Nirosha Murugan is a researcher, professor, and Canada Research Chair specializing in tissue biophysics, regenerative biology, and disease reprogramming. She completed an NSERC-funded PhD in Biomolecular Sciences from Laurentian University before joining the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University as a postdoctoral fellow, where she developed a research program in regenerative biology and comparative cognition. During this time, she also collaborated with the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University and served as a teaching fellow in Harvard’s Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology.

Maria Parysz is a leading AI expert, CEO of LogicAI and ElephantAI, and creator of Kaggle Days, a global data science community with over 11 million members. A Ph.D. researcher in AI and technology education at Dublin City University, she mentors young AI entrepreneurs and teaches at universities worldwide. A keynote speaker at major AI conferences, Maria advocates for ethical AI. She is also an author, with her latest book on AI management available for pre-order.

Pavel Abdur-Rahman is an investor, entrepreneur, and public policy thinker at the intersection of geopolitics, real estate, technology, and digital assets. As co-founder of Bluevale Capital, he focuses on impact investments that drive economic development and strengthen public-private partnerships. After 15 years leading IBM Canada’s AI & Data consulting business, Pavel now allocates capital to private equity and venture-backed companies tackling real-world challenges. Beyond business, Pavel is a father of two—Noah (Grade 6 at UCC) and Amelie (Grade 4 at BSS)—and is deeply committed to mentorship, education, and shaping future leaders. He holds degrees from UofT Engineering, Queen’s Business School, and is currently pursuing a Master in Public Administration at Harvard Kennedy School to bridge the worlds of business, technology, and public policy.

Christina is a second-year master’s student at the Institute of Medical Science at the University of Toronto. Driven by a strong passion for research, her work focuses on developing effective drug therapeutics for soft tissue sarcoma, a rare and aggressive form of cancer. In recognition of her contributions, she has been awarded the Ontario Graduate Scholarship and the Cloverleaf Scholarship, which support her efforts to advance cancer research. Christina also completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Toronto, majoring in Human Biology with a double minor in Biology and Immunology

Jon Lister is the Co-Founder of Satstreet, a leading digital asset brokerage that has processed over $3 Billion in trades. With a strong background in finance and blockchain technology, he has played a key role in expanding the crypto market in Canada. Jon graduated from the Ivey Business School at Western University, where he developed his expertise in business strategy and financial markets. His work at Satstreet continues to shape the future of digital assets.

Ben Su is a tech entrepreneur, a lawyer and a die-hard believer of first principles. He co-founded Capita, a venture-backed legal tech company with the mission to remove legal inefficiencies as a barrier for entrepreneurship. As a law student, he conducted analytical research on the regulatory compliance framework for crypto projects in the U.S. and Canada. As a lawyer, he advised tech companies and investors on various compliance-related issues, commercial transactions, capital raise and deployment

Nafeh Shoaib is the co-founder and CEO of Humine, a startup that empowers patients with personal ownership and control over their medical data while building trust in clinical research, ensuring they decide what data to share, with whom, and for what purpose — without compromising their privacy. Humine is backed by the Techstars accelerator (Boulder Winter 2023) and is a graduate of UC Berkeley’s SkyDeck Pad-13 incubator (Fall 2022). Prior to starting Humine, Nafeh was CTO of Achu Health, a Toronto-based startup that created an AI model which predicted signs of respiratory infections using wearables like the Apple Watch. He is a Shad alum (McMaster 2016) and his educational background includes studying engineering at Western University and entrepreneurship at UC Berkeley.

Peter R. Herman received his B.Eng. in Engineering Physics from McMaster University and earned his MASc and PhD degrees in Physics from the University of Toronto, specializing in lasers and diatomic spectroscopy. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in laser-plasma physics and x-ray lasers at Osaka University, Japan, before joining the University of Toronto in 1988, where he is a full professor leading a research group focused on advanced laser technologies for 3-D nanofabrication. His pioneering work has developed innovative methods to fabricate compact lightwave circuits, microfluidic and optofluidic systems, biophotonic sensors, and smart medical devices, pushing forward the frontiers of photonics and biomedical microsystems.

Manolis Kellis is a Professor of Computer Science at MIT, where he leads the Computational Biology Group and holds affiliations with the Broad Institute and CSAIL. Renowned for his work in genomics, epigenomics, and disease mechanisms, he has spearheaded major initiatives like ENCODE, modENCODE, GTEx, and the NIH Roadmap Epigenomics Project. His research has advanced understanding of complex diseases such as obesity, Alzheimer's, schizophrenia, and cancer. Kellis earned his Ph.D. from MIT, receiving the Sprowls Award for the best doctoral thesis in computer science, and has been honored with the PECASE, NSF CAREER Award, and Sloan Research Fellowship.