Executive Chair’s Message
Dear Innovate@UCLA members,
It is my pleasure to communicate the highlights for the first quarter of 2024. We hosted three successful events covering diverse topics. In celebration of Women’s Month, the Women in Technology (WIT) committee hosted a virtual panel “Impact of AI on the Lives and Rights of Women and Underserved Communities”. We expanded our presence to Orange County with a CxO exchange panel titled “Surviving and Thriving Change-Navigating Executive Transitions” hosted at the Laserfiche office. This was an opportunity for attendees to interact and receive an autographed basketball from NBA Hall of Famer James Worthy. Our Spring Summit provided multiple panels with CIO’s and CISO’s covering use cases for AI/Gen AI and Cybersecurity. Our survey score of 100% (very good or excellent rating) for all events has been a testament of the efforts from our programming and sponsor committee.
We welcome new members who joined us this quarter. I highly encourage you to connect with Lea Erikson, our Membership Chair to learn more about Innovate@UCLA and join our community.
I am thrilled to announce our collaboration with Evanta, a Gartner company, on a one-day Southern California CIO Executive Summit at the Marriott Long Beach Downtown hotel on May 22, 2024. Join Southern California’s top CIOs to tackle shared business challenges and critical priorities facing your role today.
Looking ahead, mark your calendars for our upcoming marquee events: Summer Solstice on June 13, 2024 , exploring the mutual impact between technology and major sports and annual Executive Leadership Awards Dinner scheduled for September 26, 2024. If you would like a guest invite to one of our events, please contact me or Snezana Sibalic, and we will approve your attendance based on your qualifications.
Finally, I would like to thank our diverse Board Members, whose volunteerism continues to drive the success of Innovate@UCLA for the SoCal technology community.
Thanks,
Bhupesh Arora
Innovate@UCLA Executive Chair