Conversations at OZ 2026
Table Hosts:
Caroline Randall Williams & Dr. Timothy Darrah
Award-Winning Poet and Author; Professor of Data Science at Vanderbilt University
AI, Crypto, & the Future of Finance
Caroline Randall Williams is a multi-genre writer, educator, performance artist in Nashville Tennessee, where she is a Writer-in-Residence at Vanderbilt University. Host of the Viola Davis produced Discovery + series Hungry For Answers, she is also co-author of the NAACP Image Award-winning cookbook Soul Food Love. Her debut poetry collection, Lucy Negro, Redux was published by Third Man Books, and turned into a ballet by Nashville Ballet, with an original score by Grammy award winner Rhiannon Giddens.This production was filmed for PBS’s Great Performances 50th anniversary series, in which Williams performs her poetry as a member of the cast.
Perhaps unexpectedly—but elementally in line with her mission of advancing equity and access to knowledge and insight in every area of society—Randall-Williams is also a co-founder of Mangrove, an AI powered digital asset ecosystem that helps investors, advisors, and private wealth managers safely enter what is to become the future of finance. Her industry outsider perspective allows her to ask the kinds of questions of her co-founders and of their product that will ultimately make it more accessible, user friendly, and intuitive.
Named by Southern Living as “One of the 50 People changing the South,” ranked by The Root as one of the 100 most influential African Americans of 2020, and by Nashville Business Journal’s 2025 class of 40 under 40, the Cave Canem fellow can be heard occasionally offering her two cents on MSNBC, and has been published and featured in multiple journals, essay collections and news outlets, including The Atlantic, Garden and Gun, Essence, and the New York Times.
Dr. Timothy Darrah is an Army veteran, former NASA Fellow, and adjunct professor at Vanderbilt University teaching AI & data science. Tim has spent more than a decade building AI systems, from autonomous drones to decision-support tools, and is passionate about ensuring AI is used responsibly in environments where mistakes carry real consequences.
Tim began his career with seven years of military service as an airborne infantryman and later as an avionics maintenance supervisor, earning multiple commendations prior to his honorable discharge. He earned his PhD in Computer Science at Vanderbilt University, focused on developing AI-driven methods for safety and autonomous decision making in critical environments.
This commitment to safe and transparent AI ultimately led Tim to co-found Mangrove, an AI powered digital asset ecosystem that helps investors, advisors, and private wealth managers safely enter what is to become the future of finance. Tim believes the future of finance will be shaped not by AI that replaces human judgment, but by AI that empowers people through better understanding, better decisions, and better protections.
Tim continues to advocate for safe & responsible AI and the importance of aligning advanced technologies with human values. He is committed to helping position Nashville, and Vanderbilt, as a leading hub for innovation in these two areas that will shape not only the future of finance, but the future of our nation.