Dr. Homaira Akbari is President and CEO of AKnowledge Partners, LLC, a global strategy advisory firm providing services to leading private equity funds and large corporations in the sectors of Internet of Things, Cyber Security, Supply Chain Visibility, Mobility and Enterprise Software. She serves on the Board of Directors of Banco Santander S.A. (NYSE: SAN) and Landstar System, Inc. (NASDAQ: LSTR).

Dr. Akbari has held senior management roles in Fortune 1000 companies including Microsoft, Thales, and Liberty Media subsidiary, Trueposition. Dr. Akbari has served as the President and CEO of SkyBitz, Inc., a leading provider of remote asset tracking and security solutions. Under her leadership, the company had record performance. She successfully sold SkyBitz to Telular Corporation (NASDAQ: WRLS). She was the Chairman of WorkFusion, the leading provider of intelligent automation software.

She holds a Ph.D. with honors in particle physics from Tufts University and an MBA with distinction from Carnegie Mellon Tepper School of Business. She is the author of more than 50 scientific articles in international journals, has two patents in IoT/M2M, and is a frequent speaker in industry conferences. She has published Opinion Editorials in Financial Times.

Throughout her life, Dr. Akbari has been active in and a contributor to many non-profit organizations. She is currently a member of Business Board of Advisors for Carnegie Mellon University Tepper School of Business. Dr. Akbari was the inaugural Chair of the Johns Hopkins University Physics and Astronomy Advisory Council from 2013-2018, and a member since 2009. She has established Homaira Akbari Fellowship Endowment at Carnegie Mellon University and Akbari-Mack Postdoctoral Fellowship in Physics and Astronomy at the Johns Hopkins University.