Published Author Category Events, RTP180

Generally, when people hear the term hacking, they immediately think of a young kid locked away in a basement trying to break into a secure server, computer, or website that is protected by a password. At least that’s what I think about, but there are many forms of “hacking,” and they certainly aren’t all bad. In August, we invited speakers from all walks of life who are pushing the hacking envelope in areas such as government, law, and company culture. Let’s dive in!

Jason Hibbets from Red Hat is up first:
Fun Fact: This was Jason’s third time speaking at RTP180! We love having him as each time he comes to talk, he’s got a new drive, mission, and goal. This time, he’s out to improve the citizen experience. What does this mean? To Jason it means finding ways to make government more transparent and collaborative. Jason goes on to explain that a lot of us view government in the same way, which is we put taxes in and get services out. In other words, you pay money in, you get a service like police protection or trash collection in return. Jason, however, views government a little differently. He looks at it as a community.

To learn how he’s hacked a better government system, you’ll have to watch his talk on Youtube HERE.


Zeydy Ortiz – Datacrunch Lab
Dr. Ortiz recently discovered her love for hacking through a hackathon, and took the stage to tell us all about hacking for fun. Not to be confused with a marathon, a hackathon is an event, typically lasting for several days, in which a group of like-minded individuals come together to preform collaborative computer programming. Some companies will host hackathons when they need a quick solution for a new piece of software or when “all hands on deck” are needed to help solve a crucial problem. In fact, during a recent hackathon, Zeydy was a part of a team that helped to create a new piece of software to solve a real ongoing problem.

To hear about the software and problem her and her team solved, watched her Youtube video HERE.


Kevin Lee – Hacking the Law Meetup
I think we all can agree that we are scared to call an attorney for the fear of billable hours. We’ve been trained to think that attorneys start the time clock the moment they answer the phone. In some cases, this is true, which is why Kevin is working on a way to hack the current system and create a new, innovative way in which we do business with attorneys. He jokes that he told an attorney friend of his that he can make him 25% more efficient in which the friend replied “Why would I want to do that?! I get paid by the hour!” All joking aside, Kevin launched into several talking points surrounding “legal hacking and what it is.”

Now that I’ve teed it up for you, it’s up to you to watch Kevin’s Youtube video to bring it all full circle HERE.


Melissa Kennedy – Innovate 48
We need to redefine innovation. According to Melissa, her definition of innovation is change that matters. She challenged the room to think about that for a second and then went on to say, “If everyone could do one change in their sphere of influence or area of expertise – could you imagine the type of shift in a company or the entire world this would cause if it happened?” For this to work, we must change the institution and how we actual innovate. Instead of putting our best and brightest in silos, we must allow them to work together. This is where Melissa’s “Smart Speed” system comes into play. The best and brightest working together for 48 hours to come up with solutions to problems. Through doing this she has generated over $1 Billion in sales for her clients in less than 2 years, 48 hours at a time. What’s wild is that she’s not finished yet. She went on to explain the next step in the process and how to create “leadovators.”

For that, you’ll have to watch her Youtube video HERE.

Join us next month as we showcase Women in Business. Don’t miss it, we have a stellar lineup ready to share.