Caroline Winnett is Executive Director of Berkeley SkyDeck, UC Berkeley’s flagship startup accelerator. She led the creation of the $90M Berkeley SkyDeck Fund, a groundbreaking model that shares half of fund profits with the university. A serial entrepreneur, she co-founded NeuroFocus, the leader in neuromarketing, acquired by Nielsen. Caroline has been on several startup Boards, and currently sits on the Board of SkyCentrics. She is also a member of the Board of Trustees for Cal Performances. Prior to her career as an entrepreneur, Caroline was a professional concert violinist.
Caroline is a frequent speaker on innovation, entrepreneurship, and consumer neuroscience, and has been recognized with the Forbes 50 Over 50 and Bay Area Power 100 awards. Caroline holds an MBA from the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business. She did undergraduate work at Brown University and she holds a Violin Performance degree from the Indiana University School of Music.

Rob Knoth is a Senior Group Director in Strategy & New Ventures at Cadence. A technologist focusing on the interfaces between domain specific solutions for AI, accelerated compute and digital twins. He has extensive experience in both semiconductor design and EDA. Prior to Cadence, Rob was the layout convergence lead for Intel’s Xeon Phi, worked in applications engineering and product management at Magma Design Automation, and a physical designer and full custom IC designer at Tektronix. Rob holds a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University. Outside of work, he is an author, speaker, and advocate to get more families adventuring in the outdoors.

Andy Lombard is Founder and Managing Partner of Tesoro Venture Capital, a global venture platform investing in and accelerating companies across AI, semiconductors, advanced manufacturing, robotics, digital infrastructure, and healthcare. A six-time venture-backed founder, Andy has led more than $140 million in venture investment platforms, supported 250+ technology companies, and helped build portfolios representing more than $7 billion in enterprise value. Earlier, he held leadership roles with Motorola Asia and Motorola Ventures, focused on venture investment, strategic partnerships, M&A, and international expansion. Today, Andy leads Tesoro’s global ecosystem connecting startups with investors, industry, universities, and governments across the U.S., Asia, and Europe. He also serves on multiple technology company boards and advises organizations focused on entrepreneurship, commercialization, and global innovation.