In its fourth year, Summerfest Tech will include panelists and speakers from technology-enabled companies with a global and national presence, as well as leaders from the growing local tech and startup ecosystem.
The free Sept. 8 event will cap off with a keynote about building high-performing tech teams led by Google Cloud developer advocate Nathen Harvey and Google Cloud head of customer engineering for Wisconsin, Elaine Stephens.
"I am thrilled that the event will feature an increasing number of global companies, which was a part of the original vision," Milwaukee World Festival Inc. president and CEO Don Smiley said in a statement Tuesday.
The event will be hybrid, with all programming available virtually. The morning sessions will be completely online, while the afternoon events will take place on the Summerfest grounds in Milwaukee at the Johnson Controls World Sound Stage at Henry Maier Festival Park.
Rite Aid Corp. executive vice president and chief information officer Justin Mennen will speak on a panel led by Generac Power Systems Inc. chief information officer Tim Dickson about what Milwaukee can learn from other cities when it comes to building its tech industry.
U.S. Cellular Corp. director of emerging technologies and business development David Allen will join a panel about building smart cities led by George Vukotich, founding director of the Center for Research in Innovation and Smart Cities at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside.
Other planned Summerfest Tech events are:
- A pitch competition hosted by Young Enterprising Society featuring three local startups — Vaia, Debtle and Investii — as well as New York City-based Liiv; St. Paul, Minnesota-based SoleSafe; and ZapLife, which has locations in Jersey City, New Jersey, and Santa Monica, California;
- A venture capital panel with Rashaun Williams of Manhattan Venture Partners in New York City; Candice Matthews Brackeen, general partner at Cincinnati's Lightship Capital; and Karen Kerr, founder and managing director of Chicago's Exposition Ventures;
- Multiple breakout sessions on each of two themes: building a thriving tech town, and increasing diversity, equity and inclusion in the tech sector.
See the full programming lineup and register on the Summerfest website.
Editor's Note: The Milwaukee Business Journal is a Summerfest Tech media sponsor. Reporter Teddy Nykiel will participate in a panel about how diversity and culture affect tech ecosystems with reporter Erin Schilling of the Atlanta Business Chronicle, one of MBJ's sister publications.
