Speakers

Dr. Sasha Luccioni, Co-Founder & Chief Scientific Officer of Sustainable AI Group, is one of the leading voices on the environmental impacts of AI. She holds a PhD in Artificial Intelligence from Université du Québec à Montréal and completed her postdoctoral research under Yoshua Bengio. Formerly AI & Climate Lead at Hugging Face, she is widely credited with helping define the field of AI environmental impacts, both through foundational research and through her work bringing this issue into mainstream public and scientific discourse. Dr. Luccioni’s work has been recognized by TIME Magazine’s 100 most influential people in AI and by Business Insider on its AI Power Lists, and her research has been featured in Nature, The Economist, MIT Technology Review, NPR, BBC, Le Monde, and beyond.

Diego Sabino — an accomplished hospitality executive, entrepreneur, and visionary leader with an exceptional international career in luxury dining and guest experience.

Diego has worked alongside some of the world’s most renowned Michelin-starred restaurants and chefs, building a reputation for excellence within the global luxury hospitality industry. His experience includes leadership roles at the prestigious South Place Hotel and the award-winning Angler, where he helped deliver world-class culinary experiences at the highest level.

He further expanded his global influence through his role as Vice President of Private Dining at VistaJet, curating extraordinary dining experiences for ultra-high-net-worth clients around the world and collaborating with some of the finest Michelin-starred culinary talents internationally.

Known for his strategic mindset, passion for innovation, and dedication to excellence, Diego brings unique insights into luxury hospitality, leadership, entrepreneurship, and the evolving world of fine dining..

James (Jay) John Kamealoha Carpio, a Native Hawaiian born and raised in Wailuku, Maui, brings a lifetime of hands-on conservation and ʻāina stewardship to public service. He has worked as a hunter and guide, rancher, land manager, master fisherman and farmer, grounded in the day-to-day realities of conserving Hawaiʻi’s land, water and marine resources. Carpio holds a Bachelor of Science in agriculture and horticulture from the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo and is a co-founder of the Maui Nui Makai Network and The Limu Hui, two community-based conservation organizations focused on restoring nearshore ecosystems and traditional resource management. He helped revive the Maui Nui Marine Resource Council and, as chair of its Fish Committee, co-founded the Wailuku Coastal Managed Makai Area with his late mentor, kupuna Takeo Miyaguchi, helping expand community-driven marine conservation across Maui Nui.

Dr. Jun Yao is an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and an M.S. in Physics from Fudan University, a Ph.D. in Applied Physics from Rice University, and completed postdoctoral training in Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University. He is the recipient of an National Science Foundation CAREER Award (2019), a Sony Group Corporation Faculty Innovation Award (2021), an National Institutes of Health Trailblazer R21 Award (2022), and an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Sloan Research Fellowship (2022). He was also named a Spotlight Scholar at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (2026) and received the Barbara H. & Joseph J. Goldstein Outstanding Junior Faculty Award from the College of Engineering (2021).

Matthias Scheutz is the Karol Family Applied Technology Professor of computer science in the School of Engineering and the director of the Human-AI Interact…

Matthias Scheutz is the Karol Family Applied Technology Professor of computer science in the School of Engineering and the director of the Human-AI Interaction Center at Tufts University. He is a AAAI and AAAS Fellow with over 450 peer-reviewed publications in artificial intelligence, artificial life, agent-based computing, natural language understanding, cognitive modeling, robotics, human-robot interaction and foundations of cognitive science. His current research focuses on complex ethical AI-enabled robots with natural language interaction, problem-solving, and instruction-based learning capabilities in open worlds.

Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry is the guardian of the Roddenberry legacy. He champions the brand’s timeless and universal ideals to new generations through inspiring science fiction productions as well as philanthropic endeavors.

As the son of legendary science fiction producer Gene Roddenberry, whose Star Trek series changed television as well as the world, Roddenberry has followed in his father’s footsteps facilitating a world where humanity works together for the greater good.

In 2006, Roddenberry became Chief Executive Officer of Roddenberry Entertainment, a science fiction leader with a tradition of groundbreaking entertainment. Roddenberry Entertainment builds on the best of Gene Roddenberry’s work and continues to pioneer the development of a multimedia portfolio of smart and provocative science fiction that incorporates graphic novels, podcasts, television, and film projects, including the critically-acclaimed documentary Trek Nation, which details Roddenberry’s 10-year exploration of his father’s life.

Roddenberry serves as an executive producer of the Emmy-nominated Star Trek: Strange New Worlds as well as Star Trek: Lower Decks. He also serves as an executive producer of the podcast series Star Trek: Khan. Roddenberry also created the audio podcast series Mission Log, the objective of which is to analyze and explore Star Trek by journeying through each and every episode.

Over the past many years Roddenberry has been inspired to fully embrace Star Trek’s vision and invest in our future. One expression of this was the founding of The Roddenberry Foundation in 2010. The Roddenberry Foundation funds paradigm-changing solutions to critical global issues with the objective of making Star Trek’s future a reality.

Zach Laidlaw, an internationally accomplished culinary mavin, was raised in the small town of Burlington, Illinois. He started in the industry as a dishwasher at the young age of 13. At age 16 he started cooking and quickly soon realized his passion and creativity would be endless in this profession. With a degree in both Culinary Arts & Hospitality Restaurant Management, Zach quickly stood out with his culinary talent taking him all around the world cooking and managing. From Chicago to South Beach Miami, followed by the British Virgin Islands, onto Australia and then here in Maui. Maui is where he landed the Chef de Cuisine position at Fleetwood’s on Front St. for two years.

In 2017 he helped start up Hua Momona Farms, in Kapalua from scratch with 2
other partners. January 2019, Zach took a step out of the busy kitchen life and to focus all his attention on the Farm. He wanted to further educate himself with local agriculture, understanding the why’s and how’s of growing and maintaining self-sustainability. Zach supports our local farmers, Fisherman, Ranchers and is helping Maui become more self-sustainable one step at a time.

Currently, Chef Zach is Hua Momona Farms & Foundations Co-Founder, Executive Chef, Lead Farmer & Vice President of Experiences. He curates exquisite multi-course farm to table experiences ranging anywhere from 6-12 course tasting menus. Both a Chef & Farmer, what a force to be reckoned with. Catch Chef Zach on “Next Level Chef” Season 3 with Gordon Ramsay on HULU, and “Chopped” Season 63 Episode 3 “Superhero’s” on Food Network.

Born in New York but shaped by a deep sense of kuleana to Hawaiʻi nei, Kat Wissner brings more than 20 years of experience in technology, digital strategy, and innovation. Throughout her career, she has worked across user experience, data analytics, and artificial intelligence, helping organizations raise funding, expand their impact, and scale their operations.

Today, Kat focuses her work on designing systems that advance equity, sustainability, and communication to strengthen community resilience. Drawing on a background rooted in science and experimentation, she supports the Foundation’s mission on Maui through evidence-based approaches to problem-solving, optimization, and impact measurement.

Her work bridges innovation and service, exploring how technology can be applied thoughtfully and responsibly to support Hawaiʻi for generations to come.