Tracy Walder

Tracy Walder blends sharp geopolitical analysis with stories from her life as an unexpected spy. Drawing on her CIA and FBI career, she breaks down emerging threats—from China to the Middle East—with the clarity of someone who’s operated at the center of global conflict. She then brings these issues to life with vivid accounts from the field: tracking al-Qaeda after 9/11, searching for WMDs, interrogating terrorists, and working in war zones. Through a life of exciting twists and turns, Walder shares how she learned to lead without changing who she was, delivering a talk that’s both insightful and empowering.

Tracy Walder’s career as a CIA officer and, later, an FBI special agent, took her to foreign intelligence offices, warzones, and black sites across the globe. Walder was often one of the only women in the room for critical counterterrorism operations meetings and her sharp geopolitical acumen was crucial to mission success. In this talk, she analyzes the current geopolitical landscape from the viewpoint of a counterintelligence expert who has operated at the center of global conflict. Speaking to emerging security threats in China and the Middle East, as well as other hot-button topics around the world, Walder has the unique ability of explaining complex geopolitical issues in a way that audiences can easily grasp, while offering high-level insights on their potential impact on national security and foreign policy.

In the high-stakes world of national security, failure is not an option—and success hinges on seamless teamwork, trust, and decisive leadership. Drawing from her extraordinary career as a CIA operative and FBI Special Agent, Tracy Walder shares gripping, real-world lessons on building high-functioning teams, navigating uncertainty, and making life-altering decisions under pressure. From covert operations abroad to high-level briefings at home, Walder reveals how collaboration across cultures, disciplines, and personalities drives mission success. Audiences walk away with actionable strategies for fostering psychological safety, leading through crisis, and elevating team performance—even in the most challenging environments.

Why do we have to have a reason for the path we choose in life? We often get so caught up in trying to answer the question “why?” that an opportunity passes us by. In this talk, former CIA officer and FBI agent, Tracy Walder, uses her own unique life experience to demonstrate how embracing the question “why not?” can lead to life-changing opportunities. Relying on gut instincts, she shares how she went from a history major at USC to the CIA counterterrorism center, from taking down a Chinese spy ring as a special agent in the FBI to becoming a history teacher at an all-girls school. Through using her own unconventional journey, Walder inspires audiences to embody this “why not” approach and not let the question of “why” dictate how they lead their lives.