Amy Webb may not be a superhero – but she does have a powerful ability to anticipate trends and emerging technology that will disrupt tomorrow. And she can envision and help prepare for the impact they’ll have on business and society. Now she’s teaching others, including corporate leaders, innovators and governments, to do the same. Founder of the Future Today Institute, Webb is a renowned futurist and strategist. For her, it’s not simply an interest; it’s a profession and a passion. Nor is “forecasting the future” about creating fantastical scenarios. Webb doesn’t simply make speculations or predictions; her work is evidence based, drawn from mapping and modeling quantitative and qualitative data collected in the present to understand what’s coming (5-20 years from now). Named to the 2017 Thinkers50 Radar list of management thinkers most likely to shape the future – and winner of its 2017 Distinguished Achievement Award – Webb is already making an impact on today’s Fortune 500 and Global 1000 companies, government agencies, large nonprofits, universities and startups worldwide. Focusing on the intersection of technology, business and society, she takes a purposefully broad lens to her work. When thinking about the future, most only look at their industry and direct competitors. Webb is adamant about looking at multiple, adjacent landscapes. “You have to be able to see the top of the forest in order to see where all the trees are and how they connect,” she says.

Dedicated to creating the conscious workplace for tomorrow, Virginia “Ginny” Clarke is a seasoned executive recruiter who has advised at the highest levels of corporate America for decades. A proven expert in driving diverse leadership, she is the former director of executive recruiting at Google, where she led the company’s diversity, non-tech recruiting, and leadership internal mobility teams – finding and hiring senior leaders across the company. She also built a scaled internal mobility program for Google’s senior leaders and designed much of the infrastructure that supports their executive recruiting function today. In speeches, Clarke draws on her unparalleled experience assessing thousands of executives inside corporate C-Suites and boardrooms to bring a unique, holistic five-dimensional approach to true leadership that is essential now more than ever. She delivers “no-holds-barred” discussions on the root causes that lead to a lack of diversity in organizations, and provides the integrated solutions that anyone can use to affect change.

As one of the most sought-after and most-quoted economists in the world, Diane Swonk has more than 30 years of experience in financial services. She is the Founder and CEO of DS Economics and, for 11 years, the senior managing director and chief economist for Mesirow Financial. She has sat on advisory committees to high-level governmental banking authorities, and has also earned many awards over her career, including being listed as one of the “Top Forecasters in the Country” by The Wall Street Journal. She addresses trade issues, regulation, taxes, policy and the markets, and many other issues affecting business and the economy.

Widely respected as an innovator in unlocking high performance in teams and individuals, Dr. Wendy Borlabi possesses expert-level understanding of the mental aspects of peak performance and works alongside the world’s top athletes to help them reframe their mindsets to reach their full potential. She is the director of performance and mental health for the Chicago Bulls where her mindset-centered philosophy to mastering your field is embedded in the team’s success and prevalent at all levels of the organization and its culture. A leading sports psychologists and performance coach, Dr. Borlabi is also an independent consultant with the NBA and is the founder of performance psychology firm Borlabi Consulting, through which she advises organizations in any industry on teamwork, elevating mental toughness, and inspiring unwavering confidence in their teams. Previously, she served as senior sports psychologist for the United States Olympic Committee (USOC), preparing the country’s top athletes for dominant performances at two Winter Olympics and one Summer Olympics.

In an era of unparalleled polarization in politics and society, April Ryan represents an increasingly rare middle ground committed to upholding the integrity of fact-based journalism. With more than 25 years as a seasoned White House correspondent and political analyst, Ryan has the unique vantage point as the only Black female reporter covering urban issues from the White House — a position she has held since the Clinton era and spanning five presidential administrations. Her historic tenure as the longest-serving Black female White House correspondent has afforded her with incredible familiarity with the racial sensitivities, issues, and attendant political struggles of our nation’s past presidents.

Angie Bastian, entrepreneur, co-founder, and namesake of Angie’s BOOMCHICKAPOP, took a kernel of an idea and popped it into one of the fastest growing brands of natural popcorn. She and husband Dan founded their snack company in their Mankato, MN garage in 2001 as a means of creating a college fund for their children. Their gluten free, non-GMO, whole grain popcorn is proudly sold in natural food, grocery, club and mass retail outlets nationwide with a product presence in Canada, South Korea, Peru, Japan, the Caribbean and Mexico. The company is constantly innovating and is one of the fastest growing and most successful popcorn brands in the market today. Angie’s BOOMCHICKAPOP is loved by fans as an empowered, spirited brand that represents authentic, real food that delivers on the attributes of clean, transparent labeling and great taste experience.

For almost 50 years, The Second City has been the training ground for a host of famous alumni including John Belushi, Mike Myers, Gilda Radner, Tina Fey, Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert, and countless stars of stage and screen. Second City Communications works with corporate groups to create a fun, interactive and unconventional approach to training and entertainment.

Ever since 2002, as chairman and CEO of Johnson Publishing Company — where she became the first African American woman CEO among the top five of the Black Enterprise 100s largest black-owned companies — Linda Johnson Rice has shone a ray of positivity on the black community with her strong and resilient leadership.

One of the nation’s leading journalists, Heather Caygle has made a name for herself covering the ins and outs of what’s happening inside Congress and the White House and the impact on politics, policy, and society. She is currently the managing editor of Punchbowl News, which has grown to become one of the most credible media outlets in the few short years since its founding. Before becoming managing editor of Punchbowl News, Caygle served as congressional bureau chief for POLITICO and a congressional reporter for Bloomberg BNA. Her byline has become nearly perpetual alongside many of the nation’s top stories, as she covers headline-making news from every conceivable angle.

Kevin Kallaugher (Kal) is the international award-winning editorial cartoonist for the Economist and The Baltimore Sun. His diverse portfolio includes more than 8,000 cartoons, 140 covers, and six books. In lively, illustrated presentations, Kal draws on stage while touching on themes like the uniqueness of our political system and the role of cartoons in free speech. He shares insights on current events, politics, and the economy and offers audiences a unique surprise to take home after his talks. He has lectured at TED, Harvard, Pixar, and Google among others. Offering an exciting twist for meetings and events, his presentations are always funny, interactive, and memorable.

As the first female F-14 Tomcat Fighter Pilot in the U.S. Navy, Carey Lohrenz is used to working in fast moving, dynamic environments where inconsistent execution can generate catastrophic results. The same challenges are found in business: markets change, customer needs evolve and if you do not adapt quickly, your company is at risk. In her motivating and engaging keynote presentations, Carey shares her fascinating experiences operating in one of the world’s most challenging environments – an aircraft carrier. She is uniquely qualified in the fundamentals of winning under pressure, reducing errors and overcoming obstacles. Her mastery of these fundamentals can help your team triumph in this high-risk, time crunched world.

Stephanie is Owner & CEO of Asutra, where we're passionate about helping people take care of themselves on purpose so they can get the most out of life – what we call active self-care. Asutra offers magnesium-powered remedies for pain relief, sleep and mood, so you can care for yourself well. At Asutra, we’re proud to provide good jobs with career pathways at a living wage with benefits. Asutra is women-owned and women-led; 60% of our team are people of color; and 100% of our staff would recommend Asutra as a great place to work. Stephanie is an enthusiastic board member of Hope Chicago, which sends students and their parents to college debt-free; Very Asian Foundation, which amplifies AANHPI stories; and Naturally Chicago, which creates an ecosystem for natural products companies to thrive. Stephanie was honored to be named to Inc.’s Female Founders 200 list in 2023 and Beacon Award Entrepreneur of the Year in 2021. In her spare time, she’s an avid urban gardener who grows everything from tomatoes to lilacs.