Techfest Louisville Announces Keynote Speakers for 2017 and An Exciting Opening Blockchain Session for August 16th and 17th
Second Annual Event Slated for Pendennis Club for Tech and C-Suite Professionals
Looking for Tech Trends, Case Studies, and How-To Scenarios
The Technology Association of Louisville Kentucky (TALK) announces its two keynotes, Ron Gula, founder of Gula Tech Ventures, and Tenable Network Security, as well as Ari Huczkowski, Chief Innovation Evangelist, of Espoo Innovation Garden, the Northern Europe innovation hub based just outside Helsinki, Finland.
Techfest Louisville will open with a dynamic panel session on Blockchain technology, entitled “How Can Blockchain Technology Change the Fintech Landscape and Your Investing.” featuring Fintech Experts Howard Herndon, Gray Sasser, and Josh Rosenblatt for its Techfest Louisville event to be held on Aug. 16-17th at the Pendennis Club.
Techfest Louisville 2017, an event held every other year, looks to focus on an audience of entrepreneurs, tech professionals, and C-suite types needing to learn more about today’s tech trends, case studies of interest and how-to scenarios.
At the Day 2 Techfest luncheon on Aug. 17th, Ron Gula will discuss our nation’s current security issues and discuss his desire to invest in more security-related ventures. Ron Gula will look at the ongoing rebirths of incident response, risk management and resilient systems. He will show how penetration testers, incident responders and auditors all work on the same problem, but are often at odds with each other, use different tools and don’t speak the same language. He will also discuss some of the big questions facing our industry such as how to measure risk and how the industry should react to cloud computing.
RON GULA
Ron will also overview Gula Tech Adventures which has invested in more than 13 startups already, and continues to look for software plays that interface or build out the cybersecurity ecosystem. He aims to be investing with larger investment partners, beyond the startup face, beginning in January 2018.
Ari Huczkowski, Chief Innovation Evangelist, of the Espoo Innovation Garden based in Finland will speak on “Building Northern Europe’s Largest Innovation Hub: Espoo Innovation Garden” at 9 AM on the 17th. As our morning keynote, he will explain the convergent paths toward an innovation ecosystem and will open dialogue about those European paths to companies in Louisville looking for expansion from software distribution platforms to manufactured goods and other types of services. A separate smaller roundtable session for startups will be available with the speaker on the afternoon of the 16th upon his arrival.
ARI HUCZKOWSKI
He is an international speaker on innovation and has spoken globally in the last decade, including in the countries of Japan, Germany, UK, France, Poland, Switzerland, Slovakia, Portugal, USA and Canada. Fourteen years ago, he worked at the Center of Expertise for Micro and Nanotechnologies, then moving to the Technopolis Ventures incubator. Earlier, he also did a stint in VC fundraising for the National Software Development Ltd. group, serving as its CEO.
He now promotes partnerships in industry involving import and export of goods, software and other types of services. He remains actively engaged in the activities of the Japanese Innovation Network JIN, the European Investment Bank’s Innovation Board, and also with the board of The Technology Councils of America (TECNA), of which TALK is a regular member.
The opening session for Techfest 2017 will be a panel discussion on Blockchain technology entitled “How Can Blockchain Technology Change the Fintech Landscape and Your Investing.”
An IPO is no longer the goal line for some tech startups. Instead, increasing numbers of entrepreneurs are going “public” with an ICO or an initial coin offering. Capitalizing on the blockchain technology underlying Bitcoin, ICOs have raised $522 million since January 2017.
At TechFest, Howard Herndon, Gray Sasser and Josh Rosenblatt of Frost Brown Todd’s Blockchain and Digital Currency team will provide attendees with a general foundation in blockchain (or distributed ledger) technology. In addition to an overview of trends and opportunities, they will highlight regulatory and business issues that arise when cryptographic computing intersects with securities laws.
JOSH ROSENBLATT
At the forefront of these developments, FBT’s Blockchain and Digital Currency team represents clients ranging from hedge funds investing in the space to start-ups launching their own digital currency. Given their ongoing work, the Blockchain and Digital Currency team can identify and address some of the “red flags” and roadblocks that may determine whether the latest valuations represent a bubble or an opportunity for main street investors.
Techfest Speaker and Frost, Brown & Todd Attorney Howard Herndon has represented both public and private payments companies in significant industry transactions with values ranging from $100 million to well over $1 billion. He has provided strategic guidance and counsel to an array of companies looking to utilize new technologies, including blockchain applications, in industries ranging from healthcare, music/creative rights, travel and lending. Howard leads BlackLine Advisors, consultants to the fintech industry, providing practical guidance in payment processing and compliance aimed at improving clients’ bottom lines.
GRAY SASSER
Techfest Speaker Gray Sasser, an attorney at Frost, Brown & Todd, regularly guides clients navigating the underdeveloped regulatory environment surrounding cryptocurrencies, including working with several new hedge funds specializing in tokenized assets. A recent matter involved a business acquisition where the majority of the purchase price was paid in a soon-to-be-released cryptocurrency. A former Senior Vice President for Congressional Affairs of the Export-Import Bank of the United States, Gray also offers strategic advice on navigating federal export and trade issues. He advises both foreign companies growing the regional economy through direct investment in the U.S., while assisting American enterprises expand their global footprint.
Techfest Speaker Josh Rosenblatt, also at Frost, Brown & Todd, actively advises U.S. and foreign clients representing the full spectrum of the blockchain industry – from media companies covering the sector to companies contemplating initial coin offerings. A regular speaker and panelist on legal topics affecting cryptocurrency, he serves as Frost Brown Todd’s chief representative on the Chamber of Digital Commerce Lawyers’ Committee and the Digital Currency and Ledger Defense Coalition.
Techfest Louisville 2017 will include a cocktail hour open to the public at 4:30 PM on Aug. 16th, as well as a tradeshow area and an art show.
Sponsors to date include: Aspectx, Bytespeed, Blackline Advisory, Group, Cadre Information Security, DynaTrace, Frost, Brown & Todd, FBT Tech, Hilliard Lyons, Information Builders, Level 3 Communications, Oasis Solutions, Pantheon Solutions, Strategic Communications, TEK Systems, and UPS.
About Techfest Louisville
The Technology Association of Louisville Kentucky, aka TALK, will hold its Techfest Louisville 2017 on Aug. 16-17th for all those professionals and higher education students interested in learning more about technologies that impact our world today. Speakers will host panel discussions, explain case scenarios and case studies, as well as show tech trends and their implications in various presentation styles over this two-day event to be held at the Pendennis Club this year. The program is open for attendance to anyone that is interested in technology developments, and allows for economic development conversations between attendees, speakers and area leaders.
For more information on Techfest Louisville 2017, go to: www.techfestlou.com. For more information on TALK, visit us on Facebook, and Linked In pages under Technology Association of Louisville KY. On Twitter: @talklou and @techfestlou.