Megan Smith & Susan Alzner, Using Technology to Better Humanity

Techsetters

On this week’s episode we were joined by Megan Smith and Susan Alzner, co-founders of Shift7, where they are bringing together problem solvers and innovators to solve systemic problems through transparency, interdisciplinary collaboration, and leveraging technology.

Before teaming up to build Shift7, Megan Smith served as the third Chief Technology Officer of the United States under President Barack Obama, worked as VP of Google for 11 years, was CEO of planetout- an online LGTBQ+ community in the early days of the internet, and worked on early smartphones at General Magic and Apple Japan early in her career. Today, in addition to her work at Shift7, Megan is an advisor to the MIT Media Lab, Vital Voices, Thinkof-Us, LA Olympics 2028, the Malala Fund, which she actually co-founded!

Susan has worked in both creative spaces as well as government organizations. Susan worked as the political project manager for musician and social activist Ani DiFranco, and led the United Nations Non-Governmental Liaison Service (UN-NGLS) from 2014-2018. During her time at the UN, she co-created the UN Solutions Summit and led global public participation in UN General Assembly high-level events, including the UN Summit for Refugees and Migrants, and dialogues with the candidates for UN Secretary-General.

In today’s episode we go behind the scenes of these illustrious careers to learn how a mandatory middle school science fair, batman and Robin, shaped Megan and Susan’s leadership styles and approaches to problem solving. Megan and Susan discuss how we can superpower our problem solving by applying technology and innovation to all topics from self driving cars to school lunches.

Techsetters is a Kode With Klossy Podcast, made possible by If / Then. This episode was recorded in May 2021.