Mentor Session: Annie Hardy (Cisco)

Event ID: PP1150156

Sun, Mar 15, 2026 | 3:00 PM - 4:15 PM

Venue: Room 400-402 (Hilton Austin Downtown)

View on Official SXSW

Summary

Meeting with this mentor is highly recommended if you're interested in Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning, Entrepreneurship, Future of Work.

Contributors

Raw Event JSON

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      "details": "As a Global AI Architect and Futurist at Cisco, Annie Hardy has a hybrid role. As an inventor, entrepreneur, and trained qualitative futurist, she is passionate about casting a vision for a north star, guiding teams to envision the future they'd like to experience. And as a Global AI Architect, she pulls those ideas down to earth, reverse-engineering that future into actionable steps customers and partners can take to realize the promise of AI. \n \nPrior to joining Cisco, Ms. Hardy founded zeet insights, a global market and design research agency focused on the technology sector with work in solar voltaic, artificial intelligence, smart mobility, health tech, fin tech, and more. Her B2B client of global brands included Panasonic, Macmillan, AllScripts, TD Ameritrade, Charles Schwab, Equinix, Juniper, Teradata, Frontier Communications, and Time Warner Cable Business Class among others. \n \nToday, she collaborates with the NIST US AI Consortium, sits on Cisco's Responsible AI Champs team, and both sits on the Board of Directors of the non-profit Global Impact Initiative and leads its strategy committee. She is the proud founder and moderator of Cisco’s prolific Generative AI Explorers and Chickonomics communities, both ~ 5,000 members. She has a B.A. in Communication Arts and Spanish, with a focus on Gender Studies at Austin College, and is certified in the practice of Strategic Foresight by the University of Houston. \n\nIn addition to her professional accomplishments, Ms. Hardy is a mom of 3 who enjoys reading, writing and performing music, laughing, and cooking food her children unfortunately tend to reject.",
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