A NASA astronaut, Joan Higginbotham is a trailblazing electrical engineer who in December 2006, flew aboard Space Shuttle Discovery to become the third African American woman to travel into space. Over the nearly 13-day mission, she joined the seven-member crew to continue construction of the International Space Station (ISS), embarking on four space walks and operating the station’s robotic arm. Sharing captivating insights from her 20-year distinguished career with NASA, Higginbotham inspires audiences with her personal journey of breaking barriers into space and beyond. Taking groups aboard the International Space Station and sharing her lessons-learned along the way, she highlights the keys to succeeding in her missions – including preparation, perseverance, and never giving up – and how these tactics can be applied to any endeavor.

Cassandra “Cassi” Chandler is an innovator, strategist, investigator, and leader who has broken barriers, led diverse teams, and built cultures of motivational leadership and inclusivity at some of the world’s most important organizations, including Bank of America and the FBI. In a career that has included many “firsts” across the U.S. government and financial services industries, she served as the FBI’s first African American female special agent assistant director as well as the Bureau’s first female national spokesperson and director of public and community affairs. In addition to defining the tools motivational leaders need to mindfully build more high-performing cultures, Chandler provides actionable insights on how to move the needle while leading with empathy.

A globally recognized brand-building innovator and a champion both of creativity and challenging the status quo in the workplace, Marisa Thalberg is 1 of only 18 to be inducted into the Forbes CMO Hall of Fame. She is considered one of the most dynamic and versatile marketing executives in the field, displaying versatility and adaptability that has led to her being an exceedingly successful leader in a diverse portfolio of industries, ranging from luxury beauty (The Estée Lauder Companies) and fast food (Taco Bell) to big box retail (Lowe’s Home Improvement) and theme parks and entertainment (SeaWorld/Busch Gardens). Her passionate advocacy for women at work led her on the path to social entrepreneurship as the founder of Executive Moms, an organization created to connect and support accomplished women who are both professionals and moms. In this capacity, Thalberg became an early leading voice and supporter for women, and particularly mothers, in the workplace, appearing across a range of media outlets including The TODAY Show, FOX, CNN, NBC News, and many more.

Sharanjit Leyl regularly anchors Asia Business Report and Newsday from the BBC's Singapore studio. She is also a reporter and producer on these shows along with World Business Report. She has filed reports for radio on the BBC World Service business and arts programmes and written features for BBC news online.

Rico Hizon is the anchor of BBC World News’ Asia Business Report and the host of NewsDay. Hizon’s reports take him all across the Asia-Pacific region, and he discusses up-to-the-minute economic and market news and offers in-depth analysis of the latest business trends.

Keren Elazari is an internationally recognized cyber security analyst, author, and researcher with more than 20 years of experience in the cyber security field. Keren covers emerging security technologies and trends as an independent strategic advisor, working with leading technology providers, government agencies, innovative start-ups, and Fortune 500 companies. In 2014, Keren became the first Israeli woman to speak at the prestigious TED Conference. Keren’s talk has been viewed by millions, translated to 30 languages, and chosen for TED’s ‘Most Powerful Ideas’. Today, Keren’s TED talk is still one of TED’s most watched talks on the topic of security and hacking. Keren holds a CISSP certification and a Masters in Security Studies, and is a senior researcher at the Interdisciplinary Cyber Research Center at Tel Aviv University . Keren is the founder of Israel’s largest security research community event, BSidesTLV, part of the global SecurityBSides movement, and the Leading Cyber Ladies, a global professional network for Women in Cyber Security.