Innovate Conference

The Easton Technology Management Center and the Technology Business Association at Anderson (AnderTech) present:

Innovate Tech Conference 2023

Friday, January 27, 2023

Innovation in a tech driven world

Technology has become an integral part of our lives, changing our lives and work, the opportunities for new ventures and established enterprises, and more broadly society. Technology-based disruptions are affecting almost every sector today, including transportation, health care, financial services and retail. They are also affecting industry structure, organizational capabilities and the future of work for humans and machines/robots.

Every business is a tech business today. This event aims to bring successful entrepreneurs and executives together for a glimpse of the latest innovations and their potential impact.

2023 Highlights

Big Tech Innovation: Greatest Areas of Opportunity

The Future of Social Media: Opportunities, Innovation, and Imperatives

Tech Based Entrepreneurship: Latest Areas of Innovation & Funding Environment

2023 Speakers

2023 Moderators

A graduate of UCLA (B.A., '82) and Harvard Business School, Terry Kramer has extensive technology and leadership expertise in the domestic and international telecommunications industry. Since beginning his career at Harris Corporation and Booz Allen Hamilton, Kramer has held executive roles in AirTouch, PacTel and Vodafone globally. At Vodafone, he was the group strategy officer, group HR officer and chief of staff. He was also regional president of Vodafone Americas, with responsibilities for oversight of Vodafone's 45% interest in Verizon Wireless and Vodafone's venture capital activities. He also served on the Executive Committee at Vodafone Group Plc.

During his tenure at Vodafone, he and his family moved no fewer than eight times to locations that included London, The Hague, Dallas, Phoenix and San Francisco. The benefit: "Living in so many different places, working in so many fundamentally different environments gave me a new appreciation of contextual leadership - how leaders must be adept at assessing the different context of each leadership role to ensure a dynamic nature to their style, achieving success for that unique environment."

While serving as an entrepreneur in residence at the Harvard Business School between 2011 and 2013, Kramer was appointed by President Obama to serve as Ambassador, Head of U.S. Delegation for the World Conference on International Telecommunications in June 2012. This delegation formulated and communicated the U.S. policy regarding the criticality of a free and open internet as well as an inclusive, multistakeholder governance, the need to proactively address cybersecurity threats and the need for liberalized, open markets that encourage global accelerated broadband access. The conference was covered by CNBC, New York Times and Wall Street Journal.

No stranger to the field of academia (his parents were teachers), Kramer jumped at the opportunity to work at UCLA Anderson, as it provided "a chance to engage with the next generation of leaders." An adjunct professor at UCLA Anderson since 2013, Kramer is a full-time faculty member, teaching the foundational technology management course, covering the impact of disruptive innovation on products, services, markets and competition, and another course on the evolution and innovation in the mobile communications industry and promising areas of innovation. He is also a faculty advisor in the Global Access Program and Strategic Management Research program. Kramer serves on the boards of TeleSign and TangoCard and on the advisory boards of RapidSOS and Textpert, as well as the Harvard Business School California Research Center, UCLA Economics Department board of visitors and Larkin Street Youth Services.

Originally from San Carlos, California, Kramer and his wife, Suzan, currently reside in the San Francisco Bay Area, from which he commutes to Los Angeles regularly. Together they have developed a family foundation focused on education, health and human services, which "reflects our views about the impact of youth and education on our collective future."

Michael J. Montgomery is an advisor and investor in early stage companies, an active board member, and a Lecturer at the Anderson School of Business. Michael was the Co-Founder and President of Montgomery & Co., LLC, a boutique investment bank focused on media and technology, from 1999 through 2013. The Investment Bank specialized in M&A and equity financings for private and occasional public companies. Montgomery & Co. became known for its focus on the intersection of media and technology. Montgomery & Co. merged its operations into Signal Hill in 2013.

Prior to Montgomery & Co., he served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Sega GameWorks L.L.C., a joint venture between Sega, Universal Studios, and DreamWorks. It owned and operated family entertainment centers across the United States.

Prior to joining Sega GameWorks, he was a partner and Senior Executive of DreamWorks SKG from 1995 to 1996. He was their lead executive for their $900 million equity raise in 1995. He also led their real estate efforts to secure land to build their studio in Glendale and their attempted studio at Playa Vista.

He joined DreamWorks after a nine year career at the Walt Disney Company. As Assistant Treasurer and then Vice President and Treasurer, Michael was responsible for numerous innovative financing arrangements conceived and executed for Disney. This includes the $720 million non-recourse advance for the royalties of Tokyo Disneyland, the first large royalty financing conceived for intellectual property. He was also instrumental in Silver Screen 2, 3 and 4, and the $600 million Touchwood Film Financing. He also proposed and then played a key role in the execution of the initial public offering of EuroDisney in 1989. Upon returning from Paris, he conceived of the first bond with a return indexed to an unrelated security or index. The $927 million zero coupon bond indexed into Euro Disney’s stock value pioneered with the SEC and Wall Street the use of derivative-like structures imbedded in bonds. In 1993, he moved to Paris, France, to serve as Directeur General and Chief Financial Officer of Euro Disney, where he played an important role in a difficult financial and operational restructuring.

Before joining Disney, he worked at ARCO in its treasury organization. From 1980 to 1984, he also served as CFO and later President of Arco Solar Europe, a subsidiary of Arco Solar, in Milan, Italy and later, London, UK. At that time, Arco Solar was the largest solar photovoltaic company in the world.

He has been a Director of DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. since July 2006, and of a Director of Synacor, Inc. since December 2011. He chairs the Audit Committee for both companies. He is also on the board of Open Methods and M3Bio, both private companies.

He received an M.B.A. from the Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth College (1977), where he holds a BA degree as a Rufus Choate Scholar with magna cum laude honors.

2023 Schedule

9:00 – 10:00 a.m.	Check-in and Breakfast
10:00 – 10:15 a.m.	Welcome
	Terry Kramer (B.A. ’82), Faculty Director, Easton Technology Management Center; Adjunct Professor in DOTM, UCLA Anderson
10:15 – 11:05 a.m.	Keynote Speaker
	Malik Ducard (’00), Chief Content Officer, Pinterest Moderator: Michael Montgomery, Lecturer, UCLA Anderson
11:05 – 11:55 a.m.	Panel "Big Tech Innovation: Greatest Areas of Opportunity"
	Cy Khormaee, Head of Product, Google User Protection Services Group Dinkar Jain, Director of Product Management, Meta (former) Moderator: Sharon Olexy (’99), Operating Partner, Ajax Strategies
11:55 – 12:05 p.m.	Break
12:05 – 12:55 p.m.	Panel "Tech Based Entrepreneurship: Latest Areas of Innovation & Funding Environment"
	Yvonne Wassenaar (’96), CEO, Puppet (former); Board Director, Advisor, Angel Investor Barry Eggers (B.A. ’85), Founding Partner, Lightspeed Venture Partners Moderator: Terry Kramer (B.A. ’82), Faculty Director, Easton Technology Management Center; Adjunct Professor in DOTM, UCLA Anderson
1:00 - 2:00 p.m.	Networking Lunch