KUNGFU.AI Speakers

Ron is an expert in Artificial Intelligence and a serial tech entrepreneur with multiple successful exits. He holds an MSc in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Sussex, and a BA in Computer Science from The University of Texas.

Benjamin has over 30 years in the practice and science of organizational transformation. He is the former Director of AI Strategy at Vista Equity Partners and the first Chief Analytics Officer at the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.

Stephen Straus is a serial entrepreneur and former venture capitalist who has started, ran, and successfully sold two companies. He was also a Kauffman Fellow and General Partner at Austin Ventures, at the time the largest venture capital between the two coasts, during the dot-com boom and bust.

Christian has over 25 years experience building and leading teams to design and develop innovative and highly effective customer-centric technology solutions. He led the growth and operations for several global consultancies including T3, Razorfish, Sapient, and frog design.

Steve has 14 years of technology sales, marketing, and consulting experience. He was the former head of creative strategy working with Fortune 500 brands (IBM, Cisco, AT&T) and led the creation of the first suite of marketing tools powered by IBM Watson.

Steve is a physicist and data science entrepreneur with 30+ years' experience. He's an expert in data science, machine learning, AI, and network graph analysis. Steve is also a patent holder of a dynamic anomaly detection method based on chaos theory.

Reed is a Natural Language Processing expert. He has industry and research background in conversational AI and linguistics. Reed has a deep passion for how language, communication, and education about AI shape our world.

Ryman is a culture and people ops guru with more than four years experience in recruiting and developing AI talent. She currently leads people operations, HR, and talent acquisition for KUNGFU.AI, an artificial intelligence professional services firm.

Emma Pirchalski is an AI strategist with a passion for driving sustainable and responsible AI adoption. With expertise in AI governance, Emma is dedicated to helping organizations harness the power of AI while managing its ethical implications and long-term impact.

For Ben, the transformative potential of artificial intelligence depends as much on technical innovation as it does on thoughtful application—understanding when to use AI, when not to, and how best to adapt to a dynamic future.