Kevin Surace

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

Kevin J. Surace
Kevin Surace, 2016
BornJuly 12, 1962
NationalityUnited States
OccupationTechnology
Known forSerious Energy, Appvance, Speaker

Planet Forward, CNBC and the World Economic Forum have recognized Surace as an innovator and a technology pioneer.[6][7][8] He has been awarded 84 patents worldwide[9].

Surace is a speaker on AI, robotics, automation and the future of jobs[10] and has given hundreds of talks on the topic including TEDx.[11]

Biography

Surace earned a B.S. in electrical engineering technology from the Rochester Institute of Technology.[1][2][4] He serves on the RIT Board of Trustees, was alumni of the year in 2011, outstanding alumnus in 2019[12] and was inducted into the school’s Innovation Hall of Fame.[2]

His wife Marita Surace died on February 5, 2012.[13] He married Erica Rogers on January 1, 2014. She is CEO of Silk Road Medical [14]

Career

At General Magic, Surace was the executive vice president of products and network services, led the development of the first large scale artificially intelligent voice user interface, and led the team that developed the OnStar Virtual Advisor for General Motors."[15] He also served as the chairman, CEO and president of WebKnight, Inc. (sold to Micrografx).[16] Most recently, he became the CEO of Appvance, the developer of an AI driven QA platform for automated software testing/ Surace also held engineering and management positions at National Semiconductor, IBM and Seiko Epson.[2][3]

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.[17] and was named the most innovative environmental product of the year by the Wall Street Journal.[2][4][18]

He also launched the cloud-based procurement platform Perfect Commerce and serviced as its chairman, CEO, and president.[2][3][4] In 1992, Surace also co-founded Air Communications Inc., and became the company’s CEO and president.[2] In 2010 he led Serious to replace all of the windows in the Empire State Building to reduce energy consumption.[19]

Surace is the CTO of Appvance, creator of an AI driven QA platform. He has served on many boards including RIT, Zeta Design/Build, WaterCity, Coyuchi, Spot Trender and TweetSecret.[1][2][15]

Sustainability

Surace holds several patents in green technologies, and has authored articles on energy efficiency and the green economy.[2][20]

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."[21][22]

Awards & recognition

In 2009, Inc. Magazine entrepreneur of the Year.[4][23] In 2010, CNBC, one of 15 Leading Innovators for the next decade.[7] In 2010, the World Economic Forum, Tech Pioneer.[1][8]

In 2010 he was the keynote speaker for the Democratic Caucus (House of Representatives).[2][24] In 2011, Planet Forward nominated Surace as an Innovator of the Year.[3][6][25]

gollark: Standalone kind signatures.
gollark: Oh, cofunctors, those are great.
gollark: Category polymorphic functors?
gollark: Nonlinear optics!
gollark: Selective applicative functors!

References
  1. "Company Overview of Serious Energy, Inc". businessweek.com. Retrieved December 27, 2012.
  2. "Innovation Hall of Fame". rit.edu. Retrieved December 27, 2012.
  3. "Kevin Surace, CTO". pushtotest.com. Retrieved December 27, 2012.
  4. Leigh Buchanan (Dec 1, 2009). "Entrepreneur of the Year 2009: Kevin Surace of Serious Materials". inc.com. Retrieved December 27, 2012.
  5. "Kevin Surace". Future in Review. Retrieved 2019-08-22.
  6. Susanna (March 14, 2011). "Cross-posted from Advanced Biofuels USA by Joanne Ivancic". planetforward.org. Retrieved December 27, 2012.
  7. "15 Leading Innovators For the Next Decade". cnbc.com. Archived from the original on December 6, 2013. Retrieved December 27, 2012.
  8. "Kevin Surace". weforum.org. Retrieved December 27, 2012.
  9. https://www.softwaretestpro.com/training/ai-test-generation-what-we-learned-so-far/
  10. "Kevin J. Surace Keynote Speakers Bureau & Speaking Fee". Retrieved 2 February 2018.
  11. Kevin Surace (4 May 2015). "Kevin Surace: Robotics, AI, the end of human work, and a coming Renaissance". Retrieved 2 February 2018 – via YouTube.
  12. "Surace named 2019 Outstanding Alumnus". RIT. Retrieved 2019-08-22.
  13. "Marita Surace". legacy.com. February 12, 2012. Retrieved December 27, 2012.
  14. http://www.silkroadmedical.com/about-us/management-team/
  15. "Kevin Surace's Bio". sustainablesociety.org. Retrieved December 27, 2012.
  16. 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.
  17. "Serious Materials EcoRock". popsci.com. Retrieved December 27, 2012.
  18. "Alumnus Kevin Surace, Entrepreneur of the Year". rit.edu. Retrieved December 27, 2012.
  19. Leigh Buchanan (Mar 4, 2010). "Serious Materials to Green the Empire State Building". inc.com. Retrieved December 27, 2012.
  20. "Kevin Surace". greenbiz.com. January 14, 2010. Retrieved December 27, 2012.
  21. "Kevin Surace's Presentations". sittingo.com. February 2009. Retrieved December 27, 2012.
  22. "Kevin Surace invents eco-friendly drywall". ted.com. Feb 2009. Retrieved December 27, 2012.
  23. "Kevin Surace". tiecon.org. Retrieved December 27, 2012.
  24. "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.
  25. "Planet Forward on WXXI-TV". interactive.wxxi.org. 2011-08-17. Retrieved December 27, 2012.
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