As the Executive-in-Residence, Roman Dumiak acts as the liaison between the DePaul faculty and corporate enterprises that are currently engaged with DePaul's iDLab. Working to bridge the gap between the business and academic communities around innovation

Yele has served as an Associate Professor of the College of Computing and Digital Media for DePaul University since 2000. His research focuses on IT Outsourcing, ERP systems implementation, and Information Systems Quality, IT Evaluation and Emotional Intelligence among IT Leaders, culminating in over eighty publications found in journals, books, and articles. Yele has conducted studies and executives’ presentations in both mid-size and large multinational companies in Europe, Africa and the United States as well as having chaired several academic and industry focused conferences. He also started the CDM study abroad program in 1994. Yele holds an MS in Information Processing Science from University of Oulu (Oulu, Finland) and PhD in Information Systems from the Turku School of Economics and Business Administration (Turku, Finland).

Tayo Akinyemi runs Query Insights, a research and strategy firm. She has spent several years working in African tech, innovation, and entrepreneurship, with an emphasis on helping institutions build tech hubs and accelerator programs. Previously, Tayo served as a Consultant for Open Society Initiative for West Africa, (OSIWA) and RSA, where she led initiatives to establish models of ownership and the future of work in Africa. Prior, she conducted research for both Kinyungu Ventures and the International Trade Centre on early stage investing in Africa and the role of tech hubs in African startup ecosystems. Prior to that, she held several leadership roles, including Senior Consultant with the World Bank Group for XL Africa, the first Executive Director of AfriLabs, and Executive Committee Member of Dakar Network Angels (DNA). Tayo is a Gurus & Griots Fellow with IE University and holds an MBA from Cornell University, and a BA from Princeton University. Tayo is based in Chicago, Illinois.

Luke Tanen has served as President and CEO of Chicago Innovation since 2021. In his over 12-year tenure with the organization, he has held several leadership roles, including Executive Director and Director. Luke holds an undergraduate degree from Northwestern University and MBA from Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management. Luke is based in Chicago, Illinois.

Andy Code serves as Founding Partner and Chairman of Promus. He is focused on identifying and managing private equity investments and serves on the investment committee for Promus Access. He is also very involved with business development for the firm. Andy holds a BA in Finance and an MBA from the University of Iowa. Andrew is based in Naples, Florida.

Aleksandar Velkoski serves as Senior Manager of Online Data Science at Home Depot as well as an Adjunct Professor at DePaul University. In his role at Home Depot, he and his team focus on the development of innovative applications and solutions for the online, marketing, merchandising, data & analytics, and supply chain functions. Aleksandar holds a BS and MBA from Lawrence Technological University.

Andy Ford serves as the Global Head of Product Design for Kimberly-Clark. In his role, he has was key in driving the company’s digital transformation, establishing a Consumer and Enterprise User Experience Design, Research, and Strategy practice that supports Kimberly-Clark’s portfolio of flagship brands including Huggies, Depend, Kotex and Kleenex. The UX group supports all Consumer Brands and Marketing, and also supports Enterprise functions including Supply Chain, Logistics, CRM, B2B, Innovation and organizational applications used by tens of thousands of global employees. Establishing a living enterprise design system ensures consistency, standardization, and efficiencies across 175+ countries. Andy hold a BA from Georgia State University and resides in Atlanta, Georgia.

Brad has served as Founder and CEO of P33 since 2018. In this role, he drives global technology leadership and inclusive economic growth for Chicago. He brings over 20 years of professional experience optimizing economic opportunities for both businesses and individuals. Previously, he served as Senior Partner at BCG where he led their Operations Practice and was a BHI Fellow researching impact investing and ESG. Brad served as a Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford and holds both a BA and MA from the University of Chicago.

Alexis serves as a Consultant in IT Strategy for Deloitte in Paris, France. Previously, he held several leadership roles, including Scrum Master, Product Owner, and Lab Manager for the DePaul ID Lab in Chicago. Alexis holds a BA in Business Administration from BBA INSEEC(France); a BS from Linkoping University (Sweden); and a MS in Information System Management from DePaul University. Alexis resides in Paris, France.

Shardool has served as VP and Head of Design for OneMain Financial since March of 2022. In this role, Shardool leads the user experience and design teams. As a design leader, he rallies teams to tackle complex problems through intuitive design and strategic problem solving. Prior, Shardool served as Associate UX Director and UX Design Leader for OneMain Financial. Previously, Shardool has held several UX leadership roles within consulting, having worked deeply in financial services, insurance, advertising, marketing and design strategy. Shardool holds degrees from the University of Illinois Chicago and a BA in Interactive Design from The Art Institutes.

Neil Goodrich serves as Chief Innovation Officer for Envista Forensics responsible for leading the Innovation team which includes all traditional IT services and operations. His responsibilities include soliciting, collecting, managing, and driving new ideas for the organization. Prior, Neil spent 15 years in technology leadership, most recently serving as the Chief Innovation Officer for M. Holland Company, where he was responsible for all IT functions as well as leading digital change within the organization. Neil holds a BA in Criminal Justice from the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) and an MBA from the UIC Liautaud Graduate School of Business.

Isabela is a graduate student at DePaul University studying Information Systems. She joined he Lab in 2021 as a Scrum Master and was appointed Lab Manager in May of 2022. Prior, Isabela served as a Data Analytics Corporate Intern for Gallagher as well as Account Executive and Sales Development Representative for ACP CreativIT. Isabela holds a BS in Business Administration from Northern Illinois University.

Heath serves as Director of Sustainability at the UN Foundation’s Digital Impact Alliance’s Open Source Center which supports Digital Public Goods (DPGs) through business and community governance advisory services, access to volunteer mentoring programs, grants for critical infrastructure development, and outreach. Heath has spent over 15 years founding and scaling tech-driven startups in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. He thrives at the intersection of technology and social good, with experience in founding startups, impact investing and product incubation. Understanding the unique challenges of building and managing digital projects in emerging markets, Heath brings diverse expertise in business strategy and technology Heath holds a BA from Lewis University; a MA in Sustainable International Development from Brandeis University; and an MBA in International Business from Loyola University Chicago.

Suzanne serves as Partner for PwC, with a focus in modern workplace and experience leadership since 2020. She has a demonstrated history of working with services industry which includes skills supporting Global Delivery, IT Strategy, Competency/Center of Excellence Build and IT Operations Management. She is passionate about connecting and strengthening teams and has formed global alliance relationships Previously, Suzanne served in several leadership roles, including North America Practice Lead and Chief Architect for Collaboration Services at Cognizant as well as Senior Solutions Architect and Technical Architect at Perficient. Suzanne holds degrees in Chemistry from Southwestern University and Midland College.

Mechie Nkengla has served as Chief Executive Officer and Principal Data Strategist for Data Products LLC since 2014. She acts as a strategic advisor to the Executive Leadership teams, building strategic data roadmaps and tactical plans to ensure optimal use of technology investments and data assets to drive ROI. Previously, Mechie served as Director of Data Science withing the Global Center of Excellence for EY and held Data Scientist roles for Groupon and Talk3. Mechie holds a MS in Mathematical Computer Science and a PhD in Applied Mathematics both from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Claude has served as Director of Platform for P33 since April 2022. He comes from the world of startups, purpose-driven to do his part to help make Chicago the best place in the world for founders and startups. He has spent his entire career operating at leading Chicago startups, most recently, Chicago unicorn ActiveCampaign.

Salma Ghanem, PhD, was appointed provost on May 7, 2021, after serving as interim provost since July 2019 and acting provost since October 2018. Ghanem joined DePaul in August 2014 as dean of the College of Communication. Prior to joining DePaul, she served as dean of the College of Communication and Fine Arts at Central Michigan University. She also held the position of chair of the Department of Communication at the University of Texas Pan American. Salma holds a PhD in Journalism from the University of Texas at Austin.

Manuel has served as VP of Corporate IT, Head of Business for the Americas, and CIO of the Americas for Bosch since spring of 2021. He has over 20 years of experience, first as a Start Up Entrepreneur in the Educational Technology space, then in the global Bosch organization driving IoT and Digital. Previously, Manuel held several leadership roles within the Bosch organization, including Global Head of Digital Business and Global Lead of Digital and IoT Products. Manuel holds degrees from TU Darmstadt and the Polytechnic University of Madrid.

Ljubomir Perkovic joined the CDM School of Computing faculty in 2000. His research interests include computational geometry, graph theory and algorithms, distributed computing, computer science education, and computational thinking. From 2008 to 2011, he was a Co-PI on an NSF funded project to expand Computational Thinking across the Liberal Studies curriculum. He received a Fulbright Research Award to support his computational geometry research and visited the University of Bordeaux during the 2011/2012 academic year. Dr. Perkovic also wrote the introductory computer science textbook "Introduction to Computing using Python" (Wiley & Sons, 2012, 2015). He is the coach of the DePaul Programming teams. Dr. Perkovic holds a PhD in Algorithms, Combinatorics and Optimization from the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University.

Deepak has served as SVP and Chief Information Officer of Zebra Technologies since February 2021. In his over 15-year tenure with the company, Deepak has been instrumental in leading the growth of Zebra technologies from $800M to $6B through big and bold Enterprise business transformation, innovation, cybersecurity, digitization, M&A, and other programs. Previously, Deepak held several consultant roles where he successfully led business transformation projects and built value for Oracle, Life Fitness & other Fortune 500 firms. Deepak holds undergraduate degrees from United World College of SE Asia and Vassar College; a BE in Engineering from Dartmouth College; and an MBA from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

John founded Great Falls Ventures, a venture capital firm based in Washington, D.C, in 2007. He has a unique background of running huge technology organization as well as startups. John has served as Chief Technology Officer for such companies as General Electric, Merrill Lynch, AOL, and News Corporation. He has been awarded CTO of the Year and has received a variety of awards for products he led the development of in the financial services, entertainment, and education sectors. John's work in artificial intelligence dates back over 18 years. His initial work in the AI sector was the delivery of the first robo-advisor solution for Merrill Lynch, which allowed the company to better serve a wider range of consumers. John McKinley holds a BS in Decision Science and Finance from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Mike serves as a Partner of Emerging Technologies for KPMG US. He is an innovative technology executive with diverse experiences across emerging technologies, digital platforms, and traditional IT systems. Mike specializes in leading teams through complex business transformation and helping design a strategy to build digital technology solutions founded on underlying principles of modern architecture. Mike holds a BS in Information Systems and an MS in Accountancy, both from DePaul University.

Natalya serves as an executive of AVP Foundational Platforms in the Office of the CTO for Merck. She is an executive with over 20 years of experience in Global IT Transformation Programs, Intelligent Automation, Digital Commerce, Enterprise Risk Management, Data Privacy, Audit and Compliance. Previously, Natalya spent over 22 years with Abbott, holding several leadership positions including IT Director of Finance Transformation, Director of Digital Experience Services, and Director of Regional Cybersecurity Organization. Prior, she held various auditor positions within Motorola, Grant Thornton, and Arthur Andersen. Natalya holds a BS in accounting from the University of Illinois Chicago and an MBA from Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management.

Dr. Lucia Dettori became Interim Dean of the Jarvis College of Computing and Digital Media (CDM) in July 2022. An Associate Professor in CDM’s College of Computing, she joined DePaul in 2000 and has served as an Associate Dean at CDM since 2007. Before joining CDM, Lucia held visiting positions at Brown University and Southern Methodist University. Lucia holds a BS and MS in applied mathematics from the University of Parma, and a PhD in applied mathematics from the University of Paris XI in France.

Olga has served as VP of IT Data Analytics, Transformation and Automation for Baxter since September 2021. Previously, Olga held several leadership roles for HERE (formerly NAVTEQ) including served as VP of the Planning and Innovation Enablement, leading a global, cross-functional team responsible for accelerating innovation. Prior to HERE, she held multiple managerial roles at both Motorola and Information Business Support (Institute of Informatics) in St. Petersburg, Russia, concentrating on Quality Assurance and Program Development. Olga holds a MS in Economics and Marketing from St. Petersburg State Technical University.

Melissa has served as Chief Experience Officer for mHUB since 2016 where she is focused on leading teams to design solutions that drive engagement, collaboration, and success for mHUB corporate partners and startups. Previously, Melissa served as Chief Marketing Officer of 1871, Chicago’s innovation hub, and helped found MATTER. Prior to civic entrepreneurship, she served as the SVP of marketing for Q Interactive (formerly CoolSavings) where she oversaw all marketing, communications and creative functions and served on the company’s senior leadership team. Melissa holds a BA in journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Terry Finch serves as Divisional VP of Digital Technology Services for the global healthcare company Abbott Laboratories. He oversees and directs all aspects of enterprise architecture and IT strategy for global business systems across all business domains. He’s also accountable for driving innovation, and transformational programs that deliver business differentiating results. Previously, Terry held several leadership positions within Abbott, including Senior Director of Commercial, Digital and Innovation, Chief Architect, and UK Head of IT. Prior to his 15-year tenure with Abbott, Terry worked for Basingstoke & Deane Borough Council and Scott Wilson. Terry holds a degree in computing from the University of Portsmouth (England).

Bethany Petryszak Mudd serves as Senior Director of Experience Design for Slalom Build. She delights in making empathy actionable across technology’s processes. With over 15 years of experience, she has transformed ecosystems and expanded the role of product design. Understanding that seeing is solving and value realization is a journey, Bethany leverages human-centered thinking and service design to guide outcomes. Previously, Bethany has held several leadership roles, most notably serving as Director of User Experience Design for Opternative; User Experience Strategist for Allstate; and User Experience Consultant for Nationwide Insurance. Bethany holds a BFA in Art and Technology from The Ohio State University.

Mouhamad serves as a High Performance Computing (HPC) Engineer for KAU HPC Center at King AbdulaAziz University. KAU offers an array of services in Big Data Analytics and Artificial intelligence to business, academic, and government organizations. Previously, Mouhamad served as a Software Engineer for the DePaul ID Lab. Mouhamad holds a BS in Information Technology from King AbdulAziz University (Jeddah, Saudi Arabia) and an MS in Computer Science from DePaul University (2021). He currently resides in Saudi Arabia.

Neda has served as Associate Director of Data Science for CCC Intelligent Solutions since Nov-2021. At CCC, she has led multiple data science teams that work on AI applications focused on machine learning, computer vision, and natural language processing. Prior to her current role, Neda held many senior leadership positions within CCC, including Senior R&D Manager of Computer Vision and Lead Computer Vision Data Scientist. Neda holds both a master’s degree and PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Southern Illinois, Carbondale.

Paul Serves as CIO for Rotary International where he leads a global team of information technology professionals who deliver and support the digital tools and products used by Rotary International, Rotary Foundation staff members, and Rotary clubs worldwide. He also ensures Rotary’s technology is innovative and modern, focusing on continuous improvement and value to all participants. Paul has more than 20 years of technology experience across multiple industries. Previously, he served as Chief Information Officer and Chief Technology Officer for the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons; Vice President of Information Technology for YMCA of the USA; and Director of IT Services for Source Interlink Companies. Paul holds a BS in computer science from Illinois State University and an MBA from the Johnson School of Business at Hodges University.

PJ serves as Innovation Senior Director of Creative Platform Technology for Salesforce Ignite. Prior, He held several other senior-level positions within the organization, including Innovation Director of Design and Strategic Innovation Executive of Design. Previously, he served as Co-Founder and Designer for Soundslice, an interactive learning tool for advanced musicians. PJ also served as Art Director and Web Designer for Siren Interactive. PJ holds a BS in art with a focus in Graphic Design from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Ryan has served a Digital Transformation Officer for Google since Apr-2020. In this role, he has led the development of Google’s healthcare solutions. He is a passionate leader with proven ability to develop and deliver global health and life sciences initiatives. He’s also skilled at [{{type}} Annotation] identifying and leveraging technologies, partnerships, and operational improvements to solve complex business challenges while driving sustainable corporate growth strategies. Ryan has over 20 years of experience with HCLS and technology. Prior to joining Google, he served as Global Vice President of Connectivity Solutions and Vice President of Corporate Solutions for Hill-Rom. He also served as CIO for University Hospitals. Ryan holds a BA from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and an MBA from Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland, OH).

Stina has served as a BI and Planning Consultant for Exsitec AB since January 2021. Prior, she served as a Business Intelligence Consultant for Millnet BI. Stina is an Atlantis Program alumnus, having graduated from DePaul University in 2018 with her MS in Information Systems. While at DePaul, she served as a Scrum Master and Assistant Lab Manager for the ID Lab. Stina holds a BS in Business Administration and Management from Linköping University (Sweden) and a MS in Information Systems from DePaul University.

Yannick has served as VP of Analytics Consulting for Gallagher since May 2021. Previously, he served as Analytics Manager where he led the Gallagher US Brokerage digital team to launch Gallagher Drive, their premier data and analytics platform. Previously, Yannick held several positions within Aon Global Risk Consulting, serving on the Business Development team where he managed the rebuild of the team’s management information as well as with the Actuarial & Analytics Practice where he specialized in analytical services to brokerage and consulting clients while working extensively with casualty lines of insurance. Yannick holds a BA in Economics from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Jack has served as SVP of IT Infrastructure for Stericycle since Sep-2020. He is a business focused IT leader with a successful track record in formulating IT strategies and leading teams that deliver results through complex systems and business process change, including business integration and large-scale transformational initiatives. He has experience working at senior level across a range of business functions including supply chain, marketing, sales, manufacturing, and finance. Previously, Jack held several leadership positions within Essendant throughout his 12-year tenure, including Vice President of IT, VP of IT Infrastructure and Operations, and IT Director of Supply Chain Systems. Jack holds a degree from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA in Finance and Marketing from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.