Bran Ferren is a designer and technologist working in entertainment, product development, engineering, architecture, and the sciences. He is former president of research and development, and creative technology for Walt Disney. Once known for entertaining millions by creating special effects for Hollywood, theme parks and Broadway, Applied Minds co-founder Bran Ferren now solves impossible tech challenges with previously unimaginable inventions. He has been named one of the “100 Most Creative People in Business” by Fast Company.

With a medical, scientific, and philanthropic career that spans more than 30 years, Dr. Sue Desmond-Hellmann has devoted her life to improving the human condition through innovation. Most recently, she was the CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, leading the organization’s vision for a world where every person has the opportunity to live a healthy, productive life. She was formerly the first female chancellor of University of California at San Francisco and spent 14 years at biotech firm Genentech, leading the development of a number of breakthrough medicines. An innovator and leader in life sciences, Dr. Desmond-Hellmann’s diverse training as an oncologist, scientist, and business executive leads to her endless curiosity about the world and her desire to change it for the better. In speeches, she shares her unique insights not only on revolutionizing global health, but also on effective and innovative leadership. Using lessons-learned as a trailblazing female leader of one of the world’s largest philanthropies, Dr. Desmond-Hellmann inspires audiences with her unparalleled perspective on how to foster an environment of collaboration and relentless innovation to drive disruptive solutions that make an impact.

With over 30 years of federal service, Sean Roche is the former Associate Deputy Director of CIA’s Digital Innovation directorate – the CIA’s first new directorate in more than 50 years. As the second in command, he was responsible for modernizing and accelerating innovation across the entire agency with cutting-edge technologies and cyber intelligence. At the Directorate of Digital Innovation, Roche fueled the engine of creativity, integration, and rigor that the CIA needs in the digital age, empowering the agency to maintain their security while also increasing their pace of innovation in order to stay one step ahead of cyber threats. Roche expertly speaks on how to secure and transform an organization by integrating advanced digital capabilities. Using lessons-learned from co-leading the Directorate of Digital Innovation, he arms audiences with the tools and techniques they need to optimize their business operations to not only increase security, but also excel in the cyber and big data arenas.

Tim Hwang is the former Director of the Harvard-MIT Ethics and Governance of AI Initiative, a philanthropic project working to ensure that machine learning and autonomous technologies are researched, developed, and deployed in the public interest. Previously, he was at Google, where he was the company's global public policy lead on artificial intelligence, leading outreach to government and civil society on issues surrounding the social impact of the technology. Called “The Busiest Man on the Internet” by Forbes, Hwang’s work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Wired, The Atlantic, and The Wall Street Journal, among others. Tim's current research focuses on the geopolitical aspects of computational power and machine learning hardware, and the parallels between historical common law development and platform content policies.

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.

Christina von Messling is a forward-thinking multi-industry thought leader and strategist whose methodology and insights are sought out by Fortune 100 businesses and world governments as they prepare to chart the path to the most successful futures for their organizations. As the head of Europe and senior foresight manager at the Future Today Institute (FTI), a global foresight and strategy firm founded by world-renowned futurist Amy Webb, von Messling collaborates with clients to learn their organizations and industries inside-out and guide them to the untapped opportunities that exist, and that can be created, to innovate their businesses, disrupt their industries, and become the standard that other companies seek to emulate. Von Messling has led cutting-edge teams across the world in the life sciences (pharma, health, food and agriculture, chemicals) and entertainment industries, and combines a global perspective with in-depth, holistic knowledge of technology, societal dynamics, and the other main drivers of change.

Revered as a uniquely-skilled “warrior-diplomat,” General John Nicholson retired in September 2018 from his post as Commander of U.S. Forces – Afghanistan and NATO’s Resolute Support mission. In this role, Gen. Nicholson led a 41-nation coalition war effort. The longest serving Commander of the Afghan war, he oversaw a $46.3 billion budget and roughly 14,000 international troops. A combat-seasoned military legend, he discusses coalition building, strengthening culture through collaboration, leadership, geopolitics, and organizational success in the 21st century.

Have you ever wondered why more salespeople buy BMWs than other cars? Or why a name’s popularity grows after a hurricane of that name hits? Jonah Berger has the answers. A marketing professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and the New York Times best-selling author of the books "Contagious: Why Things Catch On" and "Invisible Influence: The Hidden Forces That Shape Behavior," Berger has spent the last decade studying how social influence works, why certain ideas and products catch on, and what we can do to make ourselves more influential. He shares with audiences the keys to harnessing this “influence” to forge great partnerships, sell slow-moving products, and be more intentional with business strategies. His work is regularly published in top-tier journals, he consults for a variety of Fortune 500 companies, and popular outlets like Harvard Business Review often cover his work.

Chris Fussell is a former Navy SEAL Officer and the current President at McChrystal Group, a premier leadership and management consulting firm founded by General McChrystal and fellow SEAL David Silverman. Fussell leads the company’s sales, branding, and client relations teams, bringing his Special Operations experience and his expertise in cross-functional collaboration and knowledge sharing within large, dispersed organizations.

Jon Steinberg is the founder and CEO of Cheddar, a new video media company sitting at the intersection of business news and culture. He was named to Ad Age’s 2015 40 under 40. He was most recently the Chief Executive Officer of DailyMail.com North America. Steinberg grew U.S. revenue 45% while at Daily Mail and doubled direct advertising revenue. He joined DailyMail.com from BuzzFeed where he was President & Chief Operating Officer, responsible for business management, company operations, finance, and social advertising operations. Under his leadership, BuzzFeed became a global and profitable social advertising business working with over half of the top 100 brands. He grew the company from 15 employees to over 500. Steinberg was previously Strategic Partner Development Manager on Google’s SMB (small medium business) partnerships team.

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.

Millennial, award-winning entrepreneur, CEO of Inkpact and women-in-tech ambassador. Charlotte is an inspiring and motivational speaker whose mission is to bring delight and connection to the heart of business communications. Using innovative and disruptive tech, Inkpact, successfully transforms digital email campaigns into beautiful, handwritten notes at scale. The letters are written by hand, by a freelance community of scribes - The Scribe Tribe, who make up the heart of the business. The thriving community of over 100 UK and US based creative freelancers leverage the flexible working hours and equal opportunity employment to earn in their spare time whilst doing work they love. Inkpact has recently launched a successful salesforce app allowing businesses to scale thoughtfulness at the touch of a button. Charlotte is a passionate and energetic leader who leads with heart. She has built a flexible and collaborative culture internally, provides work to those who prefer flexibility and has revolutionized the depth of connection companies can experience with their customers, through the power of innovative tech and human heart. Expertise: Charlotte is on a mission to connect the head and the heart of business and to drive innovation in the way humans and technology co-create meaningful experiences and lasting business relationships.