Software Development

Date: 2/26

Time: 5:00 pm CST

Host/Organizer: Stacer Group

Event Overview

BEST Robotics Speaker Series is a virtual professional engagement program that connects students with industry leaders—including C-suite executives, founders, and technical experts—through live Zoom sessions. Speakers share candid insights into their career journeys, leadership experiences, and real-world decision-making, while students engage directly through Q&A and discussion. Designed to broaden awareness of career pathways and clarify leadership roles, the series provides practical guidance on skills development, education, and professional growth, empowering students to envision their future impact in engineering, technology, and business.

Agenda

Presentation (30 minutes):

• Career journey and education path

• Role overview and responsibilities

• Required skills

• Real project example

• Career entry points

• Lessons and advice

  
  

Q&A (15 minutes):

• Guided student questions

  
  

Speaker:

• John Elam

• Decision Systems Leader @ Toyota Motors North America

• John Brandon Elam is a builder who creates systems that make billion-dollar decisions. At AT&T, he built dashboards and automation tools to manage hundreds of projects simultaneously, spotting issues before they happened. He then created company-wide emergency response systems that coordinated deployments across the entire organization. At Toyota, he architects recommendation engines, forecasting systems, and optimization tools that drive hundreds of billions of dollars in business decisions. As co-founder of Bit Bros Data, John shares the techniques behind this work through books and content covering decision systems, AI implementation, and how strategic video games teach real-world problem-solving skills. His philosophy: build for decisions first, make it adoptable over optimal, and keep it simple to start. 

Contact Information

If you have any questions, please contact the Stacer Group Team at collaboration@stacergroup.com.