8:00 AM–9:00 AM

BREAKFAST AND CHECK-IN

9:00 AM–9:30 AM

Breakthrough: A Celebration of Relentless Pursuits

Kelly Manthey, CEO, Solstice | Kin + Carta

9:30 AM–9:55 AM

Breakthrough Moments with Brian Grazer

Brian Grazer, Producer & Author

Brian Grazer is an Academy Award, Golden Globe, Emmy, and Grammy award-winning producer and New York Times bestselling. His films and television shows have been nominated for 43 Oscars and 195 Emmys and he won the Best Picture Oscar for A Beautiful Mind.

Grazer has been honored by numerous organizations and was named one of Time Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World.” His book, “A Curious Mind: The Secret to a Bigger Life” was a NY Times bestseller.

Kelly Manthey, CEO of Solstice, will sit down with Brian to discuss the breakthroughs he's seen while working with some of the top entertainers in the world during a fireside chat.

9:55 AM–10:20 AM

From 0 to 100: How GFS Leveraged Google Cloud Platform to Defy the Odds and Stay Ahead of the Pack

Jesse Clem, Head of Sales and Customer Engineering, Google

Bill Dewitt, Director IT Infrastructure, GFS

10:20 AM–10:30 AM

Impactful Innovation: Humanizing Hunger in America

Julie Yurko, CEO and President, Northern Illinois Food Bank

In the late 1960s, John van Hegel established the first food bank in Phoenix, Arizona, a breakthrough for America's families. 60 years later, Northern Illinois Food Bank continues to innovate and strive to constantly improve the experience for their members. Julie Yurko will speak about how her team has developed My Pantry Express to leverage technology and reduce the stigma around food pantries.

10:30 AM–11:05 AM

FWD LABS + NETWORKING

Go experience our emerging technology experiences and chat with your colleagues.

11:10 AM–11:15 AM

Intro to Origins: AI Breakthroughs

Ryan Maguire, VP, Emerging Capabilities & AI, Solstice

Intro to Origins: Go to Market Breakthroughs

Marti Ryan, Director of Product Strategy, Solstice | Kin + Carta

11:15 AM–11:25 AM

Back to School: Solving the $1.5T Student Debt Issue through Collaboration and Flexibility

Pam Mayer, Director, Product Management TIAA

Cultivating Confidence: Inserting Predictability into Agriculture through Technology

Jeremy Groeteke, Sr. Manager - Digitization Corteva

11:25 AM–11:35 AM

Momentous Moments: Lessons Learned from Marketing a TESLA Competitor

Vince Caramella, Head of Global Marketing Nikola Motor Company

Riding the Wave: How to Move AR and AI Out of the Shadows and into the Sun of your Organization

Jim Ferolo, CIO & VP of Digital Maui Jim

11:45 AM–12:05 PM

Origins: AI Breakthroughs Fireside Panel

Ryan Maguire, VP, Emerging Capabilities & AI, Solstice

Jeremy Groeteke, Sr. Manager - Digitization Corteva

Jim Ferolo, CIO & VP of Digital Maui Jim

Origins: Go to Market Breakthroughs Fireside Panel

Marti Ryan, Director of Product Strategy, Solstice | Kin + Carta

Pam Mayer, Director, Product Management TIAA

Vince Caramella, Head of Global Marketing Nikola Motor Company

12:05 PM–12:50 PM

LUNCH

12:50 PM–12:55 PM

Intro to Obstacles: Customer Experience Breakthroughs

Paul Heckel, VP of Customer Experience Solstice | Kin + Carta

Intro to Obstacles: Delivery Breakthroughs

Mike Koleno, VP of Technology - CTO, Cloud Solstice | Kin + Carta

12:55 PM–1:05 PM

#GenZ: Connecting with the Generation of the Ultimate Disruptors

Julia Carreon, Managing Director of Digital and Fiduciary Operations Wells Fargo

Making the Migration: The Road to Modernization Success

Ying Zhe, Director Discover Financial Services

1:05 PM–1:15 PM

Bits and Pixels: How an Agriculture Giant Delivers Optimized Customer Experiences with Omni-Channel Strategies

Sona Raziabeegum, Strategy Lead, Digital Solutions John Deere

Driving Outcomes with Cloud-Native Apps and Kubernetes

Paul Lundin, Director of Kubernetes Architecture VMware

1:15 PM–1:30 PM

Obstacles: Customer Experience Breakthroughs Fireside Panel

Paul Heckel, VP of Customer Experience Solstice | Kin + Carta

Julia Carreon, Managing Director of Digital and Fiduciary Operations Wells Fargo

Sona Raziabeegum, Strategy Lead, Digital Solutions John Deere

Obstacles: Delivery Breakthroughs Fireside Panel

Mike Koleno, VP of Technology - CTO, Cloud Solstice | Kin + Carta

Ying Zhe, Director Discover Financial Services

Paul Lundin, Director of Kubernetes Architecture VMware

1:30 PM–2:05 PM

LABS EXPERIENCES + NETWORKING

2:05 PM–2:10 PM

Intro to Opportunities: Culture and Organizational Breakthroughs

Marisa Mann, COO, Solstice | Kin + Carta

2:10 PM–2:20 PM

Show, Don't Tell: How to Break Through Company Culture to Accelerate Innovation

Vivek Bedi, Head of Consumer Experience, Digital Products Northwestern Mutual

To make big transformation, you have to start small. In this talk with Vivek Bedi, Head of Consumer Experience Digital Products at Northwestern Mutual, he will share two personal breakthroughs that led to a big shift in the culture of a 160-year-old company. From having no self-service features or mobile app to surpassing 5,000 digital releases in three years’ time, Vivek will share how it all happened by starting with just one team to create a buzz and to “show, not tell” leadership what change will look like. The company’s now more experimentative and agile approach has resulted in 4X improvement in leads, 1.3M in digital registrations, and 154K mobile downloads.

2:20 PM–2:30 PM

The 'And': How 6 Grand Rapids Enterprises Developed an IOT Accelerator to Drive Innovation

Phillip Swanson, Global Lead, Advanced Development & Innovation Whirlpool

In 2015 six of Grand Rapids largest enterprises partnered together to create an IOT accelerator. After two classes of Startups went through the Seamless team and the enterprise partners took a step back and took a hard look at the value they were providing startups, enterprises, and the Grand Rapids community. During his talk, Phillip will share the result of this strategy and soul searching, which birthed a new Seamless dedicated to "The And", the idea that the Seamless consortium could act as a middleware between Startups and Enterprises to remove the traditional bureaucratic barriers that slow down global deal flow.

2:30 PM–2:40 PM

Sitting in Silos: Breaking through Corporate Politics and Rigid Structures to Drive Change

Pete Cherecwich, President of Corporate & Institutional Services Northern Trust Corporation

Can innovation exist in a large company with the standard politics, organizational structure challenges, and quarterly earnings demands? Yes it can! Hear how one business head figured out how to break through the corporate politics and compete with the “innovators”.

2:40 PM–3:00 PM

Opportunities: Fireside Panel

Marisa Mann, COO, Solstice | Kin + Carta

Vivek Bedi, Head of Consumer Experience, Digital Products Northwestern Mutual

Phillip Swanson, Global Lead, Advanced Development & Innovation Whirlpool

Pete Cherecwich, President of Corporate & Institutional Services Northern Trust Corporation

Marisa Mann will sit down with Vivek Bedi, Phillip Swanson, and Pete Cherecwich and discuss the insights they've gleaned around culture cultivation and impactful organizational structures.

3:00 PM–3:10 PM

BREAK

3:10 PM–3:20 PM

Technology at Twiga: Transforming Lives

Caine Wanjau, CTO Twiga Foods

What's it like leading a start up in Kenya? During his talk, Caine Wanjau will share his Twiga breakthrough story and how they've made it a mission to help farmers build sustainable income through the power of technology.

3:20 PM–3:50 PM

Total Eclipse: The Making of the 'Greatest Photo in History'

Jon Carmichael, Astro Photographer

The Great American Eclipse of 2017 was a rare moment when millions gathered together around the country to look skyward, becoming one of the most uniting and viewed events in recent history.

New York based artist Jon Carmichael will share the incredible story of how he photographed the historic moment and created an image that USA Today and Inc Magazine claim could be the best photo of an eclipse ever achieved.

Combining his passions for photography, astronomy, and aviation, Carmichael spent years plotting how he could capture a total solar eclipse in a unique way. The moment finally arrived in 2017 when he was able to capture the Great American Eclipse from a Southwest Airlines flight inside totality at 39,000 feet over the Snake River. The Captain and flight crew came together to help Carmichael achieve his vision in very unexpected ways as he captured hundreds of images within minutes and spent a year processing into a large photographic mosaic.

As a professional photographer for over 12 years, Carmichael will also be sharing other astro-photographs and adventures from around the globe.

3:55 PM–4:00 PM

Closing Remarks

Kelly Manthey, CEO, Solstice | Kin + Carta