Sheldon Fernandez
A.I. Strategist, Thinker & Philosopher
Sheldon Fernandez is a seasoned executive, strategist and respected thought leader in the entrepreneurial and academic communities. He has successfully built and exited numerous businesses, including DarwinAI, which was selected by CBInsights for its AI 100 annual list of the hundred most promising private A.I. companies in the world. Beyond his business ventures, Sheldon is an accomplished author and speaker. He has spoken at numerous conferences in numerous contexts, including Singularity University and the MIT Technology Conference. Throughout his career, Sheldon has coupled his entrepreneurial endeavors with non-technical pursuits, resulting in an interdisciplinary approach that is critical to the intelligent application of A.I.. In addition to his BASc in Computer Engineering from the University of Waterloo, he completed a Master’s degree in Theology at the University of Toronto with thesis work in neuroscience and metaethics and pursued creative writing at Oxford University. He also underwent professional training at the Montreal Institute for Genocide Studies at Concordia University. At present, Sheldon is advising enterprises, startups, PE firms and VCs, on transformational opportunities around A.I., and maintains advisory positions with the Montreal Institute for Global Security (MIGS) and the CleanAI initiative. He is also deeply involved in work on A.I. governance, ethics and artificial consciousness, as well as exploring the intersection of A.I. in the theological and creative realms.
