IoT Advisory Board Members

Benson Chan is a co-founder and Chief Operating Officer at Strategy of Things, a Silicon Valley based innovation firm specializing in smart and responsive cities, communities, buildings and infrastructure. Benson has over twenty-five years of scaling and working with innovation at NASA, Hughes Space and Communications, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Cisco. He has held roles in systems engineering, product management, strategy, business development. Benson’s expertise includes IoT, smart cities, systems engineering, innovation management, market development, and go-to-market.

Benson has worked with emerging technologies, such as the Internet of Things,  for the past nine years. His current work focuses on Smart Cities, Smart Buildings, and Smart Infrastructure in the areas of strategy, planning, engineering, innovation projects and intelligent infrastructure. Prior to that, he spent three years in the smart home industry, where he served at Vice President of Business Development and Marketing at Pakedge, and the Senior Director of Product Management at Control4.

Benson is a recognized domain expert and thought leader in IoT, smart cities, innovation management, cloud business models, marketing and go-to-market. He was named one of the top 10 Industrial IoT influencers on smart cities in the world by Onalytica in 2020, and one of the top IoT experts in the Onalytica Who's Who in IoT report in 2022.

Benson is an active contributor in industry efforts to accelerate the development and adoption of emerging technologies. He is an active member on the IoT Industry Advisory Council of CompTIA. He has contributed to the U.S. federal government’s NIST GCTC Wireless and Smart Buildings superclusters. He has served as an industry mentor in the US Department of Energy Building Technology Office’s IMPEL program that paired industry with National Laboratories researchers to foster entrepreneurial thinking.

Benson holds a BS in Aeronautical Engineering from California Poly State University, a MS in Engineering from Purdue University and a MBA from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Dan Caprio, Co-Founder and Chairman, is an internationally recognized expert on privacy and cybersecurity. He has served as the Chief Privacy Officer and Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Department of Commerce; a transatlantic subject matter expert for the European Commission and EU-US projects on cybersecurity and the EU-US Trade and Technology Council including the Trackstar project steering committee and chair of the Digital Economy Working Group; a Chief of Staff for a Federal Trade Commission Commissioner; a member of the Department of Homeland Security Data Privacy Advisory Committee; and Represented the US revising the OECD Security Guidelines that led to the first White House Cybersecurity Strategy in 2002.

Michael Bergman is vice president of technology and standards at the Consumer Technology Association, where he leads association work on cybersecurity and internet standards. Mike has been in the technology industry for more than 40 years, in memory chip design, embedded systems, wireless communications and digital multimedia. He is the host and editor of the C2 Consensus on IoT Device Baseline Security and co-leads the Council to Secure the Digital Economy. He holds patents in semiconductor design and has contributed to industry standards such as ATSC, DVB, NRSC and USB. 

Ranveer Chandra is the CTO of Agri-Food, Managing Director of Research for Industry, and Head of Networking Research at Microsoft Research, Redmond. Ranveer’s research has shipped in multiple Microsoft products, including XBOX, Azure, Windows, and Visual Studio. He started the FarmBeats project in 2015, about AI, IoT, and Edge computing for data-driven agriculture, which shipped as a Microsoft product in 2019. Bill Gates featured his work on FarmBeats on GatesNotes, and he has been invited to present on FarmBeats to the Secretary of Agriculture, and on TV White Spaces to the FCC Chairman. Ranveer has published over 100 research papers and has over 150 patents granted by the USPTO. He is an IEEE Fellow, and has won several awards, including best paper awards in leading computer science conferences and the MIT Technology Review’s Top Innovators Under 35 award in 2010. He was recently recognized by the Newsweek magazine as one of America’s 50 most disruptive innovators in 2021. Ranveer has an undergraduate degree from IIT Kharagpur, India, and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Cornell University.

Nick Emanuel manages his family's 2,000 acre row crop farm in eastern Nebraska, near North Bend, and is also Head of Product U.S., CropX, focused on developing precision ag technology. CropX synthesizes data from the earth and sky to offer advanced soil and crop intelligence through a suite of digital tools and sensors. Emanuel joined CropX after merging a company he founded, CropMetrics, in 2020. CropMetrics started in 2009 with a focus on precision irrigation technology and the first commercially available Variable Rate Irrigation software. He continues to push innovation within CropX with a focus on delivering ultimate value to the grower. Prior to farming and CropMetrics, Emanuel received his Bachelor and Master of Science degrees from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He then went on to work for John Deere in the Advanced Engineering Department of Ag Management Solutions developing and testing precision ag applications specializing in remote sensing technology. Nick and his wife Amy have an 8-yr old son Peyton who keeps them active with sports and his other pursuits.

Steve Griffith is a Senior Industry Director for NEMA’s Transportation Systems Division. He manages sections within this division in such areas as Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment, Rail Electrification, Automotive Components, and Imaging & Communications.  He is also the principle NEMA staff liaison for NEMA’s Cybersecurity activities, leading and defining common approaches to standardization, guidelines, and architecture development while enabling connectivity, defining, and simplifying interoperability, and safeguarding privacy and cybersecurity in electrotechnical and medical imaging products.

Steve has over 20 years’ experience in program/project management including a Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification.  Before joining NEMA he managed projects for various Department of Defense facilities, and the Transportation Security Administration.

Tom Katsioulas is a high-tech business executive with years of experience in electronics, semiconductors, systems, software and IoT applications. Tom is the Board Chair of the Global Semiconductor Alliance Trusted IoT Ecosystem Security. GSA TIES is a collaborative group of companies in the IoT value chain aiming to accelerate industry adoption and monetization of secure and trusted IoT solutions and services for consumer, automotive, industrial, aerospace-defense and the smart infrastructure. Prior to GSA, Tom led the TrustChain business at Siemens focusing on end-to-end solutions for trusted supply chain traceability and IoT solutions for the industrial edge. Tom has held various executive, management and engineering positions at Digital Equipment, Cadence, Synopsys, AmmoCore Technology and Forte Design Automation.

Tom’s experience includes, cloud-based AI applications, digital transformation, supply chain security, product lifecycle management, chip design & manufacturing, and electronic design automation. Tom’s interest in tech innovation and emerging markets led him to advise startups, VC investors and industry associations on go-to-market strategies and business models. He has also assisted the Greek innovation ecosystem and startup ties with Silicon Valley. He serves as a board member and advisor to maritime IoT and agriculture IoT companies. Tom holds an M.S. in Electrical Engineering & Computer Science from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, a B.S. in Computer Engineering from University of Bridgeport, Connecticut and a Certificate on IoT Business Implications and Opportunities from the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Kevin T. Kornegay received a B.S. degree in electrical engineering from Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY, in 1985 and an M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering and computer science from the University of California at Berkeley in 1990 and 1992 respectively. He is currently the Eugene Endowed Professor and Director of the Cybersecurity Assurance and Policy (CAP) Center at Morgan State University in Baltimore, MD. His research interests include hardware assurance, reverse engineering, secure embedded systems, side-channel analysis, and differential fault analysis. Dr. Kornegay serves or has served on the technical program committees of several international conferences, including the IEEE Symposium on Hardware Oriented Security and Trust (HOST), USENIX Security, the IEEE Physical Assurance and Inspection of Electronics (PAINE), and the ACM Great Lakes Symposium on VLSI (GLSVLSI). He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the NSF CAREER Award, IBM Faculty Partnership Award, National Semiconductor Faculty Development Award, and the General Motors Faculty Fellowship Award. He is currently a member of Eta Kappa Nu, Sigma Xi, and Tau Beta Pi engineering honor societies and a senior member of the IEEE.

Debra Lam is the Founding Director of the Partnership for Inclusive Innovation, a statewide public-private partnership committed to investing in innovative solutions for shared economic prosperity. She continues to lead smart communities and urban innovation work at Georgia Tech. She founded the Georgia Smart Community Challenge, the first statewide effort in the nation that empowers communities of all sizes to become smarter. Prior to this, she served as Pittsburgh’s inaugural Chief of Innovation & Performance where she oversaw all technology, sustainability, performance, and innovation functions of city government. Before that, she was a management consultant at a global engineering and design firm, Arup. She has received various awards, including being named one of the top 100 most influential people in digital government by Apolitcal. She has worked and lived in the United Kingdom, China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. A graduate of Georgetown University and the University of California, Berkeley, Debra serves on the board of the MetroLab Network and Community Foundation of Greater Atlanta.  

Ann Mehra is a general partner with Agorai Funds. She also has served as an Advisor to Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University under the supervision of Dr. George Church, Professor of Health Sciences and Technology at Harvard and MIT. Ann serves as an Advisory member to Styra, a Open Policy Agent Silicon Valley startup backed by Accel Partners and Battery Ventures. She is also a Partner Advisory Board member at LedgerDomain, a decentralized platform company that delivers ground truth and easy compliance for the pharmaceutical supply chain founded by a former Bain & Company partner and MIT alum. Ann is a graduate of Harvard University and a current AI Executive Scholar at MIT.

Robby Moss is Vice President, Business Development for Moviynt, a wholly owned subsidiary of Vuzix Corporation. Mr. Moss has over 28 years of experience related to supply chain solutions, program management, operations management, and information technology (IT) implementation, including Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) projects. His broad experience across both supply chain operations and IT consulting for the private sector as well as consulting and program management for the federal government provides a unique perspective to the stakeholder interest area of augmented logistics and supply chains and the benefits of IIoT. He has led information technology and supply chain solution engagements for government stakeholders (US Navy, TSA and USDOT), most recently as Principal Investigator on a sensor-based IIoT innovation project for the US Navy related to parts tracking, tool tracking and facility and machine health monitoring. Mr. Moss holds an MBA with a concentration in Management from the University of Houston and a BBA in Transportation/Logistics from Mississippi State University.

Nicole Coughlin Raimundo is an award-winning technology executive who serves as the chief information officer for Cary, North Carolina. She is the principal strategist and architect for information technology and digital marketing across the organization. Raimundo is at the forefront of the smart cities movement, creating a connected community through piloting and implementing IoT technologies in the public sector. Raimundo's dedication to innovative thinking and partner-building has helped create blueprints for municipalities around the world to deploy and deliver technological advancements to help solve unique challenges.

A self-described government rebel, she participates in numerous conferences and summits as a keynote speaker and panelist, and her work has been profiled in case studies as she continuously pursues new models of digital transformation for collaborative citizen-facing projects. Prior to her work in government, she spent years in various IT leadership positions in the private sector, leading development teams in the U.S. and internationally.

Maria Rerecich joined Consumer Reports in 2013 as the Director of Electronics Testing, and is currently the Senior Director of Product Testing. In this role, she leads the teams evaluating consumer products, covering the areas of appliances, home and outdoor products, and consumer electronics. Ms. Rerecich is involved in CR's initiatives to tackle privacy, security, and data issues, focusing in particular on the testing of Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Prior to Consumer Reports, she worked for 29 years for Standard Microsystems Corporation in the semiconductor industry and was responsible for integrated circuit design, validation, and product engineering of silicon chips used in PCs.  Ms. Rerecich holds Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Electrical Engineering from MIT. 

Debbie Reynolds is the Founder, CEO, and Chief Data Privacy Officer of Debbie Reynolds Consulting LLC. Debbie Reynolds, “The Data Diva,” is a world-renowned technologist, thought-leader, and advisor working at the intersection of Data Privacy, Technology, and Law. Ms. Reynolds is an internationally published author, highly sought speaker, and top media presence about Global Data Privacy, Data Protection, and Emerging Technology issues. Ms. Reynolds hosts the number one award-winning “The Data Diva” Talks Privacy Podcast. She has been named one of the Global Top Ten Privacy Experts by Martechvibe, and she has been named one of the Global Top 30 CyberRisk Communicators by The European Risk Policy Institute in 2021.

Ms. Reynolds is the author of works in books, The GDPR Challenge: Privacy, Technology, and Compliance In An Age of Accelerating Change and eDiscovery for Corporate Counsel related to data privacy and digital evidence; She is the author of works in publications like The International Journal for the Data Protection Officer, Privacy Officer, and Privacy Counsel, Bloomberg Law, Thomson Reuters West, Westlaw Journal, Today’s General Counsel Magazine (TGC), Law360 and the International Legal Technology Association (ILTA); She has been interviewed and quoted in media outlets, New Statesman, Morning Brew, Tycoon, USA Today, Protocol, Authority Magazine, Medium, Lifewire, CMSWire, Bloomberg Big Law Business, Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), Digiday, Privacy Laws and Business, Identity Review, Biometric Update, LegalTech News,  Law.com, Law360, The Recorder, High Performance Counsel (HPC), Legal Business World, Toyo Keizai Japan, and American Lawyer.

Dr. Arman Shehabi is a Staff Scientist in the Energy Analysis and Environmental Impacts Division of the Energy Technologies Area at LBNL. He has over 15 years experience measuring and modeling the potential energy, economic, and air pollutant impacts associated with the large-scale adoption of clean energy policy and technologies for buildings and manufacturing, with extensive research focused on the information and communication technology (ICT).

Dr. Shehabi’s research at LBNL applies life-cycle assessments (LCA) methods to explore systems-wide energy, emissions, and materials flows through buildings and industrial sectors. His current work is focused on emerging technologies and industries in the areas of data center energy/water use, electronic waste recycling, building material circularity, and industrial decarbonization.

Dr. Shehabi has authored over 50 journal articles, research reports, and conference papers. His work has been published in Science Magazine and Nature journals, cited in U.S. congressional legislation, and featured in BBC, NPR, and NYT stories.  Prior to joining LBNL, Dr. Shehabi held fellowship positions with the National Academy of Science in Washington, D.C. and with the Consortium on Green Design and Manufacturing at UC Berkeley. He received his M.S. and Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from Stanford University and UC Berkeley, respectively, with an emphasis in building energy use and indoor air quality. Between graduate programs, he also worked as an engineering consultant and LEED Accredited Professional to develop and implement sustainable building metrics.

Pete Tseronis founded Dots and Bridges LLC to serve as a unique nexus for “Connecting Dots and Building Bridges.” And its YouTube channel seeks to humanize the thought-leading individuals and organizations that embody passion and purpose to serve a “greater good.”

Pete worked inside the U.S. Federal Government for 25 years, kicking-off his career at the Pentagon and finishing as a Senior Executive Service member. Pete served four Presidential Administrations, three Cabinet Agencies, the Executive Office of the President, and was appointed Chief Technology Officer at the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Education.

An accomplished entrepreneur, business executive, and technology strategist with 30+ years leading public, private, and non-profit entities, Pete maintains a fervor for working in partnership with Government, Industry, Investor and Academic ecosystems to unearth inventive solutions, accelerate sustainable adoption, and streamline private-sector commercialization.