Hey guys, you're listening to the Town of Football podcast and this is our analysis of the NFC North prior to the 2018 NFL season Glad to be back and doing this podcast again took two or three weeks off because I was actually out of town for a wedding and We actually were in Decatur, Alabama, which is the hometown of Phillip Rivers and And it was actually pretty cool because it's not a super small town, but it's not big at all And to see him grow up in a town like that to be in that town and actually drive by and see the high school That he played at Athens High School It was actually pretty cool to notice that he grew up there and where he is now in a big town in LA So that was pretty cool being out of town. It's a good break, but I'm glad to be back and And joining you guys and giving you an analysis of of everything football going into the start of the 2018 season Thank you guys so much for tuning in to this podcast. My name is Hassan Khan. I'm the founder and the host of this show and We've been doing a series about each division and football. There's eight divisions Four in the NFC four in the AFC. We did the NFC South. We kind of broke down Each team going into the 2018 season about are they gonna be good? Are they gonna regress or they're gonna be even better gonna be even worse? And we kind of broke down each team individually in each division and today We've actually got the NFC North that we're gonna be talking about so that's the Vikings the Bears the Lions and the Packers So we're gonna be talking about them in that order and it was actually pretty cool Is we actually started doing something on time of football is Instagram. We kind of promoted a contest If you will where if you're a fan of an NFC North team You can actually submit a video like a short 60 second video explaining why your team Will make the playoffs and we actually got a few people Messaging us on Instagram and submitting their videos and we've handpicked two people One is actually we're gonna show clips of their videos or parts of their video He's a big Vikings fan. We're gonna show it in a little bit But then the other guy we're actually gonna choose one guy for each podcast each division To be live with us and join us so we can kind of debate about that team Here on the podcast and we've got someone for you today. His name is Josh His Instagram name is Nox underscore SS. We're gonna actually gonna If you're watching this podcast on YouTube, we'll put that that username below in the video So you guys can go ahead and give him a follow but He's a big Packers fan and he submitted a video talking about why the Packers are not only gonna make the playoffs But are gonna win the Super Bowl. So I was like, oh, wow, he's pretty confident in His team. So let's get him on the podcast. Let's Talk about why he believes that why are the Packers gonna be a good team in a Super Bowl contender So we got that for you here today But to kind of kick off this NFC North podcast like I said the first team that we're gonna talk about The Minnesota Vikings. So we actually got a video submission from an Instagram user. His username is Juicy mix, which is kind of interesting. I don't know But he submitted a video talking about why he thinks the Vikings are gonna make the playoffs So let's go ahead and check out a couple of clips from that video I'm missing why I think the Minnesota Vikings will make the playoffs. Well, they got veteran Derek Cousins after agency and Stefan dig and then we got Adam Thielen here the TV summary played really good when Dalvin Cook got injured I thought I was talking about the defense Xavier Rhodes too big defense of tackles and yeah, and a big thank you to Juicy mix for submitting that video That's just a so odd name to say but Nonetheless What he talked about is pretty much in a hole is talent on the Minnesota Vikings He was mentioning Kirk Cousins the wide receiver cord and Stefan digs Adam Thielen. He mentioned the defense He mentioned Xavier Rhodes So pretty much that whole team is jam-packed with talent and To kind of go off of that That's Kind of why the reason the Minnesota Vikings are going to make the playoffs is because of the talent that's on that team Honestly, it's it's a given that they're gonna make the playoffs at this point if they don't it's gonna be a big disappointment If they don't even make the Super Bowl go as far as to say that if they don't make the Super Bowl That's even gonna be a bigger disappointment because it's pretty much the same exact team, but with a better quarterback. So You make all these acquisitions Throughout the years draft picks your team progresses and you finally get that key quarterback that you need and Kirk Cousins Sign them to a three-year deal give them three opportunities to make the Super Bowl, but pretty much at this point in 2018 This is your one opportunity Otherwise this whole season is gonna be a disappointment Nothing else or nothing less is expected from the Minnesota Vikings at this point A lot of other teams that NFC did get better the Eagles haven't gotten worse They're actually gonna get better with Carson Wentz being back Other teams at NFC like the Atlanta Falcons. They're gonna be more in sync with their offense. They're gonna be better Green bit Packers are getting Aaron Rogers back. So they're gonna be contender in the NFC north. So teams in the NFC are getting better and could contend with the Minnesota Vikings So anything less than the Super Bowl is kind of a disappointment For the Minnesota Vikings, but we want to thank juicy mix so much for for submitting their video As far as make the Super Bowl like I said other NFC teams are better We'll see if they go ahead and get over that hump and can beat those teams and actually be a contender for the Super Bowl The next team we've got coming up is the Chicago Bears. So This is an interesting team They weren't Terrible last year, but they weren't good They've actually made some strides in free agency and with their draft To get to that point where they can Actually make a push for maybe a wild card spot It's kind of hard to say that they're gonna make a push for the NFC north title because if you don't take down Minnesota You've got Green Bay in the rearview mirror and also Detroit Lions Just coming up on you and trying to get that spot. So it's gonna be hard for the Bears to get that division title But you could make a debate on why they could make a wild card For the 2018 season Mitsubishi, he's he's a good guy. He's a good For a guy that played only 13 games in college only had an eight and five record But the Bears traded up showing that they had confidence in this guy training up to get him number two overall in 2017 and Usually second-year quarterbacks do get better But also on top of that, he's had a lot of help Coming in so Alan Robinson is a guy that they just signed So if you don't remember who Alan Robinson is It's because he's been a while since he's been kind of relevant because he's been dealing with injuries in 2017 he was out for the whole year in 2016 he kind of had a down year because Blake Bortos kind of regressed but in 2015 was his career year when he went off Jacksonville decided to let him go And the Bears kind of acted up upon that and said let's sign Alan Robinson to be our number one guy That's gonna be a huge asset for for Mitsubishi because I think Biscuits gonna finally have a Number one receiver to throw to and this is probably the best receiving core Slash tight end core that he has in Chicago ever since probably I'll go as far to say when Alshan Jeffery, Brandon Marshall, Martell Spenet were there with Jay Cutler Slash Josh McCown Alan Robinson can be that number one guy in Chicago Tori Cohen and Jordan Howard are one of the more underrated Running back duos in the NFL probably a top five running back duo in the national football league because they're both Incredibly young they have so much upside and so much potential Tori Cohen is someone that you can use him in the passing game. You could use him in the return game We saw his his bursons agility last year It's a good replacement for Jordan Howard when Jordan Howard needs to come out on third downs So that's gonna help out that Chicago Bears offense a lot But to piece everything together with the the incredibly young backfield that you have With the added player and Alan Robinson on the wide receiver core You've got Matt Nagy the new head coach. So John Fox is out. He got fired Matt Nagy came from Kansas City Which is actually kind of funny because if you look up a picture of him, he kind of looks like an older Balder Alex Smith But hey, I mean That's just my opinion Matt Nagy came in from Kansas City To lead the Chicago Bears as her new head coach and Ryan Pace had a lot of a lot of faith in him The general manager and said we're gonna have a conversation with this guy bring him in for an interview Loved him. You're signed in as the head coach and now that's Someone that can develop Mitra Biscay Mitra Biscay can develop under his offense for so many years in Chicago So that office is definitely gonna get better But I do like the Bears and I do think if they were to get over that hump If they were to maybe pull out an upset against Green Bay just once Plan upset against Minnesota or Detroit just once then They're gonna make a push for the the wild card race The Detroit Lions. So Matt Patricia is in as her new head coach Is this a good hire? Is this a bad hire? There's a lot of debate on on both sides But a lot of people are saying that Matt Patricia was hired mainly due to the name value I've got friends that I personally spoken to that are New England Patriots fans and they've been watching a lot of Matt Patricia games and seen him give up a lot of yards on defense and They're not lying. He he has given up a lot of yards in defense before with his with when he was a defensive coordinator in New England and So people are saying he's not gonna be that good of a head coach, however We don't know yet. You know, he hasn't coached in a single NFL game. So we're gonna have to give him a chance, but Yeah, I think I am kind of sort of siding with them as far as when they say He was kind of hired mainly due to name value That does seem to be true But he's been a head coaching candidate for at least the last two or three years And in that last two or three years, he hasn't really gotten better on defense So it is sort of a name value hire, but hey if Detroit loves him They say he's gonna be Their head coach that can develop with Matthew Stafford with this offense with this defense and We'll just have to see we'll have to see what happens there Matthew Stafford is also a constant on offense You know this team is always gonna be good. You know you can rely on him He's good and fourth quarter comebacks got nothing to worry about golden Tate is good Marvin Jones is good as well. So, you know This team is is is solid on offense when it comes to the pass game. I think overall The run game is still gonna be the same Defensively, they're still gonna be the same even though they've got some good players over there defensively. I Don't see this team regressing, but I also don't see this team progressing. I don't see them getting any better So I think they're gonna be pretty much the same Team kind of the third best and the NFC North having a better chance and making the NFC wildcard race than the Chicago Bears.  They're pretty much gonna be the same as they were in 2017 Patreon so patreon is the number one way to pay your favorite content creator.   So if you go to patreon.com slash time to football. That's P-A-T-R-E-O-N Dot-com slash time the number two football you can check out all of our perks See what your money goes to? and Hopefully get some some new swag with a with a wristband and t-shirt. So patreon.com Sash time to football that's patreon.com Slash time to football and the last thing that we're gonna talk about here. I'm this NFC north podcast Are the Green Bay Packers and we actually held a little bit of a quote-unquote contest to get a one of our fans To join us on this podcast to talk about one of these NFC north teams and joining us right now is Josh hold away Josh. How you doing man? I'm doing excellent. They're really happy to be on the show Hassan and I wanted to say congrats to you also on your trademark for time to football. That's a big deal Appreciate it. You've been watching our podcast. I love it Yeah, we wanted to get you on here because you're a big Packers fan You submitted a video talking about why you think the Green Bay Packers are not only gonna go to the playoffs But even win the Super Bowl So let's just get started and talk about your background with the Green Bay Packers. How'd you become a Packer fan? Well, there's a lot of Preface to that story is most tribal, you know individuals as we are in the NFL How it goes, but I have to give a big thanks to my dad and my mom splitting up Divorce is not always an easy thing, but it's a very beneficial thing in my case But to explain I was actually following the Packers for the first year when Brett farth made his run For Super Bowl 31 and then they won But I had to actually leave half time because it was on that Sunday And we had to go pick up my sister at my dad's house So I missed the ending of that game and then the very next week, of course my dad's a Broncos fan and I had to witness Elway beat our butt and you know, of course we held up hope But it just became that rivalry thing in the household and then Yeah, it's materialized. So, uh, you know, I think you pick your tribe based on The way that you are anybody that's willing to walk out in public with a cheese on their head I think is my kind of person. So Just kind of grew and I grew up and surrounded myself with Packer fans Hey, nonetheless, you've seen some great moments being a Packers fan. I'm pretty sure Um Packers fans have it pretty good these days and even though it was rough last year We'll get into all that but Being a Packers fan we're a little spoiled, you know, to be honest, but I'll take it Yeah, absolutely. So Over the years the Packers have been doing pretty good except with the exception of last year, but that was due to Uh, certain someone's injury, um behind center, but Let's talk about your video and your points onto why you think the Green Bit Packers are going to be so successful this upcoming year and one of those main points is You believe the run game is going to be pretty stable going more into depth on that Well, you know, everybody Every team has an amazing back. That's sure fire, but The difference I think between the Packers and most, you know, it branches out into a lot of different things But reality is last year when we drafted three running backs late rounds They had the opportunity to develop together I think there's a lot of Stock in that being that there's a lot more camaraderie. You see that even when you watch the top 100 players online and so forth, you're seeing It's not just williams up there You're also seeing him up there with erin jones And there's a great camaraderie and then with montgomery and his background Even if one person goes down, they all know their role and they're it's not a big fight You know in the otas and team drills and within the packers organization. I just believe that There's a trickle down effect So even though yeah, we're past We're past happy as offense is amazing I don't have any doubts with the running back core You know, and then you've got maize there at a fourth string kind of sitting We'll see how things work out in training camp as you know, we're all excited to see but Um, I'm real excited just because montgomery has already taken You know sure fire hits and carried the team through the end of 2016 And then you really did see some dynamics in how williams and jones played off of each other throughout the season last year with montgomery playing very intermittently So Yeah, I really don't doubt it.  I go off of the play by play and You know, I I saw a lot of back and forth And I just like seeing them in the off season also hanging out together and doing things together and it's not a one person You know team the way to win is You know, not just to be one dimension. You got to be all kinds of dimensional, especially in the nfl Yeah, absolutely. So, um Do you think that there's going to be a starter in that running back, um committee Or are they going to take that committee approach with the green bay packers because we saw time on gummary who was um, I mean, he's a good player But last year a lot of people kind of tended to overhype him per se, especially in fantasy football Um, and we saw kind of the torch passing towards those Rookies and those younger players like erin jones and uh in williams So do you think that montgomery is still going to be the starter in green bay? I think montgomery will start the season as the as the core back. Yeah, but I wouldn't be surprised to see any halftime switch ups in any point during the season I don't see micarthia as a like I say a one-dimensional type of coach. He's You know All the best teams any playoff bound teams. There's the ones that are Reaching into their basket. They're spreading it out. They're allowing their, you know team to stay fresh so it in that, you know A fact Yeah, I see montgomery taking the very first run for the season but The second that that first snap is going I wouldn't be surprised to see a punch here and a punch there from williams and erin jones coming in as a fourth quarter finisher I believe in in the way the packers are going to work and most teams actually this season that You got to treat the running back game like you treat a pitcher You know, don't don't play them all the time flip it in new england patreon has been doing it year after year after year Or they bring in a Game plan per week and it's different every single week And I think that there's a lot to learn in the nfl by just being a copycat league that it is So yeah to answer the question in short montgomery will definitely be the primary back in my opinion starting The training camp has a way of seeing things and there's always a little bit of a sophomore hiccup sometimes So they're going to play it as as the cards are dealt Um, are you wearing a green bay packers gear? Who's jersey you're wearing? In support, uh, just I'll I'll plug this a little early, but I definitely put on my gold jersey um this is a geordie nelson 87 gold all day, um The only thing I wish is that it was adidas, but All together this was a gift after my uh fantasy league last year got from my roommate and um, you know as much as It sucks to have to have lost geordie in the off season I don't think he could have gone to a better place in the raiders and uh, You know the the awesome opportunity is I think you were getting into with uh With davante adams. It's it's an opportunity now for him to jump in but the plug is that if you Are a packers fan. I like to go a little bit more in depth than the typical, um producer or creator under the packers brand and If you watch erin rogers in off seasons, he does this thing. It's called it's erin and uh, there's a gold in september organization that He's supported through a girl named annie who lost her twin brother to pediatric cancer And so I just wanted a quick plug a little bit on uh, if all the packers fans can really get on board and We can get a little bit more support We've all got our green and gold, but if you can wear gold in september and support a pediatric cancer I'd like to further that Awesome. Yeah, we'll we'll definitely put that and underneath Um so that you guys can go ahead and click on that link and and show your support for that Um, but you're kind of nailing the head Um, or nailing it into the coffin with davante adams We're talking about jordy nelson. How he's a big loss davante adams has been the guy for the past couple of years That's been stepping up. Um, you think that receiving core is going to be all right I think for the nuts and bolts of what I could say about davante adams. This is his opportunity now last year He's a top what number 45 on top 100 by his peers, so davante adams has the opportunity right now to Take the reins as the number one guy Because we've I don't think we've ever had a younger wide receiver core But that's a beautiful thing for a guy like erin rogers He's the guy that gets out of the pocket and he has that same type of relationship I believe that him and jordy had had for the full decade that jordy was there But now davante adams four years established also with rogers He was able to catch anything everything even without You know him in and that finished to I believe it was the browns over time victory Just spinning out he he bounces off of everything. He's had the opportunity to learn His frame what he needs to be working on with his body his health Everything else. I just think it's his opportunity to shine and I'm looking forward to that You know translating into the game So it's unfortunately, we're kind of missing him a little bit right now with the apparent hamstring you know pull out during otas and mandatory mini camps, but You know the beauty is with davante adams. He's he's a baller He doesn't drop anything that's really thrown his way if he does there's 50 ball 50 ball. He's gonna catch it 75 of the time Any other aspects of this team? Do you think are gonna help them catapult to a super bowl victory potential super bowl win? Maybe defensively, maybe coaching staff Any other aspects on on why they can Go ahead and get over that hump and get into the playoffs and get to the super bowl We've got all the changes that make a super bowl for the Packers Um, the last time we won was erin rogers What second or third year in the league and it came right as dom capers entered It was the opportunity of transition Where literally we went from a three four to a four three completely flipped the script on On what was to be anticipated? I think that the league plays a lot in the fact that What you had the prior season unless you're willing to really come in the following season with some surprises and some new elements You know people know too much what to expect So mike petten coming over from cleveland who's always you know created some amazing even though cleveland loses Let's be honest about this a lot The fact is is that they do have close games. They just don't end up having that same Endurance factor over the end. I mean even we last year lost to him in Or won over them in an overtime game. You watch those divisional games in afc north.  So I'm real excited just to see how it all kind of plays out but Basically the defense being new and rogers is healthy that equals destruction for For the nc north. So as long as that's consistent enough throughout a 16 game season There's there's a lot to be excited about in in green bay title 10 usa Yeah, no, that's an interesting perspective on it What do you think the record is going to be? Are they going to get over 10 wins? You're going to get 13 wins? No doubt the 10 sub 10 is an unacceptable year So I I've never really looked at a season as an optimistic packer fan As sub 10, you know, erin rogers has only had one sub 10 other than this last year and that was its first year in the league We're too dynamic and You know with erin healthy You saw how it started last season. He's got a I think according to mike daniels On an interview here recently said that erin rogers sitting out for You know, no, it has it been nine ten months the film the amount of study and attention to the game For that type of mind and the capacity of what he's going to be capable of this year There's no doubt in my mind that we can be a 12 and 14 or up My dream for the packers and now I haven't really had a chance to really dive into the schedule predictions yet Other than to know that we're starting with chicago And the division always ends in weeks 16 and 17. So we get that chance to earn it usually but The beauty of this whole season is that From what I do know, we've got a pretty nice schedule Lots of time lots of balance And are by week coming a little bit earlier. I think what is it week seven this year? But either way, um, I think that if I were to predict anything off the top of my head, I'd say 12 and 4 That's usually like right about my range But I will be doing a schedule predictions video on my channel You know by by july shortly after the sp is usually Yeah, so you're talking about your channel. We wanted to give you a little bit of a segment to plug yourself. So Uh, tell us what you do and where can we find your content? well, uh, my alias and uh, packer channel is under the alias knocks. So it's kind of a It's a play on words. It's a lot of parody and comic I play off of the good morning football morning show And I'd like to intermix of course all the elements of football and hype and Whatever, but also I like to take new elements and be player friendly So what you'll find on my channel is, uh A lot of parody comedy commercialism I try to take the whole nuts and bolts of a team and then collapse it into a 12 to 15 minute segment video And I'll be tying it all in together for a full series But the best way to find it is an award knocks that's spelled in a x And uh The whole purpose of my channel is kind of to promote love So the knocks actually stands for never again hate X Throwing up the X for anything. Um, but yeah, definitely, uh, you guys check out his stuff. Um So we'll put a link in the description to your your youtube channel also your instagram Which is knocks na hx underscore ss. Uh, so you guys make sure to to follow josh over there. Um Last time we always ask every single guest on this show What is your favorite nfl moment or football moment? So it could be professional football college football If you play high school football, whatever it may be What's your favorite football moment? The easy answer, of course is just watching the super bowl Uh, where we're going against the Steelers and the Super Bowl 45 But mostly just because I was actually in Arizona working. I was on a On a slew of just amazing work down there But I had the opportunity to spend some time with family friends And her husband happened to be a mighty mighty Steelers fan and I've got a brother that's a Steelers fan, too. So But that's the obvious favorite The personal favorite was actually watching. Um, and it's sad to say but There's a guy I played with in high school clovis high school. Uh, his name is tyler klutz and he ended up playing Um for dallas And he was a full back and he actually got his only Touchdown against us in a playoff game with romo Just watching You know old pals and friends. I wasn't a big football star At all. I kind of blew out my knee early in high school But uh, I'm more of a creative artist anyway But seeing kind of the guys I used to know go up there and then we still won the game, but Seeing him catch the a touchdown there was pretty impeccable That's awesome. Awesome. How it came around the score to touchdown against your favorite team. Um, Josh, I appreciate you joining us. Uh, thank you so much for giving your giving us your insight On what the green bay packers are going to do next year and hopefully we can get you back on here. Love talking. Yeah Again, uh, I really appreciate you. Give me the opportunity and uh It's all green bay packers fan. Don't forget keep wearing gold in september. Look forward to that opportunity And thanks for having me. Peace And that was josh hold away joining us on the time of football podcast So like we said on the start of the show Josh is just a football fan. He loves the green bay packers He commented on one of the podcasts on youtube and he said, how do I get on this podcast? I would really love to be on this podcast Comments it back and I told him if your fan of an emphysey north team just message us talking about why your favorite team Is going to make the playoffs on instagram at time of football And guess what he messaged us sent us the 60 second video talking about why they're going to make the super bowl And he was on the podcast. So that can be you we would love to have more fans And more of you guys on here, uh, because we would love to kind of turn it around We would love for you to have that opportunity to to be a podcaster to be a sportscaster So the next podcast that we've got coming up We're talking about the nfc west So that's the san francisco 49ers the seattle seahawks the la rams the arizona carnos If you're a fan of any one of those four teams Message us message us on instagram at time of football Send us a 60 second video talking about why one of those four teams is going to make the playoffs Any uh, if you have good enough arguments debates good enough points reasons We're going to choose you we're going to choose one person to be on that podcast and debate with us on air Just like josh to bait with us live and have an opportunity to be on this podcast We'll love to hear from you guys. So if you guys are listening to this on itunes Make sure you guys go over to youtube and subscribe If you're on youtube make sure to jump over to itunes, but regardless when you go to itunes Make sure you rate and review this podcast because it's because it kind of helps us out with Telling us that you guys love this kind of content that we're coming out with If you give us five stars because you want to help a brother out Or if you write an awesome review saying that this show is Amazing because you want to help a brother out it kind of helps me out knowing that you guys love this content And we come out with more of it. So thank you guys so much for tuning in On follow us on instagram at time to football pretty much any social media site. Just search time to football You'll find us subscribe to us follow us whatever it is. Thanks for tuning in and i'll catch you next time


Good afternoon, folks. I wanna welcome you all to the 2022 Chancellor's Outstanding Staff Awards Ceremony. My name is Harris Mojididi, my pronouns are he and him, and I have the honor of serving as the chair of the Chancellor's Staff Advisory Committee. CSAC is a confidential advisory body that advises the Chancellor and her cabinet on a wide range of issues related to staff and the staff experience. We're gathered here today to celebrate the many accomplishments of our dedicated staff. And I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge and celebrate our entire staff community who over the course of the pandemic have worked tirelessly to support some of our staff, community's most notable achievements and how they have transformed UC Berkeley for the better. And I now have the honor of introducing a woman who needs no introduction, our fearless leader, Chancellor Christ. And I'll turn it over to you, Chancellor. Thank you, Harris. I am so delighted to greet you this afternoon. I wish we were together in person and this ceremony will really live face to face. I have every confidence next year it will be. But in the meantime, I wanna add my thanks to Harris's. Thank you so much for all the work that you've done in this very trying time of these two years of pandemic. I think we have just the most extraordinary staff at Berkeley. So thank you to all of you. The Chancellor's Outstanding Staff Awards acknowledges the extraordinary achievement of staff. It's the highest honor bestowed on staff. The criteria for receiving an award must fit in one of the following categories, commitment to fostering an equitable and inclusive community, commitment to innovation, adaptation and efficiency, commitment to enhancing Berkeley's mission and reputation, commitment to Berkeley's sustainability goals and commitment to membership. I wanna thank the nominators who took the time to submit the letter or recommendation to acknowledge the wonderful work across campus. I wanna thank CSAC members for conducting the awards process to review the nominations, ensure winners met the criteria and to plan the awards ceremony. And then finally, thanks to the 2022 award winners for their dedication and exceptional work to make Cal a great place. And now I'd like to turn the virtual podium over to Associate Vice Chancellor of HR, Human Whitlock, who is the sponsor of CSAC. Thank you very much Chancellor Chris and it's my pleasure to be here. So when I've only been at Berkeley for two and a half years and going to the COSA Awards was one of the highlights of my first few months on the job, but then we didn't have it last year. So I'm glad that we're able to do this again. And so I'm gonna go ahead and jump right into it and start introducing our award winners. So number one is our first award winner is Dr. Fatima Aline. Hi Fatima. Dr. Aline has almost single-handedly built a transformational diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging program for faculty and staff in the College of Engineering. Our Empower program, which consists of multiple trainings that bring faculty and staff together with community partners has already led to significantly enhance diversity of admitted graduate student classes and faculty applicant profiles in just the last two years. When I was chatting with Fatima and sort of asking her what inspires her to do the great work that she does, she quickly said that it's her grandfather and her grandfather always told her that education is something that can never be taken away from you. And she sees it as her mission to make sure that she helps bring other people's stories to life. The platform and infrastructure she has built is widely seen as trailblazing for its depth, rigor and scope. Congratulations. Our next winner is Juliana Bradley, a staff colleague who lives UC Berkeley's commitment to inclusivity and equity as a colleague and mentor. She approaches each inquiry from students or colleagues with presence, dignity and genuine care. When I talked to her, she said she's passionate of education, but she views herself as more of a helper than a leader. So she's one of those people who figures out what she can do to support other people and help them get ahead. And at the root of it, similar to what Fatima said, is that education is the most powerful tool that anybody can have to change the world. And again, she said to me, if you can become educated, it can't be taken away with you. In working with students, she demonstrates authentic interest in their individual goals and supports their exploration and decision-making with the sound knowledge of policies and protocols and informed knowledge of the intersection of health sciences, efficient, innovative and adaptable, described Juliana perfectly. She always makes others feel included and proactively reaches out to new staff to make sure that they have the resources they need to thrive while handling an incredible workload on her own. And she's new too. She embodies excellence as a mentor, colleague and administrative master for students and staff. Congratulations, Juliana. The next award goes to the Berkeley changemaker team. And we have a video from the team nominator Richard Lyons, Innovation and Chief Innovation and Entrepreneurship Officer. Please play the video. Hello, my name is Richard Lyons. Congratulations to all the CSAC Outstanding Staff Award winners. And this is a very quick comment on Berkeley changemaker, one of the team award winners. That team is Laura Hassner, Alex Budak and Jay Stauske. Few thoughts. First, in less than two years, they have attracted and rolled over 10%, some 10 to 15% of all Berkeley undergraduates in Berkeley changemaker courses. They have brought in faculty from across the whole campus. If you go to changemaker.berkeley.edu, you'll see the faculty that are involved. They're among our very best faculty. There's a summer pre-college program this summer. There is an alumni program that they're developing. There is the first year experience program, was to be at Mills, now on campus this year. That was also the narrative Berkeley changemaker that was selected for that program. And it's proving to be remarkably inclusive, attracting people from all kinds of groups in ways that a chorus on, for example, entrepreneurship might not. So congrats to them. You've done so much for our campus. We thank you. Hi everyone, I'm Steve Sutton. He, him, has by chance for student affairs. It's an honor to be here today. Want to give a shout out to CSAC for the great work that they continue to do and for hosting these annual awards. It's so important that we recognize staff for the great work that they do.  The next award recipient is Carrie Franzetta. Carrie is the associate director of the financial aid and scholarships office. She is a thoughtful and engaged colleague who works cooperatively within and across departments. Playing a leading role in opening student access to Berkeley's world-class education, her tireless work in the areas of fiscal management, compliance, systems development, and research has helped ensure that Berkeley students graduate with substantially lower debt. Topics covered in her nomination range from the academic success of low-income students to the relationship between enrollment management and financial aid modeling. Carrie has taken a hands-on approach to reviewing the methodology of Cal answers queries that are the foundation of data calculations of great importance to our campus. The next award recipient is Holly Griffin Strauss. Inheriting a division in the financial crisis during the difficult days of the pandemic, Holly worked tirelessly to ensure that the social sciences would thrive while teaching and research went online. Holly's work during the pandemic underscores the fact that campus budgets are not merely financial statements, their strategic plans reflect our shared values. Holly managed to protect staffing levels, retain faculty, and serve the most diverse student body on campus. She ensured the faculty received additional training and new tools during the transition to online teaching, devised new systems to allocate instructional funds fairly, reduced the workload for staff, and consistently communicated departments that the Dean's office was there to support them. The next award goes to the California Research Alliance Industry Partnership Team. And now we present a video from the team nominator, Dr. Paydong Yang, a professor in the field of chemistry. Congratulations, Lizette and Lin. On behalf of the management team at California Research Alliance, I would like to thank you for your dedication and the contribution for the center in the past eight years. California Research Alliance remains to be one of the largest industrial university collaboration program on campus. And the center operates with a hub and a spokes model, with the hub centered around Berkeley campus. So with this very unique operation model, you are not only making big impact for the Berkeley campus, you are also making great impact to the entire UC system. Again, congratulations. The next award recipient is Susan Hagstrom. Susan stepped into the manager of advising strategy and training position in January of 2020. Susan is innovative, adaptive, and has an equity oriented leadership style that has helped this community weather the challenges of the past two years. Susan provides advising support to over 1,000 students and student services professionals across campus. She updated and relaunched the advancing practice workshop series to provide opportunities for mutual mentorship, connection and community, and a foundation for inclusive and evidence-based advising and coaching. Susan pays careful attention to addressing injustice and reducing barriers for staff and students, promoting greater engagement, self-awareness, sensitivity, and lifelong inquiry about unconscious bias, oppression, and power dynamics. Thank you so much, Steve. I guess I'm up. Hi, everyone. My name is Dania Matos. I'm the vice chancellor for equity and inclusion. I used she, her aya pronouns. And I just want to say congratulations to all the awardees. This is my first award celebration and I hope it won't be the last. And as chancellor said, I hope I get to celebrate you in person. My heart was so full reading all the extraordinary work that people are doing but just the extraordinary people that you are. So you put the outstanding in this award celebration and I'm excited to honor our next award recipient, Alicia Hayes. Alicia annually mentors over 300 of Berkeley's top undergraduates through the process of applying for nationally and internationally competitive scholarships. In her 20 year career, I'm gonna say that again. In her 20 year career, she has honed an impactful impact and empowering advising practice that values diverse pathways to higher education. While working with students, Alicia's investment is transformative. She uplifts our best and brightest students forever changing their life trajectory, their knowledge of how to leverage their skills and experience and their sense of self-worth. Extending from her advising practice and through her leadership at the National Association of Fellowship Advisors, Alicia has used her influence to affect systemic change and to make fellowship advising more inclusive. Join me in congratulating Alicia. Our next award recipient is Gladys Cowry, Finance Director for the Bloom Center. She applies a deep domain specific expertise in finance personnel and grant administration combined with a unique understanding of the nuances of transdisciplinary research and training to provide critical support to faculty and students working to explore, ask questions and improve the world. She has a real world understanding of multiculturalism, the realities of people living without access to resources both in the United States and in developing countries and the need for women to be supported to maximize their full potential. Gladys actively seeks a diversity of opinions, making sure everyone feels heard in her meetings and supports the morale of the Bloom Center and all who interact with the center. Please join me in congratulating Gladys as well. The next award goes to the Campus Access Badge Project Team sponsored by the executive level COVID recovery management team. Now we'll go to a video from the team nominator, Danny Green, the Director of Data Solutions. I'm Danny Green, the Director of Data Solutions and I along with Seamus Wilmot, Assistant Vice Chancellor and Executive Director of Business Operations were honored to nominate the technical team behind the Campus Access Badge. The Campus Access Badge consolidates an individual's adherence to various campus COVID policies and indicates that that person is clear to be on campus. It has been an essential tool as members of our community returned to campus over the past many months. We are grateful for the Campus Access Badge technical team's creativity, perseverance and exceptional teamwork in helping campus weather COVID. We're also grateful to the many partners that contributed to the project including University Health Services and University Health Services IT, COVID recovery and public health committees, people in culture and many, many other technical contributors from across Berkeley IT. Thank you so much, Danny. Having filled out so many of those Campus Access Badges, thank you for all the work you all do and congratulations to the Campus Access Badge project team. Our next award recipient is Andy Kraus at Cal Performances. The pandemic brought Andy's extraordinary invention, tenacity and work ethic to the campus community's attention. He designed and implemented the Health Ambassadors Program for the campus, co-chaired by the recovery management team's Events and External Relations Committee and secured $7.2 million, I'm gonna say that again, $7.2 million in shuttered venue operators grants, providing solid financial footing for Cal Performances to return to live performances after the pandemic restrictions were lifted. He also served as the acting CFO and was instrumental in the launch of a successful digital platform. Anyone who has worked with Andy knows his extraordinary determination, creativity, analytical skills and his warmth and humanity. Congratulations and join me in celebrating Andy as well. Good afternoon, I'm Rosemary Ray. I'm the Vice Chancellor of Finance for the campus and I am truly honored and excited to present our next award recipient, Amanda Leong, who goes above and beyond to help the Haas School recruit and attract a more diverse faculty. Amanda is inexhaustibly persistent, creative, diplomatic and effective in supporting more inclusive and equitable recruiting practices. She brings numerous creative innovations to her work at the Haas School's academic searches and recruitment as the Haas School's academic searches and recruitment analyst. Amanda helps others navigate. Excuse me, I'm having trouble with my computer here. Amanda helps others navigate the faculty hiring systems. She has massively increased the success rate with which the Haas School recruits new faculty. Her responsiveness contributes to the welfare of all of those around her. Through it all, Amanda exhibits the highest level of professionalism and diplomacy in working with faculty, job candidates and the Dean's office and the other staff at Haas and around campus. Please join me in celebrating Amanda's many accomplishments. The next award recipient is Kelly Mann. During the past few years, Kelly has stepped up on multiple occasions to provide campus leaders with information and alternatives to address needs at both the department level and at the campus wide level. In many cases, Kelly has supported or solely implemented actions to carry out campus decisions. Kelly has addressed needs arising as a result of COVID-19 and other dynamics on campus, including spiking growth in undergraduate enrollment, staff turnover and reductions in campus support for the student systems training. Kelly has combined his systems expertise, knowledge of campus regulations and unwavering dedication to staff and students to provide outstanding service to the campus during this unprecedented period. Please join me in congratulating Kelly. The next award goes to the Grant Life Cycle Team and now to present a video of the team is the nominator, Dr. Carol Mimora, the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Intellectual Property and Industry Research Alliances. Funding to fuel Berkeley's vast research enterprise is essential to maintain Berkeley's preeminence as a research powerhouse. It's a pleasure to be here today to recognize and to celebrate the accomplishments of the team that created an important new resource on campus, the Grant Life Cycle Portal. The portal helps researchers to understand in broad terms the process by which funding for research is obtained, who does what, how, when and how it all fits together and how research administration works. These are complicated transactions that are performed across different units on campus and the Grant Life Cycle Portal is now an essential campus tool. The team designed the portal from the point of view of the user using the phrase, how do I, as the fundamental design element? In the past information was scattered and each office's website described its own tasks. The portal now provides all of this in one coherent overview. The team effort consists of members from several different units and exemplifies the art of purpose-driven, multidisciplinary collaboration. I'm so proud to be their colleague and please join me in thanking them for their extraordinary accomplishment. Let me also add my thanks, gratitude and sense of awe for what the Grant Life Cycle Team has accomplished. The next award recipient is Keith McLeer who has been described as one of the most innovative, adaptive and efficient staff members on campus. After joining the Industrial Engineering and Operations Research Department, he quickly took on additional responsibilities leading a number of new initiatives that dramatically increased interaction among students, staff, faculty and the department. Keith has also expanded the range and diversity of topics taught at UC Berkeley and enhanced the reputation of the department. Keith played a crucial role in redesigning the department's public-facing information to highlight the cutting edge research, teaching and learning opportunities that are available. Since Keith's arrival to the Industrial Engineering and Operations Research Department, enrollment has grown by a magnificent 80%. Please join me in honoring Keith's many accomplishments. Keep up the great news there in the chat. It's fun to see people congratulating each other. This is a wonderful community event. The next award recipient is Cristobal Alvaras.  You're back, great. I'm back. I am sorry I disappeared like that before. I wanna make it clear it was my home internet and had nothing to do with Berkeley IT. All right, so the next award recipient is Cristobal Alvaras. Cristobal demonstrates a commitment to ensuring that UC Berkeley is an equitable, inclusive and just environment for everyone. He builds community for the Black, Indigenous and Latinx staff across one IT, as well as bridges to leadership to enhance and improve the experiences of the staff under them. So I had a chance to chat with Cristobal this morning and he said, Eugene, I'm gonna give you real talk. Because I asked him, why do you do this? As I asked everybody, he said, when I showed up in IT three years ago, I looked around the room, didn't see anybody like me. It felt pretty isolating. And I could have just quit and gone on to find another job or I could have done something about it. And what he chose to do is find ways to create community for people like him who are historically underrepresented in IT services. His great initiative to create and sustain a much needed resource at the height of the pandemic and during the recent social unrest has benefited countless staff. Congratulations, Cristobal. Next award recipient is Julia Snippen. In 2020, on top of her full-time work as a development officer for the Haas School of Business, Julia became co-chair of the Berkeley Advancement Community and proactively recruited new members for its executive committee to build diversity and better represent the wide range of experiences across the Cal Advancement Community. Julia comes from a family of public service. So for her, it was natural to find work that had meaning. Otherwise, what's the point of doing it? That's Julia's words, not mine. And so when I asked her about her work on the committee, she was a co-chair on the committee and at the first executive committee meeting, she sort of looked around the room and said, you know, the people in this room, they're not representative of the people on our campus who are doing this kind of work. I'm gonna actually say something. And she spoke up and was greeted by colleagues with grace and thankfulness that she actually said something. And so I asked Julia how she found the courage to actually speak up and say something in that somewhat intimidating environment. And she actually said she did a courageous conversation course and that sort of inspired her to have the courage in that moment to speak up. And so training club, courageous conversations is a good thing to do. So Julia has played a crucial role in conceiving and developing a number of diversity, equity and inclusion workshops for the Haas development and alumni relations teams. Julia bravely calls out the detrimental effects of racism and encourages colleagues to recognize where racism exists in our own systems. In addition to her work within the Haas... Okay, I will try to finish that for you Julia. Julia bravely calls out the detrimental effects of racism and encourages colleagues to recognize where racism exists in our own systems. In addition to her work within the Haas community, she has successfully collaborated with colleagues across campus to help the university achieve its fundraising and philanthropic goals. Congratulations Julia. The next award goes to the library course e-reserves design and implementation team recognized for the remarkable tenacity, collaboration and innovation. And now we present a video from the team nominators, Salwa Ismail and Beth Dupuis. Hi, I'm Salwa Ismail. And I'm Beth Dupuis. On behalf of the university library, we're thrilled to celebrate the library course e-reserves design and implementation team. Lillian, Molly, Mark, Jenny, Chrissy, David and Lynn. As winners of the Chancellor's Outstanding Award. This team demonstrated incredible leadership, creativity and collaborative problem solving. Together they led an even larger team of library staff to adapt the print course reserves service for an all digital environment continuing to support student learning through the pandemic. Their ability to accomplish this work during an extremely stressful time is a testament to their commitment to our students, faculty and the university's mission. Great work and congratulations. The next award recipient is Phil Stilsen. Phil is sought out by others as a strategic thought partner for his contributions to impactful initiatives that have transformed the student information systems organization. Phil is recognized for his ability to have an eye for big picture initiatives that balance the strengths of others and provide benefits to campus. Phil also exhibits unwavering commitment to grow and develop others. Phil is an empathetic leader who willingly invests time, energy and resources into the development of his team and peers. He embodies remarkable leadership by nourishing the talents of staff across the organization and advocating for equitable compensation and opportunities. The next award recipient is Jessica Thatch. Jessica is an outstanding leader within the Center for Educational Partnerships. Jessica has created data resources and initiated department-wide conversations about the impact of data analysis in historically marginalized communities. Her commitment to innovating data analysis resources to make them accessible and efficient ensures that the Center for Educational Partnership staff can connect their services to the larger landscape of college access and higher education. Jessica is celebrated for her exceptional efforts supporting the professional development of underrepresented first-generation professionals and students through mentorship, resource banks, headshots and ongoing data training. The next award recipient is Gary Thomas. Gary has acted as the change leader in upgrading the entire campus Wi-Fi network through the use of new technologies, improved business processes, creativity and initiative. Gary has enabled the university to have a more efficient and effective Wi-Fi network. This has included installing, configuring and putting in production a brand new Wi-Fi management and control system and managing the upgrade of 8,000 plus wireless access points on campus since 2018. Gary's efforts have made UC Berkeley a top-tier partner with Aruba Networks and a trusted and valued member of the Aruba family, including innovate invitations to speak and participate in multiple Aruba forums. The next award recipient is the Optometry Online Education, Continuing Education Team. And now we present a video to the team nominators, Pam Satchewachara-Fong, Assistant Clinical Professor and Annie Tascai, Assistant Clinical Professor. Hello, I'm Dr. Pam Satchewachara-Fong. And I'm Dr. Anne Tasaki. We are Assistant Clinical Professors at the Herbert Wartheim School of Optometry and Vision Science and co-chairs of our Continuing Education Committee. We nominated our school's Continuing Education and Event Team for the Chancellor's Outstanding Staff Award for their innovation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to the pandemic, our team provided three annual in-person continuing education events, primarily to alumni and optometrists in California. These events are necessary for doctors of optometry to maintain their licensure. With the onset of COVID restrictions, these in-person offerings dropped dramatically across the nation. So our team quickly pivoted to create a new initiative from the ground up to deliver high-quality, didactic online continuing education courses, via webinars, on-demand, and hybrid courses. This also allowed our team to expand our offerings to optometrists nationwide who otherwise may not have been able to travel to our in-person events. In its first year, the team was able to deliver more than 80 hours of Continuing Education to over 2,400 optometrists. This was a tremendous service to our profession in a very challenging time. So we'd like to congratulate the team, which includes our program director, Matthew Kaminski, our instructional designer, Catherine McChrystal, and our program coordinator, Elizabeth Yuan, for receiving this year's Chancellor's Outstanding Staff Award. We thank you all for your dedication, hard work, flexibility, and innovation. Cheers to this well-deserved award. The next award recipient is Amanda Tran. Amanda goes above and beyond to make the law school equitable and welcoming for students, faculty, and staff alike. From being a nearly one-woman exams department, to her work on the staff circle on anti-racism, to her contributions to student services, community building activities, she has dedicated to supporting students and improving the law school environment. Thank you for your unflappable, impressive, thoughtful approach to your role. Thank you so much, Steve. I don't know about you, but I keep looking for the applause button. So I'm waiting for the button where we go, yay! So I'm in the background saying woo-hoo! So our next award recipient is Claudia Trujillo, an exemplary administrator dedicated to the mission of making physics accessible to all students. Physics was hard, Claudia, for me. So thank you for doing that. She pioneered approaches to address pressing challenges, such as imposter syndrome and stereotype threat. She had developed a course specifically for transfer students, piloted for the last two fall semesters with great success. She also co-founded the physics staff for action on racial justice, woo-hoo! To create an equitable and ethical environment, and she created the Physics Latinx Community Group. She joined the MPS Dean's Task Force on undergraduate diversity, equity, and inclusion, tasked with evaluating data on STEM students and retention, receiving a $3 million grant. I'll say that again, $3 million grant from the Moore Foundation for the Mathematical Physics Sciences Scholars Program. Claudia also launched a very successful initiative, the Revenue Generating Berkeley Physics International Education Program. Congratulations, Claudia. Our next award recipient is Gia White. During her career, Gia has actively created an inclusive and welcoming environment for diverse individuals and groups, and has dedicated herself to fostering historical awareness, both at a community level and on our campus. The celebration of the 150th anniversary of the admission of women to the University of California triggered Gia's interest in the whereabouts and significance of African-American women on the Berkeley campus. She developed on her own initiative, and without any funding, wow, Gia, a research project that allowed her to uncover a wealth of information. The publication of her research findings on the Berkeley website allowed the Berkeley community to become aware of these African-American women trailblazers and their time on campus, their stories, and their remarkable journeys. Thank you for uplifting their voices, Gia, and we celebrate you. Congratulations. The next award is presented to the Dismantling Anti-Black Racism Team. Woo-hoo! This work group at University Health Services has assisted in deconstructing and reshaping policies, procedures, and systemic barriers rooted in white supremacy in order to create racial equity to foster understanding and empathy and to increase access to opportunities for Black staff and students. This team engaged in challenging conversations, gathered input, conducted analysis to identify gaps, collaborated with other teams, put forth recommendations for short and long-term anti-racism activities, and co-organized a retreat. Through thoughtful research and information gathering, honest conversations, and deep emotional labor, this team is leading the way for UHS to be an anti-racist organization that creates well-being for Black and African-American staff and clients, a deep immense appreciation for all the hard work to all the members of their team and for their work. Our next award recipient, I'm like, where's the applause button? Is Victoria Williams. For many undergraduates and language teaching faculty, the first person they encounter in the Berkeley Language Center is Victoria. She will greet them with a smile, inquire if they need something, and help them to find it, which includes everything from Zoom instructions to where they can set up a Skype call for an interview with an Estonian radio station. Her engagement is not only about fulfilling a need, it is about developing a relationship, one that is based on respect and cooperation with the goal of ensuring that everyone realizes their fullest potential. On campus, Victoria is actively involved in LGBTQ plus organizing, most notably through Lavender Cal. She was recognized for this work in 2020 as part of the 150th Years of Women at Berkeley project. Woo-hoo Victoria, congratulations to you. Before I go on, I have to say how truly inspired I am by all of the award winners. Congratulations, it's just amazing. The next award recipient is Laura Wolfe. Laura has sharpened the Berkeley Center for New Media's focus on Indigenous issues, greatly improving our public events, accessibility and inclusivity, and supported student success in a myriad of ways. She administered the launch of the Indigenous Tech Program, including facilitating an ongoing relationship with local Indigenous non-profit. While transitioning public lectures from in-person to online due to the pandemic, she ensured all events were captions, simulated cast and posted on YouTube afterward, and also coordinated a slate of speakers that consisted of 80% epoxy scholars allowing us to offer highly diverse programming and attract diverse attendees from all over the world. She also recently created two key grant programs that support student research and that helped high financial needs students navigate the COVID-19 emergency. Congratulations, Laura. The next award recipient is Teresa Yu. Under Teresa's leadership, the Green Initiative Fund has prolific success in funding and supporting sustainability projects on campus. From 2019 to 21, she led the planning committee with an equitable and inclusive process to grant over $1 million to 72 campus initiatives, many of which prioritize environmental justice. Teresa provides oversight and advising to groups applying for and receiving funding and has helped uplift many of these still active projects to success. Teresa's work exemplifies her moral grounding and the values of inclusion and equitable community engagement. Teresa pioneered the inaugural first and second years of the Brian Geolettis. I hope I got that right. Sierra Queer Leadership Scholarship, which has awarded $10,000 scholarships to queer environmentalists. Congratulations, Teresa. The next award is for the University Health Systems Transgender Care Team. And now we present a video from the team nominator, Peter Cornish, from the University Health Services Department. Greetings from the University Health Services. First of all, thank you to the Chancellor for honoring this important work. And of course, special thanks to the phenomenal UHS transgender clinical team working together to provide a holistic wraparound full continuum of programming to transgender students. The team includes passionate dedicated primary care providers, nurses, psychologists, social workers, sports medicine doctors and psychiatric providers. This groundbreaking program has become a model for many other campuses because of its reach, comprehensiveness and student-centric approach. Students have agency in the care process, including the ability to choose their provider. We've learned from students that easy access and the capacity to honor preferences are highly valued. Services offered include general primary care, prescribing and monitoring hormones, specialized care for student athletes, reproductive and sexual health care, transgender affirmative counseling, mental health readiness assessment for gender-affirming surgeries, teachings for UHS staff and collaboration with off-campus providers. Congratulations team. We also want to express our deep appreciation for members of the UHS transgender leadership team who work behind the scenes at an administrative level to ensure all the non-clinical aspects of a transgender students experience. The Tang Center is exceptional. You make us all proud. A hearty virtual round of applause for the University Health Services Transgender Care Team. Hey there, folks. We had a little bit of technical difficulties earlier, so we're gonna go back to one of our awardees, Temple Byers. And so I'll go ahead and Temple, I'm gonna read your recognition. So this next recipient is Temple Byers, an exemplary mentor and staff member who skillfully manages an inclusive and diverse informal working group. Her founding and facilitation of the weekly Schedulers Unite group was not meant to be a formal community of practice, but it turned into a lifeline to curriculum managers both old and new. Temple's skillful facilitation, utilizing an inclusive and open communicative style makes these weekly sessions immensely useful to the on-the-ground practitioners and cultivates a feeling of connectivity and community at Cal for staff across all the colleges. So thank you so much, Temple. I just want to recognize you. Thank you. And gosh, as we close for today, my heart is full. I am so grateful and honored to be in community with staff members who are changing the world each and every day. And on that note, before we wrap up today, I owe such a huge thanks and gratitude to the COSA committee who have worked so tirelessly these past eight months to put this award ceremony together. And we have had so many, so much has come up, Delta, Omicron, and we've had to tailor our program, but I really want to highlight our COSA committee chairs, Amir Karkia, Chanya Karoyan, and our COSA committee, Nicole McIntyre, and Alyssa Panyawe-Curt, and they're actually in this room, and I would like to have them join me. They're gonna turn my background off because they have been working behind the scenes weekly to put this event together. And they, again, this is a volunteer, CSAC is all volunteer, and these are the folks that have put this program on.  Congratulations! Yay! We wish you a great rest of the day.


Hello. Hey. Let's try that again. Hello. OK, thanks for joining our session. So today, Andrew and I will be talking about conversational AI. So first, I guess it would make sense to introduce ourselves and explain why we are in the position of talking about it. So my name is Ilya. I'm a product lead at Google. And I kind of like doing two things there. So one is, so I joined Google about a year and a half ago when my company was acquired. Company name is API AI. And we renamed it to Dialogflow. So Dialogflow is a platform for building conversational interfaces for Google Assistant and also other platforms. So our users are building like Assistant apps, Facebook bots, Slack bots, and conversational agents for other platforms. And also, I'm in charge for startup ecosystem development with Google Assistant. So basically, working with startups that are building interesting applications for conversational use cases. Andrew? Hi, my name is Andrew McCraith. I'm responsible for corporate development at Converseca. Converseca is the global leader in conversational AI for business. And we face a great problem, which is that we're growing very fast. And my role is to help us make sure that as we grow and expand, we don't get ahead of ourselves and we do it successfully. And one of the biggest challenges as we grow is recognizing that the new segments we get into, whether they're new business functions, new geographies, new cultures and languages, that we understand the nuances of those different opportunities. And that's key to the success of conversational AI is recognizing that not every conversation is the same. And we need to have one solution that can recognize those differences, put that all in context, and still have a very successful conversation. So now that we know what conversational AI is and why we're the experts to speak to you about it, one of the real benefits of conversational AI is that it can take over doing the non-value add very repetitive aspects of a conversation. So 30% of business people spend their time in email.  And so conversational AI can help you address those issues and actually make you more productive in your job. So Ilya, on the side that you're involved with, where do you see the benefits of conversational AI? Yeah, I mean, I guess we are kind of like looking at conversational AI from different angles a little bit. So my main focus is from consumers. And the way we think about conversational AI is that, well, there are two things. There is the conversational and AI here. And so there is an AI that helps you manage conversation. So basically understanding user intent, managing dialogue, like generating personalized answers and things like this. And then there is the AI part, which is more of a decision making and deciding when is the best time to start this conversation, let's say, right? So our focus, especially in Dialogflow at Google, is on the interface part, right? So we are basically considering it as an additional interface to existing services. It's not about just building AI from scratch. It's rather, if you have a great service, why not add a conversational interface to it? So speaking of benefits here, it's, so obviously it is the most natural way of communicating with people. Like people are talking to each other for like thousands and thousands of years. And with the growth of the technological services, like number of those and noise around it, it kind of is becoming really necessary to provide people with easy interfaces to get things done and to be informed when they have to be informed, not to check your Twitter and email and Facebook like every other minute. And this is like a huge benefit. So basically we're allowing people to get their life back and focus on important stuff. But I guess the angle may be a little different if it is, we are talking about enterprise use cases. So and like, well, what I hear here and there is that like actually people will start like losing jobs because of the AI. Because like, well, many of the functions could be like replaced. So what's your take on it? And that is a common fear. AI is an automation technology. Automation, it means jobs are going away. And what we found is it's actually quite the opposite. So Salesforce is one of our big partners being a sales automation company. And they were worried about losing licenses because our customers would automate the sales process. And what they found out was of all the companies they surveyed using Converseca, zero had reduced their number of Salesforce licenses. 80% had actually increased their Salesforce licenses. And the reason for that is we were taking away part of the process, but that enabled people to do what people do best, which was to sell in the case of a sales assistant. And not only were we helping them spend their time selling, we were helping them generate even more leads. So they needed even more people to help. So what we're really seeing is a shift. There's maybe net positive jobs, but it's a shift from the cold calling inside sales type work, which is a high churn position. It's not what people do best to the more value add sales executive account selling type roles. And that's what we expect to continue to see happening as we look at conversational AI is all those business conversations that happen, whether they're between companies and their customers, companies and their employees, companies and their suppliers, those conversations will be automated. And that's kind of where conversational AI is going is continuing to enable more and more of those business interactions to be automated. And that's gonna open up all sorts of new ways of doing business, ways of relating with your employees and your suppliers. And also seeing how all those different assistants work together. What are some of the places where you see the future of conversational AI as these ecosystems continue to grow? Well, I think one of the, like there may be multiple paths to the future of conversational AI. Like at the end of the day, obviously, like on consumer side, we will all have assistants that help us. So the question is like, what form will they be? So would it be, you know, like my personal assistant that cares about my needs, that knows me best and tries to anticipate what needs I may have and is able to answer any questions or it could be like brand assistants where you are basically talking to each and every brand separately, for example. Or I mean, my view is like, well, probably it will be like a combination, right? But in general, again, because we are considering conversational UX as just part of, like as an addition to existing services, well, we are adding this layer that knows you, that understands what you want. That is like much more natural. So, and the future is basically like, well, this assistant's becoming like, well, get into a quality level where you basically do not need like, not like, well, you may need other types of interfaces, but for most of your like daily tasks, if you just think of like a real human assistant, they have to be like same capable, right?  But for any routine tasks, well, I believe that is, that's definitely like, well, what will be, will be happening. So, what do you think of like the enterprise picture for it? Yeah, so, enterprise is a fastening place because it has a different set of challenges. And the two big ones that stand out are, we're trying to reach out and engage the target. The target hasn't necessarily started that conversation. We're asking the question and that's a different challenge from a technology standpoint. You need to know what's the right question to ask, when's the right time to ask it, and what's the best way to ask it. And that's different for each person you're trying to reach. So, as we continue to get better and better with the technology, we can start to make that a much more personalized assistant. So, right now, most enterprises, they think of having an assistant for each one of their salespeople. And we see the future as we can have an assistant for each one of our customers or for each one of our employees or each one of our suppliers because they each interact and engage in a different way. And that's one of the challenges is how do you build into your system a way to recognize all those different subtleties? So, the way an executive interacts is different maybe than an entry level position. Maybe there's a different dialect in different parts of the country. Maybe someone prefers to engage with a female assistant or a male assistant. Do they want someone who's very stern and aggressive in their style or very laid back and relaxed? And so, all those different nuances and different personalities takes time to build up a data set that can be very precise. And then the other part is to get the most out of an assistant, whether it's for business, consumer, and any application, you need to integrate with systems. The more systems you integrate with, the more valuable data you can bring to the conversation, both to contextualize it, but also to make it beneficial in both directions. A lot of our business conversations, people share information that's really valuable, but we don't have a place to store it today. Being able to integrate with more and more systems will help that become a richer, more valuable experience. And it also accelerates the time to pay back. So as an enterprise, return on investment is very important. And the faster we can deploy, and the easier we can deploy, and the more systems we integrate with, the higher those returns and the faster you get a return. So, on the other side, where are some of the challenges that you see as we try and get to this next generation of conversational AI? Well, I agree on the integration piece. In our world, integration is basically access to all the services. And obviously, one of the roles of speaking assistants, digital assistants, is actually being a gateway to all types of different services. So it's not just about integrating it, it's about mainly orchestrating services, understanding which service to contact for each type of request and user personality. So you may have different preferences in terms of your travel providers, for example. So depending on your personality and depending on the type of request, you may need to connect to different systems, right? So basically, integration is extremely important. In order to get to integration, you actually have to convince brands and services and companies to play this game, to join the ecosystem, which they are doing. But then, the question is always a balance, like chicken and egg issue, where they are much more motivated to build very meaningful experiences if the audience is there and audience is requesting it. But you cannot get this demand from consumers if you do not have enough services connected. And if you do not get really high quality of the responses, right? So it's an interesting balance where you have to set expectations for consumers and you are trying to achieve the coverage and many of the companies that are building conversation interfaces, they have first to just imagine what the conversations will be about. They do not have any data yet as they haven't launched yet. So that is an interesting challenge and something that is to be solved to get to really widespread conversational AI applications but that's also pretty interesting and I guess it kind of helps us, well, we are working hard on bringing it, right? So what do you think of the opportunities there? So what should be done to make it, to get to that future? Yeah, so this room is filled with entrepreneurs, investors supporting entrepreneurs and we all know that where any great challenge lies, that's really an opportunity for someone to take advantage of it and conversational AI is ripe for that. There's a lot of places where innovation still needs to happen. So making the integration problem making that easier is one place. The other place that is very exciting to both of us is as these AIs become more pervasive, they're gonna enable new use cases that we don't have today and recognizing those use cases and the new opportunities is an area where the people who can identify that and take advantage of it will be able to create great amounts of value and I think we're just at the beginning of that. So if we look on the business side, a lot of the penetration has been in sales. It's very easy to talk about if we can help you convert more leads into revenue, pay us to help you do that. But it doesn't just stop there. We can do the same thing engaging employees to make employee experiences better at the company. Working with our suppliers, working with investors. And so at the end of the day, really the opportunity is for everyone here how can I take advantage of conversational AI? So if you're at a startup and you're trying to grow and expand, maybe you don't need to hire 10 or 20 salespeople. You can augment that with an AI-powered sales assistant. Let them do a lot of that pre-sales grunt work. If you're an investor, the most common use for Series B and Series C funds is to scale sales and marketing. So bring this technology to your portfolio. If you're a corporation and you're looking at digital transformation, where are those repetitive processes where you can apply a sales assistant or an AI-powered assistant to help you? What are some of your other thoughts on key takeaways going forward? No, for the startups here, I guess, like today we have this unique opportunity where there is a new ecosystem that is growing the conversational like UX market. Like I mean, we had this with like web in 90s and then like with mobile apps in 2000s. And basically like most of the stakeholders are here already. So the technology companies are investing huge amount of like resources and money in building hardware, providing tools to make it happen. Brands recognize that it is very important as well. So they are coming there. Startups are still not there.  So I kind of like want to invite all the startups here to think like how they can like come up with great new experiences for conversational market. If you have any questions immediately following this session, come join us over in the Slush Cafe and we'd be happy to talk to you. As long as you have questions, we'll give you answers. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.