Business Strategy Speakers

A business trailblazer and industry disruptor, Josh Luber combined his passion for entrepreneurship and sneakers to co-found StockX, the world’s first “Stock Market of Things,” with partners Dan Gilbert (co-founder and chairman of Quicken Loans and majority owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers), Greg Schwartz, and Chris Kaufman in 2015. As CEO, Luber led StockX’s rise from idea to billion-dollar company and cemented its status as the leading marketplace for sneakers, apparel, and collectibles in under three years.

Lisa Sun, founder and CEO of GRAVITAS, seamlessly blends stories from her data-driven insights from 11 years at McKinsey & Company and from her experience as an entrepreneur launching an innovative retail brand to offer talks that encourage audiences to choose self-confidence, work to harness their “superpower,” and use gravitas to advance personally and professionally. Sun explores why it’s vital to push past your potential, how to transform an idea into a movement, and why you’ve got to bet on yourself every single day. Sun has always had a passion for style, for inclusivity, and for helping people look and feel their best and was named one of Washingtonian Magazine's Best Dressed Women.

Michael (Mike) Steep is the founder and former executive director of Stanford Engineering School's Center for Disruptive Technology and Digital Cities and the former senior vice president of global business operations at innovation mega-hub, PARC Xerox. He draws on first-hand experience and anecdotes from time spent with the biggest names in Silicon Valley to instruct audiences on how to get ahead of disruptive innovation. Viewing new technology as opportunity, Mike highlights the importance of allowing innovation to trump company culture and legacies—and not the other way around.

Jim Donald – the current co-chairman and former CEO of Albertsons, and the former CEO of Starbucks, Haggen Food & Pharmacy, and Extended Stay Hotels – focuses on innovation, quality, and service. He started his career as a grocer; he was handpicked by Sam Walton to build a supermarket presence for Wal-Mart. He helped Starbucks enjoy record growth and performance and increase its social responsibility commitment. At Extended Stay Hotels, Donald utilizing his reputation for turning around ailing companies. Named one of the “Top 25 CEOs in the World,” he addresses leadership, management, the power of one customer.

A beauty industry vanguard, Jessie Hayes-Stallings is the founder and CEO of Skinphorea Facial Bar & Acne Clinic who took her passion for skincare and manifested it into the first facial bar and acne clinic in Metro Detroit — a concept that has made waves in the industry. She has set Skinphorea apart by providing customers with medical-grade skin treatments while creating an elevated and personalized, yet convenient relaxation experience. Not only does she create experiences for Skinphorea’s skincare clients, she also creates opportunities for beauty industry hopefuls. As an investor and a mentor, she has partnered with the state to develop an apprenticeship program that offers aspiring estheticians the opportunity to train to earn their esthetic license at Skinphorea before being offered a full-time position at the company.

When brands like Google, Starbucks, Shopify, and GE want to use technology to better connect with their consumers, they call Mitch Joel. He is the best-selling author of the award-winning business books, Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, and the founder of Six Pixels Group. He's also the former president of Mirum, a global digital marketing agency operating in 25 countries with close to 3,000 employees. Mitch has been called “one of North America’s leading visionaries” and the “Rock Star of Digital Marketing” by Strategy Magazine, he was listed as one of the “Speakers Worth Catching” by Forbes, and he was recognized in the highly prestigious “Top 40 Under 40”… but he's much more than that. He is a charismatic and engaging storyteller, and takes audiences on an exciting ride that helps them understand not only adapt to but succeed in the new digital, hyper-connected business environment. His speaking style is big, engaging, entertaining, educating, and eyebrow raising. Your audience will leave informed and ready to tackle the future... today.

James is a founding member and board chair at Directors Academy, a national not-for-profit organization with the mission of identifying, developing and advancing the next generation of diverse board members and leaders. Previously, he was Chairman, President, and CEO of Jamba Juice, which he transformed from a smoothie shop to a leading global, healthy active lifestyle brand. Prior to joining Jamba Juice, he held senior executive roles at Safeway Stores, the Gillette Company, Nestle-Purina, and Coca-Cola. James currently serves on the boards of leading brands including The Honest Company, Affirm, Medallia, Simply Good Foods, Schnuck Markets, and Bay Club. James is a passionate champion for diversity and inclusion and has been recognized with numerous awards including the American Heart Association Corporate Citizen Award (2014) and Junior Achievement’s Northern California Lifetime Achievement Award (2013). In 2010 the San Francisco Business Times named Mr. White as the Bay Area’s Most Admired CEO.

Micah Zenko is the Director of Research and Learning at McChrystal Group, charged with the development and instruction of offerings designed to improve organizational performance through red teaming, strategic planning, and scenario development. Micah is the author of three books. His second book, Red Team: How to Succeed by Thinking Like the Enemy, which was released in 2015, reveals the work of red teams and explains how to most effectively apply them to the modern world. Micah has also published articles in The Atlantic, The Guardian, Foreign Policy, and Business Insider.

Gavin Patterson is the president and chief revenue officer of Salesforce.com, Inc., leading the CRM company's global sales organization. He previously served as Chief Executive, BT from 2013-19. During his tenure, Patterson completed the UK rollout of the superfast fibre and started the deployment ultrafast fibre. He led the £15billion acquisition of EE, launched BT Sport, expanded BT’s cyber security practice and championed BT’s social purpose agenda. He joined BT in 2004 as MD Consumer and joined the board as CEO BT Retail in 2008. Prior to BT, he spent four years at Virgin Media and nine years at Procter & Gamble. Patterson is a Non-Executive Director at British Airways plc and a Trustee of the British Museum. He graduated from Cambridge University with an MEng in Chemical Engineering.

An award-winning innovator and disruptor, Reggie Fils-Aimé is a proven expert on transforming companies, re-vitalizing brands, and reshaping industries to solve daunting challenges and achieve ‘the impossible.’ Most recently, he was the president and chief operating officer of Nintendo of America – the first American and African-American to hold this position. Revered by business leaders and gaming fans alike, Fils-Aimé helped bring Nintendo’s greatest successes – including the Nintendo DS, the Wii, the Nintendo 3DS, Wii U, and the Nintendo Switch – to the global marketplace. Using his personal story as an example, he shares with audiences his principles for effective and innovative leadership, including defining a vision, courage in decision-making, and “irrefutable integrity.”

Omar Soliman is an American entrepreneur, author, television personality and co-founder of College Hunks Hauling Junk, a junk hauling and moving business headquartered in Tampa, Florida. Soliman has been named Top 30 Entrepreneurs in America Under 30 by INC Magazine, Top 35 Entrepreneurs Under 35 by Bisnow.com, and was the 2018 Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award Winner as well as a finalist for Tampa Bay CEO of the Year. He has appeared as a guest on FOX Business News, MSNBC, and ABC's Shark Tank.

Over a decade ago, Nick Friedman was just twenty-two when he co-founded the junk removal company College Hunks Hauling Junk with childhood friend Omar Soliman. Started as an idea to earn some extra money over college break, Friedman has turned College Hunks into a multimillion-dollar, national franchise with more than 130 locations – truly demonstrating what it means to be an entrepreneur. After surpassing $1.2 million in revenue the first two years, he became one of the youngest franchisers in America at that time, growing into a national franchise and relocating their headquarters to Tampa, FL. College Hunks has since received numerous accolades including being ranked #30 on Entrepreneur’s ‘Top 500 New Franchises,’ named one of Inc.’s ‘500 Fastest Growing Companies,’ and one of Franchise Magazine’s ‘Franchise 500.’ In speeches, Friedman chronicles his personal entrepreneurial journey from van to franchise, while also motivating and advising audiences to do the same.

Rita McGrath is a leading expert on growth strategy, the author of The End of Competitive Advantage, and one of Columbia Business School’s most popular professors. Named a top thought leader by Thinkers50, she shares insights and exercises on how to align business operations to the coming environment – capturing opportunities fast, exploiting them decisively, and quickly moving on – including disruptive innovation and the social and technological forces that create opportunity. Audiences value her ability to connect cutting edge research to practical business problems.

Angie Bastian, entrepreneur, co-founder, and namesake of Angie’s BOOMCHICKAPOP, took a kernel of an idea and popped it into one of the fastest growing brands of natural popcorn. She and husband Dan founded their snack company in their Mankato, MN garage in 2001 as a means of creating a college fund for their children. Their gluten free, non-GMO, whole grain popcorn is proudly sold in natural food, grocery, club and mass retail outlets nationwide with a product presence in Canada, South Korea, Peru, Japan, the Caribbean and Mexico. The company is constantly innovating and is one of the fastest growing and most successful popcorn brands in the market today. Angie’s BOOMCHICKAPOP is loved by fans as an empowered, spirited brand that represents authentic, real food that delivers on the attributes of clean, transparent labeling and great taste experience.

As CEO of four successful world class brands, and as a serial entrepreneur who has built international companies from nothing more than ‘a good idea,’ Kevin has created over $5 billion in shareholder value and yet has still found time to climb the world’s highest mountains, walk to both North and South Poles, compete in international sport and play in a rock band. His energy and leadership has helped companies including Porsche GB, BMW GB, Lamborghini GB, epyx and EurotaxGlass’s to achieve world class levels of customer service and financial performance. A highly motivational and engaging speaker, he passionately believes that ordinary people can deliver extraordinary results given the invitation to believe in the goal and the opportunity to contribute towards its achievement.