Ahnaf Ali is a technology visionary with a 25-year track record of driving innovative solutions for large global brands. At Church’s Texas Chicken®, Ahnaf leads the Technology and Digital Platforms team responsible for implementing and maintaining critical systems that serve restaurants and enterprises. He spearheads the translation of strategic priorities of the business into specific tactics, including developing annual and long-term technology budgets and balancing budget requests with ROI analysis, among many other technical tasks. Before joining the Church’s® family, Ahnaf spent over 23 years in positions ranging from technical solution architect to executive level for global restaurant brands, including Subway (Franchise Co-Op), Burger King, Arby’s, and BurgerFi International. Over that time, he developed and implemented custom solutions for POS, Back Office, Payments, and Data Analytics solutions.

Pedro “Pete” Mora, founder and CEO of the fajita delivery chain Fajita Pete’s, is an entrepreneur who has grown his restaurant concept to 31 locations in four states with more than 50 additional locations planned in the coming years. Originally from Colombia, Mora moved to Houston with his family as a child. In 2003, Pete graduated from the University of Houston Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship and opened his first restaurant, Poblano’s, a 6,500 square-foot, full-service location with 60 tables.

Steven King is the Distinguished Professor of Innovation and Emerging Technologies at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, holding a joint appointment with the Hussman School of Journalism and Media and Kenan-Flagler Business School. He combines computer science concepts, human-centered design and storytelling to create new ways to present information through emerging technologies such as virtual and augmented reality, artificial intelligence, and other interactive media forms. Steven is the CEO of Blue Sky Robotics, which leverages computer vision and robotics to solve difficult problems in the supply chain, manufacturing, and hospitality industries.