Philly Tech Week 2018

Felecia Hatcher is a White House Award winning entrepreneur, badass business rainmaker, bestselling author, globally sought-after speaker, media darling, mother, and Founder of Code Fever and BlackTechWeek. Breathe… She is also the rather awesome former Chief Popsicle at Feverish Pops, a gourmet ice pop boutique and manufacturing brand with a Fortune 500 client roster that would make your head spin prior to becoming an entrepreneur Felecia was a marketing executive working for big brands like Nintendo, Sony, Mckee Foods and the NBA.
For the past decade, Felecia has dedicated her life to inspiring a new generation of leaders to do epic shit, through her conversational talks on Entrepreneurship, Tech Innovation, Funding and Personal Branding. As the founder of Code Fever and Black Tech Week, Felecia Hatcher is on a mission to rid our communities of innovation deserts by working with community leaders and government to create inclusive and diverse startup ecosystems. Felecia has spearheaded the inclusive innovation and startup movement within the Miami Startup ecosystem focused on getting marginalized groups to become major players in the innovation economy. Hatcher has been featured on Inc, Forbes, MSNBC, The NBC Today Show, The Cooking Channel, Essence Magazine, Entrepreneur, Inc, BET, Black Enterprise, and the Miami Herald. Globally sought-after speaker, media darling, and mother Felecia Hatcher is a White House award Winning entrepreneur, Co-Founder of Code Fever and Author of the books "How to Start a Business on a Ramen Noodle Budget" "Focused" PopPreneurs and "The C Student's Guide to Scholarships-A Creative Guide to finding scholarships when your grades suck and your parents are broke." She is also the rather awesome former Chief Popsicle at Feverish Pops, a gourmet popsicle boutique and manufacturing brand with a Fortune 500 client roster that would make your head spin that she ran for 7 years..

Morgan is a Principal with Genacast Ventures where his responsibilities include evaluating investment opportunities, sourcing new deals, and managing the growth of existing portfolio companies.

Prior to joining Genacast, Morgan worked at Bloomberg Beta, the venture firm backed by Bloomberg. He also spent time as a software engineer at Tapad and Market-Based Management instructor at the Charles Koch Institute. Morgan earned his BS from Northeastern University.

Karissa is the Manager of People Operations at Azavea. She provides a large portion of the administrative support that keeps the company running. Karissa manages the hiring process, provides daily accounting support, assists with marketing, and much more.

Karissa came to Philadelphia in 2009 to study Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania. In 2013, she graduated with a degree in Fine Arts instead, and took a job managing facilities projects at Drexel University. During her time at the University of Pennsylvania, Karissa developed a love for technology and also worked for four summers with Penn Hospitality Services supporting conferences and events.

Outside of work, Karissa loves to bake sweet things, read, and play fetch with her cat. She is also a prolific PC gamer and has played most MMOs on the market.

Evan Lutz is a 24 -year-old social entrepreneur from Baltimore, Maryland who is passionate about food justice, entrepreneurship, and the Baltimore Ravens. He's a frequent guest on NPR, the Washington Post, and Baltimore News stations. He's been recognized in Forbes 30 under 30 in the social entrepreneurship category, Baltimore's 40 under 40, and Montgomery County Emerging Business of the Year Award, previously won by Honest Tea, Sweet Green, and Comcast. He was also featured on ABC's Shark Tank, where he made a deal with Robert Herjavec.

Michael O’Bryan is widely recognized as an expert practitioner and thought leader in the fields of community development, organizational culture, and trauma-informed practices. Since 2015, O’Bryan has served as the Director of Youth and Young Adult Initiatives at the Village of Arts and Humanities, a nonprofit headquartered in North Philadelphia. He holds a bachelor’s degree in music from the University of the Arts and a certificate in Childhood Trauma Studies from Jefferson University. O’Bryan is currently a Corzo Fellow at The Corzo Center for The Creative Economy at The University of the Arts, and an Innovation Fellow at Drexel University’s Lindy Institute for Urban Innovation, in support of a startup venture focused on the advancement of behavioral skills and equity in the field of workforce development. Prior to that, O’Bryan spent more than a decade working directly with underserved populations — including veterans, adults in recovery, returning citizens, and families experiencing homelessness — and as a consultant and advisor for multiple nonprofits, businesses, and local government agencies. O’Bryan speaks to audiences nationwide about his work, including convenings hosted by Cornell University, The Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia, NeighborWorks America, and the famed Apollo Theatre in New York. His commitment to service has also helped him amplify his contributions to the Philadelphia region by serving on the boards of two philanthropic institutions: The Samuel S. Fels Fund and The Philadelphia Cultural Fund.

The founder of Palette Group, Nate Nichols has over a decade of digital marketing and creative professional experience. His firm specializes in digital marketing strategy, helping companies ideate, execute and deliver new content and campaigns to better connect with their audience. Palette Group has now done work for corporations like Chevrolet and Starr Restaurants, as well as local businesses including City Fitness and Visit Philly.

As the head of Human Resources for SAP North America, Jewell Parkinson provides HR leadership across the region for all board areas, and leads the HR Business Partner organization. In this trusted - advisor role, she provides consultation and delivery of solutions that ensure SAP’s people strategy and programs meet the needs of the region’s more than 1 9,000 employees.

Jewell joined SAP in 1997, and has spent the majority of her tenure as an HR Business Partner supporting sales, sales support, and corporate functions within the North America region. She has supported global business units within Global Customer Operations, including Business Networks, the office of the COO, and Corporate Strategy in the office of the CEO, providing leadership on various global strategic projects in the areas of global workforce productivity, organization design , and change management. She has a thorough understanding of the SAP business and the intricacies across multiple functional areas.

Prior to joining SAP, Jewell served as an HR consultant in organizational development at Arco Chemical Company.

Jewell earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology and business administration from Millersville University of Pennsylvania in Millersville, Pennsylvania, and holds a master’s degree in human resources development from Villanova University in Villanova, Pennsylvania. Jewell support s organizations committed to improve people’s lives such as Habitat for Humanity, Red Cross House, Jack Academy, and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

Liz is a proud generalist committed to utilizing her interdisciplinary skillset as an urban planner, experience designer, and technologist to bridge gaps and highlight the importance of inclusion within innovation ecosystems. Recently she was named Managing Director at Backstage Philadelphia, an arm of Backstage Capital, a venture capital investment firm that invests in underrepresented founders. Additionally, Liz is the cofounder of BCKG, a think tank and consultancy that provides thought leadership and curated experiences to support leadership, growth, and momentum for startups.

Prior to launching BCKG, she cofounded and served as Co-CEO & Head of Design at Webjunto, a user experience focused design and software development agency that served 100+ startups and enterprises globally. In her free time, Liz continues to do work in the community as a civic hacking enthusiast, meetup organizer, and globetrotting public speaker.