Speakers

All our invited speakers are female executives, engineers, policy makers, and academics who help solve the unique challenges facing autonomous driving.

First Mile to Last Mile Autonomy
(Virtual Panel)

Speakers Include:

Apeksha Kumavat is the Co-Founder and Chief Engineer at Gatik, a Palo Alto based start-up developing autonomous vehicles for B2B short-haul logistics. Its operations help customers meet consumer demand for real-time goods, increase road safety and meet an unprecedented expectation for contactless delivery.

Prior, Apeksha was the Perception Lead at Ford Motor Company's self-driving car unit where she designed effective and efficient feature detection methods to assist with online localization and developed perception algorithms for autonomous vehicles. She has also held the position of Lead Machine Learning Engineer at Otsaw Digital where she designed and developed state-of-the-art deep learning networks for autonomous navigation of the O-R3 patrolling robot in non-static outdoor environments.

Apeksha earned her M.S. (with a focus on Machine/Deep Learning) from Purdue University and has contributed towards research in areas including machine learning, cognitive science, and robotics.

Apeksha Kumavat.
Co-Founder & Chief Engineer, Gatik

Amy Jones Satrom.
Head of Operations, Nuro

Amy Jones Satrom is Head of Operations at Nuro, where she leads on-road operations, software quality and mapping operations, and Operations Product. She leads teams across the US, most notably in Houston, TX Scottsdale, AZ and Mountain View, CA. Prior to joining Nuro, Amy led operations at 23andMe where she was responsible for overseeing supply chain, lab operations, logistics, and operating systems. Previously, she held various leadership roles at Amazon, across both operations and the company’s retail businesses. Amy started her career as a nuclear engineer in the US Navy. Amy received her Master of Philosophy in Engineering for Sustainable Development from the University of Cambridge, and her B.S. in Oceanography from the United States Naval Academy.

Lia Theodosiou-Pisanelli leads product, program, and operations functions at Aurora. She manages a 100+ person team that is responsible for defining the products Aurora builds and running the programs to deliver them with automotive, logistics, freight, and mobility partners. Her team is also responsible for Aurora’s fleet and commercial operations across North America -- with hubs in California, Texas, and Pennsylvania.

Lia was previously Lyft’s Director of Business Development and Strategy, where she built strategic automotive, technology, and transit alliances. Prior to Lyft, she led Square’s Global Government Relations, and helped the company navigate market and product expansion in both nascent and highly regulated environments. Before joining the tech industry, Lia served in the Executive Branch of the U.S. Government as both a civil servant and political appointee. Lia remains active in national security and economic policy as a Truman National Security Fellow.