Carlos Pignataro

Carlos Pignataro is Founder and Principal at Blue Fern Consulting, and Senior Fellow and Program Director for the AI Executives Council at The Conference Board, where he convenes senior AI leaders across industry to advance responsible and strategic AI adoption.

Drawing on over 25 years of technology leadership, Carlos held executive roles at Cisco as Distinguished Engineer, Chief Technology Officer, and as Head of Sustainability Technology and Data, where he embedded sustainability into engineering roadmaps and championed a more diverse and inclusive workforce. He is a co-inventor of 350+ U.S. patents, co-author of 50+ Internet RFCs, and serves as adjunct faculty at NC State University and Mentor in Residence at Duke University New Ventures.

Carlos serves as Board Chair at Code the Dream, a nonprofit advancing economic mobility through technology education for underrepresented communities. He is a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, a three-time HITEC 100 honoree as one of the most influential Hispanic leaders in technology, and Fast Company’s Innovative Leader of the Year (2021).