Wendy Gonzalez is the CEO of Sama, the mission-driven provider of accurate artificial intelligence data for 25% of Fortune 50 companies. As CEO, Wendy closed the largest round of financing for a woman-led AI infrastructure company and led the company to recognition on the Forbes AI 50 list and the Inc. 5000 list for two years. A study by MIT found that Sama, a Certified B Corp, has hired over 55,0000 people in Africa and paid wages 4x higher than competitors. Today, Wendy and her team of data experts continue to transform the artificial intelligence industry through high-quality training data and the removal of dangerous biases from ML algorithms.

Chris Hoekstra, PT, DPT, PhD, OCS, FAAOMPT

Chris received his PhD in biomedical informatics from Oregon Health & Science University, School of Medicine, his Masters of Science and Doctor of Physical Therapy degrees from Pacific University and undergraduate degree in biology from Willamette University. He is board certified in orthopedics and Fellow of the American Academy of Orthopedic Manual Therapy. Additionally, he completed a post-doctoral fellowship in clinical informatics through the National Library of Medicine.

He has worked as a physical therapist, clinic director, Health IT consultant, and more recently Chief Clinical Transformation Officer for Therapeutic Associates Inc. In that role he has overseen the company’s strategy related to the use of organizational data in business and clinical decision making, clinical and business information systems selection and optimization, quality improvement efforts, and value-based care initiatives. With Hychara Health, Chris oversees product development, program and project management, and sales and marketing strategy. Additionally, he has worked with company subject matter experts to create an advisory services practice.

He is also an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medical Informatics and Clinical Epidemiology of the Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine, where he teaches courses in organizational behavior and qualitative research. He also continues his research focused on usability and end-user adoption of health information technology. Additionally, he is a member of a multi-disciplinary AHRQ and NLM- funded research team with research focused on establishing safe training and effective use of medical scribes.

Chris has dedicated his career to improving clinicians’ and business leaders’ use of information in their daily decision making. His work and research focus on refining a sociotechnical framework that integrates information systems with organizational strategy, team dynamics, workflow design, and information visualization to allow practices and providers to thrive in the changing value-based healthcare landscape.

Outside of his professional work, Chris has been active as a youth football coach for > 14 years, a Reserve Deputy Sheriff for nine years, and most recently an operations officer with a Military Police battalion of the Tennessee State Guard. Additionally, he has served on numerous community and professional advisory boards.