When the world’s top companies want to understand what’s next for their businesses and how they can create the next big breakthrough in their industries, they turn to world-renowned futurist Sheryl Connelly. Connelly is a global trends and consumer expert whose mastery at identifying what’s coming around the corner and the potential influences on customer attitudes and behavioral patterns that directly impact business strategy is unparalleled. From 1996-2023, she was a cornerstone presence on Ford Motor Company’s global trends and futuring team, working her way up the ranks at the automotive juggernaut and becoming the company’s chief futurist. Connelly draws upon her business foresight expertise and experiences at Ford to help organizations in any industry identify and analyze global consumer trends in order to lay the groundwork for long-term, future-focused planning and strategy across the entire company, and anticipate the ever-evolving needs and desires of the people they serve.

Regarded as the “CEO-Maker,” “DEI Professor,” and the “Cubicle to Corner Office Empress,” Dethra Giles is a workplace and career optimizer who advises organizations and individuals on how to chart their unique paths to success. She is a four-time TEDx speaker who has been named a “Top 100 HR Influencer” by Engagedly, and was selected by HR Gazette’s “HRchat” podcast as one of the “Top 22 Most Influential Figures in HR.” With clients including Kaiser Permanente, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), The Army Corp of Engineers, Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy, the National Basketball Association (NBA), and the Salvation Army, Giles shares a unique blend of advanced education and industry experience that has been described as “university-tested and industry-approved,” and can be implemented by organizations of any size, and across industries.

Tripp Crosby is a comedic host, inspirational speaker, and filmmaker who is at this very moment writing about himself in the third person. It’s very, very possible that you’ve seen his most popular comedy sketch called “A Conference Call in Real Life”. This video is one of, if not the most popular workplace related comedy sketches of all time and possibly the only YouTube video to ever go viral twice: Once when Tripp first created it in 2013 and again in 2020 when the painful experience of participating in conference calls became an even more relatable topic.

Rick Smith is a serial entrepreneur, leadership strategist, best-selling author, inspirational TED speaker, and one of world’s foremost authorities on innovation, leadership, and corporate transformation through disruptive technologies such as industrial 3D printing (additive manufacturing). His latest venture, Fast Radius, is an on-demand production platform which leverages 3D printing for global distributed manufacturing. In person, print, and practice, Rick inspires individuals and organizations around the world with leading edge insights on a number of topics surrounding disruptive technology, such as the predictable patterns of technology disruption, and the behaviors that enable leaders to successfully navigate complexity and change.

Adán Bean is an accomplished spoken word poet, emcee, writer, storyteller, and voice-over talent hailing from a small town in Ohio but has called Atlanta home for over a decade. As a graduate of Morehouse College, Adán has anchored his creative base firmly in the Atlanta arts, culture, and music scene. After bringing his talents to the Kennedy Center in 2020, Adán was awarded the Serenbe Frances Focus Fellowship from the South Fulton Institute. Adán Bean filmed a Tiny Desk concert performance and directed the short documentary film “Curb Appeal,” which tackles the issues of housing insecurity and home inequity. As a 2019 TEDx speaker and 2017 National Poetry Slam song winner, he’s represented Atlanta on numerous slam teams for the PSI National Poetry Slam Competition. In June 2021, he debuted Double Consciousness, an original stage show alongside comedian-collaborator David Perdue, at the historic Morton Theater (Athens, GA). His work has been featured on or with companies/brands such as Change.org, TEDx, Habitat for Humanity, CarMax, Coca-Cola, Cricket Wireless, Delta Airlines, SONY Music Group, Def Jam, Cash Money Records, and more. Adán Bean is working on his sophomore EP, due out early next year, as well as touring colleges on the east coast this Fall.