Keynote Speaker

Rob Vickery, Co-Founder & General Partner, Stage Venture Partners

Rob is a Co-Founder and General Partner of Stage Venture Partners, which is a seed venture capital fund that invests in emerging technology for B2B markets.

Stage VP invests in founders from diverse backgrounds who are building cutting-edge software technology for enterprise clients. Founders, especially those solving hard problems that matter, seek us out for our unique expertise, and our alignment with their daring vision. They have the conviction to be first; often the first institutional investor on the cap table and the first to identify new technological trends. Stage VP invests in founders from diverse backgrounds who are building cutting-edge software technology for enterprise clients. Mr Vickery will address some of the 23 enterprise software companies Stage VP has invested in and why they believe companies like Elementary Robotics, Kuona, and Balto can solve some of our nation’s most complex problems.

Before founding Stage with Alex Rubalcava, Rob held a number of executive roles within large financial institutions in the UK and the US, pioneering new products, distribution channels and making and managing large-scale technology investments.

Rob has also served on the boards and committees of the British Academy of Film Television Arts (BAFTA) LA Games, British American Business Council, International Trade Education Programs, South Central Scholars and the Chairman of the School of Business & Entrepreneurship at Dorsey High School.

In his downtime, Rob is an amateur paleontologist, outdoors enthusiast, snowboarder, and gaming addict.

Industry Experts

Phillip Hollingsworth, Senior Technical Engineer, Universal Robots Inc.

Philip Hollingsworth is a Sr. Technical Support Engineer with over 30 years of engineering experience. His training in Mechanical Engineering, but his experiences quickly move him toward electo-mechanical, automation, and robotics design, applications and sales engineering. He has worked for Rockwell International as a stress analysis engineer, Parker Hannifin as a hydraulics/pneumatics project engineer, California Linear Devices as an electro-mechanical engineering manager, and now Universal Robots for the past 5 years in both technical sales and support roles. In addition, he has worked as an independent engineering consultant. He has been working with UR robots as long as anyone in the US market.

Kristin Lennox, Technical Head of Industrial IOT, Beyond Limits

Kristin Lennox is technical head for industrial internet of things and a principal data scientist at Beyond Limits. She has 10+ years of experience in applying data science and operations research to science, engineering, and manufacturing challenges. She’s passionate about bringing the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to industry and generally improving the relationships between computers and people.

She received her PhD in statistics from Texas A&M University followed by post-doctoral and staff appointments at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. She founded and led the LLNL statistical consulting service for 3+ years before leaving to work in supply chain operations at GE Aviation. At Beyond Limits, her focus is on leading teams developing cognitive AI solutions for manufacturing, logistics, and robotics.

Melanie Strickland, Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer, Slingshot Aerospace Inc.

Melanie is responsible for the technical vision and strategy of the company to revolutionize data exploitation for defense and commercial applications. She possesses a unique blend of leadership and technical expertise in combat operations and innovative space system development garnered from her time in the Department of Defense. Melanie is retired from the United States Air Force where she was responsible for Space Control and Battle Management integration across mission areas to increase the Nation’s ability to protect and defend space capabilities against emerging threats. As well, during her 21-year career in the Department of Defense she logged over 1500 flight hours onboard the E-8C JSTARS, and led the development and deployment of experimental spacecraft, electronic warfare and cyber technologies. Melanie is a champion for STEM initiatives and enjoys inspiring under privileged youth and young women to pursue their dreams.  Melanie holds a B.S.in Aeronautical Science from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and a M.S. in Space Systems Operations Management with an emphasis in Systems Engineering from Webster University.