Craig Santos is the Senior Director for Training Services and Education at MathWorks, recognized for his leadership in advancing learning and customer enablement worldwide. In his current role, he leads global initiatives that empower students, educators, and researchers to achieve their goals using MathWorks tools, overseeing business development, sales, and customer success. He also directs the commercial Training Services organization, enabling engineers and scientists to advance their work through high‑impact learning programs while guiding long‑term strategy and organizational development. Craig’s 30-year career at MathWorks spans every major customer‑facing technical role—including Technical Support, Application Engineering, Training and Consulting—giving him deep insight into customer needs and a holistic view of product adoption and learning. Before joining MathWorks, Craig served in the U.S. Army as an Infantryman. This experience instilled the discipline, resilience, and mission‑focused mindset that continue to shape his leadership and his commitment to developing others. Beyond his professional responsibilities, Craig plays an active role in supporting education and community impact. He serves on the UMASS Dartmouth Foundation Board, the Dean’s Council for the College of Engineering, and the Board of the Community Foundation for MetroWest. He is a dedicated mentor, husband, and father, and he enjoys playing basketball and taking on Spartan races—pursuits that reflect the determination and energy he brings to every aspect of his life.
Emery N. Brown, M.D., Ph.D. is a world-renowned clinician-scientist and the Edward Hood Taplin Professor of Medical Engineering and Computational Neuroscience at MIT, as well as the Warren M. Zapol Professor of Anaesthesia at Harvard Medical School. A practicing anesthesiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, Dr. Brown is the global authority on the neurophysiology of general anesthesia. His pioneering research redefined the field’s understanding of the anesthetized brain, transitioning the view of anesthesia from a state of "sleep" to a pharmacologically-mediated, reversible coma characterized by high-amplitude brain oscillations that disrupt neural communication.
With a career spanning over three decades, Dr. Brown has developed transformative statistical methods and signal-processing techniques to analyze neural activity. His work has led to the use of real-time EEG monitoring to guide anesthetic dosing and the implementation of closed-loop systems for automated anesthesia administration. A historic figure in American science, he is the first African American elected to all three National Academies—Medicine, Sciences, and Engineering—and was recently awarded the 2024 National Medal of Science at the White House.
Beyond his clinical and research achievements, Dr. Brown is a dedicated leader and mentor within the global scientific community. He serves on the Boards of Trustees for the Simons and Guggenheim Foundations and sits on the editorial board of the New England Journal of Medicine. Originally from Ocala, Florida, Dr. Brown’s journey from a segregated elementary school to the pinnacle of academia is grounded in a deep commitment to mathematics and medicine, holding a B.A., M.A., Ph.D., and M.D. all from Harvard University.
Shonté Davidson is a clean energy executive, infrastructure leader, and nationally recognized voice advancing equitable electrification and resilient energy systems. She is the CEO and co-founder of Better Together Brain Trust (BT2 Energy), a Boston-based Minority Women Business Enterprise delivering turnkey solutions in transportation electrification and building decarbonization.
With over a decade of experience spanning clean energy strategy, supplier engagement, and large-scale program implementation, Shonté has led transformative initiatives at the intersection of infrastructure, community, and climate impact. Her leadership includes advancing Boston’s curbside EV charging program and supporting the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center’s Ride Clean Hubs — projects that expand access to clean transportation while strengthening local economies and workforce pathways.
Shonté’s work is grounded in a clear belief: the future of clean energy must be built with communities, not around them. Through BT2 Energy, she brings together public agencies, utilities, suppliers, and community stakeholders to design scalable, inclusive energy solutions that deliver both environmental progress and economic opportunity.A trailblazer for Black women in energy, Shonté is known for her grounded authority, collaborative leadership, and ability to translate vision into durable infrastructure. Her work is shaping not only how energy systems are built — but who gets to lead in building them.
Yinka Ogunbiyi is the founder and CEO of HaloBraid, a hair technology company building the world’s first patent-pending robotic hair braiding system to reduce appointment time from hours to minutes and help stylists grow their business. Yinka previously founded and served as COO and CTO of Desora, a smart cooking technology company, where she developed and launched 6 hardware products and received multiple patents. She’s also a chef/recipe developer @foodfireandsoul with 70K followers on Instagram. Yinka holds an MBA, BSc and MS in Engineering from Harvard University.
