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Steve Wozniak, Salim Ismail, and Alison Lewis to Speak at Graziadio 50th Anniversary Event


In honor of Pepperdine Graziadio Business School’s 50th anniversary, the school will host a full day of events on Tuesday, April 2, to reflect upon its long legacy, as well as look ahead as to how we can prepare today’s students for the future of work and the fourth industrial revolution.

Industry 4.0: The Future of Humanity in the Smart Machine Age will be held at the Novo located at L.A. Live and will cover topics including the fourth industrial revolution and how to prepare the future workforce for increased automation.

Pepperdine Graziadio Dean Deryck J. van Rensburg, Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak, Singularity University founding executive director Salim Ismail, and Institute for the Future’s Bob Johansen, along with several other influential thought leaders, will share their insights on how employers can prepare for the fourth industrial revolution and how employees can ensure they remain competitive as automation increases in nearly every industry sector.

The event will also include two panel discussions. The morning panel on women in leadership in the Smart Machine Age will be moderated by Denise Roberson, CEO of Jadi Communications; Alison Lewis, chief marketing officer of Johnson & Johnson Consumer; Dalana Brand, vice president total rewards and experience at Twitter; and Britta Wilson (MBA '92, EdD '16), vice president of inclusion strategies at Pixar. The afternoon thought leadership panel will be moderated by Allen Webb, editor of McKinsey Quarterly, and feature Andrei Cherny, CEO of Aspiration; John Figueroa, former CEO of Genoa Healthcare; Alex Grimwade, chief information officer at Twentieth Century Fox Television; and Ed Hess, professor at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business.

Throughout the day the school will be utilizing Spigit, a crowdsourcing platform, to engage colleagues and stakeholders from all parts of the world and garner their perspective and insight. For more information or to register to attend, visit the Graziadio 50th anniversary website.