Speakers

Speaker	Date	Topic
Dr. Michael Crow, President, ASU	Oct 27, 2020 7:00 AM	ASU and the New American University 2013 and Beyond 2020 Dr. Michael M. Crow is an educator, knowledge enterprise architect, science and technology policy scholar and higher education leader. He became the sixteenth president of Arizona State University in July 2002 and has spearheaded ASU’s rapid and groundbreaking transformative evolution into one of the world’s best public metropolitan research universities. As a model “New American University,” ASU simultaneously demonstrates comprehensive excellence, inclusivity representative of the ethnic and socioeconomic diversity of the United States, and consequential societal impact. Lauded as the ”#1 most innovative” school in the nation by U.S. News & World Report (2016-2020), ASU is a student-centric, technology-enabled university focused on complex global challenges related to sustainability, economic competitiveness, social embeddedness, entrepreneurship and global engagement. Under Dr, Crow’s leadership, ASU has established twenty-five new transdisciplinary schools, including the School of Earth and Space Exploration, the School for the Future of Innovation in Society and the School of Human Evolution and Social Change, and launched trailblazing multidisciplinary initiatives including the Bio design Institute, the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability, and important initiatives in the humanities and social sciences.
Veterans Day Event	Nov 10, 2020 5:00 PM	(Currently being planned)
Scott Anderson, Mayor of Gilbert	Nov 17, 2020 7:00 AM	State of the State of the Fastest Growing City in the East Valley Scott Anderson became the Mayor in September 2020 after the resignation of Mayor Jenn Daniels in August. Scott was elected to the Town Council in 2016. He founded the Gilbert Riparian Preserve, which transformed a wastewater treatment site from simple water recharge into a national award-winning project that has become one of the most popular visitor destinations in the state. The preserves have been studied and copied by communities around the world seeking to be more sustainable. While Director of the Riparian Institute, Scott partnered with local organizations and businesses to create the Gilbert Rotary Centennial Observatory, *the only dedicated public observatory in the region*. Education: Geography and International Relations from Brigham Young University and a Master’s in Public Administration from the University of Colorado Gilbert was once known as the "Hay Shipping Capital of the World", it is now the sixth-largest municipality in Arizona, and the fifth largest in the Metropolitan Phoenix Area. Incorporated on July 6, 1920, with a population of 850+ and now 300,000+ 100 years later, as 2020 is their Centennial Year.
Members	Nov 24, 2020 5:00 PM	Gratitude From Our Members
Hans Witt	Dec 22, 2020 5:00 PM	Microsoft Mr. Witt received a Master in Computer Science (Artificial Intelligence) from the University of Brunswick in Germany and a Bachelor in Business administration from the University of Hamburg, Germany. He worked in senior management positions at IBM, NCR, Datapoint, Microsoft and Intel over the years. His aim was always to use AI algorithm in his projects. Mr. Witt is also one of the 75 co-founders of the Microsoft Alumni Organization which has now over 135,000 members and supports over 500+ non-profit operations created by former Microsoft employees. In 2000 he joined a small startup from the Carnegie Melon university to develop a natural language business rule system based on machine learning algorithm. The company was acquired by Oracle corporation in 2008 to be incorporated in the Oracle policy management suite. In 2012 Mr. Witt joined a small Portland startup, Attensa Corporation, to work on external content processing services. At the core of the system is a natural language engine that allows semantic tagging of content for categorizing, searching, filtering and other advanced AI capabilities. The services are in use at several large pharmaceutical companies like Bristol-Myers Squibb. Mr. Witt’s background in AI and the machine learning algorithm has spiked his interest into the self-driving car segment since it touches several core areas that the AI community is trying to resolve - Ethics in AI development, Economic impact through advances in AI development, and control and regulation of those categories.