Leonard Brody has been called “a controversial leader of the new world order” and was recently named one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40. He is a highly respected entrepreneur, venture capitalist, best- selling author and a 2 time Emmy nominated media visionary. He has helped in raising millions of dollars for startup companies, been through one of the largest internet IPOs in history and has been involved in the building, financing and/or sale of five companies to date. In 2004, Leonard co-founded, and was CEO of, NowPublic.com which is a pioneer in the field of citizen journalism. Leonard also acts as an advisor to venture capital funds in the US, Europe and Asia.

Dr. Lior Zoref is a researcher, advisor, TED speaker, and author of the best-selling book, Mindsharing – the art of crowd sourcing everything about the power of collective intelligence. His book was translated to many languages and was listed by Inc. magazine as one of the best books for entrepreneurs along with books by Richard Branson, Elon Musk, and Tony Hsieh. Dr. Zoref has been invited to speak at some of the world’s most innovative organizations, including Google, MIT Media Lab, Columbia University, The White House, Nike, Microsoft, and LinkedIn.

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.

Mike Walsh is the best-selling author of Futuretainment and is CEO of innovation research lab, Tomorrow, a leading authority on the digital future. Mike's expertise is explaining new patterns of consumer behaviour and disruptive technologies in emerging markets. Rather than focusing on the distant future, Mike takes an anthropological approach—scanning the near horizon for disruptive technologies and consumer innovations on the verge of hitting critical mass, and then translating these into usable business strategies. Constantly travelling the world for the best ideas, Mike spends more than 300 days a year on the road interviewing innovators, entrepreneurs, and corporate revolutionaries to provide his clients and audiences with a fresh and compelling vision of tomorrow’s opportunities. Mike's latest book, The Algorithmic Leader: How to be smart when machines are smarter than you, offers a hopeful and practical guide for reinventing leadership and organizations. Mike's other books include Futuretainment, published by Phaidon (winner of the design award by the Art Director’s Club in New York) and The Dictionary Of Dangerous Ideas.

Rayid Ghani is a Distinguished Career Professor in the Machine Learning Department and the Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University. Rayid is a reformed computer scientist and wanna-be social scientist, but mostly just wants to increase the use of large-scale AI/Machine Learning/Data Science in solving large public policy and social challenges in a fair and equitable manner. Among other areas, Rayid works with governments and non-profits in policy areas such as health, criminal justice, education, public safety, economic development, and urban infrastructure. Rayid is also passionate about teaching practical data science and started the Data Science for Social Good Fellowship that trains computer scientists, statisticians, and social scientists from around the world to work on data science problems with social impact.

Over his 37-year career, Rishad Tobaccowala has worked across almost every area of marketing including brand advertising, media, database, as well as direct and interactive marketing. As a pioneer in digital marketing, Tobaccowala helped create one of the first interactive groups and digital agencies 20 years ago and has helped launch a series of initiatives over the years from groups focused on gaming, social, mobile, and search engine marketing. Starcom IP, Play, Giant Step, SMG Search, and Denuo are some of the brands Tobaccowala helped incubate.

Dr. Asher Hasan is the founder and CEO of NAYA JEEVAN, a social enterprise dedicated to providing low-income families in the emerging world with affordable access to high-quality healthcare. It acts as the world’s first HMO for the urban, working poor.He discusses social entrepreneurship and transforming lives and the world from the bottom up.

Dr. Mark DeVolder tackles the thorny topics of Leadership, Diversity, Conflict, Change and Communication - and shows people how to work better together, motivating audiences to new levels of achievement.

Anders Sörman-Nilsson (EMBA / LLB) is a futurist and the founder of the think tank and trend analysis firm - Thinque, which provides data-based research, foresight and thought leadership assets for global brands across 4 continents. His vision is to disseminate and decode ‘avant-garde ideas which expand minds and inspire a change of heart’, and clients like Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, McKinsey, Jaguar Land Rover, Adobe, MINI, Rugby New Zealand and Lego trust his future guidance. He is an awarded keynote speaker who helps leaders decode trends, decipher what’s next and turn provocative questions into proactive answers. He has published 3 books on digital transformation and innovation including ‘Aftershock’ (2020), ‘Seamless’ (2017) and ‘Digilogue’ (2013), is a member of TEDGlobal, and was nominated to the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders in 2019. He is the author of the 2020 Microsoft & Thinque whitepaper "How Artificial Intelligence is powering Australian Retail in 2020 and beyond", the co-creator of the Adobe Creative (CQ) Intelligence test, and is the host of the innovation podcast - 2nd Renaissance. His futurist thinking has been shared by the Wall Street Journal, Financial Review, Monocle, BBC, Esquire and ABC TV.

Dan Gregory is a author, educator, and social commentator. He is the President and CEO of The Impossible Institute, an innovation and engagement organisation founded to make what’s not… possible. Dan’s specialization is human behavior – our motives, drives and belief systems, the things that make us buy, the things that make us buy in and the things that pull our strings.

Female Factor springs from the extensive research of CEO Bridget Brennan, a pioneer in marketing and selling to women. She is the author of the acclaimed book Why She Buys: The New Strategy for Reaching the World's Most Powerful Consumers (Crown Business, 2009), and one of the world’s most popular speakers on this subject. Her book was called “essential reading” by The Wall Street Journal, “required reading for anyone burdened with a Y chromosome” by Fortune Small Business, and named a "Top 10 Marketing Book of 2009" by MediaTrust. A recipient of numerous industry awards, Brennan was named U.S. Public Relations Agency Practitioner of the Year by PR NEWS for her work in applying gender psychology to communications.