Doug Rauch, a legendary former president of Trader Joe’s, was instrumental in leading the company’s transformation from a 7/11 knockoff to what Fortune magazine called the “hottest retailer in the U.S.” In eye-opening presentations, he shares insights on building a great business based on culture, innovation, leadership, and teamwork. He shows leaders how to push for new and better ways to perform, and audiences walk away with knowledge of how to create a self-sustaining culture of innovation, build a brand in a competitive marketplace, and lead with a purpose.

Bert Jacobs is the co-founder and Chief Executive Optimist of The Life is good Company. A $100 million privately held business based in Boston, MA, Life is good® spreads positive vibes with its colorful collection of apparel and accessories. Jake, Life is good’s iconic hero with the contagious smile, teaches men, women and children that optimism is fun, healthy, and empowering. Bert has appeared on CNN’s Tips from the Top, CNBC’s Business Nation, and The Donny Deutch Show. Life is good has been featured in the New York Times, on the cover of Inc Magazine, and on NBC’s The Today Show.

A leading expert in robot ethics, Dr. Kate Darling is a research scientist at the MIT Media Lab, where she investigates social robotics and conducts experimental studies on human-robot interaction. Forever interested in how technology intersects with society, Kate has a background in law & economics and intellectual property, she explores the emotional connection between people and life-like machines, seeking to influence technology design and policy direction. Her writing and research anticipate difficult questions that lawmakers, engineers, and the wider public will need to address as human-robot relationships evolve in the coming decades. Dr. Darling’s work has been featured in international media, and she has authored multiple academic publications and contributed to industry publications from Vogue to Die Zeit to the BBC, and in 2017, the American Bar Association honored her legal work with the Mark T. Banner Award in Intellectual Property.

Dr. William W. Li is an international expert on health and disease fighting based on diet, lifestyle, and treatments that keep the body’s blood vessels in balance. Dr. Li’s expertise extends across many health arenas including cancer, diabetes, blindness, heart disease, wound healing, and more than 70 other disease conditions. His work has been recognized by O Magazine, The Atlantic, USA Today, The New York Times, TIME Magazine, Wall Street Journal, and CNN, as well as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Clinton Global Initiative. His latest book Eat to Beat Disease was released March 2019 and is a New York Times Best-seller as well as Amazon #1 best-seller.

Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen are two of the nation’s most influential journalists. For years, they worked together building the nationally renowned digital media company POLITICO, transforming it from a newcomer on Captiol Hill to the website and accompanying newsletter that all of Washington considered a “must-read.” Now, they are co-founders of disruptive media company Axios, delivering quick, punchy news and insights on politics, business, media, and technology to a smart and highly-engaged audience. The company has already proved a disruptive force in the digital media space, specializing in high-quality news and analysis easily shared across social platforms by the country’s influential readers.

A senior leadership/board advisor, educator, executive coach, and bestselling author, David Nour is internationally recognized as the leading expert on applications of strategic relationships in profitable growth, sustained innovation, and lasting change. The author of eleven books, including bestsellers Relationship Economics® (Wiley), and Co-Create (St. Martin’s Press), as well as the forthcoming Curve Benders (Wiley, 2021), Nour serves as a trusted advisor to global clients and coaches corporate leaders. He is an adjunct professor at the Goizueta Business School at Emory University and was named to the Global Gurus Top 30 Leadership Professionals and the Thinkers 50 Radar Class of 2021 lists. A Forbes Leadership contributor on the Future of Work, and an Inc. contributor on Relationship Economics, Nour’s unique insights have been featured in a variety of prominent publications, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Fast Company, Huffington Post Business, Entrepreneur, and Knowledge@Wharton. He’s also the host of the popular Curve Benders podcast. Born in Iran, Nour immigrated to the U.S. as a teenager with $100, limited family ties and no fluency in English. He graduated from Georgia State University with a bachelor’s degree in business management and went on to earn an Executive MBA from the Goizueta Business School at Emory University. He resides in Atlanta, GA, with his family.

A highly respected political journalist, Jonathan Martin provides sought-after coverage and regularly drives the news by delivering the inside story from the White House and Capitol Hill to the campaign trail well beyond the beltway. As bureau chief and senior political columnist for POLITICO, Martin is among the most trusted reporters in the country with deep connections to the political leaders, power players, and movers and shakers in Washington, D.C. — and across the country. With vast array of sources in both parties and his keen analytical mind, he reveals what’s really happening at the highest levels of American politics.

Frances West is an internationally-recognized thought leader, inspirational speaker, strategy advisor, author, and women in technology trailblazer known for her work in innovation, technology, and business transformation. She is the founder of FrancesWestCo, a global strategy advisory company focused on operationalizing inclusion as a business and technology imperative through her unique Authentic Inclusion™ blueprint. Her insightful and impactful approach comes from her unique personal background as a first-generation, no-English speaking immigrant to her trailblazing professional path as one of the first women in the technology field and her experience as a global executive in sales, marketing, business development, and research as well as her ground-breaking work in accessibility as IBM’s first Chief Accessibility Officer. Frances brings a valuable business perspective to this human rights-based initiative. Because of her expertise, she was invited as the sole IT industry representative to testify before the US Senate on the need to pass the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities and she holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Massachusetts in Boston in recognition of her work in accessibility, research, and digital inclusion.

With a master-level understanding of what it takes to survive and thrive in the workplace and how organizations can create more equitable spaces for all, Carice Anderson is a workplace development and success engineer who empowers individuals to strategically navigate their careers and advises some of the world’s top companies on aligning their talent strategies to their business objectives. As a director in leadership and manager development for a leading, multinational asset management firm, her work sits at the intersection of talent and leadership development, workplace evolution, and diversity, equity, and inclusion — helping individuals, teams, and organizations unlock the potential within and consistently perform at the highest levels.

---What is it that pushes us to perform at our best? Which people on our teams thrive in high-stress/high-stakes environments and which are always cool, and calm under pressure? Why does this matter and how can you use it to drive peak performance? After 3 years of interviewing more than 200 people including professional athletes, military officers, poker players, and psychologists, Rafi Kohan offer insights into the psychology of gamesmanship and how mental stress can be used to drive performance and behavior. This work, which culminated into the lively and hilarious read Trash Talk, The Only Book About Destroying Your Rivals That Isn’t Total Garbage, offers anecdotes from some of the world’s top competitors and the mind games that push them to outperform their opponents.

Kevin O’Leary is a self-made millionaire and TV/News Personality. He is currently one of the main “Sharks” on the hit ABC Emmy Award winning reality show, Shark Tank, and is constantly featured as a business and economic expert across all cable and network news.

Tripp Crosby is a comedic host, inspirational speaker, and filmmaker who is at this very moment writing about himself in the third person. It’s very, very possible that you’ve seen his most popular comedy sketch called “A Conference Call in Real Life”. This video is one of, if not the most popular workplace related comedy sketches of all time and possibly the only YouTube video to ever go viral twice: Once when Tripp first created it in 2013 and again in 2020 when the painful experience of participating in conference calls became an even more relatable topic.