Speak at NeoSummit 2026

A serial entrepreneur, Matt brings 20+ years of SaaS, software, telecom, and contact center experience to Neostella. Other career highlights include serving as Founder and CEO of a Cloud Contact Center solution that was acquired by Shoretel/Mitel and a Salesforce implementation practice which was acquired by a fortune 1000. In his spare time, Matt enjoys downhill skiing and water skiing.

Chris Emerson is a leader in legal technology, innovation, and operational efficiency, helping Quarles’ attorneys and clients leverage cutting-edge tools to enhance legal service delivery. With expertise in workflows, automation, machine learning, and data analytics, he focuses on improving client outcomes and streamlining legal operations.

Chris oversees the firm’s pricing and matter budgeting functions, collaborates with client legal operations and procurement teams, and ensures attorneys are equipped to address evolving legal challenges through data-driven insights, alternative service models, and strategic legal technology. He also guides clients in operationalizing key areas such as contract management, portfolio litigation, real estate asset management, acquisitions, regulatory compliance, and matter management.

An active industry contributor, Chris serves on conference committees for the Legal Value Network’s Council of Luminaries and has held multiple leadership roles with the International Legal Technology Association.

Aaron Jophlin is a managing partner with Bell Legal Group, L.L.C., located in historic Georgetown, South Carolina. After a decade of courtroom experience, Aaron focuses on complex litigation: medical malpractice, wrongful death, criminal defense, nursing home neglect, and catastrophic injury.

Aaron earned his law degree from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 2003, and a Bachelor of Music Performance from the University of South Carolina School of Music in 1997. He currently holds an AV Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell – this is given to attorneys who are ranked at the highest level of professional excellence for their legal expertise, communication skills, and ethical standards by their peers.

A native of Sumter, South Carolina, Aaron now lives in Pawley’s Island, and is active in the Georgetown County, Charleston County and Grand Strand communities. In addition to his legal practice, Aaron continues to play French horn professionally with symphony orchestras throughout the Southeastern United States.

After a successful career as a litigator, Craig’s primary focus is building the teams that directly manage client cases, and overseeing the firm’s largest cases.

He remains involved in pre-suit and litigation matters that involve significant loss, such as catastrophic injury, medical malpractice and wrongful death cases. Craig is an active national speaker to community organizations, lawyers, and other legal professionals on a variety of topics concerning personal injury law, litigation, and the justice system. He is the founder of several charitable causes, including the Emanuel McMiller Scholarship for Higher Education, and Heart of the Game (HOTG). HOTG provides free Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) to community and youth athletic associations across Florida. These devices can save the lives of young athletes who have experienced a Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) while participating in athletic activities.

Raised in Clearwater, Florida, Craig earned his undergraduate degree at Duke University, where he played NCAA Division I soccer for two seasons. Motivated to pursue a career in Law by his mother, Sondra, a Harvard Law School graduate and the first female teaching fellow at Harvard Law, he received his Juris Doctorate from the Levin College of Law at the University of Florida.

Craig and his wife, Colleen, live in Palm Beach Gardens and are the proud parents of two college-aged daughters. When not strategizing GOLDLAW’s future, you can find Craig playing on a local soccer pitch or enjoying his favorite food, popcorn, while watching any movie in the Star Wars franchise.

Scott Armstrong obtains remarkable results for his clients. He has successfully tried numerous cases to favorable verdicts and reached significant settlements on his client’s behalf. In the process, he has recovered millions for his clients.

Scott is known for his aggressive approach to every case. He has been recognized as a Rising Star by Super Lawyers, an accolade awarded to only 2.5% of attorneys under forty and practicing for less than ten years. Houstonia Magazine, H-Texas Magazine, and others have recognized Scott as a “top lawyer” in Houston.

Scott believes that extensive preparation, a superior work ethic, and an attitude toward constant improvement generate the best outcomes. His goal in every case is to get his clients what they need to have the most positive and financially secure life possible.

Before co-founding Armstrong Lee & Baker LLP, Scott practiced with several of the best personal injury firms in Texas and the country. He has experience handling cases of all sizes, from car accidents to catastrophic injury and death cases. He has successfully resolved cases in numerous practice areas, including maritime, product liability, commercial trucking accidents, medical
malpractice, automobile accidents, premises liability, and defective prescription drugs.

Scott has also resolved commercial disputes on contingency and hybrid bases when small- to medium-sized business clients want excellent representation but paying high hourly rates does not make business sense.

In addition to his trial practice, Scott handles appeals in various state and federal courts across the country. Scott currently serves as a member of the Pattern Jury Charges Oversight Committee for the State Bar of Texas.

Scott graduated magna cum laude from the University of Houston Law Center, where he was Chief Articles Editor of the Houston Law Review. During law school, Scott won a number of moot court competitions and was recognized for providing the Most Outstanding Contribution to the Houston Law Review. His academic and legal writing achievements earned him membership in the Order of
the Coif, the National Order of Scribes, and the Order of the Barons.

Scott lives in Houston with his wife, Jessica. He is an active member of the Houston Bar Association, Houston Trial Lawyers Association, and the Houston Young Lawyers Association.

Brandon Speaks serves as Senior Vice President at Provana, a leading outsourcing company specializing in tech-enabled services to the collections and legal sectors. With over two decades of experience in legal and operations management, Brandon possesses a wealth of knowledge in guiding optimization of strategy, operations, and profitability within collections industry. His expertise allows him to adeptly navigate the complexities of heavily regulated sectors, offering tailored solution to address the unique challenges faced by stakeholders. Brandon is a sought-after speaker on pivotal industry subjects such as law firm strategy, change management and optimizing operations, further solidifying his status as a thought leader in the field.

Vivek Rao is co-founder and CEO of Foundation AI, a company focused on automating document-driven workflows like document classification, naming and saving, data entry, and other tedious tasks for litigation firms. Prior to founding Foundation AI in 2019, Vivek ran the medical lien unit at one of California’s largest workers’ compensation firms while moonlighting consulting numerous companies ranging from healthcare centers to
webstars.

Vivek started his AI journey over a decade ago as corporate counsel of Enlightiks, a healthcare AI platform focused on the medical provider space. After Enlightiks was acquired, Vivek recruited and convinced the technical brains behind it to apply their AI expertise to solve the document processing challenges that plague litigation firms.

Six years later, Foundation AI processes millions of documents a month for some of the nation’s largest litigation firms.

Vivek earned his B.S. in Business Administration from USC and his JD and MBA degrees from UCLA.

As a senior communications and channel sales executive, Jon brings a record of visionary leadership in bringing disruptive technology to market and driving sales through technology service distributors and alliance partners. He excels at rapidly building and motivating high-performance sales organizations, delivering dramatic revenue growth, and capturing new opportunities to solidify the future success of the companies.

At Sanas, we’re revolutionizing global communication with the world’s first Real-Time Speech Understanding Platform. Our patented technology eliminates communication barriers by refining accents—ensuring clear, effortless conversations while preserving each speaker’s unique voice, personality, and cultural identity. The result? Enhanced customer experiences (CX) and happier, more productive agents. The impact speaks for itself. One of our key partners, Wyndham, has seen game-changing results after implementing Sanas’ accent translation technology. Wyndham has shared that their offshore agents achieved a 50% boost in hotel booking conversions and a 42% increase in successful sales transfers. By reducing the need for clarifications, repetitions, and transfers—previously major pain points—Sanas empowered Wyndham’s teams to connect with customers more seamlessly than ever before.

Our Mission: Sanas delivers better customer experiences by making conversations more understandable.

Our Vision: To provide access to opportunity by enabling billions worldwide to transcend linguistic boundaries.

Walead Anwar is trusted technology, process operations, and management adviser in the legal space. Walead has long served as an advocate for people by nurturing visions into outcomes through plans that accelerate adoption and individual adaptability. Walead optimizes purpose-based outcomes by delivering on KPI’s, mitigating, ensuring compliance, leveraging technology investment, enhancing collaboration, and increasing value considerations for organizations.

Walead earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management from NEIU, an Executive MBA in Strategy from Loyola University Chicago, and recently completed a secondary Masters in Organizational Psychology from Harvard University, Extension Studies culminating in founding a Think Tank in alli (pronounced ally), advocating to helping organizations maximize employee performance, drive organizational change, and optimize technological adoption. Walead aims to evolve the way organizations approach Human Capacity Management™, workforce development, and technology adoption by providing a unique suite of practical services that bridge the gap between technology, culture, and people.

Having lost 110 pounds over 20 years ago, Walead is an advocate for health and wellness by maintaining an active lifestyle cycling, running while serving as wellness coach for working professionals and mentor for youth groups around the Chicagoland area.

Mason is CCK’s Managing Partner. He is an experienced federal and state court litigator focused on representing individuals in the application, appeal, and litigation of life, health, short-term disability, and long-term disability insurance benefits under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and under private insurance contracts. Mason represents claimants nationally in ERISA and non-ERISA claims and administrative appeals of denied benefits. Mason’s practice also includes litigation of personal injury disputes.

Mason graduated from Rhode Island College in 2003 and went on to graduate from Roger Williams University School of Law in 2007. Prior to joining CCK, Mason worked in the Rhode Island Department of Administration, Division of Legal Services and the Governor’s Office of Legal Services. Mason is a contributing author to the American Bar Association’s book ERISA Survey of Federal Circuits. He serves as President of the Board for the Rhode Island Chapter of the Federal Bar Association and is the past Chair of the Young Lawyers Committee. He is also a member of YPO Boston, the Rhode Island Bar Association, Rhode Island Association for Justice, and American Association for Justice. Mason enjoys spending time with his family and cycling.

Rich Scudellari is a Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Penny Jar Capital. Before Penny Jar, Rich was the Investment Partner for SC30 Inc, the off-court business of two-time NBA MVP and four-time NBA Champion, Stephen Curry. Previously, Rich founded an SMB software company building infrastructure in the creator economy and spent several years at TPG and Morgan Stanley. Rich has an MBA from Stanford and a degree in Electrical Engineering from Yale where he played football. Rich lives in Milwaukee with his wife and three daughters.

Matt McClellan is the founder of Hona, a platform that simplifies how law firms communicate with their clients. With over five years in legal technology and nearly a decade of experience running businesses, Matt has developed a deep interest in making organizations more efficient and scalable. He’s passionate about finding practical solutions to help businesses operate smarter and grow faster, bringing a thoughtful and hands-on approach to everything he builds.

Rose is an innovative and passionate leader with nearly ten years’ experience driving strategic initiatives and optimizing business processes in the law firm setting. She has experience managing complex projects including technology implementations, organizational restructuring, and practice expansion from inception to completion, ensuring alignment with organizational goals and delivering measurable outcomes. Rose plays an integral role in enhancing operational efficiency and measuring what matters to make data-driven decisions.

Ira Smith is a technology strategist and executive with 35+ years of experience in legal services, operations, and finance. As Principal Consultant at Flight Level Vision, he specializes in legal practice management, financial strategies, and case management systems. He has held leadership roles in the private credit capital space and top legal technology firms, driving product development and strategic initiatives. A Florida Supreme Court Certified Mediator, Ira also contributes to publications on legal technology and client billing.

Steve Bashmakov is Chief Executive Officer and Board Member of US Claims the largest pre-settlement funding company in US. The company is a leader in providing
litigation funding to plaintiffs nationwide starting back in 1994. In the last 10 years, the Company provided over $1.2 Billion of advances and has worked with over 30,000
Personal Injury attorneys. The Company has been recognized by SunSentinel as a Top Work Place three years in the row.

Steve became CEO on August 1 st , 2020 and prior to this role served as CFO for USClaims and its parent company DRB Financial Solutions. Steve joined DRB Financial
Solutions in 2015.

Steve began his career at JP Morgan Chase Bank, he served as Vice President in the Personal Financial Services division. From 2004 – 2010 Steve worked in a number of
roles within GMAC family of companies including Director of Investor Relations, Chief Financial Officer, etc. In 2010 Steve joined Roundpoint Financial Group as Chief
Financial Officer and subsequently moved into a President role of one of its subsidiaries.

Steve earned his bachelor’s degree from University of Texas at Dallas and holds a MS in Accounting and Information Management from the same university. Steve and his family reside in Delray Beach, FL.

After being named as a Partner of Zirkin & Schmerling Law in 2011, Josh scaled his practice from managing 15 cases to over 1,300 matters. Under his leadership, the firm has represented clients in courts throughout Maryland – securing millions of dollars in judgments and settlements for victims of automobile, truck, and motorcycle accidents, dog bites, as well as workplace injuries. In addition, Josh has won two appellate decisions related to dog bite law, expanding the rights for victims of dog bite injuries throughout Maryland. Josh is known for his fierce, tireless advocacy on behalf of his clients.

From 2015 to 2019, Josh served on Maryland’s Judicial Compensation Commission by appointment of Governor Larry Hogan, contributing to policy decisions on judicial salaries and court administration. His peers have recognized his expertise: he’s been named to the National Trial Lawyers’ Top 40 Under 40 and honored as a Super Lawyers practitioner each year from 2020 through 2025. A sought-after speaker, Josh has taught continuing-education courses across the state on developments in personal injury and accident law. Josh leverages this deep, hands-on experience to inform LawPro.ai’s vision and strategy, ensuring the platform addresses real-world challenges faced by personal injury firms.

Jeremy is a visionary leader with a track record of driving operational efficiencies and innovative market strategies. He has guided C-level executives on optimizing go-to-market approaches and aligning sales and marketing functions. At Tableau Software, Jeremy secured key investments for a brand new vertical which led to a fully funded team and significant growth. Recognized as a top 2% performer at Salesforce, he now leverages his extensive expertise to steer LawPro.ai towards sustained success and growth.

Brian brings 15+ years of product and technology leadership experience to Neostella. As Director of Product for Neodeluxe, he leads a team of product managers developing legal tech solutions, building on his experience creating enterprise software solutions for global clients. His career spans roles as a founder, creative director, and technical project manager, giving him a unique perspective on delivering customer-centric products. In his spare time, Brian performs gospel music and cheers on his beloved Detroit Lions.

Amy Mannix is the CEO of Retrēv Legal Solutions, where she leads operations and drives
business growth with innovation, efficiency, and precision. With a background in business
development, logistics, and team leadership, Amy originally joined the company as Chief
Operating Officer before stepping into the CEO role.

At Retrēv, she sets the company’s long-term vision and strategic direction while identifying
key market opportunities in legal tech and document discovery. Deeply knowledgeable
about the challenges law firms face, she is passionate about helping them navigate around these obstacles to achieve the best outcomes for their clients. She focuses on building
long-term relationships and earning trust through consistent, high-quality solutions.

Amy is excited to be a guest speaker at NeoSummit, where she’ll share insights on how
third-party legal solutions are transforming the industry. She looks forward to connecting
with like-minded professionals, exchanging ideas, and continuing to strengthen Retrēv
through collaboration and learning.

Equal parts powerhouse and people person, Amy unwinds by traveling, connecting with
others, and enjoying her signature drink: a strong Long Island.

Austin Kirk is a second generation partner at Saiontz & Kirk, joining the law firm established by his father after graduating from University of Maryland School of Law in 2001.

Growing up in Baltimore, Austin graduated from Friends School of Baltimore in 1994, before going on to attend The American University, where he graduated in 1998.

After joining the firm in 2001, Austin gained experience handling hundreds of auto accident and personal injury cases throughout Maryland, as well as litigation involving dog bite injuries, slip and fall accident and premises liability matters.

Since 2006, Austin has been the head of the firm’s product liability department, managing Saiontz & Kirk’s national practice involving mass tort claims for defective medical devices and pharmaceutical injuries.

Colleen Joyce, CEO of Lawyer.com, is a marketing powerhouse and the creative force behind The Fast Five, a weekly newsletter delivering rapid-fire insights on marketing, growth, and staying ahead of the curve. In 2009, Colleen started Lawyer.com with just one employee, a website, and a head full of big ideas. Today, she’s grown it into a 200-person legal tech firm with multiple thriving business lines, setting new standards in legal marketing, client acquisition, and directory services. Her bold vision, sharp execution, and flair for brand storytelling have made Lawyer.com a force in the legal space. Known for shaking things up (in the best way), Colleen cuts through the noise with strategies that don’t just sound good—they get results. Equal parts savvy and sassy, she believes marketing should never be boring—and neither should you!