Innovating at the Edge: Leadership, Legacy, and Technology for a Disrupted Future - SOLD OUT
Panel Discussion with five panelists
Join us for a dynamic panel discussion featuring five visionary leaders who are shaping the future through innovation, entrepreneurship, and cross-sector collaboration. Mark Turrell brings cutting-edge insights on AI, collective intelligence, and global systems; Jim Hurd offers decades of experience bridging deep tech and policy; Ulrich Schmid-Maybach blends legacy with forward-thinking impact investing and mentorship; and Robert Levin brings a sharp lens on how generative AI and machine learning are revolutionizing finance, enterprise, and global markets. Together, they’ll explore how leadership, innovation, and values converge to build a future that is not only technologically advanced but deeply human. Mark Fagan will share on the ground insights on how organizations and governments are actually using artificial intelligence today.
We will discuss:
- How emerging technologies like AI, gene therapy, and space infrastructure are reshaping industries—and what it takes to lead responsibly in this transformation.
- The role of mentorship, legacy, and values in building enduring innovation ecosystems and cross-generational impact.
- Strategies for aligning capital, policy, and talent to accelerate breakthrough ideas in a rapidly evolving global landscape.
Thursday, August 21, 2025
5:30pm - 7:30pm PT
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP
4 Embarcadero Ctr
San Francisco, CA 94111
Tickets:
HCSF Members: $25
HKS SF Members: $25
Non Members: $45 Not a member? Register here for membership!
No REFUNDS after August 15.
SOLD OUT!
Event Registration (Harvard Alumni):
Please sign in with your HarvardKey otherwise a duplicate record will be created and you will not be able to log-in.
No HarvardKey? Please retrieve your HarvardKey here. If you need help, email ithelp@harvard.edu or call 617-495-7777
Speaker Bios:
Mark Turrell
Mark is a strategist, author, educator, and tech entrepreneur. His work blends collective intelligence with AI, networks, complex systems, behavioral science, and neuroscience. He is the founder of the unDavos community and the unDavos Summit. The World Economic Forum named him both a Technology Pioneer and a Young Global Leader. Mark is also the co-founder of Fresh Solutions AI, a Swiss company developing AI-powered apps for leadership and innovation. He serves as Professor of Global Strategy at Hult International Business School and is the author of Scaling: Small Smart Moves. He completed an executive education program in Global Policy and Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School. Originally from Canada, Mark now works in Berlin and Zurich.
Jim Hurd
Jim has built powerful strategic alliances for deep tech startups over the last 23 years with top corporations, investors, and government innovation initiatives. Jim also heads the Hurd Family Office, which makes angel investments several times a year. He speaks at leading family office conferences. Jim has been a strategic advisor and angel investor since 2020 to Alef Aeronautics, a leading personal flying car/EVTOL company based in Silicon Valley. Tim Draper is the lead investor. He is also an advisor and angel investor to AGT (American Gene Technologies), based in Rockville, MD, that has a gene therapy cure for HIV as its first product. He also works with leading space infrastructure startups. He has participated in a series of receptions on innovation and finance at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, for the last five years. Jim was a member of the 2010 Energy Faculty at Singularity University. He works with Senators, Congressmen, and their staffers to develop technology and innovation initiatives. He was born and grew up in Washington, DC.
Ulrich Schmid-Maybach
Uli, great-grandson of Wilhelm Maybach and grandson of Karl Maybach, represents the fourth generation of a legacy built on creativity, innovation, and quality. He founded the Maybach Foundation in 2005, inspired by the humble origins of Wilhelm Maybach, designer of the first Mercedes. Inspired by Wilhelm Maybach’s own mentorship under Gottlieb Daimler and Gustav Werner, the Foundation is dedicated to nurturing exceptional talent across various disciplines. The Foundation promotes mentorship as a vehicle for social and economic good and is developing a Maybach Archive and heritage showroom in Friedrichshafen, Germany - preserving the Maybach legacy. Paulo Coelho, Quincy Jones, and Julian Schnabel have supported the Foundation’s mission of mentorship. Ulrich Schmid-Maybach led the successful IPO of Maybach Motorworks (Tognum) in 2007, subsequently diversifying into real estate and technology investments with strong connections to global founders and Silicon Valley innovators. As Co-Founder of Maybach Icons of Luxury, he has expanded the brand’s presence globally, with a growing number of boutiques and resellers worldwide. With a master’s degree in international business focused on U.S.-German relations, he is a featured speaker at family office and private wealth conferences, sharing insights on building and sustaining a multigenerational family brand.
Mark Fagan
Lecturer In Public Policy At Harvard Kennedy School
Mark Fagan is a Lecturer in Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School. Mr. Fagan teaches Operations Management, Systems Thinking and Supply Chain Management and Policy Development in the degree program. In executive education programs, he teaches about service delivery, strategy and cross boundary collaboration. He leads the School’s Autonomous Vehicles Policy Initiative. He also works with organizations on adopting artificial intelligence to improve operations.
Mark Fagan has consulted to management in the public and private sectors on strategy issues for more than 30 years and was a founding partner of Norbridge, Inc. a general management consulting firm with a distinctive competence in the transportation sector
Robert Levin
Robert is the CEO of Emerging Star Digital, LLC, an angel fund in Wyoming, and also the founder of Transclick, Inc., a Technology Pioneer member of the World Economic Forum with over 14 million downloads of its multilingual AI clients in 192 countries. Robert has expertise in applying innovation in machine learning (ML) and AI to finance and other enterprise verticals, as well as enterprise Gen AI. He is an inventor, best-selling author, public speaker, and holds one issued US patent. He is also a strategist in global macro, emerging markets, and technology investments. Robert is a Tech Laureate of the Tech Museum of Innovation and has won the Gold Edison Award for Innovation in mobile apps. He is a member of the AlwaysOn Mobile 100 (top 100 mobile companies) and the AlwaysOn Global 250.
Event Organizer
Anupam Agarwal, MPH ‘05
anupam_agarwal@post.harvard.edu
