As the Co-Founder and current Chairman of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT), Mr. Gresta leads a team of 800 professionals in 40 countries that span 6 continents. HTT was the first company to begin development of the Hyperloop™ and is the largest company ever built upon a collaborative business ecosystem. HTT, under Mr. Gresta's leadership, has been revolutionizing both mobility and the outdated business model.

Before HTT, Bibop co-founded the influential start-up incubator Digital Magics SPA, which has served as the catalyst for the launching of more than 70 other companies. In addition to his entrepreneurial successes, he is a world-renowned speaker on issues ranging from ethical entrepreneurship to mobility. Bibop has keynoted at events that range from the World Economic Forum and United Nations to TedTalk and MTV. He is known for always bringing a unique and thoughtful perspective. For this reason, he has a following that includes high school/university students to heads of state.

Ann Makosinski is a 20-year-old student, serial inventor and media darling doing numerous global appearances and keynote talks. Her first toy was a box of transistors, which launched her journey into the world of inventing. Ann participated in local science fairs starting grade 6, and in grade 10 her inspiration grew when her friend in the Philippines failed her grade because she had no electricity or light to study with at night. The Hollow Flashlight was created, a flashlight that runs off the heat of the human hand! Ann won numerous awards at the Intel Science and Engineering Fair, and ultimately won her age category at the 2013 Google Science Fair. Ann has received the US patent for her flashlight and is currently working on obtaining more patents as well as improving & manufacturing her flashlight.

Ann’s next invention was the eDrink, created out of necessity after listening to her high school friends complain about their hot coffee taking too long to cool down, and their phones always running out of battery. Coffee and phones being a mainstay to her generation, Ann combined the two to solve their problem. This invention converts the excess heat of your coffee while cooling into electricity, which will give your phone or iPod a boost of energy. The eDrink won at the 2015 Intel Science and Engineering Fair. Ann is one of the most sought after inventors and global influencers of her generation. She has been featured in numerous media outlets, including two appearances on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and being named the global brand ambassador for Uniqlo fleece.

Ann was named one of TIMES and FORBES 30 Under 30, just finished her fifth TEDx talk, and was awarded the 2015 SEA Award (Sustainable Entrepreneurship Award) in Vienna, which Obama received the year prior. She was the recipient of the $50,000 Quest Climate Change Grant from Shell Canada and Canadian Geographic. Ann was also chosen to be one of Teen Vogue’s Global Earth Angels (An Eco Activist Saving the Planet). Popular Science has named Ann “Breakout Young Inventor of the Year” and Ann is a global ambassador for the AAT Project and has also been chosen as an influencer for McCann Erickson.

Ann regularly gives many international keynote talks, ranging from ones for a private event at the Pictet Bank in Geneva to a talk at King Abdullah’s University for Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia. She has been chosen to endorse many brands such as Five Star, Lenovo, Adidas and appeared with Miley Cyrus in Converse’s Public Access Show. This past summer, Ann worked with WE Canada for Canada’s 150th Anniversary and went on a two-week expedition as a Youth Ambassador through the North-West passage on the Canada C3 ship. Ann was chosen to represent the new Google Pixel 2 and worked with Vice to create the campaign.

She is also working on a series of children’s chapter books and has a TV series in development with a major studio. These past few months, Ann has spoken at the Congreso Futuro in Chile, the AtlanTec Festival in Ireland and the exclusive Forbes Impact Summit in New York. She was also just named on of Glamour Magazine’s College Women of the Year and one of “B.C.’s Most Influential Women” by BC Business Magazine. Ann lives with her cat Houdini in Canada.

Entrepreneur-turned-educator Steve Blank is credited with launching the Lean Startup movement. He’s changed how startups are built; how entrepreneurship is taught; how science is commercialized, and how companies and the government innovate. Steve is the author of The Four Steps to the Epiphany, The Startup Owner’s Manual-- and his May 2013 Harvard Business Review cover story defined the Lean Startup movement . He teaches at Stanford, Columbia, Berkeley and NYU; and created the National Science Foundation Innovation Corps -- now the standard for science commercialization in the U.S. His Hacking for Defense class at Stanford is revolutionizing how the U.S. defense and intelligence community can deploy innovation with speed and urgency, and its sister class, Hacking for Diplomacy, is doing the same for foreign affairs challenges managed by the U.S. State Department.

As Founder and Executive Director of the Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL), Sakena Yacoobi has established herself as a visionary leader working at the grassroots level to bring education and health services to Afghan women and children. AIL was the first organization to offer human rights and leadership training to Afghan women. After the Taliban closed girls’ schools in the 1990s, AIL operated 80 underground home schools for 3,000 girls in Afghanistan. AIL smuggled school materials into the country, hiding books in bags of rice and flour.

AIL now serves 350,000 women and children each year through its Educational Learning Centers, schools and clinics in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. AIL’s women’s learning centers and interactive teaching methods have been replicated by many non-profit organizations in Afghanistan.Seventy percent of AIL’s 450 staff members are Afghan women.

Sakena is an Ashoka Fellow and has been a featured panelist and speaker for international organizations and conferences, including the Clinton Global Initiative, the World Economic Forum and the Millennium Campus Network Conference. Awards and recognitions include, Opus Prize at Georgetown University (2013), Afghan National Peace Award (2011), Henry R, Kravis Prize in Leadership (2009) and the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship (2006), among others.

Serving as President & CEO of NB Power since February 2010, Gaëtan Thomas is a committed industry leader and agent of change, driven by his deep connection to customer and employee grassroots.

His vision for NB Power includes a made-in-New Brunswick smart grid supported by customer-centric technology and a workforce aimed at creating a greener, more sustainable province. This plan is helping to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, lowering costs and keeping customer rates low and stable.

Gaëtan grew up in a tiny Francophone village in northern New Brunswick before earning a degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of New Brunswick. A loyal and lifelong employee of the utility, he has worked in all aspects of the business including as Vice President of both Nuclear and Distribution and Customer Service divisions.

In 2015, 2016 & 2018, Gaëtan was honoured by Atlantic Business Magazine as one of the Atlantic Region’s Top 50 CEOs, and was selected as one of the Most Influential Acadians by L’Acadie Nouvelle. He is the Chairman of the Board of the World Association of Nuclear Operators (Atlanta Center) and is a board member for the Canadian Electricity Association, the electric vehicle advocacy group Plug ‘n Drive Canada, and the New Brunswick Business Council. He also serves as a mentor for the Wallace McCain Institute of Entrepreneurial Leadership.

Gaëtan is married to Karen Thomas and together they are proud parents to four grown daughters, with three having completed degrees in science or engineering and the fourth one aspiring to be a lawyer. He is also an accomplished marathon runner and power skating coach.