November 6, 2026
Fairmont Hotel, San Francisco, CA
9:00am – 12:00pm
PURPOSE
The Marconi Society is a 50+ year-old organization dedicated to building communities of leaders and stakeholders at the forefront of emerging technology by celebrating and supporting innovators, both established and emerging, who shape global connectivity.
The three Marconi Society Institutes (Advanced Wireless, Internet Resilience, and AI) each distinctly serve as platforms for its international network of visionaries and experts to collaborate on identifying, assessing, and recommending actionable solutions in shaping and securing an accessible digital future ona global scale.
AGENDA (by invitation only)
The Marconi Society is a 50+ year-old organization dedicated to building communities of leaders and stakeholders at the forefront of emerging technology by celebrating and supporting innovators, both established and emerging, who shape global connectivity.
The three Marconi Society Institutes (Advanced Wireless, Internet Resilience, and AI) each distinctly serve as platforms for its international network of visionaries and experts to collaborate on identifying, assessing, and recommending actionable solutions in shaping and securing an accessible digital future ona global scale.
ARRIVAL & EXECUTIVE NETWORKING
8:30 - 9:00 AM
WELCOME REMARKS & OPENING KEYNOTE
9:00 - 9:30 AM
A formal introduction among participants, brief welcoming remarks informing the day’s purpose anDformat, and establishing the AI Executive Forum as a place for candid, solution-oriented dialogue.
Jeff Collins is a multi-dimensional leader with experience across the public, private, and social sectors. As Head for Global Trust and Safety at AWS, Jeff leads teams developing product features, policies, and partnerships that help build a world where people can safely discover, create, and connect. Previously, Jeff was the Global Head of Trust and Safety at TikTok. He has also served as Vice President at the teen-focused app After School; White House National Security Council Director in the Obama Administration; U.S. Diplomat focused on human rights issues in Cuba, Iraq, Turkey, Bolivia, and Venezuela; Senior Counsel for Global Policy at Chevron; founder of the civic-tech organization Forum280; an international lawyer; and a federal appellate and district court law clerk. Jeff is a graduate of Stanford University and Northwestern School of Law, enjoys exploring the San Francisco Bay Area outdoors with his 9 and 11 year-old sons, and thrives on collaborating to create meaningful solutions that make the world a better place.
SESSION 1
9:30 - 10:30 AM
From Job Replacement to Human Augmentation: What Will AI Mean for Work?
This session will explore how the conversation around AI and labor is shifting from replacement to augmentation. Participants can examine whether AI is genuinely improving human capability, how tasks and jobs are being redefined, and what new tensions are emerging as workers are increasingly asked to help train or evaluate the systems that may reshape their roles.
HYDRATION BREAK
10:30 - 10:45 AM
SESSION 2
10:45 - 11:45 AM
Physical AI at the Edge: Wireless, Robotics, and Resilient Infrastructure
This session will prioritize the fast-moving convergence of AI, wireless systems, robotics, satellites, and edge inference. As physical AI becomes more relevant to infrastructure and real-world operations, participants can discuss both the opportunity and the noise surrounding the space: where momentum is real, what technical barriers remain, and how resilience should be designed into these systems from the start.
CLOSING REFLECTIONS
11:45 AM - 12:00 PM
The Forum will close with notable insights and guidance on next steps. Participants will leave encouraged to continue conversations among peers with additional opportunities to network.
Amy VanDeVelde is the Broadband Specialist and Federal Program Officer for the NTIA. She led the Oasis Connections program from 2012 to 2022. She is an expert at understanding how to build the confidence and the skills digital newcomers and older adults need to use the internet safely. The Connections program has offered thousands of classes under her leadership. Amy is keenly interested in technology that supports and enhances interpersonal relationships and community health by decreasing social isolation. She obtained a certificate from Harvard University in Cybersecurity Risk Management in 2020 and her team was awarded a 2022 HP Aspen Institute Digital Equity Accelerator grant. Amy has been quoted in Family Circle, St. Louis Magazine, and USA Today.
Sheri Osborn is a 3rd year Ph.D. student at UTSA in the Information Systems and Cybersecurity program. Her concentration is Artificial Intelligence, and she will graduate in August of 2023. Her research interests are AI-based platforms that help organizations build strategic advantages and create value by fusing data sources across the organization to reveal opportunities for innovation and market expansion.
Before starting the Ph.D. program at UTSA, she was an entrepreneur and interim executive. As an entrepreneur, she has been granted a patent for a system to assess and improve a user’s life skills and develop self-efficacy. As an interim executive, she has led teams as the head of marketing, business development, and product management. Before being an interim executive, she was a platform director at BroadVision, Adobe Systems, MicroFocus, Symantec, and other technology companies.
She lives in San Antonio with her husband Kevin who is a pastor and chaplain at Methodist Hospital. In her spare time, she loves to travel the world. She gardens and is constantly trying to master cooking techniques from around the world.
Debora Plunkett is a cybersecurity leader with over 30 years of experience. A former Director of Information Assurance at the National Security Agency, she is Principal of Plunkett Associates LLC, a consulting business. She is also a Senior Fellow at Harvard’s Belfer Center and a Professor of Cybersecurity at the University of Maryland.
Ms. Plunkett serves on the corporate boards of CACI International, Nationwide Insurance, Mercury Systems, and BlueVoyant. She is a founding member and chairman of the board of Defending Digital Campaigns, a non-profit entity focused on providing free or low-cost cybersecurity services to federal election campaigns.
Karen is a Scottish Computer Scientist who does research at the boundary where humans and security meet. She is particularly interested in understanding how humans feel about cybersecurity, and in finding out the consequences of organizations wielding negative emotions to encourage secure behaviors. She also tries to improve accessibility to ensure that everyone is able to be safe and secure online, not only in a privileged sector of society.
Yvette Renteria is the Chief Program Officer for Common Sense Media. She leads the education, research, family, and community engagement teams that support our kids to thrive in a digital world.
Yvette brings 20 years of experience working in public schools and nonprofit organizations focused on supporting young people to reach their full potential, with an emphasis on low-income communities. Throughout her career, she has worked directly with students and families to ensure kids receive a quality education. Yvette has built programs for young adults to access skills-based training to open opportunities for gainful employment. She’s also developed programs for early child care providers to build sustainable businesses while supporting the families most in need of those services. The focus of her career has always been about access, opportunity, and growth for people.
Yvette holds a Masters of Education from Loyola Marymount University and Bachelors of Development Studies from UC Berkeley.
Dr. Roy Want received his doctorate from Cambridge University, England in 1988 and is currently a Senior Research Scientist at Google. Dr. Want’s previous positions include Sr. Principal Engineer at Intel Corporation and Principal Scientist at Xerox PARC.
He holds the grades of ACM and IEEE Fellow. His research interests include mobile and ubiquitous computing, distributed systems, context-aware applications, and electronic identification. Dr. Want has more than 30 years of experience working in the field of mobile computing. He served as the Editor-in-chief for IEEE Pervasive Computing from 2006-2009 and Chair of the ACM SIGMOBILE executive committee from 2009-2012. More recently, he received the ACM SIGMOBILE Outstanding Contributions Award in 2019. For more information about Dr. Want’s academic and industrial achievements see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Want.