Join the MIT Industrial Liaison Program (ILP) this fall for our second digital transformation webinar series. In this series, we will continue to explore key digital transformation topics of corporate interest, including digital strategies, operational agility, customer experience, and new technologies.
The digital future is here, and the threat of disruption looms large. The COVID-19 crisis has contributed to this disruption and notably accelerated the transition to a digital future. In our current rapidly expanding digital marketplace, what does digital transformation mean for your company and your business model? How can you stay on top, and even ahead, of these rapid changes? What challenges will your company face, and how can you prepare to successfully tackle what’s ahead? Please join MIT ILP alongside MIT faculty [and startups] to discuss and address these key issues in facing our digital future.
There will be a panel discussion between the faculty speakers and selected corporate executives post the webinar session.
Digital Transformation Webinar Series:
Alex "Sandy" Pentland directs MIT's Connection Science initiative and the MIT Media Lab Entrepreneurship Program and is a founding member of advisory boards for the World Economic Forum, AT&T, Telefonica, United Nations, and Nissan. He previously helped create and direct MIT's Media Laboratory, the Media Lab Asia laboratories at the Indian Institutes of Technology, and Strong Hospital's Center for Future Health.
Forbes magazine declared Pentland "one of the seven most powerful data scientists in the world," along with the founders of Google and the CTO of the United States. Pentland is among the most-cited computational scientists in the world, and a pioneer in big data analytics, computational social science, organizational engineering, and wearable computing. His research has been featured in Nature, Science, the World Economic Forum, and Harvard Business Review, as well as being the focus of TV features including "Nova" and "Scientific American Frontiers." His most recent books are Social Physics, and Trust :: Data.
Interesting experiences include winning the DARPA 40th Anniversary of the Internet Grand Challenge, dining with British Royalty and the President of India, staging fashion shows in Paris, Tokyo, and New York, and developing a method for counting beavers from space.
The pandemic has laid bare many weaknesses in our national and global systems, especially around having timely data and data sharing, having AI that pulls out trends before they get large, and the need for greater levels of trust, reliability, and audibility. Drawing on discussions with National and Industry leaders from around the world, Sandy will discuss how leaders are evolving ways of addressing these problems, the policy changes that will affect businesses, and the technology being deployed that will support a new, more resilient, sustainable, and inclusive economy.
John Williams holds a BA in Physics from Oxford University, a MS in Physics from UCLA, and a Ph.D. in Numerical Methods from University of Wales, Swansea. His research focuses on the application of large-scale computation to problems in cyber-physical security and energy. He is director of MIT’s Geospatial Data Center and from 2006-2012, was Director of the MIT Auto-ID Laboratory, where the Internet of Things was invented. He is author or co-author of over 250 journal and conference papers, as well as the books on Rock Mechanics and RFID Technology. He contributed to the 2013 report for the UK Office for Science Foresight Project- The Future of Manufacturing. Alongside Bill Gates and Larry Ellison, he was named as one of the 50 most powerful people in Computer Networks. He consults to companies including Accenture, Schlumberger, Shell, Total, Exxon, SAP Research, Microsoft Research, Kajima Corp, US Lincoln Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, US Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity, Motorola, Phillip-Morris Inc., Ford Motor Company, Exxon-Mobil, Shell, Total, and ARAMCO. His international collaborations include Oxford and Cambridge Universities, HKUST, KACST, Alfaisal University, PolyU Hong Kong, Imperial College of Science and Technology UK, Malaysia University of Science and Technology (MUST), and Masdar Institute of Science and Technology Abu Dhabi. He organized the first Cyber-Physical Security Conference in the UK (2011), and along with Dr. Sanchez, he runs the MIT Applied Cyber Security Professional Education summer course. At MIT, he teaches courses Architecting Software Systems (MIT 1.125) and Engineering Computation and Data Science (MIT 1.00/1.001). .
In data engineering and data science, early work included simulation of Ford's global network, and analysis of SAP smart grid billing system. For Altria, he analyzed the performance of item level tagging and also their implementation of an anti-counterfeiting system using the Electronic Product Code (EPC)
In password security, Dr. Williams was a PI that developed the algorithms for a negative password authentication system for the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) agency.
Dr. Williams advises companies in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.
Dr. Williams affiliations include:
Dr. Abel Sanchez holds a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He is the Executive Director of MIT's Geospatial Data Center, architect of "The Internet of Things" global network, and architect of data analytics platforms for SAP, Ford, Johnson & Johnson, Accenture, Shell, Exxon Mobil, and Altria. In cyber security, Dr. Sanchez architected impact analysis of large-scale cyber attacks designing Cyber Ranges for the Department of Defense (DOD). In password security, Dr. Sanchez led the design of a password firewall (negative authentication) for the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) agency. In machine learning, addressing fraud detection, Dr. Sanchez designed a situational awareness framework that exploits different perspectives of the same data and assigns risk scores to entities for Accenture. He led the design of a global data infrastructure simulator, modeling follow-the-sun engineering, to evaluate the impact of competing architectures on the performance, availability and reliability of the system for Ford Motor Company. He has been involved in developing E-Educational software for Microsoft via their I- Campus Program and with establishing the Accenture Technology Academy, an online resource for over 200,000 employees. He has 10 years of experience with learning management systems and has made deployments in America, Asia, and Europe. He teaches MIT courses on cybersecurity, engineering computation, and data science and has produced over 150 educational videos.
We are going through a forced digital transformation. Almost every company, even those running factories and supply chains, have large swaths knowledge workers who can work from home. These knowledge pipelines are being systematized and automated to produce better and more consistent results in faster times. In software, the DevOps or DevSecOps pipelines are thousands of times faster and more productive in the top performers. Its clear that 100 year old organizational structures and management strategies are now the bottlenecks slowing down value creation. Some believe Agile is the solution but is it?
Abel and John will discuss the lessons learned in the software industry and how they can be applied to drive digital transformation in other areas.
Wilson graduated from UC Berkeley engineering school in 1979 and joined Defond. Within 2 years Defond was the first switch maker in Hong Kong to obtain UL approval and quickly became the top supplier for that market. Today, Defond is the biggest global supplier of switches for the power tools sector. During the early ‘90s Defond started involvement in electronics and was the top supplier of Appliance Leakage Circuit Interrupters for the US market. With a combination of expertise on mechanical, electronics and firmware, Defond
Peter Weckesser is the Chief Digital Officer of Schneider Electric and a Member of the Executive Committee since June 2020, when he joined the company.
Prior to working at Schneider, Peter served as the Digital Transformation Officer of Airbus’ Defense & Space division since 2017. Before joining Airbus, Peter had extensive experience as a Senior Executive at Siemens, most recently as the Chief Operating Officer of Siemens’ Product Lifecycle Management, leading the IoT and Digital Enterprise business and activities. He also held other executive-level positions with Siemens such as the CEO of Industry Services and CEO of Value Services.
Peter’s career began at Siemens where he worked in various roles in product management and development, including Director of Business Development in the United States. He holds a degree in physics as well as a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Karlsruhe, Germany. He currently resides in Germany.
Kalev Ruberg has been active in the information systems arena for over 40 years. As a BSc and Masters graduate from MIT, his studies included work at the Architecture Machine Lab (now the Media Lab) before carrying out digital simulation research at the National Bureau of Standards (now NIST) in Washington DC, University of California Berkeley Labs, and then at Georgia Tech, as an assistant professor.
In 1982 he joined Canada’s National Research Council in Ottawa, as a Senior Research Scientist where he developed a number of machine learning algorithms in the artificial intelligence field. Joining IBM Global Services, he designed large machine learning and control systems for IBM Manufacturing and clients worldwide.
In 1998, he was appointed the CIO and Deputy Minister and CIO to the Finance Minister, at the Government of Manitoba, where he was responsible for the government’s Information Services. Subsequently, he led development at a B2B e‐commerce company, and then became a VP at TELUS, where he was responsible for Application Development, Business Development, and development of the IT strategy and offerings for TELUS’ Healthcare vertical.
Building on his experience at TELUS, Kalev became the CIO and Executive General Manager for Information Services at Placer Dome, formerly the largest gold mining enterprise in the world. Here he led the restructuring of technology services worldwide. Since 2006, he has been Teck Resources as the CIO Vice President, Teck Digital Systems, where he was responsible for the overall digital systems services and projects for this global mining company. Most recently, Kalev was appointed VP Future and Chief Innovation Officer, and he is exploring the future of mining at Teck. In 2020, Kalev was also appointed adjunct Professor at the Keevil School of Mining Engineering at UBC.
Kalev has published more than 30 papers in proceedings and journals. In 2018, he was named to CIM Magazine’s 2018 Names to Know and is Vice Chair of the Global Mining Guidelines organization.
Mr. John Peng is a seasoned executive with over 25 years of experience in IT services, solutions, and global business management. His business expertise ranging from the digital transformation, digital marketing, enterprise data management, to enterprise application development and implementation. Before joining iSoftStone, Mr. Peng was the VP of China Technology Delivery of E5 Systems Inc. Mr. Peng started and managed the company’s China Development Center and overseas project implementation.
Prior to E5 Systems, Mr. Peng held several senior management positions as Engineering VP, or Director of Software Development in several software development companies in the US. Mr. Peng has also worked in major financial service companies such as John Hancock Funds and Mellon Financial Corp as a senior system and business analyst.
Mr. Peng holds an MBA from The University of Rhode Island, a MS from the Institute of Science and Technology, and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the Beijing University of Technology.