Conversational Commerce and How it Puts NLP and AI to the Test!

This event is part of the Industry Leaders Lecture Series, sponsored by the College of Engineering and Computing Sciences.

Students, entrepreneurs, and technologists: Learn from the CIO of a world-renowned eBusiness about the successes, challenges, and future promise of ChatBots and AI in providing well-received, quick, and cost-effective customer interaction.

• Host and Moderator: Babak D., Beheshti, Ph.D.
• Speaker: Arnie Leap, Chief Information Officer, 1-800-Flowers.com, Inc.

Zoom information will be provided upon registration.

About the Industry Leaders Lecture Series

Dean Babak D. Beheshti, Ph.D., New York Tech College of Engineering and Computing Sciences, hosts the Industry Leader Lecture Series, offering students and practitioners a chance to hear from and interact with distinguished professionals in the tech industry.

Working professionals and undergraduate and graduate students are welcome to attend and learn from these leaders’ insights. The series offers participants a unique opportunity to ask questions about career choices and hear advice and stories directly from experts in the field. All talks will be web-based.

Certifications will be awarded, by request, to New York Tech students who attend two of the three sessions during the fall semester.

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Speaker

Arnie Leap, Chief Information Officer, 1-800-Flowers.com, Inc.

As CIO for 1-800-Flowers.com, Inc., Arnie Leap oversees all aspects of information technology systems and strategy for the company including the technology roadmap, software development, cloud, business intelligence, data privacy, data governance and compliance, and information security. He is continually focused on identifying innovative ways to apply technology to enhance the customer experience and keep the company at the forefront of where consumers are going next.

Under Arnie’s leadership, the company transformed its technology platform to create an intuitive e-commerce destination. Leveraging the company’s portfolio of more than a dozen brands, Arnie and his team established a single destination that enables shoppers to accommodate multiple shopping needs through one platform as part of one customer journey, significantly increasing the number of customers shopping across multiple 1-800-Flowers.com, Inc. brands.

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Before joining 1-800-Flowers.com, Inc. in 2013, Arnie spent 16 years at Direct Insite Corp., a provider of on-demand cloud-based software, where he worked in various roles of increasing responsibility culminating in his position as Executive Vice President, CTO. Prior to his time with Direct Insite Corp., Arnie held several software development and management positions.

Arnie is an active member of Business Executives for National Security (BENS), a nonprofit organization through which he volunteers his experience and expertise to help national security agencies address challenges including risk assessment and cyber security. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from New York Institute of Technology.

Host/Moderator

Babak D. Beheshti, Ph.D., Professor and Dean, New York Tech College of Engineering and Computing Sciences

Babak's experience in higher education spans over 35 years, where he has served as a full-time faculty member, president of the Academic Senate, associate dean, and dean. As dean, Babak led the engineering college to the introduction of its first two Ph.D. programs, in computer science and engineering, two new bachelor's degree programs, and one new master's degree program, in addition to leading the college through its fastest climb in national rankings: #33 Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs (National – no doctorate)—a climb of 13 places since 2020, and #191 Best Computer Science Undergraduate Programs (National – no doctorate), a new ranking in 2021—a climb of 40 places since 2020.

In line with the career-oriented mission of New York Tech, Babak has led the College of Engineering and Computing Sciences in building a strong partnership with industry and government organizations, including NASA, Zscaler, IBM Red Hat, Xilinx, Soter Technologies, and Zebra Technologies.

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