The People Behind AI Convergence

Dr. Lisa Abendroth is an Associate Professor of Marketing and former Associate Dean of Graduate Program Innovation at the University of St. Thomas (MN), where she redesigned and expanded the graduate business portfolio by systematically engaging learners, employers, and industry partners to address evolving needs.

As Founder of the Business in a Digital World initiative, she partnered with the business community to identify crucial modern competencies and developed learning experiences that transform students into leaders prepared to thrive in our rapidly changing world. With deep expertise in emerging technology, strategic foresight, and digital transformation, she teaches interdisciplinary courses at the intersection of business, technology, and the common good.

As a strategic advisor, she specializes in anticipating and navigating disruptions, customer-centric innovation, and the human-side of successful digital transformation. She extends her commitment to developing resilience through volunteer work with the Minnesota Technology Association, Girls Who Code, How Women Lead, and The Arc Minnesota.

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Raman Randhawa is the Charles L. and Ramona I. Hilliard Professor of Business Administration and Professor of Data Sciences and Operations at USC Marshall School of Business. His work sits at the intersection of AI, institutional design, and leadership, focusing on how data-driven systems shape access, outcomes, and human decision-making in large-scale settings such as healthcare, justice administration, and education.

As a former Senior Vice Dean for Academic Programs, he led institution-wide innovation across undergraduate, master's, and MBA programs, including conceiving the AI for Business undergraduate joint degree and co-leading a faculty-wide Generative AI education initiative.

He is also an AI entrepreneur, co-founder of Pathomiq, developing AI platforms for cancer diagnostics, and an advisor to Turiyam.ai on next-generation compute infrastructure. Randhawa holds a Ph.D. from Stanford University and a B.Tech. from IIT Delhi.

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France Hoang is the Founder and CEO of BoodleBox, where he pioneers AI-enabled learning solutions that enhance rather than replace human expertise in higher education and workforce readiness. His journey—from Vietnamese refugee to West Point graduate to White House lawyer—shapes his commitment to equitable access and human-centered technology.

A Distinguished Visiting Lecturer at West Point, former university trustee, and proven entrepreneur who has scaled companies to over $600M in combined sales, his approach addresses three critical challenges facing education leaders: ensuring equitable AI access for all students, empowering educators with control and transparency for AI-native classrooms, and providing institutions with secure, private AI infrastructure they can trust.

Under his leadership, BoodleBox now serves as the official AI infrastructure for over 100 colleges and universities, reaching 900,000 faculty and students. His work positions institutions to amplify human potential and prepare learners who will shape—not simply adapt to—an AI-enabled world.

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Paul Pavlou is Dean of the Miami Herbert Business School and University-wide Lead for Executive Education at the University of Miami, where he has positioned the institution as a national model of AI-driven innovation and cross-campus collaboration. A globally recognized AI thought leader with a record of advancing AAU/R1 institutions as chief academic officer, he brings a campus-wide vision to higher education that champions research, propels student success, and promotes societal impact.

At Miami, he launched a transformational strategy achieving historic firsts: #1 graduate career placement, #2 global faculty research productivity, and #3 in executive education (Financial Times 2025). Previously, as Dean and Cullen Distinguished Professor at the University of Houston's Bauer College of Business, he guided one of the nation's largest business schools through record enrollment growth (+40%), record student success (90%+ graduation and 99% job placement), and record philanthropy exceeding $150 million—while leading the Entrepreneurship program to five consecutive years at #1 globally (Princeton Review).

A proven crisis leader who steered institutions through COVID-19 and fiscal challenges, his work demonstrates how transformative servant leadership can deliver tangible results while fostering belonging and interdisciplinary innovation.

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Dean Goon is Dean of Academic Innovation at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, where he leads a team of over 75 professionals advancing the university's mission through innovative education strategies, faculty development, and global academic partnerships.

With more than 25 years of educational leadership spanning K-12 administration to higher education, he has become a leading voice on generative AI transformation in academia—advocating for approaches that cultivate cognitive and socio-emotional capabilities alongside AI fluency rather than treating GenAI as merely transactional.

His thought leadership emphasizes unlocking the full potential of human+AI collaboration in learning, a perspective shaped by his global work including a 2024 Fulbright assignment in Kosovo. A recognized speaker and facilitator, he delivers Design Thinking workshops such as "The Quest to Reclaim Human Connection: Coexisting with AI," providing educators with actionable frameworks for thriving amidst technological change.

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Alex Sevilla is Founding Head of Impact at DriveX, where he leads strategy and product positioning to help edtech firms engage meaningfully with universities and organizations—delivering AI innovation, bespoke solutions, and measurable outcomes. His work advising on ICP development, go-to-market strategy, and product positioning draws on deep fluency in both higher education systems and the technology landscape reshaping them.

Previously, Alex held dean and provost-level leadership roles at two of the nation's most storied universities. At The University of Florida, he launched one of the world's first R1 online MBA programs; at Vanderbilt University, he served as inaugural Vice Provost for Career Advancement. Across these roles, he led large-scale initiatives spanning program innovation, employer partnerships, campus expansion, and revenue-generating academic portfolios—delivering measurable results in enrollment growth, career placement, global rankings, and student satisfaction.

Holding a doctorate in Organizational Leadership, Alex brings a rare ability to bridge the gap between institutional strategy and on-the-ground implementation. He speaks and teaches on emotional intelligence, leadership, influence, and the future of learning—subjects that sit at the heart of how higher education leaders move from AI awareness to AI transformation.

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Javier Reyes serves as Chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, the flagship campus of one of America's largest public university systems. He brings perspective on leading complex public institutions through technological transformation while preserving the core mission of accessible, high-quality education.

His experience navigating the intersection of AI opportunity and institutional responsibility makes him a vital voice in the AI Convergence community.

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Joe Abraham is a serial entrepreneur who most recently served as Managing Partner at Beyond Academics—an award-winning higher education consulting firm. Today, he serves as CEO of IntelliCampus—a data intelligence and experience platform designed to deliver seamless "single pane of glass" experiences for faculty, staff, and students.

He is author of the critically acclaimed book Entrepreneurial DNA (McGraw-Hill, 2011)—named by Entrepreneur Magazine as one of the top business books to read in 2014 and used in business school curriculum around the world.

Joe has been featured twice on the TEDx stage as well as on Fox News, CNN, network TV and the Wall Street Journal as a subject matter expert in entrepreneurship and technology. Joe brings the EdTech perspective to the AI Convergence advisory board, and will help design the event experiences—especially the interactions between EdTech innovators and higher education leaders.

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Matt Alex is widely recognized for his innovative leadership style and his willingness to engage in direct, often uncomfortable conversations that catalyze real and lasting change in higher education. Over his career, he has supported transformation efforts at some of the most complex and prestigious institutions in the sector, helping leaders move from vision to execution.

Matt was the founder of Beyond Academics, a firm built to challenge traditional higher ed consulting models by prioritizing practical strategy, long-term partnership, and measurable institutional impact—free from vendor bias. Under his leadership, Beyond Academics worked closely with colleges and universities to tackle challenges at the intersection of innovation, enrollment, and organizational change.

Before founding Beyond Academics, Matt was a partner at Deloitte, where he helped launch and grow the firm’s higher education practice. Today, Beyond Academics is part of the Core Education portfolio. At Core, Matt leads Growth and Partnerships, putting clients first while driving operational change through a human-centered, trust-based approach that helps campuses become future-ready.

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