Speakers

Dr. Priyantha Wijayatunga has over 35 years of professional experience including almost 17 years in ADB. He was the Director, South Asia Energy Division and Chief of Energy Sector Group prior to assuming the current position. Before joining ADB, he served as the founder Director General of the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka, a Senior Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Moratuwa and its founder Dean, of the Faculty of Information Technology. He was also a member of the Board of Directors of the Ceylon Electricity Board and Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority and Advisory Board, Melbourne Energy Institute. He has extensively contributed in the areas of energy policy and regulation, energy planning and clean energy development. He has published over 100 research publications, books in these areas. Priyantha, a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers Sri Lanka, holds a Doctorate in Power Systems Economics from the Imperial College London on Beit Scientific Research Fellowship. He served as an Academic Visitor at Imperial College and Chairman, South Asia Forum for Infrastructure Regulators. He is a Chartered Electrical Engineer, a Member of IET and Senior Member of IEEE. He is a Past President of SLEMA.

Prof. Jason Mars is a professor of computer science at University of Michigan, and CEO of Jaseci Labs, LLC. Jason Mars’ body of work is at the nexus of science, technology, and entrepreneurship. As a computer science professor at the University of Michigan, he helms the Jaseci Research Group, a leading research lab specializing in artificial intelligence, large-scale computing, and programming languages. Mars is also the creator of the Jaseci and the Jac programming language, a new technology stack that revolutionizes the way sophisticated software is created using Generative AI and is commercially used by companies like Myca.ai, Tobu Life, and ZeroShotBot. Mars has earned accolades such as Crain Business’s 40 under 40, Bank Innovations’ Most Innovative CEO, and the CARAH Award. Mars is also the author of the bestselling “Breaking Bots: Inventing A New Voice In The AI Revolution”, offering insights on AI’s trajectory and inspiring future leaders. Before his tenure at the University of Michigan, Mars was a professor at UCSD, and has experience bringing technologies to market with tech giants Google and Intel. He earned his PhD in Computer Science from UVA.