Key Attendees
Below are just some of the inspiring thought leaders, technology innovators, market disruptors, international investors, and change makers who will be attending South Summit.
Niklas Zennström
CEO and Founding PartnerAtomico
Niklas Zennström is CEO and Founding Partner at Atomico. He is an experienced entrepreneur, previously co-founding and managing globally successful technology companies including Skype, Kazaa, Joost and Joltid. In 2006 Niklas created Atomico to help entrepreneurs primarily outside Silicon Valley to scale their businesses domestically and globally. It has so far invested in more than 50 companies on four continents, and Niklas works closely with a number of leaders of portfolio companies so that they benefit from his own experience as an entrepreneur. In 2006, Niklas was recognised by Time Magazine as one of its 100 Most Influential People, and he has received numerous awards for entrepreneurship. In 2007, he co-founded Zennström Philanthropies, where he is actively involved in combating climate change, improving the state of the Baltic Sea and encouraging social entrepreneurship. Niklas holds dual degrees in Business and MSc Engineering Physics/Computer Science from Uppsala University in Sweden.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/niklaszennstrom
https://www.southsummit.co/videos/speaker/840
Dave McClure
Founder500 Startups
Dave McClure is the founding partner of 500 Startups, a venture capital firm and startup incubator in Silicon Valley founded by PayPal and Google alumni, with over $250M under management. He has been an investor in hundreds of companies around the world such as Credit Karma, Twilio, MakerBot, Wildfire Interactive, Viki, Mashery, SendGrid, Mint.com, and SlideShare, among others. Dave has been geeking out in Silicon Valley for twenty-five years as a developer, entrepreneur, blogger, investor, and internet marketing nerd. He has worked with companies such as PayPal, Founders Fund, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twilio, Mint.com, Simply Hired, O'Reilly Media, Intel, & Microsoft. Dave also likes to play ultimate frisbee when his knees don't hurt.
https://twitter.com/davemcclure
https://www.southsummit.co/videos/speaker/520
Robin Chase
Co-Founder & Former CEOZipcar
Robin Chase is a transportation entrepreneur and one of the leaders of the sharing economy. She is co-founder and former CEO of Zipcar, the largest carsharing company in the world; Buzzcar, a peer to peer carsharing service in France (now merged with Drivy); and GoLoco, an online ridesharing community. She is currently co-founder and board member of Veniam, a vehicle communications company building the networking fabric for the Internet of Moving Things. Her recent book is Peers Inc: How People and Platforms are Inventing the Collaborative Economy and Reinventing Capitalism. Chase has has received many awards in the areas of innovation, design, and environment, including TIME 100 Most Influential People, Fast Company Fast 50 Innovators, and BusinessWeek Top 10 Designers. Robin graduated from Wellesley College and MIT's Sloan School of Management, was a Harvard University Loeb Fellow, and received an honorary Doctorate of Design from the Illinois Institute of Technology.
https://www.beqbe.com/robin-chase
https://www.southsummit.co/videos/speaker/528
Allen Blue
Co-Founder & VP Product ManagementLinkedin
As co-founder and vice president of product management at LinkedIn, Allen Blue thinks a lot about careers, both others' and his own. Before joining LinkedIn in 2002, Blue had been director of product design at SocialNet, an early social networking site and before that, he spent seven years doing lighting and scenic design for the theater. Here, he discusses the similarities between the world of theater and tech startups, the roots of his interest in technology, and how passion is the key to bringing a wide-ranging career path into focus. Previously, Allen has worked as a contract web designer and developer for a variety of clients including PayPal, Stanford University, and Microsoft’s Virtual Worlds project.
https://twitter.com/allenb?lang=es
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ablue/es
https://www.southsummit.co/videos/speaker/544
María Sansigre
Demeter Partners
Maria Sansigre is an industrial engineer with experience in technology including wind onshore, district heating and cooling networks, biomass , energy efficiency, data center projects and a particular expertise in Green IT. She is specialized in energy technologies from Escuela Politécnica Superior Universidad Carlos III of Madrid and holds a specialization in venture capital from IEB (Instituto de Estudios Bursatiles). Maria possesses both engineering and investment talents. Currently, she is Investment Director at Demeter Partners. Her investment experience also includes assessing start-ups and companies across Europe and Israel for public subsidies and have held a position as an external investment expert on the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 R&D program. Before joining Demeter Partners, Maria has worked 11 years as engineer and consultant in the energy and IT sectors, in companies and technology centers such as Iberdrola, IBM and IREC (Catalonia Institute for Energy Research), among others. Since 2010
https://www.linkedin.com/in/maria-sansigre-3b911a10
https://www.southsummit.co/videos/speaker/574
Jim McKelvey
Co-Founder & DirectorSquare, Launchcode
His most famous venture, Square, is changing payments. His latest venture, LaunchCode, is making it possible for anyone to learn programming and land a full-time job in under six months–for free. McKelvey will discuss founding successful companies in payments, education, scientific publishing, construction, printing, glassblowing and software. Each business is founded upon a simple idea and run by people committed to that idea. Jim has never sold any of his companies and as a result now oversees a diverse portfolio of businesses. Referencing personal experiences and local challenges, McKelvey offers a fresh, Silicon Valley, approach to problem solving.
https://twitter.com/2000F
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mckelveyjim
https://www.beqbe.com/jim-mcklevey
https://www.southsummit.co/videos/speaker/516
Nolan Bushnell
Founder & CEOAtari, BrainRush
Video game pioneer Nolan Bushnell is best known as the creator of Atari and Chuck E. Cheese. As the founder and CEO of BrainRush adaptive learning games, he is fueling their mission to unlock the genius in each of us through smarter learning. He believes that adaptive games make learning faster, more fun, and more fulfilling. Nolan’s latest book is "Finding the Next Steve Jobs: How to Find, Hire, Keep and Nurture Creative Talent".
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nolanbushnell
https://www.beqbe.com/nolan-bushnell
https://www.southsummit.co/videos/speaker/497
Jeremy Johnson
FounderAndela
Prior to founding Andela, Jeremy co-founded 2U and served in a succession of roles (Chief Technology Officer, Chief Marketing Officer, and Chief Strategy Officer) between 2008 and 2014 as the company grew to over 700 people. One of the fastest growing education technology startups in history, 2U went public on March 28th, 2014, and continues to transform higher online programs. Jeremy is recognized broadly for his work at 2U as an education innovator as well as a champion of youth entrepreneurship. His speaking appearances include the White House, Congress, and conferences and college campuses around the world as well as major media outlets like NBC, ABC, FOX, and CNBC. Jeremy was named 30 Under 30 by Inc. Magazine in 2012 and Forbes in 2013 and 2014. Outside of Andela, Jeremy serves on the board of the Young Entrepreneur Council and the education non-profit PENCIL and co-authored a book, Education & Skills 2.0: New Targets & Innovative Approaches, for the World Economic Forum.
https://www.southsummit.co/videos/speaker/731
María Benjumea
Chairman and FounderSpain Startup
María Benjumea is the Chairman and Founder of Spain Startup, the company that promotes and organizes The South Summit; an unique initiative aimed to celebrate entrepreneurship and innovation, showcasing to the world the talent, technology and entrepreneurial character of the South. The South Summit brings together the most promising startups from Southern Europe, the Mediterranean and Latin America. Currently, María Benjumea is founding partner of Spain IWF (International Women Forum) and vice-president of Secot. In 2011 she was awarded the Premio Nacional a la Mujer Directiva in the "Business Innovation" category. She has also received the "Clara Campoamor 2009 Award" by the City of Madrid, Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2007 by ASEME and has been one of the women leaders in Top 100 Spain in recent editions. María Benjumea (Madrid, 1954) is married, has two children and three granddaughters.
https://es.linkedin.com/pub/maria-benjumea/1/336/9a0/es
https://www.southsummit.co/videos/speaker/201
Edurne Pasabán
Mountaineer
Edurne Pasabán is a basque spanish mountaineer. On May 17, 2010, she became the 21st person and the first woman to climb all of the fourteen eight-thousander peaks in the world. Edurne´s first professional work was as an engineer in their family business PASABÁN S.A. Years later she founded her own company ABELETXE, a house-restaurant of rural tourism in the Bascan Country. Reaching her maximum goal in her sporting career she went on studying a Master of Executive Coaching and Management in Instituto de Empresa Madrid. Nowadays Edurne combines her sporting career with her increasingly close ties with the business world, an area where she is involved as a speaker for both national and international companies and for sports, cultural and educational organisations. Recently she founded her own travel agency, Kabi.
https://es.linkedin.com/in/edurne-pasaban-56353a30
https://www.beqbe.com/edurne-pasaban
https://www.southsummit.co/videos/speaker/493