2023 Keynote Speakers

Elatia Abate
Entrepeneur, Futurist, Global Keynote Speaker
Future of Now

Elatia Abate, founder of the Future of Now, is an entrepreneur whose mission is to revolutionize the way trailblazing leaders understand, train and fuel their leadership. Named a Forbes leading female futurist, she is a globally recognized expert on the futures of work and strategy.

Her Future-Led Leadership™ learning and development content has been utilized in organizations including PwC, Verizon, UniGroup, RMI – Rocky Mountain Institute, Grupo Globo, CME Group, GMAC (Graduate Management Admissions Council), and The College of William and Mary Raymond A. Mason School of Business.

Elatia is a sought-after keynote speaker on the topics of the future of work, leadership and resilience, sharing her message for audiences of tens and auditoriums of thousands for including, Citi, NY Life, VRBO, Deloitte, Honeywell, Belcorp, and SHRM, among many others. She has a TEDx talk entitled, “Pioneering the Future of Work.”

Rob Thomas
Senior Vice President & Chief Product Officer
IBM

Rob Thomas is Senior Vice President Software and Chief Commercial Officer, IBM. He leads IBM’s software business, including product design, product development, and business development. In addition, Rob has global responsibility for IBM revenue and profit, including worldwide sales, strategic partnerships and ecosystem.

Rob has held several leadership roles across IBM, most recently as Senior Vice President of IBM Global Markets where he was responsible for IBM’s revenue, profit, business development and client success worldwide and prior to that as Senior Vice President, Cloud and Data Platform in IBM Software. Rob has overseen numerous acquisitions by the firm, representing approximately $7 billion in transaction value.

In his over 20 years in IBM, Rob has held roles in IBM Consulting, IBM Microelectronics, and IBM Software, including two years living in Tokyo, Japan. In 2007, Rob joined IBM’s software business, focused on data and analytics. He held a variety of roles, leading IBM’s transition from core databases to delivering broader analytical capabilities, investing in open source, and eventually artificial intelligence.

Massimo Peselli
Chief Revenue Officer Global Enterprise & Public Sector
Verizon Business

Massimo Peselli is the Senior Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer, Global Enterprise and Public Sector for Verizon Business. He leads a global team focused on delivering innovative technologies like 5G, mobile edge computing (MEC), cloud, security, and software-defined networking, to enable enterprise and public sector clients to win in the marketplace today while laying the groundwork for their digital transformation journeys.

Tapping his more than two decades of industry experience, Massimo has the vision and expertise to help customers unlock the transformative capabilities necessary to meet and exceed their business goals. He fosters a culture of performance excellence built on Verizon’s core values of integrity, respect, and kindness.

Prior to his current role, Massimo served as Senior Vice President of Global Enterprise, where he led a global team focused on enabling enterprise customers to securely and intelligently manage business interactions and operations in real-time while laying the foundation for long-term transformational growth.