thinkfuture: technology, philosophy and the future

Ben Podbielski is Assistant Vice President of the Emerging Technology team at Protective Life where he focuses on applying entrepreneurship principles to internal proof of concepts, with a specific focus towards artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies. Ben is a 2017 graduate of Birmingham’s Project Corporate Leadership, was honored as one of the EDPA’s “iMerging” Young Leaders in 2018, in 2019 he was one of 90 people, representing 32 different countries, from around the world selected to be part of MIT’s Technology and Innovation Bootcamp in Japan, was recognized by the Birmingham Business Journal as one of the 2021 NextGen BHM award winners, and he was appointed by Governor Ivey to serve on the Technical Advisory Committee on the Alabama Committee for Credentialing and Career Pathways.

Ben currently holds a bachelor’s in computer science from LaGrange College and also earned his master’s in information technology, master’s in business administration, and master’s in project management.

Contact Info:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bpodbielski/

Instagram: http://instagram.com/bigbn

Adam Jackson is the co-founder and CEO of Braintrust, the first user-controlled talent network that provides enterprises with the highly skilled technical and design talent they need.

Prior to founding Braintrust, Adam co-founded Doctor on Demand, the popular video telemedicine provider, with daytime talk show personality Dr. Phil, as well as his son Jay McGraw. Other notable ventures include DriverSide, the first website specifically designed for car owners, which was acquired by Advance Auto Parts in September of 2011, and MarketSquare, the first online local shopping destination on the Internet which was acquired by Intuit in September of 2006. Adam is a passionate Angel investor in 45+ companies including LTSE, SuperHuman, Automatic, Apero Health, Zenefits, and more.

https://www.usebraintrust.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ajackson/

On Episode 307 Evan Mulcahy Director of  Innovation  @ Credit Union 1 talks innovation in financial services and the awesomeness of Alaska.

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Evan Mulcahy is a credit union leader, influencer, and future professor of economics. Plus he’s an Alaskan. Evan is known for using analytical thinking to break down and help people understand complex human experiences.

Currently working as Director of Innovation for Anchorage-based Credit Union 1, he is responsible for reimagining member experiences for the future. Evan works well under pressure, launching a series of digital initiatives in response to the pandemic’s shelter-in-place orders in just 9 days. In less turbulent times, he spends most of his days researching or leading journey and affinity mapping sessions – laying the groundwork for even more innovation.

A powerful visual story teller, you can find Evan using his spare time to run the @AlaskaFoodie Instagram account – Alaska’s premier restaurant influencer.

Evan is active in the credit union movement, young professional groups in particular. He “crashed” CUNA’s GAC with the Cooperative Trust and “shook up” the Alaska Credit Union League Annual Meeting as part of the Emerging Credit Union Leaders of Alaska. His passion is paving the way for the next generation of big thinkers and doers!

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Pronunciations:

“Mulcahy” is “Mull-Kay-He”

“CUNA’s GAC” is “Cue-na’s G-A-C” (yes, the first one is an acronym and the second one is an initialism… that’s how we know who the real credit union people are J)

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https://www.linkedin.com/in/evanemak/

As Chief Innovation Officer, Dave leads GAP in developing, implementing, and supporting an expanded services strategy. He is playing an instrumental role in launching new Strategy and Transformation Service offerings to combine with GAP’s nearshore software development in covering the entire services stack.  With over 25 years of experience in technology, Dave has worked in senior leadership roles at IBM, Electronic Arts, DBI, and BMC Software. He is a dynamic technology leader with extensive experience conceptualizing and crafting innovative solutions that provide scalability, widespread end-user adoption, and substantially increased revenue. His ability to build and direct highly effective multidisciplinary teams allows GAP to support our clients through the full lifecycle of their technology needs, from strategy to product development, to launch, and beyond. Working with the Executive Team, Dave helps shape GAP's overall service offerings, while liaising with Delivery on a wide array of knowledge sharing and training programs.  https://www.linkedin.com/in/dmoore/

Dale P. Johnson: Director, Digital Innovation for the University Design Institute at Arizona State University

Wide-ranging interview on the future of education - we discuss the possibilities of adaptive learning, relevancy, memorization, breaking out of the concept of a "class," mass personalization, individualized life-long learning, and critical thinking.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dale-p-johnson/

Jason focuses on next-generation technologies and their impact on the colocation, interconnection, hybrid cloud, and edge computing strategies.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jtcarolan

Danielle Carnes, the VP for Innovation and Strategic Partnerships at Edmonds College. We cover:

A great conversation on the present and future of podcasts and audio with Caila Litman, the Director, Podcast Sales & Enterprise Product Innovation for Condé Nast. We cover the past and future of audio and podcasting - from the original 2005 meetups at Tommys Joynt in San Francisco where we thought that podcasts were going to change the world, to how the future will be voice-activated. Just like the movie Her, or Star Trek: The Next Generation.

• Interview with Mark McLellan from UNT

• Managing education through COVID disruption

• How to revise education in the new normal

• Building our cities to let us eat - we need large scale productive farms

• The Future of Food - creative use of vegetable proteins

• Replicating and Improving the remote experience