A taste of our 2025 Thrive Innovation Summit speakers:
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Dawn Dore-Stites
Dr. Dawn Dore-Stites completed her graduate training in clinical psychology at Western Michigan University. Her training included internship at Children’s Hospital of Michigan which focused specifically upon pediatric psychology, a branch of psychology that blends child clinical and health psychology. After internship, she completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Michigan, where she was fortunate to receive additional training in behavioral interventions in pediatric sleep and elimination disorders. Clinically, Dr. Dore-Stites works with children and adolescents struggling with sleep disorders and elimination disorders (fecal or urine incontinence). Dr. Dore-Stites relies on evidence-based treatment including behavioral and cognitive-behavioral strategies and tailors treatment to the individual needs of the child and their family.
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Eve Weston
A storytelling and experience design consultant for clients ranging from top Hollywood producers to Silicon Valley manufacturers of XR hardware and software, Eve believes in storytelling as a force for positive change. She wrote and directed the award-winning world’s first 360VR sitcom, The BizNest, which is currently being adapted into a real-world entertainment and team-building experience. For The Bruce Lee Foundation, she solved the problem of bringing Lee's library to life in an engaging way; her resulting interactive exhibit Be Water: My Friend is currently on view at Seattle’s Wing Luke Museum.
Weston is published in double-blind peer reviewed academic publications, most notably for her Taxonomy of Experience—a framework for experience design on which European governments, theme parks and billion dollar companies have flown her out to speak. Weston is a professor of TV writing and immersive storytelling at top-ranked film schools and an alumna of Princeton, USC and Goldman Sachs. Her book 10 Kick-Ass Careers for Storytellers is available on Amazon. She also writes about the intersection of tech and entertainment for publications like The New York Post, Forbes (per alias), and the PGA's Produced By Magazine.
A produced television writer, Weston has written and developed for several ABC/Disney channels and shows, including Wizards of Waverly Place—where she wrote and choreographed a viral YouTube sensation for Selena Gomez that gave viewers agency to enter the TV story-world in an unprecedented way. Weston now brings this expertise to her work, her clients and her students.
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Guy Metter
Guy leads the US & Canada side of Passionfruit - the AI marketing platform working behind the scenes for the likes of ADT, Empire Today, Gardner White, OrangeTheory Fitness & the Atlanta Braves. He's spent the better part of eight years in tech, most of it convinced that the interesting problems live in creating systems that turn data into some form of art.
Guy holds a Communication Design honours degree from Central Saint Martins, where he spent his time building generative systems - the kind of work that turned out to be surprisingly good preparation for an industry now obsessed with AI.
Before Passionfruit, Guy worked on marketing and technology projects for the likes of BBC, Dazed, and Sony Music and at the software company: Verve.
Outside the office- he's a competitive backgammon player and a classical pianist.
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Rohan Shah
Rohan Shah is the Co-Founder and Chief Revenue Officer at Extend, where he has helped build the company from the ground up into a category-defining platform powering services programs for top-tier brands including Peloton, LoveShackFancy, Mattress Firm, HeyDude/Crocs, Oura, Ashley Furniture, and iRobot. Since launching in 2019, Extend has raised over $320M in venture funding and reached a $1.6B valuation, creating new revenue streams for merchants and enhancing the post-purchase experience for consumers.
Prior to Extend, Rohan was Founder & CEO of WITHIN, a venture-backed startup, and spent four years at BCG Digital Ventures, where he led product innovation initiatives and launched new businesses in partnership with Fortune 500 companies. A Stanford alum, Forbes “30 Under 30” honoree, and Retail Touchpoints “40 Under 40” winner, Rohan has long been immersed in the tech and venture capital ecosystems, with a sharp eye for identifying where legacy industries fall short in meeting modern consumer expectations.
In addition to founding multiple companies, Rohan is an active investor in several industry-leading startups and serves as an LP in institutional VC and PE firms through his fund, Shah Capital Partners, where he is a Managing Director. Rohan serves on the board and as President of a film & movie investment group Camelback Productions and also the board for the American India Foundation. Rohan splits time between SF and LA and continues to focus on building, investing, and philanthropy at the intersection of product, strategy, and innovation.
See below for the 2025 summit recap video, plus links to speaker presentations and footage.