Philly Tech Week 2018

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.

Michael Tonge is a Brooklyn native, with a Sociology degree from Bucknell University. While still in school he conceived The Culture LP, formerly a blog that has evolved into a marketing consultancy for independent artists and galleries. Upon graduating, he and his partners started collaborating with local artists and creators. At the same time, Michael began his professional career as a corporate analyst for J.P. Morgan, before making the career switch to marketing and advertising. Developing grassroots events across the city coupled with a broad set of skills from the ad industry, has led to Michael’s latest role — Senior Marketing Manager, at the Brooklyn Museum. In December 2017 he also joined the NYC hub of the Global Shapers, a youth led venture in partnership with the World Economic Forum. Living and working in Brooklyn, New York — you’ll probably catch him at a local art show, or anywhere with good music, food and people. Follow him on Instagram and Twitter @Mikey718_

Ruth Fasoldt serves as the Director of External Affairs for Link, the most comprehensive, free public Wi-Fi network in the world. Ruth manages Intersection's public-private partnership with both the City of New York for LinkNYC and Philadelphia for LinkPHL, in addition to overseeing all community outreach and timely local partnerships to help make Link a welcome part of the community.

Ruth has spent the past eight years advocating for the importance of stakeholders input and understanding. Prior to joining Intersection, Ruth was the Business Development Manager for ACCA USA, the US headquarters of the world's largest accounting accreditation. Ruth was also the Director of Membership and Special Events for the Association for a Better New York (ABNY). Ruth holds a B.A. in History from Union College, and Masters degrees in History and Archives Management from Simmons College.

Adina Halter is Chief Technologist for Accessibility at Comcast where she ensures the accessibility of all Comcast products from web, to mobile apps, set top box applications, smart-home applications and other internet-of- things offerings. Adina started her career out of college as a 3D animator before moving into print design and then web design and development. She has since expanded into the mobile and internet-of- things technology space. She is also a cross-product tech innovator in the use of artificial intelligence. Adina is an advocate for product development that delights users with differing disabilities and maintains an open-source repository of accessible coding solutions. She is a member of the W3C’s Web Accessibility Initiative Education and Outreach working group and tweets, instructs, and speaks on coding, accessibility, and women-in- tech issues. Adina also serves as co-lead for the Comcast MyAbilities Employee Resource Group, which empowers employees with disabilities and equips their allies across the company. In the last year, she has helped to double membership to over 1,000 members.

Dr. Cat McManus has had a lifelong interest in differential educational opportunities and issues of equity. She spent nine years in college admissions at Princeton and Penn, where she ran a partnership with a nonprofit focused on increasing access for low-income students, led staff training, and contributed to the Access Team. Her research interests include college access, educational equity, social impact and strategic organizational partnerships. While on Penn GSE’s Academic Innovation team, she focused on communications and social media, community building, and cheerleading the edtech and social impact startup community. She received her doctorate from Penn in Educational Leadership and her AB from Dartmouth College in Anthropology.

A practicing philosopher and social activist, Ryan has worked on campaigns for human rights, education reform, and technology education access. Before becoming the Director of Partnerships for REC Philly, Ryan started his own software company, Sandbox, that helped schools make their STEAM learning centers accessible and inclusive.

Everette Taylor is serial entrepreneur and marketing executive who founded 4 million-dollar companies before the age of 28. After overcoming homelessness as a teenager, he started his first company at the age of 19 and successfully sold it 2 years later. Since then he has founded the social media software company PopSocial and marketing firm MilliSense where he both currently serves as CEO and also co-founded GrowthHackers in 2013.

As a marketing executive, he led both Qualaroo (acquired by Xenon Ventures) and Skurt (acquired by Fair.com) to successful exits and StickerMule to unprecedented growth as CMO.

His most recent work includes serving as the National Brand Ambassador of NASA's Startup Initiative, launching the media company BESE with Zoe Saldana which highlights the stories and voices of the LatinX community and Hayver, an app to prevent drug and alcohol addiction. He was most recently named "one of the most influential African Americans in 2017" by The Root and Forbes 30 under 30 for 2018.

Joseph C. Guagliardo is a partner at Pepper Hamilton LLP resident in the Philadelphia and New York offices, where he co- leads the Technology Group and is Chair of the Blockchain Practice. His practice focuses on technology transactions and general counseling around technology and intellectual property commercialization. Prior to practicing law, Joe spent more than a decade at an international venture-backed Fintech company, where he served in various technical and business roles in the design and implementation of capital markets trading and settlement software for banks around the world. He is a technology enthusiast and avid follower of the technology industry and related legal trends. Joe is a sought-after speaker and author on emerging technology- related topics, including the far-reaching applications of blockchain and smart contract technology in government, the private sector and law. In 2017, he was named a “Top Author” in the JD Supra Readers' Choice Awards for his thought leadership on the emerging topic of blockchain.