Michael (Mike) Steep is the 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.

Part journalist, part historian, and all shrewd political observer, Ronald (Ron) Brownstein explains the complexities of American politics with lucid precision. As a CNN Senior Political Analyst, Senior Editor for the Atlantic, and Contributing Editor for National Journal, he produces sharp analysis on politics, policy, the electorate, media, healthcare, energy, the press' impact on Americans, and the range of issues informed by his strong sense of American political and national history. Brownstein provides an insider’s look into politics and the media and has twice been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. He is also the author of six best-selling books, and his articles on politics, public policy, and culture have appeared in myriad of major publications and on many broadcast news outlets.

A school teacher turned actor, musician, two-time national poetry slam champion, entrepreneur, and award-winning poetic voice, any given day may now find Sekou keynoting at a leadership conference, helping a Fortune 500 company with brand messaging, or even performing pieces for Barack Obama in Oprah’s backyard. Sekou is the creator of Poetic Voice, a new, cutting-edge speaking category that seamlessly fuses inspirational speaking with spoken word poetry to make messages more moving and memorable. For over 15 years, Sekou Andrews has been helping the world’s largest organizations deliver relevant information with riveting inspiration through an innovative, unconventional category of speaking called “Poetic Voice.”

Joby Ogwyn is a world-renowned adventurer, high-altitude mountain climber, BASE jumper, and wing-suit explorer. He holds several world records and was the youngest American to first summit Mount Everest and then the “Seven Summits.” He shares jaw-dropping stories, videos, and photos of his adventures while igniting a passion to live and perform at the highest levels. His speeches are an inspiring and often hair-raising look inside his many feats, and he helps audiences embrace the principles that made them successful, including having a clear vision and committing fully to it.

Poppy Crum works to bridge the gap between technology and insightful, effective human interaction. As a multi-dimensional advocate of empathetic technology, she builds technologies that best leverage human physiology to enhance our experiences and how we interact with the world. Poppy serves as the Chief Scientist at Dolby Laboratories and as an Adjunct Professor at Stanford University in the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics and Program in Symbolic Systems. Poppy is dedicated to the development of immersive technologies that leverage human physiology and perceptual realities to enhance our experiences and interactions in the world. She is a frequent speaker on topics related to the intersection of human experience, artificial intelligence, sensory data-science, and immersive technologies.

Alex Stamos is a cybersecurity expert, business leader and entrepreneur working to improve the security and safety of the Internet through his teaching and research at Stanford University. Stamos is an Adjunct Professor at Stanford’s Freeman-Spogli Institute, a William J. Perry Fellow at the Center for International Security and Cooperation, and a visiting scholar at the Hoover Institution. As a Chief Security Officer at Facebook and Yahoo and a co-founder of iSEC Partners, Alex has investigated and responded to some of the most seminal events in the short history of cybersecurity and has been called the “Forrest Gump of Info Sec” by friends. He is working on election security via the Defending Digital Democracy Project and advising NATO’s Cybersecurity Center of Excellence. He has spoken on six continents, testified in Congress, served as an expert witness for the wrongly accused, earned a BSEE from UC Berkeley and holds five patents.

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.

Known worldwide for pursuing an incredible list of 100 Things that he wants to achieve before he dies, Sebastian Terry’s story is surprisingly not about a bucket list. It’s about something more far reaching: Permission, choice, growth, and connection. Affected by a curious mind and the death of a close friend, Sebastian experienced a moment in his life where he asked himself a simple question: “Am I happy?”. The answer was NO and so he decided to pen down a list of 100 Things that he’d always wanted to achieve. Sebastian's incredible story has grown from an entertaining tale of adventure into a global philanthropic movement that engages a growing tribe of hundreds of thousands to not just set meaningful goals, but pull the trigger and achieve them—all whilst helping others do the same. Guaranteed to make you laugh, cry, and inspire motivation, his talk will re-engage, connect, and inspire your organisation to move forward as one.

Michael Coates was previously the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at Twitter where is organization worked to protect users, systems, and data for nearly 300 million users. Prior to Twitter, Michael was the Director of Product Security at Shape Security. In this role, Michael worked with a specialized team to drastically change the way organizations defend their applications against modern application attacks. Prior to that, Michael was head of security for Mozilla where he built and lead the security assurance program to protect nearly half a billion Firefox users, Mozilla web applications, and infrastructure. Before building and leading security programs, Michael assessed, compromised, and secured applications and networks for some of the largest banks, governments, and enterprises around the world.

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.

Neil Jacobstein is the chair of the Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Track at Singularity University, an organization whose founders hail from Google and the X PRIZE Foundation and has a goal “to educate, inspire and empower a new generation of leaders to apply exponential technologies to address humanity’s grand challenges.” Jacobstein shares one of the most thoughtful and up-to-date looks at the future of technology and how it will impact a variety of industries. He explores innovation, disruption, and artificial intelligence as he offers audience a glimpse into the future and its real-world applications.

Named one of the "40 Most Influential Minds in Tech" by TIME magazine, Vivek Wadhwa is a Distinguished Fellow at Carnegie Mellon University Silicon Valley. Based in Silicon Valley, he researches exponentially advancing technologies that are soon going to change our world. Wadhwa has held appointments at Duke University, Stanford Law School, Harvard Law School, and Emory University and is a faculty member at Singularity University. He is a globally syndicated columnist for The Washington Post and the author of four books on the intersection of technology and society.