Inside the Room: The Founders, Investors and Operators at Observer’s A.I. Power Index Party
On Wednesday, Sept. 23, 145 founders, CEOs, investors and executives crowded around the horseshoe bar at Dante Elizabeth Street, days before its public opening, for Observer’s inaugural A.I. Power Index Party. Among the guests were people who decide how A.I. reaches the financial system, and who it reaches.
Shawn Edwards, the Bloomberg CTO who turned the Terminal into an A.I.-native system, accepted the 2026 A.I. Enterprise Award. Laurel Taylor, whose company Candidly is the A.I. layer the largest financial institutions use to guide customers through debt and savings decisions, took the A.I. Transformer Award. Jeff McMillan, who built and ran artificial intelligence at Morgan Stanley for more than a decade, worked the room alongside Anusha Dandapani, chief data and A.I. officer of the United Nations International Computing Center.
Capital was well represented. Brennan Pothetes of Infinity Constellation, the evening’s presenting sponsor, opened the program. Joe Zhao of Millennia Capital, co-host Neal Batra and Noah Lichtenstein of Crossover VC talked deal flow and national competitiveness. Chris Silver, CRO of Parloa, the customer-service A.I. company that tripled its valuation to $3 billion in eight months, came too. So did Artsy and Artnet CEO Jeffrey Yin, art market economist Magnus Resch, Wendy Diamond of the Women’s Entrepreneurship Day Organization, and Dante founders Linden Pride and Natalie Hudson.
Bloomberg CTO Shawn Edwards accepts Observer’s 2026 A.I. Enterprise Award.
Candidly founder and CEO Laurel Taylor accepts Observer’s 2026 A.I. Transformer Award.
Infinity Constellation founder Brennan Pothetes delivers opening remarks.
Candidly CMO Meera Oliva presents Laurel Taylor with the 2026 A.I. Transformer Award.
Art market economist Magnus Resch and Bracy Fertig, founder and CEO of Orchestra Health Technologies.
FLYBLACK Jets partner Nick Rouner and Infinity Constellation founder Brennan Pothetes.
G2i Inc Advisor & Former AWS Deputy CISO Merritt Baer, AWS Head of Strategy & Operations Andrew Park, Barclays Director of Cybersecurity Audit Boris Iliayev and Legora CIO Jonathan Aluveaux.
Macquarie Foreign Exchange and Interest Rate Strategist Thierry Wizman.
Talisman Associate Partner Oscar Hoyle and SpreeAI Head of Product Banu Jafarli.
Parloa Chief Revenue Officer Chris Silver.
Himark Group Founder & CEO Shuyi Ragland, Solana Manager Bekka Revel, Women’s Entrepreneurship Day Organization founder Wendy Diamond and Full Spectrum Capital Managing Partner Shaydi DeJesus.
Sutton Director Kate Morais, Bloomberg CTO Shawn Edwards, Workspace Consulting Group Founding Principal Paulina Ribadeneyra, Bloomberg COO David Wright and Ana Martins Communications Founder & President Ana Martins.
BNY Senior Director & Wealth Advisor Matt Semino, SmarterLicense CEO & Founder Liz Hagelthorn and Crossover VC’s Noah Lichtenstein.
Hanna Lee Communications EIC Michael Anstendig, AdomoAI CEO Xena Ugrinsky and Kathleen McLane.
Millennia Capital Founder and Managing Partner Joe Zhao, Observer VP of Content Strategy Merin Curotto and early-stage A.I. investor Neal Batra.
Macquarie Group Associate Director Henning Menke and HiveSpace Co-Founder Alexander Elsen.
Blue Scorpion Investments Co-Founder and General Partner Goutam Ahuja, Fidelity Investments VP, Venture Capital & Startup Ecosystem, Charlie Stephens and Vicus Ventures General Partner Raj Singh Sandhu.
HealthFirst Global Head of AI Platforms, Data & Security Latesh Nair, Merritt Baer and Observer Partnership Director Justin Arnold.
Ark Restaurants COO Sam Weinstein, Radiance CEO Jacqueline Schmidt and TensorWave VP of Marketing & Communications Navi Ganancial.
Bloomberg Head of AI & Innovation Communication Chaim Haas and Huskeys Lead Solutions Engineer Amit Levran.
Adform Director of Sales Cassie Olson and Martini Media EVP of Marketing Thom Allcock.
Dante co-founder Linden Pride and Shuyi Ragland.
Artechouse Founders Tatiana Pastukhova and Sandro Kereselidze.
Candidly VP Engineering Brianna Jones, Candidly Founder Laurel Taylor, Candidly CMO Meera Oliva, Candidly COO Deirdre Bertrand and Candidly SVP Finance Erica Miller.
Melissa Li, Real Estate Developer Marc Loeb and Loeb Head of Growth and Partnerships Anuhya Challagundla.
Infinity Constellation Founder Brennan Pothetes and EY-Parthenon Director of Strategy and Growth Naomi Einhorn.
Black Crow AI Founder and COO Shasad Khan and SOJA Ventures Co-Founder and Managing Director Oliver Swig.
Lumida Founder & CEO Ram Ahluwalia, Millennia Capital Founder and Managing Partner Joe Zhao and Macquarie Group Associate Director Henning Menke.
New York Post Tech Reporter Lydia Moynihan.
Generative Artist Carrie Able.
