This story is part of our March 2026 issue. To read the print version, click here.

Sadie St. Lawrence

Founder of HMCI

Growing up on a farm in south-central Iowa, Sadie St. Lawrence spent her days counting chickens, cows and goats — not lines of code. The founder and CEO of the Human Machine Collaboration Institute, known as HMCI, a Sacramento‑based research and education organization focused on how humans and machines collaborate in the age of AI, says she had no real intention of going into tech. “I didn’t have role models in that space. It just wasn’t something I was exposed to,” she says.

Homeschooled alongside six siblings, St. Lawrence had something many children didn’t: time. She filled it at the piano, falling in love with music long before technology ever crossed her mind. Her only exposure to tech was the family’s dial-up internet, which felt more like a marvel than a career path.

Music, however, opened doors. She earned a full‑ride scholarship in piano performance and moved west, drawn by a childhood desire to live in the Golden State and study under a Sacramento State instructor who specialized in Romantic‑era music.

University life expanded her world beyond the keyboard. General education classes led her to explore science, psychology and eventually neuroscience research. She imagined pursuing a Ph.D. in neuroscience until an afternoon in the lab changed everything. Faced with euthanizing research animals, she realized the work no longer aligned with her values. “I thought, there has to be a better way to do science,” she recalls.

That night, she Googled the parts of her job she loved. A new term appeared: data science. The idea of building artificial neural networks intrigued her. “I remember thinking, ‘Artificial sounds less bloody,’” she laughs. By Monday, she had quit the lab and embarked on a new path.

While working full time as a research analyst, St. Lawrence pursued a graduate degree in analytics from Villanova University, a combination she credits for accelerating her growth. “I’d learn something in class and test it at work the next day. That cycle from learning to doing was huge,” she says.

Over the next decade, she became a leader in data science and AI strategy, but it was her instinct to build community that brought wider recognition. In 2015, she founded Women in Data, initially to meet her own need for connection. The organization grew into a global nonprofit with 50 chapters across 122 countries and over 70,000 members, earning recognition as a top 50 nonprofit and a leading organization for women in AI and tech.

That work eventually led the entrepreneur to a White House council for equitable data and AI training. There, she helped shape conversations around access and education, ensuring AI’s benefits extend beyond Silicon Valley. “AI is incredible,” she says, “but we need to bring people along with it.”

“AI is incredible, but we need to bring people along with it.”

The idea to start HMCI grew from her desire to return to research and wrestle with fundamental questions about consciousness, emotions and what it truly means to collaborate with intelligent systems. “We’re evolving slower than technology is, so we need connection points and onramps so society doesn’t feel left behind,” she says.

Through a partnership with NVIDIA, HCMI is anchoring an AI and robotics ecosystem in Rancho Cordova, bringing next generation Grace Blackwell superchip systems to the Greater Sacramento region for universities, startups and civic teams.

Education is central to her mission. Through courses with UC Davis, Coursera, LinkedIn Learning and YouTube, St. Lawrence has taught more than 700,000 learners worldwide. Messages from students sharing how a class changed their careers or built confidence are what she’s most proud of. “Technology can be an amplifier, and in the right hands, really good things can happen,” she says.

Outside of work, St. Lawrence strength trains at Fitness Rangers, plays the harp and is knee deep in a 1970s home remodel. Despite a busy schedule, she begins her mornings with quiet: an hour of journaling and planning before meetings, research and hands‑on development work. Evenings include content creation, dinner with her husband, Justin Morgan, chief innovation officer at HMCI, and time with Bentley, the couple’s 13‑year‑old Maltipoo, who enjoys handmade meals and personal haircuts. “He’s pretty spoiled and is definitely his mom’s dog,” she laughs.

St. Lawrence credits her husband as her greatest supporter, offering what she affectionately calls the “therapy chair”— a place to vent without problem solving. “Being able to take risks as an entrepreneur and fail, knowing you have the love and support of your family, makes all the difference in the world,” she says.

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View the list of honorees from 2015 through 2026.

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