Natalie Glance, Vice President of Engineering- Duolingo

Natalie Glance is VP of Engineering at Duolingo, whose mission is free language learning for the world, with over 150 million users on Android, iOS and the web. At Duolingo, Natalie has been working on conversational bots for teaching languages, social features, and performance improvements. She currently has four languages in her life: English for everyday, French with her mom, Spanish for reading and movies, and German on Duolingo (38% fluent!).
Prior to Duolingo, Natalie worked at two other start-ups (WhizBang! Labs and Intelliseek) as well as at Google and Xerox Research Centre Europe. She has published over 30 peer-reviewed papers in the areas of text mining, fake review detection, recommender systems, and multi-agent systems. She holds 17 U.S. patents. She co-founded the International Conference on Weblogs & Social Media and has been on the program committee and/or a reviewer for a number of conferences, workshops and journals, including: KDD, CEAS, ACL, WWW, WSDM, CIKM, and AIRWeb. Natalie received her Bachelor of Arts in Physics from Princeton University and her Ph.D. in Physics from Stanford University.

Robert Cafaro, Cellist- Philadelphia Orchestra

Bob was born in New York City, began cello studies at age 9 in the public school system
and gave his first recital one year later. He entered the Juilliard Preparatory Division as a
scholarship student and later enrolled in the Juilliard School where he received Bachelor
and Master of Music degrees. After graduating Bob played chamber music full time and
served on the faculty of the University of Virginia until 1983 when he became a regular
with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. He later joined the Baltimore Symphony and in
1985 became a member of the Philadelphia Orchestra. As an avid soloist and chamber
musician, he has performed recitals and appeared in major cities of the world. He has
also been a member of The Rachmaninov Trio since 2003. In addition Bob is passionately
involved in volunteer and outreach activities for the Philadelphia Orchestra and the
Saratoga Performing Arts Center. He regularly visits schools, retirement communiƟes
and nursing homes.
Bob’s cello was made in Venice, Italy in 1816 by Giancinto Santagiuliana.
In 1999 Bob was stricken with a virulent case of Multiple Sclerosis, which left him nearly
blind and without the use of his hands. His doctor told him he would be on permanent
disability. Bob has made a complete and remarkable recovery and has written a book
detailing his journey: When the Music Stopped: My Battle and Victory against MS. The
book is available in print on his website and for download on Amazon Kindle.
Bob is in demand as a motivational speaker, delivering inspiration and hope to those
afflicted with chronic illnesses.

William Valenta, Jr., Assistant Dean – MBA & Executive Programs for the University of Pittsburgh

Bill is currently the Assistant Dean for MBA & Executive Programs for the University of Pittsburgh – Katz Graduate School of Business wherein he is responsible for the entire portfolio of MBA, Executive MBA, International Executive MBA and Executive Education Programs. Prior to joining the University of Pittsburgh, Bill was a 22 year member of the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police wherein he held multiple positions eventually retiring with the rank of Commander.
In addition to his professional background, Bill has worked with McKinsey and Company as a subject matter expert on police policy and strategic planning. He has also taught a variety of courses and workshops in the areas of police management, leadership, ethics and crisis management.

Jessica Benham, Director of Public Policy at the Pittsburgh Center for Autistic Advocacy

Jessica is a strong advocate for Autistic rights and currently serves as the Director of Public Policy at the Pittsburgh Center for Autistic Advocacy. Among other projects, Jess has organized a statewide coalition against organ transplant discrimination, pushed successfully for more and better Medicaid waiver services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and trained first responders in autism competence. Jessica Benham is also a doctoral student in Communications, where she serves as a Graduate Teaching Fellow, and master’s student in Bioethics at the University of Pittsburgh. She holds a master’s in Communication Studies from Minnesota State University and Bachelor’s degrees in Political Science and Communication from Bethel University. In addition to her academic appointments and activism, Jessica’s research interest lies mainly in the investigation of the rhetorical and ethical constructions of disability in society. She has published articles on portrayal of disability in media and on experiences of Autism in academia. In 2016 Jessica was recognized as an Autistic Scholars Fellow by the Autistic Self Advocacy Network for her strong interest in civil rights activism and background in the values of the neurodiversity movement.

Walter Schneider, Professor, University of Pittsburgh Department of Psychology

Walter Schneider Ph.D. Professor of Psychology, Bioengineering, Neurosurgery, & Radiology at the University of Pittsburgh & University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. His research includes basic and actionable neuroscience based on MRI diffusion imaging of brain connectivity. He advances the leading edge of brain imaging with Army/DARPA support to detect neural damage in Traumatic Brain Injury. He developed methods to map the brain’s anatomical connectivity, to provide the circuit diagram of the mind. The methods are deploying nationally to benefit war wounded. He has over 200 publications and 50,000 citations of his work. His technology has launched a Pittsburgh spin off company that has produced products adopted by over 10,000 laboratories and 250 imaging centers in 60 countries and adopted by the major MRI vendors and received FDA clearance. His work has been featured in 60 Minutes and Discovery magazine and highlighted by First Lady Michelle Obama as the most promising new technology for returning TBI war wounded. His technology is used in clinical neurosurgery and TBI assessments in clinical patients and helps patients to understand and better deal with their brain pathology as well as improve treatment outcomes.

Omar Khawaja, VP and Chief Information Security Officer at Highmark Health

Omar Khawaja has spent 15+ years delivering, developing and managing security solutions for startups, service providers, consulting firms and enterprises. Omar is currently VP and Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at Highmark Health, an integrated health care delivery and financing system, employing more than 35,000 people and serving 40 million Americans in 50 states. Prior to Highmark, Omar was at Verizon Enterprise Solutions, where he had responsibility for their portfolio of security solutions with customers in 72 countries.
Omar currently serves on the boards of Health Information Trust Alliance (HITRUST) and Action Housing, on the Governing Body of Evanta, on the CISO Workgroup of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, and as adjunct faculty for the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) program at Carnegie Mellon University.
Omar has a BS in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Tech and an MBA from University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business.

Michael Boninger, Professor and Chair in the Department of Physical Medicine

Michael Boninger is a Professor and UPMC Endowed Chair in the Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation at the University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine. He has joint appointments in the Departments of Bioengineering, Rehabilitation Science and Technology and the McGowan Institute of Regenerative Medicine. He is Director of the UPMC (University of Pittsburgh Medical Center) Rehabilitation Institute and the Senior Medical Director for Post-Acute Care for the Health Services Division of UPMC. He is also a physician researcher for the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. Dr. Boninger has an extensive publication record of over 200 papers. His central research focus is on enabling increased function and participation for individuals with disabilities through development and application of assistive, rehabilitative and regenerative technologies. Dr. Boninger also has extensive experience and publications related to training researchers. His students have won over 50 national awards. Dr. Boninger holds 4 United States patents and has received numerous honors, including being inducted into the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Science.

John Fetterman, Mayor of Braddock

John Fetterman has served as mayor of Braddock for more than 10 years. After winning by a single vote, Mayor John threw out the traditional political playbook and worked to break the cycles of poverty and violence that were decimating Braddock’s chances by embracing creative ideas and innovative solutions. From a new community center to urban gardens and new businesses, Mayor John is charting a new path for Braddock.John grew up in York and went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in finance from Albright College, where he played football and was class president. He also holds an MBA from the University of Connecticut and a master’s in public policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School.While living in New Haven, CT, John joined Big Brothers/Big Sisters. His ‘little’ was an 8 year-old boy. Confronted by the stark disparity between his own life and that of his ‘little’, John quit his position in risk management and joined AmeriCorps. John served two years in the Hill District, a struggling, yet richly historic African American community in Pittsburgh. He set up the first computer labs in the neighborhood and taught GED classes to young mothers and fathers.In 2001, John started a GED program in the town of Braddock, one of the poorest and most troubled communities in the commonwealth. He was elected mayor of Braddock in 2005 and is now in his third term.