Analytics & Insights Forum - Sept. 6

Description

The real story behind a successful analytics and hardware Smart City project

Moderator:  Jennifer Sanders, executive director and co-founder, Dallas Innovation Alliance
Panelists: 
Thomas Bamonte, senior program manager, Automated Vehicles, North Central Texas Council of Governments
Dr. Brenda Connor, director, IoT wholesale services, technology & emerging business, Ericsson
Towfiq Khan, executive manager, department of transportation, City of Dallas
Mike Wobken, senior traffic operations engineer, Intelight


As municipalities continue to become aware of the benefits of advanced information technology to their communities and bottom line, they are increasingly looking to industry to help define and adapt the use cases that are most important to their mission and vision. While the continuing evolution of the technology and tools are key components of the successful smart city implementation project, equally critical are the productive interfaces between municipal and regional governmental entities and organizations that are essential for funding and technical implementation success.  The DFW region is fortunate to have the Dallas Innovation Alliance (DIA). The DIA, originally focused exclusively on Dallas, is looking towards a regional approach, as well as participating in statewide collaborations, to leave a legacy of innovation, sustainability and collaboration for future generations.  This presentation will:

• Take you through the partnerships and timeline for a successful data and hardware-based smart city project
• Introduce you to the municipal and regional agencies that are essential for these efforts.
• Let you hear directly from each of the key partners that contributed to a successful project
• Provide the opportunity for you to network and talk with each of these key partners

Moderator:

Jennifer Sanders is co-founder and executive director of the Dallas Innovation Alliance (DIA) a public-private partnership dedicated to supporting the design and execution of a smart cities plan for Dallas. She brings expertise across a broad array of industries including energy, technology, economic development, nonprofit and finance, serving in functions including communications, stakeholder and community relations, strategic counsel, change management and operations. While at the DIA, she has collated a network of three dozen member organizations, and works with over 20 departments within the City of Dallas to accomplish an aligned smart city strategy, which began with the implementation of the Smart Cities Living Lab [phase I], in the West End District in downtown Dallas. This Living Lab is the fastest-to-market smart cities initiative in the country. The DIA is now focused on its Phase II projects in Southern Dallas focused on challenges to under-served residents around mobility, public safety and the digital divide. She is actively involved with numerous civic organizations in Dallas, serving as Past President of the Mayor’s Star Council, President of the Board of the Suicide & Crisis Center of North Texas, Board Member of Better Block, an Ambassador for the Dallas Entrepreneur Center (DEC) and the Advisory Board for Dallas-based retail and lifestyle startup, Edition Collective, among others. She has been named to the Dallas Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 and Top Women in Technology, State Scoop’s Top Women in Technology, the Tech Week 100, and the Dallas 500. She has been honored to speak to groups at conferences around the globe including South by Southwest, Smart Cities Week and the Smart City Global Congress and Expo in Barcelona. She graduated from the University of Virginia with a B.A. in Psychology with a minor concentration in Economics.

Panelists:

Dr. Brenda Connor has been with Ericsson since 1994 and is providing thought leadership in Smart Cities, Intelligent Transportation Systems, IOT/M2M and Business Enablement. She creates new business through innovative and transformative approaches focused on diverse stakeholder needs. She provides leadership in bridging stand-alone systems into systems of system architectures including cloud and public private partnerships.  She is a change maker for the Networked Society, where every individual and every industry is enabled to reach its true potential. She holds a B.S. and a M.S in Computer Engineering from Boston University, a PhD in Engineering Management and has submitted 5 patents in the open ecosystem space.
 
 

 



Thomas Bamonte is senior program manager for automated vehicles at the North Central Texas Council of Governments, the metropolitan planning organization for Dallas-Fort Worth. At NCTCOG he works on automated vehicle pilot programs, the data infrastructure for automated vehicles, and related transportation technology and planning issues.  Before joining NCTCOG he served in senior legal positions at the Chicago Transit Authority, the Illinois Tollway and the North Texas Tollway Authority. He is a graduate of the University of Chicago and Northwestern University School of Law.
 


Towfiq Khan is executive manager for Department of Transportation, City of Dallas. He joined the City of Dallas to introduce emerging technology, drive growth through innovation, and enhance safety values within the Department of Transportation. He has almost a decade of experience in various project management, data analysis, product development, system analysis, process analysis, development and implementation. He has in-depth knowledge of parking management with strong communication, negotiation, collaboration, and leadership background. After finishing his bachelor’s degree in Computer Networking Management and Information System Security, he completed several leaderships, team building, project and process management certification courses. He has worked as a consultant in collaboration with the City of Los Angeles, and various other major cities in California, to improve process, revenue and work flow by introducing and implementing innovation and emerging technology.





Michael Wobken, senior traffic operations engineer at Intelight, has 22 years of experience in the traffic engineering field with a focus on traffic signal timing optimization and simulation. He has developed and implemented optimized coordination timing plans for thousands of signalized intersections across the US and Canada. He has also built computer microsimulations of complex transportation systems incorporating a wide variety of transportation modes, ranging from heavy rail freight, transit, bicycles, and pedestrians. In his current role at Q-Free/Intelight, Michael provides technical support, provides software and hardware deployment assistance, and works internally with software developers to help guide the software product development and beta test new software releases.