NYC 2017

- EVENT KEYNOTE SPEAKERS -

Marija Butko
Co-Founder Women of Wearables

Kieth Kirkland
Mechanical Engineer, Accessories Designer, and Industrial Designer
Cofounder of WearWorks

Margarita Benitiz
Fashion Technologist and Associate Professor at The Fashion School at Kent State University.

Amy Karle
Artist, Designer and Futurist

Pankaj Kedia
Senior Director & Global Head for the Smart Wearables Segment at Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.

Katy Borner
Professor at Indiana University Bloomington

-COMPETITION JUDGES -

Yael Pedro
Design and Development Director Speedo
Design Director and Business Development Professional; Extensive global experience with clients & vendors; introduce and implement methodologies, manage P&L business units including operations and logistics (import, inventories etc.)

Eli Jacobson
Wearables Studio/Innovation Manager
Eli He has extensive experience helping start ups and acceleration programs with understanding and developing advanced tech products: Digital health, Smart cities, fashion tech, user experience and Wearables.

DR. Katy Borner

Katy's research focuses on the development of data analysis and visualization techniques for information access, understanding, and management. She is particularly interested in the study of the structure and evolution of scientific disciplines; the analysis and visualization of online activity; and the development of cyberinfrastructures for large scale scientific collaboration and computation.

Willie Montanez
CEO/Designer
Willie Escobar Montanez is well known for his own brand “Willie Esco,” a highly successful Urban Streetwear brand and has worked with globally known brands, including Samsung, United-Arrows, Barneys, COOGI, Daymond John, KITH, Etonic, Tupac Shakur, Rag & Bone, and Android Homme.

Eileen Karp
F.I.T Chairperson/Professor
Eileen Karp serves as Chairperson and tenured Assistant Professor at the world renowned Fashion Design Department in the School of Art and Design at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT-SUNY), NYC.

Pankaj Kedia
Senior Director & Global Head for the Smart Wearables Segment at Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.
Pankaj is responsible for leading Qualcomm’s efforts to establish and grow its presence across the wearables segments including smart watches, smart trackers, and smart clothing.