2021 speakers

Christian is a serial entrepreneur and technology leader, with contributions  to the fields of secure digital infrastructure, confidential computing, data privacy and data governance technologies, and neural interface technologies.  He is currently founder and CEO of Gradient, a venture backed company  pioneering technology to continuously secure the  world’s digital systems against ransomware and malware, and streamline data sharing in face of privacy and data governance challenges.  Gradient’s  technology is currently being deployed to Fortune 50 oil & gas, electric grid and utilities, and financial, healthcare, mobility, defense  & intelligence sectors.

Previously, based on his work at MIT with Dr. Ed  Boyden, Wentz founded Kendall Research Systems to advance optical neural interface technologies, subsequently acquired by Kernel.co in 2017 for an undisclosed sum, where he served as VP of Product.  He was a founding team member at Misfit  Inc., acquired by Fossil  in 2015 for $260  million.

Wentz is a prolific inventor at the intersection of hardware and software, an area that has proven to be an ideal venture ripe for IP monetization.

Christian received the inaugural Forbes’s 30 Under 30 award in Science & Innovation, and is recipient of the Hertz Foundation Myhrvold Family Fellowship in the applied sciences. He holds an M.Eng in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and a B.S. in Electrical Science and Engineering, both from MIT.

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