Moderated by Bob Raikes, Principal and Managing Editor, Meko, Ltd.
Sponsored By:
CEOs have a lot on their minds: They are constantly weighing challenges, opportunities, and short- and long-range plans. Our 2021 panelists, including the CEO for a company that makes thin-film transistors, the co-founder of a start-up that invented tablets for special users, and the president and COO of a company that develops air-navigation technology, will come together at Display Week 2021 to share their stories and strategies.
Ian Jenks has been chief executive officer of SmartKem since December 2017. He has more than 30 years of board-level experience in the industrial-technology industry and has served as chief executive officer of companies operating in the United States and Europe. He served as president of Uniphase, Inc., and as chairman of Oplink Communications, Inc., which he took public on the NASDAQ. He also spent seven years as a partner of Crescendo Ventures llp. He has been a director of Techstep ASA, a provider of managed mobile services in the Nordics; Paysafe plc., an international provider of payment processing services; and Brady plc, a provider of commodity trading software. Jenks also has served and continues to serve as a director of a number of private companies. He received a B.Sc. in aeronautical engineering from Bristol University.
Maria Jokelainen is the co-founder and board director of Kuori Oy, a Finnish company that is behind the Yetitablet, a giant Android tablet for special users, including seniors and those with disabilities. Raised in an entrepreneurial family, Jokelainen started her first company at the age of 19. She used that background to transition to managing various IT projects for major companies like Nokia, Telia, and Microsoft. Jokelainen’s education is in business administration and marketing. She has studied at four different universities throughout her long career path. Her life “turned upside down,” as she describes it, as a result of raising her three autistic children. Out of this experience, she and her husband, who was working with Android box development at the time, developed the Yetitablet, launched in 2016, to help people not capable of using small or handheld devices. The Yetitablet became an instant hit at retirement homes and with people with disabilities. As CEO, Jokelainen led Kuori to become one of Finland's top IT growth companies, serving global clients in multiple countries with a goal of making smart technology available for everyone. Nowadays, Kuori’s main focus has shifted toward touch screens suited for harsh and outdoor environments. Jokelainen now acts as the board chairperson for Kuori, and as Yetitablet business unit director, concentrating fully on the expansion of the business unit with the aim of making the Yetitablet the first-ever medically certified tablet.
Jill Wittels, president and chief operating officer of Nexteon Technologies, Inc. (formerly Route Dynamics Corporation), has a 30+ year history in aerospace and defense as well as two decades of working with early-stage companies and mentoring entrepreneurs. She is the board chair for eMagin Corp. and board chair for Hilltop Biosciences. She serves as director of other private companies, as a CEO mentor, and as an angel investor. She has also had non-profit experience for nearly 20 years on the board of directors of Fermi Research Alliance, which operated the DOE’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. Wittels has also consulted for top-ranked aerospace and defense enterprises. She has a wealth of experience in aerospace, P&L responsibility, operational leadership in technology companies, and strategic thinking for large and small enterprises. She has a B.S. and a Ph.D. in physics from MIT, and is a member of the National Association of Corporate Directors, Women Corporate Directors, the American College of Corporate Directors, The Boston Club, and the American Physical Society.
Bob Raikes is an experienced sales and marketing specialist in distribution and in the displays business in particular. From 1982 he was involved in the sales, marketing, and distribution of computer displays, including seven years with Japanese monitor and graphic board maker Eizo, initially as sales director and later for five years as managing director of the company’s UK subsidiary. He established Meko, Ltd., a specialist market research consultancy, in 1994. As well as being managing editor of (and a writer for!) Large Display Monitor, Mobile Display Monitor and Display Daily, Raikes was for several years the displays editor for The Peddie Report and a regular contributor to Computer Shopper and other titles including SID’s Information Display magazine. He has appeared on TV and radio, including BBC World and BBC Radio 4.