Gabriel Gee-Jay Jenny (Master of Ceremonies)
Gabriel Gee-Jay Jenny was born 1974 and was raised in the Basel area. He started skateboarding at age 10 and learned English through skate videos and magazines. Gee-Jay later began MCing at skate contests and eventually started hosting local TV-Shows. He subsequently worked as a video-jockey at Swizz-Music-Television, hosted shows on Star-TV, 3+ and at a number of radio stations including Livingroom.FM where he also hosted the annual Stadtmusik-Festival in Basel. His favorite TED talk is Melanie Joy's talk: Beyond Carnism and Toward Rational, Authentic Food Choices.
Armand Martin: Swarm Energy
Armand Martin is an entrepreneur and shaper of digital transformation initiative, with 20 years experience in various roles in the internet business. 8 years ago, Armand co-founded Infocentric, which has become one of the leading digital consultancies in Switzerland, and where he advises large companies on how to cope with the challenges of digital transformation. Armand is one of the co-founders of Power-Blox, a new start-up company that has developed a revolutionary intelligent solar energy system and won the Swiss Start-up Awards in 2014. His passion lies within the transformational effects of disruptive technology. His favorite TED talk is Hans Rosling and the Magic Washing Machine.
Armando Braswell
Armando Braswell is a professional dancer from New York City. Upon graduating from the Juilliard School in 2006, Armando was invited to join Ballet Theater Munich as a soloist. From 2007-2012, he was a founding member of Gauthier Dance at Theaterhaus Stuttgart in Germany, and since 2012 Armando has been a soloist with Ballett Basel. He currently presents his choreography and teaches classes and workshops throughout Europe. Aside from his dancing career, Armando created "Interview En L'air", a popular arts blog, and in January 2015, Armando joined "Dance For You Magazine" as a permanent correspondent with his new column, "Real Talk with Armando Braswell." Armando's favorite TED talk is Reggie Watt's Beats That Defy Boxes
Dominique Brodbeck
Dominique Brodbeck is professor for Biomedical Informatics at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW), as well as founding partner of the company Macrofocus GmbH. His activities focus on how to extract meaningful information from large amounts of complex data, and how to make it accessible to humans in a useable way. He works in the areas of data visualization, computational information design, visual analytics, and advanced user interfaces. His motto is: "I want to make people happy by making computers sing and dance". Dominique Brodbeck has a PhD in Physics from the University of Basel, Switzerland, and holds an Executive MBA in Management of Technology from EPFL/HEC Lausanne, Switzerland. His favorite TED talk is Don Eigler's talk: Moving Atoms, One by One.
Ina S. Nicosia-Schelker
Ina Nicosia-Schelker has a B.A. in Communications from the Univ. of Richmond and an M.A. in Athletic Administration from Central Michigan Univ. She is a former two sport NCAA Div. 1 All-Star athlete in Track and Basketball and played basketball professionally in Belgium and Switzerland. She coached the Univ. of Basel to two national basketball championships in Switzerland. Ina is the owner and director of Kid's Camp International School in Oberwil, Switzerland. She also handles booking and management for foundagirl records in Basel, Switzerland. Ina resides in Oberwil, Switzerland with her wife Bettina and dog Jeffrey. She is a dual US and Swiss citizen. Her favorite TED talk is Linsey Pollak's Carrot Clarinet.
Silja Chouquet
Silja helps organizations embrace patient empowerment. For the past 10 years, she has researched patient needs by analyzing their conversations in online communities, Twitter and Facebook. Currently, she consults for companies via her own agency, Whydot. She is also an entrepreneur at Ubercurious, a social media research start-up, which generates insights by combining traditional research approaches with novel data visualization techniques. Silja is a former strategy consultant and from 2002-08, worked in different positions at two multi-national pharmaceutical companies. She graduated from Georgetown University with a degree in International Business and Marketing, and holds an MBA from INSEAD. Her favorite TED talk is Brené Brown on The Power of Vulnerability.
Stefan Zanetti
Stefan Zanetti has started several start-ups as spin-offs from projects at ETH Zurich: With the creation of synesix, careware and qipp, he has combined his enthusiasm for solutions in the fields of customer interaction design, risk and sustainability management with his passion for new technologies. His youngest venture, the multiple- awarded software company qipp [“kwipp”], follows a disruptive Internet of Things approach by applying social networking technologies to things. Stefan's favorite TED talk is Dan Ariely's talk on Our Buggy Moral Code.
Susan Clark
Susan Clark ( Saskatoon ) is a Canadian who came to Basel after over a decade in Tokyo. Susan what in Japan Because of her longstanding interest in textiles, color, and everything visual. She has published many articles and reviews on the arts. She enjoys research, and is a great fan of the UniBasel Library, Which Serves Both the public and academia. Susan is interested in the development of Synthetic Dyes, and the shift to industrial textile production. She is interested in humankind's natural inclination towards Increasing consumerism and the Challenge of Sustainability. Her favorite TED talk is Chipp Kidd's Designing Books Is No Laughing Matter. Ok it is.
Thomas Steinemann
Owner and CEO of Philippe DuBois & Fils SA, Thomas became a watch aficionado during his apprenticeship in a clock shop. In 1988, he launched the sale of Fossil watches in Europe. In 1994, he built up two companies which he sold in 2002 to the Fossil Group. After that, he was responsible for the development of the European headquarters of the American fashion brand in Basel and worked for several years in various positions at Fossil. At the end of 2010 he bought DuBois et fils, the oldest Swiss watch factory, with the challenge to relaunch the brand in the Swiss luxury watch business. DuBois et fils is celebrating its 230th anniversary this year. Thomas’ favorite TED talk is “Design and Destiny” by Philippe Starck.
Amped & Wired
In 2013, the Sinfonieorchester Basel (SOB) invited local DJs and electronic producers to participate in the Cube Sessions. They had previously invited international guests from the electronic music world like Francesco Tristano or Moritz von Oswald, playing concerts with members of the SOB. The idea now was to find collaborative potential on a local level. During 2014, the initially experimental and open project morphed into something more resembling a band, with fixed members Phoebe Lin, Ben-Gregor Smith (both Cello) and Nik von Frankenberg (Electronics) making up the trio Amped & Wired. Instead of experimentally fusing already existing music, the goal has changed to creating new music, inspired by their respective musical fields and beyond.