Speakers

Sebastian Bauer is Executive Director, Head of Human Interface Design & Customer Experience at General Motors.

Nicole Johnson is User Experience Manager at Scout Motors

Joo-Hyung Maing is Lead Product Manager, Innovations & Partnerships at the BMW of North America’s Technology Office.

Shormin Chowdhury is a Ford Automotive Technical & Leadership expert in the auto electronics industry, with a special focus on Connected Car Modules and Future IVI / ADAS / Autonomous Vehicle Domain Controllers.

Boasting over 20 years’ experience in Infotainment, Cockpit, ADAS and Electric Vehicle modules, Shormin has led global teams to deliver in-house built-to-print HW design and platforms resulting in cost saving of over $300 million, as well as best-in-class quality.

Jeremy Agulnek, HAAS Alert’s Chief Product Officer and SVP Connected Vehicle, is responsible for helping automotive OEMs deliver a safer, more connected driving experience to their drivers and driving systems. In 2025, Jeremy was named the Safety Innovation All-Star by Automotive News. Prior to joining HAAS Alert, Jeremy held a variety of product management and strategy positions at HERE Technologies (then NAVTEQ), where he launched and expanded a number of location-based products and services globally. Jeremy holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania.

Mélanie leads Product Partnerships at Waymo, focusing on the next frontier of mobility: the autonomous in-car experience. By bridging the gap between cutting-edge technology and passenger-centric design, Mélanie orchestrates strategic collaborations that transform Waymo vehicles into seamless third spaces. With a background spanning Google’s custom silicon (Pixel) and Ads business development, she brings a unique perspective on integrating complex hardware and software ecosystems. Mélanie holds an MA from the London School of Economics and a BA from McGill University.

Gabriel Bridger is an award-winning design, product, and strategy executive with over 20 years shaping experiences that bridge physical and digital systems. As SVP and Global Head of Product, Design, and Strategy at Rightpoint, he leads a large multidisciplinary, global organization spanning product management, UX, design, research, strategy, and analytics.

Gabriel has led the design and launch of experiences ranging from in-vehicle and connected systems to commerce and financial services, and most recently agentic design architectures, with a focus on turning highly complex environments into intuitive experiences that feel inevitable to end users.

Guided by a simple mantra to be curious, critical, and creative, Gabriel balances innovation with real-world impact. Beyond his day-to-day work, he writes and speaks on the future of experience, mentors emerging design leaders, and advocates for diversity of thought as a catalyst for better ideas and better outcomes.

Keefe Leung is the Director of Software Defined Systems Architecture at Karma Automotive.

Matthew Valbuena is a Project Manager at Mazda North American Operations’ R&D division and is responsible for the development of Mazda’s in-vehicle technologies and the human-machine interfaces that interact with those technologies. His scope of work includes software and hardware research and development, product planning, consumer and industry research, forecasting, and finalizing Mazda’s in-vehicle technology user experience for North America.

Alex Boundy is Product Manager of Infotainment Software + Connected Services at Scout Motors.

Stephen Goldstein is LG’s Head of Content Business Development & Partnerships for Automotive, Hospitality, Shopping, Art, v/MVPDs & NEXTGEN TV. He’s based in the LG’s North American headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, NJ.

Before joining LG, Stephen led BD at Cirrent, a connected product, and data analytics provider, now an Infineon company, advised geolocation, last-mile logistics, retail tech, IoT, and property tech founders and startups. He also spent fourteen years at Samsung Electronics, running Smart Home Business Development & Partnerships and the Pay TV / broadband devices business. At Samsung, he collaborated with retailers, Pay TV operators, and ISPs to synthesize evolving product and technology standards, use cases, and policies to help deploy millions of Set-tops and gateways. 

Stephen holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a BA in International Relations from the University of Pennsylvania. He and his wife live in New Jersey with their two sons.

The Pop in Your Job: (why do you love what you do?): Bringing content and services to millions of screens globally.

Cristina Nutter is Senior Business Development Manager for Automotive & Connected Devices at AccuWeather, where she leads partnerships with enterprise clients like Databricks, Snowflake and major automotive OEMs.

Suzanne Murtha is AECOM’s Global Lead for Advanced Air Mobility, Payment Services and Automation.  She is based in Punta Gorda, Florida and is on the Board of Directors of AUVSI, a leading organization in the development of automated systems.

A 29-year veteran of the transportation industry, Suzanne has background in advanced automotive technologies including connected and automated vehicles, payment systems and advanced air mobility. 

She works with the international transportation community with deployment, standards development and certification processes. She leads global technology deployment, as well as large-scale program management contracts and evaluation efforts for global, federal, state, local and private clients.

David Bloom is a Santa Monica, Calif.-based writer, podcaster, speaker and consultant focused on the transformative collision of technology, media and entertainment. 

Bloom is co-founder of newsletter Next TMT, co-host of podcast Next TMT Talks, CEO of Words & Deeds Media, and a Forbes senior contributor. He consults on content and communications strategy, has taught digital media at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, is a former Associate Dean at the USC Marshall School of Business, and guest lectures regularly at schools including UCLA, USC, Boston University, Syracuse, Nebraska, California State University-Northridge, Pepperdine, and Chapman. 

Bloom previously was an award-winning staff writer and editor for Variety, Deadline, Red Herring, and the Los Angeles Daily News, and was VP of corporate communications at MGM and head of communications with the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency. Bloom graduated with honors from the University of Missouri School of Journalism.