Mary Lou Jepsen

What kind of leader turns the impossible into the inevitable? It takes someone with technological know-how, a shrewd entrepreneurial instinct and a passionate determination to drive progress forward. Dr. Mary Lou Jepsen, futurist, inventor and serial innovator, has impacted industries ranging from electronics to health care. Most recently, she is at the forefront of efforts to translate brain signals into physical images. For a woman who is taking mind-reading from the realm of science fiction into reality, virtually nothing is impossible.

To rethink how we see and understand our bodies, we must start with new ways of seeing into our interiors – the blood, the organs, the neurons and all the microscopic changes within. Dr. Jepsen’s fascination with body and brain imaging began 25 years ago as a graduate student. As she faced death at the hands of an unknown disease, a generous professor funded an expensive MRI scan. A brain tumor was found and removed, and she recovered to become a brilliant scientist and inventor with over 200 patents to her name. Jepsen went on to found Openwater, a startup that develops imaging technologies that will ultimately replace MRI technology, reduce health care costs and save countless lives. Jepsen’s groundbreaking work on capturing brain signals in physical form in consumer-priced devices indicates that we will soon – as early as 2020 – allow others to see what we are thinking. Such a radical development in how we communicate will not only amplify human excellence but transform the world.

Previously, Dr. Jepsen was a professor at both MIT and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia, before becoming a leading technical executive with Facebook, Oculus, Google and Intel. Jepsen’s skills as an inventor and tech pioneer are matched only by her entrepreneurial and business acumen; she is the founder of four startups. She successfully co-founded and was chief technology officer of the global nonprofit One Laptop Per Child, which brought $100 computers to the world’s poorest children. Jepsen draws on her experience as a businesswoman with a background in consumer electronics, artificial intelligence and design to deliver futuristic insights on how groundbreaking ideas can be successfully commercialized. In addition to speaking about her portable medical imaging devices and emerging mental telepathy technology, Jepsen also delves into the ethical dimensions of reading people’s minds. She discusses how we can ensure that such breakthroughs are used for good rather than for immoral purposes.

Dr. Jepsen, whose work will revolutionize health care and human communication, has been widely lauded as an important technology innovator. She has been recognized with many awards and honors, including TIME magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world, Forbes 50 Over 50, 2022: Entrepreneurs, CNN Top 10 thinker and accolades from the leading global professional societies in optics, display and electronics.

Mary Lou Jepsen is available to advise your organization via virtual and in-person consulting meetings, interactive workshops and customized keynotes through the exclusive representation of Stern Speakers & Advisors, a division of Stern Strategy Group^®.