Groundbreakers '25

Secretary the U.S. Department of the Interior Doug Burgum worked as a chimney sweep to pay his way through North Dakota State University before earning an MBA at Stanford University. In 1983, Burgum literally “bet the farm” to provide seed capital for his software startup Great Plains, which he grew to a company of 2,000 employees before its acquisition by Microsoft. He later co-founded Arthur Ventures and served as chairman for international software companies. In 2016, Burgum was elected North Dakota’s 33rd Governor, and he was reelected in 2020. During his tenure, North Dakota experienced the highest growth in real GDP and had the lowest unemployment rate in the country, and Forbes named him “America’s Best Entrepreneurial Governor.”

Hamid Moghadam is the co-founder, chairman and CEO of Prologis, the global leader in logistics real estate and a member of the S&P 100. Since 2001, Mr. Moghadam has served on Stanford University’s Board of Trustees and on the boards of Stanford Management Company (former chair), Stanford Health Care, Freeman Spogli Institute and Stanford Graduate School of Business. He currently serves on MIT’s Real Estate Advisory Committee and as a member of the Business Roundtable. He is a recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor and in 2013, the overall U.S. winner of the EY Entrepreneur of the Year award. Leading publications and industry organizations have named him CEO of the Year and honored him with multiple lifetime achievement awards. In its latest ranking, Harvard Business Review voted him as the #17 Best Performing CEO globally. He holds BS and MS degrees in engineering from MIT and an MBA from Stanford.

Susie Gharib is an award-winning national television financial journalist with extensive knowledge of U.S. and international business, economics and markets. She is a highly experienced anchor, reporter and writer for the nation's most prestigious news organizations, including PBS, CNBC and Fortune magazine.

Patti Poppe is the CEO of PG&E Corporation. Patti and PG&E’s 29,000 coworkers deliver energy to 16 million people across Northern and Central California and are helping lead the state’s decarbonized future. Patti joined PG&E in January 2021 after five years as President and CEO of CMS Energy and its principal subsidiary, Consumers Energy. She previously served in other leadership roles at Consumers Energy, as power plant director at DTE Energy in Michigan and started her career at General Motors. Patti is the first female executive to serve as the CEO of two different Fortune 500 companies consecutively.

Joseph Dominguez is President and CEO of Constellation, whose 14,000 workers provide 16 million homes and businesses with clean energy. With assets of $49 billion, Constellation is the nation’s largest competitive energy supplier with the lowest-carbon fleet among large power producers, with nuclear, wind, solar, hydroelectric and natural gas facilities in 19 states. Dominguez was previously CEO of ComEd, which powers 70% of Illinois’ population. Prior to his energy career, Dominguez was a partner in the law firm White and Williams, LLP and an assistant U.S. attorney for Pennsylvania. He earned a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering from the New Jersey Institute of Technology and a law degree from Rutgers, where he graduated magna cum laude.

Over two decades, Rebecca J. Kujawa has led transformational growth in the U.S. energy industry, advancing clean energy technologies and executing multibillion-dollar investment programs. As President and CEO of NextEra Energy Resources, Rebecca led a 7,400-person organization with $15–$20 billion in annual infrastructure investments to expand and diversify, deploy transformative digital technologies and set new benchmarks for scale, speed and operational excellence. Previously, she was CFO of NextEra Energy, Inc., leading the financing of nearly $50 billion in growth initiatives. Rebecca is a sought-after speaker at major global energy forums and her insights have been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times and Reuters.

Susan Uthayakumar leads the evaluation and scaling of existing and emerging energy solutions to ensure Prologis continues to be the leader in sustainability in the logistics real estate industry. She was recognized as a 2021 Environment+Energy Leader 100 Honoree for successfully delivering climate mitigation action to enterprise customers.

Christopher Jane is the co-founder and CEO of Proper Good, a modern ready-made meals brand focused on clean-ingredient, affordable, pantry-stable meals. Hailing from the UK, Chris graduated from Stanford Business School before launching a career building food companies. Frustrated by the lack of convenient and affordable healthy meal options, Chris and his co-founder and sister Jennifer Jane set out to reinvent the shelf-stable meals category with Proper Good, offering ready-to-eat soups, pastas and more. The company focuses on nimble U.S.-based manufacturing and consumer-led development and iteration, leveraging a unique partnership with Walmart to bring high-quality meals to the mass middle-market consumer.

Before he was CEO of Kiss the Ground, Evan Harrison led a successful career in music and media, pioneering innovation at BMG, AOL and iHeartRadio. Evan’s love for the ocean prompted him to join the board of Surfrider, a nonprofit protecting our oceans. At Kiss the Ground, Evan focused his passions for environmental advocacy and storytelling to elevate the nonprofit to a leading voice in the Regenerative Movement. Evan reenergized Kiss the Ground’s operations and alignment with a modern storytelling approach, launching partnerships with industry leaders like Clover Sonoma, Anthropologie and Spindrift and creating multi-platform educational content to connect consumers with farmers and industry pioneers.

Dave Puglia is president and CEO of Western Growers, where he helps lead policy initiatives for agriculture in California and other Western states, driving legislation and regulations around water, energy, air and labor. He has advocated for a comprehensive safe drinking water solution and negotiated statewide water bond provisions as well as the nation’s first state regulatory standard for prevention of heat illness in agricultural work. Puglia previously served in the California Attorney General’s Office as director of public affairs and communications. He has served on several industry-related boards and advisory councils. A Sacramento native, Puglia earned a bachelor’s degree in government-journalism from Sacramento State University.

With 25 years of commercial real estate experience, Scott Marshall taps into his deep expertise to drive customer-related initiatives across all Prologis business lines and geographies. He also guides the teams responsible for broadening Prologis’ use of data-driven insights and executing the company's comprehensive customer strategy.

Founder and CEO of Crisp, the leading retail data collaboration platform, Are Traasdahl has over 20 years of experience in mobile and digital tech. Are was founder and CEO of cross-device content delivery platform Tapad, which was acquired in 2016 for $360M. He also founded Thumbplay, a mobile entertainment service he grew to more than $100M in revenue in less than three years. Are has been featured in Forbes, Bloomberg, Ad Age and other major publications, and Crisp was awarded in Inc.’s Best Places to Work, The Food Tech 500, the Retail Tech 100 for CB Insights and the Top Software & Tech Awards for Food Logistics. Are was named Global Startup Awards Founder of the Year in 2016 and EY Entrepreneur of the Year in 2014.

Karl Siebrecht is co-founder and CEO of Flexe, a leading provider of flexible warehousing infrastructure. A seasoned technology executive with leadership experience in both startups and large global corporations, Karl was previously CEO of AdReady, a Seattle-based advertising technology company. He is also a founding board member of EnergySavvy, a SaaS-based solution for energy efficiency management. Previously, Karl was president of Atlas at aQuantive before its $6 billion acquisition by Microsoft, and earlier in his career was a manager at Bain & Company in Boston and a diving officer in the U.S. Navy.

Sineesh Keshav is the CTO and CIO at Prologis, the global leader in logistics real estate, overseeing technology strategy and leading the company’s global data and digital technology transformation. Prior to Prologis, he was the senior vice president of IT at Experian PLC, where he led all aspects of IT for the Data Science Solutions group and was responsible for the development and deployment of credit and fraud/identity solutions. Sineesh has also held leadership positions at Safeway and American Express. He earned his MBA from the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University and holds degrees in aerospace engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology and the University of Alabama.

Since 2014 Gene Seroka has served as Executive Director of the Port of Los Angeles, the top port in the U.S., managing major capital projects and promoting innovative, sustainable practices to grow trade and strengthen the region’s economy. Seroka serves as VP of the International Association of Ports and Harbors and on the boards of the Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority and LA Area Chamber of Commerce. His many honors include the Stanley T. Olafson Award, the Connie Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Inland Empire Economic Partnership. Seroka was named one of the most influential people in LA by the Los Angeles Business Journal and featured on the LA500 list each year since 2016.

Dr. Yossi Sheffi is a professor of engineering systems at MIT and director of the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics (MIT CTL). He is author of a textbook and eight award-winning management books, and his ninth book, The Magic Conveyor Belt: Supply Chains, A.I., and the Future of Work, came out in 2023. Under his leadership, MIT CTL has launched educational, research and industry/government outreach programs, including the MIT Global SCALE Network with six centers on four continents and the MicroMaster program, which has enrolled 1.2 million students in 196 countries. Dr. Sheffi has also founded or co-founded five successful companies, all acquired by large enterprises. He has a B.S. from the Technion in Israel and a Ph.D. from MIT.

A logistics real estate veteran, Dan Letter is responsible for the majority of Prologis’ business lines, including global real estate operations, capital deployment, Strategic Capital and Prologis Essentials. Letter also champions the company's core values and actively promotes a positive culture, fostering an environment where teamwork and innovation thrive.

Olivia Hu is head of Autonomous Trucking & Electrification at Uber Freight, a leading logistics network with over $20 billion of freight under management. Olivia has defined and executed the go-to-market strategy for the electric and autonomous trucking programs, ensured operational success for commercial deployments, and managed development and partnership efforts with shipper customers, carrier partners, autonomous technology providers and truck OEMs. She has been working in the self-driving industry since 2018 after starting her career in finance at BlackRock. Olivia holds a B.A. and a Master of Public Policy from Stanford University.

Dave Merrill is founder and Executive Chairman of Elroy Air, a team of experts building autonomous VTOL aircraft to enable low-cost, low-risk aerial resupply for defense - and express shipping for every person on the planet. Elroy Air is developing Chaparral, an autonomous vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft platform that delivers middle-mile cargo rapidly and flexibly by air at a cost and environmental impact lower than today's aircraft. Elroy Air is partnered with FedEx, Bristow, and the US Department of Defense. Its advisors and board of directors include US Military Generals and the 27th Secretary of Defense. Dave is a technology executive and startup founder with a background in computer science, unmanned aerial vehicles, and sensor-based interactive and robotic systems. He is an alumnus of MIT and the Stanford Computer Science and Symbolic Systems departments. Elroy Air has been featured by Wired, Forbes, VentureBeat, The Verge, Aviation Week, TechCrunch, Business Insider, and eVTOL.

As Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology at the U.S. Department of Transportation, Lee White helps optimize transportation research policies and programs, driving the department’s innovation agenda. Lee began his career as a driver for UPS, where he rose through multiple levels of leadership to become a senior engineering leader. As VP of Strategy for TuSimple, Lee built and implemented the autonomous freight network, enabling customers to test autonomous trucking with real freight on real lanes. As president of LM White Consulting, Lee worked with supply chain stakeholders to develop roadmaps for AV operations. He earned a bachelor’s in economics at the University of Georgia.

Henrik Holland is the senior vice president and global head of Prologis Mobility, where he leads the company’s rapid growth in the emerging mobility industry. During Henrik’s tenure, Prologis has delivered the leading innovations in electric vehicle charging at depots, workplaces and charging hubs, including the largest heavy duty charging depot in the U.S., enabled by a proprietary microgrid solution. Henrik serves on the U.S. Joint Office of Energy and Transportation’s Electric Vehicle Working Group (EVWG), is a member of the board of CALSTART and contributes to the Investor Advisory Board at the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA).

Gene Sykes is chair of the board of directors of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) and a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). He is co-chairman of Global Mergers and Acquisitions and co-chairman of the Global Technology, Media and Telecom Group at Goldman Sachs & Co. From 2015–2018 he served as CEO of the Los Angeles Bid Committee for the Olympic & Paralympic Games, leading the successful effort to bring the 2028 Games to LA. Sykes also serves on the executive committee of the Organizing Committee for the 2034 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Sykes earned a bachelor’s degree in government from Harvard University in 1980 and an MBA from Stanford University in 1984.

As Chief of Partnership Sales for the United States Olympic and Paralympic Properties (USOPP), Matt Wikstrom oversees commercial strategies for the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games and Team USA. Previously, Wikstrom served as senior vice president of Global Partnership at Legends, chief partnerships officer at The IRONMAN Group and held senior executive roles at Van Wagner Sports & Entertainment and Wasserman, where he played a pivotal role in building the agency’s sponsorship and business development capabilities. Early in his career, Wikstrom was president of the Los Angeles Avengers of the Arena Football League, where he gained hands-on leadership experience in professional team operations. He has a B.A. in history from Trinity College. 

William O’Donnell is the managing director, Global Corporate Development and Growth of Prologis Ventures, the innovation platform and venture capital arm of Prologis. With over 24 years of experience in real estate and technology, William heads the group’s investments in cutting-edge technology for supply chain logistics and real estate. His private equity fund management expertise includes capital raising, joint venture negotiation, asset management, debt structuring and disposition. William has acquisition and development experience throughout Asia, Europe and North America. He received his Bachelor of Arts in English and Spanish from Duke University.

Dr. Peggy Whitson is in a league of her own: She’s the first woman to command the International Space Station twice; the first non-military chief astronaut; has the most spacewalks completed by a woman; and at 655 days, has more time in space than any other American. Beginning her NASA career as a biochemist, Dr. Whitson conducted groundbreaking research in robotics and AI, medicine, agriculture, logistics and more. She served as project scientist of the Shuttle-Mir Program and co-chair of the U.S.-Russian Mission Science Working Group. Dr. Whitson has continued to serve leadership roles in space and on the ground, undeterred by a 2008 crash-landing in the steppes of Kazakhstan in 2008. She was most recently in space as commander of Axiom Space’s Ax-2 mission in 2022.

As founder and CEO of Mary O’Brien Strategies, Mary leverages her 34 years in the U.S. Air Force and expertise in cybersecurity, geopolitical risk and AI to help clients navigate complex challenges in volatile environments, making smart decisions and accelerating growth. A retired lieutenant general, Mary held senior leadership positions in cybersecurity, intelligence and emerging technology. As the Director of Intelligence and Cyber Effects, she oversaw a multibillion-dollar air and space intelligence and IT portfolio and a 73,000-person workforce. She led advancements in integrating drones, networked weapons and advanced intelligence sensors to enhance military capabilities. Mary serves on the advisory boards of several technology companies.

Jeannie Leavitt entered the Air Force in 1992 with a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas and a master’s degree in aeronautics and astronautics from Stanford. Jeannie finished first in her class in pilot training, and in April of 1993 became the Air Force’s first female fighter pilot. In 2012, she became the first woman to command an Air Force combat fighter wing. She commanded multiple wings as well as the Air Force Recruiting Service and the Air Force Safety Center. Jeannie rose to the rank of two-star general and is a command pilot with more than 3,000 hours, including more than 300 hours in combat. In 2019 she assisted Marvel Studios with character development for Captain Marvel.

Debbie G. Senesky is an associate professor of aeronautics and astronautics and electrical engineering at Stanford University, as well as principal investigator of the EXtreme Environment Microsystems Laboratory (XLab) and co-founder of Silicon Valley startup Astral Materials. Her research includes the development of nanomaterials for extreme environments, high-temperature electronics for Venus exploration and microgravity synthesis of nanomaterials. She has a B.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of Southern California and a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from UC Berkeley. She received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) in 2025 and additional awards from NASA, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and more.

Dr. J. William “Bill” DeMarco is the director of Innovation and Analysis at Air University and an assistant professor of leadership and strategy. A retired U.S. Air Force colonel, he commanded five units spanning mobility, refueling, joint operations, and professional military education, serving as commandant of the Air Command and Staff College. He is a published author and speaker on strategy, leadership, design, and innovation, with a focus on how complex organizations adapt to uncertainty, technological disruption, and global competition. His current work explores intrapreneurship, strategic foresight, and performance optimization at the intersection of human systems, strategy, and national security.

TBA

Tracy Ward is the managing director, global head of Marketing at Prologis. She is responsible for defining and implementing the company’s brand and growth programs and plays a pivotal role in shaping and driving the company's marketing initiatives worldwide. Her goal is to ensure the company's marketing efforts support and enhance its growth, brand positioning and customer relationships. During her tenure with Prologis, she has worked in numerous capacities. She led the company’s Investor Relations team from 2006 to 2021 and is a co-founder of the company’s women’s network, designed to promote inclusion and diversity and ensure gender equity throughout Prologis and across the industry.