We are excited to announce that Alby Bocanegra joins the Smart Cities Council team as Futurist in Residence. Alby's role with the council will be to drive the adoption of future technologies, sharing insights into the predicted impact and implications on cities, regions and towns, their residents and ecosystems that need to be developed.
Alby proudly lives his life in service to others, starting with his career in the US Military in 1997. He then spent 10 years in Academia, fostering new partnerships with cities, native tribes and governments, with his final stint at the University of Southern California where he focused on talent growth Diversity Equity & inclusion. He also served on LA Mayor Garcetti’s Veteran employment committee.
His time in public office started with the City and Country of San Francisco’s Department of Technology where he created SF’s first ever tech talent program, and then as Chief Technology Officer for the Mayor’s Office in the City of New York where he co-founded the Cities Coalition for Digital Rights with Amsterdam and Barcelona alongside the United Nations which now boasts over 50 cities globally – and growing. In his most recent role as Vice President of Urban Tech and Global City Partnerships with Mastercard, he led engagement with over 350 cities and over 100 tech companies, academic institutions and NGO’s under the City Possible framework. It was there that he led the creation of the “24-Hour Cities Network” which included over 100 global cities and stakeholders, emphasizing the support of the night-time economy in cities.
As Founder and Chief Futurist at TUF Inc, he works to shape strategies, governance models and engagements that focus on delivering a better tomorrow for people, lending his expertise as an Advisory Board Member on Digital Twins to the World Economic Forum, Senior Advisor of Engagement in Africa for Charter Cities Institute and Board Member of Create Labs, an AI Metaverse startup as well as Aventura Ventures, a Venture Capital fund in Southern California.
We look forward to working with Alby and sharing his knowledge, experience and insights with our members and partners.
