CEO of nēdl, Serial Entrepreneur
Ayinde Alakoye is a serial entrepreneur and the co-founder and CEO of nēdl, his third live broadcast radio streaming venture. Ayinde was also the creator of the original iheartradio app served as a Speechwriter, Staffer, and Senior Message Advisor for Presidential Candidate Barack Obama, during both elections.
Founder of Capway, Author
Sheena Allen is an entrepreneur, author, speaker, and creative architect. She is the founder of Capway, a neobank for those who do not fit into the traditional banking system, which gave Sheena the title of the youngest female in America to own and operate a digital bank. Sheena has been featured in various documentaries and publications, including Inc Magazine and Forbes.
America's First Black Female Combat Pilot, Former Marine & Cop, Entrepreneur, Author, Zero To Breakthrough, and Consultant to Business
Vernice "FlyGirl" Armour is America's first Black female combat pilot, a diversity liaison officer, entrepreneur, and author. As a top keynote speaker and consultant, she helps individuals and organizations achieve breakthrough results using her "Zero to Breakthrough" success model. Vernice is also a member of the Forbes School of Business & Technology Board of Advisors and COMCAST/ NBCUniversal Joint Diversity Council. Her story has been featured on CNN, MSNBC, and Oprah Winfrey.
Hall of Fame Speaker, Business Growth & Customer Experience Strategist, New York Times Best-Selling Author
Jay Baer is a business growth strategist, a customer experience and digital marketing pioneer, advisor, analyst, a popular emcee and host of large events, a New York Times bestselling author of six books, and a hall of fame for professional speaking and word-of-mouth marketing. He founded the strategy and analysis firm Convince & Convert. Jay’s entertaining and engaging programs teach companies how to turn customer experience, customer service, and marketing into their biggest business growth advantage.
#1 International Bestselling Business Author, Leading Expert on Exponential Growth, Success, High-Performance, and Personal Development
Alex Banayan, the youngest bestselling business author in American history, specializes in perseverance and exponential growth. He introduced the Third Door™ framework to global business conferences and corporate leadership teams, including Apple, Google, and Nike. His #1 international bestseller, "The Third Door," decodes the mindset of success. Named in Forbes' "30 Under 30" and Business Insider's "Most Powerful People Under 30," Banayan's keynotes redefine possibilities, aiding individuals and Fortune 500 companies in innovative growth strategies worldwide.
Founder and Creator of Shazam, Entrepreneur, Inventor, and Tech Investor
Chris Barton is the Founder and Creator of Shazam. Chris’s creation of Shazam was nothing short of pure magic as it was far ahead of its time. Chris seeks to delight people by using technology to make seemingly impossible ideas come to life. In his speeches, Chris’s story and storytelling completely captivate audiences. He inspires people to make big things happen in their organizations – to create magic in defiance of the obstacles.
Master of Transformation, Author
Chris is a master of transformation. His unique energetic approach challenges businesses to embed a dynamic creative culture within their company ethos. Brands such as Nike, Coca-Cola, Diageo, Unilever, Sony, and WPP come back time and again as his results produce tangible returns on investment.
Founder and CEO of Seed&Spark
Emily Best is the founder and CEO of Seed&Spark. An advocate for equity inclusion in the entertainment industry (and the entire working world), Best regularly speaks at conferences and events about leveraging entertainment to build equity and sustainability for everyone, crowdfunding, and pitching, building equitable startups, and serves as an advisor and mentor to dozens of early-stage companies.
Futurist Speaker, Business Strategist, Bestselling Author
Daniel Burrus is considered one of the world’s leading technology forecasters and innovation experts helping clients profit from technological, social and business forces that are converging to create enormous, untapped opportunities. The New York Times has referred to him as one of the top three business gurus in the highest demand as a speaker.
Cofounder & Chief Strategy Officer of ShearShare
Dr. Tye Caldwell is the Cofounder & Chief Strategy Officer of ShearShare. Recognized as a tech visionary and industry pioneer, Dr. Caldwell’s mission is to help beauty and barbering professionals around the world maximize their earnings potential. He has worked in beauty for 25 years as a master barber-stylist, educator, and small business coach, offering his 20+ years of industry knowledge as a proven roadmap.
Co-Founder & CEO of ShearShare
Courtney Caldwell is the Cofounder & CEO of beauty-tech startup, ShearShare, the largest provider of on-demand salon and barbershop space rentals and the most affordable leases in the market. She is also an award-winning entrepreneur and tech founder and has spent two decades building winning teams in tech marketing.
Executive Coach, Author and Yogi
Vish Chatterji is an accomplished business leader turned executive coach with a twenty-year business track record spanning multiple industries. In parallel, he has studied and practiced yoga, meditation, and Ayurveda (mind-body medicine). Vish coaches business leaders enabling more of their greatness to show up at work.
Co-Founder and Former VP Engineering of Siri and Viv Labs
Adam Cheyer is a top technology speaker, AI expert, and entrepreneur. He co-founded Siri, which was acquired by Apple, and later co-founded Viv, which became the basis of the voice assistant Bixby on Samsung phones, TVs, watches, and more. He is also a founding member and first developer at Change.org, the world’s largest petition platform, with more than 300M members.
Former NASA Astronaut and International Space Station Commander
Dr. Chiao began his professional career as a chemical engineer, and his passion for space exploration led him to NASA. Following a stellar 15-year astronaut career, he moved on to leadership positions in entrepreneurial startups, applying his space experience to the business world.
CEO and founder of the GUILD, Serial Entrepreneur, and Super Connector in Silicon Valley
Anne Cocquyt, CEO and founder of the GUILD, is an inspirational speaker on entrepreneurship, innovation, and leadership. She speaks on how to start businesses, prototyping, building successful partnerships, and how to attract and retain winning diverse teams. She moderates and joins panels on gender bias in AI, product management, and technology trends, and teaches design-thinking workshops on building innovation ecosystems.
Bestselling Author and Entrepreneur
Mark Coopersmith is a bestselling author, entrepreneur, Fortune 500 executive, and educator. Mark has mentored hundreds of startup teams which have launched groundbreaking new ventures in sectors as varied as web services, consumer electronics, medical devices, internet-of-things, education, cleantech, fintech, and fashion.
Expert on Change and Transformation, Award-Winning Speaker, Author
Three-time Top 25 Speaker Award recipient, change-consultant for the NASA Space Shuttle Program and transition-advisor for $50 billion mergers and acquisitions, Mark DeVolder distinguishes himself as a change management specialist and is one of today’s original thinkers on transitions.
Serial Entrepreneur & Inventor
Dawn Dickson is a serial entrepreneur and inventor with over 20 years of experience in technology, marketing, and business development. Her most recent ventures are Flat Out of Heels and PopCom. Dawn is a seasoned professional speaker, business advisor, and angel investor. She continues to be recognized as one of the nation’s top retail tech entrepreneurs.
Acclaimed Global Futurist, Trendcaster, NY Times Bestselling Author
Acclaimed global futurist, trendcaster, and best-selling author Dr. Shawn DuBravac sits at the nexus between innovation and disruption. DuBravac delivers pragmatic and provocative insights into the trends, technologies, and paradigms transforming business and society along with actionable strategies organizations in every industry can apply.
Professor & Global Leader in Tech, IP, Crypto Innovation
Professor Tonya M. Evans is a global leader, accomplished academic and administrator, and world-renowned speaker with over twenty years of experience in law, innovation, academia, and entrepreneurship. She writes, speaks and teaches primarily in the areas of intellectual property, blockchain and crypto assets, tech and innovation, information privacy, financial inclusion, and economic empowerment.
Award Winning Author and Speaker
Mike has developed a unique perspective from 20+ years working alongside world-renowned thought leaders. He is a leading authority on unleashing personal and organizational accountability. Clients rely upon Mike’s solutions to accelerate change, shape their optimal culture, flawlessly execute key strategies, ignite leadership capacity at all Levels, amplify employee engagement, and cultivate peak performance.
Award-Winning Journalist, Podcast Producer, Public Speaker, Consultant, Advocate for Hip Hop culture
Michael “Manny Faces” Conforti is an award-winning journalist, podcast professional, public speaker and independent scholar. Much of his work focuses on advocating for the use of Hip Hop music and culture as a tool to improve lives, livelihoods and communities throughout the nation and the world, in areas including education, science and technology, health and wellness, politics and social justice, business and entrepreneurialism, the fine arts, spirituality and self-help, and more.
Educator, Author, Leadership Expert
David is the author of Paid to THINK: A Leader’s Toolkit for Redefining Your Future, a work for which he has earned comparisons to Peter Drucker, the father of modern-day management. Considered by some to be the “Thought Leaders’ Thought Leader”, he is known for replacing common leadership thinking with bold, proven, and sometimes counter-intuitive approaches to address leadership challenges and opportunities.
Healthcare Entrepreneur, Bestselling Author, Visiting Scholar at Harvard Medical School, Host of American Express Business Class Docuseries & Podcast
As the founding CEO of RISE, a breakthrough wellness company, Suneel Gupta helped thousands of people build better habits for life and work. Now as a bestselling author, host of an American Express Docuseries & podcast, and Visiting Scholar at Harvard Medical School, Suneel has taken his mission one step further – helping organizations and teams reach peak performance by lifting their people’s emotional resilience.
Global Climate Strategist, Operator & Investor
Chante Harris is a climate tech strategist and Co-Founder of Women of Color Collective in Sustainability (WOC/CS), a champion of social and finance innovation, and ACEEE Champion of Energy Efficiency. Throughout her career, she has successfully scaled nationwide campaigns, technologies, and ideas for the Obama Administration, Fortune 500 companies, and startups. Chante is at the helm of driving climate innovation and advancing the energy transition across cities.
Disruptive Innovation Speaker, Bestselling Author
Jim Harris is one of North America’s foremost thought leaders, management consultants, and authors on disruptive innovation. With 20 years experience as a professional speaker and consultant, Jim Harris speaks internationally at more than 40 conferences a year on and is ranked as one of the nation's top ten speakers by Association magazine.
Creative Director at Spaces Of
Aaron Taylor is the Creative Director at Spaces Of. Formerly Executive Creative Director of Environments at Airbnb, Aaron has a single motivation in life and at work. To bring curious humans into a physical space that opens their minds and challenges their assumptions to create fiction-free environments for communication, innovation, and whatever the 21st century has in store for "work."
One of The Top 25 Most Extraordinary Minds in Sales & Marketing
Bruce Himelstein is the Ritz-Carlton executive who transformed customer service for one of the world's most recognizable luxury brands. He is credited with leading some of the travel and hospitality industry’s most prestigious domestic and global brands during a 30+ year illustrious career setting the global standards in hospitality, marketing, and C-level executive management.
Founder & CEO of Bandwagon
Harold Hughes is the founder & CEO of Bandwagon, a South Carolina-based live experience technology company. As a web3 builder and community leader, Harold published "A Kids Book About Blockchain" to help educate people "from 6 to 60" about the revolutionary technology that Bandwagon specializes in. Harold is also an active angel investor, primarily investing in women, people of color, and Black founder-led companies.
International Expert in Entrepreneurship, Intellectual Property & Economic Development
Shontavia Johnson is an entrepreneurship and innovation expert who has helped hundreds of people build personal brands, businesses, and intellectual property portfolios. She is Associate VP for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Clemson University and Founder of the Brand and Business Company. An entrepreneur, creator, Liberty Fellow through Aspen Institute, and a Fulbright Specialist, Shontavia shares her message to audiences globally.
Chief Evangelist of Canva, Former Chief Evangelist of Apple, Bestselling Author
Guy Kawasaki is a bestselling author, former chief evangelist of Apple, and a former trustee of the Wikimedia Foundation. Today, he is the chief evangelist of Canva (an online graphic design tool), brand ambassador for Mercedes-Benz, and is also an executive fellow of the Haas School of Business (UC Berkeley).
Brand Marketer, Venture Investor, Startup Advisor
As a brand marketer, venture investor, and startup advisor, Dave Knox bridges the worlds of the Fortune 500 and entrepreneurship and is widely recognized as an industry thought leader.
Speaker, Author, Investor, Innovation Expert
Joseph Kopser serves as an Executive-in-Residence at the McCombs School of Business. Prior to that his company, RideScout, was acquired by Mercedes. He served in the Army for 20 years after graduating from West Point and Harvard. He was recognized as a White House Champion of Change in clean energy and won the U.S. DOT Data Innovation Award. Co-author of, Catalyst, he is an advisor for CleanTX.
Futurist and Bestselling Author
Tom Koulopoulos is acknowledged as one of the industry’s leading futurists. He is the author of ten books and founder of Delphi Group, a 25-year-old Boston-based think tank, which was named one of the fastest growing private companies in the US by Inc. Magazine.
Internationally Acclaimed Inspirational Performing Artist
With over 20 years in the Performing Arts - from Broadway to comedy clubs to high-profile television to commercials including a Super Bowl spot - Victoria Labalme helps people perform at their highest levels by awakening their hidden genius.
Marketing Innovator, Author, Founder
Max Lenderman has a pulse on the future so that you and your business can win today. As founder and chief creative officer, he is a pioneering authority on purpose-led brand building, experiential marketing, and large-scale advertising campaigns.
Employee Experience Pioneer, Globally Minded HR Leader
Mark Levy is a seasoned globally-minded Employee Experience Leader who has chosen to work for big-hearted companies and focus on how he can unleash the talents and passions of a company’s employees. Mark was the pioneer of designing the Employee Experience at Airbnb and most recently at Allbirds, showing organizations what is possible when you empower employees and rethink HR.
eCommerce Business Expert, Influencer, Coach, Author
Karl Lillrud is a best-selling author of 6 books, two times TEDx speaker. Also, He has been honored as one of the world’s Top 50 eCommerce experts, Top 30 eCommerce influencers, Top 50 speakers on online growth and eCommerce.
Karl Lillrud educates and inspires his audience on subjects related to online consumer behavior, internet-based business, e-commerce, and online strategies.
Hyper-Growth CEO, NY Times Bestselling Author, Venture Capitalist
Josh Linkner, who started his career as a jazz guitarist, has been the founder and CEO of five tech companies, which sold for a combined value of over $200 million. He is also a deeply experienced business leader, venture capitalist, top-rated keynote speaker, and author of four books which include the New York Times bestsellers: Disciplined Dreaming and The Road to Reinvention.
Owner Of Red Lantern, The Spiritual Entrepreneur, Best-Selling Author, Award-Winning Businesswoman
Pauline Nguyen is the owner of Red Lantern, the most awarded Vietnamese restaurant in the world. Pauline has achieved outstanding success as an entrepreneur, author, businesswoman, and acclaimed speaker with the unique ability to connect with her audience in a profound way, empowering them to change their story for a better future. She speaks and teaches from direct experience with a unique, dramatic cadence that literally has the audience hanging on every word.
EVP & COO of The Future Hunters, Futurist, Trend Analyst
Erica Orange is Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer of The Future Hunters, one of the world’s leading futurist consulting firms. She evaluates emerging social, technological, economic, political, demographic and environmental trends – and identifies the strategic implications of those trends for several of the most influential Fortune 500 companies, trade associations, and public sector clients.
Founder and CEO of Emerging Transport Advisors, Global Thought Leader On Emerging Technologies
Timothy Papandreou is a global thought leader on emerging technologies, smart cities, and the future of work. As the Founder and CEO of Emerging Transport Advisors, Tim provides clarity and guidance to investors, companies, and governments on navigating disruptions. With experience from Google X and San Francisco MTA, Tim is a sought-after speaker and mentor in emerging tech spaces.
Founder & CEO of EndeavorVR
Amy Peck is the founder & CEO of EndeavorVR, a leading global VR/AR (XR) strategy & consulting firm. Amy is a recognized thought-leader in the space and speaks globally on the future of XR.
Technology, Digital Leadership & Transformation Expert, Entrepreneur, Futurist, and #1 Bestselling Author
5x Bestselling Author, Digital Transformation & Leadership Expert, and Motivational Speaker, Erik Qualman, has performed in 55 countries and reached over 50 million people. He was voted the 2nd Most Likeable Author in the World behind the Harry Potter series. He is a former sitting professor at MIT and Harvard's edX labs and has received an honorary doctorate for his groundbreaking work.
Netflix Co-Founder, Entrepreneur, Advisor, Bestselling Author, Executive Mentor & Angel Investor
Marc Randolph is a veteran Silicon Valley entrepreneur, advisor, and investor. Although best known as the co-founder and first CEO of Netflix, Marc’s career as an entrepreneur spans more than four decades. He's founded or co-founded six other successful startups, mentored rising entrepreneurs, and invested in numerous successful tech ventures. He is a frequent speaker at industry events, serving variously as a board member, mentor, or executive coach.
Entrepreneur, Venture Capitalist, Author, Mentor
Bill Reichert is co-founder and Managing Director of Garage Technology Ventures, a well-known seed and early-stage venture capital firm in Silicon Valley. Bill travels around the world giving presentations and workshops on innovation, entrepreneurship, venture capital, and technology trends.
Founder, Political Activist, Miss Black America
Ryann Richardson made history when she became the 50th Anniversary Miss Black America. The tech marketer-turned-founder and Diversity & Inclusion advocate spent 10 years building brands and culture for companies spanning early-stage startups to billion-dollar "unicorns" to the Fortune500. Her work earned her a spot as the youngest honoree on Savoy Magazine’s list of Most Influential Black Executives in Corporate America, and set her on the path to discovering her unique purpose as a champion for underrepresented voices.
IBM Master Inventor, AI & Technology Expert, Author
Neil Sahota (萨冠军) is an IBM Master Inventor, United Nations (UN) Advisor, Artificial Intelligence (AI) subject matter expert, Faculty at UC Irvine, and author of Own the A.I. Revolution. With 20+ years of business experience, he works with organizations to create next-generation products/solutions powered by emerging technology.
Director of Technology for Microsoft Accessibility, Author, BIPOC Woman in Tech Leader
Dona Sarkar is the Director of Tech for Microsoft Accessibility, a BIPOC woman in tech leader, Multi-published author, and Owner of the ethical luxury fashion brand Prima Dona Studios. She was recently named one of Fast Company’s 100 Most Productive People and Cosmopolitan magazine's Businessperson of the Year.
Serial Entrepreneur in Social Innovation & Systems Change
Dr. Astrid J. Scholz is a serial entrepreneur in social innovation and systems change. As a recovering nonprofit executive turned tech entrepreneur, Astrid is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Armillaria, and Co-Founder and Capital Lead of Zebras Unite. Astrid’s work focuses on democratizing innovation and capital to solve today’s wicked problems.
Keynote Speaker, Bestselling Author, Strategic Consultant
A strategic adviser to CEOs and four-star generals, firms like IBM, PwC, and the US Dept. of Defense regularly seek his insight. As the CEO of BIZDEV: The International Association for Business Development and Strategic Partnerships, and management consulting + market research firm FutureProof Strategies, he helps partners stay one step ahead of emerging trends – and drive growth around them.
Entrepreneur & Innovator, Co-founder of Fast Company, Bestselling Author
Bill Taylor shows business leaders a path to go from now to next in a world filled with nonstop disruption. As a young entrepreneur, Bill co-founded Fast Company, the bold business magazine that redefined the genre and chronicled the tech-fueled revolution that transformed business and work.
Professional Trend Forecaster, Speaker, Author
A professional trend forecaster, speaker, and author, Michael speaks and writes about cracking the code of the future applying his unique framework of Ubertrends — massive waves that are reshaping global behavior.
Futurist and Innovation Expert, Bestselling Author
Nick Webb is a number one best-selling author and is one of the most popular Innovation, Healthcare, Future-trends, and Customer Experience Speakers in the world. Nick is the CEO of LeaderLogic, LLC a Management Consulting Firm that provides consulting services and training to the top brands in the world. Nick works shoulder-to-shoulder with boards of directors of multibillion-dollar companies to assist them in building future-ready organizations.
“The Woz”, Co-Founder of Apple
A Silicon Valley icon and philanthropist for more than thirty years, Steve Wozniak has helped shape the computing industry with his design of Apple’s first line of products the Apple I and II. In 1976, Wozniak and Steve Jobs founded Apple Computer Inc. with Wozniak’s Apple I personal computer. Since then, Wozniak has received countless awards for his technological advancements and philanthropic endeavors and is also a published author and co-founded Woz U.
Go-to Expert on Brand Leadership, Bestselling Author
Denise Lee Yohn is the go-to expert on brand leadership for national media outlets, an in-demand speaker and consultant, and an influential writer, authoring the bestselling book What Great Brands Do: The Seven Brand-Building Principles that Separate the Best from the Rest.
