and her JD from William Mitchell School of Law.

Co-Founder of IoT Fuse and Founding Partner of Lab 651

Justin lives at the intersection of building connected products for customers and leading communities on the Internet of Things. He is a founding partner at Lab 651, an end-to-end consultancy building connected products using Industrial Design, Embedded Systems and Mobile and Data Analytics disciplines. He is the owner of IoT Weekly, a free curated newsletter with industry expert perspectives on the Internet of Things and the co-founder of the first ever Internet of Things Hack Day in Minnesota. He is the co-founder of IoTFuse, a 501(c)(3) non-profit with the mission to position Minnesota as a leader on the Internet of Things and adjunct professor at the University of Saint Thomas teaching a graduate level course on the IoT.

Director, Research, Thomson Reuters

Tonya Custis is a Research Director at Thomson Reuters where she leads a team of research scientists performing applied research in Artificial Intelligence technologies. Tonya earned a Ph.D. in Linguistics, an M.S. in Computer Science, and an M.A. in Linguistics, all from the University of Minnesota—Twin Cities. She also has a B.A. in Music from the University of Connecticut. Her research interests include information retrieval, natural language processing, and machine learning. She is currently leading projects that explore Question Answering and Natural Language Understanding.

Attorney and Shareholder, Fredrikson & Byron

Ryan Johnson is a nationally recognized lawyer for innovative healthcare companies. Ryan has helped many of his clients develop and launch innovative business models designed to improve health care quality, accessibility, and affordability. He regularly counsels senior executives, corporate boards, and policy-makers on the strategic threats and opportunities arising from emerging technologies and new laws and regulations. Ryan frequently lectures about issues emerging from the intersection of law, science, and technology. He is a serial social entrepreneur who has founded several organizations designed to enhance the public’s support and understanding of science.