Founding Members
Meet the Founding Members of AI and Faith
Our members come from diverse business, academic and institutional backgrounds, and a wide range of faith traditions. We remain interested in expanding our roster of outstanding thought leaders. If you want to take a leadership role in furthering the dialog between the faith community and the emerging technologies related to AI please contact us.

Aneelah Afzali, Esq.
is the founder and Executive Director of the American Muslim Empowerment Network (AMEN) at the Muslim Association of Puget Sound (MAPS). She also serves as a Board Member of the Faith Action Network and on the Steering Committee of the Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network. A graduate of the University of Oregon Honors College and Harvard Law School, Aneelah became a partner in a law firm and General Counsel of a healthcare IT company. Since leaving her legal career six years ago, Aneelah has served as a community activist, interfaith leader, and justice advocate.

Muhammad Aurangzeb Ahmad
is an Affiliate Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at University of Washington and the Principal Research Data Scientist at KenSci, an Artificial Intelligence in healthcare-focused company in Seattle. He has published over 50 research papers in the fields of machine learning and artificial intelligence and computational social science. Muhammad Aurangzeb graduated from the Rochester Institute of Technology with a Bachelors in Computer Science and holds the PhD in computer science from the University of Minnesota.

Yasmin Ali
is a computer scientist and the founder of Skillspire, an education startup headquartered in Bellevue that offers technology boot camps for immigrants, refugees and women, largely taught by part-time instructors who work in technology. Yasmin was an early visionary member of MAPS and remains active in leadership there.”

Carlos Arias, Ph.D
is Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Seattle Pacific University. He formerly taught and served as research director at a leading university in Honduras. His work focus includes e-government and e-learning.

Thomas Arnold
is a Research Associate at the Human-Robot Interaction Lab at Tufts University and also a lecturer in the Computer Science Department there. His work at Tufts focuses on the ethical evaluation and design of AI systems for interactive contexts, including how moral norms will shape how social robots are judged. Thomas is an author and co-author of numerous peer-reviewed articles on AI ethics and human-robot interaction, as well as a co-author of “Ethics for Psychologists: A Casebook Approach.” He holds a bachelors of arts degree in classics and philosophy from Stanford University, and a masters of theological studies from Harvard Divinity School. He is nearing completion of his PhD dissertation for Harvard’s Committee on the Study of Religion.

Ahmed Hassan Awadallah, Ph.D
leads the Language and Information Technologies Team of scientists and engineers at Microsoft Research Technologies, a new R&D organization within Microsoft Research. His team focuses on harnessing AI to understand how people interact with information systems and develop new experiences to empower people to be more productive.

Vincent Bacote, PhD
is an Associate Professor of Theology and Director of the Center for Applied Christian Ethics at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois. Professor Bacote‘s areas of teaching and research include theology and culture, theological anthropology, and faith and work. His numerous published works include “The Political Disciple: A Theology of Public Life” and “Erasing Race: Racial Identity and Theological Anthropology – Black Scholars in White Space”. Professor Bacote is a graduate of the Citadel, holds a masters degrees in divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and a masters degree in philosophy and PhD in theological and religious studies from Drew University.

Bruce Baker, Ph.D
teaches business ethics at Seattle Pacific University and is a former senior executive at Microsoft. He is a graduate of the California Institute of Technology, the Stanford Business School, Fuller Theological Seminary, and holds a Ph.D. in Theological Ethics from the University of St. Andrews, Scotland. An ordained Presbyterian minister and Parish Associate of University Presbyterian Church, Bruce also holds five patents from his work as a startup entrepreneur.

Keith Barrows, J.D., Ed.D
is a Senior Advisor for The Future Society, a nonprofit think-and-do tank which advances the global governance of Artificial Intelligence and other emerging technologies. He brings to AI&F a knowledge of entities engaged in AI governance on a global scale, as well as over 20 years of non-profit leadership, fundraising, education, and legal experience in the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Lycoming College, a law degree, cum laude, from Widener Law Commonwealth, and a Doctor of Education degree, with High Distinction, from Liberty University.

Gordon Bell
is the CEO of MDCommerce, an innovative provider of health care practice management and IT, including AI for personalized medical treatment that will allow health care providers to run smarter businesses and deliver better patient care. Gordon has been active as a leader in healthcare information and practice management since 1990. He grew up as an American expatriate in India. He currently supports an innovative rural hospital and associated village clinics in Maharashtra and Telangana alongside his leadership of MDCommerce and is exploring the applicability of innovative AI-based records practices in such settings.

Benaouda Bensaid
is an Associate Professor in Islamic Studies and Advisor to the President of Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim University in Istanbul, Turkey. His research and teaching focus on Muslim spirituality, Islamic Ethics and Law, and Sustainable Development. Professor Bensaid has published in numerous journals and previously taught at International Islamic University Malaysia, and at Effat University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He received his PhD in Contemporary Islamic Thought from McGill University, Canada.

Gilad Berenstein
is currently exploring a number of AI opportunities and areas of interest as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence (AI2) in Seattle. He was previously the Founder and CEO of Seattle-based travel personalization startup, Utrip, which utilized AI and human experts to help travelers plan highly personalized trips. Gilad grew up in Israel and moved to Washington in the late 90’s with his family when his dad joined a startup. Gilad is a graduate of the UW Foster School of Business where he obtained both his undergraduate and masters degrees. Gilad is passionate about travel, technology, food, innovation, and history and is a congregant at Temple De Hirsch Sinai in Seattle.

Shanen Boettcher
is presently a PhD student at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, following a 25 year career in technology, primarily as a General Manager of Product Management at Microsoft. His PhD research studies the role that artificial intelligence technology plays in the relationship between spiritual/religious information and spiritual/religious knowledge among people living in the Pacific Northwest. Shanen is a graduate of Carroll College in Economics and International Relations and earned a Master of Arts Degree in Religions and Education from the University of Warwick in England.

David Brenner
is a Seattle attorney with 25 years of experience in counseling clients and litigating claims related to technology, risk management and insurance coverage. He attends West Side Presbyterian Church and is actively involved in programs that integrate faith, science and technology with faculty of the University of Washington. He is a graduate of Stanford University and UC Berkeley’s Law School.

Craig Chapman
is the Director/Dean of the Creatio Center for Technology, Media and Design at Northwest University. Craig worked for 35 years as a software engineer and architect, with his last act the co-founding of INRIX, a highly successful traffic and navigation software and data company in Kirkland, Washington. Craig holds a bachelors of science degree in mathematics from Occidental College.

Yaqub Chaudhary, PhD
is a former/recent Research Fellow in AI, Philosophy and Theology at Cambridge Muslim College in Cambridge, England. His research interests are in the fields of AI, cognitive science and neuroscience in connection with Islamic conceptions of the mind, intelligence, human reasoning, cognition, knowledge, and the nature of perception and consciousness. In addition to professional and academic journals, he writes on current topical issues at https://www.mqbc.co.uk/ Dr. Chaudhary holds a Masters of Engineering degree and was awarded his PhD in physics by Imperial College in London.

Mark Chinen
is Professor of Law at the Seattle University School of Law, and a Fellow of the Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality. He was educated at Pomona College and Yale Divinity School before receiving his law degree from Harvard Law School. Professor Chinen teaches contracts and courses in international law and writes on various aspects of international law (including governance and theology) as well as artificial intelligence and legal responsibility

Nathan Colaner, Ph.D
is a senior instructor in the Departments of Management and Philosophy at Seattle University, focusing on business ethics with particular research emphasis on big data management and business use of artificial intelligence. He has been instrumental in the formation of the University’s new Center for Science and Innovation.

Jane Compson, Ph.D.
is an assistant professor at the University of Washington. She currently teaches classes in Comparative Religion; Environmental Ethics; Philosophy, Religion and the Environment; Biomedical Ethics and Introduction to Ethics.

Salah Dandan
is a Bellevue based attorney and business executive with extensive experience in international business and transactions, technology and intellectual property.

Saskia de Vries, Ph.D
is an Assistant Investigator at the Allen Institute for Brain Science where her research centers on how the brain transforms sensory information into perception and behavior. Saskia received her Ph.D. from Harvard.

Craig Detweiler, Ph.D
Is the President of the Seattle School of Theology & Psychology, and a professor, author, and mentor on culture, faith and technology. In addition to writing screenplays for Hollywood, his books include iGods: How Technology Shapes Our Spiritual and Social Lives and Selfies: Searching for the Image of God in a Digital Age. He graduated from Davidson College, earned an M.F.A. from the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts, and an M.Div. and Ph.D from Fuller Theological Seminary.

Matthew Dickerson

Francis Djirackor

Rev. Dani Forbess
is the pastor of Northminster Presbyterian Church in Seattle. While at Princeton Theological Seminary she placed emphasis on the field of Theological Anthropology, which seeks to understand what it means to be human and supports human flourishing. Serving in congregations from Belfast, Northern Ireland to Cape Town, South Africa to Los Angeles, CA, she has observed the complex impacts of technology across the globe. Her current congregation, set in the Ballard neighborhood, engages people working in the humanities, ethics, technology, brain science, just to name a few.

Brian Green
Brian Patrick Green is the director of technology ethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University. His work is focused on the ethics of technology, including AI and ethics, as well as on the relationship of technology and religion. Green teaches AI ethics in Santa Clara’s Graduate School of Engineering. He is a member of the Safety-Critical AI working group at the Partnership on Artificial Intelligence to Benefit People and Society, and also coordinates several other initiatives for the Markkula Center. He holds doctoral and master’s degrees in ethics and social theory from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, and his undergraduate degree is in genetics from the University of California, Davis.

Dominique Grelet
is vice president in charge of innovation at Atos, a global digital solution provider. He holds a master’s degree in computer science from CentraleSupelec engineering school in Paris. He has served in various position in Europe, Asia and the USA and is now based in Brussels where he leads the relationships with the European Union institutions. A Roman catholic who has also been a board member or active attendee of churches from various Christian traditions (evangelical, Assemblies of God, Presbyterian, Anglican) Dominique received a canonical bachelor’s degree in theology from the Institut Catholique de Paris.

Scott Hawley
is a professor in the Department of Chemistry and Physics at Belmont University in Nashville, where he teaches physics to audio engineering students and is widely engaged in writing and conferences on the ethics of technology, and on machine learning applications to acoustics and audio signal processing. Fitting for Nashville and Belmont, he is also a singer songwriter. Scott holds a B.S. in Physics from the College of William and Mary and a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Texas at Austin.

Don Howard, Ph.D
is Professor of Philosophy, a Fellow of the University of Notre Dame’s Reilly Center for Science, Technology, and Values, and an Affiliate of the newly formed interdisciplinary Notre Dame Technology Ethics Center. Professor Howard has been writing and teaching about the ethics of science and technology for over three decades. Among his current research interests are ethical and legal issues in cyberconflict and cybersecurity as well as the ethics of autonomous systems. Professor Howard earned his Ph.D from Boston University.

Gretchen Huizinga
is the former Executive Producer and Host of the Microsoft Research Podcast and the founder of the Center for Digital Wisdom, a nascent consortium of cultural guardians dedicated to the qualitative search for wisdom in a quantitative world. Gretchen holds a BA in English, a Master of Mass Communication, an M.Ed. in Learning Sciences and Human Development, and is currently entering the dissertation stage of her PhD exploring voices of faith in the responsible AI conversation.

Lee Huntsman, Ph.D
is the President Emeritus of the University of Washington and also served there as long time Provost and Chair of the Department of Bioengineering. He is a leader at University Presbyterian Church. At the UW, he is presently leading the Health Innovators Collaborative to advance information sharing, resource availability, joint projects and creation of new initiatives related to seizing the opportunities presented by the unprecedented changes in healthcare.

Steven J.P. Johnson
is an engineer with an MBA. His technology company is primarily focused in the area of cybersecurity where he is developing next generation access control solutions based on his patented authorization method. His previous work includes creating a live music nightclub that played a pivotal role during Seattle’s “grunge” years and developing automated production and control systems for military aircraft including the B-2, A-6 and F-22. In addition to work on a number of nonprofit boards, he has been both an Elder and a Deacon at his church.

David Zvi Kalman, Ph.D
is a Fellow in Residence at the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America, where he writes and teaches about religion and technology. He received a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania with a dissertation on the relationship between Jewish history and the history of technology, and an MA from the University of Pennsylvania on medieval Islamic law. He writes in both academic and popular forums and has founded two media companies. Information about his work can be found at www.davidzvi.com.

Turan Kayaoglu, Ph.D
is the Associate Vice Chancellor for Research at the University of Washington, Tacoma, and teaches in Politics, Philosophy and Public Affairs, a division of the School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences. His research focuses on the intersection of religion, human rights, and international relations.

Jawad Khaki
is an entrepreneur, investor, technologist and a community volunteer. He is a 20-year Microsoft Corporation veteran where he served as a Corporate Vice President. In 1997 Jawad helped establish the Ithna‐asheri Muslim Association of the Northwest (IMAN) and serves as its President.

Margaret Kibben

Elias Kruger

Nathan Kutz, Ph.D
is the Robert Bolles and Yasuko Endo Professor within the Department of Applied Mathematics at the University of Washington in Seattle, and author of the book Data-Driven Modeling & Scientific Computation: Methods for Complex Systems & Big Data (Oxford Univ. Press, 2013).

Cory Andrew Labrecque, PhD
is Associate Professor of Bioethics and Theological Ethics, and the inaugural Chair of Educational Leadership in the Ethics of Life at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Laval in Quebec City, Canada, where he also serves as Vice-Dean and Director of Graduate Programs in Theology. Professor Labrecque’s research lies at the intersection of religion, medicine, biotechnology, environment, and ethics. He is a corresponding member of the Pontifical Academy for Life and Vice-President of the National Committee on Ethics and Ageing (Quebec). Previously, he taught at the Center for Ethics, Faculty of Medicine, and Department of Religion at Emory University. He earned his Ph.D. in Religious Ethics at McGill University.

Brandon Lee
has been Consul General of Canada in Seattle since 2017, covering the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. Consul General Lee joined the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFATD) in 2004 following a career in the private sector as a pioneer in online banking and in large-scale telecommunications and IT management consulting. He has held several executive and management positions within the department including secondments to the WTO and International Red Cross. From 2015-2017, Mr. Lee was Consul General in San Francisco and acted as Canada’s Ambassador to Silicon Valley. He is one of Canada’s most senior technology diplomats and follows a Buddhist faith tradition.

Chris Lim
leads TheoTech and created its chief product spf.io, a platform where humans and AI collaborate to deliver real time translations of live events. He formerly served as a software engineer at Amazon and received a Masters in Computer Science at the University of Washington doing machine translation research under Professor Oren Etzioni.

Reid Maclellan, M.D.
is the founder and CEO of Asclepius, Inc, a privately-owned healthcare company, and serves as an Adjunct Professor at both Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital. He graduated magna cum laude with a B.S. from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and received his M.D. from its Medical School. He completed a general surgery internship at the University of Tennessee College of Medicine Chattanooga, and plastic surgery clinical and research fellowships at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital. Additionally, he earned a post-doctoral Master in Medical Sciences Degree in translational medical research from Harvard Medical School.

Lewis McMurran
is presently the Co-Manager of the Future of Work Project for Washington State’s Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board. Lew has over two decades of experience in government relations, advocacy, and external affairs for a wide range of employers in the private, public and non-profit sectors, including as COO of a software startup. Most notably, from 2000-2013, Lew was the first Director of Government Relations for the Washington Software Alliance (now WTIA), rising to Vice President of Government and External Relations. He is a graduate of Georgetown University in International Relations.

Meenaz Merchant
is the Partner Group Program Manager – Bing Search and Web Experiences at Microsoft. He holds undergraduate and masters degrees in computer science respectively from Maharashtra Institute of Technology and Stanford University, and an MBA from UC Berkeley. Meenaz is an active leader and worships with his family at the Iman Center in Kirkland, Washington.

Vikram Modgil
is a Seattle based AI/ML expert and founder of Pi Square (www.PiSquare.ai), a machine-learning startup specializing in AR/VR/XR, synthetic voice (called NeuraVoice) and intelligent automation (RPA). In his past life, Vikram has been in executive leadership team of multiple unicorn startups & multi-billion dollar corporate where he helped the biggest brand names in retail, cpg, pharma, technology and telecom industries adopt AI in early 2000’s to create positive impact using machine learning. Vikram also started The Good AI (www.TheGoodAI.org) to create awareness, engagement and actions towards ethical issues and bias of AI.

Ann Mongoven PhD
is the associate director of Health Care Ethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics where her work includes clinical ethics service and consultation; research in health care ethics and policy; media commentary; and educational mentorship. Ann seeks to foster deliberative approaches to complex ethical issues and negotiation of associated tradeoffs in public life, and is especially committed to addressing gender and cultural challenges in bioethics. She facilitated public engagements on biobanking ethics, and seeks to explore ethical opportunities and challenges of “big data” and AI for public health. Her 2009 book Just Love: Transforming Civic Virtue (Indiana University Press) uses examples of ordinary moral heroes to reflect on how passionate personal commitments and public-mindedness can mutually inform each other. She holds a doctorate in Religious Studies/Ethics (University of Virginia) and a Masters of Public Health (Johns Hopkins University).

Brenda Ng
is the principal and founder of The Trio Group, specializing in customer-driven business and marketing insights for a wide range of technology companies. She was formerly a senior executive for consumer and competitive insights at Microsoft and T-Mobile.

James B. Notkin
is Co-Pastor and Vision Lead at Union Church, South Lake Union, and adjunct professor of business ethics at SPU. As Union’s Vision Lead, James B. seeks to work with the community to live into our call to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with Jesus. Before co-founding Union more than ten years ago, James B was in ministry with Ann Arbor First Presbyterian Church, and then with University Presbyterian Church in Seattle. James B. received an M.Div. at Princeton Theological Seminary. A native of Seattle he loves the rain but increasingly appreciates how sunshine makes biking and tennis more enjoyable.

Thomas Osborn

Tripp Parker
is an applied AI leader currently working on machine learning in the FinTech space for SoFi. Previously he spent over 10 years at Amazon and Microsoft working on AI applications in advertising and healthcare. He holds degrees in Philosophy, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Computer Science from Duke University.

Michael Paulus
is University Librarian, Assistant Provost for Educational Technology, and Director and Associate Professor of Information Studies at Seattle Pacific University. His administrative, teaching, and scholarly interests focus on the history and future of information and communication technologies.

Rev. Dr. Ted Peters, PhD
Rev. Ted Peters, PhD, is the Distinguished Research Professor of Systematic Theology and Ethics at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary and the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California, and co-founder and co-editor of the journal Theology and Science. He is a pioneer in bioethics engagement who over the years has especially focused on ethics related to the human genome and stem cell research, and presently is studying issues related to transhumanism and data technology. He is a graduate of Michigan State University, holds masters degrees from the University of Chicago and Trinity Lutheran Seminary and a PhD from the University of Chicago. See his website: TedsTimelyTake.com.

Rev. Dr. Dan Peterson

Michael J. Quinn

Linda Ranz
has held senior executive positions in e-commerce and product development at Starbucks, Getty Images, and most recently as the Director of product management at Amazon for Echo multimodal products. She has also served as the Vice President for Marketing and Development of Medical Teams International.

Daniel Rasmus
is the founder of Serious Insights, which provides analysis and strategy around scenario planning, knowledge management, collaboration, emerging technology and popular culture to help clients put their future in context. He is the author of Listening to the Future, and Management by Design, speaks and writes frequently in technology settings, and publishes regular blog posts on AI on the Serious Insights website. Daniel attended the University of California at Santa Cruz and holds a certificate in intelligent systems engineering from the University of California at Irvine.

Rebekah Rice, Ph.D
is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Philosophy Department at Seattle Pacific University. Her areas of expertise include Philosophy of Mind and Action Theory (including causal theories of action, agent causation, and free will). She received her Ph.D from Brown University.

Marc Sachnoff
is the founder of the Modern Wisdom Leadership Institute whose purpose is to help individuals and organizations discover their unique meaning, purpose and direction so all involved can live joyful and fulfilling lives. In addition to significant non-profit experience in the entertainment industry and SGI-USA Buddhist Association, Marc has provided enlightened business strategy and marketing consulting services to organizations as diverse as Coca Cola, Microsoft, and the Presidential Inaugural Committee. Most recently Marc worked as a Director of Business Development in Microsoft’s Xbox Gaming Division.

Derek Schuurman, PhD
is a professor of computer science at Calvin University. His research interests include robotics and computer vision as well as faith and technology issues. He has written extensively on the interplay of Christian values and technology, including his book Shaping a Digital World. He is a member of various secular and Christian professional technology and science associations, is a fellow of the American Scientific Affiliation, and has volunteered internationally with projects related to technology and education. Derek holds bachelor and master of applied science degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Waterloo, and a PhD in electrical engineering from McMaster University.

Douglas M. Strong, PhD
is the Dean of the School of Theology and Professor the History of Christianity at Seattle Pacific University. Dean Strong’s field of study is American religious history, particularly around the history of 19th-century revivalism and social reform. He is especially interested in comparing religious movements’ historical engagement of technology with their potential influence on the complex, global environment of AI-powered technology today. Dean Strong graduated from Houghton College and earned his Master of Divinity degree and PhD from Princeton Theological Seminary.

S. Joshua Swamidass, MD PhD

Paul Taylor

Jason Thacker

Revd Dr Richard Turnbull, Ph.D., CA

Brian Warren
is the Director of Risk Management for Microsoft Corporation, where he has worked in risk and credit analysis and management for 24 years, primarily in Redmond, but also in Ireland. Before his risk management career, Brian served as an officer in field artillery in the United States Army, in Civil Affairs with the Army Reserve, and as a financial analyst for Allstate Insurance Company. Brian holds an AB degree in Economics from Princeton University.

Rabbi Daniel Weiner
has been the senior rabbi of the largest synagogue in the Northwest, Temple De Hirsch Sinai, with over 4,000 members, since 2001. He is a pioneer in video worship, an author and columnist for Seattle newspapers, and leads the worship rock band at TDS.

Tim Weinhold
has been a long-time business leader, both in commercial real estate and as a serial entrepreneur. He also speaks and writes regularly regarding the intersection of faith and business. Tim is a transplant from Boston where he graduated from Harvard and joined Red Sox Nation. He is also a Fellow of the Center for Enterprise, Markets and Ethics at Oxford, and is a member of the Executive Advisory Board for the School of Business, Government and Economics at Seattle Pacific University.

Emily Wenger
is pursuing a PhD in computer science at the University of Chicago with a particular emphasis on machine learning and privacy. Her research explores the limitations, vulnerabilities, and privacy implications of neural networks. Emily worked for two years as a mathematician at the US Department of Defense before beginning her PhD studies in 2018. She graduated from Wheaton College in 2016 with a degree in mathematics and physics.

James Wellman, Ph.D
is Chair of the Comparative Religion Program in the Jackson School of International Studies, University of Washington, and head of the Initiative for Global Christian Studies.