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Rebeca Hwang: AI Expert

Global entrepreneurship keynote speaker and venture capital leader Rebeca Hwang helps organizations build innovation ecosystems, unlock inclusive growth, and scale entrepreneurship across emerging and global markets.

Quick Facts:

- Managing Partner at Kalei Ventures
- Professor of Practice at Thunderbird School of Global Management
- Co-founder of YouNoodle and Rivet Ventures
- Contributor to World Economic Forum initiatives
Formats: Keynote Speaker and Innovation Strategist
Audiences: Entrepreneurs, investors, policymakers, educators, corporate innovators, and organizations building startup ecosystems and inclusive growth strategies.
Outcomes:
1. Learn how to build and scale innovation ecosystems globally
2. Understand access to capital and inclusive entrepreneurship strategies
3. Gain practical insight into supporting founders and emerging markets

Reading time: 2 min

Book Rebeca Hwang

Reviews: (0 reviews)

Travels from: San Francisco, CA
**Fee range: On Request

Talent Services

Keynote Topics:

Leadership in the AI Era

In this keynote, Rebeca outlines the many paradigms that are challenged by implementation of AI – from the definition of productivity to team culture, collaboration and belonging to performance evaluation of AI-enhanced roles vs. conventional roles. She outlines the “10 Commandments of the Android Organization” – part human and part machine – and how to lead in this new context: how to upskill employees for “improvisational resilience”, provide clarity of values to decrease anxiety, to prioritize human connections, privacy and safety.

There is a lot of literature on leadership during change, on leadership under uncertainty or imperfect information, on leading with empathy and purpose. But in the AI era, there are additional layers of leading humans experiencing major identity transitions and the disruptive implications on mental health, motivation and performance – all while leading AI machines as well. The profiles of the employees we hire will be different, our level of anxiety and ability to achieve flow and deal with flux will be redefined, and we will need to learn how to build “improvisational resilience” as leaders and among our teams.

The Future of Education in the AI era

How will the structure of education shift in the AI era? Will universities still exist?
What are the student (and teacher) profiles which will stand out in the AI era?
How do we prepare the next generation for adaptability, resilience and higher tolerance to risk and change?
What are the skills and attributes that we will need to teach our kids as they navigate education and life in this new context?

Human Connections in the AI era

Importance of human connections for mental health, team performance, as a differentiator from AI
Anxiety and its link to the lack of human connections
How this new paradigm affects everything in our work lives and personal lives – from team culture, to our HR decisions, to our personal relationships and parenting.
Practical ways to promote human connections for problem solving, innovation, entrepreneurship

AI Ethics and Values

The future of data in the AI era
Guardrails for employees’ safety and privacy – data can be your best friend and your worst enemy.
Public (government) and Private Sector efforts towards privacy and safety in the AI era.
How do we protect our kids when government regulation lags well behind advancing technologies?

Talent Short Bio

Rebeca Hwang is a globally recognized venture capital investor, educator, and ecosystem builder specializing in entrepreneurship, innovation, and inclusive economic growth. She is a Professor of Practice at Thunderbird School of Global Management and Senior Director of Thunderbird’s Center for Global Entrepreneurship and Family Business. In parallel, she serves as Managing Partner at Kalei Ventures, investing in early-stage technology startups across Latin America.

Over her career, Rebeca has worked as an inventor, founder, social entrepreneur, and venture capitalist. She previously co-founded Rivet Ventures, focused on women-led markets, and the San Francisco-based startup YouNoodle, which enables governments and companies to engage entrepreneurial communities for open innovation. She is also a co-founder of global initiatives including Cleantech Open, Startup Malaysia, and Startup Nations Summit.

Born in Seoul, raised in Argentina, and educated at MIT and Stanford University, Rebeca brings a deeply global perspective to her work. She has advised and collaborated with national startup programs across Asia, Europe, and Latin America, and has served on boards and councils connected to Kauffman’s GEN, Imagine H2O, and the World Economic Forum. A prolific inventor, she holds 12 patents with additional filings pending.

Read Full Bio

Rebeca Hwang is a Professor of Practice at Thunderbird and the Senior Director for Thunderbird’s new Center for Global Entrepreneurship and Family Business. Ms. Hwang is also a Managing Partner at Kalei Ventures.

Rebeca is a venture capital investor who has collected experiences as innovator and inventor, founder and entrepreneur, social entrepreneur, educator and ecosystem builder. Most recently, Rebeca co-founded Kalei Ventures, which invests in early stage technology startups from Latin America. Prior to Kalei, Rebeca was co-founded and Managing Director at Rivet Ventures, which focuses on companies targeting women-led markets where female usage, decision-making, and purchasing are crucial to company growth. Rebeca is also co-founder of the San Francisco-based startup YouNoodle, which helps companies and governments engage with communities of entrepreneurs for open innovation and co-creation of products and services.

Rebeca Hwanghas been very active in creating and scaling ecosystems for innovators and entrepreneurs in several countries. Rebeca co-founded Cleantech Open, Startup Malaysia and Startup Nations Summit. She also serves on the Global Board of Kauffman’s GEN, Imagine H2O, TEDx Rio de la Plata Accelerator (the largest TEDx event in the world), and was a member of the WEF’s Global Council on the Future of Migrations, as well as co-lead the Access to Capital committee of the Mexico-U.S. Entrepreneurship and Innovation Council. Rebeca has worked closely with several national startup programs, including initiatives in Malaysia, South Korea, Spain, Iceland, Chile, Peru and Mexico.

Rebeca Hwang was born in Seoul, raised in Argentina and educated at MIT and Stanford, and has been recognized as a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, and as one of the top 35 under 35 Global Innovators by MIT Tech Review and was a TED speaker in Vancouver, in TED en Espanol in in NYC, as well as TEDx Cordoba in 2018.

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