The grand prize winner of the Daily Record’s Top Innovator of the Year Award, Alexander Blass is the acclaimed American innovator and entrepreneur who invented and launched the world’s first person-to-person crowdfunding website. The technology he developed and patented has helped millions of people worldwide and spawned a $20 billion/year industry. He has traveled to over 65 countries, and appeared in numerous media outlets.

Alexander Blass is the top innovation keynote speaker at conferences across the globe, inspiring and educating employees of numerous diverse organizations worldwide including IBM, Mastercard, KPMG, Solvay, Fonterra, Saudi Aramco, CIMA, and Statoil.

Mr. Blass presently serves as CEO and Innovator-in-Chief of the Innovation Institute of America^®. Earlier in his career, he was a venture capitalist, strategy consultant, and software developer. He received a Master of Business Administration degree from Oxford University in England, as well as a Master of Science degree in electrical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, where he was invited to serve as Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Wharton School of Business.

Jaykant “Jay” Parekh is the President, COO, and Co-Founder of KloudData, a business and information technology consulting firm with offices in California, Maryland, and India. Mr. Parekh is responsible for providing direction and strategies to sustain and expand the company as well as involved in the day-to-day Operations.

With over 30 years of professional experience, Mr. Parekh has been instrumental in the growth and operations of several companies with his ability to lead the marketing and business development efforts. Mr. Parekh has managed numerous projects over the course of his career for small to Fortune 500 Clients with large teams of international professionals. He is a Board Certified Professional Engineer in the State of Maryland and Delaware. Mr. Parekh has been a Rotarian involved in community service projects through the Rotary Club of Columbia and has served on the Advisor Board of Howard Bank in Howard County, MD and the Center for Business and Technology of Howard County Economic Development Authority. Mr. Parekh also serves on the Board of Economic Development Authority or Howard County as one of the Directors.

Mr. Parekh holds a Master’s Degree in Engineering from University of Maryland, College Park and a Bachelors of Technology degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, India. He is trilingual in English, Hindi, and Gujarati.

Payam Farjoodi is a distinguished orthopaedic spine surgeon in private practice in Orange County, California. He received his medical degree at the prestigious Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore and completed his residency training at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, one of the world’s top hospitals. A California native, he graduated Summa Cum Laude and with honors from UCLA where he completed his Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry. Dr. Farjoodi completed his fellowship training in surgery of the spine at the University of California, San Diego where he trained in the most advanced techniques available including minimally invasive surgery and revision surgery.

Dr. Farjoodi has published numerous articles on the topics of orthopaedic surgery and spine surgery in peer- reviewed journals. He has presented his research at a variety of national and international meetings, including the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons. Dr. Farjoodi’s professional interests include comprehensive care of the cervical, thoracic and lumbar spine, including operative and non-operative modalities. He has cared for patients of all types, including children, adults and elite athletes. He has served as a contributing team physician for the Baltimore Orioles and Naval Academy Football team and has presented nationally on care of the spine in athletes. He acts as a reviewer for the prestigious Spine Journal and is a member of numerous professional organizations, including the North American Spine Society and the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.

He is dedicated to providing caring, compassionate care to his patients and the community as a whole. He participated in numerous community programs targeting at risk youth in Baltimore. He is also a founding member and vice president of the Iranian American Medical Association- California chapter. Dr. Farjoodi enjoys travel, winemaking and leading an active lifestyle in his spare time. He is trilingual in English, Spanish and Farsi.

Based in Dubai, Ahmed Zakaria has been a member of the Board of Advisors of the Innovation Institute of America since 2013. He is a Harvard-educated senior executive who currently holds several prestigious positions in the UAE. He is Director of Financial Services at the Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC); the financial advisor to a senior member of the Al Maktoum ruling family of Dubai; the co-founder and partner of Brabus Middle East, a luxury German automobile company; and Vice Chairman of the Zakaria family trading business.

Prior to his appointment in ENOC, he held the position of Director of Global Franchising in Jumeirah Group, a member of Dubai Holding L.L.C. Prior to his appointment at Jumeirah Group, Ahmed was appointed the corporate finance and investor relations manager at the head office of Dubai Holding, which is a conglomerate owned by the Vice President, Prime Minister, and Ruler of Dubai, H.H. Sheikh Mohamed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum. In 2005 Ahmed was appointed Treasurer for the Government of Dubai’s Department of Finance managing the short-term liquidity and funding requirements for the large-scale Dubai Government projects, a position he held for 2 years. Mr. Zakaria began his career as a Credit Analyst with Union National Bank.

Mr. Zakaria graduated from Harvard Business School’s Program for Leadership Development. He also holds an MBA from the American University in Dubai, and a Bachelor of Science in financial economics from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas USA, and a certificate of project management from Stanford University. He is a fellow with the Young Arab Leaders organization in the UAE. Mr. Zakaria has native fluency in English and Arabic. He is married with two children and is an Emirati citizen.

Based in London, Clara Durodie is an Oxford-educated, results driven executive with almost 20 years business experience in European wealth management, business start-up management, and turnaround consulting in the service and retail sectors.

Ms. Durodie holds an MBA from University of Oxford and a BA with a major Economics and Accounting. She is a member of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment, London and of the Oxford and Cambridge Club. Ms. Durodie serves on the Trade Board of All Street, Europe’s first crowdfunding research company and is the Executive Chairman of ArtZoom™, a not for profit institution which aims to develop the first online platform centered on artists’ requirements. She has a particular interest in fine arts and supporting young artists. She has held many Board level positions since 2007, where her expert opinions bring an external perspective and overarching business view whilst retaining operational and granular detail.

With proven business acumen, strength of ethics, character and clarity of purpose, Ms. Durodie has a track record of cutting through complex issues efficiently and deliver consistent, balanced, independent opinions. This had formed the foundation for supporting innovation in business. She is also an accomplished public speaker, including engagements with The Oxford Union, on women in finance, on leadership and on strategy. Ms. Durodie is trilingual in English, French, and Romanian.

Mr. Verceles is a leading expert in Naval Weapons Systems Safety Engineering at Lockheed Martin Company, a $45 billion/year industry leader in aerospace and defense, information technology, and space and emerging technologies. He has 18 years of experience in defense systems engineering for the U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard. Mr. Verceles is a major contributor to their modernization efforts including the AEGIS weapon system fleet at sea.

Mr. Verceles ensures the weapons systems are both safe and mission capable against today’s threats around the world. He spent 12 years in System of Systems engineering ensuring the safety and mission-ready capability of very complex weapons systems for the U.S. Navy. Mr. Verceles successfully executed a rigorous MIL-STD-882 compliant system safety program for the U.S. Navy’s Aegis Baseline 9 programs, including both Cruiser and Destroyer ship platforms. He also led the U.S. Coast Guard’s modernization program for their ships, air assets and shore assets. Mr. Verceles also led the Lockheed Martin team in periodically receiving successful concurrence from the U.S. Navy Weapon System Explosives Safety Review Board (WSESRB), including reviews with Software System Safety Technical Review Panel (SSSTRP), during development, ship weapon system firing events, and deployment. Mr. Verceles also contributed to safe system development of Navy AEGIS legacy programs, Navy LCS program and foreign military system programs. Prior to that, he completed Lockheed Martin’s prestigious Engineering Leadership Development Program (ELDP), consisting of an intensive multi-year leadership and technical curriculum, and four rotational assignments in system design engineering, analog electronics design, and digital electronics design, to better understand the complexities of leading a major defense weapons system program. Mr. Verceles continued his passion in digital design engineering by leading a team in research and development to convert the U.S. Navy’s legacy systems to a modern COTS based system for superior performance.

Mr. Verceles holds a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from Rutgers University and a Master of Science of Engineering in telecommunications and networking engineering from University of Pennsylvania.