Faisal Hoque is the founder of SHADOKA and NextChapter and

serves as a transformation and innovation partner for CACI, an $8

billion company focused on U.S. national security. He is a #1 Wall

Street Journal bestselling author with ten award-winning books to

his name. His new book, TRANSCEND: Unlocking Humanity in the

Age of AI, was named a ‘must read’ by the Next Big Idea Club and

selected as a Financial Times business book of the month. It

became an instant bestseller—across multiple categories—on

the USA Today (#1 in Computers, #1 in Philosophy, #3 in Business & Economics, #5 in All

Non-Fiction), Los Angeles Times (#7 in All Non-Fiction), and Publishers Weekly lists.

For thirty years, he has been developing commercial business and technology systems,

and enabling leadership teams at MasterCard, American Express, GE, Home Depot, French

Social Security Services, US Department of Defense (DoD), US Department of Homeland

Security (DHS), PepsiCo, IBM, Chase, and others with sustainable growth. Today, Faisal is a

highly sought-after innovation and transformation (digital/AI, business, organization)

partner for both public and private sector organizations, and recognized as one of the

world’s leading management thinkers and technologists.

As a founder and CEO of multiple companies, he is a three-time winner of the Deloitte

Technology Fast 50™ and Fast 500™ awards. Faisal is a contributor at the MIT's IDEAS Social

Innovation program, Thinkers50, and the Swiss business school IMD. His work has

appeared in Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, The Wall Street Journal, MIT Sloan

Management Review, The Financial Times, Psychology Today, BIG Think, Business

Insider, Fortune, Inc., Kiplinger, Yahoo Finance, Fox, ABC, CBS, and others.

Faisal’s work and life are profoundly influenced by a distinctive fusion of Eastern

philosophy and American entrepreneurial spirit. He frequently speaks at international

conferences, business schools, corporate gatherings, and business summits. Inspired by

personal experiences, Faisal is a passionate advocate for cancer research, raising

awareness and supporting research efforts to combat the disease.

Gabe is the owner of River Valley Therapy and Sports Medicine, a series of outpatient therapy clinics in northcentral Arkansas where the focus is delivering phenomenal patient care with a focus on customer service. In addition to serving the communities where these clinics are located, he enjoys working with payers and regulators to ensure that patients have the access to care that they deserve.

He is currently the President of Rehab Net of Arkansas, a collaboration of 200 different clinics and 1800 providers, where they provide shared administrative support in addition to delegated contracting and credentialing for these providers. He serves on the Board of Directors for CareSource PASSE, an Arkansas Managed Medicaid insurance company and is currently the pay chair for APTA- Arkansas. He is on various provider advisory committees with several insurance payers as well as the therapy workgroup for Arkansas Medicaid.

Gabe’s work on ensuring sustainable reimbursement models with payers has resulted in him being twice awarded the APTA-Arkansas Distinguished Service Award as well as the Greg Wren Legislative Award. He currently serves on the PPS Payment and Policy Committee as well as the Payment Consortium. He enjoys teaching at various universities on topics such as payment, coding, and leadership development.

Leslie Grandy is an author, speaker, and CEO advisor who guides companies, teams, and product leaders to expand their creative capacity to invent and innovate for customers, disrupt and grow their market opportunities, and maintain relevance in a fast-changing world. Organizations like Oracle, Starbucks, and Red Robin Gourmet Burgers turn to Leslie to ignite creativity across their workforce and empower everyone, regardless of role or level, to identify novel solutions and think expansively. Leslie’s book, "Creative Velocity," debuts in early 2025.

Leslie’s career has taken her on a 25+ year journey, from a successful career in the film industry in Los Angeles as a member of the Directors Guild of America to iconic brands, such as Amazon, Best Buy, Discovery, T-Mobile, and Apple. She’s built teams from the ground up and led multiple first-to-market products; she was on the front end of the earliest digital media subscription services from major content brands like Major League Baseball, NASCAR, CNN, and ABCNews and co-authored a patent currently held by Intel. Leslie has led internal innovation labs and is an IDEO-trained leader in Design Thinking.

Leslie has educated product leaders and executives through The Product Guild, the University of Michigan College of Engineering's Center for Entrepreneurship, and as a guest lecturer at the University of Washington Foster School of Business.

She co-created and serves as the Lead Executive in Residence in the Product Management Leadership Accelerator, part of the Foster School's Executive Education program.

She is a member of the Board of Advisors and Adjunct Faculty at Regis College's Marshall Sloane School of Business in Product Management and Service Design and West Virginia University’s College of Creative Arts and Media.