That Tech Pod

Today on That Tech Pod, Laura and Gabi speak with Beni Gradwohl, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Cognovi Labs. Beni Gradwohl is Co-Founder and CEO of Cognovi Labs, Inc., an artificial intelligence (AI) company that focuses on measuring the emotional drivers behind human decision-making. Cognovi’s award-winning psychology-driven AI helps clients in the commercial, health and public sectors reveal how audiences are feeling in the moment, predict their action and intent, and then communicate with the emotions to maximize impact. Beni has been on a journey to understand how people act and find a systematic way to measure our decision-making for more than 20 years. He is recognized as an executive who combines a deep understanding of new advances in machine learning, alternative data and commercial opportunities to create new businesses and grow existing revenue sources. Throughout his career, from investment management and institutional securities to consumer banking and fintech innovation, he has delivered outsized returns for his clients and institutions. Beni previously held senior leadership positions at Citi, Morgan Stanley and various investment management firms. An astrophysicist by training, he spent the first decade of his professional career in academia and research, studying astrophysics, cosmology, particle physics, and magnetic resonance. He has held research and teaching assignments at multiple leading academic institutions, including University of California, Columbia Business School, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, University of Chicago, Weizmann Institute of Science and The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.Featured in Inc., Forbes and the Financial Times, Beni is frequently invited to speak on topics at the intersection of AI and behavioral psychology, the role of emotions in human decision-making, and how to engage emotionally to drive a better outcome. Beni received his Ph.D. in Physics from The Hebrew University.Today's episode is sponsored by EY:By using AI machine learning, EY teams are helping businesses add value by delivering insights as decisions are made in real time. Across a wide range of industries, geographies and business issues, automation remains a key business driver for today and tomorrow.  EY is helping to tackle many business challenges and leading their clients to better outcomes with technology solutions that embed their domain known-how.Through EY Virtual, clients are provided with an integrated, digital approach to managing legal and compliance risk for organizations. As a suite of issue driven apps and client workspaces, EY Virtual dynamically integrates, transforms and orchestrates data – providing AI insights.  It features visualization, mapping and modelling - so businesses can have firm-wide oversight and helps build on legal and compliance capabilities as business needs evolve.Built on AI-driven technology, EY Virtual sits either on the cloud or on premises – which means data is kept together and is more secure. And by connecting partner environments within a single platform, businesses can manage their work and processes with a single point of entry.  Learn more about EY and their new technology solutions at www.ey.com/eyvirtual

Today on That Tech Pod, Laura and Gabi speak with Dominic Rayner. Dominic was featured in the Netflix’s ‘Worst  Roommate Ever: Marathon Man’, an episode that profiles the life and crimes of Youssef Khater. As a survivor, Dominic discusses the tech that was used in the case and how it differs from today. www.thattechpod.com

Today on That Tech Pod, Laura and Gabi speak with Alenna Merrihew.  Alenna is a leadership and mental fitness coach, empowering ambitious, accomplished women to reclaim their lives by rediscovering what inspires them, shedding self-sabotaging beliefs, and acting with confident, laser-focused clarity.  She brings to her coaching work the unique perspective of over 20 years experience in corporate strategy and business operations, leading teams in both Fortune 500 and startups and mentoring and developing early to mid-stage career professionals. Before becoming a leadership coach, Alenna served as VP of Operations at New Relic and held multiple leadership roles in strategy and operations at Nike for over a decade. With a Harvard degree in East Asian Studies and MBA from UCLA Anderson School of Management, her professional journey also includes stints as a Japan analyst for the CIA and management consultant with Kearney, serving clients such as Levis, Bristol-Meyers Squibb, and Sprint.  Outside of work, Alenna is an adventure enthusiast and amateur “maker”, and can be found just as easily roaming the world on a motorcycle, as sipping coffee in a cozy chair with her latest knitting project.  Her dream for her coaching clients – “rewrite the stories you are telling yourself about what is possible and fearlessly go after what you want.”

Today, Laura and Gabi speak with Dr. Avi Loeb, theoretical physicist who works on astrophysics and cosmology and the Frank B. Baird Jr. Professor of Science at Harvard University. Dr. Loeb is author of Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth which can be purchased here and recently wrote about the congressional hearings regarding UAPs which you can read here. Laura and Gabi discuss all things UFOs, how the government is finally recognizing these unexplained sightings, and his research with the Galileo Project, an organization whose goal is to bring the search for extraterrestrial technological signatures of Extraterrestrial Technological Civilizations (ETCs) from accidental or anecdotal observations and legends to the mainstream of transparent, validated and systematic scientific research. This project is complementary to traditional SETI, in that it searches for physical objects, and not electromagnetic signals, associated with extraterrestrial technological equipment.For more information visit www.thattechpod.com.

Today on That Tech Pod, Laura and Gabi chat with George Tziahanas. George is a Managing Director at  Breakwater Solutions, where he works within their information governance practice. An attorney by background and education, his expertise includes data governance, risk and compliance, and legal technology. Prior to Breakwater, Mr. Tziahanas held executive positions at Arbor Ridge Partners, Morae Legal, HP Software, Iron Mountain, and Intel. He earned his JD from DePaul University College of Law and an MS in Biological Sciences and Molecular Systematics, also from DePaul University. He is a member of the Illinois State Bar Association.www.thattechpod.com

Today on That Tech Pod, Laura and Gabi chat with Melissa Haughey. Melissa is CEO of Proxi, a data-mapping company that makes mapping and crowdsourcing geographic data accessible to everyone.  Proxi's maps power custom, location-based experiences. Melinda Haughey is a former U.S. intelligence professional and UX researcher who has done stints at both Facebook and Dell. She uses her expertise in geospatial visualization, online communities, and collaboration to inform the direction of Proxi, mentor other founders, and drive research in human-centered design forward. Melinda thrives on being an active community member, a digital creator, participating in local digital advisory boards, and organizing local gatherings for women in her network. She is known as a creative, competent, and compassionate leader — and has used these  skills to inform the culture at Proxi and connect with community members using the company’s mapping tool. Melinda received an engineering degree at Texas A&M and is a PhD candidate in the college of engineering at University of Washington. www.thattechpod.com

Today on That Tech Pod, Laura and Gabi chat with Ben Brook. Ben is the co-founder and CEO of Transcend, the privacy platform that makes it easy to encode privacy across your tech stack. Transcend’s technology moves companies into the future of data privacy, with freed up resources, enhanced regulatory stances for the laws of today and tomorrow, and stronger relationships with their customers through respectful and compliant data transparency, consent, and control.Visit www.thattechpod.com for more info!

Today on That Tech Pod, Laura and Gabi chat with Colin Gounden. Colin is the CEO of VIA, a global provider of blockchain for data privacy, integration, and analysis. By bringing AI to data 100 times faster than alternatives and with the highest level of cybersecurity, VIA’s platform is the driving force to make communities of all kinds cleaner, safer, and more equitable. Today's EY sponsor spotlight:Innovation is changing the way the world works. And it’s creating opportunity, but only for those who can keep up with the pace or reinvent themselves to thrive. As organizations face a multitude of challenges, they are looking to embrace technology and innovative solutions to help meet a multitude of objectives, some including: monitoring or mitigating risk, integrating initiatives and lessening costs.  EY Virtual is a single-point digital solution, available via the cloud or on premise, that can help organizations manage risks through a suite of AI-driven analytics and workflow applications. This modular management and monitoring platform not only allows businesses to accelerate the digital transformation but scales and adapts in response to events or as business needs grow.  And it can maintain data in a single, secure environment, which lessens the need for multiple vendors all while complimenting technology that may already exist within your organization.Find out more about the EY Virtual platform at www.ey.com/eyvirtual or learn more by viewing the latest on-demand webcast on the EY Virtual solution.For more about EY and/or That Tech Pod visit: www.thattechpod.comNewsletter sign up: https://thattechpod.com/sign-up

Today on That Tech Pod, Laura and Gabi speak with Jeffrey Solomon. Jeffrey is a professional services leader focused on customer success, artificial intelligence, innovation and law department consulting and digital transformation. At Wolters Kluwer ELM Solutions, he is responsible for leading a team that drives innovation and strategy, as well as go-to market for new products and services.Follow us at thattechpod.com.

Today on That Tech Pod, Laura and Gabi speak with Pierce Larick. Pierce is the CEO and founder of New Revolution Media, a creative media agency in San Francisco, California. He side hustled as a videographer and photographer for over a decade before officially founding NRM in 2016. As an avid traveler, he wanted to start a company where he could take off whenever, as the official 2 weeks a year vacation was not working for him (nor should it work for anyone) The lead inspiration for NRM media was to work in a collaborative and open creative environment, and to have coworkers that shared his passion. In the 5 years he’s been in business he’s grown an agile team of seven. And he’s proud that year after year they’ve grown and improved, delivering great content for great clients. He admits that being his own boss is a challenge. The stress is great but he wouldn’t change it for anything.More info:www.thattechpod.com