AI in Business: Investments and Opportunities for Value Creation

Event Description

In this moderated discussion, Marks offers insights into how artificial intelligence is impacting the business world today and how executives and investors are thinking about the opportunities for AI to drive value creation. The discussion covers a range of topics, including Marks’ approach to evaluating new companies, examples of promising startups developing innovative solutions, and key concerns such as how to obtain high-quality data to train AI models.

This event is part of the Value Chain Innovation Speaker Series.

Michael Marks is a founding managing partner of Celesta Capital, a global deep tech venture capital firm based in Silicon Valley.

Prior to Celesta, Marks was a founding partner at Riverwood Capital, a private equity fund specializing in rapidly growing private companies in North America and emerging markets. He was also a partner and senior advisor at Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR) in 2006 and 2007.

Marks spent 13 years as chairman and CEO of Flex (formerly Flextronics International Ltd.) and built the company into one of the largest technology companies in the world. As its CEO, he led Flex as it increased annualized revenues from approximately $93 million to approximately $25 billion, while establishing operations in more than 35 countries and integrating 100 acquisitions. Marks also served as interim CEO of Tesla.

Electronic Business Magazine named Marks one of the Top Ten Most Influential Executives in Silicon Valley History and CEO of the Year for 2003. He served as an adjunct professor at Stanford Graduate School of Business from 2008 to 2017.

Marks serves as a board director for more than 20 companies, including Alveo Technologies, Atonarp, Canary, Carbitex, H20.ai, The Melt, Mina Restaurant Group, Onx Homes, Percipient.ai, Prellis Biologics, Quartic.ai, Slate.ai, and WhiteRabbit.ai. He previously served as a board director for SanDisk, GoPro, and Schlumberger Limited, amongst others.

Marks earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA and MA from Oberlin College.