Howard Wright is the VP and Global Head of AWS Startups, a global organization dedicated to helping startups to create, build, and grow on the world’s leading cloud platform.

Prior to joining AWS, Howard was CEO and President of C360 Technologies, a computer vision SaaS company that provides ultra-high-quality video solutions to broadcasters and sports leagues. Before that, he led digital for sports and entertainment at Intel Capital, and spent 14-years at Qualcomm Inc., culminating in his role as Senior Vice President.
Howard holds a bachelor’s degree in Qualitative Economics from Stanford University, where he also played collegiate basketball. He continued his athletic career by becoming a professional basketball player in the NBA, playing with the Dallas Mavericks, Orlando Magic, and Atlanta Hawks. Howard was inducted into the Stanford Athletic Hall of Fame in 2001.

Sydney Sykes is a Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners and the Co-Founder & Board Co-Chair of BLCK VC. Sydney moved to San Francisco in 2016 after graduating from Harvard undergrad to work as an early stage investor at NEA, where she became passionate about early consumer companies and got a taste for angel investing. After a few years in venture, she moved to Dolls Kill to work on the growth and strategy of their native brands. After working with Lightspeed for several years as a Scout, Sydney joined the firm’s Consumer practice as a Partner in 2022.

Toussaint Bailey is the Founder of Uplifting Capital, a platform empowering personalized impact through private market investments for financial advisors, along with the institutions and families they serve. Before founding Uplifting Capital, Toussaint was CEO and Chairman of Enso Wealth Management, a private wealth firm, overseeing its growth to nearly $2 billion and eventual acquisition. Before financial services, Toussaint spent over a decade as a practicing attorney. He serves in several advisory and board capacities, including for RIA Institute (Impact Investment Committee), Financial Advisor IQ (Leadership Council), Alternative & Direct Investment Securities Association (Impact Investment Committee Vice Chair), Raphael House Shelter of San Francisco, Alliance for Safety and Justice (Board of Directors), and Saint Mary’s College of California (Board of Regents), among others. He has a JD from UCLA Law and a BSE from St. Mary’s College of CA.

Jessica Murrey is an Emmy Award-winning storyteller and international peacebuilder turned game designer. Jess spent years at Search for Common Ground, the world's largest dedicated peacebuilding organization. Building on the Nobel Peace Prize-nominated NGO’s expertise, Jess crafted a framework to train young movement leaders from Kyrgyzstan to Nigeria, Myanmar to Burundi, Colombia to Boston. Jess then partnered with an Ivy-league behavioral science researcher and a former Sr. Engineer at Pokémon GO (ranked Forbes Top 50 women in tech) to create Wicked Saints Studios.

Wicked Saints combines the power of movements with the pleasure of games, breaking the game industry mold. First to emerge from Niantic’s (makers of Pokémon GO) BDI incubator, Wicked Saints is building a real fantasy game and platform designed to fork the metaverse. Wicked Saints’ pre-seed round was led by Precursor Ventures with Riot Games, Authentic Ventures, Reid Hoffman, and former/current execs from Roblox, AppLovin, and Kabam. With an all-female, majority-Black C-suite, Wicked Saints joins an exclusive group of startups helmed by one of under 100 Black women founders who have ever raised $1 million or more. The 2020 Game Awards selected Jess as a member of their "Future Class."