Sergeant Dakota Meyer is a Marine Corps veteran and the recipient of the Medal of Honor, the military’s highest honor. He is the first living marine to have received the medal since 1973 and is also one of the youngest. Through five successive missions, he helped save the lives of 13 American and 23 Afghan troops. President Barack Obama awarded Meyer the medal on September 15, 2011. Meyer was also inducted into the Hall of Heroes at the Pentagon. He addresses motivation, courage, leadership, believing in yourself, doing what is right, and what happened that day in Afghanistan.

Ambassador Michael Froman is the president of the Council on Foreign Relations, dedicated to elevating Americans’ participation in matters related to trade and foreign policy decisions. He formerly served as the 17th United States Trade Representative, sworn in under President Obama in 2013. In this capacity, he served in the Cabinet as President Obama’s principal advisor, negotiator, and spokesperson on international trade and investment issues. He also led the Office of the United States Trade Representative in its work to open global markets for U.S. goods and services, enforcing America’s rights in the global trading system and fostering development through trade.

The honorable Juan Carlos Pinzón is widely recognized as a pivotal player in upholding the strong diplomatic ties between the United States and Colombia and furthering the relationship between the two nations. Having served two terms as Ambassador of Colombia to the United States, Pinzón is counted among the most influential voices in shaping the priorities of the partnership and was the linking presence between American and Colombian leaders in collaborating to address the most important political, economic, and societal challenges in both countries, and across the globe.

Described by the media as everything from “Superwoman undercover” to “The Pied Piper of potential,” Sarah Robb O’Hagan is an executive, activist, entrepreneur, and founder of Extreme Living — a content platform designed to help individuals, teams, and organizations play to their highest potential. Currently, she is the CEO of EXOS, the leading performance coaching company that gets people ready for the moments that matter most in their work, sport, and daily lives. EXOS clients range from NFL players and Olympians to corporate executives, military personnel, and every day people looking to manage stressors and thrive in the new normal of fast-paced modern-day life. Drawing on her decades experience at some of the world's most influential brands, she shares practical takeaways including how to make failure your fuel, discover your most competitive playing field, get out of line rather than always following conventional wisdom, and bring out the “extreme" in others.

An award-winning innovator and disruptor, Reggie Fils-Aimé is a proven expert on transforming companies, re-vitalizing brands, and reshaping industries to solve daunting challenges and achieve ‘the impossible.’ Most recently, he was the president and chief operating officer of Nintendo of America – the first American and African-American to hold this position. Revered by business leaders and gaming fans alike, Fils-Aimé helped bring Nintendo’s greatest successes – including the Nintendo DS, the Wii, the Nintendo 3DS, Wii U, and the Nintendo Switch – to the global marketplace. Using his personal story as an example, he shares with audiences his principles for effective and innovative leadership, including defining a vision, courage in decision-making, and “irrefutable integrity.”

Nikkia Reveillac is a trailblazing executive insights and innovation leader, business consultant, podcast host, and speaker. She has overcome significant obstacles throughout her career to deliver exceptional results at some of the world’s most influential tech, entertainment, and consumer packaged goods companies. She has drawn upon her creative background as a professional dancer, her unique multicultural perspective as a Caribbean woman, her entrepreneurial instincts, two decades of experience building global industry-leading teams, and her distinctly humane way of framing all manner of questions to bring meaningful transformation everywhere she has been. Reveillac was instrumental in helping Netflix define its first-ever brand promise, created a safer organizational culture at Twitter during the tumultuous pandemic years and 2020 U.S. election cycle, helped develop innovative oral care solutions for consumers in Sub-Saharan Africa at Colgate, grew high-performing and emotionally intelligent teams at all of her companies, and was the first to launch an online marketplace for Trinidad Carnival costumes. Today, she advises businesses of all sizes to leverage research, data, and insights for disruptive innovation and brand building, and she mentors junior and senior talent for career growth.

Brian D. Quintenz was nominated by both Presidents Obama and Trump to serve as a Commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. He was unanimously confirmed by the Senate in August of 2017 and served four years in his role at the agency until stepping down in August of 2021. During his time at the CFTC, Mr. Quintenz advocated for narrowly tailored, risk-focused regulation and was a champion of innovation, specifically relating to crypto and decentralized finance (DeFi). He led agency’s Technology Advisory Committee, which hosted the most comprehensive set of public crypto-related policy discussions and briefings of any federal financial regulator. During his service, the first U.S. regulated Bitcoin and Ether futures contracts listed on derivatives exchanges, and DeFi expanded rapidly. Mr. Quintenz also contributed consequential ideological perspectives to regulatory debates through dozens of domestic and international keynote speeches, conference panel discussions, and meetings with regulatory counterparts. Additionally, he successfully negotiated critical policy provisions relating to swap dealer capital regulation, the cross-border application of swap dealing rules, position limits on new commodity futures contracts, and automated trading activity. In partnership with SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, Mr. Quintenz spearheaded a CFTC-SEC harmonization effort which achieved multiple successes in data reporting and security-based swaps margining and capital requirements. Prior to his appointment to the CFTC, Mr. Quintenz founded and served as the Managing Principal and Chief Investment Officer of Saeculum Capital Management, a registered Commodity Pool Operator that specialized in technical analysis investment strategies.

With an unwavering commitment to public service, The Honorable Gina Ortiz Jones has continually pushed boundaries, shattered glass ceilings, and left an enduring impact in the realm of national security, politics, and beyond.  She has held several high-ranking titles throughout her career, including becoming the first woman of color and first out lesbian to serve as the under secretary of a military department when she was appointed by President Joe Biden as the 27th Under Secretary of the Air Force in July 2021. Unanimously confirmed by the Senate, the appointment made her the second-highest ranking civilian in the Department of the Air Force, which includes the Air Force and the Space Force. She is a name synonymous with trailblazing leadership and an unyielding commitment to creating positive change.

---What is it that pushes us to perform at our best? Which people on our teams thrive in high-stress/high-stakes environments and which are always cool, and calm under pressure? Why does this matter and how can you use it to drive peak performance? After 3 years of interviewing more than 200 people including professional athletes, military officers, poker players, and psychologists, Rafi Kohan offer insights into the psychology of gamesmanship and how mental stress can be used to drive performance and behavior. This work, which culminated into the lively and hilarious read Trash Talk, The Only Book About Destroying Your Rivals That Isn’t Total Garbage, offers anecdotes from some of the world’s top competitors and the mind games that push them to outperform their opponents.

One of only a handful of African Americans to earn a PhD in entomology, Dr. Sammy Ramsey is an inspirational science leader and communicator who has defied the odds to achieve his dreams and is a testament to the power of grit, determination, and an unwavering commitment to one’s purpose. When people said he didn’t have what it took to make his mark in entomology, he proved them wrong by making a breakthrough discovery in the field of bee research — one that could potentially reverse a devastating pandemic in bee populations. And when people told him he didn’t “look” like a scientist, he remained true to himself and redefined what a scientist could look like. Dr. Ramsey has mastered the art of unconventional thinking to arrive at innovative solutions to some of the most significant challenges shaping the future of our society and teaches organizations and individuals how they can do the same as they address their most-pressing challenges in business and life head-on.

As the first female president of a professional sports franchise, Susan O’Malley, the former president of Washington Sports and Entertainment, is a pioneer in sports and business. Under her guidance, her company improved its bottom line, as well as its winning percentage, and the Washington Wizards experienced the largest ticket revenue increase and the highest renewal rate in the history of an NBA franchise to date. O’Malley’s illustrious career also included the creation of the MCI Center, which helped revitalize downtown DC. She addresses management, leadership, and marketing.

Trevor Williams served as Chief Economist at Lloyds Bank for over a decade. Now an author, academic and consultant, he analyses the key trends and policies that shape the economy and markets. From energy and climate to how companies use their data to understand the wider economy, he brings clarity and relevance to an often complex and abstract field.