David Fergusson is the Executive Managing Director - M&A & Technology Practice Leader for Generational Equity, the largest volume middle-market M&A investment banking advisory firm in North America.

Prior to joining Generational Equity in 2018, he was most recently the CEO and President of The M&A Advisor, where he led global think tank services: market intelligence publishing, media, event and consulting, for the firm’s constituency of over 350,000 finance industry professionals, from their offices in New York and London.

Mr. Fergusson engages regularly with leading stalwarts in the finance and technology industries, media, and government. He is a respected speaker on the subjects of financial services and corporate transformation and social innovation at prominent educational institutions including Cambridge, Columbia, Harvard, MIT and Cornell; a participant in leadership assemblies including the Vatican, World Economic Forum at Davos, World Bank and the International Monetary Fund; and a frequent contributor to major media organizations including CBS, BBC, NPR, ABC, CNBC – US/Europe/Arabia, Bloomberg, and Thomson Reuters. He is also the editor of 5 annual editions of the mergers and acquisitions handbook - “The Best Practices of The Best Dealmakers” series with a readership of more than 500,000 in over 60 countries,

As a Non-Executive Director of Swiss cybersecurity pioneer Wisekey International (Nasdaq:WKEY), he has played an instrumental role in the company’s M&A and public markets activities.

Mr. Fergusson is also the co-author of the bestselling book and forthcoming CNBC TV series - “The transHuman Code” that focuses on how to maintain the most harmonious relationship between technology and humanity for the advancement of social equality.

Recipient of the 2015 Albert Schweitzer Leadership Award for his work in global youth leadership development, Mr. Fergusson is a Director and former President of Hugh O’Brien Youth Leadership (HOBY), the world’s largest social leadership foundation for high school students and is the Co-Founder of the 2021 Africa Future Leaders Forum.

Mr. Fergusson is a graduate of Kings Edgehill School and The University of Guelph.

Topic: "Mergers, Acquisitions, and the Technology Revolution"

David will explore the role of M&A in the rapid growth of tech companies, emphasizing the opportunities for technological innovation through strategic acquisitions. He will address how exponential technologies are driving value in mergers and the key factors investors need to consider when targeting tech companies.

Grant Bourzikas joined Cloudflare as the Chief Security Officer in 2023, where he is a driving force in helping the company achieve its mission to build a better Internet. As a critical component within Cloudflare's ecosystem, Grant's primary role is to protect the company from sophisticated adversaries to stay ahead in today’s cybersecurity landscape. He oversees Cloudflare’s threat intelligence services, which successfully mitigate 170+ billion attacks daily, in addition to acting as “Customer Zero” to help foster innovation across all Cloudflare products and services.

Grant is a seven-time CSO with over 20 years experience leading global security programs that span the private sector, having worked at a Fortune 500 critical infrastructure company, an online trading organization and within the gaming space. Most notably, Grant spent several years in the financial services industry at both HSBC and Silicon Valley Bank. Grant holds a Master's in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence from Southern Methodist University, and a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the University of Missouri in St. Louis. He is a CPA (Certified Public Accountant) and CISSP (Certified Information Systems Security Professional).

Topic: "Cybersecurity in an Age of Exponential Threats"

Grant will address the growing challenges of cybersecurity as technologies evolve rapidly. His talk will cover how companies can protect themselves from increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks and why exponential technologies, like AI and quantum computing, are both risks and opportunities in the security landscape.

Philippe Gerwill is a globally recognized Digitalization Humanist, Futurist, and Innovation Key Opinion Leader focused on driving human-centric transformation in healthcare. With nearly 30 years of senior global experience in the pharmaceutical and specialty chemicals sectors including 15 years at Novartis, he now advises governments, startups, and corporations across five continents.

Philippe helps shape ethical and impactful strategies around Artificial Intelligence, Digital Health, the Metaverse, Blockchain, and IoT. He currently serves as an executive advisor, board member, or consultant in regions including Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas, with a strong emphasis on healthcare innovation and AI-enabled transformation.

A multi-awards winning sought-after international keynote and TEDx speaker, Philippe is also an Adjunct Professor at the Rome Business School, where he teaches Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, and Data Science for Digital Health Management and Clinical Decision Support.

Now in early retirement, he is dedicated to giving back, mentoring the next generation of innovators, advocating for diversity and inclusion in tech, and promoting interdisciplinary collaboration to address urgent global health challenges.

María Pía Aqueveque Jabbaz is Token Economist, financial innovator and investor. She has been advisor to public and private financial organizations on the regulation and implementation of digital assets and deep technologies. She has recently been featured as one of the global TOP 100 Women in the Future in Metaverse & Web3.0 and Bloomberg Línea named her as one of the Crypto Leaders in Latin America. Ms. Aqueveque has been board member of Cybersecurity and IoT listed companies in Europe and North America, as well as regulated financial companies in Chile. Since 2019, she leads the Chilean chapter of the 30% Club. And Co-author of the book "21st CENTURY FORESIGHT, understanding megatrends and the new globalisation to build futures from Strategic Foresight".

Computer Science graduate from University of Webster and Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Andreas Moreira joined WISeKey in 2017 as a consultant in distributed ledger technologies and cryptocurrency. Since then, he has taken over a role of project manager for WISeKey's line of solutions and leverage his passion for innovative technology to oversee the development of the WISeKey suite of applications.

Bernard serves as General Manager of SEALSQ France. He has more than 35 years of experience in the Secure Semiconductor Industry. He started his career at GEMPLUS (now THALES) the world leader of the Smart Card industry, where he held multiple positions in sales and marketing, and opened GEMPLUS ’ San Francisco office in 1996. He joined INSIDE Contactless in 2002, then a startup company pioneer in the NFC technology, as Vice President in charge of Business Development. He positioned INSIDE as a leader of NFC payment chip supplier in the US. In 2013, after the acquisition of the smart card division of ATMEL, he was appointed Executed Vice President in charge of the Semiconductor Division of INSIDE Secure.

In September 2016, the Semiconductor division of INSIDE Secure was acquired by WISeKey, a Swiss Cybersecurity company offering digital security for large scale Internet of Things (“IoT”) and digital identity ecosystems.

Loic Hamon focuses on SEALSQ operations in the US, forging strategic partnerships, and driving adoption of SEALSQ’s security technologies among government agencies and businesses that demand next-generation security solutions to prepare for a post-quantum future.

Before joining SEALSQ, Mr. Hamon was the Global Head of Silicon Engineering at Capgemini, where he led the development of a differentiated Silicon Engineering offering and drove business growth from specification to silicon and volume production, by leveraging strategic partnerships within the broader semiconductor and vertical industry ecosystem.

Mr. Hamon began his career at Texas Instruments, where he held various positions. Later, he served as the Executive Vice President of Corporate Development & Communications of Inside Secure, where he also led the NFC business unit. More recently, he was the Vice President of Corporate Development and Strategic Marketing at Kalray.

Mr. Hamon also acted as an independent member of the Board of Directors at Secure Silex Insight, supplier of Embedded Secure IP Solutions. He holds a Master’s Degree in Marketing Intelligence from HEC Paris, a Master’s Degree in Electrical Engineering from ESIGELEC in Rouen, and a Postgraduate Degree in Microelectronics from Paris XI University

Carlos Ballester Lafuente leads the integration of artificial intelligence across SEALSQ group, driving operational efficiency, smarter processes, and innovation across the company’s semiconductor, PKI, IoT, satellite, and post-quantum product lines. He spearheads cross-company initiatives to streamline operations, strengthen execution, and embed AI as a core engine for performance and sustainable growth.

Before SEALSQ, he served as Head of IT Innovation at IMD, where he led technology innovation strategy and workplace AI platforms, translating emerging technologies into practical solutions that transformed work, learning, and collaboration. He previously worked at EPFL’s Center for Digital Trust (C4DT) as Technical Program Manager, advancing cybersecurity and digital-governance collaborations between academia, industry, and international organizations.

Earlier roles include co-founding the Geneva-based digital product studio MobileThinking, managing EU-funded R&D projects in decentralized digital trust at the University of Geneva, and beginning his career as an IT Security Auditor at S2 Grupo in Spain. He holds a PhD in Management Information Systems (University of Geneva), a joint MSc in Security and Mobile Computing (NTNU & Aalto University), and an M.Eng. in Computer Science (Universidad Politécnica de Valencia).