Aileen is founding Partner at Cowboy Ventures, a team that backs seed-stage technology companies re-imagining work and life through technology, what they call "life 2.0". Cowboy Ventures works with a wide range of startups from modern enterprise oriented companies like Guild Education and Lightstep to new consumer digital native brands like Dollar Shave Club and Tally.

Aileen periodically writes about technology insights and is known for coining the business term "unicorn" for public and private companies valued over $!bn. She has been named to the Forbes Midas List of best investors and Forbes Most Powerful Women, as well as to Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people.

Prior to Cowboy, Aileen was a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers for over a decade, was founding CEO of digital media company RMG Networks and worked at Gap Inc in operating roles. She has degrees from MIT and HBS, is mom of 3 and wife to a startup founder, and is an Aspen Institute Henry Crown Fellow and co-founder of the non-profit All Raise, aiming to accelerate success for women in the technology ecosystem.

Mr. Estevez is a Venture Partner with Accel Partners, a global leader in venture capital with past investments in top companies such as Atlassian, Dropbox, Facebook, Jet.com, Lynda.com, Qualtrics, Slack, Squarespace and Spotify. As Venture Partner, Mr. Estevez helps existing portfolio companies based outside of Silicon Valley with their growth opportunities and scale challenges. Mr. Estevez is also a personal investor in leading U.S. software companies based outside of Silicon Valley, including BetterCloud, FullStory, Pindrop and UIPath. In 2019 he was Chairman of the Board for Venture Atlanta, one of the top venture tech conferences in the country, and now serves as a Board Member.

Prior to Accel, Mr. Estevez worked in San Francisco as CFO of Atlassian (Nasdaq: TEAM), a global leader in team collaboration software. During these three years, Mr. Estevez helped triple bookings to a $300 million runrate, and he helped grow shareholder value from $400 million to $3.3 billion via minority investment with T. Rowe Price.

Prior to Atlassian, Mr. Estevez served as CFO of Silicon Valley-based BigFix from 2007 to 2010. During this time, Mr. Estevez helped triple revenues for the company, resulting in the successful sale of BigFix to IBM (NYSE: IBM) in what became the largest private software M&A transaction of 2010. This event also represented a 5x increase in shareholder value during his three year tenure.

Alex Gonzalez is an innovation, strategy, brand and culture curator, catalyst and storyteller. He has over 20 years of experience at several Fortune 500 and 1000 companies where he held a variety of senior executive roles. He is the chief innovation officer of the Metro Atlanta Chamber, where he leads the work to accelerate the region’s innovation ecosystem and serve as an ambassador to metro Atlanta’s innovation brand. Alex is founder, executive producer and host of the Disruptor Studio, a digital series that showcases inspirational leaders and innovators. He is also founder of Highwire Group, a collective of executives, entrepreneurs and thought-leaders that advise executives on being innovators and change-leaders. Alex is also an author and speaker on innovation and business culture and contributes to several blogs.

Alex has extensive corporate leadership experience. At Equifax he held the roles of chief innovation officer, president – North America Commercial Solution, and senior vice president of strategic marketing, where he built the growth and innovation strategy for the company. At GE, he held a variety of leadership roles including customer experience leader for GE Insurance Solutions, where he connected the brand promise, culture and results. Alex started his career in customer-centered roles at Chubb Insurance and received his degree in finance from the University of South Florida.

Alex is active in helping grow Atlanta. His current and past nonprofit board roles include the Metro Atlanta Chamber, Junior Achievement of Georgia, Georgia Soccer, the Atlanta Conventions and Visitors Bureau and Zoo Atlanta. He is also a member of the Georgia State University Marketing Roundtable and is on the advisory board of the American Marketing Association-Atlanta.

Andrew Braccia joined Accel in 2007 and focuses on consumer-oriented mobile and web services companies.

He was an early investor and on the boards of Slack (public), lynda.com (acquired by LinkedIn), Squarespace, Vox Media, Cornershop (acquired by Uber), MyFitnessPal (acquired by Under Armour), Hotel Tonight (acquired by Airbnb), Cloudera (public), Anchor.fm (acquired by Spotify), Gametime, and UserTesting. He also works closely with the teams at Braintree (acquired by PayPal), Etsy (public), Xero (public), and PagerDuty (public).

Prior to joining Accel, Andrew spent close to a decade in a variety of executive positions at Yahoo!.

Andrew is from Santa Rosa, California and graduated from the University of Arizona.

Arianna Huffington is the founder and CEO of Thrive Global, the founder of The Huffington Post, and the author of 15 books, including, most recently, Thrive and The Sleep Revolution. In 2016, she launched Thrive Global, a leading behavior change tech company with the mission of changing the way we work and live by ending the collective delusion that burnout is the price we must pay for success.

She has been named to Time Magazine's list of the world’s 100 most influential people and the Forbes Most Powerful Women list. Originally from Greece, she moved to England when she was 16 and graduated from Cambridge University with an M.A. in economics. At 21, she became president of the famed debating society, the Cambridge Union.

She serves on numerous boards, including Onex and The B Team.

Her last two books, Thrive: The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Life of Well-Being, Wisdom, and Wonder and The Sleep Revolution: Transforming Your Life, One Night At A Time, both became instant international bestsellers.

Committed to living by his personal motto, "Build As We Climb", change agent, thought leader, entrepreneur and emerging philanthropist, James M. Bailey has dedicated his life to serving others.

James was recently named President and CEO of the Russell Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (RCIE). Honoring the great legacy and visionary business leadership of Herman J. Russell, he will lead the development of the largest center in America, driven by community impact, devoted to empowering African American entrepreneurs and small business owners; over 50,000 square feet designed to inspire ideas, create jobs, grow companies, and increase wealth in the community.

An Atlanta native and die-hard Georgia Bulldog, James has a proven track record of success, recognized by 3 U.S. Presidents for his leadership and community efforts. In 2012, James was one of eight Americans honored at the White House as a "Champion of Change: Following in the Footsteps of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.".

A graduate of Leadership Georgia, Leadership Atlanta, and the Regional Leadership Institute, James was also named to both the Atlanta Business Chronicle and Georgia Trend Magazine’s "40 Under 40 Best and Brightest Leaders of the Future". He is a recipient of the coveted Whitney M. Young National Community Service Medallion, the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drum Major for Service Award, a New Leaders Council Fellow, member of Alpha Phi Alpha and the 100 Black Men of Atlanta.

James has served on numerous boards including The Historic Wren’s Nest in Atlanta’s West End, the Metro Atlanta Chamber Board of Advisors, the Atlanta Beltline TAD Advisory Committee, and Chairman of Citizens Trust Bank’s, Next Generation Advisory Board.

James and his wife, NBC news correspondent Blayne Alexander live between Atlanta, Georgia and Washington D.C.

David Cummings is an Atlanta-based tech entrepreneur who has founded 10 companies collectively valued at nearly $1 billion, including Pardot, SalesLoft, and Terminus. David is also the founder of the Atlanta Tech Village — the United States’ 4th largest tech hub — and the largest investor in Calendly, the world’s most popular scheduling app. After selling Pardot, he was named the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year winner and one of the 100 Most Influential Atlantans by the Atlanta Business Chronicle.

David is a member of YPO Southern 7, Atlanta Rotary, on the board of the Metro Atlanta Chamber, and on the board of the Buckhead Coalition. A native of Tallahassee, Florida, David earned a bachelor of science degree in economics from Duke University and an honorary doctorate from Mercer University. David blogs regularly at DavidCummings.org and tweets at @davidcummings.

Dawn W. Dickson is a serial entrepreneur and inventor with over 19 years of experience in marketing and business development. She launched four successful cash flow positive companies since 2002, her most recent ventures Flat Out of Heels (rollable flats for women to get relief from painful heels) and PopCom after identifying a need develop a software solution to make vending machines more intelligent.

Dawn has received numerous awards and accolades for her business savvy and pitching skills, and has been invited to speak on numerous panels and workshops and featured in countless media outlets including Forbes, Black Enterprise, Fortune, Fast Company, Venture Beat, Huffington Post, Essence Magazine, The Miami Herald, CNBC/Yahoo series ‘The Biz Fix’ with Marcus Lemonis, and MSNBC ‘Your Biz’ Elevator Pitch. Dawn has an expertise in raising traditional and non-traditional business capita, having raised millions of dollars for her ventures since 2001l. In 2019, Dawn became the first female CEO globally to raise a secure token offering (STO) over $1 million using equity crowdfunding under Reg CF the JOBS Act.

A recognized leader in entrepreneurship and digital marketing, Dawn was featured on the cover of the June 2018 Black Enterprise Magazine, was honored as one of the National Urban League Young Professionals ‘Heroes in the Movement’, featured as INC Magazine Top 100 Female Founders, featured in Who’s Who in Black Columbus, Who Who’s in Black Atlanta, honored as one of Legacy Miami’s Top 40 Under 40 Leaders in South Florida, and listed among the ‘50 Young Visionary Women Leaders to Watch’ by Innov8tiv Magazine.

Dawn received her B.A. in Journalism from The Ohio State University and studied technology at DeVry University. Additionally, Dawn is the host of the BARS! Podcast on Apple and Spotify where she shares her key learning as an entrepreneur over a hip-hop soundtrack. Dawn is a seasoned professional speaker and continues to be recognized as one of the nation’s top retail tech entrepreneurs.

Dharmesh Shah is the co-founder and CTO of HubSpot [NYSE:HUBS], a marketing, sales and CRM software company headquartered in Cambridge, MA.

He is the co-author of the book "Inbound Marketing" and writes OnStartups.com -- a top-ranking startup blog and community with more than 700,000 members.

In 2013, Dharmesh published HubSpot’s Culture Code, which has garnered over 5 million views. He is an active member of the Boston-area entrepreneurial community, an angel investor in over 70 startups.

Dug Song is Co-founder and General Manager of Duo Security, one of the fastest-growing cybersecurity providers in the world. In 2018, Duo was acquired by Cisco for $2.35 billion, making it the largest exit ever for a Michigan-based software company.

Founded in 2010, Duo protects more than 20,000 organizations against data breach by making security easy and effective. Duo’s Zero Trust security products verify the identity of users and the health of their devices before granting them access to applications - helping prevent breach and account takeover.

Based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Duo has more than 800 employees with offices in Austin, Texas; Detroit, London and San Francisco. Prior to its acquisition by Cisco, Duo raised $119 million intotal capital, backed by Benchmark, Geodesic Capital, Google Ventures, Index Ventures, Lead Edge Capital, Meritech Capital Partners, Radar Partners, Redpoint Ventures, True Ventures and Workday.

Dug is a renowned hacker and leading voice in the information security industry. He is often quoted on cybersecurity issues by international media, and appears onstage at industry events around the world.

Prior to launching Duo, Dug spent seven years as founding Chief Security Architect at Arbor Networks, protecting 80 percent of the world’s Internet service providers, and helping to grow the company to $120M+ annual revenue before its acquisition by Danaher. He also built the first commercial network anomaly detection system, acquired by Check Point Software Technologies.

Dug is heavily involved in mentorship and fostering entrepreneurship in Michigan. He is co-founder of the Ann Arbor’s Entrepreneurs Fund, which enables local entrepreneurs to turn business success into positive community impact. Dug is also a board member of Ann Arbor-based security startup Censys, a founding member of a2newtech and an active participant in Tech Brewery, a2skatepark and the Entrepreneurs' Foundation of Ann Arbor.

In 2019, Dug and his wife Linh founded the Song Foundation, which invests in innovative people and organizations who are improving the quality of life for all in Southeast Michigan, and helping to build a more just and equitable world. Among its contributions, the Song Foundation committed $1 million in emergency relief for small businesses in Washtenaw County amid the coronavirus epidemic.

Dug also serves on the boards of the Detroit Regional Chamber, Venture for America in Detroit, and Wallace House at the University of Michigan, home of the Knight-Wallace fellowships for journalists.

He earned his bachelor’s degree in computer science from UofM.

Duriya Farooqui brings over two decades of experience in economic development, business transformation and innovation. She has been a director of Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE: ICE) since 2017. She also serves on the boards of NYSE and ICE NGX, both of which are subsidiaries of ICE. In addition, she co-chairs the NYSE Board Advisory Council focused on improving diversity on corporate boards.

Most recently, Ms. Farooqui was President of Supply Chain Innovation at Georgia Pacific, leading an innovation organization where over 40 companies came together to solve supply chain challenges through rapid experimentation, digital technology, and collaboration.

Prior to joining Georgia Pacific, Ms. Farooqui served as the Executive Director of Atlanta Committee for Progress (ACP), a coalition of leading CEOs addressing critical economic development issues for Atlanta. She was instrumental in the launch of Engage, a venture fund and platform, initially backed by 10 Atlanta based corporations. Before joining ACP in 2016, Ms. Farooqui was a principal at Bain & Company. Previously, Ms. Farooqui spent six years in city government and was Chief Operating Officer for the City of Atlanta through 2013. At the start of her career, she worked with the Center for International Development at Harvard University, The World Bank, and Center for Global Development.

Ms. Farooqui earned a Bachelor of Art’s degree in Economics and Mathematics from Hampshire College and a Master of Public Administration in International Development from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. She is a Trustee of Agnes Scott College and on the Governing Board of the Woodruff Arts Center.

Committed to living by his personal motto, "Build As We Climb", change agent, thought leader, entrepreneur and emerging philanthropist, James M. Bailey has dedicated his life to serving others.

James was recently named President and CEO of the Russell Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (RCIE). Honoring the great legacy and visionary business leadership of Herman J. Russell, he will lead the development of the largest center in America, driven by community impact, devoted to empowering African American entrepreneurs and small business owners; over 50,000 square feet designed to inspire ideas, create jobs, grow companies, and increase wealth in the community.

An Atlanta native and die-hard Georgia Bulldog, James has a proven track record of success, recognized by 3 U.S. Presidents for his leadership and community efforts. In 2012, James was one of eight Americans honored at the White House as a "Champion of Change: Following in the Footsteps of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.".

A graduate of Leadership Georgia, Leadership Atlanta, and the Regional Leadership Institute, James was also named to both the Atlanta Business Chronicle and Georgia Trend Magazine’s "40 Under 40 Best and Brightest Leaders of the Future". He is a recipient of the coveted Whitney M. Young National Community Service Medallion, the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drum Major for Service Award, a New Leaders Council Fellow, member of Alpha Phi Alpha and the 100 Black Men of Atlanta.

James has served on numerous boards including The Historic Wren’s Nest in Atlanta’s West End, the Metro Atlanta Chamber Board of Advisors, the Atlanta Beltline TAD Advisory Committee, and Chairman of Citizens Trust Bank’s, Next Generation Advisory Board.

James and his wife, NBC news correspondent Blayne Alexander live between Atlanta, Georgia and Washington D.C.

Jean-Michel Lemieux is the Chief Technology Officer at Shopify and joined the company in 2015. Prior to joining Shopify, he served as the Vice President of Engineering at Atlassian and as the Chief Architect for Rational Team Concert, a division of IBM. Jean-Michel co-authored the book, Eclipse Rich Client Platform and has filed two U.S. patents on software configuration management.

Jean-Michel holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Ottawa.

Karim leads GV's investments in enterprise software, data analytics, and security. He brings over a decade of operational and investment experience to his role. He initially joined Google’s corporate development team in 2008, the group responsible for all mergers and acquisitions and has been at GV since inception.

Prior to Google, Karim was a venture capitalist at Atlas Venture, where he worked on investments in software and Internet infrastructure. Previously, he was director of New Ventures at Level 3 Communications, responsible for evaluating new business opportunities and has led product development for the company’s voice services. Earlier in his career, Karim held various product and marketing roles at Intel, initially on the i486:tm:, and later as product manager for the Pentium:registered: Processor. He started his career at Siemens as a software engineer working on the first vehicle navigation system for BMW.

Karim holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School, an M.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan, and a B.S. in computer engineering from Brown University where he published several papers on neural networks.

Linnea joined PDI in 2018 and brings over 15 years of global experience spanning operations, investing, strategy and corporate development. Linnea oversees all product management and professional services operations, M&A, and is responsible for developing and executing strategies and offerings to drive growth and competitive positioning across global markets.

Prior to joining PDI, Linnea served as an independent adviser to several private equity firms and management teams. She also spent several years in operating roles with Radiant Systems, as a venture capitalist with Arcapita and most recently served as head of Strategy and Corporate Development for NCR Corporation. Linnea is actively involved in the Atlanta community and serves on the Board of Directors for re:Imagine/ATL.

Linnea holds a BA from Duke University cum laude and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Martin L. Flanagan is president and CEO of Invesco, a position he has held since August 2005. He is also a member of the board of directors of Invesco and serves as a trustee and vice chairman of the Invesco Funds.

Mr. Flanagan joined Invesco from Franklin Resources, Inc., where he was president and co-chief executive officer from January 2004 to July 2005. Previously he had been Franklin’s copresident from May 2003 to January 2004, chief operating officer and chief financial officer from November 1999 to May 2003, and senior vice president and chief financial officer from 1993 until November 1999. Mr. Flanagan served as director, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Templeton, Galbraith & Hansberger, Ltd. before its acquisition by Franklin in 1992. Before joining Templeton in 1983, he worked with Arthur Andersen & Co.

Mr. Flanagan earned a BA and BBA from Southern Methodist University (SMU). He is a CFA charterholder and a certified public accountant. He serves on the Board of Governors and as a member of the Executive Committee for the Investment Company Institute, and is a former chairman. He serves as a member of the Executive Board at the SMU Cox School of Business and 2020 Chairman of the Metro Atlanta Chamber. He is also involved with a number of civic
activities in Atlanta.

Rachel is a Co-Founder and Managing Director at Construct Capital, a Seed/Series A fund that invests in technology builders who are connecting, automating, and transforming foundational industries – such as manufacturing, transportation, supply chain, food – that power half of our country’s GDP but have been underinvested from a venture perspective for decades. Before Construct, Rachel spent nearly 8.5 years at Uber, joining as one of the company's earliest employees and a long time member of the company’s Executive Leadership Team. Rachel led the company's New Mobility organization, which includes the eBike and eScooter businesses as well as running Uber's Incubator which funds and develops new products and services on Uber platform. Previously, Rachel ran the US & Canada Rides business which represented nearly half of Uber's bookings and revenue.

Rachel began her career at Bain & Company, advising companies in the private equity, financial services and healthcare industries. She graduated magna cum laude from Amherst College and earned her MBA from Stanford University, where she was an Arjay Miller Scholar.

Scott Sandell is the Managing General Partner of NEA. Since joining the firm in 1996, Scott has led investments in many industry-transforming technology companies including Data Domain, Salesforce.com, Tableau Software, WebEx and Workday, and is among the most frequently named venture capitalists to the Forbes Midas List. Scott is currently the lead independent director of Cloudflare (NYSE: NET) and a director of Bloom Energy (NYSE: BE). Scott also serves on the boards of a number of private companies including Branch, Coursera, Divvy, Expanse, Hello Alfred, One Concern, Robinhood and Transfix. He also remains actively involved with the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), where he served as Chairman of the Board from 2014-2015.

Outside of NEA, Scott serves on the Board of Advisors of the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth. A frequent guest speaker at both Stanford and U.C. Berkeley, Scott is also currently a special advisor for a new course on principled entrepreneurship at Stanford.

Before joining NEA, Scott was a product manager at Microsoft. Prior to that, Scott co-founded and ran the European subsidiary of C-ATS Software. He began his career at the Boston Consulting Group. Scott holds an MBA from Stanford and an AB in Engineering Sciences from Dartmouth College.

Victory Boyd is an extraordinarily talented young performer whose poignant music and magnetic sound—a fusion of folk, funk and rhythm and blues—resounds beyond any single genre, and has been compared to that of legendary artists Tracy Chapman, Roberta Flack, and Nina Simone. Her distinctive vocals provide a rich mosaic of raw sentiment, revelatory honesty, and heightened poeticism. Her piercing voice ranges from fiery and bold to vulnerable and melancholy, and tenderly blend unvarnished truth with channeled emotion that penetrates the soul.

Victory’s personally-charged songs bookmark moments in her evolution. Her vulnerabilities have helped her shape a textured and layered sound that is self-expressive, reflective, and relatable. Her peerless gift of storytelling mixes thought-provoking lyrics with the truth, pains and complexities of life through a variety of sonic narratives. She creates unchartered music that resonates with the human experience and that is garnering her adoration and acclaim across ever-expanding audiences.

"My goal is to capture the difficulties and challenges of the human experience, and to speak hope to these situations, sharing a sense of triumph and victory within all who hear my music," Victory says.

Along her journey, Victory has embraced a wide swath of musical influences, from Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Billy Holiday, and Marvin Gaye, to Corrine Bailey Rae, Lauryn Hill, John Boyd, and Ella Fitzgerald. Whether she’s performing classics or original compositions, Victory skillfully tailors each song to fit her unique and ever-evolving style.