Ed "Kingfish" Lada, Jr., President and CEO for Goodwill Keystone Area and Goodwill Keystone Area Foundation in Central and Southeastern PA, discusses how A.I. (in particular computer vision machine learning), has been explored within his non-profit organizations to modernize operations while also creating pathways to the future of workforce development. Goodwill is a $7b federated non-profits in North America that are the original social enterprise. In this session, Ed will share his journey doing R&D, Goodwill's path forward, and why it is imperative that the technology is viewed as an augmentation of the human experience, not the replacement of the human experience.
Ed Lada is president and CEO of Goodwill Keystone Area, a 74-year-old non-profit social enterprise serving 22 counties, employing over 1500 people, and serving thousands of people a year. Ed is recognized throughout the Goodwill movement for his work to revolutionize the traditional nonprofit by utilizing powerful technologies like robotics, artificial intelligence by way of computer vision machine learning, and virtual and augmented reality. During his stint as CEO of the Goodwill of Western Missouri and Eastern Kansas, Ed created the Artemis Initiative in Kansas City, a first-of-its-kind workforce development training institute designed to empower the workforce of tomorrow by preparing job seekers on emerging technologies. Ed continues to grow Goodwill's tremendous legacy by leveraging technologies to augment the human experience, not replace it, and to create truly integrated and inclusive work environments. Ed is passionate about giving those who are disenfranchised a head start in an increasingly evolving technological world and, in doing so, creating a pathway to generational wealth and breaking the cycle of poverty.