John Wood is the founder and board chair of Room to Read. He started Room to Read after a fast-paced and distinguished career with Microsoft from 1991 to 1999. John continues to bring Room to Read a vision for a scalable solution to developing global educational problems with an intense focus on results and an ability to attract a world-class group of employees, volunteers, and funders. Today, John focuses full-time on long-term strategy, capital acquisition, public speaking, and media opportunities for the organization. John also teaches at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and New York University’s Stern School of Business and serves on the Advisory Board of the Clinton Global Initiative.

Dr. Sahar Yousef and Lucas Miller are both cognitive neuroscientists, as well as faculty at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. They teach one of the most popular MBA classes at Cal, called “Becoming Superhuman: The Science of Productivity and Performance”, and have been featured in Forbes, Wired, The Wall Street Journal, and Business Insider. At Berkeley, Sahar and Lucas co-run the Becoming Superhuman Lab, which conducts research on how to help busy leaders and their teams get their most important done, in less time, and with less stress. Since COVID began, Sahar and Lucas have given over 700 talks and keynotes to knowledge workers in 50+ countries, have advised executive teams at Google, JPM, Deloitte, American Express, and Visa, and have been invited to speak to the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia. Known for their fast-paced, high-energy style and their science-backed practical tactics, this dynamic duo is consistently rated as the #1 session at events, particularly within the technology, financial services, and private equity industries.

Rachel DeAlto is on a mission to connect people to their most powerful resource — each other. Rachel is a communication and relatability expert, media personality, and former attorney who combines her education (she also maintains a Master's in psychology) with her corporate and start-up experience to create a blueprint that allows leaders, entrepreneurs, and teams to build better connections and thereafter, better everything.

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.

Cristian deRitis is the deputy chief economist at Moody’s Analytics where he specializes in the analysis of current and future economic conditions, housing markets, and consumer credit. He publishes his analysis regularly on the Economic View website and is often quoted in publications such as The Wall Street Journal for his views on the economy. Cris is a certified risk management professional and writes a monthly column on risk management issues for the Global Association of Risk Professionals. 

Molly Fletcher is a trailblazer in every sense of the word. She is a rare talent of business wisdom, relationship brilliance and unwavering optimism. As a CEO, she shares her unconventional and unique techniques that made her one of the first female sports agents in the high stakes, big ego world of professional sports and now a successful entrepreneur. As president of client representation for sports and entertainment agency CSE, Molly spent two decades as one of the world’s only female sports agents.

Retired Colonel Greg Gadson is a 25-year career United States Army officer. Although a bilateral above-the-knee amputee, he has not been defeated by unfortunate circumstances, instead, his life is a portrait of courage in the face of great adversity. Greg communicates his passion for service, teamwork, and leadership in his moving and inspirational message made relevant for individuals, teams, and organizations of all sizes. He applies the poignant lessons of pride, poise, and team that he learned as a West Point football player to every aspect of his life and credits those same lessons as the underlying principles that saved his life when he was serving as a battalion commander in Iraq.

Throughout his career, Mr. Oczkowski has worked at the intersection of where product development meets data science to forecast, predict, and analyze commercial markets and American elections. Prior to his work at Data Propria, Mr. Oczkowski also served as Head of Product for Cambridge Analytica where he most notably ran the team of embedded technical specialists inside the Trump Campaign that led to the scientific understanding of the eventual outcome of the election - a scenario that pundits missed. Using tactics from the worlds of: behavioral science, growth hacking, machine learning, sentiment analysis, and NLP, Mr. Oczkowski successfully connects behavioral dots together to make informed decisions about groups of people.

Childhood friends Anthony Sadler, Alek Skarlatos, and Staff Sgt. Spencer Stone were thrust into the international spotlight on August 21st, 2015, when their bravery and quick-thinking thwarted a would-be terror attack on a Paris-bound train with roughly 500 passengers on board. Their story has been motivating and inspiring audiences globally since it unfolded just two years ago. Together, the lifelong friends from Sacramento, California co-authored the book The 15:17 To Paris; the book caught the interest of legendary film maker Clint Eastwood and is currently being made into a major motion picture of the same name. Having gone from an unknown group of close friends backpacking through Europe to the focus of a media whirlwind and now Hollywood, Sadler, Skarlatos, and Stone discuss overcoming fearing, embracing the unexpected, the importance of fostering lifelong friendships, and what it takes to be prepared to do the right thing, at the right time.

Mike Abrashoff is at the center of a tale of amazing organizational transformation. He took command of the near-worst ship in the Pacific Fleet; within twelve months it became the best ship in the entire Navy – using the same crew. How underperformers turned into overachievers makes for an inspiring presentation filled with practical lessons about learning to lead differently and new ways to create a high-performance culture of trust.

Terry Jones is a Digital Disruptor, an author and a venture capitalist. He has founded five startups, with two billion dollar IPOs, Kayak and Travelocity, and has served on seventeen corporate boards. His career path has established him as a thought leader on innovation and disruption in our increasingly digital world. As a speaker, author, venture capitalist and board member Terry has been helping companies use the tools and techniques he’s developed to keep up with this rapidly changing world.

Steve Farber is the best-selling author of three ground-breaking books: Greater Than Yourself, The Radical Edge, and The Radical Leap, which was named one of the “100 Best Business Books of All Time.” Cited as one of Inc’s “Global Top 50 Leadership and Management Experts,” Farber shares thought-provoking and practical leadership insights. Whether an organization’s challenge is coping with change, improving culture, building teamwork, or fostering innovation—his world-renowned “Extreme Leadership” framework is the new paradigm for the current business environment.