AI Presidential Fellows Program

Bev currently serves as the Director of Compliance/Title IX Coordinator and the Chair/Manager of the threat assessment team (aka “UHWO BIT”) at the University of Hawaiʻi–West Oʻahu campus.

Bev has extensive experience in the development and implementation of key compliance areas in higher education, such as training, investigations, programming/awareness events, process reviews, and case management. She has been a consultant and trained institutions across the nation in the areas of Behavior Threat Assessment and Management (BTAM) Teams, VAWA/Campus SaVE/Clery Act, ADA/Section 504, Due Process, First Amendment and Title IX.

Bev is a U.S. Department of Homeland Security, National Threat Evaluation and Reporting Office (NTER)-Certified Master Trainer, a Certified CSTAG Trainer, and an authorized Salem-Keizer Cascade Trainer.

She was recently awarded two U.S. DHS Targeted Violence and Threat Prevention and Threat Prevention grants for 2021 and 2022 totaling over $1.3 million to help build HI state school threat assessment teams and to further state community awareness efforts.

She has served as the Chair of well over 700+ school threat assessment cases in Michigan and Hawaiʻi; and has fully implemented several school threat assessment teams and assisted many other team implementations.

Bev has served as the Chair of Threat Team Hawaiʻi (TTH) since 2023 and has been a TTH Consult Group Facilitator and a TTH Consult Group Member since 2021.

Cristina Kennedy is a management and program analyst professional known for her ability to lead successful teams and streamline operations. Her exceptional leadership skills, well-known change management, and intricate problem-solving abilities set her apart. Cristina's professional journey began in the United States Marine Corps and has extended into pivotal leadership roles in the government sector, which have fostered her proficiency in managing operations, formulating policies and championing process enhancements.

As the Performance Management Team Lead at the Navy International Program Office, Cristina offers high-level advisory and technical support. She is also a consultant, designing and conducting training workshops and spearheading process improvement initiatives.

Cristina's certification as an AI Sprint® Master Trainer demonstrates her ability to integrate human requirements, business objectives, and AI technology to create customizable, scalable solutions. Her tenure with the Corporate Management Development Program refined her return-on-investment analysis and sprint design thinking skills. In addition she holds an AI, ML and Cognitive Technology Project Management Certification. Cristina's passion lies in utilizing strategic planning, decisionmaking, and problem-solving skills to propel growth and enhance organizational efficiency.

Dr. Judith Cardenas is the dynamic CEO of Strategies By Design, a consultancy renowned for aiding organizations worldwide in crafting innovative solutions and captivating experiences for their clientele. Her forte lies in guiding leaders through the transformative use of AI in their businesses, expertly blending human-centered design with AI strategy to accelerate success by crafting unparalleled experiences for customers and employees.

Holding dual doctorates in education administration, training, and performance improvement, Dr. Cardenas is also well-versed in leadership, innovation, and AI, having pursued extensive postdoctoral training and certifications in these areas.

Her professional journey is marked by significant executive management roles, notably overseeing substantial public institutions. This includes managing a robust operational budget of $146 million, an additional $30 million in federal funds, a $10 million foundational endowment, and leading a workforce of 3000 employees. Dr. Cardenas has a rich history of developing and delivering training programs for prestigious organizations such as the World Bank, United Nations, QVC, Inc., Phillips Semiconductor, and various U.S. government agencies, including the Navy, Nuclear Regulatory Agency and Army.

Dr. Sharad Jones is a Senior Consultant at Strategies By Design and holds the position of Professional Practice Assistant Professor of Data Analytics and Information Systems in the Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University. Sharad earned his PhD in Statistics in 2021 at USU, where his dissertation was focused on Conditional Generative Adversarial Networks for multimodal scene generation. His current research interests are in multimodal Neural Networks, Ethical AI, and Transformers.

Sharad's dissertation research was done in collaboration with Maxar Technologies, a space technology company, where he was employed as a Data Scientist from 2018-2021. Prior to his PhD, he worked as a Data Scientist for Carvana, an online used car retailer, from 2014-2017. Following his PhD he worked as a Senior Data Scientist for Striveworks, a government contractor focused on developing an operational data science platform. With his extensive experience in both academia and industry, Dr. Jones specializes in teaching Machine Learning, AI, and Ethical Data Science. He plays a crucial role in guiding leaders through the new world of AI and Disruptive Technology.