Natasha Vita-More, PhD researcher, University of Plymouth, human enhancement design and theory, is a frequent guest speaker on topics concerning the future in the international arena. She is best known as designer of “Primo Posthuman”. Her writings have been published in numerous books, she has appeared in more than twenty-four televised documentaries, and featured in magazines including The New York Times, Wired, Village Voice, Marie Claire, Harper’s Bazaar, U.S. News & World Report, Net Business, and Teleopolis. Natasha is a Fellow of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, Visiting Scholar at 21st Century Medicine, Scientific Board of Lifeboat Foundation, and advises non-profit organizations including Alcor Life Extension Foundation. She was formerly president of Extropy Institute from 2002-2005. As a bit of history, Natasha authored the “Transhuman Statement”, Create/Recreate: the 3rd Millennial Culture (cybernetic culture and the future of humanism and the arts and sciences). In the early 1990s, she hosted the TV show “Transcentury UPdate” and was elected to the Green Party as a Los Angeles Councilperson.

Ben Goertzel, Vice Chair

Ben Goertzel is CEO of AI software company Novamente LLC and bioinformatics company Biomind LLC; leader of the open-source OpenCog Artificial General Intelligence software project; Chief Technology Officer of biopharma firm Genescient Corp.; Director of Engineering of digital media firm Vzillion Inc.; Advisor to the Singularity University and Singularity Institute; Research Professor in the Fujian Key Lab for Brain-Like Intelligent Systems at Xiamen University, China; and general Chair of the Artificial General Intelligence conference series. His research work encompasses artificial general intelligence, natural language processing, cognitive science, data mining, machine learning, computational finance, bioinformatics, virtual worlds and gaming and other areas, He has published a dozen scientific books, over 100 technical papers, and numerous journalistic articles. Before entering the software industry he served as a university faculty in several departments of mathematics, computer science and cognitive science, in the US, Australia and New Zealand. He has three children and too many pets, and in his spare time enjoys creating avant-garde fiction and music, and the outdoors.

Amy Li, Treasurer

Amy Li is a multidisciplinary creative director and designer, specializing in branding, creative marketing strategy, and user interface design for global brands like Yahoo, AT&T, etc. She is passionate about combining design, technology, and human factors to create state of the art products that impact our daily lives. One example of this is the iPhone app Have2P. It is a fun and creative app that addresses a universal human need in a new high-tech fashion. It was showcased as “App of the Week” in the New York Times, and also featured in Gizmodo. Amy also has years of experience specializing in designing visually engaging web sites with intuitive interfaces, flash animations, emails and landing pages with a strong focus on branding and UX design. Her portfolio can be seen at www.meidesign.net and she is easy to connect with on LinkedIn and Twitter. One of Amy’s true passions in life is to use her skills to help members of the scientific community become better communicators, one typography at a time. Born and raised in China, Amy immigrated to the U.S. and received her BFA with honor at CSULB, one of the top eight graphic design programs in the country, and later continued her education in Advanced Web and Interactive Design at UCLA.

R.U. Sirius, H+ Magazine Founder

R. U. Sirius (born Ken Goffman in 1952) is an American writer, editor, talk show host, musician and cyberculture celebrity. He is best known as co-founder and original Editor-In-Chief of Mondo 2000 magazine from 1989–1993. Sirius was also chairman and candidate in the 2000 U.S. presidential election for The Revolution Party. The party’s 20-point platform was a hybrid of libertarianism and liberalism. At one time, he was a regular columnist for Wired News and San Francisco Examiner, and contributing writer for Wired and Artforum International. He’s also written for Rolling Stone, Time, Esquire and other publications. Sirius has written several hundred articles and essays for mainstream and subculture publications. He was Editor-in-Chief of Axcess magazine in 1998, and GettingIt.com from 1999-2000.