Speakers

Palmer Luckey is an American inventor, innovator, and entrepreneur. He is the Founder of defense technology company Anduril Industries, designer of the Oculus Rift, a virtual reality head-mounted display, and the Founder of Oculus VR, which was acquired by Facebook in 2014 for $2.3b.

Jay has more than 15 years of experience in marketing including advertising, media, brand development, interactive marketing and search engine optimization. Over the years, he has worked with some of the largest and most brand-focused organizations in the world including Target, Toyota, GM, Honda, Staples, CBS and Sony. Jay is currently a Senior Account Executive at Amazon, working in the Amazon Media Group, based in Seattle. Prior to his role at Amazon, he was a partner at 451 Marketing, a national award-winning firm specializing in PR, digital media, search marketing and social media. Early in his career, Jay helped create and launch some of the most dynamic and innovative web ad campaigns seen in the last decade, having the pleasure to work with personalities such as Tiger Woods, Lebron James and Eli Manning. With a unique blend of passion, enthusiasm and creativity, he enjoys working with a wide variety of companies from startups to Fortune 500 and all aspects of helping companies grow. Jay has stayed true to his desire to provide outstanding results for his clients. His goals are to continue to be the person that people know will deliver on his word and be a pleasure to work with. As he puts it, he wants his clients to be “raving fans.”

Shawn Collins is a Republican running for Governor in California.

Shawn is a Navy combat veteran and a Lieutenant Commander in the Navy Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps Reserves. Shawn served seven years in the Navy JAG Corps in addition to a tour of duty in Kandahar City, Afghanistan in 2011 and 2012. While in Afghanistan, he served as an advisor to Security Forces Advisory Team 10 and lived in Kandahar City. He was on the front lines and survived two suicide assassination attempts. Shawn still serves as an active reservist and does pro-bono legal work assisting Vietnam Veterans. As a Navy combat veteran, Shawn has spent his life fighting for what is right.

Born and raised in inner-city Dallas, Shawn grew up in a broken home in a tough community among challenging circumstances. His parents divorced when he was three years old, leading him to live in eight different homes as a child. Shawn did not let his disadvantages define or limit him. He was able to leverage basketball to receive an invaluable education from Rice University. After graduating from Rice, he earned his law degree from the University of Texas at Austin.

Shawn and his wife Zeina have four children and have lived in Orange County for more than 15 years. Zeina is a Lebanese immigrant, and Shawn was by her side when she became an American citizen. Shawn is a rising star in the legal community and has established himself as one of the top attorneys in Orange County. He is active in his community, serving as a board member of the Orange County World Affairs Council. He coaches his children’s basketball and baseball teams and is an avid exercise enthusiast who has completed eight triathlons.

“I love California and know the state is worth fighting for.”

Shawn is the best choice for California. He has seen firsthand the struggles that Californians face everyday, and he knows what it means to have to fight for everything you have. Now, he is ready to take that same spirit to Sacramento and fight just as hard for every Californian.

Blake Resnick is the founder and CEO of BRINC, a fast-growing startup working to build technology in the service of public safety.

Blake has had a knack for science and technology for as long as he can remember. From a young age he developed a habit for taking apart and reassembling household appliances and at the age of 14, Blake built a fusion reactor in his garage.

Blake also started taking college classes at 14 years old. He continued on to Northwestern’s McCormick School of Engineering, but dropped out to build his startup. After internships at McLaren Automotive, Tesla Motors, and DJI Inc. Blake Resnick founded BRINC in 2017. In 2020, he was awarded a Thiel Fellowship and in 2022 Forbes included him in their 30 Under 30 list.

Joseph Zaki is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Loko AI. He is a pioneer in Artificial Intelligence with a specialization in real-time Computer Vision and Autonomous Systems. He has 20 years of Hollywood Blockbuster Visual Effects experience delivering ground-breaking Academy and Emmy award-winning Visual Effects, Virtual Reality and Mixed Reality for top Hollywood Studios, Advertising Agencies, Fortune 500 companies and AAA Game Studios. Joseph holds numerous US Patents in Machine Learning, Computer Vision and Synthetic Data and is passionate about creating jobs and career pathways for underserved communities in Orange County, California.

DFNDR Armor develops and manufactures one of a kind lightweight body armor for military and law enforcement. With two generations of family trade secrets, meticulous engineering and proprietary processing technology, we have innovated the lightest weight hard armor systems with the least trauma to the body in the industry, fully manufactured in America and sold throughout the world.

David Fernandez, President and CEO of DFNDR Armor, is an entrepreneur with 20 years experience in composite materials engineering and manufacturing of armor products for the defense industry. From 2006 to 2012, David was the Vice President and Director of R&D at Armacel Armor, a family business founded in 1997 by his parents, which produced high performance rifle protection products for the US Department of Defense (DoD). David was instrumental in doubling company revenue every year from 2006 to 2010 and after securing multi-year production contracts with the US government, David negotiated the sale of Armacel in 2010. David has served as a government appointed industry representative to the National Research Council for the Body Armor Testing and Evaluation Committee where he briefed scientist members of the Study Committee as well as senior government officials at the Pentagon and other various military bases.  David also lobbied for better protective equipment for soldiers including briefing the House Armed Services Committee and other House Members of the benefits of lighter weight armor systems. David structured and produced award-winning proposals resulting in multiple year DoD production contracts and government R&D awards.  In support of those contracts, David co-developed a unique cost effective body armor torso plate, meeting all stringent quality and performance specifications, which led to millions of dollars in cost savings for the US Army.  During his time overseeing production, he served as a professional witness for body armor testing and evaluation, with a 100% success record in Lot Acceptance Testing. In 2013, David founded Engense Inc. dba DFNDR Armor to address further needs for lightweight military and law enforcement armor. David self-funded the company. After 3 years of internal R&D, he presented new technological improvements to the US DoD. This led to two 3 year Government funded research and development contracts from the Army and Special Operations Forces with a total of $4.5M funded. Both programs were very successful and as a result of meeting the lightest weight specifications with Army, David’s company was awarded a $150 million IDIQ contract with the US Army to produce the ESBI Vital Torso Protection Armor. David’s company has been in production on this contract since 2021 and is expecting revenues to triple in 2022. Since 2004, David’s other business passion has been sourcing, renovating and owning commercial buildings throughout Los Angeles County.  David has served as a board member of the Ventura County Medical Resource Foundation and contributes to institutions and charities including Pepperdine University, Boys & Girls Club, Blue Heron Foundation, Saving Innocence Foundation and CASA for Children. David earned a degree in Business Management from Pepperdine University in 2007.  David is an avid golf player and an instrument-rated pilot.  David is fluent in Polish and English and has basic knowledge of Spanish.  David resides in Thousand Oaks, California with his wife and daughter.

Dr. Frank I. Luntz is one of the most honored communication professionals in America today.

The “Instant Response” focus group technique pioneered by Dr. Luntz has been profiled on 60 Minutes, Good Morning America (on Election Day), and on PBS’s award-winning Frontline. He has been a guest on virtually every talk show in America, including multiple appearances on The Daily Show and Real Time with Bill Maher, as well as Meet the Press, Nightline, The Today Show, the PBS News Hour, and Face the Nation.

Dr. Luntz was a Debate Night, Election Day and impeachment commentator on Bloomberg, CNBC and the BBC in 2020, CBS in 2016, Fox News in 2008 and 2012, and MSNBC in 2000. His reoccurring segments on MSNBC/CNBC, “100 Days, 1000 Voices” won the coveted Emmy Award in 2001.

Throughout his career, Dr. Luntz has worked for more than fifty Fortune 500 companies and CEOs. However, he is best known for political commentary – more media outlets have turned to him to understand the hopes and fears of Americans than to any other political pollster. He appears regularly on HBO and Fox News, having co-hosted many live primetime specials and dial sessions during the presidential debates. In both 2012 and 2016 elections, Frank was the only non-journalist invited to host a debate of the GOP presidential contenders. He also served as a consultant to the NBC hit show The West Wing.

Dr. Luntz has written, supervised, and conducted more than 2,500 surveys, focus groups, ad tests, and dial sessions in more than two dozen countries on six continents over the past 20 years. His political knowledge and skills are recognized globally, and he has served as an election consultant and commentator in Canada, Britain, Ireland, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Australia, Venezuela, and Ukraine.

Robert is a seasoned entrepreneur with multiple, multi-million dollar exits. He has led several investments in the mobile gaming space — one of which attracted 2.7 million active monthly users and generated $72 million in annual run-rate revenues. Robert helped guide this company to a $100+ million exit to Caesars Interactive Entertainment

Prior to this, Robert founded and grew a social-driven, health and fitness company. Under Robert’s leadership, the company established a platform of more than 65,000 users and drove over $45 million in product sales despite intense, well-funded competition in the space. Robert and his team accomplished this by leveraging social selling — including crafting viral, influencer led Facebook marketing campaigns.

Robert uses a partnership mindset and an eye for forward technology trends to develop innovative products and services with the potential for massive scale and marketable, mainstream interest.
He’s especially fond of the projects and ideas too big or scary for the average founder and investor.

Today, Robert is founder and CEO of InfluenceInk, Inc, an emerging technology startup. Robert is now focused on building the companies gaming platform: INK Games.

INK Games is the company’s digital and mobile gaming business unit targeting gamers, online users and social influencers.  As the company builds games — and launches other game publishers’ games on the platform — users will earn income for the users activities,  in-game purchases and monthly subscriptions for their platform connections.

Game companies and development studios are reaping massive profits by leveraging the relationships of their users. We reward users for onboarding other users — in perpetuity.
That’s the way it should be.
This project is particularly exciting at a time when users are spending billions of hours and dollars on in-game purchases of digital assets, virtual loot and in-game recognition — even though these purchases have no tangible value in the real world. With INK Games, users are incentivized to join the platform, invite other users and get paid in real-world currencies for the virtual assets and points they acquire, and the activities they perform.

INK Games will pay millions of users to grow the world’s largest game networks. All of this is powered through a proven payment engine and reliable infrastructure to connect and compensate millions of influencers and users.

Justin joined Helio Genomics in 2017 as VP of Finance & Business Development. After running various departments and being a critical factor for the company’s growth, he was promoted to US General Manager in 2019 to oversee business operations and clinical studies. Justin was promoted to lead the US business as CEO in 2021.

Justin is Partner at J&J Investments and a Venture Advisor for the SC Master Fund, a VC fund of funds with LPs such as Pacific Life and Edwards Life Sciences. At SCMF, Justin has advised large, publicly traded companies in Southern California on strategic investments and M&A opportunities.

Previously, Justin co-founded Sprightly Health Inc., a direct-to-consumer testing startup. Justin advises various healthcare and life sciences startups in the seed to Series A stage.

Previously, Justin held various consulting roles at FactSet Research Systems (NASDAQ: FDS), where he led the Southern California region consulting practice supporting the largest pension funds, hedge funds, and investment banks in the area. Prior to that, Justin worked as a market analyst for Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX)’s trade floor.

Justin received his MBA in Healthcare with highest honors from the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business and is a CFA charterholder. Justin is a YPO Global One member and CLA-OC member.

David Latona has more than 30 years experience in the supply chain industry. He is an apparel and footwear material handling integration specialist, skilled in the complete merchandise and mechanical flow of operations with a particular emphasis systems development in view of the overall supply chain.

Before joining Tompkins, David was a Partner and Senior Vice President of Vector Design, Inc. a nationwide material handling integrator and Co-founder and Managing Director of a third party logistics operator in the Port of Los Angeles.  He also co-founded Polygon Solutions, a B2B model offering services to emerging apparel and footwear brands providing a hosted ERP system, data entry, auditing and customer services. His expertise has helped companies such as The Wet Seal, Kenneth Cole Productions, The May Dept Stores, Carole Little, Perry Ellis, Warnaco, BCBG, bebe, Macy’s, Frederick’s of Hollywood, Kellwood, Authentic Fitness, Rock and Republic, Earth footwear, Tyr Sports, Kids R Us, JC Penney’s and The Gap

Mr. Claudio Ludovisi brings to Graziadio over 25 years of global business experience and leadership roles with Disney, NBC Universal, IMAX, Amgen, and Warner Bros. Studios. He is a senior strategy and marketing executive as well as a recognized thought leader of fan engagement, and is passionate about leading teams to extraordinary results in an "accelerating, digital, purpose-driven" world. Claudio holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a bachelor of arts degree in economics from UCLA.

Jeff Volpe currently serves as president of ViewSonic Americas. In this role, Volpe oversees strategic business planning, sales and marketing, operations, and logistics for the region. Focused on business transformation and a dedication to solutions development, Volpe has led ViewSonic Americas to better support its customers and business partners for today and tomorrow.

Looking to the future with a new view that now encompasses remote work and distance learning, Volpe ensures that ViewSonic can enable people to connect, collaborate and educate with its display solutions. Preceding his current role, Volpe served as vice president of Global Brand and Emerging Technologies for ViewSonic where he led global brand image development and messaging, and was responsible for pursuing new technology opportunities.

Additional roles with ViewSonic have included vice president of marketing, Americas; vice president of sales Americas; vice president of the Business Products Division; and senior director for Canada. Volpe came to ViewSonic in January 1996 from Citizen America Corporation, where he was the Canadian regional sales manager responsible for the sales and customer management of computer printer products. Prior to that, he was manager of Indirect Sales Channels for Epson Canada Limited.

Paul Randall Smith is the Chief Marketing Officer of Tangram, an interior and workplace solutions company focusing on furniture, flooring and technology in Southern California. Paul obtained a Masters degree in Business Administration at George Fox University and an undergraduate degree in Marketing from the University of Oregon.

After graduation, Paul launched his career in Portland, where he began his specialization in user experience and marketing within shared spaces. His partnerships with predominant Portland hospitality leaders led to the opportunity to develop locations in Los Angeles, CA. Soon afterward, Paul was recruited by Tangram to develop and implement a progressive marketing department and strategic direction.

Paul believes in creating and curating experiences for customers, clients and cultures. This is accomplished by focusing on the use of technology, high altitude and micro perspective strategic thinking and innovative management practices. Tangram is Southern California preeminent interior solutions provider with clients such as Hulu, City National Bank, Live Nation, Kaiser Permanente, USC and UCLA.

John Michael Mulvaney is an American politician who served as director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) from February 2017 until March 2020, and as acting White House Chief of Staff from January 2019 until March 2020. Prior to his appointments to the Trump administration, he served in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Mulvaney, a Republican, served in the South Carolina General Assembly from 2007 to 2011, first in the House of Representatives and then the State Senate. He served as a U.S. representative for South Carolina's fifth congressional district from 2011 to 2017. He was nominated as OMB Director by President-elect Donald Trump in December 2016 and confirmed by Senate vote (51–49) on February 16, 2017. While confirmed as OMB Director, he served as acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) from November 2017 to December 2018, and as acting White House Chief of Staff from January 2019 until March 2020. After resigning as OMB Director and acting White House Chief of Staff, he served as the U.S. Special Envoy for Northern Ireland from March 2020 until January 2021.

Mulvaney was known for his support for fiscal conservatism as a congressman, which included a willingness to shut down the government during Barack Obama's presidency. However, as OMB Director in the Trump administration, he oversaw an expansion in the deficit. The deficit increases were a result of both spending increases and tax cuts, and were unusually high for a period of economic expansion. In 2019, with regard to its potential mention in an upcoming State of the Union address, Mulvaney said "nobody cares" about the deficit. A staunch opponent of the CFPB while in Congress, Mulvaney's tenure as acting Director of the bureau led to a considerable reduction of the bureau's enforcement and regulatory powers.

In January 2019, Mulvaney became acting White House Chief of Staff. In a White House press conference held on October 17, 2019, Mulvaney said the White House had withheld military aid in part until Ukraine investigated an unsubstantiated theory that Ukraine, not Russia, was responsible for hacking Democratic Party emails in 2016. Mark Meadows succeeded Mulvaney as chief of staff.

On January 7, 2021, Mulvaney reported that he resigned the day before as Special Envoy for Northern Ireland following the storming of the U.S. Capitol. In 2022, Mulvaney was hired as an on-air contributor for CBS News. His hiring stirred controversy within the company due to his history of promoting Trump's false claims and attacking the press.

A 2006 graduate of the US Naval Academy and an 18 year Navy and Marine Corps Veteran, Tom Sauer is the majority owner of MacArthur Group, Inc., and CEO of its subsidiary company, Miramar Recovery in Orange County, CA. He holds MBAs from the UCLA Anderson School of Management and the National University of Singapore Business School.

MacArthur Group is a behavioral healthcare firm focused on mental health and addiction treatment for America’s Veterans. Behavioral health became a deep passion of Tom’s following the loss of his father to an overdose after decades of struggle, just like so many millions of Americans suffering from our country’s disastrous drug epidemic.

MacArthur’s flagship company is Miramar Recovery, a contracted US Department of Veterans Affairs provider, operating out of four locations in Corona Del Mar, Laguna Beach, and Laguna Hills, CA. As Founder of MacArthur Group, Tom and his board of directors are actively involved in the behavioral healthcare M&A space, pursuing acquisition targets throughout Southern California and beyond.

Adam Coughran is a police officer turned educator and entrepreneur. Throughout his law enforcement career in Southern California, Adam worked in various capacities, including street patrol, field training, counter-terrorism, and tourismoriented policing. Adam utilized his expertise to found Standards Training Group, a consulting firm dedicated to helping businesses deter crime and mitigate violence. Adam soon began training personnel in various industries, including hotels and schools. It was during a school training session that Adam discovered the need for violence prevention training for elementary and middle school students. Subsequently, Adam co-founded his second company, Safe Kids Inc., and developed the H.E.R.O.™ Program. An acronym for Hide, Escape, Run, and Overcome, the H.E.R.O.™ Program is designed to instill safe-thinking skills that enable children to survive violent incidents. The H.E.R.O.™ Program consists of age-appropriate curriculum, engaging activities, professional development for educators, and a series of drills and scenarios. Adam currently serves as president of both companies, in addition to being an active member and holding leadership positions in several nonprofit organizations and professional associations. He has trained, consulted and presented on local, regional, national and international stages on a variety of topics. Adam’s clients broadly incorporate tourism, hospitality, retail outlets, higher education, private and public-school districts, utility companies, health care, government, professional associations and security agencies.