Sophia Velastegui
Sophia Velastegui – Generative AI Discussion
Sophia Velastegui
Keynote Speaker
Leading AI Business Expert; CEO; Former Microsoft, Google, and Apple Executive; Board Director
Sophia Velastegui delivers rare credibility: she has built, launched, and scaled AI products at Microsoft, Google, and Apple, and is now the CEO of Velastegui Ventures, an AI startup, and serves on the boards of BlackLine and Georgia Tech. Fortune 500+ CEOs, corporate boards, and business-driven audiences seek her guidance when they need to understand – and lead through – the disruptive forces reshaping business, technology, and society.
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Sophia Velastegui's speaking fee: Over $70,000
Sophia Velastegui is the CEO of Velastegui Ventures, which provides AI advisory and consulting services and develops cutting-edge AI products, right-sized services, and scalable strategies to Fortune 500+ and high-growth companies. CEOs and corporate boards seek her guidance when they need to understand – and lead through – the disruptive forces reshaping business, technology, and society. She’s a renowned tech industry leader with wide-ranging expertise in corporate strategy, product development, and artificial intelligence for Fortune 200 companies, startups, government, and academics.
She was previously the Chief Product Officer of Aptiv, leading global product strategy and managing a multi-billion-dollar physical AI self-driving car and full AI tech stack portfolio. Prior to Aptiv, Sophia served as Chief AI Technology Officer at Microsoft, leading the company’s AI business application vision and initiatives. Her team worked extensively in traditional and generative AI, including Microsoft/OpenAI and ChatGPT. Her leadership journey also includes launching AI products and services at tech giants such as Google/Alphabet and Apple.
Sophia serves as a board director at Blackline (NASDAQ: BL) and on Georgia Tech’s President Board. She is also an AI advisor for the National Science Foundation (NSF) as well as a member of the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) on AI, technology, and corporate governance. She was named “The Most Powerful Female Engineer” by Business Insider for AI and emerging technology.
Sophia is a highly sought-after speaker, presenting keynotes at TEDx, Financial Times, WSJ, NACD, and the World Economic Forum. Sophia combines deep technical insight on AI strategy and how to drive business growth through industry-proven approaches to development, governance, and human impact. With her unrivalled AI leadership and understanding of the corporate landscape, Sophia connects with audiences across industries. She inspires with her stories of real-world innovation and shares actionable frameworks that can be applied for maximum impact.
Featured Videos
Sophia Velastegui
Sophia Velastegui – TEDx
Sophia Velastegui
Sophia Velastegui – Generative AI Discussion
Sophia Velastegui’s Speech Topics
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The New Norm: Leading at the Speed of Exponential Change
AI is no longer just transforming industries — it is accelerating itself, creating exponential cycles of disruption that outpace traditional leadership playbooks. For executives, the stakes are high: organizations that treat change as episodic will be left behind, while those that embed agility into culture, governance, and strategy will define the next decade of market leadership. In this keynote, Sophia equips boards and CxOs with the frameworks to lead at the speed of change: how to absorb disruption without destabilizing performance, align governance with innovation, and mobilize workforces for resilience.
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The AI Compass: Leading with Foresight in the Age of Disruption and Uncertainty
AI isn’t just another technology wave. It’s a stress test for leadership. The real challenge isn’t efficiency but steering through disruption without losing direction. In this keynote, Sophia shows how executives can turn fear into foresight, balance bold bets with governance, and lead organizations through workforce shifts and new business models. Attendees will learn strategies to empower teams, foster cross-functional collaboration, and drive enterprise-wide change — making AI a catalyst for stronger performance and long-term advantage.
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The New Workforce of the Future: The Human + AI Workforce
As workflows evolve, leaders face three distinct futures: human-led copilots, machine-led orchestration, or fully autonomous ecosystems. Each comes with unique risk, talent implications, and governance challenges. The shift also disrupts traditional offshoring strategies: tasks once moved offshore for cost arbitrage are now prime candidates for automation, demanding a fundamental rethink of where and how value is created globally. Executives and boards must make deliberate choices instead of sliding unconsciously into automation defaults.
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Who Is Succeeding with AI and How the 5% Win
MIT recently published a report that 95% of enterprise GenAI pilots fail to deliver a measurable financial ROI. Only a small fraction of companies — the winning 5% — have managed to scale AI effectively and achieve real ROI. What sets them apart? Realizing AI’s return on investment is an elusive proposition for many companies, especially as many AI systems are still in proof-of-concept or experimental stages. How should companies identify the most promising AI projects and ensure their organizational structures, talent, governance, and data infrastructure are ready to scale? In this keynote, Sophia reveals how the 5% win — and how your organization can adopt their practices to move from pilots to enterprise-scale success.
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