Jon Gosier

Jon Gosier has consistently been ranked as one of the most influential entrepreneurs of Black/African descent by publications like TIME, USA Today, The New York Times, Business Insider, Pitchbook and Black Enterprise. His 2014 TED Talk cited the inequities of technology and how to design technology for better societal outcomes. His career has spanned a variety of industries from Tech to Venture Capital and Humanitarian Response. He's founded or lead companies in various areas of fin-tech, artificial intelligence, big data, media and ad-tech.

In his ten year career, he's lead an array of data projects as a consultant to Jefferson Health, Nielsen, EMC, Google, Facebook, FEMA, InQTel, The World Bank, U.S. Department of State, Wounded Warriors, Department of Defense, and Lockheed Martin. His work has been recognized with awards totaling $1M from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Harvard Initiative for Global Health, and the Information Technology Senior Management Forum (ITSMF).

He is perhaps best known for working to establish a tech and innovation network across Africa that now reaches 90 African cities. In 2008 he founded East Africa's Appfrica, a tech consultancy that serviced the continent, and went on to simulate over $80M in new economic activity and job creation with various partners including the U.S. Department of State. Other initiatives he's been a part of include Ushahidi, AfriLabs, and HiveColab which all continue to play a role in attracting over $400 million in new venture capital deal flow to the continent.

Jon is an alum of Savannah College of Art and Design and the THNK School of Creative Leadership and Innovation.