MIT Top 35 under 35 Global Innovators, World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, Lecturer at Stanford University Graduate School of Engineering in ‘Technology Entrepreneurship’ and ‘Redefining Creativity: Designing Human Connection in the time of AI’, Host of ‘Indiferencia Artificial’ a Paramount streaming show on AI (Argentina), and a Professor of Practice at Thunderbird and the Senior Director for Thunderbird’s new Center for Global Entrepreneurship and Family Business.
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.
Ms. Hwang has 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 was born in Seoul, raised in Argentina and educated at MIT and Stanford, her career has been intimately linked to education. She has taught Technology Entrepreneurship at Stanford University for a decade and has been a member of the faculty at Tecnologico de Monterrey for half a decade, and serves on the Board of the preschool Little School. She is an inventor holding 12 patents, with 9 more pending.
During her career Rebeca has worked extensively with family businesses and family offices who are interested in capitalizing on the opportunities brought by change. She enjoys working with the new generations of families who are passionate about technology, alternative asset investing and entrepreneurship.
Sample Topics
Applications of AI in different industry sectors
As a venture investor in early stage AI companies, Rebeca has real world insights into AI as it is being applied in many different industries. She can deliver a custom talk on AI applications in: manufacturing, supply chain, media & entertainment, retail, logistics, HR, law, finance, health, and education.
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
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 out kids as they navigate education and life in this new context?
Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging in the AI era
If AI can provide the universe of perspectives, what is the role of diversity in teams?
How does AI help or hurt different team members and other organizational stakeholders?
How can leaders create cultures of inclusion, does this include AI agents?
How can we protect and assist those who may be falling behind in AI training and adoption?
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?
