Keynote Speakers & Judges

Ali Mohammed is a Portfolio Manager in the Digital Transformation Office at the New York Power Authority (NYPA). In this capacity, he partners with customers and business units in order to drive NYPA’s transformation to an end to end digital utility; one that leverages connectivity, big data, and analytics to improve business processes and gain actionable insights that inform decision making. Ali oversees a portfolio of projects estimated at approximately $2 billion and is leading a new program that will result in the build-out of a secure and reliable NYPA owned wireless network.

Prior to joining the Digital Transformation Office, Ali worked in the Utility Operations business unit where he was the project manager for major strategic and interconnection projects estimated at over $800 million. Prior to joining NYPA in 2011, Ali worked at the New York State Department of Transportation.

Ali is an alumnus of Manhattan College, earning a Master’s degree in both Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering. Ali also holds a bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Instrumentation Engineering from Osmania University of Hyderabad, India.

Shelley Goldberg

Shelley Goldberg is an investment advisor in environmental resource sustainability and the Founder & Principal of Invest-With-Purpose.  With more than 20 years of experience in structuring and managing portfolios, she now runs a consultancy and investment management practice. She has served as an investment advisor for multi-asset portfolio managers, including her own energy fund, G3 Capital Partners, LLC, and the largest fund-of funds devoted to natural resources with Swiss private bank, Union Bancaire Priveé. Ms. Goldberg was a Consultant with Deloitte’s Global Markets Risk Management team, served as an Investments Strategist for Brevan Howard Asset Management LLP and for Roubini Global Economics. Today Ms. Goldberg takes on leadership roles in environmental impact investing with the goal of monetizing developments. Shelley earned an MBA in finance and international business from the New York University Stern School of Business and a bachelor’s degree in political science and Spanish from Tufts University .

Reshama Sheikh

Reshama is a statistician with skills in Python, R and SAS. She earned her M.S. in statistics from Rutgers University. She earned her M.B.A. from NYU Stern School of Business where she studied strategy, business analytics and technology management.

She began her statistical career at Educational Testing Service. She then worked for over 10 years as a biostatistician in the pharmaceutical industry at various companies including PPD, Merck, Thomas Jefferson University and Pfizer, covering Phase I through Phase 4 clinical trials. She also taught math and statistics for 2 years at Temple University. She is an organizer of the meetups group NYC Women in Machine Learning & Data Science and NYC PyLadies.

Paul Thompson 

Paul Thompson is the General Manager for DXC Technology’s Commercial Healthcare Segment. In this role, he is responsible for the execution of DXC Technology’s Commercial Healthcare segment vision through strong P&L leadership, technology innovation and implementation, and strategy execution. Prior to assuming this role, Paul was the Chief Strategy Officer for the Health and Life Sciences Group. Before joining DXC Technology, he was the Vice President of product development for Clinical Cost and Quality Improvement at Cigna. He also served as a regional director of underwriting for Commercial Healthcare products in 15 markets across the United States. Previously, Paul was with Aetna for 14 years in a variety of leadership roles. He graduated from Fairfield University with a BA in economics and from University of Connecticut with an MBA in marketing/finance. He is a member of the Board of Advisors for University of Connecticut Venture and Technology Incubator. Paul serves as a Commissioner on the Town of Wethersfield Redevelopment Agency and is a Special Olympics Tennis coach.

Tashay Green

Tashay is a Data Scientist working in the financial risk and compliance space, in New York City. Prior to becoming a Data Scientist, Tashay worked in education as a Program Manager and High School Science Teacher. She is passionate about social justice, and the equitable distribution of knowledge and resources in communities of color. She studied Applied Urban Science + Informatics at New York University and Biology at Howard University.

Leo Trudel

Leo Trudel is an innovation and technology advisor at Indigo Advisory Group, and cleantech consultancy for utilities. He is also the founder and CEO of CloudPort, a technology company that develops operational and energy efficiency platforms for large, multi-tenant commercial and residential properties. He has previously worked in solar project development and investment banking, where he specialized in transaction and advisory services for project developers and for small and mid-cap renewable energy and technology companies. Prior to that, he worked for an investment banking technology firm where he managed a fixed income research division, developed capital markets research methods, and integrated financial transaction platforms and analytics software for bulge bracket clients. He began his career as a political aide and has held senior roles in multiple gubernatorial campaigns, advising on policy, strategy, and fundraising. Trudel earned a BA from Colby College in 2007, where he studied government and economics.

Soraya Weaver 

Soraya Weaver currently works as a Marketing Science Analyst at Analytic Partners (AP), a global leader in analytical consulting. At AP, she uses her experience in data analytics and processing to evaluate marketing campaigns for Fortune 500 Companies in the US and internationally.

She earned a Master of Science in Operations Research from Georgia Institute of Technology, where she and her team used predictive methods to determine the success of an NBA basketball team based on a Point Guard’s performance in any given game. Soraya’s undergraduate degree is in Mathematics and Mechanical Engineering from Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada. Her undergraduate thesis developed applications for the dynamic Traveling Salesman Problem in ride-sharing.

Samuel Meldrum 

Sam Meldrum is an Industry Solutions Executive covering Retail and Consumer Goods at Microsoft.  Prior to joining Microsoft Sam was the cofounder of PeachyLabs, a technology startup in NYC that used computer vision and deep learning to recognize images. He also spent 10 years working in the food industry at FOODMatch where he held a breadth of different customer and internal facing roles including sales operations, business intelligence, and supply chain optimization and logistics strategy.

Sam has a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Delaware and an MBA from Duke University, The Fuqua School of Business.  Outside of work, he is a guide at The Resolution Project, a non-profit dedicated to developing socially responsible young leaders and empowering them to make a positive impact today through social entrepreneurship.