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Best Western Plus Congress Hotel
1 Italy St
Yerevan, Erevan, 0010
Armenia

Ani Aprahamian

Director of the A. Alikhanyan National Laboratory of Armenia

Ani Aprahamian is the Director of the A. Alikhanyan National Laboratory of Armenia and Frank M. Freimann Chair Professor of Physics at the University of Notre Dame. Ani joined the faculty of the Physics Department and the Nuclear Science Laboratory at the University of Notre Dame in 1989. Between 2006 and 2008 she was the Program Director for Nuclear Physics and Particle & Nuclear Astrophysics at the US National Science Foundation. Ani was elected a foreign member of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia in 2008. In June of 2019, Ani and her team at the AANL started nuclear medicine in Armenia by the operation of an 18 MeV cyclotron for the production of radioactive isotopes. In 2020, the AANL team developed ozone generators for the sterilization of large spaces from the covid. She has realized the installation of a new cryogenic facility in Armenia with funds from the Armenian American Medical Society to meet the demand for Oxygen during the pandemic and for future science use.

Arman Armaghanyan, Arthur Harutyunyan, David Sahakyan

Students

During the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war, David, Arman and Arthur were enlisted in the army and fought their way out of a blockade long after the war ended. They emerged ever-persistently from that experience: keen on taking the learnings and leaving the atrocities behind. They’ve successfully completed the educational program Progress initiated by Picsart and are currently working there. Where people measure their school experience in years, David measures it in transitions from country to country. Being born in Moscow, David’s family moved to Transnistria, after which they repatriated back to Armenia. Despite claiming to lack the ability to navigate between the cardinal directions, Arman led the group of friends out of the blockade. He currently navigates working at Picsart and studying at AUA. Leading an active life filled with adventures, Arthur also manages to work at Picsart and study at AUA. He’s passionate about deciphering Armenian dialects and discovering different places.

Artur Movsesyan

Deputy Chairman of the RA Science Committee

Artur Movsisyan has been the Deputy Chairman of the RA Science Committee since January 2020․ From 1998 to 2004, he studied at Yerevan State University and obtained his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Physics. In the last two years of his education, he worked as a senior laboratory assistant at the Institute of Applied Problems of Physics of NAS RA. After returning from the army, he continued working at the Institute of Applied Problems of Physics of NAS RA since 2007, where he became the Head of Laboratory in 2015 and worked until 2019. He was the president of Young Scientist Council at the Institute of Applied Problems of Physics of NAS RA, Member of board of Young Scientist support program and Member of FAST analytical team.

Davit Baghdasaryan

Co-Founder of Krisp

Davit is the CEO and Co-Founder of Krisp. Krisp is best known for its AI-powered noise cancelling app that works with Zoom, Teams, Meet, Loom and 1000+ other apps. Before founding Krisp, Davit was the head of product security at Twilio. Davit co-founded Krisp in 2018 with a mission to enable professionals to be more effective communicators in online meetings. As someone who worked and lived in different places in the world, he recognizes there is a big gap in communication skills throughout the world and it’s one of the greatest barriers for making people successful in the new era of remote work. By fixing this gap with technology, he believes that we will make a leap towards the dream of making Remote Work ubiquitous in the world. Davit was born and raised in Armenia and then moved to the US and lived in the Bay Area for 10 years. Currently he is back in Armenia and running a company of 170 people distributed globally.

Hayk Harutyunyan

Investor and Advisor in Sustainability

Hayk Harutyunyan currently holds the position of the Chairman of the Energy Agency of Armenia. He is a co-founder of a renewable energy group and agricultural holding. Serves as an advisor on sustainability and renewable energy in large corporations and banks abroad. Has served as the Deputy Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Armenia and as chairman or board member in a number of state owned organizations. He has also worked as the project leader for the new nuclear power unit project in Armenia. Holds an Executive MBA Degree from Skolkovo School of Management (Russia), Masters Degree in International Relations from Cambridge University (UK), Bachelor's Degree in Politics and International Relations from Lancaster University (UK) and IB Diploma from the Regent’s School (Thailand). He founded the Armenian British Business Chamber and served as its chairman for 3 years.

Levon Thorose

CEO of Precision Sensors & Instruments (PSI) and Global Innovations Inc (GII)

Levon Thorose has been the CEO of Precision Sensors & Instruments (PSI) since 2008. He is also the CEO of partner company Global Innovations Inc, (GII). He has a huge experience in the field of technology development, which is being used for developing new technologies in PSI. His previous experience includes working at Hughes Aircraft Co., as the Technology Development Director in USA’s Military Industrial Complex, as well as at Raytheon Co., where he has resolved troubled high technology development programs for US Army, Navy, Marines, and Air force.

Lilit Nersisyan

Director of Armenian Bioinformatics Institute

Lilit has more than 10 years of experience in the field of bioinformatics and genomics. She holds an MS degree in biotechnology and MS in Computer Science. She was the first one in Armenia awarded with a PhD in computational biology and genomics from the Institute of Molecular Biology NAS Armenia and Leipzig University Germany. Afterwards, Lilit has conducted postdoctoral studies in computational biology at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden. In 2021 she became the founding director of the Armenian Bioinformatics Institute. Lilit has been the principal investigator of 3 research grants, an author of 20 peer-reviewed publications, and has won several fellowships in life sciences, including the Marie-Curie Individual Fellowship, the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), the DAAD German Academic Research Service; has twice been nominated among “the most productive scientists of the year” by the Science Committee of Armenia.

Luca Rossi

VP of Product & Process Technology

Luca Rossi is the vice-president of Product & Process Technology for Risk Reduced Products (RRP) at Philip Morris International R&D, and he has been working there for more than two decades. During this time he has managed several teams of scientists across multiple areas of science and technology mainly in Switzerland but also the US. Luca is currently leading a team engaged in aerosol science and technology, product research & development and innovation management for risk reduced products.

Marina Aghayan

Co-Founder of AIP Tech

Marina Aghayan is a Chemical Engineer with 15+ years of experience with a demonstrated history of working in R&D institutes and universities. She is skilled especially in materials design and manufacturing, 3D printing (Selective Laser Melting) of metal/ceramic composites. Marina is the Co-Founder of AIP Tech, which specializes in 3D printing of customized orthopedic implants and uses innovative technologies to improve and restore quality of life to those individuals in need of assistance. She is also the CEO and Co-Founder of FACT INDUSTRIES OÜ, which was established in 2017 in Estonia and brought together an ensemble of experienced scientists and engineers to provide customized research & development assignments for industries. Marina has studied at the Yerevan State University, Faculty of Chemistry, and received her Ph.D from the Tallinn University of Technology in Material Science in 2016.

Miqayel Voskanyan

Musician

Miqayel Voskanyan is an Armenian tar prodigy, musician, composer, songwriter, and producer known for pushing the boundaries of traditional Armenian music. He was part of the Armenian State Orchestra of National Instruments for over a decade starting in 2004, where he began experimenting with the traditional Armenian instrument that would soon develop into his signature sound. During his time spent studying music theory and being influenced heavily by jazz and world music, he began improvising on the centuries-old tar, an instrument beloved for its ancient, traditionally Armenian sound. He formed Miqayel Voskanyan and Friends (MVF) Band in 2011, an instrumental folk-jazz band that consisted of four other talented musician friends. MVF Band’s music-fusing sound gained critical acclaim in Armenian and international music circles. In 2017, he founded Oberton Music Production and Record Label, a collective committed to the idea that music carries the ability to revive and revitalize people.

Naira Hovakimyan

Control Theorist and Co-founder of Intelinair

Naira Hovakimyan is an Armenian control theorist who holds the W. Grafton and Lillian B. Wilkins Professorship of the Mechanical Science and Engineering at UIUC. Before joining the faculty of UIUC in 2008, she spent time as a research scientist at Stuttgart University in Germany, French Institute for Research in Computer Science and Automation (INRIA) in France, Georgia Institute of Technology and she was on faculty of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering of Virginia Tech during 2003-2008. In 2015, she was named inaugural director for Intelligent Robotics Lab of Coordinated Science Laboratory at UIUC. Naira has co-authored two books, six patents, and more than 400 refereed publications. In 2015, she was awarded the UIUC Engineering Council Award for Excellence in Advising. She is a co-founder and Chief scientist of Intelinair. Her work in robotics for elderly care was featured in the New York Times, on Fox TV and CNBC.

Shant Shekherdimian

Surgeon and Public Health Expert

Shant is the Associate Director for Healthcare Outreach for the Promise Armenian Institute at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). His educational background includes a medical degree from Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and a Masters in Public Health with an emphasis on global health from UCLA. He has completed a residency in general surgery at UCLA and a fellowship in pediatric surgery at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada. Shant currently is an Associate Professor of Surgery and serves as an advisor to the Ministry of Health in Armenia.

Tigran Jrbashyan

Head of Management Advisory Services at Ameria CJSC

Mr. Jrbashyan has more than 20 years of management advisory experience in key economic sectors of Armenia. He is one of the leading experts in the country in the fields of strategy development, design of sector reforms, elaboration of legal normative acts and implementation of institutional building activities. He is an author of over 130 scientific articles and publications, published in local and international magazines. Currently, Mr. Jrbashyan is Partner, Director of Management Advisory Services at Ameria CJSC, one of the leading advisory companies in Armenia. He graduated from State Engineering University of Armenia with a major in engineering and mechanics. He took a post-graduate course in Moscow State Technical University after Bauman in Russia and received a Ph.D. degree in economics from the Institute of Economic Research of Armenia.

Tigran Shahverdyan

Co-founder of Robomart

Tigran is the co-founder and CTO of Robomart, the creator of the world's first store hailing service. He is also an active member in the Gituzh movement. Tigran graduated summa cum laude from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and started his career in space exploration projects, doing research on Venus magnetosphere and working on lunar lander projects at the Space Research Institute in Russia. He was part of a Google Lunar X Prize team Selenokhod working on the lunar rover and lander. He is also an alumnus of International Space University. In 2016, Tigran received Armenia's Presidential Award for a breakthrough discovery in Physics for his research in theoretical physics.

Yervant Zorian

Chief Architect and Fellow at Synopsys

Dr. Zorian is a Chief Architect and Fellow at Synopsys, as well as President of Synopsys Armenia. Formerly, he was VP and Chief Scientist of Virage Logic, a Distinguished Member of Technical Staff AT&T Bell Laboratories. He's currently the President of IEEE Test Technology Technical Council, holds 45 US patents, has authored five books, published over 400 refereed papers and received numerous best paper awards. Was the 2005 recipient of the Industrial Pioneer Award for his contribution to BIST, the 2006 recipient of the IEEE Hans Karlsson Award for diplomacy. Received the IEEE Distinguished Services Award for leading the TTTC, the IEEE Meritorious Award for outstanding contributions to EDA, the Republic of Armenia’s National Medal of Science in 2014. Dr. Zorian is a member of AGBU Central Board of Directors, the Founding President of AGBU Armenian Virtual College (AVC), Trustee of the American University of Armenia, and Chairman of the AGBU Silicon Valley.