Philly Tech Week 2018

John Hargrave is the publisher of Bitcoin Market Journal (www.bitcoinmarketjournal.com), which attracts thousands of great investors to bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, and ICOs. He is also the CEO of Media Shower (www.mediashower.com), which attracts great blockchain companies with great investors. He is a writer, speaker, and leader of the New Finance revolution.

Jen began working with honeygrow as an independent branding consultant in May 2013, but committed to the team full-time as Chief Brand Officer at the start of 2014. Graduating from the University of Delaware in 2000 with a BFA in Visual Communications, with concentrations in graphic design and printmaking, Jen has been building innovative and engaging brand worlds for global and national brands. She has honed her skills as a Creative Director at advertising agencies i-Frontier (acquired by Digitas), Quaker City Mercantile (formerly Gyro Worldwide) with Comcast’s in-house creative team, and most recently as an independent consultant. She specializes in creative strategic ideation, visualization and brand development. Specializing in brand reinvigoration and new product development, Jen’s focus has revolved around branding, packaging, traditional advertising, retail campaigns, digital and social media programs for brands both domestically and internationally including Discovery Channel, AstraZeneca, Sailor Jerry Rum, Hendrick’s Gin, Cointreau liqueur, Milagro tequila, Art In The Age Spirits (Root, Snap), Metaxa brandy, Narragansett beer, Ecco shoes, Puma, J Shoes, TYR Sport and Starr Restaurant Organization. Jen is also a founding partner and President of Western Grace Brandy, a small batch, handcrafted artisanal brandy she and her partners started in 2013. The brand has launched in Pennsylvania and will be distributed regionally by Charmer-Sunbelt distribution group. Jen resides in Philadelphia where she is a 250hr RYT certified vinyasa yoga teacher and enjoys exploring the rest of the globe whenever she can manage a trip.

Peter Locharernkul, a creative technologist, has been developing interactives for a variety of audience, ranging from museum exhibits to trade shows to experiential marketing events. Embraces the complex discipline of testing and overcoming the limitations of hardware devices and software platforms while continuing to deliver intuitive and compelling user experiences. His most recent projects have involved innovative augmented reality applications that pioneers the use of large scale 3D object tracking. An avid game developer, he has released dozens of online games for ESPN.com and MTV Games. He has implemented various activations for brands such as Reebok, Nike, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, ABC TV and Nabisco. Many of his projects are currently on display at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, the WWII Museum in New Orleans, the Museum of Natural History of Los Angeles and the Kennedy Space Center.

Christine Derenick-Lopez is the CAO (Chief Administrative Officer) for the City of Philadelphia. This office was created by the Kenney Administration, and works to modernize city government and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of City services. The CAO oversees 10 enabling departments and offices, supporting their operations to evaluate, plan, and continually improve service delivery. Prior to joining the Kenney Administration, Christine worked as a Sr. HR Business Partner with AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals. In this role, Christine provided strategic HR leadership for over 2,200 Diabetes Primary Care and Endocrinology Specialty employees and leaders.

Christine also served as Chief of Staff and Human Resources Director for the Philadelphia International Airport. She served on the Airport’s Advisory Board and spearheaded several Airport-wide projects, including the launch of new air service for Qatar, Virgin America and Spirit Airlines. Christine has more than 20 years of progressive public sector experience in Human Resources and served as President of the Society of Human Resource Management’s Philadelphia Chapter (SHRM). Christine has been recognized by the Women Transportation Seminar’s (WTS) Philadelphia Chapter with the Women of the Year Award (2011) and by SmartCEO receiving their Executive Management Award (2014).

Aditi joined ConsenSys in 2017 from the Chamber of Digital Commerce where she focused on blockchain policy and business development around furthering the adoption of blockchain technology. Given her 3+ years of experience in the blockchain space, she leads Academy’s strategic partnerships and is dedicated to growing the Ethereum ecosystem.

Archna Sahay is a Sr Consultant with J Nowak Strategy, a strategic advisory firm based in Philadelphia. Archna's primary areas of focus include urban innovation and public-private partnerships. Prior to this role, Archna was the director of entrepreneurial investment for the City of Philadelphia. As Director, Archna was responsible for the economic and business development of the tech sector for the City. She launched various programs to help connect entrepreneurs to resources needed as they built their businesses in Philadelphia. Archna also managed StartupPHL, the City's platform for supporting entrepreneurship and startup activity in Philadelphia which also included management of an early stage venture fund and a grant program. She helped guide the growth of the platform from providing sources of funding to startups to also incorporating thought leadership, open innovation concepts and equitable and inclusive ecosystem development. Archna began her career in finance working for over 10 years at leading investment management firms working closely with high net worth clients.

Archna served as an Advisor for the 2018 SXSW Cities Summit and is currently on the boards of Philadelphia Community Corp, a non profit salvage organization combining workforce development and sustainable building and deconstruction practices as well as Welcoming Center for New Pennsylvanians, a non profit whose mission is to provide a soft landing for new immigrants through education, training, employment and entrepreneurship.

Scott Vinkle is a Canadian front end developer and accessibility advocate living in Canada. He spends his days assessing, consulting, and fixing accessibility issues on all the things at Shopify. Find out what else Scott is up to at svinkle.me.

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.