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.

In his instant Wall Street Journal bestselling book Loonshots, SAFI BAHCALL reveals a surprising new way of thinking about innovation and group dynamics, challenging everything we thought we knew about radical breakthroughs. In talks based on his book—which Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman calls “Not to be missed by anyone who wants to understand how ideas change the world”—Bahcall shows how we can stoke innovation, create better leaders, and support “loonshots”: the imperfect but ingenious ideas that have the potential to change the world. As a consultant at McKinsey & Company, and co-founder and CEO of Synta Pharmaceuticals, Safi Bahcall spent nearly two decades of his life bringing big, innovative ideas to fruition. Frequently, this meant assessing and developing loonshots—the widely dismissed ideas whose champions are often written off as crazy. Along the way, he noticed the obstacles that innovators came up against, which seemed to stem from “the mysteries of group behavior.” As he dynamically explains in his book Loonshots, small changes in the structure of a company, rather than in its culture, can transform the behavior of the distinct groups involved, allowing innovation to flourish. Already a Wall Street Journal bestseller, Loonshots was recently dubbed a must-read “for people and organizations who are trying to increase their ability to catalyze more innovation” by Forbes magazine. In his talks, Bahcall shows how the science of phase transitions—think water becoming ice—suggests a useful new way of nurturing radical breakthroughs. He explains the mystery of why good teams—even those with excellent people and the best intentions—can kill great ideas. With humor, history, and a dash of physics, Bahcall offers audiences the tools to become initiators of innovative surprise rather than witnesses to it.

Doug Rauch, a legendary former president of Trader Joe’s, was instrumental in leading the company’s transformation from a 7/11 knockoff to what Fortune magazine called the “hottest retailer in the U.S.” In eye-opening presentations, he shares insights on building a great business based on culture, innovation, leadership, and teamwork. He shows leaders how to push for new and better ways to perform, and audiences walk away with knowledge of how to create a self-sustaining culture of innovation, build a brand in a competitive marketplace, and lead with a purpose.

Have you ever wondered why more salespeople buy BMWs than other cars? Or why a name’s popularity grows after a hurricane of that name hits? Jonah Berger has the answers. A marketing professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and the New York Times best-selling author of the books "Contagious: Why Things Catch On" and "Invisible Influence: The Hidden Forces That Shape Behavior," Berger has spent the last decade studying how social influence works, why certain ideas and products catch on, and what we can do to make ourselves more influential. He shares with audiences the keys to harnessing this “influence” to forge great partnerships, sell slow-moving products, and be more intentional with business strategies. His work is regularly published in top-tier journals, he consults for a variety of Fortune 500 companies, and popular outlets like Harvard Business Review often cover his work.

Hailed as "Chief Troublemaker" by some of the world's largest corporations, Dustin Garis is a master of blending innovation and marketing together. His disruptive ideas have been put into play with companies all across the globe, including P&G, Coca-Cola, and many others. With his unique background and larger-than-life personality, Garis helps businesses across industries to deliver new and exciting products and services to consumers.

A leading expert in robot ethics, Dr. Kate Darling is a research scientist at the MIT Media Lab, where she investigates social robotics and conducts experimental studies on human-robot interaction. Forever interested in how technology intersects with society, Kate has a background in law & economics and intellectual property, she explores the emotional connection between people and life-like machines, seeking to influence technology design and policy direction. Her writing and research anticipate difficult questions that lawmakers, engineers, and the wider public will need to address as human-robot relationships evolve in the coming decades. Dr. Darling’s work has been featured in international media, and she has authored multiple academic publications and contributed to industry publications from Vogue to Die Zeit to the BBC, and in 2017, the American Bar Association honored her legal work with the Mark T. Banner Award in Intellectual Property.

MakerHealth CEO, Anna Young, works from a fundamental belief that, with the right tools, everyday people can use their ingenuity to create devices that heal. Applying years of global experience with the Maker Movement, Anna brings prototyping tools and makerspaces into hospitals enhance the natural problem-solving abilities of clinicians and patients. Anna is the co-founder of MakerNurse, an RWJF sponsored program to support inventive, frontline nurses. Anna’s roots come from MIT as researcher in the Little Devices Lab and lecturer in the Institute for Medical Engineering and Science. In 2015, Anna was recognized by LinkedIn as a "Top Health Innovator Under 35" and in 2016 received Fast Company’s "Most Creative People in Business."

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.

As a motivational keynote speaker, author, and entrepreneur, Laura Gassner Otting helps innovators, idealists, and iconoclasts get “unstuck”, increase confidence, and achieve extraordinary results. Laura inspires change agents, entrepreneurs, investors, leaders, and donors to push past the doubt and indecision that keeps great ideas in limbo. She delivers strategic thinking, well-honed wisdom, and catalytic perspective informed by decades of navigating change across the start-up, non-profit, political, and philanthropic landscapes. Laura dares listeners to find their voice, and generate the confidence needed to tackle larger-than-life challenges, and ultimately leads them to seek new ways of leading, managing, and mentoring others. Excited by the audacity of The Big Idea and the larger-than-life goal you just can’t seem to shake, she's an instigator, a motivator, and a provocateur, and she’s never met a revolution she didn’t like.

Tall and thin, with remarkable onscreen energy and ease, the actor possessed intense malleable features that he used to good effect in both dramatic and comedic roles. Despite this gift, he surprisingly began his career with off-screen pursuits. Jones worked as writer and story editor for NBC's college-set comedy "A Different World" from 1991 to 1992. In 2000, he took on a role in a sports-themed feature set in the recent past in "The Replacements" and in 2002, Jones portrayed a band director out to prove that he has the best band/drumline that the historical black colleges and universities have to offer in the drama "Drumline." Jones has appeared in numerous television series including "Rules of Engagement," "Necessary Roughness," "House M.D." and "Pushing Daisies."

Bettina is a thought-leader in the emerging blockchain space and leads the blockchain practice at Animal Ventures, including research, development, and commercialization across the ecosystem of blockchain innovation. She partners her network with governments and members of the Fortune 500 to help drive the global commercialization and integration of blockchain technology. Bettina is passionate about the convergence of technology and politics and the impact it will have on our future. She is also the executive producer of a new tech show called, Tech on Politics, interviewing some of the world's most influential political operatives, entrepreneurs, government official, and the creators of some of the most exciting digital products on the market.

Scott Deming takes his twenty years of business ownership, board positions, working with small, independently owned companies as well as multi-national corporations and employee relationship expertise. Scott Deming speaks for and trains companies across the globe – big and small, in just about every industry. From CEOs to business owners to managers to sales people to customer service reps, Scott Deming’s programs have transformed individuals and organizations alike, showing them the real process for customer evangelism and lasting customer loyalty.