Lisa Sun, founder and CEO of GRAVITAS, seamlessly blends stories from her data-driven insights from 11 years at McKinsey & Company and from her experience as an entrepreneur launching an innovative retail brand to offer talks that encourage audiences to choose self-confidence, work to harness their “superpower,” and use gravitas to advance personally and professionally. Sun explores why it’s vital to push past your potential, how to transform an idea into a movement, and why you’ve got to bet on yourself every single day. Sun has always had a passion for style, for inclusivity, and for helping people look and feel their best and was named one of Washingtonian Magazine's Best Dressed Women.

Erik Weihenmayer is a world-class adventurer, the first blind man to summit Mount Everest, and one of only 150 mountaineers to climb the Seven Summits. His latest and most demanding adventure is kayaking the 277 miles of the Grand Canyon. One of the most exciting and well-known athletes in the world, he never let his lack of vision interfere with his quality of life. Weihenmayer’s feats have earned him incredible press coverage and dozens of awards. He is also the author of two books and addresses leadership, teamwork, overcoming adversity, motivation, and inspiration.

Polar explorer, TED speaker, and record-breaking long-distance skier Ben Saunders fuses the spirit of adventure with impressive technical ingenuity. He has five North Pole expeditions under his belt and is best known for leading one of the most ambitious expeditions in a century. Humble and self-effacing, he is an explorer of limits and his message is one of inspiration, empowerment, and boundless potential. He explores the dichotomy between ideas and action and urges audiences to consider carefully how to spend the “tiny amount of time we each have on this planet.”

Steve Robinson served as the Chief Marketing Officer of Chick-fil-A, the nation’s most profitable food chain, from 1981 to 2015. Responsible for overseeing all of the brand’s traditional marketing support, advertising, brand development innovation, menu innovation, and hospitality strategies, he was integrally involved in the company’s incredible growth trajectory. Robinson helped take the chicken chain from 184 stores and $100 million in annual revenue when he assumed his position, to more than 2,100 stores and $6.8 billion in annual sales upon his retirement. He is credited with identifying and rolling out the company’s “Eat Mor Chikin” branding and campaign, which is now recognized worldwide. He is also the author of the new book, Covert Cows and Chick-fil-A: How Faith, Cows, and Chicken Built an Iconic Brand, due out in Spring 2019. He offers insights on building brand loyalty, creating a unique brand culture that stands out in a crowded global marketplace, and why success and culture are often so tightly linked.

An adventurer, record-setter, and boundary-breaker, Darcy Gaechter is best known as the first woman - and member of the first team - to kayak the Amazon River from source to sea. The journey required her crew to paddle over 4,000 miles across the widest part of South America, a voyage that took 148 days to complete. She is also the author of The Kayaker’s Guide to Ecuador and Amazon Woman, an adventure memoir detailing her Amazon River expedition and the life challenges she faced to get there – the rights of which have been purchased to turn her story into a movie. Gaechter inspires audiences with her personal journey of overcoming obstacles and making the impossible possible – sharing useful tactics to take on even the most daunting of challenges and demonstrating how a strong belief in yourself and in your goal are key ingredients to any success.

Mark Bowden is the keynote speaker for organizations worldwide whose work depends upon winning the hearts and minds of others. Mark entertainingly trains any audience in the most cutting edge techniques to stand out, win trust and profit every time they speak. His keynote presentation takes everyone on an exciting and humorous journey to understand how, with the right body language “It’s often not what you say—but how you say it, that gets results!” Expert in human behaviour and body language, keynote speaker Mark Bowden is the creator of TRUTHPLANE®, a communication training company and unique methodology for anyone who has to communicate with impact to an audience. Mark’s highly entertaining keynote speeches and training seminars teach audiences around the world how to use the most influential verbal and nonverbal language to stand out, win trust and gain credibility every time they speak.

Daniel Hughes has spent the last 15 years leading and making decisions in high pressure and often environmentally hostile environments. He describes himself as a “determined problem solver, who builds teams to succeed”. He previously has been a Special Forces Instructor, Great Britain Athlete and in 2013 built a team of 268 for him to deliver the world’s highest video broadcast from the summit of Mt Everest to the BBC Newschannel. Hughes is a current 787 pilot and as the founder of Reignite Consulting, he globally delivers Management Development programmes to executive teams and helps organisations establish or reaffirm their vision and values.

Paul de Gelder faced his worst fear when he was attacked by a massive bull shark whilst conducting a counter terrorism exercise with the Australian Navy. Since that fateful day in 2009 when he lost two limbs, Paul has hosted over 25 documentaries as a Shark Week regular on Discovery Channel, and has helped some of the biggest names in the world, such as Will Smith, and Ronda Rousey, to overcome their own fears of sharks. Paul has authored 4 books and has even overcome his other fear of public speaking, becoming one of the top 10 speakers in Australia. Now based out of California, Paul is continuing his passion of sharing his story on stages across the United States and the world. A story of wild beginnings and adversity, to ultimate triumph in the face of overwhelming odds. Paul's performance is for anyone that seeks to enhance their own lives in every possible way.

A four-time spacewalker on two missions to the Hubble Space Telescope, including the final Hubble servicing mission which has been called the most dangerous and complex mission in space shuttle history, Mike uses humor and his unique storytelling ability to inspire audiences to identify the passion in their work, use teamwork and innovation to solve problems, provide leadership in the face of adversity, and never give up when pursuing a goal. Mike provides insights into the commercialization of space and how advances in technology and automation have changed the space program, and will affect the future of space exploration and private spaceflight.

When brands like Google, Starbucks, Shopify, and GE want to use technology to better connect with their consumers, they call Mitch Joel. He is the best-selling author of the award-winning business books, Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, and the founder of Six Pixels Group. He's also the former president of Mirum, a global digital marketing agency operating in 25 countries with close to 3,000 employees. Mitch has been called “one of North America’s leading visionaries” and the “Rock Star of Digital Marketing” by Strategy Magazine, he was listed as one of the “Speakers Worth Catching” by Forbes, and he was recognized in the highly prestigious “Top 40 Under 40”… but he's much more than that. He is a charismatic and engaging storyteller, and takes audiences on an exciting ride that helps them understand not only adapt to but succeed in the new digital, hyper-connected business environment. His speaking style is big, engaging, entertaining, educating, and eyebrow raising. Your audience will leave informed and ready to tackle the future... today.

Steve Baskis is an inspirational blind veteran and adventurer. Just eight months into his deployment to Iraq, his squad was attacked. A roadside bomb severely wounded Baskis, but, despite his injuries, he amazed his doctors with his recovery and attitude. An “adrenaline junkie,” he was eager to test his potential and push the boundaries of what disabled people are perceived capable of doing. He has since competed in athletic competitions and summited mountains. Baskis addresses motivation, inspiration, overcoming adversity, humanitarian efforts, and pushing the limits of human potential.

After an acting career including a role on The Sopranos (HBO), Chris decided to follow his real passion- using media to bridge intercultural gaps worldwide- so he traveled to East Africa. He now traverses the globe from Tanzania to Abu Dhabi as Host of Bridge the Gap, a new series featured on National PBS television, where he discovers what it’s like to walk in someone else’s shoes for one day. He is a United Nations Moderator, an International Speaker (TEDx), a Writer for award-winning publications like Lonely Planet, an Eagle Scout and a National Geographic Young Explorers grantee. 1 : Actor/Activist from Brooklyn whose TV career spans MTV to The Sopranos 2 : traveled from Tanzania to Thailand hosting the internationally recognized TV Series Bridge the Gap, broadcast into 45M homes in 80 markets 3 : Published Writer for Huffington Post and Lonely Planet 4 : celebrated Emcee and Guest Speaker for TedX and the United Nations, at Jane Goodall’s National Leadership Retreat, and at events in Qatar, Rio de Janeiro, and Abu Dhabi.