Speaker Biographies
Michael Davies
Chairman of the Board and Co-founder of Silverthread
Senior Partner at Endeavour Partners
Senior Lecturer, MIT
Michael Davies founded Endeavor Partners in 2003 to fill the need for strategy consulting explicitly for mobile and digital business and technology decisions. As a Senior Partner, Michael has helped device manufacturers, service providers, and infrastructure providers make strategic decisions and drive innovation. Michael has deep business and technology expertise in mobile and digital domains. Before founding Endeavour Partners, Michael held executive and strategic advisory roles with leading firms including Boston Consulting Group, BellSouth International, Braxton Associates, GeoPartners Research, and Mars Electronics.
Michael is a Senior Lecturer at MIT, and a Guest Lecturer at the London Business School. He holds an M.B.A. from London Business School, and M.S. degrees in engineering from the University of Cambridge and the University of Durham.
Bethany Grant, MIT BS’93, MIT MS’97
Director R&D, Surgical Innovation, Ethicon
Bethany Grant is the R&D Director of Surgical Innovation for Metabolics at Ethicon, a company in the Medical Device division of Johnson & Johnson. In this role, she is working to identify unmet needs in metabolic diseases and obesity and to develop treatments that address these needs. Bethany started her career in the Aerospace Industry; after completing her B.S. and M.S. in Aero/Astro Engineering at MIT, she spent time at Boeing Defense and Space and Loral Space Systems designing composite structures for helicopters and satellites. Through her work at a product development consulting firm focusing mainly on the healthcare industry, Bethany helped launch a custom dental abutment from concept to a successful business solution and acquisition by AstraZeneca. After the integration, Bethany joined J&J with the orthopedic business, spending 5 years with DePuy Synthes Mitek Sports Medicine. In this role, she developed minimally invasive orthopedic procedural solutions for joint soft tissue repair, with a focus on hip arthroscopy. Bethany has worked for over 20 years in all phases of product development, from early stage to launch, and in many sizes of organizations.
Suzanne Livingston, SDM’13
IBM Offering Management Strategy & Operations
Suzanne Livingston delivers software growth through agile product management. Having held lead roles in development, design, and user research, she currently leads offering management strategy and operations for Watson Financial Services newest offering, the IBM Cloud for Financial Services. Working with a global team, Suzanne brings together IBM’s Financial Services solutions in banking, wealth management, insurance, and risk, emerging capabilities in AI, and a growing fintech ecosystem to deliver innovative solutions to financial services clients. Named a 2011 Boston Business Journal “Women to Watch,” Suzanne holds a BS in Business Administration with a computer science concentration, an MBA from Bentley University and a MS in Engineering and Management from MIT.
Fady Saad, SDM’11
Co-Founder & Director of Partnerships, MassRobotics
A 2017 Boston Business Journal 40 Under 40 Honoree, Fady is the co-founder and partnerships director of MassRobotics; the first and largest robotics/AI startup escalator in the world. He also advises Rewired AI Studio on investment of their $100 million fund. Fady is the father of the "startup escalation" model and the first one to coin the term. Before that he was the strategy, research & business development director of Vecna Technologies where he supported the development of the company’s robotics R&D strategy, funding and commercialization activities. Fady holds a BSME from The American University in Cairo and a MS in Engineering and Management from MIT.
Kent Varnum
Director, Systems Validation Test and Analysis, Raytheon Company
Kent Varnum is the Director of Systems Validation Test and Analysis for Raytheon Company. He has spent more than 22 years at Raytheon and was responsible for missile defense and space surveillance prior to his current position. Kent spent eleven years in the Navy with officer responsibilities in weapons testing, operations and planning. Kent holds a BS degree in Engineering and English from the US Naval Academy.
