Data Analytics Speaker Series

 Omar Abou-Sayed joined Advantek in 2012, after serving as a director of the company since its founding in 1999. As the architect of Advantek's current strategy, Omar took the reins to transition the firm to its more scalable business model. Omar's experience spans the global energy, chemicals, oilfield services, and renewables industries. He has worked in a variety of engineering, business, and organization-wide leadership roles within SuperMajor oil companies, blue chip management consulting firms and private equity funds, and venture-backed startups. Previous to joining Advantek, Omar served as the Vice President of Strategy and Planning for Elevance Renewable Sciences, a TPG and Total Ventures backed renewable chemical company, where he developed and executed its biorefining strategy which propelled the company's valuation from $40M to $850M in three years. Omar holds a Bachelors of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.

 Dr. Vinod Veedu is the Director of Strategic Initiatives at Oceanit and he is responsible for identifying strategic directions for the company and for defining how best to expand the corporate footprint in these key areas. In 2006, he was brought on board as a Senior Nanotechnology Engineer to lead the company’s efforts in Material Science. Dr. Veedu is an active researcher in the area of nanocomposite materials and his energies are targeted toward developing multifunctional nanostructures and hybrid platforms for various commercial and defense applications. Dr. Veedu has more than 25 approved/pending US patents and his works have received wide acceptance in the nanotechnology community. In 2007, he became part of the Guinness Book of World records for the creation of the smallest nanobrush. In 2008, Dr. Veedu began hosting his own TV show called “Weird Science with Dr. V,” on a CBS/NBC affiliate channel. In 2014, Dr. Veedu was selected as one of the seven Innovation Ambassadors by AAAS and Lemelson Foundation. He currently serves the NASA Space Center in Houston as Technical Advisor and as the Energy Advisor at the Houston Technology Center. Dr. Veedu earned his MS from Florida Atlantic University in 2003 and, in 2006, his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Hawaii.