Navigating Change: From Banking to Automotive and Beyond with Michelle Avary

Michelle Avary - VP Product Strategy & Government Affairs, North America, EinrideAs a leader in automotive technologies, Avary has been at the forefront ofrevolutionizing the mobility space and has devoted her career in establishingbetter infrastructures for automotive, autonomous, IoT, and connectivityplatforms. She is passionate about improving safety and decarbonizing mobility.A key member of Einride’s executive team in North America setting thecompany’s strategic direction and product vision, Mrs. Avary guides thedevelopment of key electric, autonomous, and digital products and services,leads government relations and public policy, creation of safety managementsystems, and helps scale overall business.Prior to joining Einride, Michelle was Global Head of Automotive andAutonomous Mobility at the World Economic Forum. She oversaw a global teamaccelerating the transformation of mobility to be safer, cleaner, and moreequitable. In partnership with respective Chairs, she led the AutomotiveGovernor’s community meeting annually in Davos and created the GlobalAutonomous Vehicle Council, comprised of the top AV companies andregulators from around the world.Prior to joining the World Economic Forum, Avary, was Vice President of Productsand Strategy, Global Automotive Io(m)T at Aeris. Under her leadership,automotive revenue grew by over 20% annually. She was instrumental in winningone of the largest automotive customers, resulting in over $1 billion in revenues.Prior to Aeris, Avary led a global team that developed and operatedembedded and tethered services for Toyota Motor Sales, bringing in over $60million annually, and scouted technologies for leading supplier Harman.Michelle is a noted public speaker and thought leader appearing at SXSW,Reuters, on BBC, NPR, and the Forum’s Agenda as well as guest lecturer atUniversity of Pennsylvania and University of California Berkeley.An endless pioneer in developing automotive technologies, Avary co-foundedDrive Time Metrics, an automotive data monetization startup. Her passion fortechnology, diversity, and equality culminated in establishing one of the first inthe world women in technology groups, Women in Automotive Technology an advocacy group that empowers women worldwide to reach their potential intech and auto field.As an avid promoter of automotive technologies and a lobbyist, Avary is on theadvisory board for various startups, including DeepScale (sold to Tesla) and Sfaraand has been recognized by the Federal Communications Commission, FederalTrade Commission, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and NationalTransportation Safety Board as a subject matter expert on automotivetechnologies. She also served as an executive director for the Future ofAutomotive Security and Technology Research, as well as LA Auto Show’sadvisory board.Her patents for telematics technologies including Automatic Crash NotificationUsing Pre-recorded Messages, Cross Channel In-vehicle Media ConsumptionMeasurement and Analysis, and Discovery Playlist Creation are recognizedworldwide. Avary has several more pending patents.Avary holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics from Pennsylvania StateUniversity, a Masters of Art in Economics from the University of San Francisco, andstudied international law and economics at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.She is also a certified yoga instructor.Thanks to infoedge LLC for support for this podcast