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Panel:
Dr. Jennifer Brodmann
Faculty Researcher
CSUDH South Bay Economics Institute
Dr. Jennifer Brodmann is an assistant professor of finance at California State University Dominguez Hills. She graduated from the University of New Orleans with her Ph.D. and M.S. in Financial Economics. Her research focuses on corporate and entrepreneurial finance. Dr. Brodmann has presented her research at several conferences, including the Eastern Finance Association, Southwestern Finance Association, Academy of Financial Services, Academy of Economics and Finance, and the Gulf Research Council. Dr. Brodmann’s research is published in several peer-reviewed journals, including the International Review of Economics and Finance, Journal of Economics and Business, International Journal of Bank Marketing, Journal of Business Accounting and Finance Perspectives, Journal of Economic Cooperation and Development, and Borsa Istanbul Review.
Dr. Brodmann has multiple years of experience teaching and mentoring students. She has served as a mentor for the CSUDH Innovation Incubator, faculty mentor for the South Bay Economics Forecast Student Research Competition, and a research mentor to undergraduate students for the Privateer Undergraduate Research and Scholarly UNO Experience (PURSUE) program. Her students and mentees have published their work with her in peer-reviewed journals and presented their research at the South Bay Economic Forecast, Academy of Economics and Finance, CSUDH Student Research Day, and Innovate UNO, an annual student research conference at the University of New Orleans.
Dr. Fynnwin Prager
Co-Director
CSUDH South Bay Economics Institute
Fynnwin Prager, Ph.D., is co-director of the Economics Institute at CSU Dominguez Hills, College of Business Administration and Public Policy. Previously, he was a postdoctoral research associate at USC’s Price School of Public Policy and Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events (CREATE), and he remains affiliated with the center.
He received his Ph.D. in policy, planning, and development from the Price School. His research has focused on the policy and economics of disasters, particularly environmental and terrorism policy, and the impacts to regional economies and transportation systems. Dr. Prager’s dissertation focused on climate policy, and used Computable General Equilibrium modeling to analyze the economic and distributional impacts of US federal emissions trading policy. He has also worked on similar assessments of California’s Global Warming Solutions Act (AB32) and co-founded Carbon Retirement, an innovative London-based carbon offsets company.
Dr. Jose Martinez
Co-Director
CSUDH South Bay Economics Institute
Jose Martinez, Ph.D., received his bachelor's degree in economics from California State University, San Marcos and his master's and Ph.D. in economics from the University of California, San Diego. He is currently teaching microeconomics and macroeconomic principles and international business in the Accounting, Finance, and Economics Department at CSUDH. His research interests are labor economics, applied micro, migration, crime, and time series econometrics. Dr. Martinez also is co-director of the CSUDH Economics Institute.
AI Panel:
Stav Davis
Head of Finance & Business Operations
GrayMatter Robotics
Experienced leader in the tech startup ecosystem, scaling companies from Seed stage to acquisition. Led over $200M in equity and debt raises across multiple industries and verticals, including software, hardware, robotics, medical devices, marketing, digital media, and other industries. BSc in Biomedical Engineering; MIT MBA.
Joshua Hofstratter
Digital & Technology Innovation Manager
Chevron
Joshua Hofstatter is the Digital & Technology Innovation Manager for Chevron's downstream operations, leading technology and innovation initiatives at the El Segundo refinery. With a background in chemical engineering from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, he has held various roles at Chevron, including Reliability Engineer and Design Engineer. Joshua's expertise spans project management, digital systems development, and technology innovation, where he focuses on implementing cutting-edge solutions for refinery operations. He is passionate about leveraging technology to solve complex industrial challenges and drive operational improvements.
Adam Lane
City Policy & Government Affairs Manager
Waymo
Adam Lane is the City Policy & Government Affairs Manager at Waymo, an autonomous driving technology company with a mission to be the world’s most trusted driver. In this role, he oversees Waymo’s relationship with local policy and government stakeholders in Los Angeles and other jurisdictions.
Prior to Waymo, Adam served as the Vice President of Government Affairs and Programs for the Los Angeles Business Council (LABC), a progressive business advocacy and research organization, where he oversaw the organization’s government affairs strategy and public policy priorities in the areas of clean energy, economic development, environmental sustainability, homelessness, housing, and transportation.
Adam received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with Magna Cum Laude honors from California State University, Northridge and a Master’s Degree in Public Policy from the University of Southern California.
Kevin Noertkler
Co-Founder & CEO
Ampaire
Kevin Noertker is Co-founder and CEO of Ampaire. Over the past seven years, Kevin and his team have pioneered practical, compelling electrified flight through the upgrade of existing aircraft types. In 2019 they flew the world’s largest hybrid electric aircraft. In the years since, they've deployed and demonstrated electrified flight with multiple airlines across the globe. With over 30,000 miles flown hybrid and 12+ regulatory flight approvals across three countries to date, they’re a leader in hybrid electric aviation.
Prior to Ampaire, Kevin was an engineer and program manager in advanced aircraft and satellite technology development at Northrop Grumman, and started his career as a research fellow at Caltech and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. An entrepreneur at heart, Kevin is driven to apply the science and engineering disciplines of large aerospace organizations to pressing environmental problems here on Earth.
Spencer Burns
Director of Manufacturing Automation
Hadrian
Spencer Burns is the Director of Manufacturing Automation at Hadrian, based in Torrance, California, where they lead initiatives focused on aerospace and high-tech manufacturing. With over three years at Hadrian, he previously served as the Head of Application Engineering, contributing to the company’s innovative manufacturing processes.
Prior to joining Hadrian, Spencer worked at Meta as a founding member of Area 404, Facebook’s flagship hardware prototyping lab, helping bring consumer, aerospace, and infrastructure products to market. His extensive experience in rapid prototyping began at Tesla, where Spencer played a key role as a Sr. R&D CNC Programmer, developing advanced prototypes and introducing new technologies in process automation.
Emcee & Moderator
Frank Mottek
Mottek on Money
KABC 790
Frank Mottek is the voice of business news in Los Angeles. An award-winning broadcast journalist with more than 25 years of experience, Mottek is the senior money anchor at KNX 1070 Newsradio and provides listeners with “Your Money” reports weekdays at 20 and 50 past each hour between 6 a.m. and 1 p.m.
On Saturdays at 11 a.m., he hosts “Mottek on Money,” the number one source for business and consumer news in Southern California.