Philly Tech Week 2018

Mike McCoy is part of ConsenSys' Ecosystem Development strategies where he helps build the teams involved in growing the Ethereum protocol around the world. Currently Mike has helped build the campus recruitment model, supports a number of ConsenSys teams such as uPort, Grid+, Linnia, Blockchain for Social Impact and D.C. Labs in their strategy to create efficient blockchain projects.

Before coming to ConsenSys, Mike helped start a software development bootcamp in Philadelphia, PA called Launch Academy, as well as working in technical sales and recruiting for a number of years before jumping into the blockchain space.

Sharyn Flanagan is a regional editor at Associated Press in Philadelphia. Before that, she was an editor at USA TODAY for 15 years. Flanagan has also done stints at The Philadelphia Tribune, the Tallahassee Democrat and the Lansdale Reporter. The proud Philadelphia native and former U.S. Marine uses her editing powers for good by doing workshops for various groups.

Matt Zelesko is SVP, Entertainment Products and Chief Software Officer. Matt leads the teams that define and deliver Comcast’s video and entertainment products, including the award winning X1 platform, Xfinity Stream applications for third party devices, and strategic partner integrations onto the X1 platform. He also leads several cross-company initiatives for Comcast, including user experience and design, product accessibility for all customers, and the strategy to elevate and engage internal and external software communities. Prior to joining Comcast, Matt held corporate and technology leadership positions at both early- stage and established media companies, including Time Warner Cable and Joost. As Senior Vice President, Converged Technology Group, for Time Warner Cable, Matt drove technology strategy and product development across all video products, web properties, and converged services that enable the video and web experiences. At Joost, Matt served the company’s global technology organization as Senior Vice President of Engineering before stepping in as CEO to lead the company through a restructuring and successful acquisition. Prior to Joost, Matt was a founding member and Vice President of Engineering for Comcast’s Interactive Media (CIM) division that focused on delivering digital video over IP as well as a founding member and director for the Reference Design Kit (RDK) Management Entity chartered to drive and support adoption of RDK across the operator ecosystem. Matt was recognized as Technology Executive of the Year in 2013 by Multichannel News for his leadership at Time Warner Cable. He graduated with a B.S. in Computer Science from Cornell University and holds a M.S. degree from Stanford University.

Sandra K. Johnson is the CEO, SKJ Visioneering, LLC, a fintech startup company based in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. She is a “hidden figure” as one of the first African-American women to earn a Ph.D. in electrical engineering and she has obtained many firsts in her 30+ year career in technology. She had a 26-year career at IBM, with her last position as the CTO, IBM Central, East and West Africa. She is a Master Inventor with over 40 pending and issued patents and over 80 technical publications in computer hardware and software. Dr. Johnson earned B.S. (summa cum laude), M.S. and Ph.D. degrees, all in electrical engineering, from Southern University, Stanford University, and Rice University, respectively. Read more about her here and her company’s website.

Dana S. Wilson currently serves as Vice President of Customer Experience for Comcast Cable, the nation’s largest video, high-speed Internet and phone provider to residential customers under the XFINITY brand and also provides these services to businesses. In this role, she is responsible for leading end-to- end improvement initiatives to transform the experience for Comcast customers. Dana previously served as Executive Director of Strategy & Operations where she led departmental strategic initiatives to drive customer-focus and high performance across products. During her tenure, Dana has led the delivery of Comcast’s Olympics experience for both the 2012 Summer and 2013Winter games. In addition, she led the integration of the NBC Sports Live Extra Olympics app on X1, providing Xfinity customers with 1,000 hours of live streaming coverage of the Sochi Winter Games. The innovative experience was the first of it’s kind in the industry and gave customers 500 extra hours of live event coverage on the set-top box. Dana started her career at Comcast as Senior Director of Product Planning and Delivery for Comcast Interactive Media, where she managed execution of the Xfinity product roadmap for online and mobile entertainment. Prior to joining Comcast in 2011, Dana acquired a wealth of knowledge from the management consulting, chemical, utility and municipal industries. Dana has worked for companies such as: Accenture, Rohm and Haas Company, Philadelphia Gas Works and City of Philadelphia where she gained her engineering experience and extensive knowledge in the areas of enterprise performance management, operational excellence, product development, customer service, and manufacturing. Dana S. Wilson is a graduate of Drexel University and holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Chemical Engineering. During her professional tenure, Dana has obtained a Six Sigma Black Belt Certification which reflects her expertise in leading and executing initiatives within an organization that are focused on driving high performance and customer service.

Caroline Samponaro is the Head of Government Affairs and Public Policy for the Northeast Region at ofo North America, working to bring dockless bike share to new markets from Maine to Delaware, and cities in between. Before joining ofo, Caroline spent 12 years at Transportation Alternatives and was one of the nation’s foremost advocates for traffic justice and urban bicycling. During her tenure at TransAlt, she spearheaded the city's adoption of Vision Zero, led the grassroots campaign to lower New York City's speed limit, and co-founded Families for Safe Streets, a victim advocacy organization comprised of members who have lost loved ones or been injured in traffic crashes. Caroline is an expert on urban bicycling and helped lead New York City’s rapid transformation into a bike-friendly city by leading dozens of grassroots campaigns to redesign dangerous streets with high quality bike lanes. Caroline is frequently quoted in the New York Times and New York Magazine, and she is a sought-out speaker on reckless driving prevention, the growth of urban cycling and the transition away from the automobile in cities across the globe. Caroline lives in Brooklyn and holds a BA in Cultural Anthropology from Columbia University.

Katrina Rios is the Director of Strategic Partnerships for Public Health at emocha Mobile Health. A Johns Hopkins public health graduate, Katrina helps transition emocha's evidence-based mobile technology from research to practice. In her role, she works with over 30 state and local health departments, academic medical centers, and health systems to improve medication adherence through asynchronous video directly observed therapy across a number of diseases including but not limited to tuberculosis, HCV, HIV, and opioid use disorder. emocha was recently named one of the top 10 most innovative companies in healthcare by FastCompany alongside CVS Health for it's work in scaling directly observed therapy, which originated in local health department tuberculosis programs, to other disease states.

Tonya Adams, a Comcast employee for over 16 years, currently manages a team of network engineers that supports Comcast Business Enterprise Ethernet services nationwide. Ms. Adams has developed a reputation for strong and engaging leadership both inside and outside of cable. She began her career as a network engineer before becoming a voice engineer where she helped launch Comcast’s first digital voice services offering and going on to support and lead strategic planning on various other projects and products. Outside of work, Ms. Adams is a proud and active member of her community with membership inWICT, NAMIC, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, Upsilon Delta Omega, and served as a former youth leader for her church, as well as several other community and professional organizations.