James Black is the Chief Information Officer (CIO) at Worldpay. James is an accomplished executive with nearly 25 years’ experience of building and aligning global technical organizations with key business objectives to achieve dramatic, bottom-line results. He joined Worldpay in 2016 after serving as the CIO at Interactive Data Corp (IDC). As the CIO of Worldpay, James is responsible for the strategy and implementation of all aspects of Technology – engineering, infrastructure, networking, storage, data centers, and database. James passionately oversees these and many other facets of Technology with Leaders across the globe. His dedication to his colleagues, customers, the company, and the community is prevalent in his day-to-day work, whether he is collaborating to build connections and foster partnerships or inspiring others to do great things as they thrive and grow.

Jason Heikenfeld is a Professor and Assistant Vice President for Commercialization at the Univ. of Cincinnati.  In his AVP role, he leads the university’s office supporting patenting, licensing, and startup efforts.   He also directs the Novel Devices Laboratory which has established highly-focused international leadership roles in an emergent technologial paradigms including electrowetting, electronic paper, and most recently sweat biosensing technology.  In the first decade of his career, he already accumulated the most patents and licensees of any faculty member in the history of the Univ. of Cincinnati.  He is a serial entrepreneur, and his most recent company Eccrine Systems has been recognized as a top 50 global startup by Bloomberg based on data analytics by Quid. He was an AFOSR Young Investigator, is  a Senior member of IEEE and the Society for Information Display, a life-member of SPIE, a member of ASEE, and a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. In addition to his scholarly work, during his teaching years Prof. Heikenfeld was the highest-rated STEM educator at the University of Cincinnati.  In his service roles to the University he has also led the creation of programs and coursework that foster innovation, entrepreneurship, and understanding of the profound impact that technology has on society.

Chris Hjelm is the Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer, The Kroger Co.

Chris is responsible for managing the company’s nationwide network of information technology, including systems used in retail stores, manufacturing facilities, distribution centers, and offices.  He also oversees Technology Research & Development, Aviation, Customer Connect and the Kroger Support Center, 84.51°, Corporate Travel, Enterprise Payments, and General & Administrative cost reduction efforts.   He serves on the board of Inky Corporation.

Before joining Kroger in 2005, Chris was CIO of Cendant’s Travel Distribution Services.  He also served as Senior Vice President of Technology at eBay Inc., Executive Vice President at [email protected], and Senior Vice President and CIO at Federal Express Corp. Chris joined Kroger as Senior Vice President and CIO before being promoted to his current role in 2015.

Chris earned a bachelor’s degree from Colorado State University and an honorary Ph.D. from Colorado Technical University.

Chris and his wife, Karen, live in Cincinnati, have three children and one granddaughter.