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.

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.

Alex Stamos is a cybersecurity expert, business leader, and entrepreneur who has dedicated his career to improving the security and safety of the Internet. He serves as the chief trust officer for SentinelOne (NYSE: S), whose mission is to defeat every attack every second of every day with AI-powered threat prevention, detection, response, and hunting. At the same time, he is an adjunct professor at Stanford University, where his teaching and research focuses on international security and cooperation. Formerly Facebook’s chief security officer and Yahoo’s chief information security officer, Stamos is regarded among the most authoritative experts and problem-solvers in his field. The New York Times called Stamos “a celebrated figure in privacy and security circles,” and Tech Crunch said he is “widely regarded as one of the smartest people working in the security space.”

Michael Coates has worked in the information security space for the past 20 years, leading security at global organizations, such as Twitter and Mozilla, and protecting hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Coates is currently the CISO of CoinList and the CEO of the sub-entity CoinList Digital Asset Services, a leading exchange platform that is disrupting the Web 3.0 and cryptocurrency digital asset offerings. He is also a co-founder of Altitude Networks and served as its CEO before a successful exit following the company’s acquisition. Previously, Coates was the Chief Information Security Officer at Twitter. There, his team worked to protect nearly 300 million users, securing both Twitter systems and user data.

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 an unparalleled track record spanning more than two decades, Christy Tanner has led innovation and disruption at the world’s most recognizable brands, breathing new life into their business models, keeping them several steps ahead of the curve, and positioning them as market leaders and innovators for the long term. Widely regarded as a media visionary, Tanner spearheaded agile digital and cultural transformation initiatives as a C-level executive at top companies, including CBS Interactive and TV Guide Digital, where she leveraged emerging technologies and cutting-edge narrative skills to develop winning strategies and future-focused teams. She draws from her own experiences as a corporate leader, sought-after advisor, and board member to help organizations across industries break new ground and create value by unlocking new opportunities to challenge conventional wisdom, build diverse coalitions, and meet consumer needs.

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.

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.

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.

Chris Barton is an entrepreneur speaker, co-founder and Board Director of Shazam, and expert in mobile applications. At Shazam, he helped guide the music discovery company from idea to profit as co-founder and Board Director. He has also worked eight years at Google focused on mobile and at Dropbox as head of mobile operators development. Now he follows his dream of advising passionate entrepreneurs who want to make the world a better place, by speaking on entrepreneurship and advising a handful of startups. In addition, he is embarking on his next startup venture. Barton co-founded Shazam in 1999 with the original idea to identify songs with a mobile phone. Before smartphones, people would call a number, put their phone up to the radio and receive a text identifying the song. When the company launched in 2002, Shazam had 2 million songs in its database and took 15 seconds to process a user’s request. Today Shazam’s app has been downloaded by over 1 billion people globally. Now the app takes only a few seconds to identify songs from its database of over 30 million songs. Shazam’s journey was one of faith and endurance for Barton and his co-founders. The company survived the dot.com bust but the company struggled for many years. Barton left in 2004 to join Google and later Dropbox but continued to serve on the Board throughout. Only in 2008 did Shazam begin its “hockey stick” growth curve once iPhone and Android app stores were introduced to the world. Today, Shazam is among the most popular apps on both iPhone and Android with over 120 million monthly active users. Shazam’s highly advanced technology and superior customer ratings helped convince Apple to purchase the company for a reported $400 million in December 2017. Barton holds an MBA from UC Berkeley, a Master’s degree in Finance from Cambridge University, and a BA from UC Berkeley.

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.

Tom Rogers is the Founder of CNBC, first President of NBC Cable, former and longest serving CEO of TiVo, as well as Chairman and CEO of PRIMEDIA, Inc., owner of 400 media properties including New York Magazine, and serves as the current Executive Chairman WinView, Inc., a sports gaming/gambling company. With a career that has operated at the nexus of media, technology, advertising, and public policy for more than two decades, Tom has a distinctive blend of operational leadership and corporate strategy experience across multiple facets of the industry. Building on his vast experience in running traditional media and new media companies, and in creating innovative business models for companies facing new challenges, Tom has pioneered the way consumers watch and access home entertainment.