Dr. Valliappa ("Lak") Lakshmanan is an operating executive at an investment firm. He helps management teams across a range of industries employ data and AI-driven innovation to grow their businesses. ​Prior to this, Lak was the Director for Data Analytics and AI Solutions on Google Cloud and a Research Scientist at NOAA. He co-founded Google's Advanced Solutions Lab and is the author of several O'Reilly books and Coursera courses. He was elected a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society (the highest honor offered by the AMS) for his data science work.

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