b'8 Member News November 2023Member updatesGet to know your new President!Dr Gopichand Katragadda CEng FIET has been on our Board of Trustees since 2019 and recently became the IETs 142nd president on 1 October.Despite a packed schedule, Member News caught up with Gopi virtually from Bengaluru in India, to find out more about his road to Presidency and his exciting plans for the coming yearincluding why the time is now for engineers to lead us to a safe, ethical and resilient artificial intelligence (AI) future.On his list of impressive accomplishments, Gopi is the Founder and CEO of Myelin Foundry, an AI company with a vision to transform human experiences and industry outcomes. He is an Independent Director of Bosch India Limited and ICICI Securities and is a member of the NASSCOM governing council for the Centre of Excellence for Data Science and AI.Authoring a book on innovation titled SMASH, Gopi is globally renowned, having over 30 journal publications, five patents, regular citations for his research and often speaking on inspirational topics such as engineering leadership, innovation, and AI. Based in one of the best cities for AI in India, Gopis career has been a creative one. He attributes his journey so far to always being significantly influenced by diverse learning experiences; from directing and producing a feature length film to spending time with engineers and creatives in his family. A natural curiosity for how things work, paired with his parents instilling a love for learning and a strong work ethic, meant Gopi found inspiration for his career in pioneering engineers like Edison and nation builders like Visvesvaraya.'