Georgia Tech alum, Donald Beamer Jr., holds 11+ years of experience in new product introduction and strategy execution. Beamer currently serves as Atlanta’s first-ever appointed Senior Tech Advisor, as of 2022. In this position, he will work to advance Atlanta’s technology workforce in the form of existing firms and startups. Beamer is also a mentor for Techstars, a global investment business with one of the largest startup networks in the world.  

Beamer recently served as the General Manager of LotVision Automotive at Cox2M, a business line with Cox Communications that drives efficiencies by providing industries with the ability to monitor and track commercial assets. At Cox2M, Beamer was responsible for the strategy implementation for these tracking services and the launch of a $50 million commercial business line for Cox Communications. 

Prior to Cox, Beamer served as President and CFO of Monsieur, a Summer Associate at McKinsey and Company, and an Associate at Blackrock.

Duriya Farooqui is a board member and former C-suite leader with a proven track record of business transformation and innovation, and extensive experience guiding Fortune 500 and FTSE 100 global public companies. Farooqui has served in a variety of leadership roles, including COO for the City of Atlanta and President of Supply Chain Innovation at Georgia Pacific. Farooqui currently serves as a Board Director of Intercontinental Hotels Group (NYSE: IHG) and Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE: ICE). She also serves on the boards of the New York Stock Exchange. In addition, she co-chairs the NYSE Board Advisory Council that is committed to advancing diversity on corporate boards.

Farooqui is the 2021 recipient of OnBoard’s 19th annual Lettie Pate Whitehead Evans award in recognition of her transformative endeavors serving on public boards and championing diversity.

Most recently, Farooqui was President of Supply Chain Innovation at Georgia Pacific. In this role, Farooqui drove supply chain transformation and led a center for innovation where over 40 companies collaborated to solve supply chain challenges.

She earned a Bachelor of Art’s degree in Economics and Mathematics from Hampshire College and a Master of Public Administration in International Development from Harvard University.

Leanne West is the Chief Engineer of Pediatric Technology at Georgia Tech, where she serves as the technical liaison between Georgia Tech and children’s hospitals to identify unmet clinical needs and provide solutions. She is also President of the International Children’s Advisory Network (iCAN), a non-profit that promotes the importance of the pediatric patient experience and input in medical research and development. iCAN is a partner in the FDA CDRH Patient and Caregiver Connection and the Total Product Life Cycle Advisory Program.

She is a member of the International Society for Pediatric Innovation Executive Team, Patient Focused Medicines Development Board, the steering committees for the Pediatric Trial Network (PTN) and Multi-Regional Clinical Trials (MRCT) Center of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard (MRCT), a member of the Medical Device Innovation Consortium (MDIC) Patient Preference Information committee, the MDIC National Evaluation System for health Technology Coordinating Center (NESTcc) governing committee, the Technology Association of Georgia Digital Health Board, and the Georgia Technology Authority Board. In 2014, she was named Women in Technology’s Woman of the Year.