Gordon Niva

Gordon is an independent aerospace and system engineering consultant and CEO/CTO of mySmarthome who lives in South Dakota and Southern California. Gordon retired from The Boeing Company in 2011 where he was active in high tech business development. He and his wife, Susan, founded mySmarthome in 2012. mySmarthome is an Internet of Things (IoT) company that specializes in innovative sensor technology and develops custom smart homes in South Dakota. You can learn more about mySmarthome at smarthome-247.com. Gordon is also a mentor to young entrepreneurs at Research Park. Gordon spent 30 years as a Reserve component Army officer retiring as a Colonel (O6). Since 1994, he has been an internationally recognized expert and lecturer on systems engineering and project management. He is a consistent runner and trekker. He and Susan have run 35 consecutive Los Angeles Marathons as a married couple. Gordon and Susan have reached the summit of Kilimanjaro and trekked the rugged terrain of Patagonia. Gordon received undergraduate degrees in engineering physics and chemistry at ³ÉÈËÊÓƵ. He received his M.S. in physics and Ph.D. in astrophysics from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. In 2013, he was named an ³ÉÈËÊÓƵ Distinguished Engineer-the highest honor bestowed within the department of engineering at ³ÉÈËÊÓƵ.

Dhiraj Sharan

Dhiraj Sharan has 20 years experience as an enterprise software technology leader and serial entrepreneur. In his current role, Dhiraj is the CEO of Query.AI. Query.AI is a decentralized data access and analysis solution that simplifies security investigations across disparate platforms without data duplication (please visit https://query.ai for more information). Dhiraj has helped some of the world’s largest technologies companies grow and innovate - companies like HPE, ArcSight, Niara, Aruba and Novell. Dhiraj is a prolific coder and an innovator, with more than 10 patents in cybersecurity and data analytics. He holds B.Tech CS from IIT (BHU, India) and Certificate in Management from Harvard University. In his free time, Dhiraj likes to advise and mentor first-time entrepreneurs in their journey through innovation, company formation, technology development, product validation and venture funding.

Sanjay Sharma

Sanjay Sharma is a strategic thought leader with an impressive 17+ years of entrepreneurial experience building technology start-ups from the ground up. As CEO of Roambee, he is responsible for leading the company’s vision, driving its worldwide business growth and increasing Roambee's value. He is also a renowned speaker and featured author on topics like supply chain, disruptive technologies and digitization. He has delivered engaging talks around the world at prestigious platforms like Mobile World Congress, TiE, Global Digital Forum, Geo IoT World, LogiPharma, Red at Summit, IoT Evolution Expo, International Smart Logistics and Supply Chain Conference and DHL IoT Day. Sanjay has successfully co-founded and led two successful Silicon Valley companies: KeyTone Technologies and Plexus Technologies, with successful exits. Prior to that, he was an innovator through his technology careers at NASA, EMC and Schlumberger. He holds many patents and has published papers in journals like IEEE, ISCA and South Dakota Academy of Science. Sanjay has a master of science in electrical engineering from South Dakota State University and a bachelor's degree in electronics engineering from the University of Bombay.