Damon West, M.S. Criminal Justice, is a college professor, nationally known keynote speaker and best-selling author (with best-selling author and motivational speaker Jon Gordon) of The Coffee Bean: A Simple Lesson to Create Positive Change. His first book and autobiography, The Change Agent: How a Former College QB Sentenced to Life in Prison Transformed His World, was published just three years after his release from a Texas maximum-security prison. At 20 years old, he was a Division 1 starting quarterback at the University of North Texas, when he suffered a career ending injury. He turned to hard core drugs to cope with the disappointments of life. After graduation, he worked in the United States Congress, was a national fundraiser on a U.S. Presidential campaign and eventually trained to be a stock-broker for United Bank of Switzerland (UBS). One day at UBS, he was introduced to methamphetamines; he became instantly hooked—and the lives of so many innocent people would forever be changed by the choices he made in order to feed his insatiable meth habit. After a fateful discussion during his incarceration with a seasoned convict, Damon had a spiritual awakening. He learned that, like a coffee bean changing with the application of heat and pressure, he was capable of changing the environment around him. Armed with a program of recovery, a renewed faith, and a miraculous second chance at life, Damon emerged from over seven years of prison a changed man. His story of redemption, grit and determination continues to inspire audiences. today.

An internationally recognized thought-leader on leadership, mindset, and generational dynamics in the workplace, Ryan Jenkins is a trusted advisor helping organizations of all sizes in any industry build mission-led, high-performance teams through connection, communication, and purpose. Jenkins’ insights have played a vital role in reshaping the DNA of some of the world’s most admired companies and kickstarting future-focused workplace transformations designed to enhance individual achievement in support of collective success. In his uniquely memorable presentations, he draws from his own research and analysis of emerging workplace trends to provide audiences with actionable and customized strategies for working, communicating, and leading across generations; attracting, retaining, and engaging top talent with diversity and inclusion in mind; and strengthening team connection and workplace happiness to inspire industry leading teams and equip them for the future of work.

Throughout his action-packed, hair-raising combat career, retired Navy SEAL Commander Rorke Denver successfully led his troops through unforgiving special forces missions in challenging, do-or-die environments in the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, and other international hot spots. Having overseen every phase of training for the U.S. Navy SEALs, Denver has lived what it takes to succeed in fast-moving environments where chaos is all around you and there’s no guarantee that you’ll live to fight another day. Denver’s own experiences provide the basis for the sough-after lessons he shares with audiences as he helps teams and individuals live and perform at their highest level, even when it seems like everything is working against them. The principles he shares are also featured in his New York Times bestseller Damn Few: Making the Modern SEAL Warrior and in his second book, Worth Dying For: A Navy SEAL’s Call to a Nation. He is also widely recognized as one of the stars of the Hollywood action film “Act of Valor,” and has also been featured alongside John Cena on FOX’s hit show, “American Grit.”

Jon Cohen is a widely published magazine writer and author of four nonfiction books on scientific topics. Cohen is a senior correspondent with Science, and also has written for the New Yorker, the New York Times Magazine, BuzzFeed, Smithsonian, Technology Review, Slate, and many other publications. Cohen specializes in biomedicine, and is widely known for his coverage of epidemics (HIV/AIDS, COVID-19, Ebola, influenza), immunology, vaccines, and global health. He also has reported extensively on genetics, primate research, evolution, bioterrorism, research funding, ethics, reproductive biology, credit battles, and the media itself. Cohen’s books have covered a wide range of topics for a lay audience, including the search for an AIDS vaccine, the science of miscarriage, the scientific differences between humans and chimpanzees, and a critical analysis of Tijuana, Mexico’s faltering response to its HIV/AIDS epidemic.

With an exceptional track record of sparking brilliant leaders and turning soft skills into hard results, Jackie Insinger combines relatability and humor with her data-driven, results-focused approach to teamwork and leadership. Equal parts captivating and motivating, Jackie inspires immediate action that leads to inevitable transformation. By leveraging the latest research in neuroscience and positive psychology, Jackie designs simple, actionable strategies that individuals can use right away to spark their team’s brilliance - taking them beyond “good to great” and transforming them from “great to extraordinary.” As a best-selling author with degrees from Duke and Harvard and a certification in Neuroscience for Business from MIT, Jackie’s ideas have been a game-changer for thousands of people and businesses worldwide.

Annie Auerbach is a writer and consultant specialising in the new world of work and the future of the workplace. She is the co-founder of cultural trends and insights agency Starling, and the author of Flex – Reinventing Work for a Smarter, Happier Life. Her work and research has big implications and fascinating insights for anyone that employs people, sells things, or works for a living.

Former NFL general manager and three-time Super Bowl winner Michael Lombardi was most recently on the New England Patriots coaching staff for Bill Belichick after thirty years working in the front offices of the San Francisco 49ers, the Philadelphia Eagles, the Oakland Raiders, and the Cleveland Browns (where he was general manager). Author of Gridiron Genuis, Lomardi reveals what he learned working with coaching legends Bill Walsh of the 49ers, Al Davis of the Raiders, and Bill Belichick of the Patriots, among others, during his three decades in football. Lombardi provides the blueprint that makes a successful organization click and win – and the mistakes unsuccessful organizations make that keep them on the losing side time and again. Lombardi now writes for The Athletic, has his own podcast, The GM Shuffle, and is co-founder of The Daily Coach.

Dr. Kim Hires is an international Keynote Speaker, Strategic Consultant, and Coach who is dedicated to leadership development and helping leaders achieve their highest potential. Her work focuses on burnout prevention and cultivating cultures of well-being which she has been doing for over a decade. Her client portfolio includes individuals and organizations across a variety of industries and sectors that generate over $1 billion in annual revenue. Dr. Kim is also the host of the Leadership Antidote Podcast and author of The Leadership Innovation Manifesto. When not working with leaders, Dr. Kim enjoys spending time with her husband and son in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

DR. JONATHAN D. T. WARD has been studying the rise of China for more than a decade. From travels with truck caravans in Tibet and across the South China Sea by cargo ship in his early twenties, to accessing Communist Party archives that have now been closed to the world while a PhD candidate at Oxford, to consulting for the U.S. Department of Defense and Fortune 500 organizations, Dr. Ward has brought the experience of a traveler, the discipline of a scholar, and the insight of a strategy consultant to one of the toughest, biggest challenges of our time: what does China want, how will it try to get it, and what should America do? Dr. Ward is the Founder of Atlas Organization, a Washington DC based consultancy focused on the rise of India and China, and US-China global competition. He speaks Russian, Chinese, Spanish, and Arabic. A path-breaking work on Chinese global strategy, China’s Vision of Victory brings the reader to a new understanding of China’s grand-scale planning and ambitions. From seabed to space, from Africa to the Antarctic, from subsurface warfare to the rise of China’s global corporations, this book illuminates the greatest challenge of our lifetimes – the Chinese Communist Party’s ambition to end the American-led world and to bring about a century defined by Chinese power.

Andrew B. Busch is the Editor-in-chief for the global market and public policy newsletter, “The Busch Update.” He is regular panelist on CNBC’s new show, “Money in Motion” that appears every Friday. His views can be found on www.andrewbusch.com as well as CNBC.com. He is a recognized expert on the world financial markets and how these markets are impacted by political events.

Dr. Lindsay M. Chervinsky is a presidential historian and expert in the cabinet, presidential history, and U.S. government institutions. She is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Presidential History and she teaches on the American Presidency at the School of Media and Public Affairs at George Washington University. She is the author of the award-winning The Cabinet: George Washington and the Creation of an American Institution, which was published by Harvard University Press in April 2020. Chervinsky has been published in the Washington Post, TIME, American Heritage, USA Today, The Hill, CNN.com, and numerous others; Her new book, An Honest Man: The Inimitable Presidency of John Adams will be published by Oxford University Press in 2024.

Cultural and commercial diplomacy are the hallmarks of Lauri Fitz-Pegado’s career. She has worked at the Voice of America and the U.S. Information Agency, Lauri served as a U.S. Foreign Service Officer in the Dominican Republic and Mexico. Appointed by President Clinton, she was Assistant Secretary and Director General of the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service at the Department of Commerce led by Secretary Ronald H. Brown. In the private sector she advised countries, corporations, individuals, and non-profits as a senior executive at Hill and Knowlton and Gray and Company, and as a partner at The Livingston Group. Lauri also was an executive at Iridium, the global mobile satellite communications company. With a history of ballet training and performing with the Capitol Ballet, Vassar Dance Theatre, and Ballet Santo Domingo, she now has returned to her passions by teaching ballet and mentoring. She applies her communications and public relations skills to promoting artists, and her business and leadership experience to advising dance institutions sharing her commitment to social change, empowerment, and inclusion. Her memoir, Dancing in the Dash: My Story of Empowerment, Diplomacy, and Resilience, was released in the fall of 2021.