DisrupTV Episode 451

Maria Ross is a speaker, author, leadership strategist, and empathy advocate who proves that “cash flow, creativity, and compassion aren’t mutually exclusive©.” She helps forward-thinking leaders and teams practice empathy to accelerate growth and impact.

Maria is the author of several books, including her most recent award-winning The Empathy Dilemma: How Successful Leaders Balance Performance, People, and Personal Boundaries and host of the top-ranked podcast The Empathy Edge, featuring global changemakers and thought leaders.

A sought-after keynote speaker, leadership workshop facilitator, and current Forbes.com contributor, Maria has inspired company and conference audiences at TEDx, SHRM, The 3% Conference, BlogHer, TBWA/Worldwide, CHRISTUS Health, Google, Salesforce, New York Life, and more—and her insights have been featured in media such as MSNBC, NPR, Entrepreneur, and Thrive Global.

After surviving a near-fatal brain aneurysm in 2008, she wrote Rebooting My Brain, a memoir on the role of empathy in healing and resilience.

Based in Northern California with her family (and a small zoo of pets), Maria blends data, storytelling, and humor to show that being more human at work isn’t just good for people—it’s great for business.

Dr. David A. Bray is a Distinguished Fellow and Chair of the Accelerator with the Alfred Lee Loomis Innovation Council at the non-partisan Henry L. Stimson Center. He is also a non-resident Distinguished Fellow with the Business Executives for National Security, and a CEO and transformation leader for different “under the radar” tech and data ventures seeking to get started in novel situations. He is Principal at LeadDoAdapt Ventures and has served in a variety of leadership roles in turbulent environments, including bioterrorism preparedness and response from 2000-2005. Dr. Bray previously was the Executive Director for a bipartisan National Commission on R&D, provided non-partisan leadership as a federal agency Senior Executive, worked with the U.S. Navy and Marines on improving organizational adaptability, and aided U.S. Special Operation Command’s J5 Directorate on the challenges of countering disinformation online. He has received both the Joint Civilian Service Commendation Award and the National Intelligence Exceptional Achievement Medal. David accepted a leadership role in December 2019 to direct the successful bipartisan Commission on the Geopolitical Impacts of New Technologies and Data that included Senator Mark Warner, Senator Rob Portman, Rep. Suzan DelBene, and Rep. Michael McCaul. From 2017 to the start of 2020, David also served as Executive Director for the People-Centered Internet coalition Chaired by Internet co-originator Vint Cerf and was named a Senior Fellow with the Institute for Human-Machine Cognition starting in 2018. Business Insider named him one of the top “24 Americans Who Are Changing the World” under 40 and he was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. For twelve different startups, he has served as President, CEO, Chief Strategy Officer, and Strategic Advisor roles.

David’s passions include complicated, near-impossible missions involving humans and technology in challenging circumstances. Through the efforts of a team of “positive change agents”, he led the transformation of the Federal Communication Commission’s legacy IT with more than 207 different systems to award-winning tech. This included rolling out new cloud-based IT that achieved results in 1/2 the time at 1/6 the cost. He was the recipient of the Armed Forces Communications and Electronic Association’s Outstanding Achievement Award for Civilian Government. He also received the global CIO 100 Award twice, which usually is awarded to private sector Fortune 500 companies, both in 2015 and 2017, for his transformational leadership in change-adverse settings. From 2017-2021, he both worked with multiple services associated with the U.S. Department of Defense on improving organizational adaptability and countering disinformation online – including personally surviving a disinformation attack that occurred in 2018. In 2019, he was invited to give the AI World Society Distinguished Lecture to the United Nations on UN Charter Day. In 2025, he was invited to be an expert witness before a public Congressional hearing on AI, specifically to provide both verbal and written testimony as well as answers to questions from members of the U.S. Congress to help inform AI policies.

As Principal at LeadDoAdapt Ventures, Dr. Bray’s passions include providing Board-level and CEO-level leadership to different “under the radar” tech and data ventures seeking to get started in novel situations to include activities that shape the Future of Data, Bio, and Space. He provides strategic direction, advice, and leadership to organizations confronting turbulent environments on multiple topics ranging from quantum computing to commercial space endeavors; synthetic biology to data cooperatives paired with AI. He accepted a role of Co-Chair for 2016-2017 with an IEEE Committee focused on Artificial Intelligence, automated systems, and innovative policies globally and has been serving as a Visiting Executive In-Residence at Harvard University since 2015 and as a Faculty Member giving talks on Impact and Disruption at Singularity University since 2017. In 2021 and 2022, he was named a Distinguished Fellow with the Atlantic Council. In 2023, he was named a distinguished Academy Fellow with the National Academy of Public Administration focused on the role of transformative technologies, like AI, on public service. In 2022, the Business Executives for National Security welcomed him as a Distinguished Fellow focused on the intersection of transformative technologies, global collaborations, and over-the-horizon challenges for the future ahead. David has been an invited keynote speaker to CEOs, world leaders, and crowds of more than 3,000 participants at events in India, Vietnam, Australia, Taiwan, Dubai, South Africa, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Canada, Belgium, Sweden, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

Jason James is a technology executive, board advisor, and multi-time Chief Information Officer with more than 20 years of experience leading digital transformation, cybersecurity, AI initiatives, and enterprise technology organizations across healthcare SaaS, retail, fintech, telecommunications, and supply chain industries.

Throughout his career, Jason has played a leadership role in nearly two dozen mergers and acquisitions and multiple divestitures, helping organizations scale, modernize, and navigate complex business change.

His insights on leadership, technology strategy, innovation, and business transformation have been featured in Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, CIO Magazine, and industry podcasts.

Jason holds degrees from Oregon State University and University of Oregon and lives in metro Atlanta with his wife, two daughters, and their dog.