With a career devoted to understanding how humans make risk decisions, Andy Ellis is a seasoned technology executive with deep expertise in security. An advisor to several cyber security startups, including Orca, Vulcan, and Uptycs, he currently serves as an advisor at cyber security venture capital firm, YL Ventures. Ellis formerly served as the chief security officer of web and internet security company Akamai. In his 20 years with Akamai, he helped to design and bring to market several of the company’s core technologies behind its security solutions. Combining more than 20 years of security experience with insider anecdotes from his time serving as CSO, he explores how and why humans make risk choices and decisions – and their impact on security.

Jane Park is the CEO and Founder of Tokki, a social & sustainable gifting technology company. Merging reusable physical giftwrap with a digital social experience, Tokki is reinventing gift giving to make the experience unforgettable.

Daniel Linskey is a Managing Director in Kroll’s Investigations and Disputes practice, and is head of the Boston office. As the former Superintendent-in-Chief of the Boston Police Department (BPD) and a 27-year veteran of the force, Dan provided strong leadership through some of the most tragic and contentious events in the city’s history, including the Boston Marathon bombings and the Occupy Movement.

Susan Ershler tours the world sharing with others her secrets for success, determination, and achieving seemingly impossible goals. Susan is the fourth American Woman to climb the Seven Summits and the twelfth American Woman to climb Mt. Everest. When she got to the top of Mount Everest on May 16, 2002, she and her husband Phil became the first couple in history to climb the Seven Summits. Susan illustrates how she utilized her experience as a sales leader as the foundation to her training for climbing mountains.

Victoria was 11 years old when she came down with a rare viral disease, Transverse Myelitis, with which she battled for five years including four years in a vegetative coma. The disease left her without the use of her legs for nearly a decade. A lifelong swimmer and athlete, Victoria never gave up her childhood dream of competing in the Olympics Games. In June of 2010 she returned to the pool for the first time since her illness and in the spring of 2012 she qualified for the London Paralympic Games in four events. There she won a Gold Medal, and three Silver Medals. Despite missing five years of school during her illness, Victoria graduated on-time with her triplet brothers, from Exeter High School (New Hampshire) in June of 2013. Victoria is now an on-air TV personality with ESPN reporting for numerous programs including X-Games, Invictus Games, The ESPY Awards, espnW, Frozen Four, Special Olympics World Games and Sportscenter.

Mark Bathum was born with retinitis pigmentosa, the second leading cause of blindness and has been legally blind since his late 30s. Mark embraced this challenge in his late 40’s and is currently the top-ranked visually impaired ski racer in the world in the downhill event, is a three time Paralympic silver medalist in the 2010 and 2014 games, is the top-ranked adaptive alpine racer in the U.S., has won eight World Cup races despite attending only half the races each year, was nominated for an ESPY and was named the Paralympian Male Athlete of the Games at the inaugural U.S. Olympic and Paralympic “Best of U.S.” Awards ceremony broadcast by NBC in 2014.

Patrick Sweeney is an entrepreneur, angel investor, and world-record holder. He comes from the blue-collar suburbs of Boston and paid his way through state school, where he discovered rowing. He finished 2nd in the Olympic trials and earned a Top 5 MBA near the top of his class where he caught the entrepreneurial bug. He started three technology companies, sold them for millions, and left it all behind after battling a rare form of leukemia. He has used research to unlock the secrets of feat and peak performance, creating a framework to teach anyone how to achieve the life of their dreams. His mission now is to help people use fear to transform their lives and their organizations. Sweeney’s speeches demonstrate this framework with inspirational examples and actionable tips to power positive change using neuroscience, entrepreneurship, and adventures.

Dan Cnossen is a Paralympic biathlete, cross-country skier, and former Navy SEAL platoon commander. In the fall of 2003, Dan became one of only 16 members from his Naval Academy class to enter the Navy SEAL program. Over the next six years, Dan was deployed multiple times to Iraq and Afghanistan and rose in rank to become the officer-in-charge of an 18-man SEAL platoon. In 2009, while serving in an area of heavy combat in Afghanistan, Dan stepped on an IED, losing both legs in the blast. He would later be awarded a Purple Heart and Bronze Star with Valor. For the next two years Dan fought for his life, enduring over 40 different surgeries, while readjusting to civilian life. It was during this time, as part of his rehab, that he was introduced to the sports of cross-country skiing and biathlon. Never one to shy from a challenge, he eventually earned a spot on the 2014 U.S. Paralympic Team. In 2015, Dan returned to graduate school, earning two degrees from Harvard University. At the 2018 Paralympic Games, Dan stole the show, remarkably winning one gold, four silver, and one bronze medal over a period of eight days and earning the honor of Best Male Athlete of The Games.