Simon Kuo, Co-founder

Simon Kuo is co-founder of the Kansas City AI Club, partner and investor in the startup accelerator Betablox and principal of Westside Studio, a premier commercial photography studio and production company. Previously he was vice president of Strategy at Sprint-Nextel and vice president and head of strategy at its spinoff, Embarq; vice president of Enterprise Web Solutions, responsible for the development of all Sprint-Nextel’s internal and external websites including Sprint.com and SprintPCS.com and director of eCommerce and Product Management, responsible for the online P&L for the 2.7B Local Consumer Division. 

He is also past president of the American Society of Media Photographers KC/Midwest, past president and chair of the Asian American Chamber of Commerce, co-founder of Guildit, the Kauffman and Ford Foundation-funded network for the arts, and founding member of the Social Media Club of Kansas City. He holds a Ph.D. in Microbiology, a B.A. in Art History and a B.S. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Kansas.