Sophia Velastegui is 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 currently advises Fortune 1000 companies on right-sized and scalable AI business strategies. Sophia is a highly sought after speaker, presenting keynotes at TEDx, Financial Times Future of AI Summit, co-chairing the WSJ Tech Council Summit, NACD, and the World Economic Forum.

Sophia Velastegui is the CEO of Velastegui Ventures, where she provides AI advisory, consulting, and develops cutting-edge AI products and services to Fortune 1000 companies. She was previously the Chief Product Officer of Aptiv, leading global product strategy and managing multi-billion-dollar self-driving car and AI portfolio. Prior to that, 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.

Currently, Sophia serves as a board director at Blackline (NASDAQ: BL) and on Georgia Tech’s President Board. She is an AI advisor for the National Science Foundation (NSF). She is also a member of the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) on AI, technology, and corporate governance.

Sophia’s impact extends to the World Economic Forum, where she chaired the Global Future Council around AI and business digital transformation. Her insights have been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Information Week, TEDx, Forbes, and the World Economic Forum. She was named the “The Most Powerful Female Engineer” by Business Insider for AI and emerging technology.

Sophia received a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech and a M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.