With his signature dry wit and delivery, Ben Stein provides an intellectual and humorous look at politics, the economy, and current affairs. A former presidential speechwriter, economics and securities law instructor, and Emmy Award-winner, Stein is a versatile speaker who is equally comfortable addressing college graduates or seasoned executives.

Douglas A. Rediker is the founding partner of International Capital Strategies, LLC, a Washington, DC-based boutique advisory firm that provides clients with insights and advice on the intersection of geopolitics, macroeconomics, policy and global financial markets. He is also a Non-Resident Senior Fellow in the Foreign Policy and Global Economy and Development programs at the Brookings Institution, as well as a member of the Center on the United States and Europe, where he is one of Brookings’ leading experts on the economic and financial aspects of the Russian war in Ukraine. Doug previously represented the United States on the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from 2010 to 2012, having been nominated by President Obama in 2009 and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in early 2010. In that role he served as a senior official of the U.S. Treasury Department and interacted with IMF, Finance Ministry and Central Bank counterparts from around the world, focused in particular on the response to the eurocrisis and its economic, financial and strategic consequences. He served as co-Head of the Biden Campaign International Economic Policy Team for Markets and Macroeconomics.

Mark has been working in Silicon Valley for over 30 years and has worked on over 1,000 venture capital transactions. He has significant experience in applying the law to the issues raised by new technologies, such as open source software, blockchain, IoT and domain names. For example, in 1994, he assisted Network Solutions, Inc. in developing the first domain dispute resolution system which is still the basis for the system in use today. His clients range from Fortune 500 such as Oracle Corporation and Sony Corporation to unknown startups. Currently, he and his team work with over 50 startups. He has worked across a wide variety of industries, including software (in particular open source software), blockchain, IoT, semiconductor, consumer electronics, content licensing (from music to characters), and medical devices.

Ambassador Ron Kirk is the former United States trade representative (USTR) who was a pivotal member of the president’s economics team. With nearly 20 years in politics, he has been a Dallas mayor, U.S. Senate candidate, a lawyer with international reach. Boisterous and entertaining, Kirk analyzes the current political environment and offers audiences a glimpse behind the curtain in Washington and into what the president is really thinking. He also addresses trade, jobs, the economy, and doing business in China.

Renowned journalist, author, and political commentator who keeps his finger on the pulse of modern American politics, speaking to every audience about current events and what the future holds. Widely known as the journalistic icon who broke the deeply disturbing news of the Watergate scandal. Bob Woodward is a reporter-historian with an aggressive but fair and non-partisan reputation for digging deep to uncover Washington’s secrets. He gives audiences unvarnished look at Washington politics and leaders.

Haley Barbour is the former governor of Mississippi and the former chairman of the Republican Governor’s Association. He also served as chairman of the Republican National Committee, leading the GOP to gain control of Congress for the first time in 40 years. POLITICO calls him “the most powerful Republican in politics.” He was also widely praised for his handling of both the Gulf Oil Spill and Hurricane Katrina. One of the Republican Party’s top political strategists, Barbour addresses elections, politics, Republican strategy, the economy, and other hot political topics.

Tim Pawlenty, one of the leading voices in the Republican Party, was a two-term governor of Minnesota serving from 2003 until 2011, a candidate for the 2012 Republican nomination for President, and the co-chair of Mitt Romney for President. Tim was a solutions-oriented politician who was well-respected on both sides of the aisle. His education, healthcare, and energy initiatives were widely viewed as among the most innovative in the nation. Tim previously served as president and CEO of the Financial Services Roundtable, which represents leading financial service companies in protecting the security, integrity, and success of our nation’s financial system. The author of the book, Courage to Stand, Pawlenty offers audiences candid and entertaining presentations on politics, the future of the GOP, the economy, and issues important to the financial services industry.

In the early 1970s, Bernstein and Bob Woodward broke the Watergate story for The Washington Post, leading to the resignation of President Richard Nixon and setting the standard for modern investigative reporting, for which they and The Post were awarded the Pulitzer Prize. Since then, Bernstein has continued to build on the theme he and Woodward first explored in the Nixon years – the use and abuse of power: political, media, financial, cultural and spiritual power. Renowned as a prose stylist, he has also written a classic biography of Pope John Paul II, served as the founding editor of the first major political website, and been a rock critic.

Ken Burns is a PBS documentary director of The Civil War, Baseball, The West, Thomas Jefferson. He has been making documentary films for more than twenty years and the most notable among his work is the PBS series Baseball. Among critical acclaim, Baseball earned Mr. Burns an Emmy, the Clarion Award, and The Television Critics Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Sports and Special Programming.

Dr. Benn Steil is senior fellow and director of international economics at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. He is also the founding editor of International Finance, a scholarly economics journal, the lead writer of the Council’s Geo-Graphics economics blog, and creator of three web-based interactives tracking Sovereign Risk, Global Monetary Policy, and Central Bank Currency Swaps. Dr. Steil has written and spoken widely on international finance, monetary policy, financial markets, and economic and diplomatic history. He is also the author of the critically-acclaimed book, The Marshall Plan: Dawn of the Cold War, as well as the previous book, The Battle of Bretton Woods: John Maynard Keynes, Harry Dexter White, and the Making of a New World Order.

What are the forces driving the economy and how will they impact you, your business, your industry, and your investment decisions? Those are the questions RON INSANA has answered for viewers and listeners every single day for over three decades. Currently a contributor to CNBC where he also served as anchor and correspondent since 1991, Ron also hosts The Market Score Board Report, a thrice-daily nationally syndicated radio program. As a financial journalist, Ron stands alone as someone who ran his own hedge fund – experience that adds to the depth of his insights. He’s also written for Money magazine, USA Today, and authored four bestselling books on investing and reading the financial market. In Ron’s speeches, he explains how Wall Street, Main Street and Washington intersect – translating the market signals and political maneuvers into actionable information everyone can understand and use to protect what they have and find opportunities in any type of market condition.

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.