New Day. New Answers. Inspired by Curiosity.
A new day starts with you – and your questions. Join the most curious minds in analytics at SAS® Global Forum 2021, and let curiosity be your guide.
This virtual event is complimentary.
Inspiring Keynotes & Award-Winning Entertainers
Adam Grant
Organizational Psychologist at Wharton, Author of Think Again, and Host of the TED Podcast WorkLife
Adam Grant has been Wharton’s top-rated professor for seven straight years. As an organizational psychologist, he studies how we can find motivation and meaning and lead more generous and creative lives. He has been recognized by Thinkers50 as one of the world’s 10 most influential management thinkers, Fortune’s 40 Under 40 and Oprah’s SuperSoul 100. Grant is the author of multiple No. 1 New York Times bestselling books that have sold millions of copies and been translated into 35 languages, including Give and Take, Originals, Option B and Power Moves. His newest book is Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know (Viking, 2021).
Grant earned his PhD in organizational psychology from the University of Michigan. He has received awards for distinguished scholarly achievement from the Academy of Management, the American Psychological Association and the National Science Foundation.
Ayesha Khanna
Co-Founder and CEO, ADDO AI
Ayesha Khanna, PhD, has been a strategic adviser on artificial intelligence, smart cities and fintech to leading corporations and governments.
In 2017, ADDO AI was featured in Forbes magazine as one of four leading artificial intelligence companies in Asia, and Khanna was named one of Southeast Asia’s groundbreaking female entrepreneurs by Forbes magazine in 2018. She is also the founder of 21C GIRLS, a charity that delivers free coding and artificial intelligence classes to girls in Singapore.
Prior to founding ADDO AI, Khanna spent more than a decade on Wall Street developing large scale trading, risk management and data analytics systems.
She is author of Straight Through Processing for Financial Services and co-author of Hybrid Reality: Thriving in the Emerging Human-Technology Civilization. Khanna has been published and quoted on technology, innovation and smart cities and presented at major industry conferences.
Dan Levy
Dan Levy is an Emmy® winning writer, actor, director and producer. He is best known for his work on one of the most beloved shows on television, Schitt’s Creek, which he co-created with his father, Eugene Levy. The series received nine Emmy wins, becoming the most awarded comedy series in a single year.
Levy also co-hosted The Great Canadian Baking Show and has also made a guest appearance on Modern Family. He made his film debut opposite Tina Fey in Admission. In 2019, Levy signed a multiyear overall deal with Disney’s ABC Studios to develop and produce scripted projects for the studio. In 2020, Levy starred in HBO’s Coastal Elites and appeared in the romantic comedy Happiest Season for TriStar Pictures and Entertainment One. Most recently, Levy made his hosting debut on Saturday Night Live in early 2021.
Keith Urban
Keith Urban is a Grammy Award-winning country music singer, songwriter and guitarist. He’s the winner of four Grammy Awards, 10 Country Music Association Awards including two for Entertainer of the Year, 11 Academy of Country Music Awards, a People’s Choice Award, an American Music Award and a Golden Globe nomination and is a member of the Grand Ole Opry. In 2012, he was chosen as a new judge for season 12 of American Idol, and he remained on the program through the end of its original run.
The Country Music Association honored Urban with its 2001 Horizon Award. He was the first Horizon Award winner in history to go on to win the CMA’s Male Vocalist of the Year, a title he’s captured three times. Since then, Urban’s career has seen a long list of groundbreaking firsts and accomplishments that place him firmly among the music industry’s elite.
Hakeem Oluseyi
Astrophysicist, Former Space Science Education Lead for NASA and Inspirational Speaker
Hakeem Oluseyi, PhD, author of a highly anticipated upcoming memoir, A Quantum Life: My Unlikely Journey From the Streets to the Stars, is President of the National Society of Black Physicists. He’s also an internationally recognized astrophysicist, science TV personality and global education advocate who has had a long, distinguished career in academia and scientific research.
Oluseyi has served as the Space Science Education Lead for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate and as the Chief Science Officer for Discovery Science. He has held professorships at the Florida Institute of Technology, MIT, UC Berkeley and the University of Cape Town.
A former TED fellow, Oluseyi holds three degrees – including a PhD in physics from Stanford University – eight US patents and four EU patents. He co-hosts several shows on the Science Channel, Discovery International and Netflix, including How the Universe Works and Baking Impossible.
Wolfgang Puck
Chef
As a young chef, Wolfgang Puck worked in some of France's greatest restaurants, including Maxim's in Paris. At the age of 24, Puck left Europe for the US, where he eventually became part owner of Ma Maison in West Hollywood. His dynamic personality and culinary brilliance bridged tradition and invention and was pivotal in the rise of California cuisine. From Ma Maison, Puck went on to create his first flagship restaurant, Spago. At Spago he won the prestigious James Beard Foundation Award for Outstanding Chef of the Year in 1991 and 1998, the only chef to have won this award twice. Chef Puck has built a brand that encompasses three companies: Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Group, Wolfgang Puck World Wide and Wolfgang Puck Catering.
Ben Seidman
Magician
Ben Seidman is a Los Angeles magician who takes his one-man show across the world. He headlined the Atlantis Resort & Casino (Bahamas), The Royalton Riviera (Cancun) and performed a record-breaking 120 shows at The Venetian (Macau China). Clients have flown him as far as Qatar for private and corporate events. Seidman guest stars on the Netflix original Brainchild, produced by Pharrell. He is the only person in history to be named the Resident Magician at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. Seidman’s performances are packed with standup comedy, fascinating true stories and world-renowned sleight of hand.
Hear the Latest From SAS Executives
Jim Goodnight
Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer
As the CEO of SAS, the world’s leading business analytics software vendor, Jim Goodnight has led the company since its inception in 1976, overseeing an unbroken chain of revenue growth and profitability that is unprecedented in the industry. He is recognized globally for being a trailblazer among companies that top great workplace rankings.
Bryan Harris
Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer
As Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Bryan Harris is responsible for setting the technology direction for SAS and working with the executive leadership team to translate the organization’s strategic objectives and priorities into products and solutions. He has more than 20 years of experience researching and developing analytic techniques, enterprise search technologies, and distributed computing and cloud architectures.
Jenn Mann
Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer
Jenn Mann leads a global HR organization that acts as stewards of the SAS culture and engages a diverse workforce of more than 14,000 employees. She is responsible for developing and guiding SAS’ talent management philosophy, as well as articulating the organization’s strategy for acquiring, developing, rewarding and retaining the best talent.
Jennifer Chase
Senior Vice President and Head of Marketing
As Senior Vice President and Head of Marketing, Jennifer Chase is responsible for leading analyst relations, corporate communications, creative, digital, events, customer contact centers and go-to-market teams around the world. Her 20-year journey at SAS, spanning R&D and marketing, has earned her the reputation of being a data-driven marketer. Along the way, Chase has guided the modernization of marketing, aligned regional marketing efforts and strengthened collaboration between marketing and sales while cultivating a strong customer focus. Her belief is that great companies possess an intense desire to deliver experiences that far exceed their customers’ expectations every day.
Gavin Day
Senior Vice President of Technology
Day oversees technology development within the SAS R&D division. In this role, he is responsible for defining and communicating the company’s technology vision based on market research and ongoing customer interactions. The Technology team encompasses product management, corporate development, industry solutions and technology governance efforts, as well as SAS’ innovation centers and centers of excellence.
Susan Ellis
Director of Brand and Corporate Social Innovation
No matter your business, story is a powerful force. That was the big “aha” Susan Ellis discovered after moving from an award-winning independent filmmaker to Brand Director at software analytics company, SAS. Her work kick-started the recent evolution of the SAS brand and its focus on social innovation to inspire the world with the power of analytics. Through both film and interactive experiences, Ellis is refreshing SAS’ story in an era that resists traditional marketing in search of authenticity. From using Data for Good, to data literacy education for all ages to addressing diversity and inclusion, Ellis and her team connect the capabilities and resources of SAS to ensure that SAS is living up to the promise of its brand.
Sessions
Business leaders! Enjoy top-notch sessions lead by frontline leaders in industries including: banking, government, health care and life sciences, insurance, manufacturing, retail and more. You’ll find the information you need to move your business forward.
Also available! There are more than 150 sessions, including training and technical sessions. Explore your interests, and let curiosity be your guide.
A snapshot of organizations we’ll feature
Talk to experts, see live demos in the Innovation Hub
Great minds, great conversations and tech in action. That’s what you’ll find in the Innovation Hub. This is where you can learn about the latest industry-specific solutions and what SAS software can do for you.
Things to do
- Watch quick videos, then dive in deeper into a topic or technology.
- Schedule appointments with knowledgeable SAS team members. These are first come, first serve, but you can request more info and a SAS team member will follow up.
- Join a virtual meeting to see live demos and connect with subject matter experts.
What you’ll see
- Technology: analytics and AI, analytics life cycle, data management, decisioning, IoT, migration, SAS and the cloud, SAS® Viya®, and visualization.
- Industry-specific solutions: banking, government, health care and life sciences, insurance, retail and consumer goods, and manufacturing.
- Extra features: SAS help desk, wellness, social innovation, SAS Analytics Explorers and more!
A new day starts with you − and your questions. It’s about discovery, innovation and progress. And when curiosity meets capability, new answers to seemingly insurmountable challenges will emerge. Let your curiosity lead the way.
When Brilliant Minds Compete, the World Wins
The brightest minds from around the world have come together to tackle problems worth solving. The goal: Deliver practical innovation to the marketplace.
More than 1,400 ideas submitted – and only the top 100 teams are competing using analytics, AI and open source. Winners will be announced at SAS Global Forum. Learn more.