Jaclyn Konzelmann is a co-host for TEDxWaterloo. She is the president of EPIC Technology Organization, a non-profit student run initiative dedicated to connecting students, academia, and industry with an interest in technology and innovation. Jaclyn believes that TEDx is a great opportunity to highlight some of the amazing people and organizations in the Waterloo region.

She is currently studying Mechatronics Engineering at the University of Waterloo expecting to graduate in April 2010.  She is looking forward to a career that involves making positive change in the world using ‘unconventional’ means.

Some of her goals in life include writing a book, buying a mac, mastering the art of telepathy, and learning to speak fluently in only iambic pentameter.

Meet the rest of the TEDxWaterloo Team

Matt Gorbet is a co-host for TEDxWaterloo, and attended TED@Aspen 2008.

Matt uses technology in creative ways to create delightful experiences for exceptional spaces. He and his partners are currently implementing a comprehensive physical, technological and human systems infrastructure for technology-based public art at the new San Jose International Airport in Silicon Valley.

Before founding Gorbet Design, Inc., Matt was a researcher at PARC, the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, where his team designed and studied new document genres enabled by emerging technologies. Matt earned a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from MIT and a Master of Science from the MIT Media Lab. He has several patents on novel interaction technologies.

Among Matt’s permanent installations are interactive artworks at the Royal Ontario Museum, York University’s Schulich School of Business and the Region of Waterloo’s Regional Operations Center.  He has exhibited technology artwork at the Ars Electronica festival in Austria, the NTT Inter-Communication Center in Tokyo and the Burning Man festival in Nevada.

Matt is on the faculty of the Canadian Film Centre’s Interactive Art and Entertainment Program, where he developed the Physical and Spatial Media curriculum. He also teaches a course on progress and sustainability at the Ontario College of Art and Design.

Meet the rest of the TEDxWaterloo Team

Renjie Butalid is one of the lead organizers for TEDxWaterloo. He is currently the Communications Coordinator for Social Innovation Generation at the University of Waterloo, a national collaborative between the University of Waterloo, MaRS Discovery District in Toronto, J.W. McConnell Family Foundation in Montreal and the PLAN Institute in Vancouver, designed to foster a culture of continuous social innovation in Canada. In the past, Renjie was also a co-founder of the Waterloo-based Laurel Centre for Social Entrepreneurship, as well as the Vice-President Administration & Finance for the Federation of Students, University of Waterloo, an $8 million student-run corporation with over 200 employees, serving the undergraduate student population at the University of Waterloo.

Renjie is also keenly interested in learning how transformative social change happens, and is passionate about building resilient communities. He is also convinced that young people have the power and opportunities like never before to affect positive change in the world.

Renjie recently got his open water scuba diving license, and is excited to go scuba diving in the Asia Pacific in the near future.

He blogs regularly, and can be reached via Twitter: @renjie

Meet the rest of the TEDxWaterloo Team

Maria is responsible for attendee selection and is also helping with logistics and budgeting. Currently, she is working as a Research Engineer with the Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering department at the University of Waterloo.

A proven leader among her peers, Maria is known to take initiative and for her get-things-done attitude. Maria is a recent graduate of the University of Waterloo in Mechanical Engineering and a recipient of John Fisher Award for Leadership in her graduating class. She was heavily involved with many student organizations serving in strategic roles during her time at the University of Waterloo.

Being an active member of the Waterloo community, currently, she is a mentor with EPIC Technology Organization. Additionally, she mentors a grade 4-6 team for FIRST Lego League competition at the Suddaby Public School in Kitchener. This year the team won the Kincardine Regional and received Rookie of the Year award at Ontario Provinicals competition. She is an active member of the FIRST Robotics Waterloo Regional Competition planning committee and will also be serving as a Robot Inspector at the competition.

Meet the rest of the TEDxWaterloo Team

Mladen (pronounced Aladdin with an M in front!) is the Logistics Lead and Sponsorship Executive for TEDxWaterloo. He is finishing his Electrical Engineering degree at the University of Waterloo. Through his co-ops and exchanges he has had the opportunity to travel across North America, South East Asia and Australia, as well as work at companies in numerous industries, such as Microsoft, RIM, Qualcomm and Raytheon.

Mladen is very passionate about entrepreneurship and technology. This has lead to his involvement in numerous organizations such as TEDx, EPIC Technology Organization, Impact Entrepreneurship Group and the Canadian Undergraduate Technology Conference, in hopes of sharing these passions with other like-minded individuals.

Meet the rest of the TEDxWaterloo Team

Ramy Nassar is a friend, a photographer and an entrepreneur. He spends his days doing sales and business development in the wireless industry, and spends evenings working away at a few startup projects/ideas as well as offering business development advice/consulting to several local, early-stage tech startups. He is involved with Engineers Without Borders Canada and spend what’s left of his free time doing photography – Bright Lights Photography.

Ramy is a believer in knowledge sharing and is working on community events such as Ignite! Waterloo as well as TEDxWaterloo. We live in a region with such a range of talents, skills and personalities – it only makes sense to bring them all together with these types of happenings!

Meet the rest of the TEDxWaterloo Team

Dan Taylor is coordinating the sound and lighting for TEDxWaterloo. He is studying Computer Engineering at the University of Waterloo and has a passion for mobile multimedia and gaming. During his co-op positions he has worked on projects such as 3D car visualizers and screaming fast mobile game engines. Dan also has a passion for music; he enjoys playing guitar, singing and will catch a live performance whenever possible.

Dan’s past volunteer experience includes involvement with Waterloo’s Engineering Society and a one year position as an executive of the Engineering Student Societies’ Council of Ontario (ESSCO). Dan’s goal in life is to create a startup company and deliver some new piece of technology that changes the world!

Meet the rest of the TEDxWaterloo Team

Sajjad is a member of the TEDxWaterloo executive team and is responsible for helping the Logistics, Website and Sponsorship team.

He is a student at the University of Waterloo pursuing a degree in Mathematics/Business Administration and is working towards his Certified Management Accountant designation. Sajjad has been passionate about entrepreneurship from an early age. Having been pulled into a pyramid scheme at age 13 proved to be a learning experience but this planted the seeds for his eventual foray into the telecom industry. At age 14, Sajjad started his own independent telecommunications company. His Dubai-based company provided low-cost telephony to underprivileged residents of the Middle East. Later he went on to expand into Europe. He exited the industry in 2008 and plans to jump into his next venture very soon.

Sajjad is passionate about promoting ICT technologies to provide social services. He has had the privilege to work at Grameen Bank where he was part of a team that developed advanced prototypes for e-health , e-education and e-agriculture systems. These models were successfully deployed in rural areas in Asia under the patronage of Dr Mohammed Yunus (Nobel Peace prize winner, 2006).

He has been involved with many student organizations during his time as an undergrad at the University of Waterloo and is excited to be part of the TEDxWateloo team.

Sajjad’s looking forward to February 25th and his favourite TED talk is Dan Ariely’s Are we in control of our own decisions? (Author of Predictably Irrational).

Meet the rest of the TEDxWaterloo Team