Wayne Sutton is a serial entrepreneur and co-founder of Change Catalyst and its Tech Inclusion programs with passion to inspire entrepreneurs to use technology to change the world.

Melinda is a TED speaker, diversity and inclusion advocate and leader building inclusive innovation economies around the world. She has more than 20 years of experience elevating brands and developing business innovation strategies for entrepreneurs, Fortune 500 companies and global NGOs. As CEO of Change Catalyst, Melinda works with the tech industry to solve diversity and inclusion together. She co-leads a series of global solutions-focused conferences called Tech Inclusion, and is Director at Backstage Capital, where she develops startup programs and builds inclusive entrepreneur ecosystems for underrepresented founders.

Alicia Syrett is the Founder/CEO of Pantegrion Capital, an angel investment vehicle focused on seed and early stage investments, and The Point 25 Initiative which helps women-led companies build robust Advisory Boards. She was named as one of LinkedIn’s 2018 “Top Voices in Startups and Entrepreneurship,” one of the “30 Women in Venture Capital to Watch in 2018” by Business Insider, and one of the “25 Angel Investors in New York You Need to Know” by AlleyWatch. She has appeared on CNBC and MSNBC 100+ times, and her TED talk on “Why VCs and Angel Investors Say ‘No’ to Entrepreneurs” has been viewed over 70,000 times.

Madelena is currently the Digital Director at StartupBus, and had previously directed our 9th and 10th annual competitions. Featured on the Startup Podcast, Nasdaq, Wired Magazine, and CBS News, Madelena has designed user experience for many startups and organizations, such as, the United Nations, Trillian, Remesh, ZocDoc, and GoGoVan. She advocates for diversity and inclusion of transgender and queer communities through StartOut and Impact Hub. No stranger to hackathons and startup competitions, she had also been awarded by the Mayor's Office of New York City at NYC Big Apps and by TechCrunch at TechCrunch Disrupt Hackathon.