Nordic Innovation Summit 2024

Rob hails from Grand Rapids, Michigan. After college, he spent 5 years on active duty as a submarine officer in the United States Navy, serving aboard the fast attack submarine USS Batfish. Across a 25-year career in tech software and data companies, Rob is a 4-time CEO of early-to-mid stage companies in software and data beginning in 2000 with Vykor Inc., which he co-founded and led. Over the past 10 years at Whitepages Inc., he served in executive roles and eventually became CEO in 2016. Rob led the spinoff of the enterprise unit, rebranded Ekata Inc. in 2019, which Mastercard acquired in 2021. Rob has a BA in Engineering Sciences from Dartmouth College and an MBA as well as an MS in Manufacturing Systems Engineering from Stanford University.

Mikko Hautala became Ambassador of Finland to the United States in September 2020. Prior to that (2016-2020), he served as Ambassador of Finland to Russia. In 2012-2016 Ambassador Hautala worked as Foreign Policy Adviser to the President of the Republic of Finland. In 2011, he was appointed Deputy Head of Mission to Embassy of Finland to Russia, located in Moscow. Ambassador Hautala has also served as the Diplomatic Advisor the to Minister for Foreign Affairs (2007-2011) as well as the First Secretary at the Permanent Representation of Finland to the EU in Brussels (2002-2007). In the beginning of his career, he has served as Attaché at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Helsinki (2001-2002) and as Attaché at the Embassy of Finland in Kyiv, Ukraine (1998-2001). He joined the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland in 2001. In August 2020, Hautala was awarded (“Ambassador Prize”) by the Confederation of Finnish Industries for his excellent work in promoting the interests of Finnish companies in Russia. During his career, he has received several civil and military decorations both nationally and internationally.

Ambassador Hautala was born in 1972 in Seinäjoki, Finland. He holds degrees in Master of Political Science (M.Pol.Sc) and Master of Philosophy (MPhil), both from Helsinki University. He currently holds the military rank of Captain (RESVT). Ambassador Hautala is, in addition to the native Finnish, fluent in English, Swedish, Russian, Ukrainian and Polish. He likes to read and think. He is married to Heli Hautala, who is also a career diplomat. They have two sons.

Pablos is a hacker, inventor & technology futurist with a unique ability to distill complex technology into practical tools. Always building the future, his projects include cryptocurrency in the 1990s; AI for stock market trading; building spaceships at Blue Origin for Jeff Bezos; the world’s smallest PC and 3D printers at Makerbot. Pablos helped start the Intellectual Ventures Lab for Nathan Myhrvold to support a wide range of invention projects, including a brain surgery tool; a machine to suppress hurricanes; a nuclear reactor powered by nuclear waste; and a machine that can shoot mosquitoes out of the sky with lasers – part of an impact invention effort to eradicate malaria with Bill Gates. A member of the most prolific team of inventors in the United States, Pablos has over 70 patents.

A world-renowned expert in 3D Printing, Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Robotics, Automated Manufacturing, & Crypto, Pablos has contributed to visions for the future of urban transportation, entertainment, education, energy, manufacturing, health care, food delivery, sensor networks, payment systems & cloud computing.

With a unique ability to articulate practical solutions and visions for the future of technology, Pablos is often invited to speak at conferences about innovation, invention, hacking, technology & cyber security. He has spoken at Stanford, the United Nations, the World Economic Forum at Davos, the Microsoft CEO Summit, The FORTUNE CEO Summit, the CIA, Google Zeitgeist, The Milken Global Conference, and to many of the top tech companies and conferences in the world. His TED Talks have over 30 million views.

Currently, Pablos is Managing Director at Deep Future, backing mad scientists, rogue inventors, crazy hackers & maverick entrepreneurs implementing science fiction, solving big problems and helping our species become better ancestors.

Chris Levesque is president and chief executive officer of TerraPower, and also serves as a member of the TerraPower Board. He was appointed to that position in November 2018 after having served as president of TerraPower since 2015. Levesque leads this nuclear innovation company in the pursuit of next-generation nuclear energy solutions and also oversees TerraPower’s new venture into therapeutic medical isotopes. His proven track record in scoping, planning and implementing complex projects began with his service in the U.S. Nuclear Navy and features more than 30 years of experience in the nuclear field. 

Levesque holds a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, a Master of Science in mechanical engineering and a Naval Engineer degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He also serves on the Board of the Nuclear Energy Institute.

Mårten Mickos is the CEO of HackerOne, the world's most popular bug bounty platform. Previously Mårten was the CEO of Eucalyptus Systems, acquired by Hewlett-Packard where he served as head of the cloud business. Mårten was the CEO of MySQL AB from 2001 to 2008. He served on the board of Nokia from 2012 to 2015. Marten is a thought leader on leadership and disruptive business models.

Ambassador Jesper Møller Sørensen is the Ambassador of Denmark to The United States at the Royal Danish Embassy in Washington D.C.

Most recently, he held a position as the State Secretary for Foreign Policy in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark (2019-2023). Prior to this, he was the Political Director in the Foreign Ministry (2015-2019).

Ambassador Møller Sørensen has also previously been the Ambassador of Denmark to Pakistan (2013-2015), and the Deputy Ambassador to Afghanistan (2010-2011).

In 2019, he also briefly served in the EU’s European External Action Service (EEAS).

Ambassador Møller Sørensen began his career at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Denmark in 1997. He served abroad at the Royal Danish Embassy in Ankara, Turkey (2000-2003), and he was Minister Counsellor for political affairs at the Royal Danish Embassy in Washington D.C. (2005-2009).

Earlier in his career, Ambassador Møller Sørensen worked in the department for European Enlargement (1997-1998), the department for Africa (1998-2000), and the department for Security Policy (2003-2005). He also served as the Head of Department of the Analysis Unit (2011-2013).

The Ambassador holds a Master of Political Science from University of Copenhagen and a bachelor from Aarhus University. He is a First Class Knight of the Order of Dannebrog.

Ambassador Møller Sørensen lives with his partner, Rasmus Windeløv. They have two young children.

Mr. Steen currently serves as Chief Executive Officer of FREYR Battery, as well as Director of the Board of FREYR Battery Norway. 

Prior to joining FREYR, Birger Steen was a Thematic Partner at Summa Equity. He is currently Board Chair at Nordic Semiconductor ASA and Pagero Group AB (publ.), and serves on the boards of Nordea Bank Abp, where he chairs the Operations and Sustainability Committee, and Pragmatic Semiconductor LLC. He was previously Chief Executive Officer of Parallels, Inc., WW Vice President of Distribution & SMB at Microsoft Corp, both in Seattle, VP & General Manager at Microsoft Russia and General Manager at Microsoft Norge AS (subsidiaries of Microsoft Corp.). Prior to joining Microsoft, Mr. Steen was Chief Executive Officer at Scandinavia Online AS (publ.), a VP at Schibsted ASA and a consultant at McKinsey & Co. 

Steen holds an MBA degree from INSEAD as well as degrees from the Norwegian Defense School of Intelligence & Security and Norwegian Institute of Technology (NTNU). 

FREYR Battery is a developer of clean, next-generation battery cell production capacity. The Company’s mission is to accelerate the decarbonization of global energy and transportation systems by producing clean, cost-competitive batteries. FREYR seeks to serve the primary markets of energy storage systems (“ESS”) and commercial mobility, and the Company maintains an ambition to serve the passenger electric vehicles market (“EV”). FREYR is commissioning and operating its Customer Qualification Plant (“CQP”) for technology development in Mo I, Rana, Norway, and the Company is commencing development of the Giga America battery manufacturing project in Coweta County, Georgia, in the U.S. 

Dr. Molly Wright Steenson is a designer, author, speaker, and professor who studies the intersection of AI, architecture, and design. She is the author of Architectural Intelligence: How Designers and Architects Created the Digital Landscape (MIT Press, 2017). At Carnegie Mellon University, she is Senior Associate Dean for Research in the College of Fine Arts, the K&L Gates Associate Professor of Ethics & Computational Technologies and Associate Professor in the School of Design.