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Kevin Surace

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Kevin J. Surace
Surace in 2016
BornJuly 12, 1962
NationalityAmerican
Alma materRochester Institute of Technology
OccupationBusinessperson
Known forFather of the Virtual Assistant
WebsiteKevinSurace.com

Kevin Surace (born July 12, 1962) is an American technology innovator, producer[1] and entrepreneur.[2][3] He is the CTO of Appvance, creator of an Generative AI software QA platform.[3][4] He was Inc. Magazine’s 2009 entrepreneur of the Year.[5] He is the inventor of QuietRock Soundproof Drywall.[6]

Planet Forward, CNBC and the World Economic Forum have recognized Surace as an innovator and a technology pioneer.[7][8][9] He has 93 patents worldwide.[10] Surace is a speaker on AI, Generative AI, robotics, automation and the future of work.[11][12]

Education and personal life

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Surace earned a B.S. in electrical engineering technology from the Rochester Institute of Technology.[2][3][5] He serves on the RIT Board of Trustees, was alumni of the year in 2011, outstanding alumnus in 2019[13] and was inducted into the school’s Innovation Hall of Fame.[3]

His wife Marita Surace died on February 5, 2012.[14] He married Erica Rogers on January 1, 2014. She is the CEO of Silk Road Medical.[15]

Career

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Surace was the executive vice president of products and network services at General Magic, leading the development of the first large scale artificially intelligent voice user interface, and the team that developed the OnStar Virtual Advisor for General Motors."[16] He also served as the chairman, CEO and president of WebKnight, Inc. (sold to Micrografx).[17] He became the CEO then CTO of Appvance, the developer of an AI native quality platform for automated software testing and Chairman of cybersecurity company Token. Surace also held engineering and management positions at National Semiconductor, IBM and Seiko Epson.[3][4]

Surace co-founded Serious Energy, a cleantech company that uses disruptive technologies to reduce energy usage in buildings. Serious Energy’s product EcoRock (an eco-friendly drywall) earned a Best New Product award from Popular Science magazine[18] and was named the most innovative environmental product of the year by the Wall Street Journal.[3][5][19]

Surace launched the cloud-based procurement platform Perfect Commerce and serviced as its chairman, CEO, and president.[3][4][5] In 1992, Surace also co-founded Air Communications Inc., and became the company’s CEO and president.[3] In 2010, he led Serious to replace all windows in the Empire State Building to reduce energy consumption.[20]

Surace is the CTO of Appvance, creator of an AI driven QA platform. He has served on boards for RIT, Zeta Design/Build, WaterCity, Coyuchi, Spot Trender and TweetSecret.[2][3][16]

Surace holds several patents in green technologies, and has authored articles on energy efficiency and the green economy.[3][21] In 2009, he delivered a TED talk on his patented eco-friendly drywall and the need to rethink basic materials in a sustainable light. He is quoted as saying, "[It takes the equivalent of] eight thousand gallons of gas to build one house. … It’s like driving around the world six times. We must change everything."[22][23] He delivered an earlier TED talk on Worst Case Climate Change [24]

Awards and recognition

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In 2009, Surace was Inc. Magazine entrepreneur of the Year.[5][25] In 2010, CNBC, one of 15 Leading Innovators for the next decade.[8] In 2010, the World Economic Forum, Tech Pioneer.[2][9]

In 2010 he was the keynote speaker for the Democratic Caucus (House of Representatives).[3][26] In 2011, Planet Forward nominated Surace as an Innovator of the Year.[4][7][27]

References

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  1. ^ "Betsy Wolfe, Clifton Duncan, Danny Burstein, More to Star in Estella Scrooge Musical". 9 September 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d "Company Overview of Serious Energy, Inc". businessweek.com. Retrieved December 27, 2012.[dead link‍]
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Innovation Hall of Fame". rit.edu. Retrieved December 27, 2012.
  4. ^ a b c d "Kevin Surace, CTO". appvance.ai. Retrieved October 28, 2023.
  5. ^ a b c d e Leigh Buchanan (Dec 1, 2009). "Entrepreneur of the Year 2009: Kevin Surace of Serious Materials". inc.com. Retrieved December 27, 2012.
  6. ^ "Kevin Surace". Future in Review. Retrieved 2019-08-22.
  7. ^ a b Susanna (March 14, 2011). "Cross-posted from Advanced Biofuels USA by Joanne Ivancic". planetforward.org. Retrieved December 27, 2012.
  8. ^ a b "15 Leading Innovators For the Next Decade". CNBC. Archived from the original on December 6, 2013. Retrieved December 27, 2012.
  9. ^ a b "Kevin Surace". weforum.org. Retrieved December 27, 2012.
  10. ^ "AI Test Generation. What We Learned So Far. | SoftwareTestPro". www.softwaretestpro.com. Archived from the original on 2019-04-03.
  11. ^ "Kevin J. Surace Keynote Speakers Bureau & Speaking Fee". Retrieved 2 February 2018.
  12. ^ Kevin Surace (4 May 2015). "Kevin Surace: Robotics, AI, the end of human work, and a coming Renaissance". Retrieved 2 February 2018 – via YouTube.
  13. ^ "Surace named 2019 Outstanding Alumnus". RIT. Retrieved 2019-08-22.
  14. ^ "Marita Surace". legacy.com. February 12, 2012. Retrieved December 27, 2012.
  15. ^ "Management Team « Silk Road Medical Silk Road Medical". www.silkroadmedical.com. Archived from the original on 2013-08-02.
  16. ^ a b "Kevin Surace's Bio". sustainablesociety.org. Retrieved December 27, 2012.
  17. ^ Scarlett, Kane (January 15, 1998). "Micrografx snaps up WebKnight Java authoring tool company". News and New Product Briefs (1/15/98). JavaWorld. Retrieved 2020-07-16.
  18. ^ "Serious Materials EcoRock". popsci.com. Retrieved December 27, 2012.
  19. ^ "Alumnus Kevin Surace, Entrepreneur of the Year". rit.edu. Retrieved December 27, 2012.
  20. ^ Leigh Buchanan (Mar 4, 2010). "Serious Materials to Green the Empire State Building". inc.com. Retrieved December 27, 2012.
  21. ^ "Kevin Surace". greenbiz.com. January 14, 2010. Retrieved December 27, 2012.
  22. ^ "Kevin Surace's Presentations". sittingo.com. February 2009. Retrieved December 27, 2012.
  23. ^ "Kevin Surace invents eco-friendly drywall". ted.com. Feb 2009. Retrieved December 27, 2012.
  24. ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: Worst Case Climate Change (2008 TED Talk). YouTube.
  25. ^ "Kevin Surace". tiecon.org. Retrieved December 27, 2012.
  26. ^ "Kevin Surace's Comments at 2010 Democratic Caucus Job Summit". directsaleassociates.blogspot.com. 14 Jan 2010. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved December 27, 2012.
  27. ^ "Planet Forward on WXXI-TV". interactive.wxxi.org. 2011-08-17. Retrieved December 27, 2012.
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