Baltimore Innovation Week 2017

Darius Irani is a sophomore at Johns Hopkins, currently studying Computer Science and Applied Mathematics & Statistics. Originally from Upstate New York, Darius has found his home in Baltimore through involvement in his social start-up Project Charmify that does community development, educational programming, and vacant space activation in neighborhoods across Baltimore. Darius would like to combine his passion for social justice issues and technical interests and skills in STEM, by using Big Data and Machine Learning to have social impact in cities and influence social policy.

Dan Rodricks is an award-winning columnist for the Baltimore Sun newspapers, and host of the Roughly Speaking podcast. He was previously the host of Midday, a daily talk show on WYPR FM 88.1, the NPR station in Baltimore, and the host of "Rodricks For Breakfast" on WMAR-TV, "The Dan Rodricks Show" on WBAL Radio , and a long-time contributor of features and commentary to WBAL-TV.

Tom Kraak is a JavaScript developer at Oath, a subsidiary of Verizon, which houses 50+ media and technology brands including AOL, Yahoo, and HuffPost. He is passionate about learning, teaching, and the web platform. Tom combines these passions in frequent contributions to his favorite open source projects on GitHub. Besides the long-standing Academy course at Betamore, he teaches and mentors at Thinkful, Baltimore NodeSchool and various local meetups for junior web developers.

Babila Lima is the Director of the Business Process Improvement Office for the Department of General Services. Since 2007, Babila has worked in City government in a number of different agencies and capacities including the City Council President’s Office, Mayor’s Office and as a consultant on cross agency process challenges. Prior to the current role, his City projects included an overhaul of the City’s special event permitting process, and the establishment of a regulatory, licensing and management system to support the growth of food trucks and mobile vendors in the City of Baltimore. He also developed and managed a yearlong initiative in Mongolia to improve garbage and recycling collection through a business social responsibility program funded by USAID.

Gabriel is a digital tech evangelist, community builder, and people connector. He is also the co-founder of AudioStaq, a publishing and monetization platform for podcasters. Gabriel is a contributor to Technically Baltimore and former Editor in Chief at BaltimoreGamer.com

Hadley VanRenterghem, originally from Ann Arbor, Michigan, is a sophomore at Johns Hopkins University majoring in Biomedical Engineering.

Aleberry, Managing Partner Gira Wieczorek is a founder at Aleberry, a design & strategy firm focused on helping startups navigate the fundraising process with deck strategy & design. She has helped clients raise over $150M in funding. Aleberry works alongside startups, advisors, venture capitalists, and accelerators for demo days, pitch sessions, and investor meetings.

Tim is the Director of Emerging Technologies at Mind Over Machines where he helps clients build for the future with practical innovation. Prior to working at Mind Over Machines Tim has been a technology leader at companies ranging in size from global enterprises to local startups in the Baltimore/Washington area. Tim is a frequent guest speaker on technology topics, has a passion for helping others build their careers and is a contributor to local, national & global publications including MSDN Magazine.