Much like D, the D: Dive Into Mobile conference featured a gathering of key industry thought leaders whose influence is driving innovation in the mobile space.
Noam Bardin
CEO
Waze
Noam Bardin has always enjoyed working at early-stage startups and watching them grow. Now he’s in the driver’s seat as CEO of mobile navigation app Waze, which combines GPS, open-source software and a community of drivers.
Prior to Waze, he served as CEO of Intercast Networks and co-founded Deltathree, a leading international VoIP service provider, where he served as chairman, chief executive officer and VP of operations.
Bardin holds a B.A. in economics from the Hebrew University and a Masters of Public Administration from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, where he started planning on how to save the world. He has since decided it will be “one GPS point at a time.”
Mike Bell
VP and Co-GM, Mobile and Communications Group, Intel Corporation
Michael A. Bell is corporate vice president and co-general manager of the Mobile and Communications Group for Intel Corporation.
Bell co-leads, with Hermann Eul, a worldwide organization focused on the development of hardware, software and connectivity ingredients for phones, tablets, Ultrabook and other mobile devices, and complete system solutions.
Prior to joining Intel in 2010, Bell was part of the executive management team at Palm. From 2007 to 2010, he served as senior vice president of product development.
He was responsible for all aspects of product strategy, development and deployment, bringing the Palm Pre, the Palm Pixi and many more products to market. Prior to his time at Palm, Bell was a vice president in the Macintosh Hardware Division at Apple. Over the course of his career at Apple, spanning 1991 to 2007, he made significant contributions to the iMac, Apple TV, and iPhone programs.
Bell's first cellphone was a Motorola StarTac.
Fabricio Bloisi Rocha
Founder and CEO
Movile
At just 21 years of age, Fabricio Bloisi started Movile. Within 10 years, as founder and CEO, he turned it into a leader of mobile entertainment services in Latin America. Movile now has more than 200 employees, nine offices, and serves more than 15 million mobile customers worldwide each month.
Over the last four years it has grown 70 percent annually, due to its pioneering and innovative spirit. Movile has now begun to make its mark in the global market, creating HTML5 app stores and mobile TV for smartphones and the mobile Web.
Bob Bowman
President & CEO
Major League Baseball Advanced Media
Bob Bowman joined Major League Baseball Advanced Media (MLBAM) as its first president and chief executive officer in 2000, following two years of work in the Internet space.
MLBAM, the interactive media and Internet company of Major League Baseball, was created in June 2000, when the owners of the 30 professional baseball teams voted to follow the recommendation of Commissioner Bud Selig and centralize all of baseball’s Internet and interactive media operations under one roof. MLBAM operates the official League site, www.MLB.com, as well as each of the 30 individual team sites. It also develops, deploys and distributes the highest-grossing iOS app, AtBat, and manages live video content for dozens of clients. In 2012, MLBAM captured, encoded and distributed nearly 18,000 live video events.
An early cellphone user, Bowman had one giant phone that he carried during his days as Michigan state treasurer, and another mounted in his classic Blue Chevy Cavalier. He wonders if he was the only person to turn down an investment in both Netscape and AOL in the same year (1995).
Troy Carter
Founder and CEO, Atom Factory
Troy Carter builds brands, businesses and careers. As an artist manager and CEO of Atom Factory, a multidimensional management company, his expanding roster of musical innovators includes Lady Gaga, Mindless Behavior, and 15-year-old YouTube sensation Greyson Chance.
As Lady Gaga’s manager, Carter — who has worked alongside the likes of Will Smith, Sean “Diddy” Combs, and the late Notorious B.I.G. — has helped cement the pop star’s formidable online presence by cultivating and encouraging the philosophy of “fans first.” The results are apparent: In October 2010, Lady Gaga became the first musician to hit one billion YouTube views; in May 2011, she became the first Twitter user to reach 10 million followers. Carter’s brand strategy has culminated in Gaga’s continued cultural pervasiveness, because of the genuine loyalty between Gaga and her fans, and through creative and compelling commercial partnerships with the likes of MAC, Google, Virgin Mobile and Zynga.
In 2011, he co-founded The Backplane, a Silicon Valley-based startup that redefines social media by allowing celebrities and brands to connect with fans, foster community and cultivate brand loyalty.
Carlos Domingo
Director, Product Development and Innovation
Telefonica
Carlos Domingo is the director of product development and innovation for Telefonica Digital. Prior to this, he was CEO for Telefonica I+D.
With more than 15 years of experience in the software and telecommunications world, he has developed a big part of his professional career in Japan and the U.S., including positions as CEO of tech companies like LizardTech, Extensis and Celartem. In 2008, he was awarded with the National Award to the Professional Career, granted by the Computer Science Engineers Association in Spain. Domingo also serves on the board of directors of Jajah. He holds an MSc in computer science from the Tokyo Institute of Technology, a Ph.D. in computer science from the Polytechnic University in Catalonia, and did postgrad business studies at Stanford Graduate School of Business. In his scarce spare time, he is a startup mentor for SeedRocket, and an angel investor in more than 10 technology startups.
Michael Hecker
VP, Strategy and Corporate Development, Mobile TeleSystems (MTS)
MTS is the leading telecommunications group in Russia, Central and Eastern Europe, serving more than 100 million mobile subscribers in Russia, Ukraine, Armenia, Turkmenistan and Belarus.
Under Michael Hecker’s telecommunication solutions in Russia and the CIS), a stake in MGTS (Moscow’s incumbent PSTN), Eurotel (a leading backbone network operator in Russia) and Multiregion (one of the leading groups of broadbandleadership, MTS adopted a strategy that calls for a focus on integration. The company moved beyond simple mobile access through several acquisitions, including Comstar-UTS (the leading supplier of integrated and cable TV providers). Hecker also oversaw the build-out of the MTS mono-brand retail network, the largest operator’s retail chain in Russia, which now encompasses more than 4,400 stores.
Omar Khan
Co-CEO
NQ Mobile Inc.
Recently named among Fortune Magazine’s 36 “most powerful disrupters” — and nominated by Androinica as Android Person of the Year — Omar Khan joined NQ Mobile in January 2012 as co-CEO, and directs the company globally. He is focusing on the global expansion of NQ Mobile into markets such as North America, Latin America, Europe, Japan, Korea and India.
Khan joined NQ Mobile from Citigroup, where he was managing director and global head of the Mobile Center of Excellence, and led the company’s mobile development and delivery efforts globally. Prior to that, he served in multiple senior executive roles at Samsung Mobile and at Motorola, where his last role was vice president, Global Supply Chain and Business Operations for the mobile devices business.
Honored with a “40 Under 40” award by Crain’s Chicago Business magazine, Khan holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He completed his graduate work in system dynamics in conjunction with MIT’s Sloan School of Management. He lives in Dallas, Texas, with his wife, Seema, and their three children. Khan, whose first cellphone was a Motorola MicroTAC, has been training for triathlons with his 10-year-old son.
Jan Koum
CEO
WhatsApp Inc.
Jan Koum is the co-founder and CEO of WhatsApp. WhatsApp Messenger is a personal real-time messaging network allowing millions of people around the world to stay connected with their friends and family.
Jan dropped out of San Jose State University, where he was studying math and computer science.
His first cellphone was a Motorola V60.
Gary Kovacs
CEO, Mozilla Corporation
Gary Kovacs is the CEO of Mozilla Corporation, responsible for leading the overall strategy and direction of the organization and community behind the Firefox Web browser and other Mozilla products used by more than 500 million people in more than 100 countries.
Kovacs has an extensive background in building and accelerating technology companies worldwide. Prior to joining Mozilla, he was senior VP of Markets, Solutions and Products at SAP (through its acquisition of Sybase) and as general manager of Mobile and Devices at Adobe (through its acquisition of Macromedia).
Previously, he led the successful creation and growth of Zi Corporation, a NASDAQ-listed company specializing in embedded software and services delivered on more than 400 million mobile and consumer devices. He also spent 10 years at IBM in various product and leadership positions within the global software division. He holds a bachelor’s degree in commerce and an M.B.A. with distinction from the University of Calgary.
Bin Lin
Co-Founder and President
Xiaomi Corporation
Bin Lin co-founded Xiaomi Corporation with angel investor Lei Jun in April 2010. He is now president of Xiaomi Corporation, and is in charge of Xiaomi’s day-to-day operation, business and product strategy, carrier relationships, and business development with strategic suppliers and business partners.
Lin worked at Google Inc. as engineering director from 2006 to 2010. He founded and led Google China’s engineering effort for Mobile, Android apps, and Google Music. Under his leadership, his team successfully launched many Google products for the China market, including Google Mobile Maps, Mandarin voice search, mobile verticals such as video, dictionary, finance, and local, Android Pinyin IME, Android Dictionary, Android News and Weather widget, Google Music (free streaming and download of legal music online), Google Pinyin IME, and various OneBoxes.
Prior to joining Google, he worked at Microsoft from 1995 to 2006, and held various senior positions, including software design engineer and development lead at Microsoft’s Redmond headquarters. Lin admits that he is older than he looks, but says, “It’s never too late to start your own business if you have a young heart.” His first cellphone was a Motorola StarTAC.
Nancy Lublin
CEO
DoSomething.org
Nancy Lublin enjoys building things out of ideas and people. At the age of 23, she turned a $5,000 inheritance into Dress for Success, which helps women transition from welfare to work in more than 120 cities in 10 countries. She is currently CEO and Chief Old Person of DoSomething.org, the largest organization for teens and social change. More than 2.2 million teens participated in DoSomething.org cause campaigns last year.
She studied politics at Brown University, political theory at Oxford University (as a Marshall Scholar), and has a law degree from New York University. Lublin is the author of “Zilch: The Power of Zero in Business,” and wrote a popular monthly column for Fast Company for two years. She is a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum, participating in Davos for the last five years.
Twice recognized on the “Top 50 Power and Influence” list by the NonProfit Times, and chosen as one of Fast Company’s “League of Extraordinary Women,” Lublin is married to Jason Diaz, and is the mother of two children who have never tasted chicken nuggets.
While running Dress for Success, Lublin supplemented her income by playing poker in underground clubs in New York City.
Terry Myerson
Corporate VP, Windows Phone Division, Microsoft Corporation
Terry Myerson is corporate vice president of the Windows Phone Division, overseeing the strategy, development, marketing and sales of Microsoft software and services for Windows Phones worldwide.
Previously, Myerson led the team responsible for delivering the software at the heart of Windows Phone 7.0 and Windows Phone 7.5 handsets, including the user interface, applications, supporting Web services, and the operating system.
Myerson, who received a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Duke University, joined Microsoft in 1997, after the company he founded, Interse Corporation, was acquired by Microsoft. Prior to leading the Windows Phone team, he led the Exchange team for eight years, during which time it became the world’s most popular business communications system.
Juliana Rotich
Co-Founder and Executive Director, Ushahidi
Juliana Rotich is co-founder and executive director of Ushahidi Inc., a nonprofit tech company,
born in Africa, which specializes in developing free and open source software for information collection, interactive mapping and data curation.
Ushahidi builds tools for democratizing information, increasing transparency and lowering the barriers for individuals to share their stories. Through Crowdmap. com, Swiftly.org and accompanying mobile applications, Ushahidi is expanding its global footprint and making crowdsourcing tools available and useful, and catalyzing entrepreneurial initiatives like iHub in Kenya.
Originally from Kenya, Rotich has a computer science degree from the University of Missouri, Kansas City. An MIT Fellow and TED Senior Fellow, she currently serves as vice chair of the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on Data-Driven Development. For fun, she likes to make USB earrings.
Eric Schmidt
Executive Chairman
Google
Since joining Google in 2001, Eric Schmidt has helped grow the company from a Silicon Valley startup to a global leader in technology.
As executive chairman, he is responsible for the external matters of Google: Building partnerships and broader business relationships, government outreach and technology thought leadership, as well as advising the CEO and senior leadership on business and policy issues. From 2001-2011, he served as Google’s chief executive officer.
Prior to joining Google, Schmidt held leadership roles at Novell and Sun Microsystems Inc. He holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Princeton University as well as a master’s degree and Ph.D. in computer science from the University of California, Berkeley. He is a member of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.
Mike Schroepfer
CTO & VP of Engineering
Facebook
An entrepreneur, technical architect and manager, Mike Schroepfer is responsible for harnessing Facebook’s culture of speed, creativity and exploration to build products, services and infrastructure that support more than one billion people worldwide.
Before coming to Facebook, Schroepfer was vice president of engineering at Mozilla Corporation, where he led the global, collaborative, open and participatory product development process behind Mozilla’s popular software, such as the Firefox Web browser.
Formerly the chief technology officer for Sun Microsystems’ data center automation division (“N1”), and founder, chief architect and director of engineering at CenterRun, he holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in computer science from Stanford University. His first cellphone: “A Motorola DynaTAC (borrowed from my dad).”
Michael Sippey
VP of Product
Twitter
Michael Sippey, who has said on Quora that “the iPhone is best used as a distraction from the human condition,” leads the consumer product management team at Twitter, which includes Twitter’s mobile applications, Twitter.com, TweetDeck and Twitter’s developer platform.
Prior to joining Twitter in 2012, Sippey was VP of artist development at SAY Media, where he was responsible for identifying influential content creators and launching new media properties. Earlier, he was VP Product at blogging platform provider Six Apart.
Sippey earned his B.A. in English literature from Colgate University and an M.B.A. from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. The best way to reach him, of course, is on Twitter, where he is @sippey. He's pretty sure his first cellphone was a Nokia 6160.
Jason Spero
Head of Global Mobile Solutions
Google
Jason Spero is responsible for the global priorities and overall commercial strategy for Google’s mobile offerings, including Search, GDN, AdMob, YouTube and DoubleClick platforms.
He joined Google in May 2010 as part of the company’s acquisition of AdMob, where he was vice president and general manager for North America, responsible for strategy and operations. He also led the company’s sales, business development and marketing teams.
Before joining AdMob, Spero was an entrepreneur in residence at Redpoint Ventures, where he focused on mobile applications, services and infrastructure. Prior to Redpoint, Jason was senior vice president of marketing at Digital Chocolate, where he was responsible for worldwide product, marketing and distribution.
First mobile phone – “it was 1996” – a Motorola StarTAC.
Evan Spiegel
Co-Founder and CEO
Snapchat Inc.
Evan Spiegel is the co-founder and CEO of Snapchat, a real-time picture messaging application available on iPhone and Android.
Snapchat users have shared more than five billion unique images through the service since January 2012, making Snapchat one of the Top 10 apps in the iTunes App Store. The fast-rising startup recently raised funding from Benchmark Capital; the team’s headquarters moved from Spiegel’s dad’s place to offices in Venice Beach, Calif.
Before Snapchat, Spiegel worked as a software developer at Intuit, where he was involved with a stealth project involving SMS technology. He studied product design at Stanford University, and almost graduated.
Mollie Spilman
EVP, Global Sales & Marketing, Millennial Media
With 23 years in the media business, including serving as CMO of Yahoo, Mollie Spilman is executive vice president, global sales and marekting at Millennial Media, where she is responsible for leading the company’s sales and operations, marketing and business development efforts in the region.
Prior to Yahoo, Spilman was CEO of two technology startups, Three Stage Media Inc. and TidalTV (now Videology). She also served as chief sales and marketing officer of Advertising.com, and has held senior positions at various other media companies, including Time Warner, Meredith Corporation and Discovery Networks.
Another exec who started her mobile life with a Motorola StarTAC, Spilman holds a B.A. in English literature from Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., where she was captain of the school’s first female rugby team: “And I’m only 5’4”!”
Global Voices
Global Voices is a new segment of D: Dive Into Mobile, bringing together individuals from around the world who have experienced firsthand how mobile technology is transforming lives.
Asia Kamukama
Co-founder and Country Director
Maendeleo Foundation Uganda
A development economist by trade, Uganda’s Asia Kamukama is co-founder and country director for Maendeleo Foundation Uganda. She helped establish a solar-powered computer classroom in an effort to help bring economic and educational benefits to rural and suburban communities. The lab uses 15 Classmate computers from Intel.
Kamal Quadir
CEO
bKash
Bangladeshi-American artist and entrepreneur Kamal Quadir is CEO of bKash, a mobile money service that offers millions of unbanked people access to financial services through basic cellphones. Earlier, he founded CellBazaar, a communications company that introduced a mobile-phone-based electronic marketplace and gained 4.5 million users.
Sesame Workshop
With educational content that reaches millions of children in more than 150 countries, Sesame Workshop can be regarded as the largest informal educator of children worldwide, using the power of media to help children reach their highest potential. Known for its television programs, Sesame Workshop uses multiple media platforms to reach children where they are. Recently, it began to harness the potential of mobile technologies to reach educators and families. From the United States to India to China, Sesame Workshop has developed innovative educational content for mobile platforms that include apps, e-books, streaming audio, and teacher training via IVRS. And as mobile phones become increasingly convergent devices, they allow Sesame Workshop to reach children and families that may have limited access to traditional media channels.