Philly Tech Week 2020

Karima A. Zedan is Vice President, Digital Inclusion + Internet Essentials at Comcast. Zedan joined Comcast in 2012, and leads the company’s signature digital inclusion initiative to connect low-income Americans to the internet at home. Internet Essentials is the largest and most successful internet adoption program in the country.

Josh is a founding Partner at First Round Capital, a seed-stage technology venture fund. Josh has been an active entrepreneur and investor in the Internet industry since its commercialization.

In 1992, while he was a student at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Josh co-founded Infonautics Corporation – and took it public on the NASDAQ stock exchange in 1996. Josh founded Half.com in July of 1999, and led it to become one of the largest sellers of used books, movies and music in the world. Half.com was acquired by eBay in July 2000 — and Josh remained with eBay for three years, running the Half.com business unit and growing eBay’s Media marketplace to almost half a billion dollars in annual gross merchandise sales. In late 2003 Josh helped to found TurnTide, an anti-spam company that created the world's first anti-spam router. TurnTide was acquired by Symantec just six months later.

Josh founded First Round Capital in 2004 to reinvent seed-stage investing. Since that time the firm has invested in over 300 emerging technology startups – becoming one of the most active venture capital firms in the country. Josh has consistently ranked on the Forbes “Midas List” of the top 100 tech investors. He has been named as one of the top ten ‘angel investors’ in the United States by Newsweek magazine, one of "Tech's New Kingmakers" by Business 2.0 magazine and a "Rising VC Star" by Fortune magazine. Josh also is the proud winner of a second place ribbon in the 2011 Nantucket Watermelon Eating competition.

Josh is an inventor on thirteen U.S. Patents for his work in Internet technology. In June 2000, he was awarded Ernst and Young’s prestigious “Entrepreneur of the Year” award for the Greater Philadelphia region.

Josh earned a Bachelor of Science degree cum laude in Entrepreneurial Management and Marketing from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Jumoke K. Dada, Principal and Founder, Signature RED and Tech Women Network

Jumoke Dada is best described as a techie and visionary whose sweet spot lies at the intersection on innovation, entrepreneurship, goodwill and girl power.

Dada holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer and Information Sciences and real estate certification from Temple University. She is also a certified Scrum Master. Her corporate technical experience includes work as an application developer, business and systems analyst, quality assurance tester, and technical project manager. As the principal of Signature RED, she offers tech consulting services to companies and creates tools and resources for women interested in careers in technology. In 2017, she created the Tech Women Network - an online, searchable platform and community for women with technical skills.

Over the years, she has hosted several educational events and workshops including Building iOS Mobile Apps, Rails Girls, Techies Who Brunch, and the HUE Tech Summit for women of color in tech. Dada is a public speaker with a growing passion to empower women and girls especially those with interests in STEM fields. In the summer, she gives back through her non-profit Signature Red Cares whose main program, Project ALOE, gives care packages and advice to college-bound girls. Dada has been recognized in several media outlets for her innovative ideas, leadership skills and community involvement. Additionally, she is a contributing writer for ForbesWomen where she covers diversity in tech.

To learn more about her work, visit dadaverse.org or follow @jumokedada on Twitter.

Dr. Frank Lee is the cofounder of the celebrated Drexel University Game Design Program and the creator of the Cira Centre video game series, which is the Guinness-certified world's largest video game.

Archna Sahay is a Sr Consultant with J Nowak Strategy, a strategic advisory firm based in Philadelphia. Archna's primary areas of focus include urban innovation and public-private partnerships. Prior to this role, Archna was the director of entrepreneurial investment for the City of Philadelphia. As Director, Archna was responsible for the economic and business development of the tech sector for the City. She launched various programs to help connect entrepreneurs to resources needed as they built their businesses in Philadelphia. Archna also managed StartupPHL, the City's platform for supporting entrepreneurship and startup activity in Philadelphia which also included management of an early stage venture fund and a grant program. She helped guide the growth of the platform from providing sources of funding to startups to also incorporating thought leadership, open innovation concepts and equitable and inclusive ecosystem development. Archna began her career in finance working for over 10 years at leading investment management firms working closely with high net worth clients.

Archna served as an Advisor for the 2018 SXSW Cities Summit and is currently on the boards of Philadelphia Community Corp, a non profit salvage organization combining workforce development and sustainable building and deconstruction practices as well as Welcoming Center for New Pennsylvanians, a non profit whose mission is to provide a soft landing for new immigrants through education, training, employment and entrepreneurship.

Lisa is Seer’s Data Strategy Lead based in Philadelphia. She harnessed a passion for data and her tenure within digital marketing and business operations to focus on pushing Seer forward in utilizing data-driven strategies. Her favorite thing to do is dig deep into data to help clients solve complex business questions. Her second favorite thing to do is convince Wil of the virtues of bridge tables & ngrams.

Before Seer, Lisa worked in roles across the board in digital marketing and software with positions at TIG Global, MICROS Systems, and Oracle. Recently hitting ten years in the industry, Lisa started her career in PPC before branching into SEO, product management, program management, R&D, and finally Data Strategy. She has experience with clients at all levels and across most major industries. In her role as Data Strategy Lead, Lisa gets to touch a ton of Seer’s clients in one way or another, which is one reason she loves what she does.

Lisa is a graduate of the University of Delaware. In her free time, she enjoys eating at every new restaurant in the city and doing all things outdoors with her husband Bernard, kids George and Annie, and their too-energetic pup Deacon.

Due Quach (pronounced ‘Zway Kwok’) is an inspiring social entrepreneur and the author of Calm Clarity: How to Use Science to Rewire Your Brain for Greater Wisdom, Fulfillment and Joy, one of Fast Company’s best business books of 2018. Through Calm Clarity, she uses neuroscience and mindfulness to guide organizations and individuals to address unconscious bias, lead with authenticity, foster genuine inclusion, and heal trauma. After her autobiographical essay, “Poor and Traumatized at Harvard,” became a viral sensation, she collaborated with student leaders to start a grassroots organization, the Collective Success Network, to mentor, support, and empower low-income, first-generation college students to successfully navigate college and enter professional careers.

Due has a BA from Harvard College and an MBA from the Wharton School and started her career in management consulting at the Monitor Group (now part of Deloitte). She then worked in growth capital and infrastructure investments in Southeast Asia and in social impact investments in Asia and Africa. Due also serves on the board of the Power of Professional Women, a non-profit organization that supports the advancement of women leaders in the Greater Philadelphia region.

Jack Markell served two terms as Delaware’s Governor, completing his tenure in 2017. During his time in office, Delaware’s job growth was the best in the region and one of the best in the country. Under his leadership, Delaware won the top spot in President Obama’s Race to the Top competition and high school graduation rates saw some of the best increases in the country. Markell served as Chair of the both the National Governors Association and the Democratic Governors Association and as President of the Council of State Governments. He also served for ten years as Delaware’s State Treasurer.

Beginning his career in the private sector, Markell helped lead the wireless technology revolution as the 13th employee at Nextel, where he served as senior vice president for corporate development. His other business experience includes a senior management position at Comcast Corporation and work as a consultant with McKinsey and Company. Since leaving office, Markell serves on a variety of corporate and non-profit boards.

Markell was born and raised in Newark, Delaware, and graduated from Newark High School along with his wife, Carla. He went on to receive an undergraduate degree in economics and development studies from Brown University and an MBA from the University of Chicago. Markell is a Henry Crown Fellow and a Rodel Fellow at the Aspen Institute. He and Carla reside in Wilmington, Delaware. Their children, Molly and Michael, are in their 20s.