Ron Williams

Ronald (Ron) C. Williams, Ph.D. has served in higher education for 36 years, spending 26 years as a faculty member in the Coppin State University (CSU) College of Business and serving as Interim Dean from 2013 until 2017. 

Dr. Williams is well-known for his groundbreaking research in the makerspace movement and contributions to workforce development through his work with The Century Foundation and Urban Manufacturing Alliance. An innovative thought-leader on economic justice matters, he introduced the term “ingepreneurship” (inge… as in ingenuity) in 2015 as a framework for advancing positive economic mobility in underserved communities. 

Dr. Williams holds a Ph.D. in management and organization from George Washington University with concentrations in organization behavior & development and the management of science, technology, & innovation. He serves on the AAAS HBCU Making & Innovation Advisory Board, the Open Works Board of Directors, and as President and Chair of the Urban Manufacturing Alliance.

LaKisha Greenwade

LaKisha Greenwade is an award-winning Innovator, Tech Ecosystem Founder, Forbes Leadership Coach, and Harvard University Guest Lecturer. 

As the founder of Wearable Tech Ventures (501c3), she leads the charge to support 100 wearable startups by 2030 led by underrepresented founders.  In 2022, Wearable Tech Ventures hosted the world’s largest wearables hackathon. LaKisha highlights founders and innovators as host of the Wearable Takeover podcast. 

Her accolades include Innovator of the Year, Start Up Mentor of the Year, Maryland Leading Women honoree, 3x SXSW Speaker and twice as a 40 under 40 Leader. 

 After years of leading Innovation efforts for corporations and the Federal Government, she earned a Design Thinking certification from MIT. She received her B.S. in Economics from The Ohio State University, MBA from University of Maryland College Park, and MS Marketing education at Johns Hopkins University.  

 Originally from Akron, OH, she resides in Baltimore, MD.

Joyce Ward

Joyce is the Director of the Office of Education (OE) for the United States Patent and Trademark Office.  

Her work expands the influence of the outreach offerings of the USPTO to provide K12 educators and students with unique learning experiences and resources designed to integrate knowledge of invention, innovation, entrepreneurship, and STEM. Her office encourages the creation and protection of intellectual property. Under Joyce’s direct leadership the OE successfully conceived, and implemented numerous projects which have garnered national recognition for the agency, such as the Science of Innovation series, a collaboration between the USPTO, the National Science Foundation, and NBC Learn; the exemplar National Summer Teacher Institute on Innovation, STEM, and Intellectual Property(NSTI); an Intellectual Property patch with the Girl Scouts organization, and the first USPTO Inventor Trading Card series. Prior to her current position Joyce was the Director of Program Support and Intellectual Property for the National Inventors Hall of Fame (NIHF).  Before going to NIHF, she served as a Trademark Examining Attorney and later as an Education Specialist in the Office of Public Affairs at the USPTO. Joyce received her undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her law degree from the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, DC.

Ellie Fini

Dr. Ellie Fini is an Associate Professor at Arizona State University, an Invention Ambassador at the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a Fulbright Scholar of Aalborg University of Denmark, a Senior Sustainability Scientist at the Global Institute of Sustainability and Innovation and Director of the Innovation Network for Materials, Methods and Management. Her research focuses on developing sustainable novel materials for use in the built environment. 

In addition to more than 200 scholarly publications and numerous invited talks, her research has been featured by BBC Women in STEM, Science Nation, Wired Magazine, and CNBC. She is editor of the ASCE Journal of Materials and Journal of Resources, Conservation & Recycling. She has served as the president of ASCE’s North Carolina Northern Branch and a program director of the National Science Foundation. Her achievements have been recognized via multiple awards including an NSF CAREER award, ASEE Gerald Seeley award, BEYA Emerald STEM Innovation award, NC BioTech Research Excellence award and WTS Innovative Transportation Solution award to name a few.

Dorothy Jones-Davis

Dorothy Jones-Davis is the Executive Director of Nation of Makers, a nonprofit whose mission is to support America’s maker organizations through advocacy, resource sharing, and the building of community within the maker movement and beyond. In this role, she is deeply interested in creating connections between a diversity of makers, enabling them to use their collective skills to harness solutions for the world’s challenges – grand and small.  

With a Ph.D. in Neuroscience, Dorothy has previously held roles at the National Science Foundation, the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health, and the University of California, San Francisco.  

Dorothy's interest and passion for making began when she was a child (see her Medium post on Why She Makes), tinkering with broken electronics with her dad.  In her spare time, she now enjoys carrying on the tradition of building and making, with her teen daughter.

Demetria Gallagher

Demetria is a tireless advocate for entrepreneurs, communities, businesses, and policies that positively impact the revitalization of American cities. Armed with actionable data and localized research, Demetria combines smart public-private partnerships, no-nonsense advocacy, and creative financial capitalization to build sustainable, equitable residential and commercial opportunities. For more than six years at the U.S. Department of Commerce in Washington, D.C., Demetria served as a policy analyst and White House Political Appointee in the Administration of President Barack Obama. Aligned with the Obama Administration’s focus on inclusive innovation, Demetria built a new program designed to connect STEM-oriented minority-owned companies with the immense science and technology resources located in the federal government. As lead innovation policy analyst at the Commerce Department’s Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA), Demetria spearheaded a cross-agency collaboration to support the growth of minority-owned business with a revenue of $1M or more. She supported several White House initiatives focused on the Commerce Department’s business development efforts, and shaped policy creation and the formulation of key partnerships with a range of national stakeholders. In 2015, Demetria was appointed Senior Advisor for Policy and Inclusive Innovation at MBDA. She conceived, designed, and scaled up a revolutionary program that connected STEM-oriented businesses and young entrepreneurs to a vital, historic aspect of America’s business development stream: high-quality scientific expertise and quantitative testing and research that aids the commercialization of technological discoveries born in the nation’s 300+ federal laboratories. Known as Tech Transfer or “T2,” the process of connecting private companies to federally developed science and technologies is a time-tested feature of the nation’s economic growth during the past century, resulting in major commercial products such as GPS and mobile phones. Now, as Senior Director for Social Innovation of the Jamii Group, Demetria Gallagher leads the company’s focus on cross-sector business development, innovation and social impact. Demetria manages all aspects of research development, strategic alliances and social impact metrics for a range of national clients. Demetria is also Founder and President of UrbanCycle, a social impact real estate incubator she created to combat urban development barriers in her hometown of Chicago.

Brandon Andrews

Brandon Andrews is co-founder of Gauge; an AI-driven mobile market research platform connecting brands to consumers and influencers to identify opportunities and avoid mistakes. As Senior Consultant at Values Partnerships he leads the company’s work on technology and entrepreneurship, including leading a nationwide casting tour focused on bringing more diverse ideas and voices to ABC’s, Shark Tank and building inclusive ecosystems.

In 2021, he led casting for Bet on Black – a new business show on REVOLT highlighting Black entrepreneurs. Named a Global Innovation Fellow by the U.S. Department of State, he has traveled the world speaking and hosting events on entrepreneurship and innovation. 

Committed to bringing resources to diverse entrepreneurs, he started The Investment event series to educate entrepreneurs and investors of color. 

In addition to working with entrepreneurs Brandon has helped lead nationwide engagement campaigns including jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy (2022), Tulsa Burning: The 1921 Race Massacre (2021), John Lewis: Good Trouble (2020), If Beale Street Could Talk (2018), Fences (2016), ROOTS (2016), and Concussion (2015). 

In 2018, he managed the #TechtoWealth Tour with DJ Young Guru. Designed to get 10K people of color coding, #TechtoWealth brought tech events to WeWork locations in the final six OTRII Tour cities + BET Hip Hop Awards with $1M in coding scholarships available from Opportunity Hub and Flatiron School. 

He worked with NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment to refresh their Erase The Hate campaign, including building the first accelerator for organizations fighting hate. In 2015, he worked with A+E Networks, iHeartMedia, and the United Way to develop the Shining A Light Concert for Progress on Race in America, Shining a Light Fund, and Conversations on Race in America documentary. 

Previously, Brandon empowered public affairs, technology, and real estate clients at MWWPR. He spent 5 years in the United States Senate where he handled technology, small business, and defense policy. 

He is Chairman of the DC Commission on National and Community Service. A former fashion model, he serves on the DC Commission on Fashion, Arts, and Events and works with fashion/beauty entrepreneurs. 

He provides commentary on policy, politics, business and tech on TV, radio, and the web. 

A former Division-1 track athlete, Brandon is a graduate of Oral Roberts University.