Dex Hunter-Torricke

Emerging Technologies Expert; Former Communications Executive at SpaceX & Facebook
Dex  Torricke-Barton
  • Led executive communications at Facebook and served as Mark Zuckerberg's personal speechwriter
  • Also worked alongside Elon Musk, Larry Page, Eric Schmidt, and UN Sec.-General Ban Ki-moon
  • Shares anecdotes from his time at the day's biggest brands to illustrate the impact of future technology on business

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With more than a decade working at the heart of the technology industry, Dex Hunter-Torricke has managed communications for some of the most-influential and admired Silicon Valley leaders and corporations of our day. In his daily work, Dex plays a critical role in writing the next chapter on science, tech, the economy, and society across the globe, and spearheads efforts to bring the stories of how the world is being moved forward to light. From 2012-2016, he led the executive communications team at Facebook and served as personal speechwriter for Mark Zuckerberg. He then went on to join SpaceX as senior director of communications. He later served as the VP Global Communications & Public Engagement for the Oversight Board for Meta, the independent body that makes decisions on Facebook and Instagram’s most challenging content issues.

A natural storyteller, Dex has an arsenal of jaw-dropping, one-of-a-kind anecdotes that he uses to illustrate spellbinding lessons about moving to the middle of change to access opportunity, understanding connectivity as a universal force, and embracing the emergence of a global generation. A firm believer that corporations must tap into the challenges presented by technologies moving societies across borders rather than running from them, Dex is exclusively represented by Leading Authorities speakers bureau.

On stage, Dex expertly combines his experience working for some of the world’s most-innovative and technology-driven brands with his passion for social innovation to help companies shift towards a 21st century business methodology. Dex takes audiences into Facebook’s boardroom, Musk’s open-concept cubicle, the famed Googleplex, and finally to the UN itself to share lessons on what it takes in today’s environment to build highly-effective internal teams, how to use storytelling in modern communications, and what to make of the steady transition from local to global that’s unfolded over the past decade. It’s truly fascinating to hear him talk about lessons learned from playing chess with Mark Zuckerberg in the middle of the night, or the intimidating, singular question asked by Elon Musk in a job interview. With prized insight on framing local problems globally, Dex encourages CEOs and entry-level employees alike to move to the center of disruption in order to innovate and offers practical advice for finding success in a constantly changing world.

In addition to working with Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk, Dex formerly served as Google’s first executive speechwriter, supporting CEO Larry Page and Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt, and is a New York Times bestselling ghostwriter. He began his career at the United Nations in 2008 as a speechwriter and spokesperson for the office of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and holds a bachelors degree in politics from University College London and a master’s degree in Russian and East European Studies from the University of Oxford. 

In November 2016, Dex left his role as head of communications for SpaceX to pursue projects focused on global social change, serving as an independent strategic communications adviser for major technology companies and political leaders in the U.S. and UK.

 

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Speaker Video

Dex Hunter-Torricke Speaking Reel

Dex Hunter-Torricke: The Opportunities of the Metaverse

Dex Hunter-Torricke: The Future of the Workplace

Artificial Intelligence & The Future of Work

Dex Hunter-Torricke: What Comes Next?

How to Change the World - A Practical Guide | TEDxBucharest

Dex Hunter-Torricke: Can the Internet Save the World?

Dex Hunter-Torricke: Mobilizing the Global Generation

Leading Authorities Speakers Bureau's Future Trends Speakers

Into the Metaverse: Preparing for the Next Great Platform Shift. When Facebook acquired Oculus in 2014, the world’s leading virtual reality platform, Dex played an integral role in architecting the story and vision for how VR would transform the daily lives of hundreds of millions of people over the coming years. Now, as an expert focused on the future of work and the evolution of digital content, Dex is uniquely positioned to explain what the metaverse means for you and your business. What are the most exciting and relevant applications for virtual and augmented reality? How should organizations think about working and communicating in the metaverse? How will the metaverse change the way we think about workplace culture, or impact customer expectations? Dex explores all these questions and more as he demystifies the next great technological transition facing business and society.

The Future of the Workplace. As a corporate communications thought leader, former SpaceX, Google, and Facebook executive Dex Hunter-Torricke will share the pandemic's impact on work today, and what to expect for the workplace of the future. In a world where many norms and working behaviors from the 19th century continue to govern the way we organize workplaces in the 21st century, Dex will share how the human-centric micro-changes that occurred during the pandemic – such as adding benefits to help employees take care of themselves, shifting to accommodating working hours, and other adjustments that recognize employees’ personal circumstances – can have outsized positive impacts on performance. As we move into a global age, he’ll cover what an efficient workday should look like (one based on the team's dynamics and needs), and demonstrate that the most effective organizations are going to use this as an opportunity to rethink everything about how they organize, hire, and develop talent.

The World in Sight: A Guide to the Key Technological Trends of the Next 10-20 Years and What They Mean for Brands and Organizations. Dex Hunter-Torricke spent a decade helping the tech industry’s biggest names figure out how to talk about, brand, and share news of breakthrough products. This has given him unparalleled access to the issues keeping Silicon Valley executives up at night as well as the exciting developments ahead. During this talk, Dex evaluates the emergence of macro societal trends, including the rise of globalization and nationalism, as well as the development of specific technologies including virtual reality and live-streaming, to forecast which technologies will take hold and how they will alter life, work, and business operations permanently.

Words to Change the World: The Power of Storytelling and How to Communicate Like a “Real Person.” The 21st century has seen a major shift in terms of strategy and branding from packaged, manufactured personas and campaigns to a world dominated by authenticity and a desire for “reality.” No one knows this better than Dex Hunter-Torricke who, at the pinnacle of the global communications industry, sought to humanize technology through stories. Dex takes audiences through a journey of his work at the UN, Google, Facebook, and SpaceX to illustrate the role communication plays in our modern world as well as strategies for impact, meaning, and “making life awesome.”

The Global Century: How Technology is Bringing the World Together and Transforming Our Lives. Having worked for several companies at the forefront of the movement to bring connectivity to human beings globally, Dex Hunter-Torricke understands the challenges and opportunities presented by rapidly-advancing technology. With this talk, he reviews the trends he is seeing now in technology and culture, and looks at connectivity as a powerful universal force paving the way for a “global generation.” Drawing on both data and anecdotes, Dex touches on things like crowd-sourcing and the mobile revolution to paint a picture of a truly global world using technology to lift societies at scale.

 

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