Molly Cain

Connector

After more than a decade leading cross-functional strategy, communications and tech initiatives in the federal, finance, security and telecommunications and startup ecosystems, Molly Cain has built and exists within one of the most varied and experienced business networks you'll ever come across. She is masterful at creating unique opportunities to connect colleagues and business contacts with each other and their different, but complementary, areas of expertise. Chances are likely she knows someone you should know. Prior to joining the Dept of Homeland Security in 2016, Molly served as the Executive Director of one of the nation's top accelerators in 2015, according to INC Magazine. While there, she designed and launched a new-to-industry business model created to fund better startups with ambitious founders, "The Gauntlet." In only six months the Gauntlet drove investment in 42 startups, quadrupling past portfolio activity and making a significant impact in the Texas startup ecosystem. That ecosystem is now seeing thriving momentum, due in large part to the national exposure of the accelerator's success and the subsequent increase in investment activity and startup migration into the region. Molly is the founder of GlassHeel.com and regularly speaks on trends in the tech industry, leadership, mentorship, the inside world of startups, and most recently, innovation and associated culture change within the federal space. Since 2011, Molly's leadership column on Forbes has generated over 10M views. In 2012, Molly was recognized as a Dallas 40 Under 40, and in 2015, she was honored as one of the Top 25 Women in Tech by the Dallas Business Journal. Before #changemaker was a thing, Molly directed her aim at opportunities that deconstructed the "that's how we've always done it" mentality. She's passionate about contributing toward digital (and cultural) transformations, building buy-in on complex but necessary topics, and helping orgs realize how critical they are to internal innovation.

I see holes. I love spotting obvious opportunities and showing traditional organizations how simple it is to make life better for their employees and their customers.

What if everyone came to work and instead of complaining about it at happy hour, they instead asked, "how can we fix this?"

awareness campaigns, blogging, content creation, emerging tech scouting, ideation, internal communications, project management

I've attended four years of TEDxSMU and served as a judge for the auditions in 2016. I can attribute so much of my bigger thinking, awareness, willingness to respect differences, and the refinement of my superpowers to "see holes" in everyday process to my experiences and conversations at TED events. I'm forever thankful.