a2 National Symposium

Terik Tidwell is a technologist and cross-sector strategist in early-stage venture and ecosystem development. He currently serves as the head of platform and ecosystem at AHA Ventures leading value-creation and ecosystem engagement strategies with portfolio companies and across investment teams.

Previously, he was the director of innovation ecosystems at VentureWell—with notable engagements including the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) Investor Catalyst Hub, the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) National Innovation Network, and the Walton Family Foundation's tech translation initiative—and the founding executive director of the Smith Tech-Innovation Center. Tidwell is a Fulbright Scholar for Tech-Innovation, serves as an advisor to the NC IDEA Foundation, and has served as an expert in the NSF Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships.

Alex Triantis, PhD, joined the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School in 2019. During his tenure, Dr. Triantis has led the revision or launch of a large suite of graduate degree programs, and Carey’s reputation for innovative interdisciplinary research and impactful outreach has been further enhanced through its unique positioning in the business of health and in AI, its eight new centers of excellence, and its high-profile events featuring corporate and government leaders in Baltimore and at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center in Washington, D.C.

Before joining Carey Business School, Dr. Triantis served as dean of the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland from 2013 to 2019, and chair of the finance department from 2006 to 2011. He previously served on the faculty at the University of Wisconsin and was a visiting scholar at MIT’s Sloan School of Management. An expert in the areas of corporate financial strategy and valuation, Triantis has published articles in numerous prestigious academic journals, served on several journal editorial boards, and has consulted and led training for many multinational corporations. Triantis received his PhD from Stanford University and his BASc and MEng degrees from the University of Toronto.

Matthew Versaggi, MS, MBA, is an AI subject matter expert and senior leader in AI at the Fortune 5 healthcare level who has seen hundreds of use cases and has been in the AI space since the mid-1980s. He has decades of experience as an entrepreneur, graduate-level university professor, and public speaker. He holds patents in quantum computing, machine learning, and cognitive technology, and has chaired patent review boards that awarded hundreds of AI healthcare and technology patents.

While serving as a senior director at Optum Technology, Versaggi led the organization’s AI center of excellence and founded the College of Artificial Intelligence, which has trained hundreds of technologists. Versaggi is classically trained in AI at the graduate computer science level, holds four university degrees including an MBA, and has earned dozens of professional certificates in AI technology and AI business strategy.

Randall Williams, MD, is a visionary and experienced physician, executive, digital health pioneer and serial entrepreneur, board member, founder, and CEO. He is currently the CEO of WellSaid AI, an industry leader in the rapidly emerging field of AgeTech. WellSaid AI’s mission is to support active, healthy aging by improving the early detection and support of individuals with cognitive or physical decline, social isolation, and related challenges to living independently.

Dr. Williams brings a unique breadth of healthcare clinical and executive leadership, market and operational experience, and insight. Following his medical training at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine as a heart failure and transplant cardiologist, he was recruited to Northwestern University in Chicago. There, he built one of the first nationally recognized chronic care programs for heart failure and the organization’s care management infrastructure. In 2004, he launched his first healthcare technology startup, Pharos Innovations, a pioneer in the field of telehealth and remote patient monitoring. Dr. Williams has testified before and advised the U.S. Senate, Congressional Budget Office, and both the George W. Bush and Obama administrations on healthcare delivery system reform, as well as helped design the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

David Yonce, MS, MBA, is the CEO of Cogwear, a brain technology company that improves health, peace, and performance through its comfortable, wearable technology that provides clinical-grade insights into brain health. He is a medical device and technology executive who has positioned companies for double-digit growth and acquisition, helped deliver over 50 new products to market, and has received 54 patents.

With more than 25 years in the medical device space, including 20 of those in a management or executive capacity, he has held diverse roles across R&D, operations, marketing, strategy, and sales at companies such as Boston Scientific, AMS, and DSM Biomedical. He also serves on the advisory boards of several companies and counsels industry advocacy groups and multiple public seed fund initiatives. Yonce earned a BS in electrical engineering from Cornell University, holds an MS in electrical engineering from the University of Maryland, and graduated with honors with an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.