Steve Robinson served as the Chief Marketing Officer of Chick-fil-A, the nation’s most profitable food chain, from 1981 to 2015. Responsible for overseeing all of the brand’s traditional marketing support, advertising, brand development innovation, menu innovation, and hospitality strategies, he was integrally involved in the company’s incredible growth trajectory. Robinson helped take the chicken chain from 184 stores and $100 million in annual revenue when he assumed his position, to more than 2,100 stores and $6.8 billion in annual sales upon his retirement. He is credited with identifying and rolling out the company’s “Eat Mor Chikin” branding and campaign, which is now recognized worldwide. He is also the author of the new book, Covert Cows and Chick-fil-A: How Faith, Cows, and Chicken Built an Iconic Brand, due out in Spring 2019. He offers insights on building brand loyalty, creating a unique brand culture that stands out in a crowded global marketplace, and why success and culture are often so tightly linked.

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.

Paul Zikopoulos is changing the way audiences are looking at their businesses in terms of sales, obstacles, and potential for growth - and the key ingredient is data! He’s been named an expert on big data by publications such as Big Data Republic, Technopedia, and Analytics Week. He is also included on multiple "experts to follow" lists around the world - including SAP’s “50 Big Data Twitter Influencers”. Paul has been consulted on this topic by “60 Minutes” and advises various universities as they develop their curriculums to match market needs. Paul has won multiple awards for his speaking in part because he has a unique ability to take the often complex world of analytics, big data, AI, data science, machine learning, etc. and reach audiences of all ages and skills levels with the right message. Paul is a Fortune 35 (IBM) Vice President focused on Analytics, an award winning writer (who has published more than 19 books and over 350 articles on various topics) and sits on the advisory board of Women 2.0 - a for profit company committed to close the gender gaps in founding, investing, and workplace leadership.

A globally recognized technology entrepreneur and renowned futurist, Salim Ismail is a sought-after exponential strategist who advises organizations of all sizes and across industries, as well as heads of state, on how they can turn cutting-edge ideas into viable business opportunities and apply inventive thinking to drive innovation and achieve their desired futures sooner. He is the Founder and Chair of OpenExO, a team of innovation experts who create customized solutions for corporations and organizations seeking to emulate the world’s fastest growing organizations.

Recognised as “the man who fixes businesses” Kevin Gaskell has an impressive track record in building and leading successful companies. As CEO of Porsche, Lamborghini, and BMW, Gaskell led hugely successful turnarounds that are pointed to as examples of how to successfully transform companies and position them for long-term success. His energy and leadership have helped companies to achieve world-class levels of customer service and financial performance, and he speaks with electricity about using inspired leadership to achieve incredible results.

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.

Hailed as "Chief Troublemaker" by some of the world's largest corporations, Dustin Garis is a master of blending innovation and marketing together. His disruptive ideas have been put into play with companies all across the globe, including P&G, Coca-Cola, and many others. With his unique background and larger-than-life personality, Garis helps businesses across industries to deliver new and exciting products and services to consumers.

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.

Called "the human embodiment of Twitter" by The New York Times, Adam Sharp has forged a distinctive career of more than twenty years at the intersection of media, technology, and politics. Sharp joined Twitter in November 2010 as its first hire in Washington, DC. From 2010 through 2016, Sharp was Head of News, Government, and Elections at Twitter, advising and driving creative uses of Twitter by journalists and news organizations, government officials and agencies, and political candidates and campaigns worldwide. He led the platform’s approach to the 2012 and 2016 US and more than a dozen international elections during his tenure. He was also director of media partnerships and worked closely with the media, government, and political candidates that wanted to make use of Twitter. Sharp became the longest-serving member of the company’s global media team, and its most visible broadcast spokesperson.

Robert Richman is a culture strategist and was the co-creator of Zappos Insights, an innovative program focused on educating companies on the secrets behind Zappos’ amazing employee culture. Robert built Zappos Insights from a small website to a thriving multi-million dollar business teaching over 25,000 students per year. Through his work, Robert has been helpful for improving the employee culture at hundreds of companies. As one of the world’s authorities on employee culture and customer experience, Robert is a sought-after keynote speaker at conferences around the world and has been hired to teach culture in person at companies like Google, Toyota, and Eli Lilly.

Ken Schmidt is the legendary former director of communications strategy for Harley-Davidson Motor Company. He played an active role in one of the most celebrated turnarounds in corporate history, and his vision helped transform Harley into one of the world’s most dominant brands. He is widely known as a provocative and engaging thought leader. Funny and energetic, he shares stories of how to compete with weapons stronger than price, build a fanatically vocal customer base, create a passionately loyal corporate culture, and develop leaders who inspire and motivate.

Alex Edmans is Professor of Finance at London Business School. Alex graduated from Oxford University and then worked for Morgan Stanley in investment banking (London) and fixed income sales and trading (New York). After a PhD in Finance from MIT Sloan as a Fulbright Scholar, he joined Wharton in 2007 and was tenured in 2013 shortly before moving to LBS.