Mike Emerick has focused his career on early stage companies and products operating in complex markets. These have included Information Security products acquired by Dell and NTT Data, EDW and Distributed Data pipeline products acquired by IBM and HPE. Mike has also contributed to a number of open source communities including Linux Kernel enhancements supported by Redhat, IBM and CISCO, and various Apache project contributions running on all major cloud providers. He has gained notoriety for turning around ailing products for fortune 1000 companies and startups in various stages over the last eight years.

Jayson Margalus is the Johnson Professor of Entrepreneurship and Leadership and Director of the Connolly Center for Entrepreneurship at Washington and Lee University. Previously, he served as the founding Faculty Director of Maker Innovation at DePaul University’s Idea Realization Labs. His work has been featured in the Chicago Tribune and NPR, and he has delivered keynotes for Chicago Public Schools’ Googlepalooza and the American Medical Association’s ChangeMedEd. In 2015, he was invited to the Obama White House for his contributions to makerspaces.

Rudy is a maker and engineer working primarily in information security and technology for the past 20 years. Rudy’s experience includes delivering rapid prototype projects on short timelines with a focus on manufacturability via repeatable platforms. Rudy has led teams working on electronic show cases and connected devices for participants of conferences in the technology industry. Rudy has co-founded hacker spaces to develop communities of tinkerers, is on the adjunct faculty at the College of Computing and Digital Media at DePaul University and is a frequent conference speaker and guest lecturer.

Bobby Schweizer holds a Ph.D. in Digital Media from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Before joining Fourfold, Bobby was on the faculties of DePaul University and Texas Tech University where he both developed new and overhauled existing educational programs in areas such as game design, experience design, and experimental storytelling. As a researcher and author in themed and immersive spaces, Bobby has developed a keen sense of how people behave and interact and brings historical and theoretical perspectives to developing platforms and physical places.