Meet the Team
At Tech-Edge, the people behind our program are just as important as the program itself. Meet our dynamic team of problem finders, problem solvers, innovators, and teachers.
Ready to learn from the top tech and business leaders? Applications open in February 2022.
2024 Tech-Edge Team
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Chandranil Chakraborttii, is the Academic Faculty Lead for the Tech-Edge Program and leads computer science content development for Trinity’s innovation programming. Nil is an assistant professor of computer science, will be leading modules on technology stack and artificial intelligence. |
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Evan Field, Program Coordinator for Innovation Initiatives, serves as the on-site representative of the Trinity Innovation Center as well as coordinates the planning, logistics and support for all Innovation initiatives. |
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Nisha Joshee, Program Manager for Entrepreneurship Center, serves as the Program Lead for Tech Edge. |
2023 Tech-Edge Team
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Ewa Syta is the academic director for the Tech-Edge Program and leads computer science content development for Trinity’s innovation programming. Ewa is department chair and associate professor of computer science, and will be leading modules on computing security and blockchain technologies. |
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Evan Field, Program Coordinator for Innovation Initiatives, serves as the on-site representative of the Trinity Innovation Center as well as coordinates the planning, logistics and support for all Innovation initiatives. |
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Danny Briere, Entrepreneurship Center Director, focuses on supporting student, faculty, staff, alumni, and partner innovation and entrepreneurial efforts, whether building mindsets and skills or helping actually launch products and companies into the market. |
2022 Tech-Edge Team
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Ewa Syta is the academic director for the Tech-Edge Program and leads computer science content development for Trinity’s innovation programming. She is an assistant professor of computer science, and will be leading modules on computing security and blockchain technologies. |
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Evan Field, Program Coordinator for Innovation Initiatives, serves as the on-site representative of the Trinity Innovation Center as well as coordinates the planning, logistics and support for all Innovation initiatives. |
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Steven Gomes ’83, is serving as the Program Lead for Tech-Edge and has held executive IT leadership positions with The Hartford, IBM, and Travelers, and recently as a Sr. Director with Optum Health Technology. He holds a B.A. in Economics and Computers from Trinity College, Hartford, CT and an MBA from the University of New Haven, New Haven, CT as well as a CPCU professional designation. Steve is currently Chairman of the Middletown Retirement/Pension Board which was recently ranked eleventh best in the country. In addition to the Pension Board, Steve has been active in the community, having served on the Inland Wetlands Commission and coached in several youth sports leagues. He also previously was a co-owner of the AC Connecticut PDL soccer team. |
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Peter Yoon, department chair and professor of computer science, will be leading modules on computing in Python. |
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Madalene Spezialetti, associate professor of computer science, will be leading modules on software engineering. |
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Ewa Syta, assistant professor of computer science, will be leading modules on computing security and blockchain technologies. |
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Chandranil Chakraborttii, assistant professor of computer science, will be leading modules on technology stack and artificial intelligence. |
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Joseph Palladino, professor of engineering, will be leading modules on data analysis & visualization. |
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Erin Frymire, lecturer in the Allan K. Smith Center for Writing and Rhetoric will be leading The Listening Audience, a module on communications. |
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Jack Dougherty, Professor of Educational Studies, will be leading a module on data visualization. |
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Nicholas Marino, Lecturer in the Allan K. Smith Center for Writing and Rhetoric, will be leading a module on communications. |
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Holly O’Driscoll is the founder and CEO of Ampersand Innovation LLC and is the former Global Design Thinking Leader at Procter and Gamble with over 20+ years of experience. O’Driscoll was the faculty chairperson of the Rutgers University Design Thinking Executive Education Program and has guest lectured at colleges around the world. She is Tech-Edge’s Innovation and Design Thinking Expert. |
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Joseph Catrino is Trinity College’s executive director of career & life design. He works to expand career development services while creating an ecosystem of design thinking and innovation across the college for Trinity students and for the college’s partners, including Infosys. Additionally, Catrino also has taught in the first-year seminar program, advised students and mentored student interns. |
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Nick Wagner Sr. is a husband, father and first time author. He has had a diverse career as an entrepreneur, IT professional and now Human Resources professional. Nick has been able to inspire people through mentoring, coaching, social media and now his family’s non-profit. He loves sharing his ideas and experiences to empower and inspire people to reach their Full Potential. |
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Lou Shipley ’85 is currently an Executive in Residence at General Catalyst, and a Lecturer at Harvard Business School and at MIT Sloan School of Management. In addition, Lou is an Advisor to the Board at CybelAngel and Alchemista, and a Board Member at SentryOne, CustomerGauge, Wasabi Technologies, and Fairmarkit. Previously, he was the CEO of Black Duck Software and was the driving force behind the company’s transformation into a leader in open source security and management solutions. Prior to Black Duck, Lou has had key roles in several Massachusetts software startups and has had work published in the Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, Huffington Post and several other notable publications. Lou has valuable experience in entrepreneurship and startups, as well as technology innovation, and will be leading sessions on marketing and strategy. |
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Daniel Krook ’00 is a software engineer at IBM in the New York area. He was a primary catalyst behind, and now CTO for, Call for Code, a multi-year initiative that inspires developers to create sustainable open source software solutions to the world’s most pressing problems.
Daniel has been recognized as an IBM and Open Group Distinguished Technical Specialist, Senior Technical Staff Member, Master Inventor, Member of the IBM Academy of Technology, and Best of IBM Honoree. He has engineered software end-to-end for a wide array of industries and earned certifications in cloud architecture, application development, and system operations along the way. He’s filed dozens of patent applications, spoken at many conferences, hosted scores of meetups, and has contributed to several IBM publications. |
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Trishan de Lanerolle ’04is the Principal Technical Program Manager, Office of the CTO (OCTO) at Equinix, providing technical expertise and program management leadership to various OCTO initiatives, spanning technology innovation & development, architecture, strategy and thought leadership.
De Lanerolle is a technologist with over seventeen years of experience, building successful enterprise and open source programs, addressing unique technology and organizational challenges in the telecommunications, disaster management, and humanitarian response sectors. He previously served as Senior Technical Community Architect for Networking at the Linux Foundation, leading projects at the cutting edge of networking, co-founder and director of the Humanitarian Free and Open Source Software Project (HFOSS) at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, and a founding partner of Nile Point Consulting LLC. He serves on the board of advisers for Teaching Open Source (ToS), Non-Profit FOSS Institute and Random Hacks of Kindness Jr (RHoKjr). He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from Trinity College, and a Master of Science degree in Management of Innovation and Technology from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). |
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Karishma Asthana ’18, is a Product Marketing Manager for Application Security at Datadog. She was previously with Accenture Security where she worked as a penetration tester and was responsible for helping clients understand and manage their security vulnerabilities. She holds a B.S. in Computer Science from Trinity College, Hartford. Karishma is passionate about exploring large shifts in the cybersecurity industry from a technical and strategic point of view. |
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Jeff Auker leads Infosys’ Innovation & Technology Hub in Hartford, focusing on growing a vibrant local IT workforce and serving client’s digital and emerging technology needs. Prior to joining Infosys, Jeff was a senior director at PwC where he served as co-leader of the firm’s digital health practice, with a focus on customer experience and design thinking. Prior to PwC he was a principal at Diamond Management & Technology Consultants serving a range of P&C, life, and health insurance clients across the US. Before entering consulting, Jeff spent 8 years at The Hartford in a range of roles across digital, strategy, communications, ventures, and innovation. In his earlier years, Jeff’s career spanned Bay Area start-ups, New England food and entertainment, and teaching and counseling from LA to Boston. |
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Rohit Puranik is Portfolio Head & Associate Vice President at Infosys. He has over two decades of IT leadership and client management experience. Over the last couple of years, Rohit has played a significant role at Infosys through several strategic domain led engagements and client advisory roles. Rohit leads New England region and was key in opening the Hartford Innovation Hub for Infosys. Rohit has extensive experience in client relationship management, innovation and mentoring of global delivery teams operating out of Canada, China, Dubai, India, UK and USA.
Rohit is recipient of many organizational awards at Infosys. He has very strong industry experience in Insurance, Healthcare, Long Term Care and Telecom industry verticals. Prior to joining Infosys, Rohit was a design engineer at GBGL, India. Rohit holds a MBA from University of Connecticut and General Management from Harvard Business School. |
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Prasad Joshi leads Infosys Center for Emerging Technology Solutions (iCETS). iCETS is the a key unit within Infosys, responsible for building expertise in emerging technologies and contextualizing them to create business solutions for Infosys clients. Prasad has been instrumental in building the strategic ‘Living Labs’ program at iCETS, and through it has setup co-creation labs with key clients.
His portfolio focus includes AI and Cognitive Solutions, Blockchain, Design and Experience, AR-VR, and Cyber Security and Data Management. Under Prasad’s leadership iCETS has created products for Conversational Interfaces, data privacy, enterprise gamification, and location based solutions among other areas. As part of global charter, he leads the creation of startup ecosystems and academia relationships. He has more than 30 years of experience in software technology, IT/business process outsourcing, and multicultural team management. |
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Rajaram RK is an experienced P&L leader who has a proven track-record of creating business value by leveraging Technology and Digital Innovation for Financial Services clients. He has ~26 years of experience in IT focusing on the Financial Services Industry.Raj currently heads the US Regional Banks business at Infosys. In this role, he leverages Next Generation IT Strategy, Cloud, Digital transformation and strong Execution capabilities to help clients succeed in the changing marketplace.
Raj also leads the Cloud Practice for Financial Services at Infosys with the specific focus of driving business agility and efficiencies by leveraging Hybrid, Multi-Cloud and Cloud Native adoption at scale. Raj is a full Stack Digital leader with expertise spanning Customer Experience, Data & Insights, Automation, AI & ML, API, Business and Technology Platforms, DevOps, Application, Infrastructure, Cloud, FinTechs, Ecosystem Banking and new Business Models. Raj is an avid blogger on key emerging Technology and Banking trends. |
2021 Tech-Edge Team
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Takunari Miyazaki is a co-director for the Tech-Edge Program and leads computer science content development for Trinity’s innovation programming. He is an associate dean for faculty development and associate professor of computer science, and will also be instructing on artificial intelligence for Tech-Edge. |
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Jennifer Regan-Lefebvre is a co-director for the Tech-Edge Program, faculty director of innovation initiatives and associate professor of history. She leads content development and faculty engagement for Trinity’s innovation programming. Additionally, she works with faculty and staff to create dynamic business education through the liberal arts. |
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Thalia Giraldo is associate director of applied learning initiative and innovation projects, and oversees the day-to-day operations of the Trinity Innovation Center and logistics for the Trinity-Infosys programs. Thalia supports the planning, communication, marketing, and execution of Tech-Edge and facilitates student success in the program. |
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Evan Field, digital innovation fellow, assists with the day-to-day operations and is responsible for design and social media content at One Constitution Plaza. Evan provides technical and logistical support to the Tech-Edge and Trinity-Infosys Business Analysis for Digital Transformation Programs. |
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Steven Gomes ’83, is serving as the Program Lead for Tech-Edge and has held executive IT leadership positions with The Hartford, IBM, and Travelers, and recently as a Sr. Director with Optum Health Technology. He holds a B.A. in Economics and Computers from Trinity College, Hartford, CT and an MBA from the University of New Haven, New Haven, CT as well as a CPCU professional designation. Steve is currently Chairman of the Middletown Retirement/Pension Board which was recently ranked eleventh best in the country. In addition to the Pension Board, Steve has been active in the community, having served on the Inland Wetlands Commission and coached in several youth sports leagues. He also previously was a co-owner of the AC Connecticut PDL soccer team. |
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Peter Yoon, department chair and professor of computer science, will be leading modules on computing in Python. |
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Madalene Spezialetti, associate professor of computer science, will be leading modules on software engineering. |
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Ewa Syta, assistant professor of computer science, will be leading modules on computing security and blockchain technologies. |
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Joseph Palladino, professor of engineering, will be leading modules on data analysis & visualization. |
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Erin Frymire, lecturer in the Allan K. Smith Center for Writing and Rhetoric will be leading The Listening Audience, a module on communications. |
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Nicholas Marino, Lecturer in the Allan K. Smith Center for Writing and Rhetoric, will be leading a module on communications. |
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Jack Dougherty, Professor of Educational Studies, will be leading a module on data visualization. |
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Holly O’Driscoll is the founder and CEO of Ampersand Innovation LLC and is the former Global Design Thinking Leader at Procter and Gamble with over 20+ years of experience. O’Driscoll was the faculty chairperson of the Rutgers University Design Thinking Executive Education Program and has guest lectured at colleges around the world. She is Tech-Edge’s Innovation and Design Thinking Expert. |
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Joseph Catrino is Trinity College’s director of career development and the special assistant to the vice president for innovation. He works to expand career development services while creating an ecosystem of design thinking and innovation across the college for Trinity students and for the college’s partners, including Infosys. Additionally, Catrino also has taught in the first-year seminar program, advised students and mentored student interns. |
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Emily Merritt is senior assistant director, career and personal preparation in the Center for Student Success and Career Development. She supports the career growth and development of students and alumni through program implementation, resource development, and one-on-one career coaching. In addition, she oversees the office’s Career Development Interns, the Career Studio, career coaching services, and co-leads the Career Communities model. Emily serves as the lead career coach for the Social Good, Education, and Human Services Career Community. |
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Nick Wagner Sr. is a husband, father and first time author. He has had a diverse career as an entrepreneur, IT professional and now Human Resources professional. Nick has been able to inspire people through mentoring, coaching, social media and now his family’s non-profit. He loves sharing his ideas and experiences to empower and inspire people to reach their Full Potential. |
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Lou Shipley ’85 is currently an Executive in Residence at General Catalyst, and a Lecturer at Harvard Business School and at MIT Sloan School of Management. In addition, Lou is an Advisor to the Board at CybelAngel and Alchemista, and a Board Member at SentryOne, CustomerGauge, Wasabi Technologies, and Fairmarkit. Previously, he was the CEO of Black Duck Software and was the driving force behind the company’s transformation into a leader in open source security and management solutions. Prior to Black Duck, Lou has had key roles in several Massachusetts software startups and has had work published in the Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, Huffington Post and several other notable publications. Lou has valuable experience in entrepreneurship and startups, as well as technology innovation, and will be leading sessions on marketing and strategy. |
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Julia McInnis ’11 is an entrepreneur and producer based in NYC. She started her storytelling career as a producer for the documentary film duo DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus. In addition to expanding Pennebaker Hegedus’s distribution opportunities, she oversaw production and financing for their HBO film UNLOCKING THE CAGE, which premiered at Sundance 2016.
In 2017, Julia received her MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and launched a sports content company, Lancealot — for those who freelance a lot. Later, she was hired by The Players’ Tribune to help build their international storytelling division and produce films about some of the most incredible global athletes. In early 2020, Julia joined the newly launched network of pro sports leagues Athletes Unlimited as their Senior Producer and Head of Production Operations. Outside of her career in storytelling, Julia teaches a course on sports entrepreneurship and innovation at NYU. |
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Josh Cohen ’10 is a user-centered designer who loves solving complex problems within the unsexy industries that power our world. He’s a firm believer in balancing big ideas with pragmatic solutions, learning through short feedback loops, and pushing for elegant, scalable systems that make great products possible.
At Transfix, he’s bringing new products to market and working across the company’s web app, mobile apps, and end-to-end service flow to improve the lives of truck drivers, carriers, and shippers. Prior to Transfix, Josh was a UX Designer at the Scandinavian design firm Your Majesty. He received his B.A in English Literature from Trinity College, CT. |
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Damian Wilmot ’97 is the Senior Vice President, Chief Risk and Compliance Officer at Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated. He is responsible for leading the company’s Global Compliance (the Office of Business Integrity & Ethics), Global Litigation and Enterprise Risk Management organizations. Before taking on his current role in 2017, Mr. Wilmot was the chief litigation counsel and also served as the company’s interim head of Compliance and interim head of Human Resources.
He has served on the boards and advisory committees of numerous nonprofit, civic, and for-profit organizations, |
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Eric Rosow ’86 serves as CEO of Diameter Health. He has more than 25 years of experience in healthcare technology, new venture creation, and executive management. Prior to co-founding Diameter Health, Eric served as the VP and General Manager of the Patient Flow business unit for Eclipsys and Allscripts. Preceding that, Eric was the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Premise, a company he co-founded and led through its sale to Eclipsys. Before founding Premise, Eric was the Director of Biomedical Engineering at Hartford Hospital. Eric is passionate about building high-performance entrepreneurial teams that challenge the status quo and create disruptive, yet pragmatic healthcare IT innovations. |
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Robin Saitz ’86 is chief marketing officer for Plex Systems, Inc, and leads the company’s marketing strategy and execution, positioning Plex Systems as the leader in smart manufacturing technology. An engineer turned marketer, she has a proven track record of successfully marketing enterprise software solutions across multiple industries and building high-performance teams and brands.
Prior to joining Plex, Robin held CMO roles at cyber security solutions provider Avecto (acquired by BeyondTrust) and sales enablement software company Brainshark. Robin also spent more than 20 years at PTC, where she served, most recently, as the senior vice president of global marketing and operations. Robin is an award-winning STEM leader and guest lecturer. She has also been recognized for her community involvement and support of high impact programs, including the Pan Mass Challenge and international STEM youth organization FIRST. |
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Daniel Krook ’00 is a software engineer at IBM in the New York area. He was a primary catalyst behind, and now CTO for, Call for Code, a multi-year initiative that inspires developers to create sustainable open source software solutions to the world’s most pressing problems.
Daniel has been recognized as an IBM and Open Group Distinguished Technical Specialist, Senior Technical Staff Member, Master Inventor, Member of the IBM Academy of Technology, and Best of IBM Honoree. He has engineered software end-to-end for a wide array of industries and earned certifications in cloud architecture, application development, and system operations along the way. He’s filed dozens of patent applications, spoken at many conferences, hosted scores of meetups, and has contributed to several IBM publications. |
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Jeff Auker leads Infosys’ Innovation & Technology Hub in Hartford, focusing on growing a vibrant local IT workforce and serving client’s digital and emerging technology needs. Prior to joining Infosys, Jeff was a senior director at PwC where he served as co-leader of the firm’s digital health practice, with a focus on customer experience and design thinking. Prior to PwC he was a principal at Diamond Management & Technology Consultants serving a range of P&C, life, and health insurance clients across the US. Before entering consulting, Jeff spent 8 years at The Hartford in a range of roles across digital, strategy, communications, ventures, and innovation. In his earlier years, Jeff’s career spanned Bay Area start-ups, New England food and entertainment, and teaching and counseling from LA to Boston. |
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Prasad Joshi leads Infosys Center for Emerging Technology Solutions (iCETS). iCETS is the a key unit within Infosys, responsible for building expertise in emerging technologies and contextualizing them to create business solutions for Infosys clients. Prasad has been instrumental in building the strategic ‘Living Labs’ program at iCETS, and through it has setup co-creation labs with key clients.
His portfolio focus includes AI and Cognitive Solutions, Blockchain, Design and Experience, AR-VR, and Cyber Security and Data Management. Under Prasad’s leadership iCETS has created products for Conversational Interfaces, data privacy, enterprise gamification, and location based solutions among other areas. As part of global charter, he leads the creation of startup ecosystems and academia relationships. He has more than 30 years of experience in software technology, IT/business process outsourcing, and multicultural team management. |
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Rohit Puranik is Portfolio Head & Associate Vice President at Infosys. He has over two decades of IT leadership and client management experience. Over the last couple of years, Rohit has played a significant role at Infosys through several strategic domain led engagements and client advisory roles. Rohit leads New England region and was key in opening the Hartford Innovation Hub for Infosys. Rohit has extensive experience in client relationship management, innovation and mentoring of global delivery teams operating out of Canada, China, Dubai, India, UK and USA.
Rohit is recipient of many organizational awards at Infosys. He has very strong industry experience in Insurance, Healthcare, Long Term Care and Telecom industry verticals. Prior to joining Infosys, Rohit was a design engineer at GBGL, India. Rohit holds a MBA from University of Connecticut and General Management from Harvard Business School. |
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Srivinias Rao joined Infosys in 1995 and has over 26 years of experience in the industry. He started his career in the Communication Engineering domain by developing lawful surveillance features for digital exchanges and has since led multiple product releases for enterprise switches and routers. He contributed immensely to the growth of Engineering Unit especially in building and leading large accounts in Hi-Tech and Telco space. He handled the role of pre-sales head for Engineering unit and was instrumental in helping win multiple large deals. He played a key role in setting up the Infosys Hartford Innovation Hub. Currently he heads the Infosys Engineering unit work force for US North East and South East regions and is based out of Hartford,CT.Srinivas holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electronics and Communications Engineering and MBA in Engineering Management from Coventry university London. |
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Abhijit Sarkar brings over 22 years of experience in IT and IT enabled services in several domains. In his nearly two-decade long association with Infosys he has played a variety of different roles across industries including Healthcare, Financial Services and Insurance with teams distributed globally. Abhijit has been Vice President of IT Business Development with Genpact for a couple of years, responsible for client relationship management and business development in Financial Services and Media & Entertainment segment.
Abhijit is a recipient of many organizational awards and recognitions both at Infosys & Genpact. Abhijit’s strengths include solving business challenges leveraging the power of technology and applying scalable structure and consultative strategy to achieve success. He has successfully led and structured several large and complex multi-year tech powered initiatives with leading clients over the course of his career. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering from BIT Sindri. |
2020 Tech-Edge Team
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Takunari Miyazaki is a co-director for the Tech-Edge Program and leads computer science content development for Trinity’s innovation programming. He is an associate dean in the Dean of Faculty’s Office and associate professor of computer science, and will also be instructing on artificial intelligence for Tech-Edge. |
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Jennifer Regan-Lefebvre is a co-director for the Tech-Edge Program, faculty director of innovation initiatives and associate professor of history. She leads content development and faculty engagement for Trinity’s innovation programming. Additionally, she works with faculty and staff to create dynamic business education through the liberal arts. |
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Thalia Giraldo is assistant director of applied learning initiative and innovation projects, and oversees the day-to-day operations of the Trinity Innovation Center and logistics for the Trinity-Infosys programs. Thalia supports the planning, communication, marketing, and execution of Tech-Edge and facilitates student success in the program. |
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Evan Field, digital innovation fellow, assists with the day-to-day operations and is responsible for design and social media content at One Constitution Plaza. Evan provides technical and logistical support to the Tech-Edge and Trinity-Infosys Business Analysis for Digital Transformation Programs. |
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Steven Gomes ’83, is serving as consultant to the Tech-Edge program and has held executive IT leadership positions with The Hartford, IBM, and Travelers, and recently as a Sr. Director with Optum Health Technology. He holds a B.A. in Economics and Computers from Trinity College, Hartford, CT and an MBA from the University of New Haven, New Haven, CT as well as a CPCU professional designation. Steve is currently Chairman of the Middletown Retirement/Pension Board which was recently ranked eleventh best in the country. In addition to the Pension Board, Steve has been active in the community, having served on the Inland Wetlands Commission and coached in several youth sports leagues. He also previously was a co-owner of the AC Connecticut PDL soccer team. |
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Peter Yoon, department chair and professor of computer science, will be leading modules on computing in Python. |
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Madalene Spezialetti, associate professor of computer science, will be leading modules on software engineering. |
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Ewa Syta, assistant professor of computer science, will be leading modules on computing security and blockchain technologies. |
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Joseph Palladino, professor of engineering, will be leading a module on data analysis & visualization. |
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Erin Frymire, lecturer in the Allan K. Smith Center for Writing and Rhetoric will be leading The Listening Audience, a module on communications. |
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Nicholas Marino, Lecturer in the Allan K. Smith Center for Writing and Rhetoric, will be leading a module on communications. |
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Holly O’Driscoll is the founder and CEO of Ampersand Innovation LLC and is the former Global Design Thinking Leader at Procter and Gamble with over 20+ years of experience. O’Driscoll was the faculty chairperson of the Rutgers University Design Thinking Executive Education Program and has guest lectured at colleges around the world. She is Tech-Edge’s Innovation and Design Thinking Expert. |
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Joseph Catrino is Trinity College’s director of career development and the special assistant to the vice president for innovation. He works to expand career development services while creating an ecosystem of design thinking and innovation across the college for Trinity students and for the college’s partners, including Infosys. Additionally, Catrino also has taught in the first-year seminar program, advised students and mentored student interns. |
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Emily Merritt is senior assistant director, career and personal preparation in the Center for Student Success and Career Development. She supports the career growth and development of students and alumni through program implementation, resource development, and one-on-one career coaching. In addition, she oversees the office’s Career Development Interns, the Career Studio, career coaching services, and co-leads the Career Communities model. Emily serves as the lead career coach for the Social Good, Education, and Human Services Career Community. |
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Jacques Lagasse ’71, ’75 is president of the Chilkat Group and has extensive experience teaching business analysis and project management; he has also held leadership positions in IT. He has a B.S. and M.S. from Trinity College, as well as an M.B.A. and J.D. from the University of Connecticut. |
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Bilal Naved has had a successful career in medical innovation, beginning research as a sophomore in high school at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Over the past 9 years Bilal has published 9 scientific papers, 1 textbook chapter, and generated >$3 million+ in funding for R&D projects at institutions like the NIH, the University of Maryland, Johns Hopkins University, and Northwestern University. He is on a full scholarship in the dual MD/PhD program at Northwestern University and is now on a break from medical school conducting research and building Clearstep.
Bilal networks between physicians, hospitals, insurance companies, healthcare incubators, and healthcare administrators to ensure that Clearstep is positioned to drive patient outcomes and engagement. Bilal’s unique perspective bridges the worlds of a medical trainee and a biomedical engineer. His insight informs the necessary user experience needed to engage the average patient and the functionality required of virtual health systems to make physicians’ lives easier, streamline resources, and create efficiencies in the hospital. |
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Adeel Malik is the CEO and co-founder of Clearstep, a rapidly growing AI symptom checking and care navigation digital health startup based in Chicago. Clearstep was featured in Built In Chicago’s 50 Startups to Watch in 2020 as well as TechCrunch, and was one of the inaugural members of the United Healthcare accelerator in Minneapolis. Prior to founding Clearstep in 2018, Adeel was a strategy and analytics consultant at Accenture, where he worked with some of the largest institutions in healthcare across pharma, health tech, health systems, and retail. He also spent three years prior to Accenture as a neuro-immunology researcher at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. |
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Lou Shipley ’85 is currently an Executive in Residence at General Catalyst, and a Lecturer at Harvard Business School and at MIT Sloan School of Management. In addition, Lou is an Advisor to the Board at CybelAngel and Alchemista, and a Board Member at SentryOne, CustomerGauge, Wasabi Technologies, and Fairmarkit. Previously, he was the CEO of Black Duck Software and was the driving force behind the company’s transformation into a leader in open source security and management solutions. Prior to Black Duck, Lou has had key roles in several Massachusetts software startups and has had work published in the Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, Huffington Post and several other notable publications. Lou has valuable experience in entrepreneurship and startups, as well as technology innovation, and will be leading sessions on marketing and strategy. |
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Michael Thomas Duffy ’85 is the president and founder of the Great Oaks Foundation, a role in which he spearheaded the launch of a network of charter schools in urban neighborhoods in the Northeast currently serving over 3,000 students. Prior to that he served as Director of the Charter School Office for the NYC Department of Education, working for three years in the administration of Mayor Michael Bloomberg to help expand the number of high quality charter schools. Michael’s efforts in education grew out of his work in the civil rights movement, having served as the Chairman and Commissioner of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ civil rights enforcement commission, a position he held for six years. He has a master’s degree in public policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Trinity with a degree in Economics. |
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Julie Gionfriddo ’96, ’05 is Director of Advisory Services for Fiondella, Milone & LaSaracina in Hartford, CT. She provides advisory services to funds and companies in the VC and growth capital space. Previously she was a vice president in the private equity group of Simsbury, Connecticut-based Landmark Partners. She is a founding member of Trinity’s Women’s Leadership Council, and an advocate for women considering careers in private equity. She holds both a BA and an MA in Economics from Trinity. |
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John Molner ’85 is the co-Founder and CEO of KCM, a New York-based media firm which publishes and produces a range of content including digital news (Wake-Up Call), documentaries, docu-series, podcasts (Next Question and Back to Biz) and live events. Prior to this, John was a General Partner at investment firm, Brown Brothers Harriman. John was responsible for overseeing the firm’s Corporate Advisory business and also participated in selected private equity investment activities. He remains a Limited Partner and Senior Advisor to BBH Capital Partners. John earned an MBA from the Booth School of Business at The University of Chicago and a BA in History from Trinity College, ‘85. John lives in New York City with his wife, Katie Couric. He has two grown children, Henry (Colorado College, ’17) and Allie (Yale, ’20). |
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Steve Woodworth ’93 joined Savills as Managing Director in 2013 and has more than 15 years of experience in commercial real estate, architecture, and engineering. He collaborates with clients locally, regionally, and nationally, and is involved in all aspects of every assignment from early-stage planning through implementation. Steve’s diverse clientele reflects his entrepreneurial character and ability to think through often unforeseen challenges. He also has deep experience with public, private, and nonprofit enterprises, and his clients consult with him regularly on a host of business issues in addition to real estate. Prior to Savills, Steve was a director at Wyman Street Advisors where he managed the portfolio services group and was responsible for many of the firm’s largest clients. Steve is the founder of the Boston Bantams Business Network. |
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Trishan de Lanerolle ’04 is a Technical Program Manager & Community Architect for Networking at the Linux Foundation, leading projects at the cutting edge of networking. De Lanerolle is a technologist with over fifteen years of experience, building successful enterprise and open source programs, addressing unique technology and organizational challenges in the telecommunications, disaster management, and humanitarian response sectors. He was co-founder and director of the Humanitarian Free and Open Source Software Project (HFOSS) at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, and a founding partner of Nile Point Consulting LLC. He serves on the board of advisers for Teaching Open Source (TOS), Non-Profit FOSS Institute and Random Hacks of Kindness Jr (RHoKjr). He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from Trinity College, and a Master of Science degree in Management of Innovation and Technology from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). |
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Jorge R. Castro ’11 is the founder and Managing Partner of DiscoverMe- Web Services for Small Business, here in Hartford. Inspired by many of the wonderful culinary gems in the neighborhoods around Trinity, DiscoverMe was created to finally provide community restaurants, businesses, start-ups, and non-profits with affordable access to essential professional web services, such as: website design/maintenance/security, online ordering/e-commerce, social media management, and more. He is an active member of Hartford’s Chamber of Commerce, MetroHartford Alliance, Hartford Young Professionals & Entrepreneurs (HYPE), and Better Business Bureau, as well as The University of Hartford and Trinity College alumni networks. Jorge has been invited to serve as a judge at the UHart Entrepreneurial Center’s Annual Business Plan Competition, and is a past award-winner. Jorge holds a BA in Sociology from Trinity, a Culinary AS from Johnson & Wales Providence, and an MBA from The University of Hartford with a Project Management concentration. |
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Alec Buffamonte ’17 is a Senior Associate in Strategy and Planning for BNY Mellon’s Asset Servicing and Digital (ASD) businesses. ASD is a combination of the core Asset Servicing products and services with BNY’s newly created “Digital” group, which aims to digitally reimagine client experiences, develop new, digitally focused products, and develop strategic alliances with leading technology firms as part of BNY’s partnership strategy. He works alongside ASD’s product leads, sales teams, business strategists, and controls and governance professionals to help business leadership drive growth and new innovation, as well as colleagues within other lines of business on projects with an enterprise-wide scope. Prior to his current role, he was responsible for designing and implementing client-focused automated solutions within BNY Mellon’s operational areas, where he gained firsthand experience with fintech partnerships, AI, machine learning, and process improvement methodologies. He graduated from Trinity with degrees in Public Policy and Law and American Studies. |
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Tess Starr ’19 is a Lead Analyst on the Enterprise Knowledge Team at BNY Mellon’s Data and Analytics Solutions. She works specifically with the Eagle Investment Systems application, identifying, testing, and recreating complex client issues within the application, collaborating with various internal teams, and providing resolutions in order to promote client success. As a student, she had two internships at Black Duck Software. First, as a Software Education Services intern where she created technical training material and, second, as a Technical Engineering intern where she worked on automating an internal support process. She graduated with a degree in Computer Science from Trinity. |
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Jeff Auker leads Infosys’ Innovation & Technology Hub in Hartford, focusing on growing a vibrant local IT workforce and serving client’s digital and emerging technology needs. Prior to joining Infosys, Jeff was a senior director at PwC where he served as co-leader of the firm’s digital health practice, with a focus on customer experience and design thinking. Prior to PwC he was a principal at Diamond Management & Technology Consultants serving a range of P&C, life, and health insurance clients across the US. Before entering consulting, Jeff spent 8 years at The Hartford in a range of roles across digital, strategy, communications, ventures, and innovation. In his earlier years, Jeff’s career spanned Bay Area start-ups, New England food and entertainment, and teaching and counseling from LA to Boston. |
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Prasad Joshi leads Infosys Center for Emerging Technology Solutions (iCETS). iCETS is the a key unit within Infosys, responsible for building expertise in emerging technologies and contextualizing them to create business solutions for Infosys clients. Prasad has been instrumental in building the strategic ‘Living Labs’ program at iCETS, and through it has setup co-creation labs with key clients.
His portfolio focus includes AI and Cognitive Solutions, Blockchain, Design and Experience, AR-VR, and Cyber Security and Data Management. Under Prasad’s leadership iCETS has created products for Conversational Interfaces, data privacy, enterprise gamification, and location based solutions among other areas. As part of global charter, he leads the creation of startup ecosystems and academia relationships. He has more than 30 years of experience in software technology, IT/business process outsourcing, and multicultural team management. |
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Rohit Puranik is Portfolio Head & Associate Vice President at Infosys. He has over two decades of IT leadership and client management experience. Over the last couple of years, Rohit has played a significant role at Infosys through several strategic domain led engagements and client advisory roles. Rohit leads New England region and was key in opening the Hartford Innovation Hub for Infosys. Rohit has extensive experience in client relationship management, innovation and mentoring of global delivery teams operating out of Canada, China, Dubai, India, UK and USA.
Rohit is recipient of many organizational awards at Infosys. He has very strong industry experience in Insurance, Healthcare, Long Term Care and Telecom industry verticals. Prior to joining Infosys, Rohit was a design engineer at GBGL, India. Rohit holds a MBA from University of Connecticut and General Management from Harvard Business School. |
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Rajaram RK is an experienced P&L leader who has a proven track-record of creating business value by leveraging Technology and Digital Innovation for Financial Services clients. He has ~25 years of experience in IT focusing on the Financial Services Industry.Raj currently heads the US Regional Banks business at Infosys. In this role, he leverages Next Generation IT Strategy, Cloud, Digital transformation and strong Execution capabilities to help clients succeed in the changing marketplace.
Raj also leads the Cloud Practice for Financial Services at Infosys with the specific focus of driving business agility and efficiencies by leveraging Hybrid, Multi-Cloud and Cloud Native adoption at scale. Raj is a full Stack Digital leader with expertise spanning Customer Experience, Data & Insights, Automation, AI & ML, API, Business and Technology Platforms, DevOps, Application, Infrastructure, Cloud, FinTechs, Ecosystem Banking and new Business Models. Raj is an avid blogger on key emerging Technology and Banking trends. |
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Srivinias Rao joined Infosys in 1995 and has over 26 years of experience in the industry. He started his career in the Communication Engineering domain by developing lawful surveillance features for digital exchanges and has since led multiple product releases for enterprise switches and routers. He contributed immensely to the growth of Engineering Unit especially in building and leading large accounts in Hi-Tech and Telco space. He handled the role of pre-sales head for Engineering unit and was instrumental in helping win multiple large deals. He played a key role in setting up the Infosys Hartford Innovation Hub. Currently he heads the Infosys Engineering unit work force for US North East and South East regions and is based out of Hartford,CT.Srinivas holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electronics and Communications Engineering and MBA in Engineering Management from Coventry university London. |
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Abhijit Sarkar brings over 22 years of experience in IT and IT enabled services in several domains. In his nearly two-decade long association with Infosys he has played a variety of different roles across industries including Healthcare, Financial Services and Insurance with teams distributed globally. Abhijit has been Vice President of IT Business Development with Genpact for a couple of years, responsible for client relationship management and business development in Financial Services and Media & Entertainment segment.
Abhijit is a recipient of many organizational awards and recognitions both at Infosys & Genpact. Abhijit’s strengths include solving business challenges leveraging the power of technology and applying scalable structure and consultative strategy to achieve success. He has successfully led and structured several large and complex multi-year tech powered initiatives with leading clients over the course of his career. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering from BIT Sindri. |
Lou Shipley '85 Technology CEO, Lecturer at Harvard Business School & Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Tech-Edge InstructorTech-Edge provides a good balance of important business and technology fundamentals and concepts that are quickly grasped by liberal arts students whose skills include creative thinking, problem solving and effective communication.
