#CountDown: 9 Days To #TNYSCM05 - Bringing The Blockchain From The Lab And Into The Real World

Note: Originally published at innovationfootprints.com on April 16, 2018.

We’re now just a little over a week away from The New York Supply Chain Meetup’s fifth gathering. The purpose of this post is to outline our plans for that event, and preview what we expect to do in May and June 2018 . . . We’re still in the early days of building this community, so much of this is subject to change, especially as we go through the process of recruiting sponsors.

Our Mission

To nurture and grow the world’s foremost open, global, multidisciplinary community of people devoted to building the supply chain networks of the future — starting in NYC.

The New York Supply Chain Meetup is powered by Particle Ventures, a seed-stage fund in New York City that invests in Supply Chain & Industrial Intelligence. Particle is built by the same team that launched KEC Ventures.

#TNYSCM05 is sponsored by Work-Bench, an enterprise technology focused venture capital fund in New York City. Work-Bench supports early go-to-market enterprise startups and helps scale customer acquisition with community, workspace, and corporate engagement.

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Logistical Details: #TNYSCM05

• Date: Thursday, April 26, 2018
• Time: 17:30–20:30
• Location: Work-Bench, 110 5th Avenue — 5th Floor, New York, NY 10011. Please register by following the link above.

#TNYSCM will feature two panel discussions and a keynote presentation. The keynote presentation happens between the panel discussions.

Agenda

5:30 PM — 5:55 PM: Pre-event Networking

5:55 PM — 6:00 PM: Welcome Remarks (#TNYSCM, Work-Bench)

6:00 PM — 6:50 PM: Panel Discussion I (40 minutes), Q&A (10 minutes)

6:50 PM — 7:30 PM: Keynote Presentation (30 Minutes), Q&A (10 Minutes)

7:30 PM — 7:35 PM: Break

7:35 PM — 8:25 PM: Panel Discussion II (40 minutes), Q&A (10 minutes)

8:25 PM — 8:30 PM: Closing Remarks

MC: Daniel James

The panel discussions will be moderated by Rob Bailey. Rob is CEO & Co-founder of MState, a growth lab for enterprise blockchain startups. Rob’s experience is in scaling enterprise startups — Kustomer, DataSift, SimpleGeo, and eScene, which he scaled from pre-launch to fast-growing revenue between $1M and $25M. In addition he has raised, or helped raise, $200M in venture capital. My friends Ed Sim and Eliot Durbin of BOLDstart ventures are each a co-founder and advisor respectively of MState.

The important and difficult job is never to find the right answer; it is to find the right question.
 — Peter Drucker

Panel Discussion I

Tanjila Islam is the CEO and Founder of TigerTrade, an international B2B marketplace and supply chain solution for companies buying and selling excess inventory worldwide. TigerTrade’s customers include the largest off-price chains and brand outlets in the US, Latin America, the Middle East, Europe, Asia, and Australia. As an end-to-end solution for the global trade of excess inventory, TigerTrade manages the entire supply chain, from vendor verification merchandise authentication to payments and shipping. Prior to founding TigerTrade, Tanjila was an international trade and economic development expert, designing and managing large-scale economic growth and trade promotion programs in developing countries, including Indonesia, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh for organizations such as the U.S. Agency for International Development and the World Bank. She is also an Adjunct Professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology, where she teaches courses on International Trade, International Business Transactions, and Global Sourcing. Tanjila is an avid traveler and adventurer and speaks Arabic, Bengali, English, and Spanish. She holds a B.A. from Columbia College, and M.A. in Near Eastern Studies from NYU, and an M.I.A. in International Economic Policy from the Columbia School of International and Public Affairs.

Todd Scott is VP Blockchain Global Trade at IBM. In this capacity Todd has the responsibility for the Go To Market strategy and execution for the JV between IBM and Maesrk. He also owns building the new sales, enablement and operations capability for IBM as the main reseller channel for the JV. Prior to his current role Todd was the IBM VP and Managing Director for PepsiCo, and Southwest Airlines. Todd’s present role caps a 30-year IBM career that began as a client executive in Greenville, South Carolina. He then moved to the Mid-Atlantic area where he managed a team of sales and technical staff who provided integrated solutions for mid-market customers in Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. In addition, during his tenure at IBM, Todd has managed regional sales teams covering various components of IBM’s business including Systems Technology Group, Channels Group, Media and Entertainment, Retail and Consumer Products. One thing he accomplishes in each of his roles is a clear understanding of the customer’s business. This enables him and his team to make credible and highly valued recommendations. Those recommendations included global SAP implementations to the design of new business operating models to implementing IT data center and business process outsourcing initiatives. Todd attended Davidson College and graduated in 1987 with a B.A. in Political Science. At Davidson, Todd lettered every year as a basketball player and was a member of the 1986 team that participated in the Men’s Division One NCAA tournament. He lives in North Texas with his wife Norma. They have four children.

Nolan Bauerle is Director of Research at CoinDesk. Before joining Coindesk in early 2016 he conducted research for the Senate Banking Committee in Canada. He is a serial entrepreneur, a techno-optimist, and also writes science fiction. He holds an LLB from Université Laval.

Scott Carlson is Chief Information Security Officer at Sweetbridge. He is using his 20 years of experience gained from position at Cargill, Schwab, PayPal, and elsewhere to guide security policy as Sweetbridge transforms how the world thinks about asset backed loans, supply chain finance, and wealth building. Scott’s focus in the past has included Information Security, Data Centers, Cloud Virtualization, and Systems Architecture. He is a top-rated speaker and contributor to RSA, Gartner, Kuppinger Cole, OpenStack, and VMworld. He holds a B.S. in Computer Science from Moorhead State College.

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Keynote Presentation

Some researchers argue that building on existing blockchain and DLT frameworks is a mistake, because they are fundamentally unsuited for large-scale, real world applications. They argue that new DLT frameworks must be built to meet real-world demands. Our keynote speaker will offer one perspective on that topic.

Silvio Micali is the Ford Professor of Engineering at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. He has been a member of faculty of the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department at MIT since 1983. His research interests are cryptography, zero knowledge, pseudo-random generation, secure protocols, mechanism design, and distributed ledgers. Silvio is the recipient of the Turing Award in Computer Science, the Gödel Prize in Theoretical Computer Science, and the RSA prize in Cryptography. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Academia dei Lincei. His presentation will focus on Algorand, a scalable, secure, and decentralized digital currency and transactions platform. Algorand recently announced that it has raised $4 Million in a seed round of venture capital funding.

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Panel Discussion II

Samantha Radocchia (@_sam_rad) currently serves as Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer at Chronicled, which leverages blockchain and IoT technologies to deliver smart supply chain solutions. Prior to serving as CMO, she led product development and architecture as Chief Product Officer for 3 years. She is also a Co-Founder at Better Kinds, which fosters everyday practices of conscious consumption and responsible production by empowering people to make better micro decisions that lead to better macro results. Recently named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 List, Sam is a thought leader in the blockchain sector and the founder of Machine Elf Consulting, an emerging technology and product development consulting firm based in Brooklyn, NY. Founded in 2012, the firm focuses on blockchain, IoT, and additive manufacturing advisement to enterprises and individuals. Sam has an entrepreneurial background that spans several technology companies. She became interested in blockchain as a mechanism to facilitate trusted interoperability, a challenge she sought to overcome leading her first two companies. Before joining Chronicled and Better Kinds, she previously served as the CTO of Huckabuy, a consumer product metadata aggregator and standards company and Founder and CEO of Stunable, a provider of inventory management and marketing software utilized by consumer products brands to integrate e-commerce sales with cross-channel interactions. Sam attended Colgate University, earning a BA in English and Anthropology — specializing in Critical Theory, Linguistics, and Symbolic Systems. She continued her academic pursuits at King’s College in London where she studied Management & Entrepreneurship and at the London School of Economics where she studied organizational culture. Samantha graduated from NYU Summa Cum Laude in the spring of 2013 with a MA in Media, Culture, and Communications, focusing on the socio-political analysis of emerging technologies. On the personal side, Samantha is an avid risk-taker and daredevil, attaining her pilot’s license at the age of 17 and accumulating over 700 jumps as a competitive skydiver.

Alex Mashinsky (@Mashinsky) is CEO and Founder of the Celsius Network. He is also one of the inventors of VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) with a foundational patent dating back to 1994 and is now working on MOIP (Money Over Internet Protocol) technology. Over 35 patents have been issued to Alex, relating to exchanges, VOIP protocols, messaging and communication. Alex is a serial entrepreneur and founder of seven New York City-based startups, raising more than $1 billion and exiting over $3 billion. Alex founded two of New York City’s top 10 venture-backed exits since 2000: Arbinet, with a 2004 IPO that had a market capitalization of over $750 million; and Transit Wireless, valued at $1.2 billion. Alex has received numerous awards for innovation, including being nominated twice by E&Y as ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’, in 2002 & 2011; Crain’s 2010 Top Entrepreneur; the prestigious 2000 Albert Einstein Technology medal; and the Technology Foresight Award for Innovation (presented in Geneva at Telecom 99). As one of the pioneers of web-based exchanges, Alex authored patents that cover aspects of the Smart Grid, ad exchanges, Twitter, Skype, App Store, Net ix streaming concept and many other popular web companies. Additionally, Arbinet’s fundraising story was featured as a case study in 2001 by Harvard Business School. Alex holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical Engineering from The Open University of Israel, and a Bachelor of Science in Economics from Tel Aviv University.

Juan-Jose Ruiz is a global Strategy and Business Development executive with experience in technology, financial services, and media/information industries. He is currently leading IBM’s Blockchain business development efforts across several verticals with particular focus on Global Commerce. Prior to IBM he filled a number of strategic and operational roles at Thomson Reuters based in Europe, Asia, and the Americas including leading Strategic Alliances efforts for the Scientific division worldwide. Juanjo started his professional career as a software engineer in Spain developing some of the early web-based vertical b2b marketplaces. He holds a Computer Science and Engineering degree from the Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona, an MBA from Mannheim Business School, and got his Chartered Financial Analyst accreditation from the CFA Institute. In his free time, Juanjo is an active start-up mentor in the NYC area and volunteers in local youth sport organizations.

Sharad Malhautra is a Senior Manager at EY Enterprise Blockchain, where he leads digital transformation initiatives for enterprise clients focused on digital and emerging technologies, specifically Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technologies. He has gained more than 13 years of experience spanning engagements in the United States, Europe, and Asia. Among other accomplishments; He evangelized and led the sales and engagement for the first Blockchain Advisory Project for EY globally, he led a blockchain engagement on price verification and negotiation for a leading CPG company, and led an event-management track-and-trace Blockchain engagement to enable visibility across the network for a leading logistics company. Over the years he has earned a reputation for; leading complex global business initiatives, being a trusted c-suite advisor on emergent technologies, a willingness to accept a high degree of uncertainty, and successfully scaling businesses. He often speaks at industry events on Enterprise Blockchain. Sharad holds a B.E. in Computer Engineering from the University of Pune, and an MBA from Rice University. Beyond his work at EY, he is a strategic advisor to BillionBricks, a non-profit organization that works with homeless and displaced communities in India and South East Asia.

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He who knows all the answers has not been asked all the questions.
 — Confucius

Preview — #TNYSCM in May & June

Here is what our team of organizers is working on, between now and June.

• May 24: A showcase of startups in Fashion, Apparel, and Retail supply chain. THIS IS GOING TO BE BIG! I am excited about the plans our team is putting together. Don’t wait. You can sign up for #TNYSCM06: Convergence Across the New Fashion & Apparel Supply Chain.
• June 21: A Sourcing 101 workshop for startups building physical products. More details coming soon. I have been told; “THIS IS GOING TO BE BIGGER!”

Other Upcoming Supply Chain Events

• Transparency18: This is the flagship event series started by the founders of the Blockchain in Transport Alliance. It follows BiTA’s Spring Symposium, a members only event that occurs on May 21, 2018. I will attend both days of Transparency 18 on May 22 and May 23.