Waseem Alshikh is a seasoned technology leader and entrepreneur with extensive experience in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and natural language processing. He is the co-founder and CTO of Writer, a leading generative AI platform built for enterprises that enables companies to create content that is consistent and on-brand. Platform used by companies such as Marriott, Braintree, UnitedHealthcare, Accenture, Intuit, UiPath, HubSpot, Spotify, Hilton, Uber and Deloitte. Additionally he has held senior positions at iMENA and Danat eVentures. Waseem holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Beirut Arab University and a Master’s degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Damascus Polytechnic for Electronics.

A mathematician and physicist, Bodnia earned a Ph.D. in quantum information and algebraic topology from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

At UCSB, her thesis was under her chair advisor Dirk Bouwmeester, Jon McCammond, Ben Bazin and Michel Devoret, who shared the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics for “the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantisation in an electric circuit.”

She also worked on neuroscience and brain development at UCSB with collaboration of Google Quantum AI, which helped inspire her pursuit of AI reasoning that does not rely on the text-based models used in many LLMs.

She also built expertise in topology, the study of geometric properties and spatial relations, which has proved essential in understanding how to handle large information sets of almost infinite size.

Bodnia earned her undergraduate degree in physics from the University of California, Berkeley, where she studied with the physicists Robert Cahn and Daniel McKinsey. She considers Cahn, a global leader in elementary particle theory, to be her “true mentor.”

Bodnia is the author or co-author of 22 academic papers on dark matter, quantum mechanics, and particle physics.

Miles Clements joined Accel in 2009 and focuses on software, consumer internet, and online marketplace businesses. 

He helped lead Accel's investments in Atlassian (TEAM), Bird, DJI, Hudl, lynda.com (acquired by LinkedIn), MessageBird, Podium, SeatGeek, and UiPath.

Miles also helps manage the firm's Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) and robotics initiatives through his work with DJI and ongoing leadership of the DJI-Accel SkyFund. Previously Miles worked in product management at lynda.com. 

Miles is from New Orleans, Louisiana and graduated from the University of Virginia and Harvard Business School.

Richard Kerris is the vice president and general manager of media and entertainment at NVIDIA. He is responsible for the industry strategy, business development, product management, developer rela@ons, and marke@ng of media and entertainment. With a career spanning Alias|Wavefront, Apple, Lucasfilm and other major tech brands, Richard has extensive experience driving product development and marke@ng with a focus on bringing new ideas to life. At Alias|Wavefront, he was director of Maya technologies and led the teams that brought the groundbreaking 3D soKware to manufacturers and new plaLorms such as Macintosh. At Apple, he was senior director of developer rela@ons and managed the ProApps teams for Final Cut Pro, Logic and Aperture. At Lucasfilm, he served as chief technology officer, managing research and development, IT and informa@on services. Richard has given keynote addresses at NVIDIA GTC, Asia Broadcast and China Joy Expo and delivered mul@ple Apple Worldwide Developers Conference presenta@ons with the company’s CEO. He serves on the Bay Area Board of the Visual Effects Society and is an ac@ve member of the Society of Mo@on Picture and Television Engineers. He is also an accomplished photographer and musician.

Aditi Maliwal is a General Partner at Upfront Ventures, investing in early stage companies across financial technology and enterprise software. Aditi partners with founders at their earliest stages of inception and supports them throughout the stages of company building. While at Upfront, she has partnered deeply in this way with Arcade, Clair, Renew, Stem, WriterAI and ZestAI amongst others.

Before joining Upfront, Aditi was at Google, first on the Corporate Development team leading acquisitions across various sectors including AI, commerce and fintech, and then on the Next Billion Users team building products for users in emerging markets. Prior to Google she worked in early stage venture at Crosslink Capital where she invested in Chime, BetterUp, and PowerToFly among other companies. She began her career in investment banking at Deutsche Bank, in the technology banking group. She has a B.A. from Stanford University. She has lived between Mumbai, New Delhi, Hong Kong, Singapore and San Francisco.