Rob Nail helps organizations explore new horizons and navigate the Age of Technological Disruption.
Rob Nail is a technologist, engineer, serial entrepreneur, coach, advisor, futuremaker & international speaker. He is equally excited and terrified by this future and is passionate about ways to engineer our dreams through creating experiments, tools, content, and networks that can shape an equitable and inclusive future of abundance for all.
He is currently a Strategic Advisor, Mentor, and Coach, facilitating programs on technology, innovation, and intrapreneurship at the Nomura-SRI-Innovation Center and a think tank on the Future of Learning for CompTIA.
On the side, Rob Nail is developing experiments on future opportunities and implications of the Metaverse and actively experimenting with artificial intelligence and blockchain technologies for the future of work, education, and leadership, while learning from some of the greatest leadership and executive coaches today as an original member of 100Coaches (Marshall Goldsmith’s leadership cohort).
Previously, as Associate Founder and former CEO of Singularity University (SU), Rob grew the institution to become a global leader for understanding exponential technologies and transformation. Rob Nail brought a unique entrepreneurial and impact focused approach to growing a non-traditional university as a model for the future and a forum to catalyze a global ecosystem that leverages exponential technologies to help solve humanity’s grand challenges.
In addition, Rob has been a director on several boards including a public director at Harman (HAR) to assist with their tech transformation, ultimately resulting in the ~$8 Billion acquisition by Samsung in 2016.
Rob Nail cofounded Velocity11 in 1999, building automation and robotics for cancer research and drug discovery to later be acquired by Agilent Technologies in 2007, where he traded the CEO role for a General Manager role attempting to be a catalyst for change at a big company.
His mission is to build bridges to an amazing future. Rob Nail advises organizations on making the shift from linear to exponential mindset, identifying long-term technological threats and opportunities, and making a positive impact.
He holds degrees in Mechanical, Materials Science and Manufacturing Systems Engineering from UC Davis and Stanford University.
