Annual Dinner 2024: AI and Our Fabulous Future!
Please join us after hours at The Rainier Club for a cocktail hour, dinner, and discussion with distinguished alumni on the topic of AI and the potential changes it will bring to all of us.
AI and Our Fabulous Future!
• What can AI do for us today?
• Will AI create a utopia of super-abundance where the sentient machines do all the work?
• Should AI be open source, or would our adversaries weaponize our own AI against us?
• Is AI like the printing press, books, ideas, and freedom of speech that can be used for good, or for evil?
• Is AI a world changing inflection point like the printing press, internet, and cell phones?
• Will the pace of innovation that took 600 years for books to scale be compressed into 5 years for AI?
• Will AI allow us to see really useful information, and garbage, at the speed of light?
• Will we see a Doom Loop and a Boom Loop at the same interacting, interwoven, and entangled in unpredictable ways?
• When will we have AGI, Artificial General Intelligence, and our science fiction future?
• Please join us to hear from distinguished alumni who are changing the world using AI and ask your own questions!
Annual Dinner 2024: AI and Our Fabulous Future!
Panelists:
• Julie Sandler, MBA '10
Co-founder & General Partner @ PSL Ventures
Managing Director @ Pioneer Square Labs
Adjunct Prof @ UW
Board Director
• Lucas Nivon, AB '01, PhD '08
CEO and Co-Founder, Cyrus Biotechnology
Venture Partner, Argonautic Ventures
• Maria Karaivanova, MBA '09
Co-founder & COO, WhyLabs.ai
• Oren Etzioni, AB '86, PhD, Carnegie Mellon
Founder, TrueMedia.org
Technical Director, AI2 Incubator
Venture Partner, Madrona Venture Group
Formerly CEO, Allen Institute for AI
Professor Emeritus, UW
Thursday, June 6, 2024
5:45pm - 10:00pm PT
5:45pm - 6:45pm PT - Arrival, Networking, and Socializing
6:45pm - 6:50pm PT - Call for Dinner seating
6:50pm - 7:15pm PT - Dinner and Table Socializing
7:15pm - 7:30pm PT - HCS Annual Meeting
7:30pm - 8:30pm PT - Panel Discussion followed by Q&A
8:30pm - 10:00pm PT - Networking and Socializing
10:00pm PT - Closing
The Rainier Club
820 4th Ave
Seattle, WA 98104
https://maps.app.goo.gl/TWbAtkQEkeFoGv526
Downtown Seattle
CLICK HERE or BELOW to buy tickets
Crimson and Benefactor Membership includes 2 tickets to the Annual Dinner
Become a member HERE
If you are having trouble with your Harvard Key, please contact the Harvard IT Help Desk.
Registration is limited to the first 120 alumni and guests
| Tickets | Price | |||
| VIP Circle | $500 per person (link) | |||
| Crimson and Benefactor Members | $0 per person (link) | |||
| Club Member | $200 per person (link) | |||
| Non-Member | $250 per person (link) | |||
| Recent Grad Member ('20 - '23) | $175 per person (link) | |||
| Most Recent Grad Member ('24) | $150 per person (link) | |||
| Current Student Member | $125 per person (link) | |||
| Donate a Student Ticket | $125 per person (link) | |||
| Corporate Sponsor | Please contact us |
An important note to our Members
The ticket price covers our costs of putting on our Annual Dinner.
Any profits generated from this event will be allocated to our Community Service Programs:
• Crimson Achievement Program (CAP)
• Summer Community Service Fellowship (SCSF)
Registration deadline Sunday, June 2, 2024, 11:59pm PT
No refunds after Sunday, June 2, 2024, 11:59pm PT
Members:
Membership must expire AFTER June 30, 2024 to be eligible for up to four tickets at the member price.
Limit of two complimentary tickets for Crimson and Benefactor members.
Cost over $175 is considered a donation.
The Harvard Club of Seattle is a 501(c)(3) organization, and donations may be tax deductible.
Become a member HERE
Sponsors:
If you or your organization would like to help underwrite this event, please contact Kelly Charlton, President of the Harvard Club.
The Harvard Club of Seattle is a 501(c)(3) organization, and donations may be tax deductible.
Ticket donations:
If you would like to purchase a ticket that will be donated to a worthy student, please click here.
Event schedule:
5:45pm - 6:45pm PT - Arrival, Networking, and Socializing
6:45pm - 6:50pm PT - Call for Dinner seating
6:50pm - 7:15pm PT - Dinner and Table Socializing
7:15pm - 7:30pm PT - HCS Annual Meeting
7:30pm - 8:30pm PT - Panel Discussion followed by Q&A
8:30pm - 10:00pm PT - Networking and Socializing
10:00pm PT - Closing
Menu:
Dinner:
- Passed Appetizers
- Mixed Green Salad
- Pan Seared Salmon
- Chololate Dome Desert
- Red & White Wines
- If you have dietary restrictions, please inform us in the comment box or by email no later than Sunday, June 2, 2024, at 11:59pm
Dress Code: Business
Accessibility: The Rainier Club is accesible.
Parking or Public Transporation:
There are many public transportations options to the Rainier Club in Downtown Seattle.
Questions? Please contact Kelly Charlton, President, Harvard Club of Seattle.
If you are having trouble with your Harvard Key, please contact the Harvard IT Help Desk.
About Julie Sandler, MBA '10
Co-founder & General Partner @ PSL Ventures
Managing Director @ Pioneer Square Labs
Adjunct Prof @ UW
Board Director
Julie Sandler is a managing director at Pioneer Square Labs (PSL) and co-founding general partner of PSL's venture capital firm, PSL Ventures, which she spends most of her time running. The PSL Ventures team is focused on pre-seed and seed investments in technology companies founded by local entrepreneurs. The firm invests in companies all over the Pacific Northwest region that are entirely separate from PSL’s studio. The fund also makes smaller participating investments in studio spinouts.
Julie invests in technologies spanning fintech and logistics (e.g., Outgo, Shipium), productivity and the future of work (e.g., Super.ai, Read.ai, Sofy.ai, LifeAt.io), and has a long-standing interest in digital solutions serving women and underserved communities. She loves investing in founders who demonstrate grit, EQ, and extraordinary passion for company mission.
Prior to PSL, Julie was a partner at Madrona Venture Group, where she led investments for the firm including Integris (acquired by OneTrust), Julep (acquired by Glansaol/Warburg Pincus), and worked closely with (her now partner at PSL) Greg Gottesman on the founding of Rover.com (NASDAQ: ROVR). Prior to her career in venture, Julie managed digital marketing for Amazon’s ebook business worldwide. She PM’d both consumer and enterprise product launches at Amazon Kindle, at Seattle startup TeachStreet.com (acquired by Amazon), and at Accenture. In the early 2010s, she launched the Seattle Entrepreneurial Women’s Network, the first formal networking organization in Seattle for women entrepreneurs (which has been succeeded by several standout local female founder organizations in the years since). Julie is also a Presidential Leadership Scholar with the presidential centers of Presidents Clinton, Bush, Bush Sr., and Johnson.
Julie graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Stanford with both a master's degree and bachelor's degree in psychology, and from Harvard Business School with an MBA with honors. She is a lecturer in entrepreneurship at the UW Foster School of Business (where based on highest student ratings she has been named a “Star Teacher” several years running). She is incoming board chair, treasurer, and education committee chair for the Washington Roundtable, board director as appointed by Governor Inslee for the Washington State Opportunity Scholarship, and over her career has served on the boards of several other non-profit organizations, privately held companies, industry associations, and advisory boards.
Julie is a frequent speaker and commentator and has been featured in print and on television across CNBC, Bloomberg, Forbes, Techcrunch, and Inc Magazine. She has delivered keynote addresses at industry conferences, large non-profit fundraisers, and at WE Day. She was named a “Power 100” influencer in the Puget Sound Business Journal, voted “Geek of the Year” by GeekWire, named an AdWeek “Brand Star” for her work with underrepresented entrepreneurs, voted GeekWire’s “Hire of the Year” the year she joined PSL, and was a PSBJ 40 under 40 honoree and Seattle Magazine "Hall of Fame" Rising Star. She lives in Seattle with her husband, Alejandro, and their children.
About Lucas Nivon, AB '01, PhD '08
CEO and Co-Founder, Cyrus Biotechnology
Venture Partner, Argonautic Ventures
Lucas is trained in computational biophysics and protein engineering.
Lucas is CEO and Co-Founder of Cyrus Biotechnology which is focused on AI and big data-driven protein reengineering for autoimmune, infectious disease, and oncology.
He brought Cyrus Biotech to sales with over 120 BioPharma companies and collaboration on over 30 discovery stage programs, including work with the majority of top-20 BioPharma firms including Janssen, Genentech, Selecta Bio, and the Broad Institute.
At Cyrus, Lucas was a co-founder of the OpenFold consortium in Protein AI software with Genentech, Amazon, Outpace and Arzeda.
Prior to Cyrus he was a Translational Investigator & Senior Fellow at the UW Baker Lab, developing small-molecule binding proteins and protein design algorithms, and leading efforts to improve the stability and usability of the Rosetta software package.
Lucas’ academic work includes a patented computationally designed enzyme, an RNA-dynamics-modeling software toolkit he built from scratch during his PhD, and algorithm optimization for automation of computational protein design.
Lucas earned his Harvard A.B. in Biochemical Sciences (summa cum laude and Goldwater Scholar) and Harvard Ph.D. in Biophysics (Hertz Fellow).
About Maria Karaivanova, MBA '09
Co-founder & COO, WhyLabs.ai
Maria Karaivanova is the co-founder & COO of WhyLabs.ai, the AI Observability company on a mission to build an interface between AI and human operators.
Previously, she was a principal at Madrona Venture Group leading investments in SaaS, ML/AI and cybersecurity.
Prior to Madrona, Maria was the CxO/Head of Strategic Partnerships & BD at Cloudflare (NYSE: NET) where she joined as one of the company's first 20 employees. During her tenure, Cloudflare grew annual revenue from zero to >$100M, secured $182M in venture funding and expanded globally.
Before Cloudflare, Maria worked at Intel Capital investing in consumer internet and enterprise software.
She also spent four years at The Boeing Company in business development and intellectual property management roles supporting helicopter and fighter jet programs.
Maria received an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BSBA in Finance from Saint Louis University where she graduated summa cum laude.
She is a frequent speaker at technology conferences, a long time Techstars mentor and an adjunct professor at the University of Washington Foster School of Business.
About Oren Etzioni, AB '86, PhD, Carnegie Mellon
Founder, TrueMedia.org
Technical Director, AI2 Incubator
Venture Partner, Madrona Venture Group
Formerly CEO, Allen Institute for AI
Professor Emeritus, UW
Currently, Dr. Oren Etzioni is the founder of TrueMedia.Org, a non-profit fighting political deepfakes. He is also a technical director of the AI2 Incubator and a Venture Partner at Madrona.
Oren Etzioni joined Madrona Venture Group as a venture partner in 2000. He is an adviser and board member for The Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence and the technical director of the AI2 Incubator. He is also a Professor Emeritus at the University of Washington Allen School. Oren is an acknowledged expert on not just the technology of building with AI but the societal impacts. He is quoted widely in popular science and business publications, from Wired to the New York Times, and he speaks often on this topic in public forums.
Oren was the founding CEO of the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence, building the organization for over nine years before stepping down in 2022. While at AI2, Etzioni built the AI2 incubator and worked with Madrona, Sequoia, Kleiner Perkins, and Two Sigma to set up the AI2 fund. During his tenure, more than 20 companies spun out, including xnor.ai (funded by Madrona and acquired by Apple).
Lessons learned: 1) Life is too short to work on a project you’re not incredibly excited about. 2) The best way to predict the future is to invent it (Alan Kay). 3) An ounce of data is worth a pound of my intuition.
When he’s not in the office he plays basketball and bughouse (a four-person variant of Chess).
Oren received his bachelor’s from Harvard in 1986 and his Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University in 1991. He has received several awards, including the ACL’s 10-year Test-of-Time Paper Award for two separate papers published in 2012 (2022), GeekWire’s Hire of the Year (2014), Seattle’s Geek of the Year (2013), the Robert Engelmore Memorial Award (2007), the IJCAI Distinguished Paper Award (2005), AAAI Fellow (2003), and a National Young Investigator Award (1993).
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