In October, Vera CEO and Co-Founder Zak Kaufman attended Chicago Ideas Week as a Bluhm/Helfand Social Innovation Fellow. Throughout the week, the four Fellows had opportunities to engage with leaders in business, politics, and philanthropy. Highlights included lunch with Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, workshopping with other BHSI Fellows to help tackle organizational challenges, and discussing strategy with executives from Hyatt Corporation, Edelman, and Starcom MediaVest Group.
As part of the week, Zak spoke in a panel on Innovation Around the World and gave a talk at CIW’s Tech Summit, where he shared the stage with Fast Company’s Chuck Salter and technology leaders like Hadi Partovi (Founder and CEO of Code.org), Wences Casares (Founder and CEO of Xapo), and Harper Reed (former CTO of Obama for America). Check out Zak’s talk from the Tech Summit and stay tuned for more Vera videos coming soon!