Akhila Tadinada
Co-founder & CTO, Xemelgo(July 2018 - Till Now)
Akhila is the co-founder and CTO of Seattle based smart manufacturing startup Xemelgo. Xemelgo offers turnkey Industry 4.0 solutions to mid-size manufacturers. Before entering the start-up scene, Akhila led multiple engineering teams, most recently as Director of Engineering at Hitachi. She has a deep passion for the manufacturing space and wants to translate all of her learnings into real value for end customers. Outside of work Akhila is a mother to two lovely daughters, a 3 year old toddler and a 8 week old baby. Like everyone else she is trying to figure out how to juggle family and work and discovering the joys and challenges of doing it along the way.
Mikaela Kiner
Founder & CEO, Reverb(May 2015 - Till Now)
Mikaela has an MS in Human Resources Management, is a certified executive coach, and experienced consultant. In 2015, Mikaela founded Reverb, helping companies in the Pacific Northwest create healthy, inclusive culture. An HR professional for nearly twenty years, Mikaela enjoys coaching leaders at all levels and supporting women and girls in tech. She's been quoted in Fast Company, the Wall Street Journal and The Muse, and is a member of the Forbes Human Resources Council and Puget Sound Business Journal Leadership Trust. She’s the author of Female Firebrands: Stories and Techniques to Ignite Change, Take Control, and Succeed in the Workplace (Greenleaf Press, January 2020). Mikaela is married to Henry, a musician, artist, and teacher. Their two children Simon and Sidonie are good at challenging the status quo and are a constant source of learning and laughter. She lives with her family in Seattle.
Vetri Vellore
Corporate Vice President, Microsoft
Vetri Vellore is a mission-driven, serial entrepreneur with two successful exits (Ally.io acquired by Microsoft and Chronus acquired by private equity). Passionate about building world-class products and teams, to bring purpose, happiness and enable everyone to achieve more.
Launched Ally.io, an OKR-based, Business Execution Platform in 2018. In under 3 years, grew to 1,000 customers in over 80 countries and a team of 250+ amazing people. Raised $76m in funding including 3 rounds in just one year, from top-tier VCs including Accel, Addition, GreenOaks, Tiger Global, and Vulcan Capital.
Previous to Ally.io, bootstrapped Chronus and built a highly successful B2B SaaS Mentoring solution that is used enterprises including GE, Amazon and Coca Cola. Chronus was acquired by a private equity firm and continue to grow strongly.
Before Chronus and Ally.io, Vetri turned around $200M+ Systems Management enterprise software business at Microsoft. Lead the Visual Studio platform team and managed the partner ecosystem. Shipped several v1 and award-winning products over the 14-year tenure at Microsoft