Empowering Professionals to Lead the AI Revolution
Our Story
In early 2023, Sam Keller, a tech-industry veteran with 20+ years of experience, teamed up with his 12-year-old son, Kaz, to explore the transformative potential of ChatGPT. What began as a father-son project quickly grew into something bigger: hundreds of people joined their workshops to demystify this powerful and sometimes daunting new technology.
Through these workshops, Sam identified a broader need—not just for technical AI training, but for a more comprehensive approach that helps business leaders, their leadership teams, and their broader workforce to develop the mindsets, skills, tools, and habits needed to strategically leverage AI.
In response, Sam launched Gen AI Academy to help leaders turn AI into a force multiplier. Through tailored training programs and consulting services, our growing team equips individuals and organizations to harness AI—boosting productivity, improving decision-making, and driving meaningful impact in an increasingly AI-driven world.
Our Mission
At Gen AI Academy, our passion and purpose is to help individuals, teams and organizations transition successfully into the AI era.
Meet The Team
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Founder
Sam Keller is one of the Bay Area’s top AI trainers and executive coaches, helping business leaders and their teams develop the mindset, skills, tools, and habits to engage AI as a strategic thought partner. He has worked with hundreds of professionals - with a particular emphasis on CEOs and executive teams - helping them strengthen their strategic thinking and decision-making by integrating advanced AI capabilities into their leadership practices.
Sam brings over two decades of experience driving business growth and technology adoption across tech, real estate, and other sectors, including leadership roles at five venture-backed startups. Before launching Gen AI Academy, Sam served as a senior executive at Roofstock, where he led a cross-disciplinary team to harness machine learning and data analytics, helping turn the real estate tech startup into a unicorn.
Sam’s expertise has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, CBS News, CNBC, Financial Times, The Atlantic, and The Today Show. He is a Fulbright Scholar who completed UC Berkeley’s Executive Program on AI for Business Strategies and Execution, and earned an MPP from Harvard University.
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Senior Consultant
Adnan Iftekhar is an educator, technologist, and entrepreneur with 25 years of experience across schools, non-profits, and tech companies. Author of the Amazon bestselling book AI Culture Shift and its IQ/EQ/AQ framework, he has delivered keynotes from Alibaba’s Emerging Economies Summit in Xiamen to the Los Angeles Unified School District and the Michigan State Police. A former Program Manager and Learning-Platform Strategist at Google, Adnan pioneered Teaching with Purpose for educators in Pakistan and helped Mongolia roll out 1:1 Chromebooks nationwide, training the first 600 of 35,000 teachers. He has launched a San Francisco yoga studio, a software firm, a non-profit, and a boarding school, and has designed AI-powered apps for nutrition and real-estate analysis. Certified in Google Cloud AI/ML and EQ Education, Adnan now advises GenAI EdTech startups and speaks globally on ethical AI, social innovation, and the art of thriving in discomfort.
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Partner
Steve Giondomenica is a former tech CEO with roots in both military and business leadership. After earning a math–computer science degree from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, he served as Operations Officer aboard a CG Cutter, Commanding Officer of a CG Station in Okinawa, Japan, and as an Instructor at the Coast Guard’s Leadership Institute.
His pivot to tech began at IBM, working with enterprise clients, then accelerated at CMI, a technology solutions firm he helped grow from sales rep to owner, ultimately selling in 2019 after almost 30 years.
Pulled from retirement by AI’s intrigue, Steve now helps CEOs and leadership teams explore how AI can serve as a force multiplier, both personally and professionally. It’s a labor of love helping people gain an edge while leveraging AI into something leaders can actually use.
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Youth AI Trainer
Since early 2023, Kaz Keller has taught over 45 AI workshops with 400+ people, including leadership teams, non-profit boards, and community groups. Invited as a ‘local luminary’ at the prestigious 94920+ event, he delivered a TED-style talk titled A Kid’s View on AI. He has also served as an AI instructor at Marin TV.
Beyond teaching, Kaz has delved into the technical side of AI, experimenting with neural networks and developing a web-based platform using OpenAI’s API. As a member of the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth, and winner of the Genius Programmer Award at the 2024 Sonoma Robotics Challenge, Kaz has become a pioneering member of his generation with regard to AI. OpenAI’s CFO, Sarah Friar, posted, “I love seeing Kaz's unwavering passion and the profound impact he's making at such a young age. We should all seek to celebrate and support young minds, like Kaz, who dream big, embrace emerging technologies, and inspire the people around them.”
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In this October 2024 article, Sam Keller explains the most promising approaches to AI literacy happening around the wor. Read the full article here.
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Explore the journey of Kaz Keller as he navigates the world of AI, delivering seminars that enlighten and inspire. Alongside his father, they're driving conversations around AI, its potential, and the importance of ethical use. Read the full article here.
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Dive into how Sam and Kaz Keller are demystifying generative AI for people of all ages. Through lively workshops, this father-son team is making AI accessible and understandable to their community. Read the full article here.
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Discover how Sam and Kaz Keller are educating their community about AI, discussing not just the transformative potential, but also the need for awareness of its potential dangers. Read the front page article here.
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One of the world's foremost female business leaders, Sarah Friar, CEO of Nextdoor, touts Kaz Keller's AI classes. Read the post here.
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In this interview, we learn how a father-son team is pioneering new forms of AI entrepreneurship while fostering community, connection, and camaraderie. Watch here.