Nov. 20, 2018: Hayes ’07 Pitches on Shark Tank; Alibaba President Evans ’81; AI Innovator Li ’99 

Jonathan Hayes ’07, founder of the travel-rewards startup RewardStock, pitched his business on ABC’s Shark Tank and received a $320,000 investment from Mark Cuban. Read more about Hayes on WRAL (Raleigh-Durham, N.C.) TechWire.

Alibaba president Michael Evans ’81 discussed his time as an Olympic rower and his business priorities for Alibaba in an interview conducted in the wake of the Chinese shopping holiday Singles Day. — The New York Times
 
Stanford professor and leading artificial-intelligence researcher Fei-Fei Li ’99 says that researchers have a “profound responsibility” to consider the impact of AI and avoid ingraining human biases. — Wired
 
Former Oracle president of product development Thomas Kurian ’90 will be the next CEO of Google Cloud, where he will aim to make the division appeal to more Fortune 1,000 enterprises. — TechCrunch

“Until we fix the processes and the structures of power within Congress, we should expect more of the same — polarization, vitriol, and demagoguery.”

— Rep. Mike Gallagher ’06, a Wisconsin Republican who recently won his second term in Congress, outlined legislative reforms in a recent essay titled “How to Salvage Congress.” Read more in The Atlantic

Former George W. Bush administration legal adviser John B. Bellinger III ’82 is a member of Checks and Balances, a new group of conservative lawyers seeking to push back against moves by the Trump administration that the group sees as threats to the rule of law. — The Washington Post

Indya Kincannon *99, a former board of education member and program manager in Knoxville, Tenn., announced she was entering the city’s 2019 mayoral race. — WBIR
 
University of Connecticut history professor Fiona Vernal ’95 has developed a traveling exhibition highlighting Connecticut’s West Indian community, the largest immigrant population in the state. — UConn Today
 
Harvard history professor Danielle Allen ’93 writes that millennia-old epics have a lot to say about the human condition and modern socio-political issues. — The Washington Post
 
Amid questions about his job security following a slow start to the season, Dallas Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett ’89 has been taking more risks and trying for fourth-down conversions instead of punting. — Sports Illustrated
 
A review by Judy Greer of the audiobook for Ellie Kemper ’02’s new autobiography My Squirrel Days called Kemper’s energy “like a rocket ship blasting out of my ear buds and into my soul.” — The New York Times