This Mother’s Day we celebrate the working moms across the globe who juggle the demands of career and family, and let’s be real, it isn’t glamorous or for the faint of heart. The art of prioritizing, multitasking and mindfulness requires daily practice and fine tuning. We reached out to two powerful working moms to get their real perspective. Carolyn Rodz has helped raise billions of dollars of capital for innovative organizations, created a luxury retail line that sold in over 400 stores worldwide, and later launched a global marketing firm that supported specialty product launches within Fortune 500 enterprises and startups positioning…
As we join the world in celebrating earth day, it seemed fitting to look at a company in our own backyard who has been leading innovation in the wine industry for decades and fosters a culture of land stewardship now paired with a measurable commitment to sustainability across it’s portfolio. Jackson Family Wines is one of the largest U.S. wine companies and includes the iconic Kendall-Jackson label. Started in 1982 by the late Jess Jackson, the family-owned company, now run by wife Barbara Banke, produces upward of 6 million cases for 50 brands from vineyards and wineries across California, Oregon,…
Continue reading Sustainability: How one of the largest wine companies in the U.S. measures impact
Often when we hear the word “networking,” our gut reaction is to roll our eyes or perhaps even cringe. Networking has become associated with an aggressive, take-what-you-can-get mentality that prioritizes selfish gains over real connections. It doesn’t have to be so. Seek opportunities that are different. Fight the urge to let your calendar fill up with big domain-specific conferences, events and networking pre-parties where you end up seeing the same faces because you’re on the same circuit. Get out of your industry swim lane. There’s tremendous strategic value in seeking insights from people outside your industry. They will look…
Continue reading Spark Innovation – Why your network should be more diverse
Last year, a little over 3 months ago, Harvest Summit was scheduled for Friday, October 20th, 2017. We were sold out. We had an exciting mix of amazing speakers, innovation partners and senior leaders flying in. On Monday, October 9th, 11 days before Harvest Summit, everything changed. Our world was literally on fire. That morning, and for days after, Lake, Napa and Sonoma Counties suffered the most devastating wildfire in California’s history. Thousands of people lost everything. The death toll rose and the wildfires are now the costliest natural disaster in the nation’s history. Not the type of history we…
Giving back is music to our ears. We partnered with Lynmar Estate Winery and the Green Music Center to offer our delegates a one-of-a-kind evening while benefiting an important education foundation. If you are joining us for Harvest Summit Friday, October 20 you also have exclusive access to experience the Green Music Center the evening after on Saturday, October 21. Seats are limited and can be purchased here with the code GREENMUSICVIP. Great cause, awesome wine, beautiful music. We share below our conversation with Green Music executive director Jacob Yarrow on the marriage of music and innovation and integrating the…
Continue reading Jacob Yarrow and the Green Music Center Experience
We are happy to announce Audi of America as our Lead Innovation Sponsor. “Partnering with Harvest Summit underscores our continued commitment to driving innovation,” said Matt Carpenter, VP and CFO of Audi of America. “As a sponsor of this year’s event, we’re excited to help shape the conversation around the future of transportation by sharing an inside look at Audi’s vision on innovative mobility and progressive design.” Read the full press release here.
Continue reading Harvest Summit Announces Audi as Lead Innovation Sponsor
The narrative around diversity, inclusion and the gender gap is igniting a cultural shift. At Harvest Summit we feel it’s paramount to have a conversation about what is working and what is needed. One of the chosen executives selected to lead this intimate roundtable session with invited delegates is a Richard Velazquez, Global Head of the Denon Brand at Sound United. Not who you would expect? That is exactly why we choose him and here’s why. Aside from his background in design engineering at Honda and Porsche, to driving XBox advancements at Microsoft and leading innovations at PepsiCo, Richard has…
Wonder what a Chief Innovation Officer thinks about? Here’s a look. As a leading global innovator, manufacturer and marketer of tools, diagnostics and equipment solutions for professional users, Snap-on-Tools is constantly innovating under the direction of Chief Innovation Officer Ben Brenton. Ben holds a Ph.D in Food Sciences and Nutrition from the University of Massachusetts and was director of innovation for the Frito-Lay Convenience Foods division of PepsiCo before his tenure at Snap-On. In 2009 he launched Innovation Works!, a physical center for innovation at Snap-on’s office in Kenosha Wisconsin. We sat down with him to talk tools, what’s happening…
Continue reading Inside a Chief-Innovation Officer’s World with Ben Brenton, Snap-on-Tools
How do entrepreneurs do it? Our delegates will find out at Harvest Summit and hear from transformative entrepreneurs and one wildly successful entrepreneur in particular who has done it over and over. Wayne Chang’s last company, Crashlytics, was acquired by Twitter in its largest acquisition at the time. He has been involved in notable startups such as JetSmarter, Dropbox, Napster, and others, now valued at over $10 billion. If anyone understands the entrepreneurial mindset it’s Wayne. He’s a serial entrepreneur and angel investor. We sat down with Wayne to see what he’s up to next and how he uses mentorship…
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is getting a lot of attention these days. We too are intrigued by the possibilities (our founder uses an AI assistant) and we feel it’s important to level set the definition of AI and explore how it can be used for good – from testing, researching and beating cancer to solving poverty. We’ll dig in at Harvest Summit on AI for good and it’s impact on the future of work in juxtaposition to the fears and dangers. Just this week Elon Musk and more than 100 leaders and experts in AI came together urging the UN to…