As COO for economic development and marketing, Ben Pole drives the strategic and operational direction of Economic Development, Smart Digital City, Marketing and Communications, Tourism and Events, and Media staff and resources for Queensland’s fastest growing city. He leads integrated programs and performance for one of Australia’s most successful destination marketing organisations to achieve key market advantage and new market success, with a particular focus on developing industry leading digital networks, multi-channel content marketing, and systematic change management. Previously, he served as Director of Strategy, Marketing and Communications at Gold Coast Tourism Corporation.

Juha Ala Mursula is an experienced Economic Development Director with a demonstrated history of managing large organizations engaged in change in the public sector. With skills in product lifecycle management, embedded and open-source software, innovation management and mobile technologies, he oversees economic development in one of Finland’s leading technology centers. A graduate of the University of Oulu, he holds an MBA in international business from the Helsinki School of Economics.

On June 6, Espoo was named as the 2018 Intelligent Community of the Year. Prior to the Summit, and before knowing his community would be named Intelligent Community of the Year, Mayor Jukka Mäkelä spoke with Lou Zacharilla about Espoo.

Roberto Gallardo is Assistant Director of the Purdue Center for Regional Development and a Purdue Extension Community & Regional Economics Specialist. He holds an electronics engineering undergraduate degree, a master's in economic development, and a Ph.D. in Public Policy and Administration. Gallardo has worked with rural communities over the past decade conducting local & regional community economic development, including use of technology for development. He was Founder of the ICF Institute for Rural Studies at Mississippi State University.

Greg excels at relationship building, facilitating strategic partnerships, coordinating industry and sector initiatives, and forging substantive collaborations between the public and private sectors. Greg has been tasked with the development of strategic partnerships and alliances between communities and business sectors and is responsible for guiding the development of economic development strategies reflective of Winnipeg’s broad and diversified economy and manages north/south trade activities related to the Mid-Continent Trade Corridor. Greg holds director positions on a variety of bi-national and tri-national business development boards including the Canadian/American Border Trade Alliance (CAN/AM BTA) and NASCO (North American Strategy for Competitiveness). Greg has a Master’s Degree in City Planning from the University of Manitoba and has his Economic Development certification through the University of Waterloo.

Mayor Fred Eisenberger was born in Amsterdam and came to Canada with his family when he was eight years old, settling in Hamilton.

Fred is currently serving his second four-year term as mayor. Previously he served as a member of Hamilton council, as chair of the Hamilton Port Authority, and as president and chief executive of the Canadian Urban Institute, where he was involved in the development of leading-edge, progressive urban policy.

ICF Director of Operations Matthew Owen sits down with ICF Co-Founder John Jung for part 3 in this special series discussing 2018's Top7 Intelligent Communities of the Year. This week, Matt and John focus on Espoo, Finland and Tainan City, Taiwan.

ICF Director of Operations Matthew Owen sits down with ICF Co-Founder Lou Zacharilla for part 2 in this special series discussing 2018’s Top7 Intelligent Communities of the Year. This week, Matt and Lou focus on Ipswich, Queensland, Australia and Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

ICF Director of Operations Matthew Owen sits down with ICF Co-Founder Robert Bell to discuss three of 2018's Top7 Intelligent Communities of the Year: Chiayi City, Taiwan; Hamilton, Ontario, Canada; and Taoyuan, Taiwan.

Suneet Singh Tuli has over 25 years of experience as a serial entrepreneur, having launched two successful companies prior to DataWind. At DataWind and previous ventures, he patented technologies that were created to develop scanning, printing and imaging products that set world records in both price and performance. The products created through these ventures have received numerous awards and accolades, including recognition by the Guinness Book of Records. 

Mr. Tuli was cited for the development of the Aakash II/UbiSlate tablets, which the Intelligent Community Forum believes will revolutionize access to knowledge for billions of people and stabilize communities in the process. The tablet is the world’s cheapest computer, according to Forbes Magazine. One of his best-known quotes is about his mission. Mr. Tuli said, “I don’t care about creating the iPad killer. I care about the four billion people who can afford this device.” 

The 2014 Intelligent Community Visionary of the Year has previously been recognized by Forbes Magazine in its 2012 Impact 15 list as a “classroom revolutionary” using innovative technologies to reinvent education globally. He was also named the 2012 Entrepreneur of the Year at the World Sikh Awards.