The 20 Most Inspiring CEOs to Watch 2018

1. www.insightssuccess.com June 2018 The Most Imparting Wisdom Successful Personality Traits to Learn from Elon Musk INSPIRING To Watch 2018 The Art of Leading Attributes of a Good Leader Matthew Telesca Founder & CEO MGN Logistics Matthew Telesca: An Industry Pioneer Driven by Determination

4. Leadership: The Unison of Guidance and Compassion L eadership in its pure form is the act of leading a set of followers for a collective purpose. Instances of leadership can be observed in the ways how Alexander, Napoleon, George Washington, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, and many others, led their followers. Initially, a leader was perceived of an authoritative image. However, through the course of time, the term leadership has been branched into different styles but pertains to the pure form of the processes and outcomes involved within it. Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34 United States President says, “The supreme quality of leadership is unquestionable integrity. Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, a football field, in an army, or in an office.” The verity of these lines is evident in the contemporary era of ingenious technologies and business models across the globe. th Be it, an authoritarian or free-reigning style of leadership, one can safely assert that without leadership, an organization would be directionless, the workforce would be powerless, and goals and ambitions would be pointless. The nature of a leader is a subtle blend of ethics, integrity, ambition, determination and persistence. These traits build up a leader’s influence and reputation within the organization as well as the watching world. Funneling down the vitality of leadership into an organization, the role of a leader is played by a CEO. Right from the lifting of curtains to the climax of the play, a CEO avidly performs the parts of a protagonist, leading the organization to glorious heights. Initiating ventures, delegating tasks and their

5. appropriate execution, interactive participation, delivering quality outcomes, relentlessly recognizing and appreciating collective and/or individual efforts, are some of the prime duties of a CEO. Hence, herein, Insights Success has curated a list of “The 20 Most Inspiring CEOs to Watch, 2018,” who are excelling their roles and responsibilities of leading organizations that have ceaselessly advocated the ingenuity in technological innovation and in providing best-in-class services globally. Our Cover Story features Matthew Telesca, who has spearheaded MGNLogistics, Inc. to be one of the USA’s fastest-growing logistics and transportation companies. The company has ventured several prolific and novel transportation modules which include, predictive pricing, extensive KPI charting, and intelligent transportation routing, all under Matthew’s transformational leadership. Matthew comprehends that the path wherein one is metamorphosed from a follower into a leader is largely aided by grit, discipline and the ability to continually grind through good and bad times to succeed. He elaborates, “You need to be the first one in the office, the last one to leave, and you need to be willing to do what everyone else only talks about doing. If you are willing to do this, then and only then, you will have one of the necessary building blocks to creating a successful business.” Asserting upon his role as a CEO and the essence of any organization’s success, Matthew states, “The ability to delegate is one the biggest challenge for any Founder and CEO. The business is like your baby, you’ve committed absolutely everything to it, and once it starts to grow, if you’re not able to let go and delegate, you will end up with stifling growth.” Also, make sure to scroll through the articles written by our in-house editorial team and CXO standpoints of some of the leading industry experts to have a brief taste of the sector. Let’s start reading! Abhishaj Sajeev

11. Editor-in-Chief Pooja M. Bansal Anish Miller Managing Editor Executive Editor Assistant Editors Kedar Kulkarni Jenny Fernandes Abhishaj Sajeev Contributing Editors Hitesh Dhamani Shubham Khampariya Visualiser David King Art & Design Director Amol Kamble Associate Designer Tejas Kulkarni Co-designer Shweta Ambilwade Art & Picture Editors Paul Jayant Belin Khanna Senior Sales Manager Passi D. Business Development Manager Peter Collins Marketing Manager John Matthew Business Development Executives Steve, Joe, Alan, Tushar Sales Executives David, Kevin, Mark, Avinash Technical Head Jacob Smile Technical Specialists Amar, Pratiksha Digital Marketing Manager Marry D’Souza Online Marketing Strategists Alina Sege, Shubham, Vaibhav K SME-SMO Executives Prashant Chevale, Uma Dhenge, Gemson, Irfan Research Analyst Chidiebere Moses Circulation Managers Robert, Tanaji Database Management Stella Andrew Technology Consultant David Stokes sales@insightssuccess.com June, 2018 Corporate Ofces: Insights Success Media Tech LLC 555 Metro Place North, Suite 100, Dublin, OH 43017, United States Phone - (614)-602-1754 Email: info@insightssuccess.com For Subscription: www.insightssuccess.com Insights Success Media and Technology Pvt. Ltd. Off. No. 513 & 510, 5th Flr., Rainbow Plaza, Shivar Chowk, Pimple Saudagar, Pune, Maharashtra 411017 Phone - India: +91 7410079881/ 82/ 83/ 84/ 85 Email: info@insightssuccess.in For Subscription: www.insightssuccess.in www.twitter.com/insightssuccess Follow us on : www.facebook.com/insightssuccess/ We are also available on : Copyright © 2018 Insights Success, All rights reserved. The content and images used in this magazine should not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission from Insights Success. Reprint rights remain solely with Insights Success.

12. Matthew Telesca Founder & CEO MGN Logistics

13. Cover Story Matthew Telesca: An Industry Pioneer Driven by Determination It was curiosity that always pushed me beyond what most other kids my age were interested in.

14. S success starting from the bottom, that is when an inspiring story, becomes an awe-inspiring story. Those who build their own success out of nothing, are those that successfully navigate their way around life’s challenges, without stopping. They fall, sometimes or may be often, very hard, but they get up to stubbornly move on. It’s that self-belief, passion and determination that keeps the ball rolling. A perfect example of an individual starting from little and creating their own success is Matthew Telesca, Founder and CEO of one of the country’s fastest-growing logistics and transportation companies in the United States, MGN Logistics, Inc. uccess stories are always inspiring. Why? Because everyone wants to live a similar story; everyone wants to succeed. But when an individual achieves hand-me-down clothes for the new school year. And while the family never struggled to eat, small conveniences or luxuries were few and far in-between, and never taken for granted. All his siblings, including himself, would work in his father’s small family run shop, taking turns to assist their father. He recalls, “In middle school, my class had around 800 students and the vast majority were pretty well-off financially. In fact, out of the entire class only a handful of us received free lunches because our families couldn’t afford to pay for them. I remember being so embarrassed and self-conscience about it. I was always attempting to hide my free lunch card,” Telesca chuckles. “It was something that impacted me very early on and created an incredible desire and unstoppable determination to find a way to succeed. I ended up being the kid with a lemonade stand, the kid who sold trading cards, the kid who was always looking to make a few dollars, whenever and wherever I could. I would come up with the craziest ideas, but nothing would stop me from trying.” Matthew, the youngest of five children, was born to a very modest low-income family, in a small farming community in Pennsylvania. His parents were first generation immigrants from Europe. Matthew’s mother was a home maker and his father owned a small upholstery business. As a child growing up, he was often given his older brother’s

15. A Determined Kid and Avid Reader According to Telesca, it was his unending determination and self-belief, along with curiosity that always kept him ahead of the curve. One incident that perfectly illustrates this as a child is his experience of investing in stocks. At just 12 years of age, and having saved $500 from working with his father, Matthew convinced his father to open a brokerage account in his name, so he could trade stocks and commodities. Imagine a 12-year-old making real investments in the stock market. Using the school’s pay phone, he would call his stockbroker to check on his investments and get live market updates between classes. He reflects, “I was always curious and always interested in learning new things; how something worked, how it was made. I loved the idea of using my intelligence to create opportunity.” Telesca remembers being an avid reader. “Even today, I am constantly reading industry related articles and magazines and always attempting to keep my creative juices flowing.” He would enjoy reading books with topics like business, investing or computers. The ‘Aha’ Moment After finishing high school, to pay for his continuing academic studies and assist with family bills, Matthew took a job at a local door manufacturer loading and unloading trucks. The company’s management team immediately noticed his work ethic and responsible attitude; and decided to train him directly under the warehouse manager. With this training, he learned the basics of inventory control and supply chain management. Intrigued by what he was learning on the job, and recognizing numerous inefficiencies in the shipping process, he switched his academic focus to concentrate on logistics. Matthew started taking courses, reading and studying at night, while working at the warehouse during the day. One of the things I learned very early on was that if I wanted to make any money, I would need to work for it. Telesca would frequently fill in for the warehouse manager while out on vacation. During one of these routine times, he was asked to arrange and dispatch the company’s daily shipments. The company’s shipping process entailed contacting one of three carriers. The first, was a preferred carrier and the least expensive, the second and third were progressively costlier and only used when necessary. On the very first day of his new responsibility, Telesca found himself in a situation for which he wasn’t prepared - none of the three carriers were available. “The year was 1998, Google didn’t exist, and in fact the whole idea of online search at that time was, not just extremely novice, but exceptionally limited. The entire internet was relatively new and very few companies had meaningful websites. So, I did

16. I believe one of the most important characteristics of a successful CEO is to be an effective communicator. rapid growth and success, the site was sold to a private equity group in 2004. Three years later, after his non- compete clause had expired, Telesca started, what would end up being numerous acquisitions of brick-and-mortar freight brokerages he could efficiently modernize and integrate on-line with his newly developed Freight Transportation Management System (TMS). The first of these acquisitions occurred in 2007 and was a freight management company based outside of Boston, Massachusetts. This would be the start of a never-ending quest for excellence and the constant pursuit of newly reimagined technology that would again end up disrupting the transportation space. what everyone did back then, I started looking through the yellow pages or the phonebook for trucking companies.”, recalls Telesca. After several hours of “smiling and dialing” phone numbers, he ultimately found a local carrier that would perform the deliveries and, actually, ended up being substantially cheaper. That was Telesca’s ‘Aha’ moment. Having firsthand experience with the inefficiency of not only finding trucks, but then also getting price quotes, he envisioned a way to improve this process and decided to jump in both feet first. Armed with a little knowledge of programming and an intriguing idea, Telesca contacted a friend from college who was working at America Online (AOL) as a programmer. Ten months, countless sleepless nights, and two hundred and fifty thousand lines of code later, Telesca’s newly formed company, MGN Logistics, Inc., launched a revolutionary new website called logisticsquote.com in the spring of 2000. It was one of the first online transportation brokerage websites, and allowed customers to easily set up accounts, search carriers, rate shipments, create shipping documents and track their freight online. After extremely MGN Logistics: A Technology-Driven Logistics Solutions Provider As an early adopter of web-based technology, MGN continued to focus on cutting edge technology and developed several industry-first creative transportation modules which include projects like predictive pricing, extensive KPI charting and intelligent transportation routing that has outpaced all major players in the space.

17. By 2013, the company had opened an office in Orlando and another in the Dominican Republic to handle it’s growing international business. In 2014, having been heavily concentrated on freight management and LTL, the company expanded its expertise and acquired a truckload brokerage in New Jersey. The following year, it made another strategic acquisition of a tech-savvy Midwest-based brokerage with a unique proprietary truckload pricing app. Today, the company has 6 locations spanning Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Florida, Michigan and the Dominican Republic. While the company provides services as a traditional freight broker, its focus and specialization is as a full-service freight management partner. It’s cloud- based proprietary TMS can efficiently integrate an entire supply chain ranging from that of a large multi-national corporation to small home-run business. The software can be utilized as a fully independent stand-alone program or a well-integrated bolt-on apparatus. MGN’s suite of services include price and service optimization, contract negotiation, carrier routing and e- dispatching, along with fully automated documentation creation, pre- and post-audit, freight payment, and an extensive suite of interactive business intelligence reports, just to mention a few highlights. The platform not only provides sophisticated transportation technology but also connects each customer to a dedicated group of seasoned logistics managers who assist in coordinating, executing and tracking all shipments. The process is enhanced with integrated eGPS monitoring of truckload shipments, in addition to live LTL, rail, ocean, air and parcel updates. For those companies looking for a standalone or fully integrated solution to either replace or support their existing logistics department, MGN’s proprietary TMS is hard to beat. Their dedicated technology staff makes integration simple and incredibly affordable. At MGN, we have created a corporate environment where employees are empowered to think about innovation and make suggestions.

18. As the CEO and visionary of the company, I am excited to see not only the changes in the transportation space, but even more excited to be an integral part of those changes. Innovation and Implementation Telesca notes that the transportation space, like so many other industries, continues to be disrupted by new and compelling technologies, something he is intimately familiar with. In addition, new entrants to the industry such as Uber Freight and Amazon push the envelope of an already crowded space. Telesca is convinced the race to the top will be won by smaller, more adaptive and specialized companies rather than industry giants that he believes are too bloated to implement genuine disruptive change. “At times, it’s a little funny reading or listening to folks outside my space talk about the new entrants like Uber Freight or Amazon, as if they are introducing something genuinely disruptive or new. I guess for those not intimately familiar with logistics and the technology in the space already, those ideas seem innovative, but rest assured, there are dozens of companies that have been doing the same thing or similar for quite some time. Sure, just for their sheer size, financial fortitude and name-sake they will gain market share, but I often chuckle at all the hype. greater chance to continue dominating its niche market. Ability to Delegate When asked, “The ability to delegate is one the biggest challenge for any Founder and CEO,” says Telesca. “The business is like your baby, you’ve committed absolutely everything to it, and once it starts to grow, if you’re not able to let go and delegate, you will end up stifling growth.” Trust me, I’m one of the first to be excited when I see or hear something truly innovative. It’s been a life’s passion to try to be one of those industry innovators, so I applaud when I see something worthwhile.” Telesca started his company in the bedroom of his parent’s home and single-handedly wrangled every role from idea, to development to programming and vendor relationships, to sales and invoicing and billing, tracking and tracing; literally everything! So, when the business started to grow, it was very difficult to let go and delegate responsibilities. It required, not only trust, but even more importantly, acceptance of the idea that a task could be accomplished effectively in more than just one way. “My way” was not the only way, Telesca recalls. As he learned this lesson, he focused more on managing “My belief is that the market players who are able to efficiently deploy continuous technological improvements, while at the same time effectively execute their strategy, will have the best chances of real success,” Telesca exclaims. MGN Logistics has a focused, crafted strategy designed to look ahead and be innovative. It doesn’t rely solely on its CEO to lead innovation, but rather empowers each and every employee to participate and revel in creativity and innovative thinking. It is for these reasons that Telesca feels that the company has a

19. I was always curious and always interested in learning new things; how something worked, how it was made. I loved the idea of using my intelligence to create opportunity. the desired results and less on micro- managing his people. This allowed his employees to take ownership and spark a never-ending process of improvement. current company, MGN Logistics, which has been named one of America’s Fastest Growing Private Companies by INC Magazine, four years in row, most recently in 2017. Telesca believes MGN will reach $100 million in annual revenue within a few years, and all without any outside investors. “At this point, I feel we are really just hitting our prime. I’m past the point of foolish startup mistakes as a CEO, I’ve learned hard lessons from the past and I’ve surrounded myself with a knowledgeable and experienced executive team that has my complete and full confidence. I believe we are ready to see growth accelerate even faster. The ultimate demonstration of this belief is the fact I’ve turned down numerous offers from outside investors and companies to acquire MGN. Some of those offers were quite tempting to be honest, but I think it’s just a little too early. I still want to see this growth thru.” The Mantra of Success Everyone wants to be successful and yet, for the majority, success is very elusive. Telesca feels an entrepreneur needs grit, discipline and the ability to keep grinding through good and bad times to succeed. He advises budding entrepreneurs to be prepared to work above and beyond everyone else. He elaborates, “You need to be the first one in the office, the last one to leave, and you need to be willing to do what everyone else only talks about doing. If you are willing to do this, then and only then, you will have one of the necessary building blocks to creating a successful business.” carrier is who they say they are, carriers must trust they will get paid, shippers must trust that a carrier will not double-broker a load, and the list goes on. Telesca, once again, is pushing his innovative vision for the future of logistics. He believes the application of block-chain technology in the logistics space could prove to be transformational. From its inception as an early internet solution, to its real- time truckload pricing app, to the sector’s first block-chain enhanced TMS, MGN Logistics has always been on the cutting edge of these types of transformational changes. As the visionary and primary advocate of the platform, Matthew Telesca envisions himself helping to catalyze these changes. He successfully built and sold his first logistics company by the age of 32. He now leads the growth of his Catalyzing the Trust Factor, MGN’s Future A major challenge facing the transportation industry is the need for trust in so many supply chain transactions. Brokers must trust that a

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21. THE 20MOST INSPIRING TO WATCH 2018 Management Company Name Brief Cetrom Information Technology, Inc. provides cloud computing solutions and information technology (IT) services for managing networks and IT resources. Christopher Stark Founder & CEO Cetrom Information Technology Inc. cetrom.net Ciena a network strategy and technology company - Network Solutions for Optical Transport and Switching, Carrier Ethernet, Data and Broadband Networks. Gary B. Smith CEO Ciena ciena.com eMDs is a leading provider of healthy solutions for healthy patients and healthy providers. eMDs e-mds.com Derek A. Pickell CEO EngiLifeSciences engilifesciences.com EngiLifeSciences is a consulting firm and provides services across the healthcare value chain. Gregory W. Pierce CEO Exusia is a global technology consulting company that empowers its clients to gain a competitive edge by accelerating business objectives and providing solutions in data management and analytics. Exusia exusia.com Trevor Silver CEO inet-logistics develops cloud-based Transportation Management Systems for managing, controlling, and optimizing transportation processes in real-time for customers worldwide. inet-logistics inet-logistics.com Oswald Werle CEO Kavi Global is a pure-play data analytics company offering consulting, software and solutions. It partners with clients to accelerate and scale analytics. Kavi Global kaviglobal.com Vijitha Kaduwela CEO & Founder KlickEx is a payments infrastructure platform focused on reducing settlement risks for Central Banks and providing cross-border transfer services dedicated to financial inclusion. KlickEx klickex.co Robert bell CEO & Founder Michael Lambert Managing Director Media 33 is a full service, innovative media communications firm. Media 33 media33.com.au MGN Logistics is one of the first companies in the transportation space to provide IT solutions for the freight management and transportation industry. MGN Logistics mgnlogistics.com Matthew Telesca President & CEO

22. THE 20MOST INSPIRING TO WATCH 2018 Management Company Name Brief Nectar is a software company specializing in monitoring and diagnostic software solutions for the Unified Communications market. David Giangano CEO Nectar Services Corp nectarcorp.com PlanPlus Online (Complete XRM) planplusonline.com Keith Norris CEO Complete XRM, Inc. provides a myriad of productivity software for individuals and for businesses. simpleshow is the leading professional explainer video production creating good effective explanations perfectly tailored to the target audience. simpleshow mysimpleshow.com Karsten Boehrs CEO & Co-inventor Switchfly, Inc. develops and provides a Software-as-a- Service platform for travel e-commerce, loyalty, and ancillary experiences for airlines, hotels, online travel agencies, and financial service companies. Switchfly switchfly.com Daniel Farrar CEO Techsol Corporation is a niche Information Technology solutions and services provider for global pharmaceutical and life sciences companies. Techsol Corporation techsolcorp.com Satya S S Sagi CEO & Founder TeligentIP is leading communication service provider. It offers wide range of communication services spanning from enhanced Call Centers, hosted IP PBX, IP Trunking, to Skype for business. TeligentIP teligentip.com Greg Nielsen CEO & Founder Anthony Rinaldi President & CEO Rinaldi Group licensed general contractor is a is a full- service construction management firm. The Rinaldi Group rinaldinyc.com Urban Crop Solutions designs, builds and engineers turnkey solutions to allow its customers to grow their crops indoors, independent of the outdoor climate and seasons. Urban Crop Solutions urbancropsolutions.com Maarten Vandecruys CEO & Co-founder VerseOne offers web technology platforms, digital, and creative services to the social housing, healthcare, local government, and broader commercial sectors. Alan Neilson Founder & CEO VerseOne Group verseone.com VILIKE is Finland based Startup Company. It develops digital tools for physical exercise (PE) education, gamification, scientific research, and solutions to activate preschool children’s growth. VILIKE vilike.fi Kirsi Ekberg Founder & CEO

24. The Importance of an Undying Passion in Budding Entrepreneurs I really wasn’t sure whether I was actually following it. However, since then, I have come to understand the significance of it. The speaker said, in relation to choosing what you work on: was at an event in San Francisco in 2014, when I heard a piece of advice that stuck in my mind ever since. At the time, when I considered the advice, I teacher friends of his. Fast forward a couple of years and I had left the Middle East, left my career, and founded a company called Pobble that would go on to change the lives of thousands of children all over the world. Now, every indicator would have told me that this was a risky, even crazy thing to do! In fact, the next 6 years that bought me to now, have been the most wonderful, painful, challenging, and rewarding years of my life. Entrepreneurship is truly a rollercoaster ride! When I reflect on that decision point 6 years ago though, it would have been impossible to have rationally decided to leave everything and start on a new path – I just knew in my gut that I had to do it! “If you’re going to climb a mountain, make sure it’s the right one” You spend much of the best part of your early life trying to understand yourself well enough to find the right mountain for you. You look for indicators; subjects you like at school, mentors whose advice particularly resonates, which exams you do well in, the clubs you join at university, the career paths of those more senior than you in our first job. But it’s hard – I rarely come across people who really have the conviction to absolutely know their mountain to climb through forward looking indicators alone. 4 years on I look back on that piece of advice and realise that I did pick the right mountain to climb. And there’s one indicator that I see above all else that convinces me that this is the case. The fact that I didn’t give up. When you are working on something that truly aligns with your passion, every challenge is just the next one to overcome as you progress along your journey to achieving your mission, giving up just isn’t an option! I started my career as an engineer. I joined a world leading Engineering and Project Management company which took me to projects in London, the US and the Middle East. I worked on some of the largest and most cutting edge mega-projects in the world. I quickly became a chartered civil engineer and project manager and it seemed like I was destined for a long and successful career in the industry. However, I wasn’t happy. Despite all the indicators pointing in a positive direction, I knew something wasn’t right. I’m often asked about the secret to successful entrepreneurship and I say two things; focus and resilience. When you are doing something that you love and that you believe in, no matter what the challenge, you keep going and make it happen. You keep going, when others would just give up. Also, despite all the chaos and challenge, you find the way to focus on taking the next best step forward in a sea of uncertainty. When you have the clarity of knowing where you are going on your journey you are able to focus on the right things. When I meet with new ideas and startups, it’s relatively It was then that I got a call from my brother, to ask for help on a little project he was working on with some 22 June 2018

25. Leader’s Insight Jon Smith Founder & CEO About JonSmith JonSmith is Founder and CEO of award winning edtech venture Pobble. Pobble is used by tens of thousands of teachers each day to nd the best teaching resources, give pupils a global audience for their work, and to assess writing. easy to verify the market, the need and the solution – but much more important in my opinion is the reason for the founding team to be doing what they are doing. If this project aligns with their life’s mission, their “mountain”, then no matter how hard the challenge is, they will find a way to create the best path forward. Maybe they’ll fail for the many other reasons that startups fail, but they have the best chance if they have that personal commitment and passion to achieve success. Pobble has won many awards, gained significant investment, and continues to attract fantastic partners. However, at the end of the day all these things are by- products of one thing; every member of our amazing team has an incredibly strong belief in our mission and is passionate about giving teachers tools that will make their life easier and inspire and engage their children to make writing ridiculously exciting for them in school! Without this passion and our commitment to climb our mountain, none of this impact or achievement would be possible. Pobble has global acclaim, gaining endorsements from famous authors such as Michael Morpurgo, partnerships with organisations like the BBC, OUP and Microsoft, and investment from some the world’s most prolic education focussed angel investors. After graduating with a Masters in Engineering Science from Trinity College, Oxford, Jon because a chartered Civil Engineer and Project Manager. Jon started Pobble with his brother and two other teachers in their spare time. They then went on to incubate Pobble whilst Jon studied for his MBA at London Business School. The fth co-founder (technical) joined Pobble from Jon’s stream at London Business School. 23 June 2018

26. THE 20MOST INSPIRING TO WATCH 2018 Alan Neilson: Bridging the Gap between Vision and Execution A behind the success of a company. The pioneering individual also shoulders responsibilities during unexpected downturns. Hence the role of a CEO in any organization is much more complicated than anyone might imagine. He or she must have an unwavering belief in their vision, an ability to hire the right talent, and bring-forward a positive and inspiring approach that enables an admirable environment in the organization. Gaining these qualities and creating a team that shares the same vision is not a cake walk. Very few individuals have been able to rightfully claim these qualities. Their astonishing leadership has allowed organizations to taste success at a global level. One prime example of such leadership is Founder and CEO of VerseOne Group, Alan Neilson. CEO is someone who is considered the motor computer, including Fortune 500 company employees. Due to the lack of access, Alan had to timeshare a large IBM mainframe computer during his studies. He also read an article at the time about Bill Gates’s Microsoft and its endeavors to bring computing power to the mass market. These two things enticed Alan to read more about computer power and explore its capabilities. With a BSc in Computer Studies, Alan has broad experience in the IT industry spanning a 30-year career. During this time Alan has held technical, support, sales, marketing, and general management roles. Today, Alan is the founder of VerseOne Group. In addition to his involvement with VerseOne, Alan acts a director, adviser and investor for a number of other early-stage IT and technology companies. VerseOne is a leading company that offers web technology platforms, digital, and creative services to the social housing, healthcare, local government, and broader commercial sectors.VerseOne believes that effective and intelligent managing and sharing of business content creates unique competitive advantages and real return on investment. Thus, it emphasizes providing highly- personalized, functional, and beautifully-crafted digital transformation solutions. VerseOne’s digital portfolio of services and technology platforms power more than 200 websites, intranets, secure portals, and stakeholder management solutions. The prime reason behind its admirable success is the customer centric strategy and visionary approach of its CEO, Alan Neilson. As the Executive Chairman of VerseOne, Alan formulates and executes a wide range of innovative strategies.Alan’s leadership has allowed VerseOne to deliver customer- centric and value for money solutions since its inception in 2004. Prior to that Alan was the CEO and one of the founding directors of royalblue technologies plc, a wholly owned subsidiary of royalblue group plc. He grew the company “ Vision without effective execution is merely hallucination. “ Inspiring, Aspiring, and Achieving Alan originally aspired to become a medic, but he was fascinated by the influence of computing. He recalls that, during his college years, very few people had an access to 24 June 2018

27. Alan Neilson Founder & CEO VerseOne Group Ltd from a small start-up to a globally recognized successful software service provider. During his 15 years at royalblue he gained experience of corporate finance, due diligence, and acquisitions as part of the company’s growth. Notable Challenging Tasks Executed with Excellence Almost every start-up faces some challenges in generating revenue and creating a brand name, and VerseOne and royalblue are no different. Although royalblue and its embryonic business providing software were relatively new in the market, Alan managed to bid alongside the much more established players of the largest blue chip organizations in the sector. It was tough for collaborators to trust solutions provided by a newly established small start-up. This prompted the company to make a minimum twelve month binding agreement with a key collaborating organization, offering them a share of the IP and the dedicated services of key developers. This approach to implementation enabled royalblue to provide extremely reliable software solutions that revolutionized the in-house systems of its customers.Alan mentions, “We did a great job of convincing them that we had the talent, the knowledge, and the desire to deliver the solution they were looking for and at a more commercially attractive rate than our larger competitors.” order to quickly adapt to customer needs and execute strategic plans. Committed to the Customer Experience VerseOne provides one of the best digital transformation solutions across the UK. The empowering aspect behind this commendable success is VerseOne’s commitment to the customer experience. Explaining his disruptive approach, Alan says, “a business idea looking for a solution is much less likely to succeed than a business idea that is either addressing an existing need or improving on how it’s being addressed.” Since its inception, VerseOne has focused on providing easily adaptable and completely reliable web solutions. The company evaluates latest products, best practice methods, and design trends to ensure its offerings remain cutting-edge. VerseOne understands the importance of organizational content and invests heavily to provide secure software solutions to its clients. Its abilities to transform business content have been acknowledged by various global leaders, and the prime catalyst, Alan Neilson, envisions more extensible and future-proofed product and service offerings. Key Entrepreneurial Traits Alan alsoadvises budding entrepreneurs to develop key entrepreneurial traits like a vision to understand their product and its future capabilities, good listening and communication skills, and a charismatic character. These characteristics helped Alan to thrive within the competitive IT sector. He asserts, “If you really believe in your vision and feel it would make a significant difference to the market sector you have in mind, don’t give up and keep searching and pushing forward.” In addition to this, Alan also emphasizes employing the right processes and talent in 25 June 2018

28. THE 20MOST INSPIRING TO WATCH 2018 Daniel Farrar: Transforming the World of Travel T percent over the preceding year. In 2018, it is projected to grow by another 6 percent. The jeopardy is that only seasoned investors can understand and explore the true market potential. ravel is an experience that etches new chapters in our lives. Studies reveal that in 2017, global air traffic passenger numbers increased by 7.5 That’s one of the reasons the travel tech Switchfly is so impressive and why Switchfly’s CEO, Daniel Farrar is excited to be at the helm of a company addressing a market segment estimated to be valued at $1.5 trillion and growing between 5 and 6 percent every year. Daniel holds a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering and a Master’s in Business Administration. Over the last 20-odd years, his career has been focused on manufacturing, technology, financial services, and high-tech start-ups. Daniel Farrar CEO Switchfly “My primary goals have evolved over time, developing building blocks that marry the connection between business technologies and finance. This has allowed me the privilege of leading various businesses throughout my career,” reveals Daniel. on fire!“ About Switchfly Success is not the result of spontaneous combustion; you must set yourself Switchfly is a B2B enterprise software company that is redefining the search and booking segment in air travel, hotels, ground, packages, loyalty programs and other travel-related areas. With more than 350,000 connections in 120 countries and content in every language and every currency, Switchfly is driving results for customers ranging from American Airlines to American Express to Groupon and is redefining the entire travel tech stack along the way. The company is on the podium as one of the most successful and valuable private travel technology companies on the planet. More than that, with 2 of the 3 world hotel groups, 5 of the 10 world airlines and 3 of the 26 June 2018

29. the status quo. To him, leadership is not always about successes; it is about failures and what one learns from them. He believes that understanding the lesson in the failure will allow one to succeed more times than fail. 3 global credit card payment networks, Switchfly is leading the next great advance in travel tech that promises to leapfrog today’s global travel search and booking infrastructure. He adds, “There are many stories I can tell about my failures, including one that is relatively recent. After raising substantial funds for a very specific product, we determined through further analysis that the product would not fit the market requirements. This was not only disappointing to investors but also required a recalibration of the product line’s business trajectory. That setback allowed me to refocus our product efforts to a new and larger market, which drove significantly more business growth for the company in a new sector.” A Turning Point In Daniel’s opinion, careers are managed and developed with a longer-term plan in mind. Throughout his own career, he has closely considered every next step and role with respect to the challenges, the potential to learn new things, and personal or professional opportunities available to him. All of that against a backdrop of everchanging technologies emerging in business. He says, “The pivotal moment in my career was my first large-scale global P&L with General Electric. It was my first P&L, it was a turnaround situation, and we had a very successful outcome.” A Piece of Advice Through his life and business experiences, Daniel has learned to make the best moves to win the game. He suggests that budding entrepreneurs “sit down, write out all the things that you love to do and want to do and want to be involved in.” A True Leader When asked what qualities a good CEO must possess, Daniel reveals that he doesn’t believe that there is one most important characteristic. Daniel encourages them to first determine what their ideal business looks like and chase that dream relentlessly and rebelliously. He believes that every CEO must have many arrows in his or her quiver to address the various aspects of business, organizational challenges, marketplace dynamics, and overall professional development for themselves and their employees. “As a budding entrepreneur, you don’t have far to fall; there are no big, padded IRAs and stock options that must be preserved, no house, no car payments, the list goes on… Chase your dream, do what you love and it’s no longer “work”, it’s fun,” he adds. Some of those characteristics, in no particular order, should include excellent communication skills, integrity, analytical and structuring abilities, metrics orientation, thoughtful coaching, and mentoring at all levels of the company. Future Outlook The vertical industries are becoming enabled by technology and new economic models such as the sharing economy, cloud-based information, and crypto blockchain. People are becoming less materialistic, more focused on experiences, and the desire to share, connect, and participate in communities. “CEOs and business leaders must have a firm grasp not only on their own business but also on emerging technologies, and strike a fine balance of the application of resources, organizational agility, and serving the ever- changing demands of customers,” explains Daniel. “My job as a CEO providing technology is to foresee how it can enable the changing requirements of our society and the consumers who are using that technology to enrich their lives,”Daniel says. Learn from Failures Daniel Farrar is a result-oriented, courageous trailblazer who acts with speed for impact and is always challenging 27 June 2018

32. The Importance of Purpose I and as a CEO, I think the most important place to start is with the “Why” - what is your Purpose as an Leader and as a Company. n addition to running Kenja as CEO, I have the fortune of teaching MBA students part time on Leadership, Marketing, and Strategy. For my classes and daily to-dos determine their activities. I do not think that Purpose is something that can be discovered in a day - often it will take time to think about this and reflect on it. The point of the exercise is simply to begin the very important self-dialogue to get to your Life Purpose. It does not matter how fast you go if you have not figured out what direction you want to run first. Purpose as a Leader In Kenja, every person in our company knows that although I had C level experience in companies like Vodafone, Verizon Wireless, and Fidelity Investments, I have always had a dream to found a different kind of company - one that valued Innovation and Ideas over Politics and the primary focus on Quarterly Profits. My passion is for solving problems in innovative ways and for implementing very difficult projects. I was fortunate that I started with good co-founders, people that shared my vision and could contribute complementary skills. The plan is usually a natural outcome of a strong purpose and Persistence is usually achieved by knowing what works for you on a daily basis. For me Persistence is reinforced by refusing to consider a return to large company executive jobs and by daily use of the “Pomodoro” technique. (using 30 minutes interval of focused effort followed by a short break) As a leader, the first place to start is with yourself. If you cannot lead yourself then how can you lead others? The first thing to know about a leader is their Passion and the Values that led them to put importance on those passions. With an understanding of Passion, people can develop their Life’s Purpose. Purpose is your North Star, it is your unwavering unchanging goal which your daily actions will lead you to. Upon setting your own Purpose, you will need a Plan to take concrete steps towards the Purpose, Partners to benefit and to help you achieve your Purpose, and finally Persistence to help you with the very difficult task of staying focused on your Purpose. Passion, Purpose, Plan, Partners, and Persistence are the “5Ps of Life” - a workshop that I do with students to help them figure out their Life’s Purpose. 95% of people do not have a concrete Purpose in life - they let events 30 June 2018

33. Purpose Driven Ted Katagi CEO Kenja Purpose as a Company employees, reflected in your products and services, and felt by your customers. It is far more enduring than any single campaign message or even a business plan for a year. Just as with Individual Leaders, a company will need to develop its own clear Purpose. A Clear Purpose gives motivation to people, clarity to strategy, and a clear branding for Marketing. Kenja’s purpose is to Revolutionize the way that mid to large companies collaborate to get work done through software. In the beginning it was difficult since larger companies tend to buy from other larger companies but we have now achieved something not easily copied. After 7 years in Business, we now have larger organizations like Mitsui and Company, Randstad, and JICA (the Japanese Peace Corp) and many mid sized companies using us. If we had started with consumers and small companies only, then the functionality, security, and ease to use (for older employees as well) would be far different. If we are honest with most companies, the Purpose easily devolves into meeting the Monthly or Yearly Targets. The Purpose is not merely the result of your actions - the Purpose describes WHY you are pursuing your goals. The Clear Purpose is lived by company members so it becomes a reflection of why people join and stay with your company. Company Strategy is strongly guided by Purpose. Things that lead you off the Strategic Path are rejected and you can find further value and differentiation in the area of your chosen competition. Small changes in your Purpose drives big results in the marketplace. Although Facebook and MySpace are both Social Networks, Facebook’s focus on connecting your friends resulted in many small innovations that MySpace with their focus on creating cool personal spaces did not. If you are clear on your Purpose, then the Brand is not a just a slogan on a TV Commercial. It is lived by Starting with Purpose is not always the easy or obvious choice. There are many obstacles in the way and it is too easy just to focus on Profit or KPIs of the company. However, a focus on Purpose will automatically keep Employee Engagement, Strategy, and your Branding on track. 31 June 2018

34. THE 20MOST INSPIRING TO WATCH 2018 David Giangano: A Passionate Leadership Redefining the Boundaries of Success M things happen. A noteworthy example of such a leadership is David Giangano, CEO at Nectar, who transformed his dream into reality. ore than a designation, leadership is a moral responsibility that makes paid his way through college playing music at weddings, bar mitzvahs, parties and clubs. David ultimately set his sights on becoming an entrepreneur. Today, he has achieved his entrepreneurial dream, but also takes the time to cherish his love of music by playing jazz on the piano. company specializing in monitoring and diagnostic solutions for the Unified Communications market. It serves a wide range of customers including managed service providers, system integrators, and enterprises that span all vertical markets globally. Nectar- Innovating Software Solutions David believes that his life is similar to the movie, ‘Brooklyn’. He was raised along with his sister in a working class family which believed you provided for your family by working hard and taking responsibility for your own actions. His family values also taught him to pursue his dreams with passion and achieving them through perseverance. David always maintained a keen interest in studying math, science and music. His original plan was to make a career in music and he even won a music scholarship to a prestigious college. Then came a turning point in his life. After he won the scholarship, his father sat him down and said “David, you need a steady career which pays the bills and takes care of your family. Remember no one can ever take away your love for music.” Unified Communications is the integration of real-time communication and collaboration services such as instant messaging, presence information, telephony, video conferencing, desktop sharing, data sharing, call control and speech recognition. Nectar’s flagship product, the Unified Communications Management Platform (UCMP) has revolutionized the way in which contact centers, enterprise businesses and service providers manage their UC voice, video and collaboration applications, systems and networks. Unique in its vendor-agnostic approach, Nectar offers a comprehensive, multi- platform UC solution supporting Cisco, Skype for Business, and Avaya UC environments. David Co-founded Nectar in 2006 to bring “straight talk” to the world of Unified Communications by simplifying the management and monitoring of an otherwise complex process. Nectar is a software Never give up, never let pride cloud your decisions and surround yourself with the best talent you can afford. A Moment of Revelation After completing his education in electrical engineering, David started working in the Aerospace industry. Thereafter, he decided to pursue a major in electrical engineering and 32 June 2018

35. table. It was a big gamble and carried the risk of ending his career. Fortunately, the client came back and on terms that suited everyone in the room. That decision instilled a positive self- belief in the entire organization. Based on such numerous experiences, David has a few words of advice for upcoming entrepreneurs. He says, “Be positive and never give up on hitting the targets. Do not waffle, but check the ego at the door and be nimble. If you made the wrong decision then admit it, deal with it and course correct swiftly and always inspect what you expect.” He adds, “Never give up, never let pride cloud your decisions and surround yourself with the best talent you can afford.” Hiring Challenges David Giangano CEO As a leader of a fast-growing company, hiring and attracting the best talent available in the market has been a great challenge for David. David also believes, for CEOs, involving that talent to work as a cohesive team, with everyone rowing in the same direction, is even more challenging. To cope with it, compensation packages must be highly attractive to hire top talent even at a small company. According to David, managing that talent without destroying the egos of strong minded successful executives is a careful balancing art that also requires excellent people skills. Nectar However, the job only tempered his ambition of owning a business of his own someday. He did quite well with the aerospace firm, rising through the engineering ranks in his 10 years there until which time the firm was acquired. As with many acquisitions, the new organization can, in the end, look much different. It was in that moment that David decided that he had devoted enough of his early career to corporate life and it was time to pursue his dream of being an entrepreneur. The dream began when David created his own consulting practice. A Horizon of Opportunities According to David, the upcoming future will be dynamic for IT companies. He sees an opportunity on the horizon of robust growth and fulfilling opportunities. He said, “As we continue to grow as an organization, I see myself as the captain of a fast-moving ship that’s heading in the right direction. Always staying mindful of the climate and keeping a close eye on any approaching storms that may require course corrections along the way, so we reach our ultimate destination.” An Approach Infused with Self-belief David has always maintained a positive approach to life and business, even in the face of adversity. One example, is a time when David elected to walk away from a large opportunity with a top global organization because it was a poor deal financially for Nectar. Many on David’s team, including his board, questioned his decision. However, David had a positive belief in his company and the superior technology they could deliver and truly believed the client would also come to understand that and return to the negotiation 33 June 2018

36. THE 20MOST INSPIRING TO WATCH 2018 Greg Nielsen: A Telecom Trailblazer Making a Difference with Collaborative Communication Services A want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.” As the quote depicts, it’s not just enough for a captain to be an idealizer, it is equally important to build a committed team which shares the same aspirations. famous French aviator and author, Antoine de Saint Exupéry once wrote “If you innovation at the company by emphasizing the creation of a corporate environment where everyone from the smallest team member up to management wins. “ He mentions, “My dad was an entrepreneur, and I always remembered watching him as he carefully managed his business.” It was Greg’s father Ron who taught him and his brothers about some of the essential values to follow as an entrepreneur. Irrespective of whether they listened to his words or not, his father used to convey his thoughts while driving and watching TV. His father always encouraged Greg and his brothers to help him work on some of his projects. These memories instilled in Greg an intense need to try to live up to some of the values his father possessed. If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea. Business leaders are no different than the ship captain. They must have an ability to inspire a great team of individuals who can relentlessly work to transform a leader’s vision into reality. One such example of an astonishing business persona and team leader is the Founder and CEO of TeligentIP,Greg Nielsen. Advancements that Nurtured the Interest “ During his college days Greg was fascinated by telecommunications. He foresaw the sector to be relevant to almost every aspect of business. When the Telecom Act of 1996 was passed and opened up a booming industry of competitive communications companies. This further peaked Greg’s interest, and enticed him to try his hand in the emerging telecom arena. Consequently, he decided to dig in and learn as much as he could, and he started working with some of the best companies during that era. Headquartered in Texas, TeligentIP is one of the leading communication service providers around the world. The company has recently innovated some unique messaging and collaboration products. It offers a wide- range of communication services, including enhanced Call Centers, hosted IP PBX, IP Trunking, and Skype for Businesses. As a trailblazer at TeligentIP, Greg Nielsen leads the Stepping into the Shoes of Great Legacy Greg was fortunate to have been born into a family that spent their lives and sweat to be successful entrepreneurs. 34 June 2018

37. Greg Nielsen Founder & CEO TeligentIP Empowering Traits: Dedication and Resiliency depth or scalability. The “instageneration” is easily fooled into believing in such products at times. Thus, Greg mentions, the biggest challenge for true innovators is in piercing through all the digital and marketing noise to demonstrate and show the relevance of your innovation. According to Greg, the biggest key to success that will get you through roadblocks and challenges of running a company is who you work with. Throughout his time as an entrepreneur, he has worked with team members across the spectrum at various companies. Poor quality, incompatibility and lack of loyalty from team members will always lead to failure. His current co-founders and team members are like a strong family that challenges each other, but still love and respect one another despite differences. Thus, his advice for emerging entrepreneurs is to surround themselves with people who share common goals and will stick with each other through thick and thin. There is always some unforeseen obstacle that challenges an entrepreneur or CEO to the core. Sometimes an individual might feel lonely after making an uncompromising decision. It can feel as if while trailblazing, you’re chopping away the branches of an undiscovered jungle, and questions of self-doubt can emerge regarding the value of your existence and if you are even moving in the right direction. But according to Greg, commitment coupled with mental and emotional toughness is one of the essential qualities that help a leader to conquer these obstacles. Focus on the Small Wins: Advice for Emerging Entrepreneurs Greg is more than just an entrepreneur, he is an influential one. He advises other budding entrepreneurs to first focus on building small products or companies instead of chasing after an extensive development and engineering project, which can quickly consume significant amount of time and money. Building a big company or project is a tiring process. It takes way too much time, always more than expected. It can lead to investor and employee exhaustion and ultimately starts to affect product quality or it even becomes irrelevant by the time its completed. Hence, Greg recommends building a basic usable product first then building upon it step by step so that you can easily ensure that you are getting real-time feedback from the market and that it has the potential to sell. Innovating Tools and Products to Stay Ahead of the Curve Perception of Innovation Greg asserts, “I don’t think the challenge is as much about being innovative. You either are or you aren’t. The real challenge is in the perception of innovation because of all the noise in the marketplace.” By noise Greg means overuse of digital advertising and other marketing methods. According to him, such methods quickly make a splash and confuse the market with a flashy product that doesn’t really have much There is a substantial change in the way millennials and our current generation communicates and collaborates. Greg’s company envisions cashing-in the opportunity and has already started innovating tools and products to continue staying ahead of the curve. Its new message and collaboration service is just the beginning. 35 June 2018

38. Attributes of a Good L in order to attain a common goal. A leader’s task is to implement the plans that usually look good on paper, through a delegated team, in a specific time with an ongoing motion. She/he may use the traditional method or may think out of the box. It depends on the leader as how to do it; the ultimate motive is to get the job done. Although, each and every individual has a different approach on leadership, some might say it is about setting examples, some might say it is about sharing the authority; what matters is, taking the right decision when it is most needed. The Transformational Leader A transformational leader inspires the team through effective communication and an intellectual environment. However, these individuals require more detail oriented managers to successfully implement their strategies. Transformational Leadership is considered among the most effective employees of the organization. One of the examples of this type of leadership is when a leader is assigned on a higher level for effective environment. eadership is about using the power of a position to empower a group of people creates new probabilities every now and then. And with new probabilities, come new challenges. Although, it is impossible to overcome every challenge, the business environment has adopted certain leadership styles for the efficiency of business: The Participative Leader Participative Leadership is the process of sharing authority with the work force in order to get optimum efficiency. The team, after getting access to certain powers, works responsibly to accomplish the goals set by its leader. The shared leadership also helps in case of any requirement of change, as the employees adapt quickly in such environment. Incidentally, this style of leadership fits best in a scenario when there is a limitation of time. The Transactional leader The transactional leadership, as the name suggests, enables the leader to incentivize the team corresponding to their performance. The team gets rewarded when it attains the goals and the Leader has the power to review the results and act Leadership varies from one organization to another. An organization is a dynamic body and 36 June 2018

39. The Art of Leading Integrity Decision making accordingly when the team fails to do the same. The goals and the strategy to attain them are decided by the leader and the team itself. Ÿ C.S. Lewis said, “Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.” Be it giving credit to one of the team members or be it admitting a mistake, a leader wears integrity as a badge of honor. They do what is right, no matter what. Ÿ Empowerment As mentioned earlier, Leadership is about using the power of one’s position to empower a group of people in order to attain a common goal. A good leader shares his authority with the team in order to get the job done. By doing this, he shows confidence in the team and obliged by the gesture, the team works with full enthusiasm to accomplish the goal. Ÿ There is risk in decision to making. Great leaders take great decisions when the stake is high and it is the success of those decisions that make them great. To add up, a good leader takes right decision at the right time. The Situational leader Situational leadership is a theory that the best leader will adapt to the required leadership style according to need of the hour. A Situational leader may adopt democratic style while discussion business with senior executive, but may switch to transactional at the time of team review. However every individual has a natural style of leadership and it may be difficult to switch roles at a certain point of time. In conclusion, a good leader can be defined by the dynamics of his style in leadership, the values that he brings to the organization, the methods he uses to make the best of the resources, and the kind of decision he makes in the given situations. At the end it is about the attitude of an individual to bring the change for good. Qualities of a good leader There is an old proverb that says, “Give a Man a Fish, and You Feed Him for a Day. Teach a Man to Fish, and You Feed Him for a Lifetime.” So is the case with leadership. One of the basic qualities of a Leader is to pass on the leadership skills. Following are some of the qualities of a good leader: Communication Skills Ÿ Communication is the basic requirement for efficiency in a business. As the level of hierarchy elevates, the requirement of communication grows. Especially, when it comes to leadership, there is no scope for lack of communication. A Leader who fails to develop this skill is looked up as incompetent, because it is his job to send the message loud and clear. Although, it is also important to listen as it is an integral part of communication. 37 June 2018

42. THE 20MOST INSPIRING TO WATCH 2018 Gregory W. Pierce: Revolu?onizing the Healthcare Industry transforming their processes to a compliant state and also help in remediation of various areas of the quality systems. When it comes to quality and business performance, the organization focuses on manufacturing, product development, information technology, quality systems, and how these processes can integrate to offer end-to- end visibility, helping organizations identify opportunities. A Management and an A.S. in Medical Lab Technology. n individual who realizes opportunities and crafts pioneering works of art out of them is the definition of a CEO. A beacon of inspiration, an amicable coworker, and the enthusiasm to be the torch-bearer of an organization’s vision, are the evident traits of a complete leader. Similarly, Gregory W. Pierce, the CEO of EngiLifeSciences, has been a frontrunner in developing solutions that allow Medical Device, Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Manufacturers to efficiently bring compliant and high-quality products to market. Drawing Inspiration Gregory’s Career started in the United States Air Force working within the military hospitals as a Medical Laboratory Technologist and then transitioned to working in Research and Development for a major Medical Device Manufacturer; in the development of technology which falls in the category of Digital Health, and later in working for corporate America in the development of new technology medical products. An Industry Pioneer EngiLifeSciences is a consulting firm and provides services across the healthcare value chain. The company’s consulting solutions are funneled towards Quality Systems, Product Development, Manufacturing, Information Technology, Regulatory Compliance, Software Compliance, Software Technology, Computer Systems Validation, and Quality & Business Performance. It offers an array of services that are targeted at increasing the bottom line for an organization. “The pivotal point for me was when I decided to start my own company helping companies in the medical device, pharmaceutical and Biotechnology industry,” states Gregory. During his 28 years of experience, he has worked across the Healthcare Value Chain with high profile companies such as Ethicon Endo- Surgery, Abbott Laboratories, Cardinal Health, and the United States Air Force. He continually innovates and customizes value added solutions for Product Development, Supplier Management, Manufacturing, Quality Systems, Regulatory Compliance, and Information Technology. One of the visions of EngiLifeSciences is to be a transformational agent in the life sciences industry, bringing more innovative approaches to organizations and impacting the internal processes. It helps organizations in keep pace with the rapidly changing regulatory ecosystem and become more agile so as to attune faster to the external conditions in the market. A Challenge-Driven Position Over the last 28 years, Gregory has observed that corporate culture is the greatest barrier for innovation. He asserts “Corporate Culture has become one of those buzz words that is apparently very difficult to attain, yet of primary importance to succeed. I believe that cultural change starts by changing current behaviors.” The company’s mission is to transform the Healthcare Value chain by creating end-to-end visibility, driving the highest-level product quality and improving business performance to stimulate innovation, ultimately helping save more patient lives. He avidly participates on industry initiatives collaborating with FDA, Industry Representatives and Universities on Artificial Intelligence, and Product Quality Metrics within the Healthcare Industry. His extensive and comprehensive educational background includes an M.S. in Computer Science/Distributed Systems as well as an MBA in Computer Resources/Information Management. He also holds a B.A. in Organizational He also adds that for any CEO, breaking the paradigm, ‘that’s the way we have always done it,’ which reveals that traditional work methods which add up to the challenges involved in the designation. According to him, taking an open and honest view about operational processes and involving everyone in eliminating all non-value- added steps in those processes while In the quality systems area, EngiLifeSciences helps with process improvement including compliance. Addressing the regulatory concerns and issues, we assist our clients in 40 June 2018

43. “ How we see success depends on how one defines it. It is about how we can make a difference to humanity in a posi?ve way. It is about making a difference and the value that we can add. — Gregory W. Pierce CEO EngiLifeSciences reinforcing and creating value-added activities, can aid CEOs in working efficiently. the time lines and quality required to pass the horizontal and vertical audits first time really, drove positive feeling in accomplishing something that almost looked impossible within the constraints we had,” he adds while expressing his contentment towards the efforts of his team. Gregory comments, “Allowing ‘common sense’ practices to drive our behavior and involving the organization in that change, develops a culture of ownership and accountability which opens the door to innovation and increased visibility.” Beholding a Triumphant Future According to Gregory, technology and digital health is expanding at an accelerated rate, including the use of artificial intelligence and other technology solutions to bring value to the healthcare. With EngiLifeSciences’ relevance to this expansion, he asserts, “For us to be an accelerator in the healthcare value chain, bringing more innovative approaches to organizations, and impacting internal processes resulting in agility and innovation is necessary.” Overcoming Adversities For Gregory, striving to provide highest quality of service for his clients has been the biggest challenge. He recalls a significant project which involved helping a client in remediating Quality system for Software Validation from Product Development, Manufacturing and IT Enterprise in addition to remediating all the software systems which had regulatory implications. The program had aggressive timelines with a tremendous effort required in a short amount of time. “This program was one of those when looking at it appears to be impossible to meet the time commitments,” states Gregory. Gregory’s advices the aspiring CEOs by stating, “The keys are Focus and Persistence, never give up, no matter how difficult it becomes to pursue your dreams.” “However, working with the team and watching them grind through all the challenges one by one, and when we all met 41 June 2018

44. THE 20MOST INSPIRING TO WATCH 2018 Revolutionizing Education and Communication through Simple Accessible Resources Accessible Resources Revolutionizing Education and Communication through Simple Karsten Boehrs simpleshow T that can’t be achieved over night. Open conservations about setting goals and defining timelines for the product development, paves a creative way towards success. Besides, learning, adapting, and improving are the keys for becoming a successful CEO of an organization. echnological innovations take time to enter the growing market. For an entrepreneur, monitoring and providing the best user experience is a quest decades. Now, in his role at simpleshow his focus is on the strategic expansion of the company’s market position through internationalization and focused technology development. About simpleshow simpleshow is the leading professional explainer video production with several thousands of videos produced in the global market. The company with its production team delivers services essential in creating videos and interactive eLearning courses for corporate customers in a variety of different styles and formats. With the mission to provide simple and effective explanations for everyone and anytime, the company is developing intelligent solutions for wide target groups, such as the online DIY video maker mysimpleshow.com One such agile personality, having a focused vision to achieve his goals is Karsten Boehrs.While helping his children in studies, Karsten realized that education and learning processes are continually witnessing changes. His son’s passion for gaining knowledge through online videos inspired Karsten tremendously. This advent of technology in the education sector and its rapid digital transformation motivated him to become a Co-investor and CEO of simpleshow. Karsten started his career working in the logistics and sales industry. He has an excellent experience of working at management positions with various multinationals including Axel Springer and Otto Group for over two mysimpleshow.com offers business and enterprise plans with premium features directed across all small-scale and large-scale companies. The intelligence behind the application includes text inputs running through a semantic analysis, a natural language processing stack, and an integrated world knowledge database to produce iconic 42 June 2018

45. visuals. These are then arranged and animated by an intelligent layout algorithm resulting in a video,which the user can individualize, download, and share. With offices in ten countries, the company builds on a universal and scientifically proven methodology that blends simple messages with visuals that stay in mind. Under Karsten’s guidance all of the company’s offerings follow this approach, focusing on five fundamental elements: As simple as possible, but as complex as necessary. Context— An effective explanation, looks at the topic from the target group’s perspective, providing a context the audience can refer to. Simplification— An effective explanation focuses on the essentials. This entails reducing the topic to its core messages and simplifying the language. Storytelling— An effective explanation is embedded in a story, as stories help to create identification and are easy to remember. Under the leadership of Karsten, his team has created an online browser-based tool ‘mysimpleshow’. This tool allows its users to create their own simple explainer videos, transforming the way people communicate. The company has integrated AI into this tool, which is referred to as its ‘Explainer Engine’. Visualization— An effective explanation uses the power of visuals. Multisensory— An effective explanation stimulated several senses. A Visionary Leader Karsten’s love for the sports made him an enthusiastic cyclist as it combines all the qualities and values mandatory for understanding the roles of a CEO. He believes, the key enablers for his achievements are passion, perseverance, strategic thinking, smartly adapting with changes, constant learning and improvement. With the vision that the people are the most valuable resources of a company he states “I always try and develop my corporate family to be the best they can be.” Karsten’s entrepreneurial vision is to change the world for the better. With simpleshow his idea is to revolutionize communication and learning through simple and accessible resources. Catalyzing the Market Change Karsten’s idea of creating learning and communication resources is changing day-by-day with the growing digitalization. simpleshow is investing time and resources into creating amazing tools, products, and content resources to catalyze to this evolving change. They are constantly improving mysimpleshow.com as a software product and establishing brand awareness to be the go-to DIY explainer video creation tool. An example of his leadership style that focuses on empowering others, Karsten recalled a meeting in New York, where he was really impressed meeting a young freelance creative writer. He kept supporting him throughout the years that made the writer a confident and a trusted decision-maker. Today the former concept writer co-leads the company’s 50 people operations in the US. Advice for Budding Entrepreneurs Karsten’s advice to new-age entrepreneurs is tostay focused. Defining the goals with agility will help them to achieve milestones. In addition to produce a business model, he adds, “Decide how your product and methodology will stand out from your competitors and make those distinctions your unique selling points.” Besides, leading and nurturing a smart and loyal team, he states “We have so much potential to seize opportunities, tackle challenges, and grow our business.” 43 June 2018

46. Rob Leslie Founder & CEO Sedicii 44 June 2018

47. Mentor’s Opinion DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION: SEDICII’S CALL TO ACTION T innovative start-up attempting to lead transformation activities in the digital world? requires changes to key enablers or the istallation of new ones – big data and analytics, IT systems, operating models, people, and organisational culture. While digital transformations are obviously about technology and processes, technology often turns out to be relatively easy to get right. The changes to how people work are more difficult to get right. How can industry incumbents and disruptors work together to leverage digital enablers to become more innovative and adaptable? How does this affect an he pace and scale of technological change is fundamentally altering how value is created and distributed in the world. Executives in established companies across all industries are under increasing pressure to reinvent their businesses to stay relevant in the face of stiff competition from digital natives. While the relationship between incumbents and insurgents is often portrayed in adversarial terms, there is enormous scope for mutually beneficial partnerships. Digital Transformation Thinking about how far the world has progressed in recent years with respect to the digitisation of every facet of our lives - in financial services, manufacturing, travel, security - change has been extremely rapid and profound. Thirty years ago there were no mobile phones, no drones, no autonomous vehicles or complex robotic manufacturing equipment. Yet, About the Author Rob Leslie, Founder and CEO, Sedicii. He is a successful entrepreneur, a true visionary who delivers business results by taking opportunities, chances and risks when required. He has a solid track record of building and leading teams to positive results. An engineer by background Rob has a serious interest in identity, trust and security. Rob lived and worked for almost twenty years in Japan where he held senior management / director level positions with Datacraft Japan, PTS Ltd., eSafe Japan and Dell Japan where he was part of the initial management team that launched Dell into the Japanese market. Rob is also co-founder of Global Business Register which specializes in identity and compliance solutions for companies with AML & KYC regulatory needs. 45 June 2018

48. we have embraced them enthusiastically in our personal lives. So why then do we find it hard to accept these changes when it affects our business lives? journey to define a pathway to the next point in our development journey. We are constantly thinking hard about how we can leverage new technologies, like blockchain and cryptocurrency, to apply them to our work with digital identity. From this work Kriptan was born. So, what is Kriptan? The Kriptan Network is a global identity network which enables real-time identity verifications from trusted identity providers (governments, banks, telco’s, utilities) ensuring that businesses can react quickly to new information about their customers while at the same time providing the highest possible levels of privacy. Data is never exchanged or copied over the Kriptan network unless the customer expressly consents. Payment for these transactions is made through the use of a new digital asset that is recorded on a new style of blockchain. This makes the transaction fast because it is executed via smart contracts; it is low cost because there are no middlemen, it is highly secure because of its implementation using distributed ledger technology and it complies with existing regulatory standards for KYC and AML. With the new General Data Protection Regulation coming th into force on the 25 May 2018, this kind of lateral thinking provided a way for us to create a service that businesses are going to need to overcome many of the inherent challenges that they are shortly going to face. We are moving into a post-truth world where the truth will be hard to discern; where either trust or distrust will be the basis of how we interact with each other and where everything we once believed to be correct will be challenged on a daily basis. Given this is where our world is going we have made the Kriptan network so it will deliver more than just a service. We want our customers to see it as an arbiter of trust and a source of truth which becomes an intrinsic part of their daily lives. We want Kriptan to become indispensable as it responds to the challenges that will occur over the months and years ahead. So, in the words of Steve Jobs, Co-Founder, former Chairman & CEO, Apple Inc. “Let’s go invent tomorrow instead of worrying about what happened yesterday.” That’s how we see the world. Organisations tend toward a status quo; inertia provides a capacity to resist change. Staffs are so busy with their regular daily grind that experimentation and “thinking outside the box” becomes the exception rather than the norm. Of course there will be pockets of innovation but it is generally localised rather than being culturally pervasive across the organisation. Actively looking at ways to improve and move to the next level across the enterprise tends to be driven by a top-down initiated focus. It is when small pockets of experimentation lead to more formalised experimentation that activity becomes intentional and the initiatives become more audacious. The excitement of possibility becoming reality then takes hold. Formalisation leads to strategy and quickly, or not so quickly, the idea formalises into a strategic goal. This evolution then becomes the norm. The adoption of change can become systemic. Sedicii is a pioneer in the space of identity verification systems where it uses a patented zero knowledge proof (ZKP), cryptographic protocol, to help people and businesses prove their identities in a fully privacy preserving fashion. So where does Sedicii fit into the new world order that is our new digital reality and even more importantly why does it matter? “90% of CEO’s believe the digital economy will impact their industry, but less than 15% are executing on a digital strategy” according to M.I.T.’s Sloan School and Cap Gemini. For me, this is fundamental and it drives my thinking on how to make the digital world work for both business and the consumer. Having an ethical business that provides a service in which all parties in the transaction chain benefit is the objective; the business becomes compliant, more efficient, ethical and profitable and the consumer has confidence that they are being treated fairly, that they are being appropriately rewarded for their loyalty and that their assets and personal data are secure. Considering digital transformation is at the heart of everything Sedicii does, it means we are on a constant 46 June 2018

50. THE 20MOST INSPIRING TO WATCH 2018 “You can’t generate and sustain a culture of growth and productivity without developing leaders and leadership,” Keith said. “For example, every new employee is the most important employees. Each person adds to the culture in their own way. It’s not important that everyone’s the same, but the recipe and combination of people is critical to success.” “At Complete XRM, we spend our time envisioning and creating productivity tools and subscription software for individual leaders and their entire organizations. But without the foundation of low tech personal-management and productivity skills, these high-tech tools seem burdensome. As a result, we not only offer advanced productivity tools we also work to instill the low-tech principles of leadership, time- and self-management, business processes, and continuous improvement. That’s where to find your real culture.” It’s the drive to help create cultures of productivity that has motivated Complete XRM to acquire companies such as PlanPlus Online, Pocket Informant, and KPI Fire. Keith Norris: Connecting Productivity with Purpose C on it. This drive to continuously improve has helped him compete as a triathlete, hockey player, as an entrepreneur. all it a quirk of behavior or call it an obsession, Keith Norris is a “measurer”—he strives to define the current reality, and then find a way to improve Keith is an advocate of continuous improvement, progressive goal planning, a leader in the Culture of Productivity tribe, an author, a lifelong entrepreneur, and a proud husband and father. He has over two decades of entrepreneurial, sales, operations, and managerial experience in the startup environment—extending to software, recruiting, event production, sales, marketing, real estate, business development, and project management. Keith received a Bachelor’s from Weber State in Business Administration with Marketing emphasis, and also an MBA from Weber State University where he was awarded the Goddard Scholar designation. Keith was awarded the Honors at Entrance Scholarship out of high school for exceptional GPA and ACT test scores. He also was awarded with the Goddard Scholar designation in the MBA program, a designation reserved for the top 10% of the Graduating MBA class. Keith is the CEO of Complete XRM, which owns and operates several CRM, ERP, strategic planning, and productivity software and SaaS offerings, including: PlanPlus Online, Pocket Informant, KPI Fire, EBSuite, and CRMRealEstate—helping organizations and individuals align their purpose and activities. “When you can connect what you do all day with why you do it, you generate positive energy, focus, and determination in your personal life and in your organization,” said Keith. This alignment of purpose and work results in a “culture of productivity.” Culture evolves when a group of people gather together—so it makes sense that a culture would develop in the workplace. A positive company culture supports work-life integration and motivates and empowers employees. A negative company culture, often result in high-turnover, low-quality work, and increased stress. Company culture shouldn’t evolve on its own—smart companies invest in building a culture of productivity. Complete XRM helps organizations thrive by increasing alignment between the three core expressions of culture: what we think, what we say, and what we do. 48 Academically Keith graduated high school with a near perfect grade point average, and was in the 99% percentile for the ACT a national test administered to all high school seniors. This academic achievement earned him the Honors at Entrance Scholarship at the University of Utah. Keith transferred to Weber State University in his 2nd year to pursue another love of his, Hockey where he graduated with a BS in Business Administration/Marketing. After 10 years in professional fields, Keith went back to school and once again excelled academically. First earning a score on the Graduate School entrance exam that earned him a scholarship to Weber State University, and upon graduating he was named as a Goddard Scholar, a designation reserved for the top 10% of the graduating class. In the real estate industry, Keith won numerous annual awards from Coldwell Banker, including the prestigious Presidential Elite and Top 1% Producer awards. PlanPlus Online PlanPlus originally started as a digital version of the FranklinCovey Planner in 1995 when it replaced what was June 2018