Tuesday, November 12th, 2019

1:15 PM - 2:00 PM, Dr. Jackie: The Innovation Forum

Session I: Herscher Hall, Guerin B, Webcast Live

Women in Investment, Education, Technology & Entertainment: Investing in Women – Investing in the Future

Beth Kearns, Venture Partner, Touchdown Ventures

Sonja Delafosse, Senior Manager, Educator Programs, Microsoft

Barbara Bickham, CTO, Managing Director, Women’s Innovation Fund

Nam McGrail, Senior Vice President of Partnership Activation, LA Kings (NHL)

Valeria Velazquez-Duenas, Senior Manager, SEE-LA - Sustainable Economic Enterprises of Los Angeles

Hanna Bolte, Chair, Entertainment & Sports section, PRSA and, CEO, Bolte Media, Moderator

Beth Kearns’s career exemplifies her passion for technology’s impact on consumer experiences.  She currently serves as a Venture Partner with Touchdown Ventures, which partners with leading corporations to manage their venture capital programs.  Previously, she was Executive Vice President of Operations Strategy at 20th Century Fox Film, where she oversaw key venture investments, business development partnerships, and internal technology advancements. In her 16+ years leading technology innovations across a multi-billion-dollar media company, she pioneered first-of-their-kind business transformation initiatives that fueled growth in film, TV, digital and mobile.  Beth has taken her business expertise into academia where she co-teaches Corporate Entrepreneurship at her alma mater, UCLA Anderson School of Management. She also holds a BA in political science from Stanford University.

Sonja Delafosse, Senior Manager, Educator Programs, Microsoft: Before joining the Education team at Microsoft, Sonja spent 21 years working in public education. The first twelve years she worked as a teacher in both elementary and secondary schools in Washington State. In 2006, Sonja became a Professional Development Specialist for Lake Washington School District in Redmond, WA working in both math and technology. In 2008 and 2009, she attended the University of Washington in the Danforth Leadership Program and earned her administration credentials along with her Master’s in Education in Leadership. In 2010, she became a Microsoft Innovative Educator Master Trainer and began working with NCCE and Microsoft to advance excellence in teaching and learning through the effective use of technology and in 2012, she joined Everett Public Schools in Everett, WA as the Instructional Technology Coordinator for the district. In 2013, she was selected as one of Microsoft’s first Expert Educators. In April 2015, she joined Microsoft to manage the educator engagement programs including the Microsoft Innovative Educator programs, the Global Training Partner program, the online “Hack the Classroom” webcast series, as well as the portfolio of online and face to face professional development for educators.

Barbara Bickham, CTO, Managing Director, Women’s Innovation Fund: Barbara Bickham, CTO with extensive experience in Technology and Entrepreneurship. Her current areas of expertise are in the Internet of Things, Blockchain, Augmented Reality and Artificial Intelligence. Barbara is the Managing Director for Women’s Innovation Fund (WifAx.VC), an opportunity zone fund, accelerating growth by using a mix of sustainability, incubation, shared workspace, and business finance while requiring participants to have a C-suite made up of at least 50% women. Barbara is also currently Founder and CTO of Trailyn Ventures, a Blockchain Advisory Company. She provides strategic advice and technical execution for companies incorporating Blockchain and/or Artificial Intelligence into their company and products. Companies include The Aclyd Project - Payment and Remittance on the Blockchain; 2TransFair - Payment and Remittance on the Blockchain; Plaak - Exchange; EVRealities - AR/VR Attribution on the Blockchain; Rechain - Universal Rewards on the Blockchain, and others. Barbara is also The Chief of the Block at the Blockchain Accelerator for Global Growth. The Blockchain Accelerator for Global Growth helps companies become fundable with the Due Diligence Intensive, a 31-page analysis of the company for traditional and blockchain funding and International Business Focus for growing and scaling a company globally. Previously, Ms. Bickham was the Director of Engineering for Flexeye where she architected, designed and coded the 2014 Gartner Cool Vendor Award Winning REST API for their IoT Platform eyehubiot.com. Ms. Bickham founded TechGenii, Inc., a digital strategy company; Wilderforex.com, a Forex Software company; and PCNLA an investment association connecting Southern California businesses with venture funding. She has 7+ years of experience preparing and evaluating companies for private equity and venture capital financing. She is on the Advisory Board of the MIND Institute, MindMusic and Yummy Society; and a Mentor for Springboard Enterprises, Stubbs Alderton PreCellerator, and MakeInLA. She is an Advisor and EIR at the Bixel Exchange. She holds degrees from the University of Chicago, New Entrepreneurs Program, an MSCS from West Coast University and a BACS from University of California, Berkeley.

Valeria Velazquez Dueñas is a Senior Program Manager at Sustainable Economic Enterprises of Los Angeles (SEE-LA) focused on access and ownership within farmers' markets and the local foodscape via SEE-LA's incentives program which makes local produce more affordable for low-income customers, and a newly launched small food business accelerator program. Dueñas is also co-founder of Across Our Kitchen Tables, which centers and supports women of color working in food. She earned her B.A. in Communications from Loyola Marymount University and an M.A. in Social Entrepreneurship from Pepperdine University.

Nam McGrail is a Senior Vice President of Partnership Activation for the LA Kings (NHL), working within the Global Partnerships division of AEG, the largest sports and entertainment company in the world. Acting as an internal agency for AEG, Global Partnerships oversees worldwide sponsorship sales and activation for over 135 world-class platforms across five continents and numerous other assets including venues, sports franchises, events, tours, festivals and digital content among other AEG holdings. In just the last four seasons, McGrail has overseen more than $97 million in partnerships for the LA Kings, managing more than 90 partners across all categories for the two-time Stanley Cup-winning franchise. In her role, she is directly responsible for the renewal and maintenance of existing agreements as well as the identification of new sponsors. McGrail also leads a dedicated team that activates partnerships across the franchise at all levels.  As a key member of the Global Partnerships team, McGrail is an integral part of the group that has helped to triple sponsorship revenue for the LA Kings and has worked with a collection of high profile partners, including Bank of America, and California Tourism to name a few. McGrail has activated a number of topline agreements for the franchise, including partnerships with Staples, Inc. and Mercury Insurance. She continues to manage the naming rights partnership for STAPLES Center, which ultimately transitioned to the first lifetime naming rights extension for a major-market arena. Additionally, McGrail’s relationship with Mercury Insurance led the insurance company to increase its investment with AEG by more than 400 percent over the lifetime of its relationship.  McGrail joined AEG in 2008 as an account executive and was promoted to vice president in 2015. In addition to overseeing partnership activation for the LA Kings, she actively gives back to the community through a variety of charitable initiatives, serving as a board member for the Kings Care Foundation.  McGrail graduated with a B.A. in sociology from The University of California, Los Angeles, and obtained her graduate degree in early childhood education from The University of Southern California. She currently lives in Redondo Beach with her two children.