Co-facilitator, AI for Leaders
Founder and CEO, Techné AI

Khullani M. Abdullahi is the founder of Techne AI, a Chicago-based consultancy specializing in AI governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) for regulated sectors. With more than 14 years of experience commercializing emerging technologies across cybersecurity, digital health, legal tech, and AI startups, Khullani partners with executive teams to design responsible AI strategies, build operational governance systems, and guide organizations in adopting AI safely and effectively.

Her work centers on the institutional layer of AI safety—helping health systems, public agencies, and enterprise leaders translate broad policy frameworks such as the NIST AI Risk Management Framework, ISO/IEC 42001, and state AI acts into practical oversight structures, accountability mechanisms, and workforce enablement. She also advises boards of directors on fiduciary responsibilities and risk governance in an era of rapidly advancing AI capabilities.

Beyond her organizational work, Khullani contributes to civic and public-interest AI governance, examining how societies can navigate the economic, cultural, and ontological shifts introduced by increasingly autonomous systems. She is the host of the AI in Chicago podcast, where she convenes researchers, policymakers, and institutional leaders shaping the region’s AI future.

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Co-facilitator, AI for Leaders
Founder and CEO, Intentional Gravity
Director of Platform, PACE Healthcare Capital

E.J. Reedy is an executive and entrepreneur with a two-decade track record of building companies, organizations, platforms, and catalytic communities that unite the people shaping the future of innovation—entrepreneurs, scientists, innovators, corporations, investors, operators, and civic leaders.

Trained as an economist and grounded as a creator and connector, E.J. has worked across industries including biotech, fintech, food innovation, and climate tech. He is known for identifying patterns others miss, bridging siloed environments, and helping individuals and organizations make intentional choices that create new value and shift their trajectories.

E.J. has held senior leadership roles across the private and nonprofit sectors, including founding Intentional Gravity to advance people-centered technology; helping scale Portal Innovations into a national biotech venture platform; leading strategic programs at the University of Chicago’s Polsky Center; and positioning the Kauffman Foundation as a global leader in innovation and entrepreneurship. His work has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and other national outlets.

Today, E.J. focuses on coaching leaders, advising organizations, and designing communities where deeper connection enables meaningful progress. He is particularly drawn to small, trusted groups—spaces where people can be honest about hard choices, map their next moves, and support one another with clarity and courage.

He often collaborates with explorers: mission-driven professionals navigating complex systems and building what comes next. His role blends strategist, coach, and mission control—gathering the right people, tightening their orbits, and helping them gain velocity for change and impact.

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Host, AI for Leaders
Chief Growth & Marketing Officer, P33

Tifair Hamed is an award-winning growth and marketing executive serving as Chief Growth Officer at P33, a public-private initiative led by Chicago’s business, civic, and technology leaders to position the region as a globally competitive tech hub. Her work focuses on ecosystem strategy, narrative development, and elevating Chicago and Illinois across advanced industries including technology, climate, and quantum.

Prior to P33, Tifair held senior leadership roles across agency and enterprise environments, including leading social media and cultural strategy for McDonald’s through Burrell Communications. She advised Fortune 100 brands on audience engagement, influencer marketing, and brand relevance, driving measurable gains in reach, sentiment, and market share, including McDonald’s first earned partnership with Meta.

Tifair’s career spans partnerships with global brands, startups, nonprofits, and public institutions including AT&T, UPS, Molson Coors, Toyota, Pfizer, Eli Lilly, Procter & Gamble, TikTok, Essence, BET, and NASCAR. Her approach is strategic and purpose-driven, grounded in the belief that relevance, performance, and impact must move together.

She has been recognized as an American Marketing Association “4 Under 40” Emerging Leader and a Stevie Award winner for Marketing Campaign of the Year. Tifair holds executive training from Harvard Business School and earned her master’s degree in Integrated Marketing Communications from Northwestern University.

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Host, AI for Leaders
Co-Founder & Chief Revenue Officer, MJ Ventures

Forrest Alonso Haydon is a technologist, entrepreneur, and global systems thinker focused on how emerging technologies can create durable, positive impact across organizations and communities. As Co-Founder of MJ Ventures, he works at the intersection of AI strategy, organizational design, and market development, helping leaders understand not just what AI can do, but how it reshapes incentives, governance, and decision-making.

Forrest brings a multidisciplinary and international lens to his work. His professional experience spans data science, consulting, and applied AI across startups, public-interest organizations, and global enterprises. At MJ Ventures, he partners closely with clients to translate complex technical capabilities into clear value propositions, scalable operating models, and responsible adoption strategies that hold up across markets and use cases.

Prior to co-founding MJ Ventures, Forrest worked in data science and analytics roles supporting research, product development, and strategy at mission-driven and growth-stage organizations. He also brings consulting experience across healthcare, diagnostics, manufacturing automation, and consumer products, where he worked on complex, cross-border projects requiring both analytical rigor and cultural fluency.

Forrest’s academic background reinforces his systems orientation. He earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Chicago, where he studied economics with a minor in biology and completed coursework in financial accounting and decision modeling. His research and early professional work explored how transparency, incentives, and institutional design shape outcomes in both public and private markets.

Having lived and worked across the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, Forrest brings a global perspective to questions of technology adoption and governance. He is fluent in English, Spanish, and French, and is particularly interested in how AI intersects with public policy, political systems, and social infrastructure at both local and international scales.

Across his work, Forrest is drawn to environments defined by uncertainty and rapid change. He believes effective AI leadership requires endurance, adaptability, and humility—and that the most successful organizations are those that invest early in clarity, structure, and human judgment alongside technical capability.

Host, AI for Leaders
Co-founder, AI for VCs (part of Chicago: Blend)

Grisel Hernandez is a venture capital operator and investor focused on the infrastructure of modern life—how people live, work, and learn as technology reshapes the economy. As an investor and operator at Chingona Ventures, she supports all aspects of the firm’s work, from evaluating early-stage companies to designing internal systems, conducting market landscape analyses, and strengthening data operations across the fund.

Her background bridges research, policy analysis, and finance. Before joining Chingona Ventures, Grisel managed student innovation investments at the Office of the Illinois State Treasurer and conducted market and financial research at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and the Center for Research in Security Prices (CRSP). She brings a systems lens to each role, blending qualitative and quantitative methods to understand how capital flows, how markets evolve, and how innovation reaches the communities it intends to serve.

Grisel’s technical foundation was strengthened through the University of Chicago’s Data and Policy Summer Scholars (DPSS) program, where she developed open-source analytical skills and applied statistical rigor to policy and market questions. Her undergraduate training in economics, political science, and Latin American studies at Grinnell College continues to shape her approach to investment strategy, operational problem-solving, and market analysis.

Throughout her career, Grisel has been drawn to messy, ambiguous environments where systems must be built from the ground up. She is an active member of Global Women in VC and Let’s Talk Ops and previously served as a VC Fellow with Chicago:Blend where she co-founder AI for VCs as an alumni initiative to better her skills and the community’s. Her work reflects a commitment to building more inclusive investment ecosystems and strengthening the operational backbone of early-stage venture.

Host, AI for Leaders
Principal Consultant, sr4 Partners
Author

Alida Miranda-Wolff is a Principal Consultant at sr4 Partners and a nationally recognized leader in organizational culture, inclusive leadership, and employee experience. She specializes in creating the structures, habits, and communication systems that help organizations build healthy cultures from the ground up. Her work spans the full employee lifecycle—from recruitment and onboarding through retention, development, and long-term growth.

Before joining sr4 Partners, Alida founded and led Ethos Talent, where she established a practice centered on belonging, neurodiversity inclusion, and values-driven leadership development. Her approach has made her a sought-after facilitator, advisor, and culture builder for organizations navigating periods of change or growth. She is particularly known for designing better meetings, coaching executives on inclusive leadership behaviors, and helping teams make the implicit explicit through clear, direct communication.

Alida is also an accomplished author and world-builder. She is the Amazon-bestselling nonfiction author of two books with HarperCollins Leadership, and her writing has appeared in Salon, Hippocampus, Writer’s Digest, and Books by Women. Her debut fantasy novel, A Raven in the Storm, is the first in her four-book Gods of Tellus series. She hosts Care Work with Alida Miranda-Wolff, a podcast exploring the emotional and practical realities of caring for others as a profession.

Her career includes early recognition from the University of Chicago, where she received the Early Career Achievement Award. She holds a degree in creative writing from the University and remains deeply involved in Chicago’s literary and creative communities.

Outside her professional work, Alida maintains what she describes as a “menagerie”—a household shared with her family, multiple rabbits, and several cats. Her experiences caring for animals—including writing about loss in her widely shared essay “Year of the Rabbit”—inform her broader commitment to empathy, belonging, and human connection.

Host, AI for Leaders
Senior Associate, Impact Investing, Sorenson Impact Foundation
Co-founder, AI for VCs (part of Chicago: Blend)

Ibrahim Rashid is an impact investor and AI educator focused on channeling capital and technology toward low-income and marginalized communities. He serves as a Senior Associate in Impact Investing at the Sorenson Impact Foundation, where he backs founders advancing environmental justice, health equity, economic empowerment, financial inclusion, and responsible technology. In parallel, he teaches venture capital firms how to use AI to improve internal operations, diligence, and portfolio support.

A Pakistani-American who grew up in South Africa, England, Nigeria, and the UAE, Ibrahim brings a distinctly global lens to his work. Early ambitions to become a diplomat led him into foreign aid, where he saw firsthand that the scale of challenges like climate change, displacement, and healthcare access required private capital—alongside government—to step up. That realization shaped a career at the intersection of finance, policy, and entrepreneurship: running a digital health startup, contributing to a U.S. presidential campaign, and ultimately moving into impact investing.

Before joining Sorenson, Ibrahim revamped the sustainable investing platform at Marquette Associates as a Research Analyst for Sustainable Investing, guiding asset owners on climate action, racial equity, and place-based investment strategies. He has written playbooks for integrating climate risk into public fund portfolios, redesigned ESG and impact due-diligence processes, and supported clients through leading impact benchmarking initiatives. His ecosystem work includes a Chicago:Blend Venture Fellowship with mHUB Ventures and founding Rashid Impact Strategies, advising investors and entrepreneurs on fundraising, AI-enabled diligence, governance, and policy.

Ibrahim is also a founder and author. As Co-Founder and COO of Strong Haulers, a digital health startup for people with Long COVID and infection-associated chronic conditions, he led product, operations, and fundraising, with the company featured at TechCrunch Disrupt, the Clinton Global Initiative, and in national media. His book, Strong Hauler: Learning to Live with Long COVID, and his keynote speeches and writing have helped shape the emerging “Long COVID economy” and broader innovation ecosystem around chronic illness.

Across these roles, Ibrahim is known for translating complex systems—capital markets, public policy, AI, and healthcare—into clear strategies that are both actionable and values-aligned. His work with AI sits squarely in that space: helping investors and leaders adopt AI tools in ways that are operationally effective, ethically grounded, and aligned with long-term impact.

Host, AI for Leaders
Founder & CEO, MJ Ventures

Marley Rosario, MPP, is a data and AI engineer, entrepreneur, and systems builder focused on helping organizations translate emerging technologies into durable, human-centered infrastructure. As Founder and CEO of MJ Ventures, he leads teams that design and deploy custom AI agents for agencies, small businesses, and mission-driven organizations navigating rapid technological change.

Marley’s work sits at the intersection of artificial intelligence, public policy, and organizational strategy. He brings a practitioner’s lens to AI adoption, emphasizing practical deployment, governance, and real-world constraints rather than abstract experimentation. At MJ Ventures, he partners closely with leadership teams to design AI systems that improve decision-making, operational clarity, and scale without eroding trust, privacy, or institutional values.

Before founding MJ Ventures, Marley held senior technology and data leadership roles across the public interest, nonprofit, and startup sectors. He served as Senior Director of Technology at People First, where he led data, engineering, and product teams, translating strategic objectives into operational systems. Earlier roles in data engineering, analytics, and product development gave him hands-on experience building and maintaining complex technical stacks in resource-constrained environments.

Marley’s academic training reinforces his systems approach. He holds a Master of Public Policy from the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago, where he focused on the intersection of technology, governance, and social outcomes. His background enables him to evaluate AI not only as a technical tool, but as a force that reshapes incentives, institutions, and power dynamics inside organizations.

Throughout his career, Marley has been drawn to ambiguous, fast-moving environments where leaders must make decisions before best practices exist. His work reflects a belief that effective AI leadership requires fluency across technology, policy, and organizational behavior—and that responsible adoption depends as much on judgment and structure as on code.

Host, AI for Managers
Senior Director of Analytics, Energizer Holdings

Alexs Thompson is a customer-focused analytics executive who helps large organizations turn data, technology, and AI into measurable business value. As Senior Director of Analytics at Energizer Holdings, he leads enterprise-wide strategy and execution across data platforms, analytics products, and advanced analytics capabilities, with a consistent emphasis on governance, adoption, and outcomes that matter to both customers and operators.

Alexs’ work sits at the intersection of strategy, systems design, and organizational change. At Energizer, he has partnered with executive leaders to assess prior strategic initiatives and map a multi-year roadmap for analytics growth, defining milestones, success criteria, and team capabilities to deliver against a clear north star. He has also led the research, piloting, and implementation of generative AI initiatives, helping shape a practical governance model for tools such as ChatGPT and Azure OpenAI and convening an internal AI Governance Council to guide responsible adoption.

Over the past decade, Alexs has built and scaled analytics organizations across complex enterprises. Prior to Energizer, he served as Director of Data Strategy at O’Reilly Auto Parts, where he led large, cross-functional teams spanning data warehousing, MDM, BI, analytics, software development, and data science. His work included building an enterprise analytics strategy, modernizing data and analytics platforms, and creating a “single version of the truth” for customer data at significant scale to enable more effective decision-making and targeted growth initiatives.

Earlier, at Hallmark, Alexs helped drive a corporate-wide analytics transformation, leading multiple agile teams across advanced analytics use cases and platform modernization efforts. He is known for bridging the technical and the practical: consolidating fragmented tools and processes, standardizing data foundations, and designing operating models that make analytics reliable, accessible, and actionable across functions.

Alexs’ background also includes public-sector data work supporting disaster response at FEMA, where he contributed to agency-wide initiatives for data-driven decision-making and helped automate access to critical datasets used in national emergencies. Across roles, he brings a pragmatic belief that analytics succeeds when it is built for real users, supported by clear governance, and anchored in business priorities rather than technology for its own sake.

Alexs is globally minded and deeply invested in the question many leaders are facing right now: with AI evolving quickly, how far into the future should strategy and systems be designed? His work reflects an approach built on durable foundations—platforms, governance, and teams that can adapt—so organizations can move quickly without breaking trust.

Host, AI for Leaders
Vice President, Business Insights & Data Analytics, Thresholds
President, IMPACT Alumni Association | Chair, BUILD Chicago Associate Board

Tim Turner is a data and insights executive whose work sits at the intersection of analytics, equity, and systems change. For more than a decade, he has led teams that bring clarity to complex questions—using data to illuminate community realities, strengthen organizational decision-making, and expand opportunities for the people and neighborhoods most affected.

As Vice President of Business Insights & Data Analytics at Thresholds, Tim leads the development of enterprise-wide intelligence systems that support one of Chicago’s most important mental health organizations. His work includes cloud-enabled data architecture, operational dashboards, executive scorecards, and analytic readiness across the enterprise—all aligned to improve access, outcomes, and equity.

Previously, Tim served as Director of Pharmacy Insights at Walgreens, where he guided a team of analysts and data scientists producing high-impact insights across Pharmacy, Marketing, Operations, Finance, and Merchandising. His leadership shaped national strategies, reversed multimillion-dollar performance declines, and enabled advances in patient retention, customer experience, and health equity for vulnerable populations.

Tim’s civic commitments mirror the values in his professional work. He is President of the IMPACT Alumni Association with the Chicago Urban League and Chair of the Associate Board at BUILD Chicago, helping advance youth development, community safety, and leadership pathways citywide.

Across roles at Harvard Kennedy School, Stax, GoHealth, the Polsky Center, Walgreens, and Thresholds, Tim has built a career grounded in thoughtful inquiry, analytical rigor, team development, and community impact. He brings a systems-level perspective to every challenge—connecting data, strategy, and human outcomes in service of more equitable decisions and stronger organizations.