Pritzker Forum on Global Cities

Harnessing AI: Tools for Urban Leaders

November 13 - 15, 2023

Artificial Intelligence is reshaping our world.

It can help efficiently deliver social services, identify workforce trends and necessary skills, and provide localized climate predictions. But without ethical and transparent use, AI can easily exacerbate inequalities, intensify surveillance, and imperil democracy.

Now, it’s incumbent upon leaders at all levels to intentionally leverage AI’s potential for the good of society and the planet. This type of impactful leadership is only possible when great minds are converging to share experiences and build a collaborative future.

Event Video

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson speaks behind a podium

Two people talk while sitting in chairs on-stage

A person wearing a yellow shirt speaks into a microphone on-stag behind a podium

Explore a series of deep-dive conversations among global leaders from government, business, and civil society on the promises and pitfalls of artificial intelligence and its impacts on cities.

From November 13-15 we gathered more than 200 leaders from across the globe in Chicago to examine this year's theme, Harnessing AI: Tools for Urban Leaders, and lay the groundwork for critical multi-sector collaborations on the deployment of artificial intelligence in the urban context.

Watch select video from the 2023 Pritzker Forum on Global Cities, or view all videos from each day below.

View All Videos

Three people sit in chairs while speaking on-stage, while someone joins virtually via TV screen.

It’s undeniable that AI is changing the labor economy—both in terms of the skills workers need to stay relevant and the ways companies locate qualified workers. In this panel, we explore how AI may present an opportunity for some workers to level-up, the importance of aligning our language around core skills, and how local leaders can prepare for this economic transformation with intentional skill-building infrastructure.

Four people sit in chairs on-stage during conversation

This panel sets the scene with a global overview of current sustainability efforts involving AI and will then explore two case studies of initiatives to save lives and inform sustainable policies. 

In this session, we explore how cities can play a pivotal role as the need for skilled workers continues to rise.

Agenda

An aerial view of downtown Chicago skyscrapers

The "Bean" sculpture with skyscrapers behind it

After a digital hiatus, we are delighted to welcome you back to Chicago, November 13 - 15, 2023, for three days of networking, discussions, and workshops on "Harnessing AI: Tools for Urban Leaders."

Day 1: Monday, November 13

Private Mayor's Roundtable

Invitation only | Program starts at 2:00pm | Chicago Council on Global Affairs Board Room, 180 N. Stetson Ave.

Opening Night Program and Welcome Reception

5:30 - 8:30pm, Doors open at 5:00pm | Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, 220 E. Chicago Ave.

Participants will enjoy an evening of conversations on the promises and pitfalls of artificial intelligence and its impacts on cities, as well as the presentation of the inaugural Pattis Family Foundation Global Cities Book Award followed by a networking reception.

Welcome Remarks

Ivo Daalder, CEO, Chicago Council on Global Affairs
Peter Spiegel, US Managing Editor, Financial Times
Margot Pritzker, Chair, The Aspen Institute Board of Trustees
Brandon Johnson, Mayor, City of Chicago

Keynote Address: Prioritizing Equity and Inclusion in AI and Quantum
Speaker: Brenda Darden Wilkerson, President and CEO, AnitaB.org

The Promise and Stakes of this Moment
How are tech leaders considering the ways in which cities may leverage this unprecedented moment of technological innovation?

Speakers

Noelle Russell, Data ad AI Lead, Accenture Federal Services
Nick Farina, Co-Founder and CEO, EeroQ Quantum Hardware
David Graff, Vice President, Global Policy Standards, Trust and Safety, Google
Stephanie Simmons, Founder and Chief Quantum Officer, Photonic Inc.
Moderated by Elaine Moore, LEX Deputy Editor, Financial Times

The Pattis Family Foundation Global Cities Book Award Presentation

Eugenie Birch, Chair, Global Cities Book Award Judging Committee
Winner: John Lorinc, Author, Dream States: Smart Cities, Technology, and the Pursuit of Urban Utopias

Day 2: Tuesday, November 14

Breakfast and Networking

Starts at 8:00am | Rosebud Randolph, 130 E. Randolph St.

The Book Cellar

Starts at 8:00am | Rosebud Randolph, 130 E. Randolph St.
Stop by to explore a collection of impactful books on global cities and urban policy.

Mainstage Programming

Program starts at 9:00am | Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Conference Center, 130 E. Randolph St.

Building a Workforce for the AI Economy | 9:15 - 10:05am
Is there truth behind the common narrative that AI will inevitably lead to job losses for workers across sectors and skill levels?

Speakers

Alison Lands, Director of Strategy, SkyHive Technologies
Danielle Li, Associate Professor, MIT Sloan School of Management
Brenda Darden Wilkerson, President and CEO, AnitaB.org
Moderated by Elaine Moore, LEX Deputy Editor, Financial Times

Flashtalk: Yuriko Koike, Governor, Tokyo | 10:05 - 10:15am

AI for Local Climate Action | 10:15 - 11:05am
How can AI assist in the fight to reduce global warming and save lives from climate disasters?

Speakers

Jennifer Angel, CEO, Evergreen
Amen Mashariki, Director, Data Strategies, Bezos Earth Fund
Anshu Sharma, Co-Founder, SEEDS India
Moderated by Hannah Murphy, Tech Reporter, Financial Times

Flashtalk: Penny Abeywardena, Former Commissioner for International Affairs, New York City | 11:05 - 11:15am

Coffee Break | 11:15am - 12:15pm

The Semiconductor Race | 12:15 - 1:00pm
What role will cities play as the need for skilled workers and emerging technology continues to rise?

Speakers

Rashid Bashir, Dean, The Grainger College of Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Raja Krishnamoorthi, Representative, IL 8th District, US Congress
Jenilee Keefe Singer, Senior Director of Government Affairs, Special Competitive Studies Project
Moderated by Brenda Darden Wilkerson, President and CEO, AnitaB.org

Lunch Break | 1:00 - 2:30pm

Urban Social Service Access | 2:30 - 3:20pm
How can AI revolutionize the way cities deliver social services to their citizens to make the process more ethical and efficient?

Speakers

Hairil Rizal Abdullah, Clinical Director, Office of Value Based Healthcare, Singapore General Hospital
Santiago Garces, Chief Information Officer, City of Boston
Jenn Thom, Director of Experience Insights, Code for America
Jamie VanDodick, Director, AI Ethics and Governance, IBM
Moderated by Claire Bushey, Chicago Correspondent, Financial Times

Flashtalk: Eric Jones, Deputy County Executive for Public Safety, Sacramento County | 3:20 - 3:30pm

Deploying AI for Safer Communities | 3:30 - 4:20pm
Is there a way to leverage AI technology equitably, to pursue a goal of safety rather than security?

Speakers

Carolina Caeiro, Senior Internet Policy Specialist, Oxford Information Labs
Ishanu Chattopadhyay, Assistant Professor of Medicine and Data Science, University of Chicago
Neal Parikh, Adjunct Associate Professor, School of International & Public Affairs, Columbia University
Moderated by Hannah Murphy, Tech Reporter, Financial Times

Tech is Only Part of the Solution | 4:20 - 5:05pm
What do effective human touchpoints for AI deployment look like, and why are they important?

Speakers

Celina Bottino, Project Director, Institute for Technology and Society Rio
Renee Cummings, Assistant Professor, School of Data Science, University of Virginia
Bianca Wylie, Co-Founder and Partner, Digital Public
Moderated by Beth Blauer, Associate Vice Provost for Public Sector Innovation, Johns Hopkins University

Night Owl

Starts at 8:30pm | Hyatt Regency Chicago, 151 E. Wacker Dr.
Join fellow attendees for a casual after-hours networking session at The Living Room Bar and Lounge

Day 3: Wednesday, November 15

Breakfast and Networking

Starts at 8:00am | Rosebud Randolph, 130 E. Randolph St.

The Book Cellar

Starts at 8:00am | Rosebud Randolph, 130 E. Randolph St.
Stop by to explore a collection of impactful books on global cities and urban policy.

Mainstage Programming

Program starts at 9:15am | Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Conference Center, 130 E. Randolph St.

What's Next: City Diplomacy for Urban AI | 9:15 - 9:55am
Global collaboration is essential to ensure AI technology adheres to shared ethical standards and principles. But where does that collaboration start? And who defines the shared principles?

Speakers

Michael Donaldson Carbón, Commissioner for Urban Innovation, Barcelona City Council
Ian Klaus, Founding Director, Carnegie California
In conversation with Penny Abeywardena, Former Commissioner for International Affairs, New York City

Closing Remarks | 9:55 - 10:00am

Deep Dive Workshops

Invitation only | Program is from 10:30am - 12:00pm | Offsite locations

AI to Localize SDGs
This workshop will highlight examples of collaborative partnerships enabling equitable progress toward sustainability goals, and discuss the groundwork cities must lay before embarking on a journey to localize SDGs using AI.

Speakers

Micheline Ayoub, Executive Director, Sustainability in the Digital Age
Martin Canning, Executive Director, Government Innovation, Evergreen
Moderated by Kris Hartley, Assistant Professor of Public Policy, City University of Hong Kong

AI, Disinformation, and the Future of Journalism
This workshop will explore examples of AI being utilized to support free exchange of factual information, and how cities can ensure information shared with citizens is trustworthy.

Speakers

Carolina Caeiro, Senior Internet Policy Specialist, Oxford Information Labs
Florencia Coelho, Co-founder, La Nación Data
Ryan Merkley, Senior Technology Fellow, The Aspen Institute
Moderated by Ann Dwyer, Editor, Crain's Chicago Business

Creating an Ecosystem for AI Innovation
This workshop will examine how citizens and communities can be involved in the development of AI strategies, particularly through building knowledge about AI and ethical guidelines for use. It will also discuss what successful multi-sector collaborations look like, and how they are achieved.

Speakers

Christine Keung, General Partner, J2 Ventures
Hashim Mteuzi, Senior Program Director, Local Initiatives, Code for America
Satya Pandey, Chief Technology Officer – Investment Banking, William Blair
Neal Parikh, Adjunct Associate Professor, School of International & Public Affairs, Columbia University
Jenilee Keefe Singer, Senior Director of Government Affairs, Special Competitive Studies Project
Moderated by Michael Koh, Executive Fellow, Centre for Liveable Cities

Cities, Safety, and AI Ethics
In collaboration with Peace in our Cities, this workshop will examine the impact of AI-powered public safety and surveillance tools and explore how ethics can inform the design and use of AI tools to build peace in our cities. We'll discuss the important role of new technology in enhancing urban safety while respecting the rights of all residents.

Speakers

Celina Bottino, Project Director, Institute for Technology and Society Rio
Morgan Hitzig, Head of Operations and Growth Strategy, Peregrine
Max Isaacs, Senior Staff Attorney, Policing Project
Eric Jones, Deputy County Executive for Public Safety, Sacramento County
Stephen Lamoreaux, Director, Crime Data Analytics, Detroit Police Department
Moderated by Rachel Locke, Director, Violence, Inequality and Power Lab, University of San Diego

Closing Lunch

Starts at 12:00pm | Rosebud Randolph, 130 E. Randolph St.

Speakers

Two people sit in chairs, talking on stage

Our speakers represent a diverse cross-section of local and global leaders who come together to explore our world’s most pressing urban challenges from policymakers and scholars to business and civic leaders.

About the 2023 Speakers

Penny Abeywardena

Former Commissioner for International Affairs, New York City

Penny Abeywardena has held leadership roles in philanthropy, government, and multilateral institutions for more than 20 years. She is a contributing columnist at Forbes on leadership strategies. Her contributions have been recognized and celebrated by the United Nations and the World Economic Forum, among others. She was recently appointed to the rank of Knight in France’s National Order of Merit.

Jen Angel

CEO, Evergreen

Jen Angel is a builder of community, momentum, and places people love. As CEO of Evergreen, Angel leads the creation of inclusive, regenerative public spaces that bring people together with nature and each other. Headquartered at Evergreen Brick Works, and supporting communities across Canada to steward better places, Evergreen is helping to build better cities for people and the planet.

Micheline Ayoub

Executive Director, Sustainability in the Digital Age

Micheline Ayoub, PhD, is the executive director of sustainability at the Digital Age and the Future Earth Canada Hub. Her expertise ranges from data management to multi-stakeholder partnership development to the use of AI for multi-omic data analysis in sustainable agriculture. She has 20 years of experience promoting science-based evidence and cutting-edge technology.

Rashid Bashir

Dean, The Grainger College of Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Rashid Bashir is dean of the Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois. He previously held positions at National Semiconductor, Harvard Medical School, and Purdue University. He has authored and co-authored over 300 journal papers, has 55 patents, and co-founded startups Prenosis, Inc. and VedaBio, Inc. He is a member of National Academy of Medicine and National Academy of Inventors.

Beth Blauer

Associate Vice Provost for Public Sector Innovation, Johns Hopkins University

Beth Blauer is the associate vice provost for public sector innovation at Johns Hopkins University, where she oversees the Bloomberg Center for Government Excellence and the Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation. Under her leadership, the centers hosted, led, and supported the Coronavirus Resource Center. In 2022 Blauer was inducted into the National Academy of Public Administration.

Celina Bottino

Project Director, Institute of Technology and Society Rio

Celina Bottino is an expert on human rights and technology, affiliated with Harvard's Berkman Klein Center, and project director at ITS. She holds a master’s degree in human rights from Harvard University and formerly was a researcher at Human Rights Watch in New York and a supervisor at the Human Rights Clinic in Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV Rio).

Claire Bushey

Chicago Correspondent, Financial Times

Claire Bushey is the FT's Chicago correspondent. She reports on Boeing, Ford, General Motors, and all US airlines. She has covered the 737 Max crisis, the Miami condo collapse, the troubles of EV maker Nikola, and the trial of the police officer who murdered George Floyd. Before joining the FT, she wrote for Crain's Chicago Business.

Carolina Caeiro

Senior Internet Policy Specialist, Oxford Information Labs

Outside of Oxford Information Labs, Carolina Caeiro is also an academy fellow at Chatham House. She specializes in technology governance, with a focus on perspectives from the Global South. From Argentina, she worked for Latin America's first fact-checking organization and the Internet Registry, LACNIC. She's committed to building frameworks to ensure technology has a positive impact on society.

Martin Canning

Executive Director, Government Innovation, Evergreen

At Evergreen Canada, Martin Canning helps develop the organization’s next generation programs and finds the partners and investments to support them. Prior to Evergreen, he was a senior advisor to the government of Ontario on capital planning and procurement policy; and co-designed innovative infrastructure programs across numerous strategic policy domains.

Michael Donaldson Carbón

Commissioner for Urban Innovation, Barcelona City Council

Michael Donaldson Carbón is the commissioner for urban innovation with the Barcelona city council and previously was commissioner for innovation, electronic administration, and good government. Donaldson Carbón has worked as director of strategic planning and central services in Rubí and Gavà, Spain. He is a trainer in open government and transparency and has published several pieces on public management.

Ishanu Chattopadhyay

Assistant Professor of Medicine and Data Science, University of Chicago

Ishanu Chattopadhyay is an assistant professor of medicine and data science at the University of Chicago. An expert in AI and machine learning, he designs algorithms to predict trajectories of complex systems including pathogen mutations, human diseases, and social systems. He was the recipient of DARPA's Young Faculty Award in 2020 for studying cognitive dissonance and opinion dynamics.

Florencia Coelho

Co-Founder, La Nación Data

Florencia Coelho is co-founder of La Nación Data, having joined in 2006 as part of the Nueva Redacción project to familiarize journalists and managers with the potential of digital. She's a JSK Stanford Journalism Fellow, researching AI challenges and opportunities for journalism. She is focused on data journalism, open data, transparency, crowdsourcing, AI, climate change, and biodiversity crisis.

Renée Cummings

Professor of Practice in Data Science, University of Virginia

Renée Cummings, a 2023 VentureBeat AI Innovator Award winner, is an artificial intelligence, data, and tech ethicist, and the first data activist-in-residence at the University of Virginia’s School of Data Science, where she was named professor of practice in data science. She is committed to using AI to empower and transform, helping governments and organizations navigate the AI landscape.

Ivo H. Daalder

CEO, Chicago Council on Global Affairs

Ivo H. Daalder served as the US ambassador to NATO from 2009 to 2013. He joined the Council as president in 2013 and took on the new role of CEO in 2023. Previously, he was a senior fellow in foreign policy studies at the Brookings Institution and served as director for European affairs on President Bill Clinton’s National Security Council. He is the author or editor of 10 books.

Ann Dwyer

Editor, Crain’s Chicago Business

Ann Dwyer is the editor of Crain’s Chicago Business, overseeing all aspects of its news operation. She took on the position in 2019, becoming the first woman to do so since the publication's founding in 1978.

Nick Farina

Co-founder and CEO, EeroQ

Nick Farina is co-founder and CEO of EeroQ, a Chicago-based company building a highly differentiated quantum computer (QC) using trapped electrons above the surface of liquid helium. He's a fixture on the QC scene. Farina has served as an advisor to multiple Fortune 500 companies, venture capital firms, and top-tier consultancies on the development of quantum computing for business.

David Graff

Vice President, Global Policy & Standards, Trust & Safety, Google

David Graff is vice president of Google's Global Policy and Standards team, within Trust & Safety. He is responsible for leading an internationally based group of policy experts and legal professionals that develop policies to improve user experiences across a wide variety of Google products. Before joining Google, Graff spent over 25 years in high-profile roles with public and private companies.

Kris Hartley

Nonresident Fellow, Global Cities

Kris Hartley is assistant professor of public policy at City University of Hong Kong and a nonresident fellow at the Council since 2015. He researches power and knowledge in the policymaking process, focusing on technology and the environment. Hartley has served as a Fulbright Scholar in Thailand and has published three books, including one with Cambridge University Press.

Morgan Hitzig

Head of Operations and Growth Strategy, Peregrine

Morgan Hitzig leads strategy and operations for Peregrine, a data analytics platform that helps public safety agencies solve problems by making data more accessible and actionable. She previously served as senior director of strategic partnerships at Dataminr, a leading AI business focused on event and risk detection. Previously, Hitzig was also an analyst with the NYPD's Counterterrorism Bureau.

Max Isaacs

Senior Staff Attorney, Policing Project

Max Isaacs is a senior staff attorney with the Policing Project. His work focuses on emerging policing technologies and their implications for civil rights, civil liberties, and racial justice.

Brandon Johnson

Mayor, City of Chicago

Mayor Johnson began his career as a public school teacher before becoming an organizer for the Chicago Teachers Union, where he led multi-racial coalitions to defend neighborhood schools from privatization. He was elected Cook County Commissioner for the first district in 2018 and led the effort to pass the Just Housing Ordinance. In 2023, Johnson was elected mayor of Chicago.

Eric Jones

Deputy County Executive, Sacramento County

Eric Jones is a nationally recognized advocate for principled policing, evidence-based practices, and strengthening relationships between law enforcement and communities. He has served as Sacramento County’s deputy county executive for the Public Safety and Justice Agency since February 2022, where he oversees the departments of Coroner, Probation, Public Defender, and Conflict Criminal Defender.

Christine Keung

General Partner, J2 Ventures

Christine Keung's career spans the public and private sector, having worked in all levels of government, served in leadership roles at high-growth companies like Dropbox and Figma, and held investment roles at Bridgewater Associates and Atomic VC. Keung is a State Department Fulbright Scholar, Tech Policy fellow at the Aspen Institute, and a member of Schmidt Futures' International Strategy Forum.

Ian Klaus

Founding Director, Carnegie California

Ian Klaus is a leading scholar on the nexus of urbanization, geopolitics, and global challenges, with extensive experience as a practitioner of subnational diplomacy. Klaus co-led and served as the series editor for the Summary for Urban Policymakers, a landmark report that distilled over 8,000 pages of IPCC science into 80 pages of accessible, policy-relevant material for urban policymakers.

Michael Koh

Executive Fellow, Centre for Liveable Cities

Michael Koh is an executive fellow with the Centre for Liveable Cities at Singapore's Ministry of National Development. He has 25 years of experience in public service including appointments as CEO of the National Heritage Board and the National Art Gallery. He has also worked in the private sector with real estate firms such as Mapletree Holdings and SC Global.

Yuriko Koike

Governor, Tokyo

Yuriko Koike is the Governor of Tokyo. Re-elected for a second term in 2020, she’s Tokyo’s first female governor. Koike has previously served as a member of the House of Representatives of Japan and has held several cabinet positions, including Minister of the Environment and Minister of Defense.

Raja Krishnamoorthi

Member of Congress

Raja Krishnamoorthi represents the 8th District of Illinois, which includes Chicago’s west and northwest suburbs. He is the Ranking Member of the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party and is also a member of the Emerging Leaders Class of 2010.

Stephen Lamoreaux

Director, Crime Data Analytics, Detroit Police Department

Stephen Lamoreaux currently serves as the director of Crime Data Analytics for the Detroit Police Department where he has worked in a variety of roles. His focus with DPD has been on developing new analyses, improving data collection and automation, building capacity, and implementing technology in support of crime reduction strategies.

Alison Lands

Head of Strategy, SkyHive Technologies

Alison Lands leads strategy at SkyHive Technologies, a global innovator in AI skills intelligence. As SkyHive’s resident “skills evangelist,” she partners with stakeholders across the workforce ecosystem to create strategies for skills resilience and economic mobility, including Fortune 500 employers, postsecondary institutions, national, state, and local governments, and nonprofit organizations.

Danielle Li

Associate Professor, Technical Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Strategic Management, MIT Sloane School of Management

Danielle Li is an associate professor of technological innovation, entrepreneurship, and strategy at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Her research uses data analytics to study how organizations evaluate people and ideas and the economic consequences of those decisions. Her work has been published in leading academic journals and has been covered in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.

Rachel Locke

Director, Violence, Inequality and Power Lab, University of San Diego

Rachel Locke is director of the Violence, Inequality and Power (VIP) Lab at the Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice, University of San Diego. In previous roles, Locke served as head of research for violence prevention with the Pathfinders for Peaceful, Just and Inclusive Societies at New York University and Senior Policy Advisor for Conflict Mitigation at USAID.

John Lorinc

Journalist and Editor

John Lorinc is a Toronto journalist and editor who writes about cities, climate, and business. He contributes to publications such as The Globe and Mail, Corporate Knights, and Spacing Magazine, where he is senior editor. He's the author of three other books and is the Toronto non-fiction editor for Coach House Books. He has edited or co-edited seven anthologies in Coach House's uTOpia series.

Amen Ra Mashariki

Director of Data Strategies and AI lead, Bezos Earth Fund

Amen Ra Mashariki is the director of data strategies and the AI lead at the Bezos Earth Fund, where he works to identify strategies and solutions that will help environmental justice organizations use AI to solve complex issues. He was previously a senior principal scientist at NVIDIA, where he led their global Urban AI initiatives, and was the first chief analytics officer for New York City.

Ryan Merkley

Senior Technology Fellow, Aspen Institute

Ryan Merkley works across many topics including AI, open source, intellectual property, data and privacy, and information integrity. He is also the CEO of an emerging biotech non-profit, as well as an affiliate of the Harvard Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society, the founding Chair of the Flickr Foundation, and a board member at VotingWorks.

Elaine Moore

Deputy Editor of LEX, Financial Times

Elaine Moore is deputy editor of the FT’s Lex column and writes commentary on the technology industry from the San Francisco bureau. Prior to this she covered global government debt from London, with a particular focus on the debt crisis in Greece, Ukraine, and Venezuela.

Hashim Mteuzi

Senior Program Director, Local Initiatives, Code for America

In his position at Code for America, Hashim Mteuzi champions race equity and poverty alleviation. His work improves local government service delivery for marginalized communities. He created the Community Fellowship Program and has partnered with 15 governments to elevate essential services to underserved people. Mteuzi advocates collective well-being and self-determination.

Hannah Murphy

Tech Reporter, Financial Times

Hannah Murphy is a tech reporter at the Financial Times on the social media beat writing about Meta, Twitter, TikTok, and YouTube, based out of San Francisco. She has previously covered crypto and cybersecurity. In addition, she regularly moderates panels for FT Live and at other conferences and c-suite events, and won the MHP 30 under 30 To Watch: Young Journalists of the Year award in 2018.

Satya Pandey

CTO - Investment Banking, William Blair

Satya Pandey is the CTO of Investment Banking at William Blair, specializing in implementing AI and advanced software solutions to drive transformation. He previously founded a start-up that developed an AI-powered app for home sellers. His 20+ years of experience spans the technology space, and his AI expertise is underpinned by a comprehensive understanding of the technology's impact potential.

Neal Parikh

Adjunct Associate Professor, School of International & Public Affairs, Columbia University

Neal Parikh is a computer scientist who most recently served as the first director of artificial intelligence for New York City and is currently adjunct associate professor at Columbia. Previously, he co-founded a technology startup, SevenFifty, which was acquired after 10 years in operation, and was a fellow at the Aspen Institute. He received his Ph.D. in computer science from Stanford.

Margot Pritzker

Chair, Aspen Institute Board of Trustees

Margot Pritzker is chair of the Aspen Institute board of trustees and a member of the board of directors and executive committee of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. She is the co-founder and executive chair of the Community Food Navigator, as well as a board member for Urban Growers Collective, Grow Greater Englewood, and the Israel Now Education Foundation.

Hairil Rizal Abdullah

Clinical Director, Office of Value Based Healthcare, Singapore General Hospital

Hairil Rizal is a senior consultant anesthesiologist and the clinical director for the Office of Value Based Healthcare (OVBH) in Singapore General Hospital. His passion for lifelong learning has led him to be awarded the National Medical Research Council of Singapore Research Training Fellowship in 2020 and the prestigious Lee Kuan Yew Scholarship by the Public Service Commission, Singapore in 2022.

Noelle Russell

Data and AI Lead, Accenture Federal Services

Noelle Russell is an award-winning technologist with an entrepreneurial spirit who specializes in helping companies with data, cloud, conversational AI, Generative AI, and LLMs. She has led teams at NPR, Microsoft, IBM, AWS and Amazon Alexa, and is a consistent champion for data and AI literacy. She is a recipient of the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) award for Artificial Intelligence.

Anshu Sharma

Co-Founder, SEEDS

Dr. Anshu Sharma is a co-founder of SEEDS, a humanitarian organization that received the UN Sasakawa Award for Disaster Risk Reduction in 2022. Sharma has pioneered technologies for hyper-local risk assessments to help build climate and disaster resilience. He co-founded STS in 2009 as a techno-environment enterprise that enables end-to-end humanitarian interventions at scale.

Stephanie Simmons

Founder and Chief Quantum Officer, Photonic Inc.

Dr. Stephanie Simmons is the founder and chief quantum officer at Photonic Inc., co-chair of the advisory board to Canada’s National Quantum Strategy, and a research chair in Quantum Nanoelectronics, among other titles. She is a leading expert in quantum technologies, condensed matter spin dynamics and control, and silicon spin-photon interfaces.

Jenilee Keefe Singer

Senior Director of Government Affairs, Special Competitive Studies Project

Prior to her work at SCSP, Jenilee Keefe Singer served in federal government for 16 years, including at the US Commerce Department’s General Counsel Office, Legislative & Intergovernmental Affairs Office, and NIST; National Security Commission on AI, and House Appropriations and Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committees.

Peter Spiegel

US Managing Editor, Financial Times

Peter Spiegel is currently the US managing editor of the Financial Times. Prior to that, he worked at the Los Angeles Times and the Wall Street Journal.

Jenn Thom

Director of Experience Insights, Code for America

Jenn Thom leads a research team at Code for America focused on understanding the beliefs, needs, and values of people to create a foundation for life-changing products and services for a human-centered government. Previously, she led a team at Spotify in prototyping machine learning experiences and built language understanding models for Amazon Alexa.

Jamie VanDodick

Director, AI Ethics and Governance, IBM

Jamie VanDodick is director, AI ethics and governance for IBM's AI Ethics Board, a multi-disciplinary team responsible for the governance and decision-making process for AI ethics policies and practices. She has held leadership roles at IBM in cybersecurity, GDPR vendor management, supply chain, and CIO. VanDodick holds a JD, MBA, PMP and is a certified Agile Coach.

Brenda Darden Wilkerson

President and CEO, AnitaB.org

Brenda Darden Wilkerson is an advocate for access, opportunity, and social justice for historically excluded communities in technology. She currently serves as the president and CEO of AnitaB.org, a global nonprofit organization that connects, inspires, and strives for greater equality for women and non-binary technologists in business, academia, and government.

Bianca Wylie

Co-Founder and Partner, Digital Public

Bianca Wylie is a writer with a dual technology and public engagement background. She is a partner at Digital Public, founded the Open Data Institute Toronto, and co-founded Civic Tech Toronto. Wylie is on the advisory boards of the Electronic Privacy Information Centre and The Computational Democracy Project and is a senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation.

About

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Since 2015, the Pritzker Forum on Global Cities, cohosted by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and the Financial Times, has elevated the role cities play in addressing critical global challenges through its high-level convenings.

The 2023 in-person Pritzker Forum is invitation-only. Watch videos and see the speakers from past events.

About the Chicago Council on Global Affairs

The Chicago Council on Global Affairs is an independent, nonpartisan organization that provides insight on critical global issues, advances policy solutions, and fosters dialogue about what is happening in the world and why it matters to people in Chicago, the United States, and around the globe.

About the Financial Times

The Financial Times is one of the world’s leading business news organizations, recognized internationally for its authority, integrity, and accuracy. The FT has a record paying readership of one million, three-quarters of which are digital subscriptions. It is part of Nikkei Inc., which provides a broad range of information, news, and services for the global business community.

Three people stand in front of a dinosaur skeleton — Guests attend the opening night reception and dinner for the 2016 Chicago Forum on Global Cities at the Field Museum.

Five people sit in chairs on stage during an event — Gillian Tett, former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Abha Joshi Ghani, Bristol Mayor Marvin Rees, and Aromar Revi lead a panel discussion at the 2019 Pritzker Forum on Global Cities.

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