Doug Rauch, a legendary former president of Trader Joe’s, was instrumental in leading the company’s transformation from a 7/11 knockoff to what Fortune magazine called the “hottest retailer in the U.S.” In eye-opening presentations, he shares insights on building a great business based on culture, innovation, leadership, and teamwork. He shows leaders how to push for new and better ways to perform, and audiences walk away with knowledge of how to create a self-sustaining culture of innovation, build a brand in a competitive marketplace, and lead with a purpose.

Few people have had the immense impact that Meghan O’Sullivan has had at the highest levels of geopolitics. She is a globally respected geopolitical expert who has advised the nation’s highest-ranking leaders — from President George W. Bush to Secretary of State Antony Blinken — on some of the most-complex challenges in international affairs. Currently, Dr. O’Sullivan is the Director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and the Jeane Kirkpatrick Professor of the Practice of International Affairs at Harvard University’s Kennedy School. There, she leads 300 scholars, practitioners, and staff as they advance the boundaries of international relations, security, technology, science, energy, and the environment. The Belfer Center has consistently been ranked as the world’s top academic think tank.

Congressman Joseph Kennedy III has dedicated his career to social and economic justice, fighting for the basic needs of every American family and a political system that is inclusive, representative, and fair. The U.S. Representative for Massachusetts’s 4th congressional district from 2013-2021, he ran for office to tackle the systemic inequities – from health care and housing to climate and education – that have left countless American families locked out and left behind. Kennedy’s presentations address the latest in politics and what’s next for the political landscape. Well-versed on the most pressing issues of the day, he provides an insider’s look at current events and takes a thoughtful approach on how they may impact the country’s future. With a constant focus on the most vulnerable among us, Kennedy brings a uniquely empathetic voice to our nation’s most vexing challenges.

Bert Jacobs is the co-founder and Chief Executive Optimist of The Life is good Company. A $100 million privately held business based in Boston, MA, Life is good® spreads positive vibes with its colorful collection of apparel and accessories. Jake, Life is good’s iconic hero with the contagious smile, teaches men, women and children that optimism is fun, healthy, and empowering. Bert has appeared on CNN’s Tips from the Top, CNBC’s Business Nation, and The Donny Deutch Show. Life is good has been featured in the New York Times, on the cover of Inc Magazine, and on NBC’s The Today Show.

Susan David Ph.D. is one of the world’s leading management thinkers and an award-winning psychologist at Harvard Medical School. Co-founder and co-director of the Institute of Coaching at Harvard/McLean Hospital and an authority on leadership, organizational culture, and success, she has been named to the 2017 Thinkers50 Radar list; the thinkers most likely to shape the future of how organizations are managed and led, and is a highly-sought speaker and scientific adviser. She is the author of the acclaimed Emotional Agility, an Amazon Best Book of the Year, Axiom Business Book Award Medalist, and a Nominee for the Books for a Better Life Award 2017. Dr. David and Emotional Agility have been featured in The New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, New York Magazine, TIME, Business Insider, Fast Company, MSNBC, INC.com, Forbes, Strategy + Business, National Public Radio (Here & Now), PBS News Hour, Harvard Business Review and many other leading publications. Dr. David’s academic books include: The Oxford Handbook of Happiness (Oxford University Press) and Beyond Goals (Gower). Dr. David lives outside Boston with her family.

A leading expert on practical solutions for closing 'skills gaps' that deter organizational performance, the strategic impacts of changing workforce demographics, the leader’s critical role in managing talent, and how to accelerate the transfer and retention of critical knowledge, Dr. David DeLong has helped leaders in sectors such as healthcare, manufacturing, aerospace and defense, utilities, government, technology, and finance build a smarter workforce for almost two decades. Through customized presentations, he reveals strategies for building a Millennial-friendly culture, maximizing the value of veteran workers approaching retirement, developing new leaders faster, improving knowledge transfer across generations, and effectively managing organizational changes to build tomorrow’s workforce. He is the president of consulting firm, David DeLong & Associates, which helps clients solve the challenges created by a changing, and aging, workforce: Aging baby boomers, restless Gen-Xers, and promising Millennials. David has spoken for and consulted with numerous different organizations such as MetLife, American Council of Life Insurers, the Federal Reserve Bank, Farm Credit System, Microsoft, MasterCard, Lockheed Martin, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Ernst & Young, and Accenture. He has written numerous books and his work has been widely cited in major publications such as the New York Times, Fortune Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, Harvard Business Review Blog, CIO Magazine, US News & World Report, and The Boston Globe.

John P. Kotter is internationally known and widely regarded as the foremost speaker on the topics of Leadership and Change. His is the premier voice on how the best organizations actually achieve successful transformations.

Betsy Myers is currently the founding director of the Center for Women and Business at Bentley University. A leadership expert and author, she speaks around the world on the changing nature of leadership and women's leadership. Her book Take the Lead, Motivate, Inspire, and Bring Out the Best in Yourself and Everyone Around You, was released in September 2011. Myers experience spans the corporate, political and higher education arena. She was the executive director of the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government from 2003-2007. A senior adviser to two U.S. presidents, Myers was most recently the COO and chair of Women for President Obama’s 2008 national presidential campaign. During the Clinton Administration, Myers launched and was the first director of the White House Office for Women's Initiatives and Outreach. She also served as the director of the Office of Women's Business Ownership at the SBA. She currently lives in Boston with her husband and young daughter.

Tom Koulopoulos is Chairman and founder of Delphi Group, a 30-year-old Boston-based think tank named one of the fastest growing private companies by Inc. Magazine, and the founding partner of Acrovantage Ventures, which invests in early-stage technology startups. He is also the author of 13 books, an Inc.com columnist, the past Executive Director of the Babson College Center for Business Innovation, the past director of the Dell Innovation Lab, and a professor at Boston University. His insights have received wide praise from luminaries such as the late Peter Drucker, the father of modern management; Dee Hock, founder of Visa International, and Tom Peters, who called his writing, "a brilliant vision of where we must take our enterprises to survive and thrive." His Inc. column is read by over one million people yearly. Mr. Koulopoulos' thirteen books include his most recent, Reimagining Healthcare, The Bottomless Cloud, Revealing the Invisible, The Gen Z Effect, and Cloud Surfing.

Frances West is an internationally-recognized thought leader, inspirational speaker, strategy advisor, author, and women in technology trailblazer known for her work in innovation, technology, and business transformation. She is the founder of FrancesWestCo, a global strategy advisory company focused on operationalizing inclusion as a business and technology imperative through her unique Authentic Inclusion™ blueprint. Her insightful and impactful approach comes from her unique personal background as a first-generation, no-English speaking immigrant to her trailblazing professional path as one of the first women in the technology field and her experience as a global executive in sales, marketing, business development, and research as well as her ground-breaking work in accessibility as IBM’s first Chief Accessibility Officer. Frances brings a valuable business perspective to this human rights-based initiative. Because of her expertise, she was invited as the sole IT industry representative to testify before the US Senate on the need to pass the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities and she holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Massachusetts in Boston in recognition of her work in accessibility, research, and digital inclusion.

Keynote speaker John Jacobs is co-founder and CCO (Chief Creative Optimist) of Life is Good, which spreads the power of optimism through inspiring art, a passionate community, and groundbreaking nonprofit work. John and his brother Bert launched their business with $78 in their pockets, selling T-shirts in the streets of Boston and at college dorms up and down the East Coast. Today, Life is Good is a $100 million positive lifestyle brand sold by over 2,000 retailers across the US and Canada. John provides the creative vision to guide the art and messaging direction of Life is Good to inspire optimism in everyone the brand touches. To inspire others to choose optimism and grow the good in their lives, John and Bert wrote Life is Good: The Book/ How to Live with Purpose and Enjoy the Ride, published by National Geographic in September 2015. 

Barry P. Chaiken, MD, MPH has over 25 years’ experience in healthcare information technology, clinical transformation, and business intelligence. Dr. Chaiken is the author of the recently released Navigating the Code: How Technology Transforms the Patient-Physician Journey, a groundbreaking book on healthcare information technology and its potential impact on quality, access, and cost of care. He currently serves as President of DocsNetwork Ltd. and previously worked with the National Institutes of Health, UK National Health Service, McKesson, Infor, and Salesforce/Tableau. He has served as guest lecturer and consultant on topics including patient safety, clinician adoption of information technology, quality improvement, and managed care. Dr. Chaiken is board certified in General Preventive Medicine and Public Health as well as Health Care Quality Management. He is also an Overseas Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine.