Dr. Michael S. Piwowar served as a Commissioner at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) from August 15, 2013 to July 6, 2018. Previously, Dr. Piwowar was the Republican chief economist for the US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, where he was the lead Republican economist on the four SEC-related titles of the Dodd-Frank Act and the JOBS Act. He also worked on a number of important SEC-related oversight issues under the jurisdiction of the Committee, such as securities, over-the-counter derivatives, investor protection, market structure, and capital formation. During the financial crisis and its immediate aftermath, Dr. Piwowar served in a one-year fixed-term position at the White House as a senior economist at the President’s Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) in both the George W. Bush and Barack Obama Administrations. Exclusively represented by Leading Authorities speakers bureau, Dr. Piwowar is an economic outlook and financial policy keynote speaker, addressing fiscal trends, investments, and regulation.

Michael Morell is the former deputy director – and twice acting director – of the CIA and one of the agency’s most legendary leaders. One of the country’s most-respected national security experts, he is the only official who was with both President Bush during September 11th and President Obama during the raid on Osama Bin Laden – which Morell had been integral in planning. He is an emotionally-moving storyteller, and in high-impact presentations, he shares insights and insider stories on current events and geopolitics as he navigates the clandestine web of politics and security.

Douglas A. Rediker is the founding partner of International Capital Strategies, LLC, a Washington, DC-based boutique advisory firm that provides clients with insights and advice on the intersection of geopolitics, macroeconomics, policy and global financial markets. He is also a Non-Resident Senior Fellow in the Foreign Policy and Global Economy and Development programs at the Brookings Institution, as well as a member of the Center on the United States and Europe, where he is one of Brookings’ leading experts on the economic and financial aspects of the Russian war in Ukraine. Doug previously represented the United States on the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from 2010 to 2012, having been nominated by President Obama in 2009 and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in early 2010. In that role he served as a senior official of the U.S. Treasury Department and interacted with IMF, Finance Ministry and Central Bank counterparts from around the world, focused in particular on the response to the eurocrisis and its economic, financial and strategic consequences. He served as co-Head of the Biden Campaign International Economic Policy Team for Markets and Macroeconomics.

Tim Pawlenty, one of the leading voices in the Republican Party, was a two-term governor of Minnesota serving from 2003 until 2011, a candidate for the 2012 Republican nomination for President, and the co-chair of Mitt Romney for President. Tim was a solutions-oriented politician who was well-respected on both sides of the aisle. His education, healthcare, and energy initiatives were widely viewed as among the most innovative in the nation. Tim previously served as president and CEO of the Financial Services Roundtable, which represents leading financial service companies in protecting the security, integrity, and success of our nation’s financial system. The author of the book, Courage to Stand, Pawlenty offers audiences candid and entertaining presentations on politics, the future of the GOP, the economy, and issues important to the financial services industry.

Michael Vickers is one of the most accomplished and legendary senior intelligence officials of the last four decades. The former under secretary of defense for intelligence – the “CEO” of our nation’s defense intelligence enterprise that includes agencies like the NSA, he understands the current geopolitical environment like no one else. This Green Beret-turned-CIA operative-turned top Pentagon intelligence official shares insights and eye-opening stories on challenges to the current world order (including what’s at stake for American business) and where we still have work to do.

One of the foremost authorities on national security and foreign policy, Peter Bergen is CNN’s most senior security analyst and has more than 20 years experience reporting from the world’s hot spots. He has written six books, 3 of which were New York Times best-sellers, including Manhunt, which was turned into an Emmy-winning documentary. He is best known as one of the few people to interview Osama bin Laden face-to-face. Always putting himself where the action is, Bergen is a compelling and knowledgeable speaker on what’s going on in the world’s hot spots.

Tom Wheeler is a businessman, author, and was Chairman of the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) from 2013 to 2017. For over four decades, Wheeler has been involved with new telecommunications networks and services. At the FCC he led the efforts that resulted in the adoption of Net Neutrality, privacy protections for consumers, and increased cyber security, among other policies.

Michael K. Farr, the founder and CEO of Farr, Miller & Washington, LLC, is the Chairman of their Investment Committee and is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day activities of the firm. Michael is the longest-running paid contributor for CNBC television and appears regularly on The Today Show, Good Morning America, NBC’s Nightly News, CNN, BloombergTV, Reuters, and the Nightly Business Report. He can be heard on Associated Press Radio, CBS Radio, and National Public Radio, and has been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Fortune, The Washington Post, Businessweek, USA Today, and many other publications. Michael is a highly sought-after speaker who covers topics such as investing, retirement, the current economic situation, the Federal Reserve, and much more.

As a senior research fellow at the New America Foundation, Philip Mudd studies issues of counterterrorism, intelligence, and homeland security. He was the first deputy director of the National Security Branch after its establishment and was also the former deputy director of the CIA’s Counterterrorism Center. Additionally, he served on a team that helped piece together a new government for Afghanistan after 9/11. He is the recipient of numerous CIA awards and has been featured on all major networks and in national publications as a specialist in counterterrorism.

Juan Carlos Zarate, Esq. served as the Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Combating Terrorism from 2005 to 2009. In this role, Mr. Zarate was responsible for developing and overseeing the effective implementation of the U.S. government's counterterrorism strategy. He was also responsible for overseeing all policies related to transnational security threats, including counternarcotics, maritime security, hostages, international organized crime, money laundering, and critical energy infrastructure protection.

Dr. Kenneth Pollack, the director and senior fellow at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution, is an expert on Middle Eastern political-military affairs, with an emphasis on the Persian Gulf region. With an extensive background in national security, intelligence, and foreign policy, he has also written myriad books and articles. Pollack began his career as an Iran-Iraq military analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency and twice served on the staff of the National Security Council. He addresses foreign policy, the Middle East, national security, and intelligence.

Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein are best known for breaking the Watergate story for The Washington Post, leading to the resignation of President Richard Nixon and setting the standard for modern investigative journalism. For this work, they and The Post were awarded the Pulitzer Prize. Their work has been called “maybe the single greatest reporting effort of all time” by longtime journalism figure, Gene Roberts, and the book they co-authored on their experience, All the President’s Men, went on to become a New York Times best-seller and an Academy Award-winning feature film.