The Most Impressive People to Follow on LinkedIn in the US
Bill Gates – Co-founder of the revolution of personal computer systems
Bill Gates is the co-founder of Microsoft, the world’s largest computer software company. Before going on philanthropic endeavors through his Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, he also founded many companies, including a holding business, energy business, and entertainment business. His latest book is, How to Prevent the Next Pandemic.
Arianna Huffington – Best-selling author, founder, and CEO at Thrive Global
Arianna Huffington is the founder and CEO of Thrive Global, a wellness technology company. She is also the founder of The Huffington Post and is an international best-selling author of health & lifestyle books, Thrive: The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Life of Well-Being, Wisdom, and Wonder. Originally from Greece, Arianna moved to England when she was 16 and graduated from Cambridge University with an M.A. in economics. She has been named to Time Magazine’s list of the World’s 100 Most Influential People and the Forbes Most Powerful Women list.
Satya Nadella – CEO of Microsoft
Satya Nadella has been the CEO of Microsoft since 2014 and tripled its stock price in 4 years. Having developed cloud-based services for Microsoft, increasing the company’s revenues by over $4 billion in 2 years, he was named Barron’s World 30 Best CEOs and person of the year 2019 by Financial Times. When he first arrived in the US from India, Satya studied at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee and then got his MBA at the University of Chicago. He started his business career at Sun Microsystems before joining Microsoft in 1992 (the year I moved to Thailand)
Tony Robbins – From school janitor to most well-known speaker
Tony Robbins is one of the world’s most famous inspirational speakers, international best-selling authors, and entrepreneurs. As a life coach, Robbins specializes in self-awareness, improvement, and overcoming fear. Holding over 50 private companies, Robbins reported a net worth of $600 million. His first books came out in the 80s and 90s and provided tons of motivation for me and others like me. Some of his earliest books were: Unlimited Power, Notes from a Friend, Awaken the Giant Within, Giant Steps, and Unleash the Power Within.
Simon Sinek – Public speaker on leadership and best-selling author
Simon Sinek is a motivational speaker and the author of Start With Why, an international best-selling book. Sinek has specialized in coaching entrepreneurs to improve leadership and transform their organizations. His WHY concepts in TED talks have had over 37 million views. He is also the author of Leaders Eat Last, Together Is Better, Find Your Why, and The Infinite Game.
Gary Vaynerchuk – Entrepreneur, author, speaker, and social media influencer
Gary Vaynerchuk is a co-founder of the restaurant reservation software company Resy and Empathy. He is now more famed for his digital marketing and social media work as the chairman of VaynerX, a communications company based in New York. He is also the CEO of VaynerX’s subsidiary VaynerMedia. He is also a 5-Time NYT Bestselling Author. Some of his books are Twelve and a Half: Leveraging the Emotional Ingredients Necessary for Business Success, Crushing It!: How Great Entrepreneurs Build Their Business and Influence—and How You Can, Too, Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World, and Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion.
Liz Ryan – American business growth leader, author, and inspirational speaker
Liz Ryan is the CEO and co-founder of Human Workplace, a publishing, coaching, and consulting firm. Ryan writes for more than 30 million readers. However, she is mainly known for her work in Human Resources management and innovation with her team teaching courses from Team Mojo™ and Put a Human Voice in your Business™ as well as Interviewing with a Human Voice™. She is the host of The Truth about Work Podcast with Liz Ryan! Her
books include: REINVENTION ROADMAP: Break the Rules to Get the Job You Want and Career You Deserve (2016), RIGHTEOUS RECRUITING: Essays on Reinventing Talent Acquisition for People (2020), and RED-BLOODED HR: Essays on Human Resources as a Force for Good (2020).
Gretchen Rubin – American author, blogger, and speaker
Gretchen Rubin is a writer on habits, happiness, and human nature. She is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Better Than Before, Happier at Home, and The Happiness Project. On her daily blog GretchenRubin.com, she reports on her adventures in pursuit of habits and happiness. Her podcast Happier with Gretchen Rubin won the 2016 Academy of Podcasters Award for best health and fitness podcast. She developed the “Four Tendencies” personality framework which divides people into Upholders, Questioners, Obligers, and Rebels.
Sallie Krawcheck – American business leader, financial advisor, and Wall Street icon
Sallie L. Krawcheck, the most powerful woman on Wall Street, is the former head of Bank of America’s Global Wealth and Investment Management Division. She is now the CEO and co-founder of Ellevest, a digital financial advisory firm for women launched in 2016. She started her career as an equity analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein, eventually becoming Director of Research and then chairman and CEO of sell-side research firm Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. She later moved to be CEO of Citigroup’s Smith Barney. After that, she was appointed Chief Financial Officer for Citigroup Inc. (I remember her as CFO during my stint as Head of Research at Citigroup in Thailand) and eventually became CEO of Citi’s wealth management business.
Jessica Alba – American actress and businesswoman
Jessica Alba is an actress turned entrepreneur who cofounded the Nontoxic-Household-Goods startup The Honest Company in 2011. She rose to fame in 2000, starring in the sci-fi television series Dark Angel and received a Golden Globe nomination for her performance.
Tim Ferris – America’s master learner
Tim Ferriss has been listed as one of Fast Company’s “Most Innovative Business People.” He is an angel investor/advisor and author of five #1 NYT/WSJ bestsellers. I bought The 4-Hour Workweek, when it first came out but wasn’t inspired. About six months later I picked it up and started implementing what he taught. Since then, I have spent more than half a million dollars on outsourcing from the site that he talked about in that book. His The Tim Ferriss Show podcast was the first business-interview podcast to pass 100M downloads. Tim started his business life by co-founding BrainQUICKEN LLC, a neurological and sports nutrition development firm that he sold to a private equity firm. His other books are The 4-Hour Body, The 4-Hour Chef, Tools of Titans, and Tribe of Mentors. And he is a relentless blogger at Tim dot blog.
Marshall Goldsmith – American executive leadership coach and author
Dr. Marshall Goldsmith is the only two-time winner of the Thinkers 50 Award for #1 Leadership Thinker in the World. He is the author or editor of 36 books, including three New York Times bestsellers, that have sold over 2.5 million copies and been listed bestsellers in 12 countries. Three noted books are The Earned Life, Triggers, and What Got You Here Won’t Get You There. He is also ranked as one of the five most-respected executive coaches by Forbes, one of the top ten executive educators by The Wall Street Journal, and one of the 15 Greatest Business Thinkers in the World by The Times.
Indra Nooyi – Indian-American business executive and former CEO of PepsiCo
Indra Nooyi was instrumental in the lucrative restructuring and diversification of soft-drink manufacturer PepsiCo, Inc.’s brands. She was a former chair and chief executive officer of PepsiCo. She got an MBA from Yale before becoming one of corporate America’s few female CEOs in 2006. She is the author of the book, Indra’s Memoir, which is a New York Times bestseller offering insight from one of the world’s most-admired business leaders.
Katya Andresen – Chief Digital & Analytics Officer at Cigna
Katya Andresen was the Senior Vice President of Card Customer Experience at Capital One, a Fortune 500 company serving more than 65 million customer accounts worldwide. Katya has trained thousands of organizations in effective marketing and online engagement, having won national and international awards. She is the author of Robin Hood Marketing: Stealing Corporate Savvy to Sell Just Causes.
James Altucher – Hedge-fund manager, author, entrepreneur and angel investor
James Altucher is an entrepreneur and angel investor who has founded or co-founded over 20 companies. He has achieved the rank of a chess master and is the author of the Wall Street Journal bestselling book “Choose Yourself.” He is a frequent contributor to publications including The Financial Times, TheStreet.com, TechCrunch, Seeking Alpha, Thought Catalog, and The Huffington Post.
Oprah Winfrey – Talk show host, TV producer, actress, author, and philanthropist
Oprah Winfrey is the host of the daily talk show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, one of the most popular in the genre, making her one of the wealthiest and most influential women in the United States. In addition, she engaged in various philanthropic activities and created Oprah’s Angel Network, which sponsors charitable initiatives worldwide. She also campaigns against child abuse and has achieved many honors and awards.
John Maxwell – American author, speaker, and leadership expert
John Maxwell was a pastor of a small church in Ohio before turning into a leadership expert and a No.1 New York Times bestselling author, with over 24 million copies sold in over 50 languages. In 2014, he was identified as the #1 leader in Business by The American Management Association and the most influential leadership expert globally by Business Insider and Inc. magazine. He has trained over 6 million leaders through programs such as The John Maxwell Company, The John Maxwell Team, EQUIP, and the John Maxwell Leadership Foundation.
David Sable – Author, entrepreneur, social activist, storyteller and coach
David Sable is one of the most recognized names in the creative industry. He is the former global CEO of Young & Rubicam, one of the world’s leading global marketing communications companies. He is the thought leader at WPP and specializes in content expansion. David was named one of the Top 10 Most Generous Marketing Geniuses by Fast Company and is a board member of Special Olympics, UNICEF, and American Eagle Outfitters.
Hunter Walk – Partner at Homebrew, venture capitalist, angel investor and advisor
Hunter Walk is a partner at Homebrew VC, a seed-stage investment fund based in San Francisco, and the founding member of Second Life, an online multimedia platform. Hunter has led the consumer product management at YouTube and worked at Google.
Beth Comstock – Advisor, author and board director
Beth Comstock is a former vice-chair of General Electric. She oversaw GE’s business innovations to accelerate new growth, develop digital and clean-energy futures, seed new businesses, and enhance the brand value. In addition, she was involved with the early development of hulu.com as President of Integrated Media at NBC Universal. Here book, Imagine It Forward, is about summoning courage and creativity in the face of change.
Ilya Pozin – Entrepreneur, writer and investor
Ilya Pozin is the founder of Pluto TV, Open Me and Coplex. In 2012, he was named a ‘30 Under 30 Entrepreneur’ by Inc. Magazine and in 2013, he was named one of 100 Top Influencers by LinkedIn. He founded his first company, Coplex, at the age of 17, which is a multi-million-dollar interactive agency. Ilya founded Open Me, a consumer-focused social greeting and gifting company, after stepping down as CEO of Coplex. In 2013, he cofounded Pluto TV, an OTT television platform.
Jill Schlesinger – CBS News business analyst and, host of “Jill on Money/Eye on Money”
Jill Schlesinger is the Emmy and Gracie Award-Winning Business Analyst for CBS News. She simply explains complicated economic news for everyday viewers and listeners. She appears on CBS radio and television stations covering economics, markets, investing and many more. She is the author of the book ‘The Dumb Things Smart People Do With Their Money: Thirteen Ways To Right Your Financial Wrongs’, published in 2019.
Dave Kerpen – Serial entrepreneur and global keynote speaker
Dave Kerpen is the co-founder and co-CEO of Apprentice, a platform that connects entrepreneurs with the brightest college students. He is also the co-founder and CEO of Remembering.Live / Celebrating. Live, which provides memorial services and corporate celebrations. He is the NY Times best-selling author with four books so far, two being, The Art of People and Likeable Social Media. He was named one of Entrepreneur Magazine’s top 10 up-and-coming leaders.
Jeff Selingo – Best-selling author, college admissions, and early career expert
Jeff Selingo is a New York Times bestselling author of three books. He has written about higher education for more than two decades. He is a special advisor for innovation and a professor at Arizona State University. He is the author of Who Gets In and Why: A Year Inside College Admissions. He worked at The Chronicle in a variety of reporting and editing roles.
Clara Shih – CEO and Co-founder of Hearsay Social
Clara Shih is the CEO and founder of Hearsay Social, which is a social media marketing management platform whose predictive analytics technology helps salespeople reach out to clients at the right time with the right message. She was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. She was also named as “40 Under 40” by Fortune and Advertising Age.
Rita King – Co-Director and EVP at Science House
Rita J. King is the Executive Vice President for Business Development at Science House and co-founder of Model Meetings. She is an author, and her work has been published in Fast Company Inc. and Entrepreneur. Rita served as a futurist at the Science and Entertainment Exchange of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Institute for Aerospace. In addition, she has worked and advised Fortune 100 and 500 companies.
Henry Blodget – CEO and Editor of Business Insider
Henry Blodget is an American businessman, investor, journalist, and CEO of Business Insider. He is notable for his former career as an equity research analyst. He was a senior Internet analyst for CIBC Oppenheimer and the head of the global Internet research team at Merrill Lynch during the Dot-Com Era. Due to his violations of securities laws and subsequent civil trial conviction, Blodget was permanently banned from involvement in the securities industry.
Jeff Immelt – Venture Partner, New Enterprise Associates
Jeffrey Robert Immelt previously served as the CEO of General Electric and GE’s Medical Systems division. He is currently working as a venture partner at New Enterprise Associates. Being a huge football fan, Jeffrey announced a GE investment of $40 million to develop diagnostic equipment for head trauma injuries and GE’s participation in a separate $20 million effort to create safer helmets and other equipment. He was also a top candidate to become CEO of Uber.
Lisa Gates – Leadership + Career story sleuth
Lisa Gates is a consultant and professional coach who works with high-potential women to design and negotiate robust livelihoods. She also designs training that helps businesses and organizations empower women through negotiation, conflict resolution, and coaching techniques to manage and develop people in the workplace. She has been a frequent contributor to Forbes Woman, and her work with She Negotiates has been featured on NPR and CNN, New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and online magazines such as Huffington Post and Daily Worth.
Grant Cardone – CEO Cardone Capital, known for his 10x Growth conference
Grant Cardone is an American entrepreneur, motivational speaker, author, real estate investor, and sales coach. He is known for launching the 10X Growth Conference, the world’s largest business and entrepreneur conference. He is the author of many books, including The 10X Rule: The Only Difference Between Success and Failure, Sell to Survive, and The Millionaire Booklet: How to Get Super Rich. He was named the number one sales trainer in the world by Forbes.
Cory Warfield – ‘Professional Metaverse’ co-founder
Cory Warfield is an American entrepreneur, influencer, speaker, and LinkedIn Kingmaker. He has advised businesses growing into metaverse with Coryconnects, entrepreneur in residence of Founder Institution, and served as global general manager at Inf4mation. Additionally, he uses his knowledge of data, gaining over 400,000 followers on LinkedIn with over 100 million views.
Nancy Lublin – Start-up brand and organization innovator
Nancy Lublin is the founder, co-founder, and CEO of many non-profit global organizations: Crisis Text Line, Dress for Success, and Do Something. Lublin was ranked as one of the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders by Fortune and 20 Women Changing the World by Marie Claire in 2014. Under her management, Do Something became one of the largest youth organizations globally, with more than 6 million members.
Brian Solis – One of the 21st-century business world’s leading thinkers
Brian Solis is an innovation evangelist, digital analyst, best-selling author, and international keynote speaker. His latest best-selling books include Lifescale: How to Live a More Creative, Productive and Happy Life. With over 20 years of studying disruptive technologies and innovation, Solis was ranked as one of the Top 10 people to know in Silicon Valley by Huffington Post, 25 Keynote speakers you need to know by Inc, and blogger of the year by PRNews.
Hannah Morgan – A Top Voice in Job Search and Career on LinkedIn
Hannah Morgan is the founder of Career sherpa, a job search website, an author, speaker, and job search strategist. She was ranked in Linkedin Top Voices in Job search and career, helping people with the strategies and tools to market themselves by sharing them on social media. Morgan is also the speaker and trainer for career search strategies.
Jennifer Hyman – Women Power, co-founder, and CEO of Rent the Runway
Jennifer Hyman is the co-founder and CEO of Rent the Runway, a clothing-rental company. Time Magazine recognized her as one of the 100 most influential people globally, the 12th most disruptive name in the business by Forbes, and many more. Since 2009, her company has gained over $525 million in capital and IPO’ed on Nasdaq in 2021, with over 11 million members.
Chip Bergh – Levi Strauss, classic clothing brand’s CEO
Chip Bergh is the president and CEO of Levi Strauss & Co and an ex-management leader of various global corporations. He was brand manager for Procter and Gamble, has served as a lead independent director of HP Inc, and led Gillette Fusion to over 80 markets outside the country. Chip was named one of the World’s Greatest Leaders by Fortune Magazine in 2019.
Daniel Pink – Author of 5 New York Times Bestselling Books
Daniel Pink is the author of 5x New York Times bestselling books in business, productivity, creativity, and behavior. His books have been translated into 42 languages and have sold millions of copies worldwide. Some of his books include The Power of Regret: How Looking Backward Moves Us Forward, When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing, and To Sell is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others.
Marcelo Claure – President, CEO, and shareholder in Claure Capital
Marcelo Claure is the chairman and CEO of Claure Capital, a billion-dollar investment firm. Claure was the CEO and COO of SoftBank Group, where he led the best financial results in its history. He specializes in turning around companies and mergers and acquisitions.
Ben Horowitz – Co-founder, general partner of Andreesen Horowitz
Ben Horowitz is the co-founder and general partner of venture capital firm Andreesen Horowitz. He co-founded Opsware, which was sold to HP for $1.6 billion. Horowitz is also the author of two New York Times bestselling books: “The Hard Thing About Hard Things” and “What You Do Is Who You Are”.
Alison Doyle – Job search, career expert, and founder of CareerToolBelt
Alison Doyle is a career search and recruitment expert in human resources for The Balance Careers. She is the founder of CareerToolBelt.com, a platform for job search and career advice. Doyle is the author of “Alison Doyle’s Job Search Guidebook” and a columnist for the New York Times, Forbes, BBC, CNN, and many more. CareerToolBelt.com was ranked a top 100 website for your career by Forbes.
Lewis Howes – Former sports professional to lifestyle entrepreneur and coach
Lewis Howes was ranked as one of the top 100 entrepreneurs in American Under 30 by The White House. He is an entrepreneur, business consultant, bestselling author, and keynote speaker. As a former professional football player, Howes began to give inspiration to others as a life coach. He has hosted the top 100 iTunes podcast, The School of Greatness, with over 1,000 episodes and 300 million downloads.
Jim Clifton – Author, CEO, and head of global companies Gallup
Jim Clifton is the chairman and CEO of Gallup, global public opinion research and advanced analytics. Clifton created the Gallup Path, an economic model used in performance management systems in over 500 international companies. Under his management, Clifton led Gallup to operate in over 20 countries. He is also the author and co-author of bestselling books, It’s the Manager, The Coming Jobs War, and Born to Build.
Brian Tracy – The Genius Author
Brian Tracy is a keynote speaker and seminar leader who has helped many billion-dollar companies with strategic planning and organizational development. He has consulted more than 5 million people from more than 75 countries and has produced hundreds of audio and video courses for professionals with successful careers in sales and marketing, investments, real estate development, etc. He is also the author of 80 books that have been translated into languages all over the globe.
Philippe Borries – Entrepreneur of the Year who led Refinery29 to become a global media brand
Philippe Borries is an entrepreneur and co-founder of Refinery29, leading the company to become a global media brand. Philippe was awarded Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young. Philippe led Refinery29 to be acquired by Vice Media Group in 2019. He is now an Entrepreneur-in-Residence leading Lonely Planet at Red Ventures.
Ramon Laguarta – CEO of PepsiCo
As a Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of PepsiCo, a global beverage company, Ramon Laguarta leads 23 brands under PepsiCo. Since 2018, Ramon has positioned the company to be Faster, Stronger, and Better to achieve his new corporate mission to Create More Smiles with Every Sip and Every Bite. Before being a leading part of PepsiCo, he worked in international roles in Chupa Chups, another leading global brand initially from Spain.
Scott Belsky – CPO of Adobe and executive vice president of Creative Cloud
Scott Belsky currently serves as Adobe’s Chief Product Officer and Executive Vice President of Creative Cloud. Scott is a co-founder of Behance, acquired by Adobe later in 2012 and was an advisor and investor in Pinterest, Uber, Sweetgreen, Carta, Cheddar, Flexport, Airtable, OpenSea, Ramp, Ro, and Periscope (part of Twitter), etc. He is also the author of the international bestselling books Making Ideas Happen and The Messy Middle.
Ndubuisi Ekekwe – Engineering professor and tech and innovation entrepreneur
Ndubuisi Ekekwe is an engineering professor, entrepreneur, and blogger. He is the founder of Atlantic Semiconductors & Microelectronics company. He was named one of 60 Nigerians in 60 years, making Nigerian lives matter by The Guardian, Technology connoisseur of the year from Nation Builders Achievers Award, and many more. Ekekwe is also a regular blogger at Harvard Business Review, specializing in technology management and competitiveness. His work on Nanotechnology and Microelectronics received the Book of the Year Award by IGI Global.
Matt Higgins – NYC’s youngest press secretary of all time
Matt Higgins is the CEO and co-founder of RSE Ventures, a company focused on lifestyle, entertainment, sports, marketing, media, and technology. Rags to riches, Higgins dropped out of high school to fully support himself throughout college. After getting his law degree, Higgins’ career snowballed after he helped in managing the global press response to 9/11, being New York City’s youngest press secretary of all time. His career highlight was when he was a guest shark on the popular TV show Shark Tank. Today, Higgins is an executive fellow at Harvard, where he continues to expand and develop his knowledge as an executive.
Kenneth Blanchard – One of the top 25 Bestselling Authors on Amazon
Kenneth Blanchard is an author known for one of his bestselling book One Minute Manager, which teaches effective management techniques. He is the Chief Spiritual Officer and founder of The Ken Blanchard Companies, an international training and consulting firm. One of Blanchard’s career highlights was his induction into Amazon’s Hall of Fame as one of the top 25 bestselling authors of all time.
Blake Mycoskie – Entrepreneur, author, and the founder of TOMS
Blake Mycoskie is the founder, CEO of TOMS shoes, and co-founder of Madefor. As a philanthropist, Blake created a one-for-one business model where every shoe sold; one shoe will be donated. He was awarded Next Generation Award from Harvard’s School of Public Health and the Lion Heart Award by Cannes Lion. He is also the author of Start Something That Matters, No. 1 New York Times best-selling in the advice category.
Ryan Holiday – Founder of Brass Check, bestselling author, and PR strategist
Ryan Holiday is the writer, media strategist, and host of The Daily Stoic podcast. He has authored 10 books, including The Obstacle Is the Way, Ego is the Enemy, and Conspiracy, which have sold more than 3 million copies in 30 languages worldwide. Ryan is also the founder and partner of Brass Check, a creative advisory firm that advises Google, TEASER, and Complex.
Stephanie Ruhle – NBC and MSNBC news host and business analyst
Stephanie Ruhle is the senior business analyst at NBC and anchors many NBC News and MSNBC platforms, including The 11th Hour and MSNBC Live with Ruhle. Ruhle has interviewed many famous names in politics, business, entertainment, and sports, including Donald Trump, Kanye West, and Michael Bloomberg. Along with her co-worker, Stephanie was the first reporter to break the story of the London Whale in 2012. She also founded Corporate Investment Bank Women’s Network and co-chaired Women on Wall Street.
Andrew Ross Sorkin – NYT Journalist, bestseller book author, and film producer
Andrew Ross Sorkin is a financial columnist for the New York Times and the founder of DealBook, an online daily financial report. He is also the co-anchor of CNBC’s Squawk Box, a television news program. Sorkin has written the best business book, Too Big to Fail, awarded by Gerald Loeb. He also co-produced Billions, a TV series by Showtime.
Jason Fried – The inventor of Twitch and Airbnb’s platform
Jason Fried is a columnist at Inc. magazine, co-founder, and CEO of Basecamp, a web software development company. His company invented Ruby on Rails, an app platform for many big names such as Twitch, Airbnb, Kickstarter, etc., with millions of users. Fried is also the co-author of 2x New York Times bestseller, Rework and Remote.
Dara Treseder – Chief marketing officer at Peloton, speaker, and lecturer
Dara Treseder is the global head of marketing and communication at Peloton, the world’s largest interactive fitness platform. She is also a keynote speaker, lecturer, and advisor on marketing, innovation, and growth in several conferences hosted by Cannes Lions, Harvard, Stanford, and London School of Economics. Dara was recognized as one of the most influential chief marketing officers globally by Forbes, Silicon Valley’s top 40 leaders under 40, Top 25 most innovative chief marketing officers by Business Insider, and many more.
Hubert Joly – Ex-CEO of Best Buy and bestselling author
Hubert Joly is a senior lecturer at Harvard Business School and BestBuy’s former chairman and CEO. Joly is also a member of the board of directors of Johnson & Johnson and Ralph Lauren. He has been recognized as one of the top 100 CEOs globally by Harvard Business Review, top 30 CEOs by Barron’s, and top 10 CEOs in the US by Glassdoor. Joly is the author of the bestselling book named The Heart of Business
Parth Detroja – Product manager at Facebook, keynote speaker, and bestselling author
Parth Detroja is a product manager at Facebook, speaker, and technology influencer. He is the 2x bestselling author of Amazon’s bestseller books Swipe to Unlock and Bubble or Revolution showing his interests in technology and blockchain. Also, he has held several conferences and been a speaker on leading technology, product management and blockchain, and business strategies.
Houston Golden – Co-founder of Badass Marketers & Founder
Houston Golden is the co-founder of BAMF Media, a growth marketing agency. He is known for marketing on Linkedin and is a mastermind for Linkedin influencers. He has been working with some of Linkedin’s top influencers and entrepreneurs, such as Russell Brunson, Prince Ea, Mark Manson, etc. He was recognized as one of the top 12 Innovators by Forbes. Golden is also the author of The Linkedin Bible.
Justin Wu – Founder of DCENTRAL Miami, one of the largest future of finance & NFTS
Justin Wu is the founder of DCENTRAL Conference, the largest iteration of the World Wide Web-based on blockchain technology, also called Web3. Based on his experience since 2015 in the Web3 industry, he has built communities & growth marketers, events, and marketing alongside Polygon, Immutable, Airswap, and many more.
Alejandro Cremades – Founder & CEO of Rock the Post, author on entrepreneurship
Alejandro Cremades is the founder of Rock the Post, a business crowdfunding platform, co-founder of Panthera Advisors, an investment bank, and the author of The Art of Startup Fundraising,’ entrepreneurs’ best books in 2016 and was ranked no.1 on Vanity Fair’s 30 under 30. He is also a Forbes column writer and active speaker for podcasts and university guests.
Dr. Ganapathi Pulipaka – CEO of SAP, tech lead for DeepSingularity, bestselling author
Dr. Ganapathi Pulipaka is the CEO, Chief data scientist, SAP technical lead at DeepSingularity, a data consulting company, and author of the No.1 Amazon bestseller book, Big Data Appliances. Pulipaka is an expert in computer science and data analytics who has worked with over 27 corporations over the past 21 years and 100+ SAP projects.
John Spence – Top 50 small business experts in America
John Spence is a CEO, business strategist, author, and speaker. He was ranked in the top 100 small business influencers, top 50 small business experts in America, top 100 global list thought leaders, Richard Branson, and among America’s top leaders and Jeff Bezos.
Kent Gustavson – CEO, founder, business advisor, award-winning author, musician
Kent Gustavson is a business advisor, writer, entrepreneur, and musician. He is the founder of Blooming Twig, an independent book publisher, and an author of award-winning books. Through his experiences as a business strategist, music composition, and speaker, he gained over 100 million views and 100,000 followers on his social media platforms.
Danielle Bernstein – CEO, founder, and fashion designer of WeWoreWhat
Danielle Bernstein is the founder of WeWoreWhat, an American clothing brand and blog. Growing her fashion blogs as a sophomore in school, she has over 2.8 million followers on Instagram and a net worth of over $2.5 million as an entrepreneur and collaboration with many global brands.
Scott Galloway – Author, N.Y.U professor, and business guru
Scott Galloway is the author of The Four: The Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google. After his first book in 2017, he successfully published two more books in 2019 and 2020. He is the founder of L2; a research firm focused on brand management and digital marketing. He is also a Clinical Professor at the NYU Stern School of Business, where he teaches brand strategy and digital marketing.
Brandon Bornancin – Internet’s favorite salesperson
Brandon Bornancin is a sales genius, serial entrepreneur, author, and the CEO and founder of Seamless.ai, one of the fastest-growing SaaS companies in the US. He helps 100,000 (and counting) companies flood their calendars and generate millions in sales using artificial intelligence to find anyone’s emails and phone numbers.
Brandon Bornancin’s MWIE Episode
Donald Cohen – LinkedIn Expert Marketer, trainer, speaker, and podcaster
Donald Cohen is the founder of doncohenconsulting.com. He is collaboratively empowering LinkedIn proficiency, performance, and success. He was a two-time Internet Retailer Of The Year, a two-time Top 50 Website Of The Year, and a three-time INC 500 CEO. He was also the top Amazon and Walmart Marketplace partner, generating $200,000,000 in sales, beginning with $4 on e-Bay.
David Alto – Resume, interview, and LinkedIn guru
David Alto is the owner and founder of AltoAdvance, an individual coaching, and business consultancy company. His company provides resumes, LinkedIn, and interview coaching. He specializes in empowering and promoting the talents and experiences of those looking to accomplish their career goals and excel in their profession. In 2021, he published his book, “The Fear of Confidence.”
Judi Fox – LinkedIn expert and leading networking coach
Judi Fox started her career as a chemical engineer in 1999. But when the 2008 economic crisis hit, she realized the importance of networking on LinkedIn which led her to successfully launch her own Environmental Consulting business and her LinkedIn Job Search Coaching and Resume business. In 2018, 4 years after she decided to go back into a full-time corporate position when a family crisis hit, she launched the “LinkedIn Business Accelerator” strategy which helps you network effectively on LinkedIn.
Michael Bungay Stanier – Author of “The Coaching Habit” and “How to Begin”
Michael Bungay Stanier is the author of seven books which between them have sold over a million copies. He’s best known for The Coaching Habit, the best-selling coaching book of the century and already recognized as a classic. His new book, How to Begin, helps people be more ambitious for themselves and for the world. Michael was a Rhodes Scholar and plays the ukulele badly. He’s Australian, and lives in Toronto, Canada.
Michael Bungay Stanier’s MWIE Episode
Ram Charan – The most influential consultant
Ram Charan is a world-renowned business advisor, author, and speaker who has spent the past 40 years working with many top companies, CEOs, and boards of our time. Fortune magazine has called him “the most influential consultant alive.” He shares his business insights through writing and teaching. He has written over 30 books that have sold more than 4 million copies in more than a dozen languages.
Dorie Clark – Self-reinvention expert
Dorie Clark is a strategy consultant, executive coach, and keynote speaker (with deep experience in virtual presentations) who has worked with clients including Google, Microsoft, Morgan Stanley, Fidelity, Yale University, the IMF, and the World Bank. She’s the author of several books, including the WSJ bestseller “The Long Game” (Harvard Business Review Press, 2021), as well as “Entrepreneurial You,” which was named “one of the most important business books of the year” by Inc. magazine and one of the Top 5 Books of the Year by Forbes. She also wrote “Reinventing You” and “Stand Out,” which Inc. magazine declared the #1 Leadership Book of the Year and Forbes named one of the Top 10 Business Books of the Year.
Jim Clifton – The original and futuristic thinker
Jim Clifton is the Chairman of Gallup, a global analytics and advisory firm. He is the creator of The Gallup Path, a metric-based economic model that establishes the linkages between human nature in the workplace, customer engagement, and business outcomes. Another of his innovations, the Gallup World Poll, gives the world’s 7 billion citizens a voice on virtually all key global issues. Jim authored several books, including Wellbeing at Work, It’s the Manager, Born to Build, and The Coming Jobs War.
Gautam Baid – Stellar fund manager and author
Gautam Baid is the Fund Manager and Managing Partner at Stellar Wealth Partners India Fund, a Delaware-based investment partnership modeled after the original Buffett Partnership fee structure. He is the Founder of Stellar Wealth Partners Private Limited, a SEBI-registered Research Analyst firm that offers stock ideas on the small case platform for investors in the Indian stock market. He is also the author of The Joys of Compounding: The Passionate Pursuit of Lifelong Learning.
Jeb Blount – Author, speaker, and sales acceleration specialist
Jeb Blount is an internationally renowned speaker who helps companies improve their sales- fast. He trains tens of thousands through his global company, Sales Gravy, and is the host of the world’s #1 downloaded Sales podcast. He is also a bestselling author of 13 books and among the world’s most respected thought leaders on sales, leadership, and customer experience.
Anthony Iannarino – Master in elite sales
Anthony Iannarino is a highly respected international speaker, bestselling author, entrepreneur, and sales leader specializing in complex business-to-business (B2B) sales. He is also a founder and managing partner of two closely held, family-owned businesses in the staffing industry, leading both entities in strategic planning while growing sales. Anthony is best known for his work at The Sales Blog, which has helped him gain recognition as a top thought leader in sales strategy. He is also the designer of Level 4 Value Creation™ and Building Consensus, methodologies that help sales organizations achieve transformational, breakthrough results.
Mark Hunter – The Sales Hunter
Mark Hunter helps individuals and companies identify better prospects and build more profitable customer relationships. He is an award-winning sales blogger and in-demand speaker, and his clients include Samsung, Coca-Cola, American Express, and Sony. He is the author of High-Profit Selling.
Donald C. Kelly – The Chief Sales Evangelist
Donald C. Kelly is the founder of The Sales Evangelist. He oversees business development strategies for small to mid-size organizations. He also conducts workshops and keynote presentations, designs sales processes, offers sales team training, and coaches sales individuals and executives. In addition, he is the host of The Sales Evangelist podcast, which can be heard in over 155 countries.
Annie Duke – Speaker, author, and a student of decision science
Annie Duke is an author, speaker, and consultant in decision-making and Special Partner focused on Decision Science at First Round Capital Partners, a seed-stage venture fund. Her latest book, Quit: The Power of Knowing When to Walk Away, is set to be released this October 4, 2022. Her previous book, Thinking in Bets, is a national bestseller.
Ray Dalio – A global macro investor, author and active philanthropist
A global macro investor for more than 50 years, Ray Dalio founded Bridgewater Associates out of his two-bedroom apartment in NYC and ran it for most of its 47 years, building it into the largest hedge fund in the world. Ray remains an investor and mentor at Bridgewater and serves on its board. He is also the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Principles: Life and Work, Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order, and Principles for Navigating Big Debt Crises.
Marcelo Claure – Bolivian tech entrepreneur, investor and football enthusiast
Marcelo Claure is an entrepreneur and investor who has founded and led some of the world’s most iconic businesses. He is currently the Founder & CEO of Claure Capital, a newly founded multi-billion-dollar global investment firm focused on public and private companies in technology, media, telecommunications, crypto, sports, real estate, and other high growth sectors.
Joel Peterson – Stanford professor, author and businessman
Joel Peterson is the chairman of JetBlue Airways and the founding partner of Peterson Partners, a Salt Lake City-based investment management firm. He currently teaches Entrepreneurial Management at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business. Joel is the author of The 10 Laws of Trust: Building the Bonds that Make a Business Great.
Max Levchin – PayPal co-founder and Affirm CEO
Max Levchin founded or co-founded the companies Slide.com, HVF, and Affirm. In 1998, he co-founded the company that eventually became PayPal. He was also an early investor in Yelp and was the Chairman for 11 years.
J.T. O’Donnell – Job creator and career mentor
J.T. O’Donnell is the founder and CEO of Work It Daily, an online platform dedicated to helping people solve their biggest career problems. She has more than 15 years of experience in HR, recruiting and career coaching.
Diana Olick – CNBC Senior Climate and Real Estate Correspondent
Diana Olick is an Emmy Award-winning journalist, currently serving as CNBC’s senior climate and real estate correspondent. She also contributes her climate and real estate expertise to NBC News NOW, MSNBC, NBC’s “Today,” and “NBC Nightly News.” She is a regular guest speaker and does guest segments on NPR and C-SPAN. Her work on CNBC.com won the Gracie Award for “Outstanding Blog” in 2015.
Michael Fertik – Father of online reputation management
Michael Fertik is the managing director and founder of Heroic Ventures and the executive chairman and founder of Reputation.com. He has also been the founder and CEO of b4.ai, WaveShift, and Sightglass Vision, among others. A futurist with more than ten patents, Michael is credited with pioneering the field of online reputation management (ORM) and is lauded as the world’s leading cyberthinker in digital privacy and reputation.
Whitney Johnson – Top management thinker and Top Voice on LinkedIn
Whitney Johnson is the CEO of the tech-enabled talent development company Disruption Advisors, an Inc. 5000 2020 honoree and one of the fastest-growing private companies in America. Thinkers50 ranked her as one of the top ten management thinkers in the world in 2021, and in 2020 she was a Top Voice on LinkedIn, with 1.8 million followers.
Ankur Warikoo – Author of Do Epic Shit
Ankur Warikoo is a serial entrepreneur, a bestselling author, an online educator, a content creator, and the founder of Nearbuy. In 2021, he published his first book – Do Epic Shit, and hit #1 in India on the Nielsen bestsellers list.
Steve Anderson – International best-selling author of The Bezos Letters
Steve Anderson is an expert in strategic risk and business growth. Drawing on decades of experience in the insurance industry, he wrote The Bezos Letters: 14 Principles to Grow Your Business Like Amazon, which has become a Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and international bestseller. With hundreds of thousands of followers, Steve has been handpicked by LinkedIn as one of the world’s most influential thought leaders.
Jeff DeGraff – Dean of Innovation, author, and thought leader
Jeff DeGraff is an advisor to Fortune 500 companies, a top innovation speaker, a business professor at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, and a bestselling author. He earned his nickname, the “Dean of Innovation,” while working as an executive for Domino’s Pizza in his youth. He accelerated Domino’s growth from a regional success story to an international franchise phenomenon. He wrote several books on how teams innovate, the most recent being The Innovation Code: The Creative Power of Constructive Conflict.
Isabelle Kocher de Leyritz – Strategic thinker, financial engineer, and business structuring expert
Isabelle Kocher de Leyritz is the former CEO of ENGIE and is currently the president of the Talks of Excellence. She is also a Member of Corps des Mines and Manager for Sequaris SNC and on the board of 7 other companies. In the past, Isabelle occupied the position of Chief Executive Officer & Director at ENGIE SA and Vice Chairman of Electrabel SA (a subsidiary of ENGIE SA), Chairman & Chief Executive Officer for Eau et Force SA, and Chief Executive Officer at Lyonnaise des Eaux SA.
Frida Polli – Neuroscientist, turned startup founder
Frida Polli is the co-founder and CEO of pymetrics (now Harver), a company using neuroscience and AI to improve the efficiency and diversity of hiring. With global clients, including Unilever and Accenture, pymetrics has matched hundreds of thousands of people with their ideal jobs while removing bias from the hiring process. Previously, Frida was a neuroscientist at Harvard and MIT, where her work on cognitive and emotional brain function won numerous awards from the NIH, Harvard, MIT, and private philanthropies.
Phil Libin – Former CEO of Evernote, now co-founder and CEO at mmhmm
Phil Libin served as CEO of the Silicon Valley-based software company Evernote from 2007 to 2015, then became Executive Chairman of Evernote’s board. In September 2015, Libin joined General Catalyst Partners as its fourth general partner in Silicon Valley. In September 2016, Libin stepped down as Executive Chairman of Evernote’s board of directors to focus on his role at General Catalyst Partners. Currently, Libin runs the Startup “mmhmm” and the startup studio All Turtles.
Larry Swedroe – The author of The Only Guide to a Winning Investment Strategy You’ll Ever Need
Larry Swedroe is the head of financial and economic research at Buckingham Wealth Partners. He was among the first authors to publish a book that explained the science of investing in layman’s terms, “The Only Guide to a Winning Investment Strategy You’ll Ever Need.” He has authored or co-authored 18 books.
Jason Hsu – The forefront and a recognized thought leader of the smart beta revolution
Jason Hsu is the founder, chairman, and CIO of Rayliant Global Advisors (RGA), a global investment management group with over US$15+ billion in assets managed using its strategies as of June 30, 2022. He is also co-founded Research Affiliates, a smart beta and asset allocation leader with over US$143 billion in assets managed using its strategies.
Howard Lindzon – Author and a believer of investing for profit and joy
In 2008 Howard Lindzon co-founded StockTwits, and now Chairman after 5 years as CEO. StockTwits was recently named “one of the top 10 most innovative companies in web” by Fast Company and one of the “50 best websites” by Time. He’s also an author of four books.
Divya Narendra – Classmates with Zuckerberg and co-founder with the Winklevoss Twins
Divya Narendra is the CEO and co-founder of SumZero. Before founding SumZero, he was an Associate at Sowood Capital Management, a $3.5B multi-strat hedge fund located in Boston, MA. At Sowood, Divya analyzed investment opportunities across the capital structure. Prior to this, he was an analyst in the M&A Group at Credit Suisse in NYC.
Anthony Zhang – Expert in wine investment
Anthony Zhang founder and CEO of Vinovest, a platform for investing in a managed portfolio of fine wines. He built his first company at 18, eventually growing operations to 22 markets and employing over 1,500. He loves to build and grow teams and foster a rapid-testing, data-centric culture of execution.
Vikram Mansharamani – One of the greatest independent thinkers of our time
Vikram Mansharamani is a global trend-watcher who shows people how to anticipate the future, manage risk, and spot opportunities. He has been honored by LinkedIn as their one of their Top Voices and Worth magazine as one of the 100 Most Powerful People in Global Finance. He is the author of “THINK FOR YOURSELF: Restoring Common Sense in an Age of Experts and Artificial Intelligence” as well as “BOOMBUSTOLOGY: Spotting Financial Bubbles Before They Burst.” Vikram is currently a lecturer at Harvard University, where he teaches students to use multiple perspectives in making tough decisions.
Rex Salisbury – A fintech super-connector
Rex Salisbury is the founder and general partner at Cambrian Ventures, a pre-seed & seed focused fintech fund. He previously was a Partner at A16Z, where he helped launch the fintech vertical. He has over a decade of experience working in finance & fintech primarily as a software engineer before becoming a venture capitalist.
Bob Elliott – CEO and CIO of Unlimited
Bob Elliott is the co-founder and CEO of Unlimited, which uses machine learning to create diversified index replication ETFs of 2&20 strategies like hedge funds, VC and PE. Prior to founding Unlimited, he served on the Investment Committee at Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund.
Jesse Felder – Publisher of The Felder Report and podcast host
After starting his career at Bear Stearns and then co-founding a multi-billion-dollar hedge fund firm, Jesse Felder left Wall Street to focus his energies on research and writing. Today he publishes The Felder Report and hosts the Superinvestors podcast.
Vincent Deluard – Global macro strategist with a strong international background
Vincent Deluard is the global macro strategist for StoneX Group Inc., where he authors weekly commentary on global macro topics and advises pension funds on asset allocation. He served as Europe strategist for Ned Davis Research and was executive vice president for TrimTabs Investment. Vincent is frequently quoted in the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, and Barron’s and is regularly on Bloomberg TV and CNBC.
Vincent Deluard’s MWIE Episode
Michael Howell – Father of quantitative liquidity research methodology
Michael Howell is CEO of CrossBorder Capital, a London-based FCA registered, independent research and investment company that he founded in 1996. He brings 40 years finance experience and is a regular international conference speaker, a media and social media commentator and author.
Nick Maggiulli – Experienced data scientist and author
Nick Maggiulli is the Chief Operating Officer and Data Scientist at Ritholtz Wealth Management, where he oversees operations across the firm and provides insights on business intelligence. He is also the author of OfDollarsAndData.com, a blog focused on the intersection of data and personal finance. His work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, and The Los Angeles Times.
Jim O’Shaughnessy – Investor and accelerator of creative endeavors
Jim O’Shaughnessy is the Chairman and Co-Chief Investment Officer of O’Shaughnessy Asset Management (OSAM). He is the author of four books on investing, and his book What Works on Wall Street is a BusinessWeek and New York Times Business bestseller.
Jim O’Shaughnessy’s MWIE episode
Michelle Finneran Dennedy – The “Privacy Jedi”
Michelle Finneran Dennedy is the co-founder of Privacy Code and co-author of The Privacy Engineer’s Manifesto, joins Dennis Fisher to talk about her new startup, her path from studying psychology to becoming the first chief privacy officer at Sun and Cisco, and what everyone gets wrong about privacy.
Neville Medhora – Digital strategist and SEO expert
Neville Medhora has been starting businesses and side projects since high school and has learned a bunch about what works and what doesn’t work. Advisor to numerous software companies and teach of copywriting at CopywritingCourse.com and “Neville Medhora” across all socials.
Neville Medhora’s MWIE episode
Dave Nadig – ETF and mutual fund industry veteran
Dave Nadig is CEO of ETF.com. Previously, he was director of ETFs at FactSet Research Systems. Before that, as managing director at BGI, he helped design some of the first ETFs. As co-founder of Cerulli Associates, Nadig conducted some of the earliest research on fee-only financial advisors and the rise of indexing.
Axel Merk – Expert on macro trends, sought-after speaker and author
Axel Merk the President and Chief Investment Officer of Merk Investments, manager of the Merk Funds. Founder of the firm bearing his name, Merk is an expert on macro trends.
Jason Calacanis – Visionary leader, angel investor and author
Jason Calacanis is a serial entrepreneur, angel investor, podcaster, and writer. He is the founder and CEO of Inside.com and Launch. He previously worked at Weblogs as a co-founder and CEO.
Phil Nadel – Serial entrepreneur and co-host of “The Pitch”
Phil Nadel is a serial entrepreneur, a published author, frequent conference speaker, and one of the co-hosts of “The Pitch” podcast. He is now the Managing Director of Forefront Venture Partners, which manages a dedicated fund and one of the largest and most active AngelList syndicates.
Edward Yardeni – The “Wall Street Seer”
Edward Yardeni is the President of Yardeni Research, Inc., providing global investment strategy and asset allocation analyses and recommendations to many of the world’s top institutional investors. He is also the author of “Predicting the Markets: A Professional Autobiography.”
Matthew Hougan – The ETF expert
Matthew Hougan is the Global Head of Research and Development at Bitwise Asset Management Inc., creator of the world’s first cryptocurrency index fund. He was previously CEO of Inside ETFs, the world’s leading ETF education company, and before that, CEO of ETF.com which was the world’s first institutionally oriented, ETF-specific ratings and analytics service.
Fabrice Grinda – Leading internet entrepreneur and super angel
Fabrice Grinda is the Founding Partner of FJ Labs, an early-stage venture capital firm focused on online marketplaces and network effects startups. As an internet entrepreneur and investor, he has successfully transposed, adapted and invested in business ideas between the U.S., Europe, Asia and Latin America.
Aswath Damodaran – Professor of Finance at the Stern School of Business at NYU
Aswath Damodaran holds the Kerschner Family Chair in Finance Education and is Professor of Finance at New York University Stern School of Business. He is also an author of several highly regarded and widely-used academic texts on Valuation, Corporate Finance, and Investment Management.
Sanchal Ranjan – India’s home rental utilization and experience master
Sanchal Ranjan is co-founder and CEO of ZiffyHomes, one of the leading real time online platforms for rental accommodation in India. He is also the co-Founder and Product Specialist of Analog. He previously worked at Deloitte as a Consultant.
Kevin Chemidlin – Podcast growth and monetization guru
Kevin Chemidlin was a podcaster who hit the wall in 2019 – audience growth stopped, he was burnt out, and he couldn’t figure out how to monetize. So, he did something crazy: he shut his show down completely and spent 3 months studying the best podcasts in the game. He came back, implemented what he learned, and then took his podcast past 100,000 listeners and $100,000 monetized.
Ham Serunjogi – CEO of Chipper Cash
Ham Serunjogi is co-founder and CEO of Chipper Cash, a fintech startup that enables free and instant cross border peer-to-peer money transfers as well as solutions for businesses and merchant payment processing.
Carl Chang – Tennis coach turned pizzeria founder
Carl Chang is founder and CEO of Kairos Investment Management. He is also the co-founder of the pizza chain Pieology, and is active in real estate investment businesses. He is the older brother and former coach of tennis star Michael Chang.
Wesley Gray – The ETF Architect
Wesley Gray is the founder and CEO of Alpha Architect, a quantitative asset management firm. Dr. Gray’s interest in bridging the research gap between academia and industry led him to found Alpha Architect, an asset management firm dedicated to an impact mission of empowering investors through education. He is a contributor to multiple industry publications and regularly speaks to professional investor groups across the country. Wes has published multiple academic papers and four books.
Scott Lynn – Master of artwork investing
Scott Lynn is the founder and CEO of Masterworks, the first company to allow investors to buy shares representing ownership of great masterpieces by artists like Warhol, Monet, and more.
Michael Gayed – Publisher of The Lead-Lag Report
Michael Gayed is a Portfolio Manager at Toroso Investments, an investment management company specializing in ETF focused research, investment strategies and services designed for financial advisors, RIAs, family offices and investment managers. He is the co-author of four award-winning research papers on market anomalies and investing.
Aaron Fu – Africa’s champion entrepreneur
Aaron Fu is a partner at emerging market inclusive tech focused Catalyst Fund, is a founding partner in Africa focused founder backed pre-seed fund Sherpa Ventures. He also co-founded Venture for Africa, a fellowship for talent on the continent and beyond to gain experience and build careers with early-stage African startups.
Dan Morehead – Crypto firm founder and leader of digital currencies
Dan Morehead is founder and CEO of Pantera Capital, an investment firm focused exclusively on Bitcoin, other digital currencies, and companies utilizing blockchain technology. The firm was founded in 2003 with a focus on global macro hedge fund investments. He has more than 25 years of experience in managing global macro funds, macro trading, and investment advisory services.
Frank Holmes – Renowned global investor and mining fund manager
Frank Holmes is the CEO of U.S. Global Investors, an investment manager with both ETFs and mutual funds, and HIVE Blockchain, the world’s very first publicly traded company involved in the mining of cryptocurrencies. He is a much-sought-after keynote speaker at national and international investment conferences. He is also a regular commentator on the financial television networks CNBC, Bloomberg and Fox Business, and has been profiled by Fortune, Barron’s, The Financial Times and other publications.
Sheel Mohnot – Exceptional investor, mentor and company builder
Sheel Mohnot is the co-founder of Better Tomorrow Ventures, a $75m fund that leads pre-seed and seed rounds in fintech companies globally. Sheel is also on the investment committee for the Catalyst Fund, an initiative to support entrepreneurs building financial solutions for the underserved in India, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, and South Africa.
Zach Coelius – The Unicorn Whisperer
Zach Coelius is the Managing Partner at Coelius Capital. He is a four-time entrepreneur, but now that he has sold his last company, he shifted from full-time angel investing to become a VC investor.
Mike Dudas – Stellar growth executive turned crypto VC
Mike Dudas is the founder and General Partner of 6th Man Ventures, a VC firm focused on investing in Web3 and the metaverse. He recently helped launch LinksDAO, which raised over $10 million in less than 48 hours and is creating the modern golf & leisure club. Previously, he worked at Disney, Google, and Venmo with growth and business development.
Peter Zeihan – Leading geopolitical strategist
Peter Zeihan is an expert in geopolitics, the study of how place impacts financial, economic, cultural, political and military developments. His newest book is The End of the World Is Just the Beginning: Mapping the Collapse of Globalization.
Eric Balchunas – ETF analyst, funds product specialist and author
Eric Balchunas is a Senior ETF Analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, where he leads the ETF and passive fund research and contributes to Bloomberg Opinion. He is a frequent speaker at industry events and conferences, as well as the co-creator of the Bloomberg podcast Trillions and Bloomberg TV’s ETF IQ. Eric is author of The Institutional ETF Toolbox and The Bogle Effect.
Cormac Kinney – Inventor of the only regulator-approved diamond commodity
Cormac Kinney is the founder and CEO of Diamond Standard, a regulator-approved fungible diamond commodity. He is a software developer and entrepreneur, with innovations cited by others in nearly 4,000 patents. He is also a founder of 6 startups, with 4 acquired by public companies or investment funds.
Lance Roberts – Strategist, economist and lead editor of the Real Investment Report
Lance Roberts is the Chief Investment Strategist and Economist of RIA Advisors. He is also the Chief Editor of the Real Investment Report, a weekly subscriber-based newsletter that is distributed globally. Having been in the investing world for more than 25 years, from private banking and investment management to private and venture capital, Lance has pretty much “been there and done that” at one point or another. His commonsense approach, clear explanations and “real world” experience has appealed to audiences for almost two decades.
James Bianco – Macro, fixed-income and economic analyst
James Bianco is President of Bianco Research, L.L.C., an Arbor Research & Trading, LLC affiliate. Since November 1990, he has been producing fixed income commentaries, which enjoy a circulation of portfolio managers and traders numbering into the several hundred. Prior to joining Arbor and Bianco Research, Jim spent five years in New York City with several prominent investment banking firms. He was a Market Strategist in equity and fixed income research at UBS Securities, and an Equity Technical Analyst at First Boston and Shearson Lehman Brothers. He is a Chartered Market Technician (CMT) and a member of the Chartered Market Technicians Association (CMT Association), where he previously served as a national Vice President, chairing the CMT Association’s 1996 annual seminar.
Cory Klippsten – Bitcoiner, innovative consultant and renowned entrepreneur
Cory Klippsten is the CEO of Bitcoin financial services firm Swan.com. He is a partner in Bitcoiner Ventures and El Zonte Capital, serves as an advisor to The Bitcoin Venture Fund, and as an angel has funded more than 50 early-stage tech companies. Before startups, Klippsten worked for Google, McKinsey, Microsoft and Morgan Stanley, and earned an MBA from the University of Chicago.
Ken McElroy – Author, champion and advocate for estate investors
Ken McElroy is the author of the best-selling books The ABC’s of Real Estate Investing, The Advanced Guide to Real Estate Investing, The ABC’s of Property Management, and most recently his book on entrepreneurship: The Sleeping Giant, where he shares his real-life examples and ideology of how to be successful in business and in life. As the Real Estate Advisor to Robert Kiyosaki of The Rich Dad Company, Ken is also a chapter contributor in the newly released Rich Dad book, More Important Than Money: An Entrepreneur’s Team. For over two decades, Ken McElroy has experienced massive success in the real estate world-from investment analysis and property management to acquisitions and property development. With over $3 Billion investment dollars in real estate, Ken offers a unique perspective on how to get the biggest return on investments.
Viktor Shvets – Author, global strategist and experienced investment banker
Viktor Shvets is the author of The Great Rupture: Three Empires, Four Turning Points, and the Future of Humanity. He is the managing director and the head of the Asia-Pacific and global strategy at Macquarie Group. Over nearly 40 years as an investment banker, he has been a highly rated analyst across various disciplines, head of research and is now recognized as one of the more innovative global market strategists, working on the intersection between finance, technology, politics, and history. He is a prolific writer on key global trends and is a frequent commentator on CNBC, Bloomberg, and other media outlets.
Lawrence McDonald – Author, CNBC contributor, and political risk expert
In 2010 Lawrence McDonald founded an investment research firm which publishes The Bear Traps Report, a weekly independent investment research publication focusing on global political and systemic risk with actionable trade ideas. He is the author of “A Colossal Failure of Common Sense”, which is ranked by the CFA Institute in the “Top 20” Books All-Time in Finance. He makes weekly appearances on CNBC as a contributor focused on political and economic risk and opportunities.
Stephanie Kelton – Author, professor and one of the top women in finance
Stephanie Kelton is a professor of economics and public policy at Stony Brook University and a Senior Fellow at the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis at the New School for Social Research. She is a leading expert on Modern Monetary Theory and a former Chief Economist on the U.S. Senate Budget Committee (Democratic staff). She was named by POLITICO (2016) as one of the 50 people most influencing the policy debate in America, as one of the 50 people who defined 2019 by Bloomberg Businessweek, as one of Barron’s top 100 Women in Finance (2020 & 2021), and by Prospect Magazine (2020) as one of the World’s Top 50 Thinkers. She is a regular commentator on national radio and broadcast television. Her book, The Deficit Myth, became an instant New York Times bestseller.
Grant Williams – Author, visionary and the podcast host of The Grant Williams Podcast
Grant Williams is widely respected as a visionary in the financial industry with a career spanning 35 years as an investor, advisor, writer, and interviewer. In 2020, he stoked the fire of his passion for interviewing brilliant people by launching The Grant Williams Podcast in various forms, including The End Game, The Super Terrific Happy Hour, and The Narrative Game. Grant has been guiding people around the fringes of finance with his regular newsletter, Things That Make You Go Hmmm…, a publication which, from humble beginnings as a daily note to a few friends and colleagues, has grown into one of the most widely read financial publications in the world.
Ben Hunt – Author of Epsilon Theory
Ben Hunt is the creator of Epsilon Theory and inspiration behind Second Foundation Partners, which he co-founded with Rusty Guinn in June 2018. As Chief Investment Officer, Ben bears primary responsibility for determining the Company’s investment views and positioning of model portfolios. He is also the primary author of materials distributed through Epsilon Theory.
Peter McCullough – Leader in the medical response to COVID-19 in the US
Peter McCullough is an internist, cardiologist, and epidemiologist managing the cardiovascular complications of both the viral infection and the injuries developing after the COVID-19 vaccine in Dallas. Since the outset of the pandemic, Dr. McCullough has been a leader in the medical response to the COVID-19 disaster and has published “Pathophysiological Basis and Rationale for Early Outpatient Treatment of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) Infection,” the first synthesis of sequenced multidrug treatment of ambulatory patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 in the American Journal of Medicine and subsequently updated in Reviews in Cardiovascular Medicine.
William D. Cohan – Author of The Last Tycoons: The Secret History of Lazard Freres & Co.
William D. Cohan is a former senior Wall Street M&A investment banker for 17 years at Lazard Frères & Co., Merrill Lynch and JPMorganChase. He is the New York Times bestselling author of three non-fiction narratives about Wall Street: Money and Power: How Goldman Sachs Came to Rule the World, House of Cards: A Tale of Hubris and Wretched Excess on Wall Street and, The Last Tycoons: The Secret History of Lazard Frères & Co., the winner of the 2007 FT/Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award.
Amy Wu – Dynamic investor and leading crypto gaming expert
Amy Wu has enjoyed being on both sides of the table as investor and operator, joining Lightspeed in 2019 as an early member of the growth team to lead the reinvestment platform and invest in growth-stage consumer and enterprise businesses. Prior to Lightspeed, Amy was an executive for several years, most recently at Discovery Inc., a global media company with 17 TV networks in 220 countries, and at NewsCred, a growth-stage marketing software company based in NYC, after starting her career at Insight Venture Partners.
Jurrien Timmer – Asset allocation expert and global macro strategist
Jurrien Timmer is the director of Global Macro at Fidelity Investments. Fidelity Investments is a leading provider of investment management, retirement planning, portfolio guidance, brokerage, benefits outsourcing and other financial products and services to more than 20 million individuals, institutions, and financial intermediaries. Jurrien has been at Fidelity for 22 years and has more than 30 years of experience in the industry.
Fred Thiel – Deep technology industry and transformational value creation expert
Fred Thiel is the CEO of Marathon Digital Holdings, a digital asset technology company that mines cryptocurrencies with a focus on the blockchain ecosystem and the generation of digital assets. He is a respected expert and frequent speaker on FinTech, digital assets, Blockchain, bitcoin, crypto mining, Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence, venture capital, private equity and the digital transformations of companies and industries, providing deep technology industry expertise and strategic advice on transformational value creation – the process of generating growth and shareholder value.
John List – Economist, author and distinguished professor
Professor John A. List is the Kenneth C. Griffin Distinguished Service Professor in Economics at the University of Chicago. His research focuses on combining field experiments with economic theory to deepen our understanding of the economic science. In the early 1990s, John pioneered field experiments as a methodology for testing behavioral theories and learning about behavioral principles that are shared across different domains. He co-authored the international best seller, The Why Axis, in 2013.
Raghuram Rajan – Indian economist, finance professor and author
Raghuram Rajan is the Katherine Dusak Miller Distinguished Service Professor of Finance at Chicago Booth. He was the 23rd Governor of the Reserve Bank of India between September 2013 and September 2016. Between 2003 and 2006, Dr. Rajan was the Chief Economist and Director of Research at the International Monetary Fund. The books he has written include The Third Pillar: How Markets and the State Leave the Community Behind, I Do What I Do: On Reform, Rhetoric, and Resolve, and Fault Lines: How Hidden Fractures Still Threaten the World Economy, for which he was awarded the Financial Times-Goldman Sachs prize for best business book in 2010.
Daniel Goleman – Author of Emotional Intellgience
Daniel Goleman is the author of the best-selling Emotional Intelligence, as well as many other works in emotional and social intelligence, leadership, and education. He is also a psychologist, former science journalist for the New York Times, and co-director of the Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations. He lectures frequently to professional audiences.
Ian Cassel – Full-time microcap investor and founder of MicroCapClub
Ian Cassel is a full-time microcap investor and CIO of Intelligent Fanatics Capital Management. He is the founder of MicroCapClub.com and co-founder of the IntelligentFanatics.com. Ian started investing as a teenager and learned from losing his money over and over again. Ian’s belief is the key to outsized returns is finding great companies early because all great companies started as small companies.
Alex Lieberman – America’s business barista and podcast host
Alex Lieberman is the cofounder of Morning Brew, a daily email with news regarding business, world economics, current events, and more. He is also a host of the daily journal-style podcast, Founder’s Journal. In 2019, Lieberman was on the 2019 Forbes 30 Under 30 list at 25 years old with Morning Brew co-founder, Austin Rief.
Brian Lee – Revolutionary CEO and sports collector
Brian Lee is the co-founder and Managing Director of BAM Ventures and has served in this capacity since 2015. He currently serves as Founder and CEO of Arena Club, focused on sports collectibles. He also serves as a board member at the Lowell Milken Institute of Business Law and Policy at the University of California, Los Angeles and serves on the board of Brentwood School.
Bill George – Best-selling author and executive fellow at at Harvard Business School
Bill George is an executive fellow at Harvard Business School, where he was a Professor of Management Practice and Senior Fellow teaching leadership from 2004-2022. He is the author of True North: Emerging Leader Edition, True North Fieldbook: Emerging Leader Edition, Discover Your True North, The Discover Your True North Fieldbook, Authentic Leadership, True North and Finding Your True North, 7 Lessons for Leading in Crisis and True North Groups.
Ben Kovler – Philanthropist and industry thought leader
Ben Kovler is the Founder, CEO, and Chairman at Green Thumb Industries (GTI). He founded GTI in 2014 and has successfully grown it into a national cannabis consumer packaged goods company and retailer that manufactures and distributes a portfolio of branded cannabis products. He is also co-founder and CEO of Invest For Kids (IFK), an annual forum bringing together portfolio managers, family offices, and analysts to share investment ideas to benefit children in Illinois. Ben is also on the Providence St. Mel School board and the Academy for Global Citizenship.
Kirsten Green – One of the leading American venture capitalists
Combining a unique and unconventional blend of professional history and acquired investment experience, Kirsten Green launched San Francisco-based Forerunner Ventures in 2010, serving as Founder and Managing Partner. In an unpredictable consumer landscape, Kirsten’s 20+ years of evaluation and investment success stems from a combination of product savvy, consumer insight, and a thesis-driven approach that has been the basis of all her investments — from pre-revenue startups to multi-billion-dollar enterprises.
David Senra – Creator of Founders podcast
David Senra is the host of the Founders podcast, where he studies history’s greatest entrepreneurs.
Robert F. Smith – Investor, philanthropist, and believer in human potential
Robert F. Smith is the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Vista Equity Partners. He directs the firm’s investment strategy, governance, and investor relations. Before Vista, he worked at Goldman Sachs in technology investment banking, facilitating mergers and acquisitions for large technology companies, including Apple and Microsoft.
Jess Lee – Former Polyvore CEO, now Sequoia Capital partner
Jess Lee is a partner at Sequoia Capital. She is also a founding member of All Raise, a non-profit dedicated to improving diversity in the tech industry. Before joining Sequoia, Jess was the CEO and co-founder of Polyvore (acquired by Yahoo in 2015). Prior to Polyvore, Jess was a product manager at Google, where she worked on Google Maps.
Alexandr Wang – One of the world’s youngest self-made billionaires
Alex Wang is the CEO and Founder of Scale AI. He was inspired to solve ML infrastructure problems and accelerate the development of AI through his work at Quora, where he worked as a technical lead. Alex worked as an algorithm developer at Hudson River Trading and a software engineer at Addepar. He attended and dropped out from MIT, studying Artificial Intelligence.
Garry Tan – YC founder, terrific hacker, and brilliant software designer
Garry Tan is the President & CEO of Y Combinator. YC has funded 90 companies worth a billion dollars or more, each at the earliest possible stage (usually a few people even before launch), and about 10 to 20 companies per year that go through the program will go on to product market fit and become a Unicorn. Over $600B in market value has been created and counting. Before becoming CEO, he was a partner at YC from 2011-2015 and built major software, including Bookface and Demo Day real-time video.
Frank Slootman – The CEO who turns ideas into jackpots
Frank Slootman currently serves as Chairman and CEO at Snowflake. Frank has over 25 years of experience as an entrepreneur and executive in the enterprise software industry. He served as CEO and President of ServiceNow from 2011 to 2017, taking the organization from around $100M in revenue, through an IPO, to $1.4B. Prior to that, Frank served as President of the Backup Recovery Systems Division at EMC following the acquisition of Data Domain Corporation/Data Domain, Inc., where he served as the Chief Executive Officer and President, leading the company through an IPO to its acquisition by EMC for $2.4B.
Orlando Bravo – The first Puerto Rican-born billionaire
Orlando Bravo is a Founder and Managing Partner of Thoma Bravo. He led Thoma Bravo’s early entry into software buyouts and built the firm into one of the top private equity firms in the world. Today, Orlando directs the firm’s strategy and investment decisions in accordance with its principles of partnership, innovation, and performance. He is also the Founder and Chairman of the Bravo Family Foundation, whose mission is to provide access and opportunities to young adults in Puerto Rico.
Roelof Botha – South African actuary, venture capitalist, and company director.
Roelof Botha is a partner at Sequoia Capital and, as of 2022, sits on the boards of MongoDB, Evernote, Bird, Ethos, Natera, Square, Unity, and Xoom. On Forbes’ Midas List, an annual ranking of venture capital professionals, he ranked 22nd in 2008, 9th in 2021, and 36th in 2022.
Sarah Friar – One of America’s self-made women in 2021
Sarah Friar is the chief executive officer of Nextdoor, the neighborhood network that connects neighborhood stakeholders, including neighbors, businesses, and public services, online and in real life to build stronger, more vibrant, and resilient neighborhoods. Prior to Nextdoor, Sarah served as chief financial officer at Square (now known as Block, Inc.). Before her tenure at Square, Sarah served as senior vice president of finance & strategy at Salesforce. Sarah also held executive roles at Goldman Sachs and leadership positions at McKinsey in both London and South Africa.
Jack Butcher – Creative director turned successful advertising agency owner
Visualize Value founder Jack Butcher worked as a creative director in advertising for years, building a name for some of the largest brands in the world. After realizing leading an agency wasn’t for him, he took a different approach, creating a startup called Visualize Value. In 18 months, Jack has grown Visualize Value into a successful business with an online audience of thousands using his courses to better themselves.
Francis X. Suarez – Mayor of Miami and President of the U.S. Conference of Mayors
Francis X. Suarez is the 33rd Mayor of the City of Miami. As the first Miami-born mayor, he is committed to working diligently to serve the residents of the community where he was born and raised. Before being elected with 86 percent support from Miami residents, Mayor Suarez served as Miami Commissioner for District 4 for eight years.
Dan Runcie – Hip-hop business executive
Dan Runcie is the founder of Trapital, a research group focused on music, media, and entertainment. Trapital assesses the deals, companies, and artists that shape culture. Trapital’s audience includes thousands of music execs, media moguls, artists, venture capitalists, and creators.
Joshua Brown – CEO and exceptional financial advisor
Josh Brown is the CEO of Ritholtz Wealth Management, a New York City-based investment advisory firm managing over $2 billion for high-net-worth investors, corporate retirement plans, and foundations. He has spent his career helping people invest and manage their portfolios.
Logan Mohtashami – The chart guy and a social media star
Logan Mohtashami is a housing data analyst, financial writer, and blogger covering the U.S. economy specializing in the housing market. Logan is also a Lead Analyst for HousingWire. He has been an invited speaker to many conferences and is a frequent guest on CNBC. His astute analysis of economic data and years of direct lending experience allows him to present a unique, informed, and unbiased perspective on the financial markets.
Nick Timiraos – Wall Street Journal correspondent and best-selling author
Nick Timiraos is the chief economics correspondent for The Wall Street Journal and is based in Washington. He is responsible for covering the Federal Reserve and other major developments in U.S. economic policy. Previously, Nick covered the Treasury Department and U.S. housing and mortgage markets, including the government’s response to the foreclosure crisis and its control of finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. He contributed to the Journal’s presidential election coverage in 2008 and joined the Journal in 2006. Nick is the author of “Trillion Dollar Triage,” which chronicles the U.S. economic-policy response to the Covid pandemic.
Daniel Yergin – Author, speaker, energy expert, and economic historian
Daniel Yergin is a highly respected authority on energy, international politics, and economics. He is Vice Chairman of S&P Global and chairman of CERAWeek, which CNBC has described as “the Super Bowl of world energy.” Dr. Yergin is a Pulitzer Prize-winning author.
Vijay V. Vaitheeswaran – Global energy and climate innovation editor of The Economist
Vijay V. Vaitheeswaran is the award-winning global correspondent for The Economist. He is an expert advisor to the World Economic Forum/Davos and a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He also teaches at New York University’s Stern Business School. Vijay has addressed groups from the U.S. National Governors’ Association and the U.N. General Assembly to the TED and the American Association for the Advancement of Science conferences. He is the co-author most recently of ZOOM: The Global Race to Fuel the Car of the Future, which was named a Book of the Year by the Financial Times.
Jules Polonetsky – Lawyer and internet privacy expert
Jules Polonetsky is CEO of the Future of Privacy Forum, a catalyst for privacy leadership and scholarship, advancing principled data practices. Jules previous roles have included serving as Chief Privacy Officer at AOL and before that at DoubleClick, as Consumer Affairs Commissioner for New York City, as an elected New York State Legislator and as a congressional staffer, and as an attorney. He has served on the boards of a number of privacy and consumer protection organizations. From 2011-2012, Jules served on the Department of Homeland Security Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee.
Beena Ammanath – Global thought leader in AI ethics
Beena Ammanath is an award-winning senior technology executive with extensive experience in AI and digital transformation. Her career has spanned leadership roles in e-commerce, finance, marketing, telecom, retail, software products, service, and industrial domains. She is also the author of the groundbreaking book Trustworthy AI.
Greg Lavender – Chief Technology Officer of Intel
Greg Lavender is Senior Vice President, Chief Technology Officer (CTO), and General Manager of the Software and Advanced Technology Group (SATG) at Intel Corporation. Lavender joined Intel in June 2021 from VMware, where he served as senior vice president and CTO. He has over 35 years of experience in software and hardware product engineering and advanced research and development.
Gajen Kandiah – CEO of Hitachi Vantara
Gajen Kandiah is the Chief Executive Officer of Hitachi Vantara, the digital infrastructure, data management and analytics, and digital solutions subsidiary of Hitachi Ltd. Concurrent to his position as CEO, he is the President of Hitachi Digital LLC, a new company dedicated to formulating and driving aligned strategies across Hitachi’s global bases in the IT, energy, transportation, and industrial fields to accelerate Digital Transformation (DX) business growth. Additionally, Gajen serves as the chief digital transformation officer of Hitachi’s Digital Systems & Services Business.
Caroline Wong – Chief cybersecurity leader
Caroline Wong is the Chief Strategy Officer at Cobalt. As CSO, Caroline leads the Security, Community, and People teams at Cobalt. She brings a proven communications and cybersecurity background and experience delivering global programs to the role. Caroline’s close and practical information security knowledge stems from her broad experience as a Digital consultant, a Symantec product manager, and day-to-day leadership roles at eBay and Zynga. Caroline also hosts the Humans of InfoSec podcast, teaches cybersecurity courses on LinkedIn Learning, and has authored the popular textbook Security Metrics, A Beginner’s Guide.
Shaan Puri – A multi-hyphenate entrepreneur, investor, and creator
Shaan Puri has two current jobs as Senior Director of Product, Mobile Gaming & Emerging Markets at Twitch and Senior Director of Product, Esports at Twitch. Shaan Puri has had three past jobs, including CEO at Monkey Inferno.
Paul English – Active angel investor focused on seed-stage consumer software
Paul English is a tech entrepreneur and activist who cofounded Kayak, Lola, Boston Venture Studio, and several other companies and nonprofits. He is also known for founding King Boston, a social justice program dedicated to the work of Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King and their time in Boston.
Sahil Bloom – Inspirational writer and captivating content creator
Sahil Bloom is a successful entrepreneur and owner of SRB Holdings, a personal holding company currently comprised of ten cash-flowing businesses, and the Managing Partner of SRB Ventures, a $10 million venture investment firm committed to investing in and accelerating the most compelling startups in the world. Prior to launching SRB Ventures in January 2022, Sahil was an early-stage investor in 40+ startups across the technology landscape, including multiple unicorns.
Kevin Rose – Serial entrepreneur and technology investor
Kevin Rose served as the CEO of Proof and a partner at True Ventures. Previously, as an entrepreneur, he founded the social news site Digg, the intermittent fasting app Zero, and the meditation app Oak. Kevin also served as the CEO of Hodinkee and a general partner at Google Ventures. He has been featured on the cover of Inc. Magazine, BusinessWeek, and RedHerring. Kevin was named a “Top 25 Angel Investors” by Bloomberg, “Top 25 Web Celebrities” by Forbes, “Top 35 Innovators” by MIT, and “Top 25 Most Influential People on the Web” by Time and BusinessWeek magazines.
Carolyn Childers – Phenomenal CEO, an experienced leader, and operator
Carolyn Childers is the co-founder and CEO of Chief, the world’s most powerful network of executive women. Prior to founding Chief, Carolyn was SVP of Operations at Handy, then led the launch of Soap.com and acted as GM through its acquisition by Amazon. Previously, Childers held strategy and business development roles at Victoria’s Secret and Avon Products. She began her career in finance, working in investment banking at Deutsche Bank. Carolyn was named to Inc.’s Female Founders 100 List.
Neil Patel – Top influencer on the web and an online marketing expert
Neil Patel is a New York Times Bestselling author. The Wall Street Journal calls him a top influencer on the web, Forbes says he is one of the top 10 marketers, and Entrepreneur Magazine says he created one of the 100 most brilliant companies. He was recognized as a top 100 entrepreneur under the age of 30 by President Obama and a top 100 entrepreneur under the age of 35 by the United Nations.
Ryan Breslow – The brazen founder and former CEO of Bolt
Ryan Breslow is the founder and Chairman of the Board of Bolt, the technology company democratizing commerce by bringing lightning-fast, one-click checkout to the world. Together with Bolt, he launched the Conscious Culture movement in 2021 to open source all of Bolt’s cultural guidelines with the rest of the internet, inspiring other companies to bridge humanity with execution in the workplace.
Alex Hormozi – First-generation Iranian American entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist
Alex Hormozi is an American entrepreneur. He started as a management consultant in the public sector, then left to pursue a fitness career, starting his first gym at age 23. He scaled his small gym chain in three years from 0 to 6 locations. Over the next two years, he and his wife started flying around the country, turning gyms around.
Val Katayev – Serial entrepreneur with $100M+ in profits and exits
Val Katayev founded and led four successful startups to hyper-growth centered around digital media in the display, mobile, music, search, and data. Two of these tech companies, ToneMedia (now Bandsintown Amplified) and ToneFuse, were acquired by the Lagardère Group. In addition to success in tech, Val is a pioneer in the Marketplace Lending space as he later partnered with Prime Meridian Capital Management to help the firm grow its AUM from $5M to $500M in 3 years. These days Val is focusing on Jocalio, a startup that aims to re-imagine how the $180B jewelry industry operates.
Noah Kagan – Taco-loving Chief Sumo at AppSumo
After graduating from UC Berkeley, Noah Kagan became employee #30 at Facebook, where he invented status updates, developed the Facebook ads platform, and worked on the first version of Facebook’s mobile app. Since 2010, Noah has been Chief Sumo of Sumo Group, a $70 million company offering e-commerce and marketing tools that help millions of small businesses grow their audiences and reach more customers. It’s a tool for entrepreneurs to overcome the self-created obstacles that hinder their success.
Sam Parr – Serial entrepreneur and business media pioneer
In 2016, Sam Parr founded The Hustle, a business news media company that started in his kitchen with just $12 and grew to eight figures in revenue. After four successful years, he sold The Hustle to HubSpot, a publicly traded company. Now operating as HubSpot Media, The Hustle reaches 3 million readers daily, employs a team of nearly 100, and has been the launchpad for dozens of its staff to find their own media companies and newsletters. Sam hosts the popular business podcast, My First Million and continues to start and sell companies. He also co-founded Hampton, a highly vetted community for entrepreneurs, founders, and CEOs, and teaches people to write better through his platform, Copy That.
Rob Dyrdek – Prolific athlete, entertainer, and serial entrepreneur
Rob Dyrdek is a serial entrepreneur, media magnate, and founder and CEO of Dyrdek Machine. Rob became a professional skateboarder at the age of 16, started his first company at 18, and over the course of a 25-year career, became one of the sport’s most prominent ambassadors: Face of a $500 million apparel and footwear brand, 37 signature shoes and 200 signature boards, and 24 Guinness World Records to his name. During that time, he also founded thirteen brands of his own—including Street League Skateboarding, the world’s first true professional skateboarding league—and even immortalized his childhood skate gang with Wild Grinders, a Nickelodeon cartoon, and accompanying toy line.
Peter H. Diamandis – An international pioneer in innovation, incentive competitions, and commercial space
In the field of Innovation, Dr. Peter H. Diamandis is the Chairman and CEO of the X PRIZE Foundation, best known for its $10 million Ansari X PRIZE for private spaceflight. He is also the Co-Founder and Vice-Chairman of Human Longevity Inc. (HLI), a genomics and cell therapy-based diagnostic and therapeutic company focused on extending the healthy human lifespan. Peter is also the Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Singularity University. This graduate-level Silicon Valley institution studies exponentially growing technologies and their ability to transform industries and solve humanity’s grand challenges. In commercial space, Peter is Co-Founder/Co-Chairman of Planetary Resources, a company designing spacecraft to enable the detection and mining of asteroids for precious materials. He is the New York Times Bestselling author of Abundance – The Future Is Better Than You Think. Abundance was #1 on Amazon and #2 on New York Times.
Brianne Kimmel – Venture capitalist, published author, and expert on the future of work
Brianne Kimmel is one of the angel investors and operators who started their funds during 2020’s rise of solo general partners. She is Worklife’s founder and managing director, a future-of-work-focused venture capital firm. In its first two years in business, Worklife has backed nine unicorns, including Webflow, Tonal, Hopin, Clubhouse, Public, Deel, and Pipe.
Andrew Gazdecki – Your expert start-up guy
Andrew Gazdecki is a four-time startup founder with three-time exits, former CRO, and founder of MicroAcquire. Andrew has been featured in The New York Times, Forbes, Wall Street Journal, Inc. Magazine, Entrepreneur Magazine, and prominent industry blogs such as Mashable, TechCrunch, and VentureBeat.
Dharmesh Shah – Founder and CTO of HubSpot
Dharmesh Shah is the co-founder and CTO of HubSpot. Before founding HubSpot in 2006, Dharmesh was the founder and CEO of Pyramid Digital Solutions, which was acquired by SunGard Data Systems in 2005. In addition to co-authoring “Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs,” Dharmesh founded and writes for OnStartups.com – a top-ranking startup blog and community with over 700,000 members.
Scott Belsky – Product and design obsessive, founder, author, and investor
Scott Belsky is an entrepreneur, author, and investor and is Adobe’s Chief Product Officer and Executive Vice President of Creative Cloud. Scott oversees all of the product and engineering for Creative Cloud, as well as design for Adobe. In 2006, Scott founded Behance, the leading online platform for the creative industry to showcase and discover the creative world, and served as CEO until Adobe acquired Behance in 2012. After the acquisition, Scott helped reboot Adobe’s mobile products and services for Creative Cloud while leading Behance. Behance now has over 30M members.
Dan Held – Marketing leader, advisor, and leading Bitcoin educator
Dan Held is a 9-year Marketing leader, a Bitcoin educator, and a Marketing advisor at Trust Machines. He was formerly the Director of Growth Marketing at Kraken, one of the world’s biggest crypto exchanges. In between his time in crypto, he was on the Growth Product and Marketing teams at Uber. In his free time, he has become one of the most well-known educators of Bitcoin, with over 750,000 followers on social media. He was part of the original 2013 crypto meetup group in SF, comprised of the founders of Coinbase, Ripple, Kraken, and others.
Morgan Housel – Author of The Psychology of Money
Morgan Housel is a partner at The Collaborative Fund. His book The Psychology of Money has sold over three million copies and has been translated into 53 languages. He is a two-time winner of the Best in Business Award from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers and winner of the New York Times Sidney Award. In 2022, MarketWatch named him one of the 50 most influential market people. He serves on the board of directors at Markel.
Michael Kitces – The financial planning nerd
Michael E. Kitces, the Head of Planning Strategy for Buckingham Wealth Partners, a private wealth management firm located in St Louis, Missouri, oversees approximately $50 billion of client assets. In addition, he is the co-founder of the XY Planning Network, AdvicePay, fpPathfinder, and New Planner Recruiting, former practitioner editor of the Journal of Financial Planning, and the publisher of the e-newsletter The Kitces Report and the popular financial planning industry blog Nerd’s Eye View through his website www.Kitces.com, dedicated to advancing knowledge in financial planning.
Brian Feroldi – Financial educator, YouTuber, and author
Brian Feroldi is a financial educator, YouTuber, and author. His career mission statement is “to demystify finance.” He loves to help other people do better with their money, especially their investments. He has written over 3,000 articles on stocks, investing, and personal finance for the Motley Fool. Brian’s best-selling book “Why Does The Stock Market Go Up?” was published in 2022.
Jean Chatzky – Journalist, author, finance ambassador, and CEO
Jean Chatzky is an award-winning personal finance journalist, AARP ambassador, and best-selling author. She is the CEO of HerMoney Media, a multimedia company she co-founded in 2018. Her most recent book, “Women With Money,” was published in 2019. She also wrote Operation Money, a free financial guidebook for Military Families at www.jeanchatzky.com.
Ted Seides – Podcaster and industry expert
Ted Seides founded Capital Allocators, an ecosystem that includes podcasts, gatherings, and advisory. Ted launched the Capital Allocators podcast in 2017. The show reached 13.5 million downloads in December 2022 and has been recognized as the top institutional investing podcast. Alongside the podcast, Ted created Capital Allocators Summits with friend and industry veteran Rahul Moodgal to bring together industry leaders to connect and learn. In March 2021, Ted published his second book, Capital Allocators: How the World’s elite money managers lead and Invest, which distills vital lessons from the first 150 episodes of the podcast. In October 2022, he was honored as Citizen of the Year at With Intelligence’s inaugural Allocator Prizes.
Sallie Krawcheck – Leading digital financial advisor for women
Sallie Krawcheck is the CEO and co-founder of Ellevest, a digital investment platform for women. She is the chair of Ellevate Network, a many-thousand-strong global professional woman’s network. She is also the chair of the Pax Ellevate Global Women’s Index Fund, which invests in top-rated companies for advancing women. Sallie is the author of Own It: The Power of Women at Work, released in January 2017.
Kathleen McCarthy Baldwin – The real estate girl boss
Kathleen McCarthy Baldwin is the Global Co-Head of Blackstone Real Estate. Blackstone Real Estate is an industry leader in opportunistic, core plus, and debt investing across North America, Europe, and Asia. Kathleen focuses on driving performance and growth for Blackstone’s Real Estate business. Before joining Blackstone in 2010, Kathleen worked at Goldman Sachs, focusing on investments for the Real Estate Principal Investment Area.
Luis Berruga – Expert and leading global provider of ETFs
Luis Berruga is the Chief Executive Officer of Global X ETFs, a New York-based global provider of Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) with over one million investors across more than 90 countries. Luis joined Global X in 2014 as Chief Operating Officer & Chief Financial Officer, and in 2018, he was named Chief Executive Officer. Under his leadership, Global X ETFs’ assets under management grew from $8bn to approximately $40bn, becoming a global leader in the ETF industry and opening offices in Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Australia.
Arnold Schwarzenegger – Bodybuilder, Conan, Terminator, and former Governor of California
Arnold Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-born American bodybuilder, film actor, and politician who rose to fame through roles in blockbuster action movies and later served as governor of California from 2003 to 2011. Schwarzenegger was nicknamed the “Austrian Oak” in his bodybuilding days, “Arnie” or “Schwarzy” during his acting career, and “the Governator” (a portmanteau of “Governor” and “Terminator”) during his political career.
Bill Gross – Founder of technology incubator Idealab and 100 companies in the last 30 years
Bill Gross founded Idealab in March 1996. Bill is a lifelong entrepreneur, starting his first solar business in high school. After graduating from the California Institute of Technology, Bill started GNP Development, Inc., which made a natural language product for Lotus 1-2-3 called HAL. In 1985, Lotus Development Corporation acquired GNP. In 1991, Bill started Knowledge Adventure, an educational software publisher that was eventually sold to Havas/Vivendi. Bill serves on the boards of directors of numerous companies and is also a member of the Board of Trustees of Caltech and the Art Center College of Design.
Sukhinder Singh Cassidy – CEO, digital executive, and entrepreneur with decades-long experience
Sukhinder Singh Cassidy is a leading digital executive and entrepreneur with over twenty-five years of leadership experience scaling and founding companies, including Google, Amazon, Yodlee, Joyus, and Polyvore. She is the founder and Chairman of the Boardlist, a premium talent marketplace for diverse executives. She most recently served as the President of StubHub, the leading global consumer ticketing marketplace for live entertainment.
Soraya Darabi – Founder, investor, and believer in ideas that innovate
Soraya Darabi is a General Partner and founder of TMV, an early-stage venture firm investing in purposeful startups reimagining the future. TMV backs start-up companies focused on ideas that will reshape industries or inspire new ones. Soraya was a two-time host of “Business Schooled – a Podcast by Synchrony,” a “Top 20 Business Podcast” on Apple – for which she traveled the United States interviewing persevering founders who have made it past their startup days.
Jack Schwager – Recognized industry expert on futures and hedge funds
Jack D. Schwager is a partner and co-founder of FundSeeder.com. He is the author of the iconic Market Wizards series in which he interviewed about 70 trading legends of our time. His most recent work in the series is Unknown Market Wizards, published in November 2020. Previous books in the series include Market Wizards (1989), The New Market Wizards (1992), Stock Market Wizards (2001), Hedge Fund Market Wizards (2012), and The Little Book of Market Wizards (2014). His other books include the revised edition of A Complete Guide to the Futures Markets (2017). Market Sense and Nonsense (2013), Getting Started in Technical Analysis (1999), and the three-volume Schwager on Futures series (1995-96).
Campbell Harvey – Professor, researcher, and mentor that nurtures the young minds
Campbell R. Harvey is a Professor of Finance at Duke University and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He served as Editor of The Journal of Finance from 2006 to 2012 and as the 2016 President of the American Finance Association. He holds a Ph.D. in Finance from the University of Chicago. Professor Harvey has served as Partner and Senior Advisor to Research Affiliates, LLC, and Investment Strategy Advisor to Man Group, contributing to research and product design.
Mat Ishbia – CEO and driver of passion in United Wholesale Mortgage
Mat Ishbia is the chief executive of United Wholesale Mortgage, a wholesale lender in the US mortgage market. The Pontiac, Michigan-based firm, underwrites loans, provides closing documentation services, and became publicly traded in 2020. He is also the lead owner of the NBA team, the Phoenix Suns.
Ron “Omani” Carson – Founder and philanthropist, helping people achieve financial success
Ron Carson is the founder and CEO of Carson Group, which serves financial advisors and investors through its businesses, including Carson Wealth, Carson Coaching, and Carson Partners. Ron is a nationally acclaimed New York Times bestselling author and has shared his proven principles through several books, including 2005’s Tested in the Trenches, 2007’s Avalanche, 2012’s second edition of Tested in the Trenches, 2016’s The Sustainable Edge, and most recently Proven in the Trenches: 11 Principles to Maximize Advisor Value and Transform Your Firm’s Future, a follow-up to his 2012 book in which advisors receive an actionable game plan touching on the core dimensions of a highly functioning financial services firm.
Cristiano R. Amon – CEO and leader, pushing the limits of technologies
Cristiano Amon is President and Chief Executive Officer of Qualcomm Incorporated and serves on the company’s board of directors. Amon assumed the role of CEO on June 30, 2021. Before Qualcomm, Amon served as chief technical officer for Vésper, a wireless operator in Brazil, and held leadership positions at NEC, Ericsson, and Velocom.
Hadi Partovi – Investor, adviser, and CEO empowering education for the world
Hadi Partovi is a tech entrepreneur, investor, and CEO of the education nonprofit Code.org. In 2013 Hadi and his twin brother Ali launched the education nonprofit Code.org, which Hadi continues to lead full-time as CEO. Hadi has been an early advisor or investor at many tech startups, including Facebook, Dropbox, Airbnb, and Uber. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Axon and MNTN.
Jim Cramer – The Mad Money man and investment pro
Jim Cramer is an American television personality known for his investment advice show Mad Money. He serves as the viewer’s personal guide through the confusing jungle of Wall Street investing. Jim also writes market commentary for TheStreet’s Real Money premium service and participates in video segments on TheStreet TV. He also runs Action Alerts PLUS, a charitable trust portfolio.
Jonas Prising – CEO and global leader of innovation in the world of workforce
Jonas Prising was named ManpowerGroup Chairman in December 2015 and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in May 2014. He leads all aspects of ManpowerGroup’s $21 billion business in 80 countries and territories worldwide. A recognized expert on the labor market and world of work trends, Jonas regularly speaks at conferences and summits globally and provides commentary on jobs and employment trends for media. He is actively engaged in the World Economic Forum, including as a Steward of the Future of the Education, Gender, and Work Global System, Co-Chair of the Regional Business Council on Europe, and CEO Champion of the Digital Transformation Initiative.
David Edelman – Expert in marketing and building consultancy businesses in digital and marketing transformation
David Edelman spent over 30 years as a chief marketing officer at Aetna and CVS. He built consultancy businesses in digital and marketing transformation with McKinsey & Company, Digitas, and the Boston Consulting Group. He now teaches marketing at Harvard Business School and is an advisor to top executives in startups, private equity, and larger enterprises. Having driven large-scale change from both the client and client-service side, he is well-suited to help CXOs shape their strategic direction, build their teams’ capabilities, and become more digitally agile.
Aaron Hurst – Cross-sector CEO, founder, and advocate of the work fulfillment and purpose mindset
Aaron Hurst is a social systems entrepreneur and a leading expert on the science of purpose and fulfillment at work. He is the founding CEO of Imperative, a venture-backed start-up that developed the first employee purpose profiling technology, enabling hundreds of thousands of people to discover and own their purpose at work. In 2020, he re-launched the company, creating the first enterprise peer coaching platform, which has become a critical way to connect and develop employees in the hybrid workplace. By accelerating trust through meaningful conversation, the platform is emerging as one of the most promising solutions for building belonging and breaking down barriers inside companies and society.
Randi Zuckerberg – CEO, founder, and author, bridging the gap between arts and technology
Randi Zuckerberg is passionate about helping families navigate our digital world. Through her company, Zuckerberg Media, she has created award-winning content and experiences that educate families and bring issues around digital literacy and safety to light. She is the best-selling author of four books, producer of multiple television shows and theater productions, and hosts a weekly radio show on SiriusXM. Randi has been recognized with an Emmy nomination, two Tony awards, a Drama Desk Award, and a Kidscreen Award. Before founding her own company, Randi was an early employee at Facebook, where she is best known for creating Facebook Live, now used by more than two billion people around the globe.
Dan Khabie – World-class strategist and digital industry leader bringing waves across the globe
Dan Khabie is the global and North American CEO of Mirum, a global digital agency. As CEO, he drives Mirum’s overall growth strategy, including P&L responsibility, managing key client relationships, and aligning resources to connect teams and serve clients globally in 27 countries, with over 50 offices and 2,500 professionals. Dan was co-founder and CEO of Digitaria, one of 11 agencies that formed to become Mirum in 2015.
Ann Handley – Wall Street Journal bestselling author and renowned speaker, pioneer of digital marketing
Cited in Forbes as the most influential woman in Social Media and recognized by ForbesWoman as one of the top 20 women bloggers, Ann Handley is the Chief Content Officer of MarketingProfs. This training company empowers marketers internationally with the skills they need to drive success at their companies. Ann is a speaker, author, and member of the LinkedIn Influencer program. She is the author of the Wall Street Journal best-seller on business writing, “Everybody Writes,” and the co-author of the best-selling book on content marketing, “Content Rules: How to Create Killer Blogs, Podcasts, Videos, Ebooks, Webinars (and More) That Engage Customers and Ignite Your Business.” A pioneer in digital marketing, Ann is the co-founder of ClickZ.com, which was one of the first sources of digital marketing news and commentary.
Mickey McManus – Pioneer in pervasive computing, collaborative human/machine innovation, human-centered design, and education
Mickey McManus is a senior advisor and leadership coach at BCG and research fellow emeritus at Autodesk’s Office of the CTO. He holds 12 patents in connected products, vehicles, and services. Mickey co-authored Trillions: Thriving in the Emerging Information Ecology (Wiley 2012). Trillions were awarded the Axiom Gold Award for best business book about technology and the Carnegie Science Award in the Science Communicator category.
Reid Hoffman – An exemplar of Silicon Valley at its best and former executive chairman and co-founder of LinkedIn
Reid Hoffman is the host of Masters of Scale. A Silicon Valley entrepreneur and investor, he’s known for his spot-on insights on how to scale a startup. He was an accomplished entrepreneur and executive who built many of today’s leading consumer technology businesses, including LinkedIn and PayPal. As an investor, he has been instrumental in the success of iconic companies such as Facebook and Airbnb and has helped fast-growing startups like Aurora and Convoy get to scale. He’s a partner at Greylock, co-founder of LinkedIn, and co-author of the best-selling Blitzscaling and The Startup of You.
Bob Sutton – Organizational psychologist, Stanford professor, New York Times bestselling author, and speaker
Robert Sutton is a Professor of Management Science and Engineering at Stanford, where he co-founded the Stanford Technology Ventures Program and Institute of Design (“the d school”). He studies leadership, organizational change, innovation, scaling, and workplace dynamics. His next book (with Huggy Rao) will be “The Friction Project: How Smart Leaders Make the Right Things Easier and the Wrong Things Harder,” published in early 2024. Sutton has published over 200 articles in academic and popular outlets, along with seven books.
Sara Blakely – Self-made billionaire and leader of Spanx revolution
Sara Blakely is the founder of Spanx, a brand of slimming undergarments launched in 2000. Sara invented Spanx in the late 1990s despite having no fashion, retail, or business leadership experience. Today, she advises small businesses as a shark on Shark Tank. In addition to her entrepreneurship, Sara engages in philanthropy through the Spanx by Sara Blakely Foundation, which she established in 2006. Sara also donated to the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls and, in 2013, became the first woman to join Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett’s “The Giving Pledge.”
Colin Shaw – Best-selling author and global influencer, forerunner of customer satisfaction
Colin Shaw is a trailblazer in customer experience and marketing, with a vast following of over 295,000 followers on LinkedIn and numerous accolades to his name. He is an official influencer, one of LinkedIn’s Top Voices, and is recognized by LinkedIn as one of the World’s Top 150 Business Influencers. With over 80,000 subscribers to his LinkedIn newsletter and seven best-selling books, Colin is a respected authority on customers, marketing, and business strategy. Colin co-hosts the highly successful ‘The Intuitive Customer’ podcast, which is in the top 2% of all podcasts with over half a million downloads.
Tiffany R. Warren – Emmy nominee and champion of diversity and inclusion
As Executive VP, Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer for Sony Music Group, Tiffany R. Warren expanded equity and inclusion activities and policies across all Sony Music Group’s (SMG) global recorded music, publishing, and corporate divisions. Recognized as a leader in diversity, Tiffany is a talent strategist with 24+ years of championing diverse professionals in the creative industries. In 2005, she founded ADCOLOR, which launched the ADCOLOR Conference, Awards, FUTURES program, and ADCOLOR in Music. As President of ADCOLOR, she has been widely recognized for the progress and direction the creative industries have taken around diversity, equity & inclusion.
Clara Shih – Investor and CEO leading the world into AI future
Clara Shih is the CEO of Salesforce AI. In this role, she oversees artificial intelligence efforts across the company, including product, go-to-market, growth, adoption, and ecosystem for Einstein GPT, the world’s #1 AI for CRM. A digital pioneer, Clara has been named one of Fortune’s “40 under 40” and “Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs,” Fast Company’s “Most Influential People in Technology,” and a “Young Global Leader” by the World Economic Forum. Clara is a member of the Starbucks board of directors and serves as Executive Chair of Hearsay Systems, a privately held digital software firm she founded in 2009.
Hunter Walk – Venture capitalist championing growth of the bottoms-up economy
Hunter Walk is a Co-founder and Partner at Homebrew, a seed-stage venture fund investing in mission-driven founders seeking to enable the bottoms-up economy – helping businesses, developers, and individuals drive economic growth and innovation through more straightforward, cheaper, and more direct access to technology, information, and customers. Before venture, Hunter was a Director of Products at Google, where he led consumer product management at YouTube, starting when Google acquired it.
Steve Faktor – Author and CEO innovating the digital commerce world
Steve Faktor is an innovator, futurist, and digital commerce expert. He is the Managing Director of IdeaFaktory, which helps companies accelerate growth by partnering with top startups, developing innovations, and restructuring for growth. As a senior executive at American Express, Citi, and MasterCard, Steve has created several $100M+ businesses and deployed multiple enterprise innovation programs. He is the author of Econovation, which critics describe as “a fascinating, erudite, bitingly funny, well researched, and…important book“ about capitalizing on the end of consumerism and rise of ‘producerism.’
Erica Ariel Fox – Best-selling author and leadership advisor, campaigner of winning from within
Erica Ariel Fox is the New York Times Bestselling author of Winning From Within: A Breakthrough Method for Leading, Living, and Lasting Change. She teaches negotiation at Harvard Law School, where she began teaching in 1996. A highly sought-after advisor, Erica works with senior leaders around the world with her partners at Mobius Executive Leadership, and she’s also a Senior Advisor to McKinsey Leadership Development. Mixing nearly two decades of experience with business leaders and a personal touch, Erica brings a unique voice to the conversation about leading wisely and living well.
Jennifer Morgan – Executive of an asset management company and supporter of gender equality
Jennifer Morgan is the former Co-Chief Executive Officer at SAP SE. She went from head of regulated businesses at SAP to overseeing the Americas, Japan, and Asia Pacific in just five years. With her emphasis on developing a diverse workforce, SAP North America has been recognized as a leader in gender equality by the World Economic Forum. The first American woman to sit on SAP’s executive board, Morgan is credited with closing SAP North America’s gender pay gap.
Matthew Bishop – Sought-after expert in philanthropy, advisor, and journalist
Matthew Bishop is a nonresident senior fellow in the Center for Sustainable Development, housed within the Global Economy and Development program at the Brookings Institution. He is also a founder and board member of the Social Progress Imperative, which publishes the Social Progress Index. He was previously managing director of the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center, following a 25-year career as a writer, editor, and conference curator at The Economist, including as the magazine’s Global Business Editor, New York Bureau Chief, Wall Street Editor, and Economics Correspondent.
Justin Welsh – The diversified solopreneur helping out one-person businesses thrive
Justin Welsh is a former tech executive turned entrepreneur. He coaches SaaS founders and sales leaders to accelerate recurring revenue toward $50M+ and has worked extensively with no-code tools to build businesses. Justin spent the last decade building two $50M+ ARR companies, teams of 150+ people, and raising over $300M in venture capital. Then, in 2019, he walked away from my executive job at a high-growth startup to build his portfolio of one-person businesses.
Nick Huber – Young entrepreneur scaling the concept of self-storage facilities
Nick Huber is a serial entrepreneur, investor, and content creator focused on real estate and small business. Nick has co-founded six companies in the last nine months, including RE Cost Set, RecruitJet, Titan Risk, Blue Key Capital, Tax Credit Hunter, and WebRun Labs. His primary business, Bolt Storage, owns 1.8M sqft of self-storage facilities across 62 locations in 11 states. Nick has published over 400 podcast episodes, 200+ articles, and thousands of tweets. Through content, he openly shares his philosophy on life and business while building a diverse portfolio of sweaty startups in real time.
Gary Swart – Tech investor and former executive breaking boundaries in the digital workforce
Gary Swart is a partner investing in technology and healthcare companies out of our San Francisco office. Previously, Gary was the CEO of oDesk (now UpWork, NASDAQ; UPWK), the world’s largest online workplace. His commentary has appeared in various publications, including Forbes, TechCrunch, and The Washington Post. He’s appeared on TV and radio outlets, including CNBC, BBC, Bloomberg TV, National Public Radio (NPR), and the Fox Business Network. In addition, Gary is a mentor and coach at several accelerators, including Alchemist and StartX.
Micky Onvural – Visionary executive helping people achieve financial freedom
Micky Onvural is Chief Marketing & Communications Officer, responsible for leading a global marketing and communications team charged with expanding awareness of TIAA and its dedication to providing lifetime income and improving clients’ experience through digital-first solutions. Before joining TIAA, Micky served as CEO of e-commerce menswear company Bonobos. With over 20 years of experience as a marketing, product development, and business strategy leader, she has held senior leadership roles at eBay, Trulia, and Kellogg’s. Micky has earned numerous industry awards for innovative marketing and branding campaigns merging physical and digital to create immersive experiences.
Jeff Weiner – Executive chairman of LinkedIn and at the forefront of connecting the global workforce
Jeff Weiner is the executive chairman of LinkedIn, where he continues to help LinkedIn realize its vision of creating economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce through mentorship, coaching, and advising current leadership. In addition to his ongoing work at LinkedIn, Jeff is the founding partner of Next Play Ventures, where he’s focused on investing in and coaching early-stage start-ups and growth-stage companies. He is also a founding LP and serves on the Investment Committee of Concrete Rose Capital, an early-stage venture fund focused on investing in diverse founders and start-ups serving underserved communities and building various teams. Jeff is also the co-founder of The Compassion Project, whose mission is to ensure compassion is taught in every elementary school in the U.S.
Tom Monahan – President of the innovative educational institution remaining true to its mission
Thomas L. Monahan III is president and chief executive officer of DeVry University. He is responsible for articulating the University’s vision, mission, and values with internal and external stakeholders and supporting and enhancing the institution’s academic mission and overall operations. Before joining DeVry, Monahan spent over two decades as a leader, CEO, and Chairman of CEB, a best practice insights and technology company. Before joining CEB, Monahan worked with Deloitte, the Committee for Economic Development, and Andersen Consulting.
Sarah Murray – Advocate and writer championing sustainability and philanthropy
Sarah Murray is a specialist writer on sustainable development, healthcare, and philanthropy, and a non-fiction author. A long-time Financial Times contributor and former FT staff journalist, she also writes features, research reports, and white papers for the Economist Group and universities, companies, and foundations. She is a LinkedIn Influencer. In 2014, Sarah was awarded a Boehm Media Fellowship. In 2009, she was awarded a fellowship at Yaddo, the leading American artists’ residency. In 2008, Sarah’s book Moveable Feasts was selected by JPMorgan Private Bank as one of its ten summer “must read” books.
Tom Gonser – Founder of DocuSign and frontrunner of innovation in the digital times
Tom Gonser is a General Partner and an entrepreneurial executive with a strong track record in technology leadership and innovation with more than 15 years of experience participating on boards of directors of fast-growing companies. Before joining SPV in 2017, Tom was DocuSign’s founder and chief strategy officer, The Global Standard for eSignature. He began his career at Apple Computer, Wildfire Communications, McCaw Cellular, and AT&T Wireless, then launched and ran several companies focused on SaaS, Financial Services, and GPS Technology and experienced in corporate development, raising venture capital, strategic business planning, M&A, international business expansion, and business model development.
Angela Duckworth – Co-founder and philanthropist creating impact in the lives of children
Angela Duckworth is co-founder, chief scientist, and a board member of Character Lab, a nonprofit whose mission is to advance scientific insights that help children thrive. She is also the Rosa Lee and Egbert Chang Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, faculty co-director of the Penn-Wharton Behavior Change For Good Initiative, and Wharton People Analytics faculty co-director. A 2013 MacArthur Fellow, Angela has advised the White House, the World Bank, NBA and NFL teams, and Fortune 500 CEOs.
John Chen – Tech CEO pioneering and reinventing how the world connects
John Chen is Executive Chairman of BlackBerry’s Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer. He is a distinguished and proven leader in the technology industry. Before joining BlackBerry, he served as Chairman and CEO of Sybase Inc. from 1997 for 15 years. He also previously held executive positions at Siemens Nixdorf, Pyramid Technology Corp., Unisys, and Burroughs Corp, where he started his engineering career. John served on the board of directors for The Walt Disney Company and Wells Fargo. He is active in the not-for-profit community and is a Caltech trustee, a CFR member, a national trustee of The First Tee, and Governor of the San Francisco Symphony.
Ray Chambers – Humanitarian and ambassador making the world a better place
Ray Chambers is the chairman of The MCJ Amelior Foundation. He is the founding Chairman of the Points of Light Foundation and co-founder, with Colin Powell, of America’s Promise – The Alliance for Youth. He also co-founded the National Mentoring Partnership, is the Founding Chairman of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, the former Chairman of Wesray Capital Corporation, which he co-founded with William E. Simon, and is currently Chair of Wesray Social Investments. Ray is the co-founder of Malaria No More. He also Chairs the Global Health Alliance, is a Board Member and Chair of the Executive Committee of the Clinton Health Access Initiative, and is a member of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Communication Advisory Board and Board of Harvard University’s Defeating Malaria: From the Genes to the Globe Initiative. He also serves on the Board of JUST Capital.
Christina Farr – Health-tech investor supporting tech disruptors around the globe
Christina Farr is a San Francisco-based health-tech investor. She’s a principal at OMERS Ventures based in the Bay Area. Previously, she was a health-tech reporter and on-air contributor for CNBC, Fast Company, and Reuters News. She was raised in London, UK, and received graduate degrees from University College London and Stanford University.
Manny Chirico – Chairman that empowers people through fashion and lifestyle
Manny Chirico is Chairman of PVH Corp., owner of an iconic family of brands, including Calvin Klein TOMMY HILFIGER, Van Heusen, ARROW, Warner’s, and IZOD. Manny has been with PVH for over 26 years, serving as CEO from 2006 to January 2021 and Chairman since 2007. Under his leadership, PVH has become one of the world’s largest and most admired fashion and lifestyle companies, reaching $9.9 billion in annual revenues in 2019 and 40,000 associates operating in over 40 countries.
Daniel Solove – Law professor and trusted authority in privacy law
One of the world’s leading experts in privacy law, Daniel Solove, is the author of more than ten books and 100+ articles. He has published books with Oxford University Press, Harvard University Press, and Yale University Press. He is the #1 most cited law professor born after 1970, the #1 most cited law professor in the law and technology field, and the #2 most downloaded legal academic on SSRN. Daniel founded two companies, one that provides privacy training to organizations and another that involves education, events, and certification to privacy lawyers and professionals. He founded the Privacy Law Scholars Conference, the largest and leading academic conference in privacy law. He was a co-reporter for the ALI’s Principles of Law, Data Privacy.
Jason Hirschhorn – CEO curating ideas for the curious minds
Jason Hirschhorn is the Founder and serves as Chief Executive Officer and Chief Curator at Redef. He also is the Founder and served as Chief Digital Officer at Mischief New Media. He served as Chief Digital Officer at MTV Networks. He served on the Board of Directors at Pandora Radio. He joined Sling Media in December 2006 to preside over the newly created Sling Media Entertainment Group. He has served as an Advisor at Greycroft Partners. Before joining Sling Media, he was a Founding Partner at TripleH Media Advisors, a digital media consultancy. Before TripleH, Jason was Chief Digital Officer at MTV Networks. In April 2009, he joined MySpace as its Chief Product Officer and, in February 2010, was promoted to co-President.
Jon Oringer – Serial entrepreneur bridging media forms for creative professionals
Jon Oringer is an American programmer, photographer, and billionaire businessman, best known as the founder and CEO of Shutterstock, a stock media company headquartered in New York City. He started Shutterstock with $10,000 in 2003 to create a more affordable way to supply stock photos. He took the photo service public in 2012 and served as its CEO until April 2020, when he became executive chairman.
David L. Katz – Leader and expert on advancing public health initiatives
David L. Katz, MD, MPH, FACPM, FACP, FACLM is a specialist in Internal Medicine, Preventive Medicine/Public Health, and Lifestyle Medicine, with particular expertise in nutrition. He is the founder and former director of Yale University’s Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center (1998-2019); Past President of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine; Founder of the non-profit True Health Initiative; and Founder and CEO of Diet ID, Inc. He is a Fellow of the American College of Preventive Medicine; the American College of Physicians; the American College of Lifestyle Medicine; and Morse College, Yale University.
Aaref Hilaly – Venture capitalist helping creating business opportunities for start-ups
Aaref Hilaly is a Founder and Partner at Bain Capital Ventures. He previously worked at CenterRun as a Founder and CEO. Before joining Sequoia Capital in 2012, he was the CEO of Clearwell, a leading provider of analytics software for electronic discovery. Prior to that, Aaref was the Founder and CEO of CenterRun, a pioneer in data center automation, which Sun Microsystems acquired.
Chris Capossela – Executive and world-renowned marketer of businesses around the globe
As executive vice president and chief marketing officer, Chris Capossela runs worldwide marketing across consumer and commercial businesses, including product marketing, business planning, brand, advertising, events, media buying, communications and market research for Microsoft products and services. Capossela also runs digital direct sales and retail partner sales for all Microsoft products. Capossela joined Microsoft in 1991 as a marketing manager for the Windows Seminar Team. Before taking on his role as CMO and EVP, he served as the worldwide leader of the Consumer Channels Group, responsible for sales and marketing activities with OEM, operator, and retail partners.
Lo Toney – Founder and Partner of investment firm reinventing the business scope
Lo Toney is the Founding Managing Partner of Plexo Capital, which he incubated and spun out from GV (Google Ventures) based on a strategy to increase access to early-stage deal flow. Plexo Capital invests in emerging seed-stage VCs and invests directly into companies sourced from the portfolios of VCs where Plexo Capital has an investment. Investors in Plexo Capital include Alphabet (holding company of Google), Intel Capital, Cisco Investment, the Royal Bank of Canada, Kapor Capital, the Hampton University Endowment (Cambridge Associates client), the Ford Foundation, family offices, and technology executives.
Steve Blank – Co-creator of lean startup movement and professor shaping minds
Steve Blank co-created the Lean Startup movement. He has been part of or co-founded eight Silicon Valley startups. These have run the gamut from semiconductors, video games, personal computers, and supercomputers. He served as a governor’s appointee to the California Coastal Commission. Steve currently teaches entrepreneurship and national security innovation at Stanford. The National Science Foundation adopted his Lean Launchpad class as the U.S. standard for commercializing basic and applied research via the Innovation Corps.
Kevin O’Leary – Ecopreneur and founder of mutual fund company leading the value investing philosophy
From his basement, Kevin O’Leary launched SoftKey Software Products. As sales took off, he moved to headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and went on an industry-consolidating acquisition binge. From 1995 to 1999 he bought out almost every one of his software competitors, including Mindscape, Broderbund and the Learning Company in the industry’s first vicious public hostile battle. In 1999 Kevin sold his company to the Mattel Toy Company for $4.2 billion, one of the largest deals ever done in the consumer software industry. To keep his money working hard, he took control of his wealth from his lackluster money managers and founded his own mutual fund company, O’Leary Funds. He is on the investment committee of Boston’s prestigious 200-year-old Hamilton Trust. He also launched O’Shares ETFs, a group of exchange-traded funds.
Stephen Balkam – Visionary and serial social entrepreneur pivoting the digital safety movement
Stephen Balkam is the Founder and CEO of the Family Online Safety Institute, an international non-profit dedicated to making the online world safer and more civil for kids and their families. Before this, he set up the Internet Content Rating Association – the world’s leading content rating system on the web. He runs organizations as diverse as the National Stepfamily Association (UK), Islington Voluntary Action Council (London), and Camden Community Transport. He writes regularly for LinkedIn, Huffington Post and appears on television and radio regularly.
Capt. Sully Sullenberger – International lecturer, author, and safety expert on aviation
Capt. Sully Sullenberger is the #1 New York Times best-selling author of Highest Duty: My Search for What Really Matters and also wrote Making a Difference: Stories of Vision and Courage from America’s Leaders. Clint Eastwood directed the major motion picture about his life, titled SULLY, based on Highest Duty. He has been an international lecturer and keynote speaker at educational institutions, corporations, and non-profit organizations about the importance of aviation and patient safety, high-performance systems improvement, leadership, crisis management, lifelong preparation, and living a life of integrity. From 2009 to 2013, he served as co-chairman of EAA Young Eagles—a program that inspires and educates youth about aviation.
Jonah Berger – Professor and international best-selling author empowering people to foster change
Jonah Berger is a Marketing Professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, an internationally bestselling author, and a world-renowned expert on change, influence, word of mouth, natural language processing, consumer behavior, and how products, ideas, and behaviors catch on. He has published over 50 articles in top‐tier academic journals, teaches Wharton’s highest-rated online course, and popular accounts of his work often appear in places like The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Harvard Business Review. Over a million copies of his books, Contagious, Invisible Influence, and The Catalyst: How to Change Anyone’s Mind are in print in over 35 countries worldwide. Berger often keynotes major conferences and events like SXSW and Cannes Lions, advises various early stage companies, and consults for organizations like Apple, Google, Nike, Amazon, GE, 3M, and The Gates Foundation.
Tom Gardner – CEO and co-founder, envisioning a better and happier world
Fed up with Wall Street’s notion that everyday people couldn’t comprehend the stock market, Tom Gardner co-founded The Motley Fool in 1993 with a simple obsession: “To help the world invest better.” With no formal training in finance, Tom and his brother conceptualized a unique forum where a community of individuals could discuss and improve their financial decisions free of cost. Realizing that the Internet was a perfect forum for their product, they launched the Motley Fool site on AOL in August 1994 (they later added a Web site). The brothers named their service Motley Fool. They wrote essays, provided market insights, recommended how much, when, and where subscribers should invest, and suggested the kind of return subscribers could expect on their money.
Sue Siegel – Innovator and leader shaping industry-disrupting companies for the future
Sue Siegel is the Chairman of the Board of The Engine, built by MIT, where she is on the Sloan School of Management faculty. Her public service includes serving on President Obama’s Working Group that launched the Precision Medicine Initiative, which led to the creation of All of US, as a founding board member of the National Center for Advancing Translational Science, and as a selection judge for White House Fellows across administrations. Sue has been recognized as one of Fortune’s “34 Leaders Who Are Changing Health Care,” as one of “The 100 Most Influential Women in Silicon Valley,” and was awarded the “Lifetime Achievement Award” by Global Corporate Venture in 2020. She was selected as an Aspen Institute Henry Crown Fellow and is a featured “Multiplier” in the bestselling book: “Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter.”
Eva Moskowitz – Charter school champion empowering children to reach their highest academic potential
Eva Moskowitz is the founder and CEO of Success Academy Charter Schools, the highest-performing charter school network in New York City. In 2006, Eva launched her first school in Harlem, and in just nine years, her network has grown to 34 schools serving more than 11,000 children in the Bronx, Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn. Success Academy schools serve a high-poverty population, yet they consistently outperform New York’s most affluent school districts. The flagship Harlem school was chosen as a National Blue Ribbon School in 2012 (one of 219 across the country) by the U.S. Department of Education.
Baron Davis – Entrepreneur and Two-Time NBA All-Star Player Making his Moves in the Court and Business World
Over a thirteen-year career, Baron Davis played for the Charlotte Hornets, the Golden State Warriors, the Los Angeles Clippers, the Cleveland Cavaliers, and the New York Knicks. As a businessman, Baron was one of the original investors for Vitamin Water and helped launch Thrive Market. Baron is also the founder of several companies, including Sports and Lifestyle in Culture (SLIC), The Black Santa Company, BIG, and No Label. Baron also served as producer of several acclaimed documentaries, including Crips and Bloods: Made In America, 30 for 30: Sole Man, and The Drew: No Excuse, Just Produce. He is a mentor and coach for young, upcoming basketball players and a longtime supporter of the Boys and Girls Club of Venice. His nonprofit, Rising Stars of America, established in 1999, helps to raise funds for basketball camps and sponsors AAU teams across Los Angeles.
Charley Moore – CEO and Founder Changing the Legal Industry Landscape
Charley Moore is the founder and CEO of the San Francisco, California-based RocketLawyer, an online legal service platform that uses both AI and access to legal professionals to provide individuals, families, and business owners with affordable and accessible legal services.
Daymond John – Self-made millionaire and expert on groundbreaking entrepreneurial ventures
Daymond John has come a long way from turning a $40 budget into FUBU, a $6 billion fashion game-changer. Throughout his career, Daymond has continued to be an entrepreneur in every sense of the word. He is not only a pioneer in the fashion industry but a Shark on the 4-time Emmy Award-winning Shark Tank, a New York Times best-selling author, a branding guru, and a highly sought-after motivational speaker. With years of experience as a successful entrepreneur and mentor, Daymond landed a co-starring role on ABC’s Shark Tank business show. As “The Peoples Shark,” Daymond has impacted the hopeful entrepreneurs vying for an investment in the Tank and the millions of weekly viewers sitting at home through his relatable story and journey to success that continues to motivate and inspire.
Jonathan Becher – Senior executive and highly collaborative advisor for start-ups
Jonathan Becher is president of Sharks Sports & Entertainment, the parent organization for the NHL’s San Jose Sharks, the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda, three Sharks Ice facilities, and the non-profit Sharks Foundation. A long-time Sharks fan and season ticket holder, Becher is responsible for the organization’s overall strategy, focusing on the end-to-end customer experience. A three-time technology company CEO, Becher is on the Board of Directors of multiple organizations, including the Churchill Club, Trintech, Khoros, and Pixlee. He is a frequent event speaker and a published author on various topics – including his popular blog, Manage By Walking Around.
Gary Burnison – CEO of organizational consulting firm to motivate the workforce
Gary Burnison is the CEO of Korn Ferry. Under his leadership, Korn Ferry has been transformed into a global organizational consulting firm with more than 10,000 colleagues under his leadership. Today, Korn Ferry works with clients to design their organizational structures, roles, and responsibilities. The firm helps organizations hire the right people and advises them on rewarding, developing, and motivating their workforce. The firm also allows professionals to navigate and advance their careers. Gary is the author of nine leadership and career development books, including a New York Times bestseller. He writes regular content focused on the intersection of strategy, talent, and leadership, including his widely-read weekly “Special Editions” for global leaders. He is also a regular contributor to CNBC and other major media outlets.
Craig Newmark – Web pioneer and philanthropist advocating journalism trust
In 2017, Craig Newmark became a founding founder and executive committee member of the News Integrity Initiative, administered by the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, which seeks to advance news literacy and increase trust in journalism. In 2016, he created Craig Newmark Philanthropies to promote investment in organizations that effectively serve their communities and drive broad civic engagement at the grassroots level. Craig serves on the board of directors of a range of nonprofits, including Blue Star Families, Center for Public Integrity, Consumers Union/Consumer Reports, Girls Who Code, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, Poynter Foundation, Sunlight Foundation, VetsInTech, and Women in Public Service Project. He also serves on the Board of Overseers of the Columbia Journalism Review. In 1995, Craig started curating a list of San Francisco events he emailed to friends and colleagues. When Craig turned it into a company, he monetized minimally, opting for a business model that prioritized “doing well by doing good.” Today, more than 5 billion ads have been posted on the site, the vast majority for free.
Albert Bourla – Leader of Pfizer staying true to its purpose of changing and improving patients’ lives
When Albert Bourla became CEO in 2019, he accelerated Pfizer’s transformation into a more science-driven, innovative company and fostered a culture where people and science could thrive. In 2022, he was named the Genesis Prize Laureate in recognition of his leadership during the pandemic. In 2021, he was named CEO of the Year by CNN Business, included in Insider Magazine’s Most Transformative CEOs list, and inducted into the Crain’s New York Business Hall of Fame. Albert is on the executive committee of The Partnership for New York City, a vice president of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations, a director on multiple boards, and a Trustee of the United States Council for International Business. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Business Roundtable, the Business Council, and the New York City Mayor’s Corporate Council.
Kristin A. Sherry – Career innovator awardee and expert inspiring people to change their lives
Kristin A. Sherry is a globally recognized career expert, winner of the 2020 Career Innovator Award by Career Directors International, and creator of the YouMap® career profile, which uncovers the Four Pillars of Career Fit™ in teens and adults, and TalentStory™, a process of self-discovery for elementary-aged children. Kristin is also an international speaker and award-winning nine-time author. Her most popular books are Amazon’s #1 international bestseller, YouMap, and Your Team Loves Mondays…Right?, selected as a 2020 Top Business Book Read by Training Magazine and a 2020 PenCraft literary excellence award winner. Kristin is the managing partner of YouMap LLC, which certifies coaches, career services, and HR professionals as YouMap® coaches and workshop facilitators. She has certified professionals in the Middle East, United Kingdom, Canada, Belgium, El Salvador, and the U.S.
Bob Dorf – Bestseller and speaker driving force in the start-up industry
Bob Dorf has been a startup coach/consultant/trainer for nearly a decade after spending earlier decades founding seven startups and investing in 30 more. Bob co-authored the “Startup Owner’s Manual,” a global bestseller now in 21 languages. He travels the world energizing startup ecosystems and providing hands-on, hyperactive training programs for startup groups and corporations driving disruptive innovation. The process Bob teaches has guided thousands of startups and corporate intrapreneurs, reducing the toxic failure rate of innovation.
Solita Marcelli – Finance executive and global wealth management expert
Solita Marcelli is the Chief Investment Officer of Americas for UBS Global Wealth Management. Solita is responsible for bringing together market and investment insights to optimize impact for UBS Americas clients with over USD 1.3 trillion in total invested assets. She is a member of the global CIO and WM USA management committees. She serves on the Global Investment Committee, responsible for formulating the UBS Global Wealth Management Investment House View. Before UBS, Solita was the Global Head of Fixed Income, Currencies, and Commodities (FICC) for Wealth Management at J.P. Morgan. Previously, she was a member of the equity research team at DLJ/Credit Suisse First Boston and later held a similar role at Thomas Weisel Partners.
Jim Clifton – Global CEO pioneering global analytics and improving management systems
Jim Clifton is the Chairman of Gallup, a global analytics and advisory firm. Jim served as the organization’s CEO from 1988 until 2022. Under his leadership as CEO, Gallup expanded from a predominantly U.S.-based company to a worldwide organization with 30 offices in 20 countries and regions. He is the creator of The Gallup Path and the author of the Wall Street Journal bestseller Wellbeing at Work, released in 2021, a book that explores how to build resilient and thriving teams in organizations. He is also the author of the No. 1 Wall Street Journal bestseller It’s the Manager, the bestseller Born to Build, The Coming Jobs War, and many articles on global leadership.
Mary Barra – Exceptional CEO bringing vision for a new future
Mary Barra is the General Motors Chair and CEO, leading an outstanding team. Currently driving a GMC HUMMER #EV and Chevy Bolt EUV. She is focused on delivering an all-electric future.
Dennis K. Berman – Awardee and investment banker with a diverse portfolio
Dennis Berman is an investment banker with an unconventional background. He spent 17 years at the Wall Street Journal, running both Financial and Business coverage. Dennis spent nearly a decade on the M&A beat at the globe’s premier business publication.
Rebecca Jarvis – Award-winning journalist and correspondent pushing beyond the limits
Rebecca Jarvis is an Emmy Award-winning journalist and ABC News Chief Business, Technology, and Economics Correspondent; the Host and Managing Editor of the podcast “No Limits with Rebecca Jarvis”; and the Host and Managing Editor of “Real Biz with Rebecca Jarvis.” Rebecca reports for all ABC News programs and platforms, including “Good Morning America,” “World News Tonight with David Muir,” “Nightline,” “20/20,” and “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.”
Lou Adler – Founder of consulting firm reshaping the workforce industry
Lou Adler is the CEO and founder of Performance-based Hiring Learning Systems – a consulting and training firm helping recruiters and hiring managers worldwide source, interview, and engage the most robust and diverse talent. Lou is the author of the Amazon top-10 best-seller Hire With Your Head (John Wiley & Sons, 3rd Edition, 2007), The Essential Guide for Hiring & Getting Hired (Workbench Media, 2013), and the Lynda.com Performance-based Hiring video training program (2016). His current “Diversity Hiring without Compromise” initiative is focused on developing a color-blind hiring process that ensures the best people get hired regardless of race, religion, age, sexual preference, and physical challenges. Lou is one of the top bloggers on LinkedIn’s Influencer program, writing about the latest hiring, employment, and recruiting trends. His articles, quotes, and research can now be found in Inc. Magazine, Business Insider, Bloomberg, SHRM, and The Wall Street Journal. The company’s new mobile-ready learning platform—TheHiring Machine—provides instant access to all the tools needed to find and hire outstanding talent.
Jeffrey Katzenberg – Tech innovator and investor continuing to tell stories to touch lives
Jeffrey Katzenberg is an entertainment industry executive and entrepreneur who has repeatedly reshaped the media landscape throughout his career. He led WndrCo’s investments in Airtable, Frame.io, Placer.ai, Deel, and ID.me. Before WndrCo, Jeffrey co-founded DreamWorks SKG, serving as CEO of DreamWorks Animation, which he grew into the world’s largest animation studio, known for such iconic franchises as Shrek, Kung Fu Panda, Madagascar and How to Train Your Dragon. In 2016, DreamWorks Animation was sold to Comcast for $3.8 billion.
Brian Wong – Reputable venture capitalist and creator of moments marketing business mindset
Brian Wong is the Founding Partner at BW Growth Ventures. He was formerly co-founder at Kiip (pronounced “keep”), a mobile consumer engagement platform that advertises in “moments” in 10,000 apps. Kiip has been recognized by Forbes as one of the “4 Hot Online Ad Companies to Put on Your Watch List,” named on the Dow Jones “FasTech50” and is listed on Fast Company’s “50 Most Innovative Companies in the World.” Once the youngest person to ever receive venture capital funding, Brian received his Bachelor of Commerce from the University of British Columbia at age 18, after skipping four K-12 grades.
Sanyin Siang – Globally recognized thought leader and most influential coach and mentor
Sanyin Siang is an investor and advisor to tech founders, VCs, boards, sports industry execs, and Fortune 500 CEOs – bringing expertise in culture, leadership growth, team cohesion, and a diverse network of influencers. Recognized by Thinkers50 (the Premier Global Ranking of Management Thinkers) as the world’s Most Influential Coach & Mentor, Sanyin is the founding Executive Director of Duke University’s Coach K Leadership & Ethics Center at its Fuqua School of Business. As a speaker, she has addressed audiences from The White House to military officers, Fortune 500 companies, and CHROs. She is host of the Global Sports Owners & CEO Summit’s Series – Conversations with Legends.
Sanyin is a leadership advisor for GV (formerly Google Ventures), Ripcord, The Sports Innovation Lab, and DukeCE.
Tim O’Reilly – Technical book publisher with an ingenious idea
Tim O’Reilly is the founder and CEO of O’Reilly Media (formerly O’Reilly & Associates.) He is a technical book publisher who learned that the right way to market his books was to sell the technologies behind them. Tim was crucial in evangelizing the World Wide Web, the Perl programming language, Linux, open source, XML, and web services. He expanded into online publishing, conferences, magazines, and early-stage venture investing.
Dr. Dambisa Moyo – Top-tier adviser with a unique perspective on strategic investment
Dr. Dambisa Moyo is a pre-eminent thinker who influences critical strategic investment and public policy decision-makers. She is respected for her unique perspectives, balance of contrarian thinking with measured judgment, and ability to turn economic insight into investible ideas. Dambisa has earned a strong reputation as a top-tier opinion former and trusted advisor on Macroeconomics, Geopolitics, Technology, and Millennial themes. She is a board member of Chevron, Conde Nast, and the Oxford University Endowment investment committee. She holds a PhD in Economics from Oxford, a Masters from Harvard, and is recognized for fresh and innovative ideas as the Author of four (4) New York Times Bestselling Books. Dambisa was named to the list of Time’s 100 Most Influential People in the World; she writes for the Financial Times, WSJ, Barron’s, and Harvard Business Review and has traveled to 80 countries. She runs marathons and practices yoga in her spare time.
Patrice Louvet – Luxury brand CEO with a mission to transform and innovate
Patrice Louvet is President and Chief Executive Officer of Ralph Lauren Corporation and also serves on the Ralph Lauren Board of Directors. Patrice leads the Company and its 24,000 employees worldwide in their purpose-inspired Next Great Chapter: Accelerate strategy to deliver sustainable growth and value creation. Since joining Ralph Lauren Corporation in 2017, Mr. Louvet has championed a culture that embraces Mr. Ralph Lauren’s enduring vision, the brand’s rich heritage, and a spirit of innovation that will underpin the Company’s next growth phase. He initiated the Company’s digital transformation and brand elevation strategy worldwide, step-changed its international and direct-to-consumer retail expansion, while further embedding citizenship and sustainability into the iconic brand’s business. Before Ralph Lauren, Patrice spent nearly three decades in leadership roles across three continents at Procter & Gamble. He led and grew multi-billion-dollar global consumer brands –from Gillette to Pantene and SK-II – across diverse distribution channels and geographies.
Eric Ries – Best-selling author and creator of innovative lean startup methodology
Eric Ries is an entrepreneur and the author of the New York Times bestseller The Lean Startup, which has sold over one million copies and has been translated into more than thirty languages. He created the Lean Startup methodology, which has become a global movement in business practiced by individuals and companies worldwide. This methodology inspired his founding of the LTSE and his books The Leader’s Guide and The Startup Way. He has founded several startups, including IMVU, where he served as CTO and advised on business and product strategy for startups, venture capital firms, and large companies, including GE, with whom he partnered to create the FastWorks program. Eric has served as an entrepreneur-in-residence at Harvard Business School, IDEO, and Pivotal, and he is the founder and CEO of the Long-Term Stock Exchange.
Joel Makower – Award-winning author and well-respected strategist on business sustainability
Joel Makower is a co-founder of GreenBiz Group, creator of GreenBiz.com, research reports and events on corporate sustainability and cleantech strategy and trends. He hosts the company’s annual GreenBiz, Circularity, and VERGE conferences and is the lead author of the award-winning annual State of Green Business report. Joel is the author and co-author of over a dozen books, including THE NEW GRAND STRATEGY: Restoring America’s Prosperity, Security and Sustainability in the 21st Century (St. Martin’s Press, 2016). In 2012, he was awarded the Hutchens Medal by the American Society for Quality, which cited “his ability to tell compelling stories that both inform and inspire business leaders toward profitable action.” In 2014, he was inducted into the International Institute of Sustainability Professionals Hall of Fame.
Francesca Gino – Top-rated professor and an influential management thinker
Francesca Gino is recognized as one of Harvard Business School’s top-rated professors, one of the world’s 50 most influential management thinkers by Thinkers 50 and Poets & Quants’ 40-under-40 Professors. She is a bestselling author and, most recently, of “Rebel Talent: Why it Pays to Break the Rules in Work and Life.” REBEL TALENT explores how rule-breaking can be a constructive rather than destructive force. Rebels challenge the status quo in ways that drive positive change. Undaunted by novel situations and ideas, they adapt to change as a matter of course.
Gary Shapiro – Inspiring author and president of the trade association for companies that lead innovation
Gary Shapiro is the President and CEO of the Consumer Technology Association (CTA)™, the trade association for over 1000 of the most innovative American companies. In 2021, French President Emmanuel Macron awarded him the Légion d’Honneur (Legion of Honor). He was recently named a tech titan and the most influential person in tech and policy by the Washingtonian. He was named a top lobbyist by The Hill, received top exhibition industry awards, and was named Executive of the Year by Association TRENDS. He has written three books, The Comeback: How Innovation Will Restore the American Dream (Beaufort, 2011) and Ninja Innovation: The Ten Killer Strategies of the World’s Most Successful Businesses (Harper Collins, 2013), being New York Times Bestsellers. He wrote Ninja Future: Secrets to Success in the New World of Innovation (William Morrow, 2018), a USA Today Bestseller. He also served at CTA for over 35 years.
Reshma Saujani – Enduring activist and founder with a vision to empower moms
Reshma Saujani is the Founder of Girls Who Code and the Founder/CEO of Marshall Plan for Moms, a movement to center mothers in our economic recovery and value our labor by advocating for policies that support moms. A lifelong activist, Saujani was the first Indian American woman to run for U.S. Congress. Her fourth book, Pay Up: The Future of Women and Work (and Why It’s Different Than You Think), was released last March 15, 2022. Reshma has spent more than a decade building movements to fight for women’s and girls’ economic empowerment, working to close the gender gap in the tech sector, and, most recently, advocating for policies to support moms impacted by the pandemic.
Saira Malik – Leader of a global asset management firm and key strategist planner
Saira Malik is the Chief Investment Officer of Nuveen, a global asset management firm with over $1 trillion under management, and leader of the firm’s Global Investment Committee. She also chairs Nuveen’s Equities Investment Council and is a portfolio manager for several key strategies. She writes the Nuveen weekly market commentary. Saira regularly appears on financial news networks such as CNBC, Bloomberg TV and Fox Business and has been honored to be included in Barron’s top 100 most influential women in U.S. finance. She has 25+ years of investment management experience in portfolio management, global research, and analyst roles.
Judith Sherven – Experienced psychotherapist and executive coach for only the best
Judith Sherven works closely with her husband Jim Sniechowski, PhD and is a clinical psychologist with over 40 years of experience as a psychotherapist, transformational executive coach, and business consultant. Now coaching with Jim, they provide executive coaching and leadership training for a variety of companies, including Unity Technologies, World Courier, Blackbird Interactive, Atoms, and several others, as well as individuals. Judith writes for LinkedIn as an Influencer inspiring managers to engage their team members across wide-ranging topics from self-branding and professional authority to “Being Fabulous In Business” – a new program Judith and Jim trademarked, called “the missing link in professional development.” Along with Jim, Judith is a Los Angeles Times bestselling author of eight books, including 25 Power Speaking Tips and What Really Killed Whitney Houston, both of which address their core area of expertise, what they call—The Fear of Being Fabulous.
Dan Ariely – Renowned researcher and economist helping businesses around the globe
Dan Ariely is the James B. Duke Professor of Psychology and Behavioral Economics at Duke University, a founding member of the Center for Advanced Hindsight, co-creator of the film documentary (Dis)Honesty: The Truth About Lies, and a bestselling author. He founded the Center for Advanced Hindsight and is the co-founder of Irrational Capital. He is also the co-founder of BEWorks, which was created to help companies incorporate principles from behavioral economics into their product and processes, and the co-founder of Shapa, which was created to help people better manage their health using human-friendly interventions and a non-threatening approach to healthcare.
Satya Nadella – Chairman and CEO of Microsoft with the vision to change lives everyday
Satya Nadella is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft. Joining Microsoft in 1992, he quickly became known as a leader who could span a breadth of technologies and businesses to transform some of Microsoft’s biggest product offerings. He was executive vice president of Microsoft’s Cloud and Enterprise group most recently. Previously, Satya led R&D for the Online Services Division and was vice president of the Microsoft Business Division. Before joining Microsoft, he was a member of the technology staff at Sun Microsystems. He also serves on the board of trustees to his alma mater, the University of Chicago, as well as the Starbucks board of directors.
Kat Cole – Seasoned leader and advisor with extensive experience in building brands
Kat Cole is an exceptional executive and leader with deep expertise in building global brands, consumer businesses, and high-performing teams. She is a Board member, investor, and advisor with broad experience in leading consumer brands, food, retail, and scaling franchise organizations through various stages of growth. Kat is also a seasoned President and COO with experience in strategy, operations, culture & communications, crisis management, development, M&A/reorganization, change management, integrating digital and physical brand expressions and communities, multi-channel brand extensions, consumer brands, marketing, PR & media, licensing, strategic alliances & partnerships, domestic and international franchising, operating model pivots.
Grace Gong – Founder and podcast host helping listeners in growing their career
Grace Gong is the founder and host of Smart Venture Podcast, where she interviews top tech companies’ founders, C-level/VP-level leaders, and investors about career development. She worked in VC and PE firms focusing on consumer tech and real estate investment. She is passionate about entrepreneurship and eager to learn from the world’s top talents. Grace shared how American entrepreneurs created their companies in her first book, The Last Key To Success, with 21 founders featured on Forbes 30 under 30 in 2016. In 2017, she interviewed 22 investors featured on the Forbes Midas List for her second book, How To Be A VC (Amazon No.1 New Release in Venture Capital Category), on how they invested in companies like Facebook, Apple, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. She is passionate about learning and sharing the knowledge she learned from top founders and investors in Silicon Valley. Grace is also a LinkedIn Top Voice in the Finance Category.
Dr. Jason Wingard – Experienced Executive and Leader Reinventing the Future of Work and Learning
Dr. Jason Wingard is a globally renowned executive with deep experience in both the corporate and non-profit sectors, specializing in the future of learning and work. He serves as a Distinguished Visiting Professor at Harvard University and Executive Chairman of the Education Board, Inc. He recently served as the 12th President of Temple University and Professor of Management and Professor of Policy, Organizational, and Leadership Studies. As a thought leader, Dr. Wingard has published widely on the topic of strategy, learning, and leadership, including his most recent books: The College Devaluation Crisis: Market Disruption, Diminishing ROI, and an Alternative Future of Learning (2022); The Great Skills Gap: Optimizing Talent for the Future of Work (2021); Learning for Life: How Continuous Education Will Keep Us Competitive in the Global Knowledge Economy (2016); and Learning to Succeed: Reinventing Corporate Education in a World of Unrelenting Change (2015). He is a Senior Contributor for Forbes, where he writes about Leadership Strategy, and is also represented by BigSpeak and Chartwell speaker’s bureaus.
Francis deSouza – Executive breaking barriers in science and technology for the future
Francis A. deSouza was formerly the President and Chief Executive Officer of Illumina, Inc., a biotechnology company, and served as President of Illumina from 2013 to 2016. Prior to joining Illumina, Francis was President of Products and Services of Symantec Corporation from 2011 to 2013, and served as Symantec’s Senior Vice President of Enterprise Security Group from 2009 to 2011. Before that time, he founded or worked in various other technology businesses. He has been a Director of Illumina since 2014 and was a director of Citrix Systems, Inc. from 2014 to 2016. He was elected a Director of the Company in December 2017, effective February 1, 2018.
Silvina Moschini – Expert on wealth management and authority on digital assets economy
Silvina Moschini is the Founder and President of Unicoin, a next-gen, asset-backed cryptocurrency, and Unicorn Hunters, an iconic business TV show that combines entertainment with wealth-growth potential for individual investors and founders. She also founded an ecosystem of companies harnessing the cloud to connect businesses and on-demand talent, including Transparent Business, a remote workforce management platform that is driving transparency in public and private procurement to eliminate fraud and the loss of taxpayer money, as well as SheWorks!, an innovative platform that leverages technology to close the gender gap. Silvina serves as a mentor to young female entrepreneurs around the world through Vital Voices, 500 Startups, Google Launchpad, and the Google AI Impact Challenge. She is also part of the Advisory Council at Miami’s New World Symphony and Dalia Empower.
Shaun Robinson – Author and world-renowned journalist empowering women to conquer the world
Shaun Robinson is an Emmy-award-winning television journalist named a LinkedIn influencer and one of the Top Voices of 2020. Shaun has covered the red carpet for the Oscars, Emmy’s, Golden Globes, and Grammy’s as the host of the entertainment show, Access Hollywood. She hosts the 90 Day Fiance Tell All Reunion shows – the TLC television series that airs in 168 countries and territories. Shaun has formed her own production company, RobinHood Productions, creating television and digital content. She is the author of Exactly As I Am: Celebrated Women Share Candid Advice with Today’s Girls on What it Takes to Believe in Yourself – a book for teen girls on building self-esteem. She recently launched her passion project – the S.H.A.U.N. Foundation for Girls- a nationwide non-profit supporting girls’ initiatives. As an actress, she has appeared in roles in Bruce Almighty, America’s Sweetheart, Dr. Doolittle 2, Law & Order, Real Husbands of Hollywood, Last Man Standing, Monk and can currently be seen in the BET drama series, “Games People Play”. Shaun sits on the Advisory Board of the United Nations Foundation’s Girl Up adolescent girls campaign and serves on the national Girls, Inc board.
Sander van ‘t Noordende – CEO of a specialized talent company and digital transformation champion
Sander van ‘t Noordende is a financially astute business leader and digital transformation champion with a wealth of sector expertise and an entrepreneurial mindset. He has built and led executive leadership teams globally with strong market share, growth, and profitability results. Lastly, he has a strong track record in Diversity and Inclusion with a passion for the global LGBTQ agenda.
Scott Belsky – Active investor and well-rounded executive in the creative industry platforms
Scott Belsky is an entrepreneur, author, and investor and is Adobe’s Chief Product Officer and Executive Vice President of Creative Cloud. Scott oversees all of the product and engineering for Creative Cloud, as well as design for Adobe. In 2006, Scott founded Behance, the leading online platform for the creative industry to showcase and discover the creative world, and served as CEO until Adobe acquired Behance in 2012. After the acquisition, Scott helped reboot Adobe’s mobile products and services for Creative Cloud while leading Behance. He is the author of two national bestselling books – Making Ideas Happen and The Messy Middle, and founded 99U, a publication and annual conference devoted to productivity in the creative world.
Terri Ludwig – Leading financial leader with an innovative drive to grow emerging markets
Terri Ludwig is a global business and financial leader in domestic and emerging markets, an innovative CEO, and a thought leader. She has 30 years of experience in financial services, real estate, the social sector, and entrepreneurial leadership. She is an expert in shaping vision and mission, driving strategy, and delivering results that positively impact a company’s bottom line, social value, and brand.
Kevin Roose – Renowned technology columnist and bestselling author on the AI and digital world
Kevin Roose is an award-winning technology columnist for The New York Times. His column, “The Shift,” examines the intersection of tech, business, and culture. He is a New York Times bestselling author whose latest book, “Futureproof,” is a guide to human survival in the age of AI and automation. He is a regular guest on “The Daily” and appears regularly on leading TV and radio shows. He writes and speaks regularly on many topics, including AI and automation, social media, disinformation and cybersecurity, and digital wellness.
Krishna Memani – Financially astute business executive with a wide array of experience
Krishna Memani served as Vice Chairman of Investments at Invesco. Krishna joined Invesco when the firm combined with OppenheimerFunds in 2019, where he was the Chief Investment Officer. Before he joined OppenheimerFunds in 2009, he was a managing director at Deutsche Bank, heading US and European credit analysis. Earlier, he headed global credit research at Credit Suisse, was in charge of high-grade and high-yield portfolios at Putnam Investments, and was the fixed-income strategist and manager of Mortgage Research at Morgan Stanley. He also worked as a Research Analyst at Morgan Stanley and Price Waterhouse.
Stephanie Ruhle – Host and producer with a dynamic voice on the world of WallStreet
Stephanie Ruhle hosts MSNBC’s “The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle” on weeknights at 11 p.m. ET. Stephanie also appears across all NBC News and MSNBC platforms. As a Wall Street veteran, she is known for bringing her business acumen and hard-hitting style to high-profile interviews, original reporting, and humanity into her news coverage and daily “Good News Ruhles” segment. Ruhle served as the consulting producer of “Diamond Hands: The Legend of WallStreetBets,” an MSNBC and NBC News Studio film coined by traders within the social media community of Reddit’s r/WallStreetBets, where users post stock and option trading, and is also the host of the podcast, “Modern Ruhles: Compelling Conversations During Culturally Complicated Times.”
Carrie Schwab-Pomerantz – Well-established executive with extensive experience gearing towards transformation in the corporate world
Carrie Schwab-Pomerantz is a transformational business executive bringing nearly four decades of corporate experience building purpose-driven teams, creating solutions to complex problems, and serving as an innovative leader and change agent. Carrie currently serves on the Board of Directors of The Charles Schwab Corporation after a distinguished career at Schwab. She established herself at the intersection of consumer finance, high-growth regulated businesses, and innovative marketing. As a dynamic voice, she inspires Americans to engage in their finances. A foremost expert on financial literacy and corporate social responsibility, Carrie is a recognized leader for simultaneously addressing business objectives and critical social issues, advocating for new investors while expanding market reach, and making the industry more inclusive and accessible.
Bozoma Saint John – Entrepreneur and hall of fame marketing executive making waves in brand management
Bozoma Saint John is a Hall of Fame inducted Marketing Executive, author, entrepreneur, and general badass. Bozoma started her marketing career at Spike Lee’s ad agency, SpikeDDB. Most recently, she served as the Global Chief Marketing Officer at the entertainment behemoth Netflix. Bozoma has expanded her service outside of the US and has been named as an Ambassador for the African Diaspora and Special Envoy to the President of Ghana. She is also a philanthropic Ambassador to Pencils of Promise in Ghana. She serves on Girls Who Code, Vital Voices, the Tony Elumelu Foundation, Soho House, and the CFDA boards. She’s also on the Board of Trustees at her alma mater, Wesleyan University.
Lynne Doughtie – Business leader heading one of the world’s fastest-growing professional service firms
Lynne Doughtie is the former U.S. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of KPMG — one of the world’s leading professional services firms. She also was a member of KPMG’s Global Board and Executive Committee. Lynne previously served as Vice Chair of KPMG’s Advisory business (2011-2015), establishing it as its fastest-growing business. In addition, she oversaw the expansion of KPMG’s capabilities in innovative services and solutions, including information security, strategy, digital/mobile, and transformation. She began her career in 1985 in KPMG’s Audit practice. She served in several national, regional, and global leadership roles, including as lead partner for several of the firm’s major clients. She serves as a board member for NAF and LUNGevity.
Loic Le Meur – Serial entrepreneur and tech founder for innovative conference for diverse businessmen
Loïc Le Meur is a serial entrepreneur and founder of the PAWA. PAWA is a community and event for conscious entrepreneurs. He founded LeWeb, which was for 12 years the largest technology conference in Europe, with 3,000+ participants from 80 countries. He also founded many other startups such as B2L, a web agency, RapidSite, a web hosting company, Seesmic, a video social network, and Leade.rs, a speakers marketplace. Loïc was named one of “Europe’s Tech25” by the Wall Street Journal as well as one of the “25 most influential people” on the web by Business Week. He is featured in The Economist as one of “Europe’s Blooming Entrepreneurs” and is a “Young Global Leader” by the World Economic Forum.
Brian Solis – Executive global head and a world-leading thinker
Brian Solis is the head of Global Innovation and an 8x best-selling author, international keynote speaker, and digital anthropologist. For over 20 years, Brian has studied Digital Darwinism to understand the impact of disruption on businesses, markets, and society. In his work, he humanizes technologies and trends to help leaders gain new perspectives and insights and inspire new ideas to thrive in the future. His research explores digital transformation, CX, experience design, innovation, the cognitive enterprise, and “the future of” industries, trends, and human behavior.
Larry Fink – Founder of the leading investment and technology solutions in the world
Laurence D. Fink is BlackRock’s founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer. He and seven partners founded BlackRock in 1988, and under his leadership, the firm has grown into a global leader in investment and technology solutions. Larry has been named one of the “World’s Greatest Leaders” by Fortune, and Barron’s has named him one of the “World’s Best CEOs” for 15 consecutive years. Before founding BlackRock in 1988, Larry was a member of the Management Committee and a Managing Director of The First Boston Corporation.
Mark Tercek – Trusted senior advisor in the environmental scale and author of best-selling book
Mark Tercek is a Senior Advisor at Centerview Partners. Drawing on his decades-long tenure leading two of the largest organizations in the world — first as Managing Director and Partner at Goldman Sachs (1984-2008) and then as CEO of The Nature Conservancy (2008-2019) — he helps conceptualize, structure, and strengthen initiatives that accelerate and scale environmental progress. His focus areas include nature-based climate solutions, green infrastructure, decarbonization, sustainability funding strategies for lower- and middle-income countries, and financial innovation for non-profits. He publishes a bi-weekly newsletter — The Instigator — on Substack. He is also the author of the best-selling book Nature’s Fortune: How Business and Society Thrive by Investing in Nature.
Dennis R. Mortensen – CEO and founder of tech initiatives
Dennis Mortensen is an expert in leveraging data to deliver business insights. A serial entrepreneur, Dennis built and successfully exited several companies before founding x.ai in 2014, a company that is solving a painful problem—scheduling meetings—through a sophisticated AI platform that saves people time and effort. Dennis is a recognized leader, author, and university instructor in digital data and analytics.
Dennis Mortensen’s MWIE Episode
Liz Claman – Respected financial journalist and top anchor who is one of a kind
With nearly 25 years of experience, Liz Claman—described by Vanity Fair as “…one of television’s top business reporters and anchor”—shares insights on leadership and the global economy gleaned from her access to the world’s most influential and powerful business leaders. An Emmy Award-winning journalist, author, and one of the top anchors at FOX Business News, where she anchors Countdown to the Closing Bell and After the Bell, Liz has traversed the globe—from Detroit to Davos—to get an in-depth understanding of today’s biggest stories in business and the economy.
Betty Liu – Skilled business leader and award-winning journalist
Betty Liu is an accomplished entrepreneur, business leader, and journalist with extensive access to C-suite executives across a variety of industries, particularly in Asia. She most recently served as the Executive Vice Chairman of the New York Stock Exchange and Chief Experience Officer for NYSE’s parent company. While at the exchange, Betty was actively involved in the biggest global initial public offerings and co-founded the NYSE Board Advisory Council, which brought together CEOs to advance diversity in the boardroom. She also has extensive experience raising public and private capital. Before her business career, she was an award-winning journalist for over 25 years. She is best known for serving as a leading anchor and editor-at-large at Bloomberg Television and Bloomberg Radio.
Walt Bettinger – Accomplished entrepreneur and leader of one of the largest financial services firms in the world
Walter W. Bettinger II has been the Chief Executive Officer of The Charles Schwab Corporation since late 2008. He also serves as Co-Chairman of the Board of Directors. Walter has been recognized throughout his career as a leader in financial service. In addition to his professional duties, he is active in numerous charitable and philanthropic efforts. He and his wife, Teri, are founders of the Walt & Teri Bettinger Foundation and the parents of five children.
Shane Snow – Multi-awarded author, speaker and producer with a vision to inject change into the world
Shane Snow spent years writing about how to think differently as a correspondent for some of the top magazines in the world, a researcher overseeing original psychology and neuroscience studies, and a bestselling author. He is a four-time startup founder, two-time CEO, and advisor to high-growth organizations. He is also a producer of films, TV series, and Broadway musicals.
James Altucher – Top influencer and proficient businessman with vast talents
James Altucher is a Top 10 LinkedIn influencer, prolific writer, successful entrepreneur, chess master, and venture capitalist. He has started and sold several companies and is actively invested in or advises over 30 companies in areas ranging from tech to energy, healthcare, and biotech. James is the author of the Wall Street Journal Best Selling books: ‘Choose Yourself’, and The Power of No (co-author), as well as “The Choose Yourself Guide to Wealth” (most recent book), “The Choose Yourself Stories”, SuperCash, Trade Like Warren Buffett, Trade Like A Hedge Fund, The Forever Portfolio, 40 Alternatives To College, and I Was Blind But Now I See.
Devdutt Pattanaik – Mythology writer and passionate storyteller
Devdutt Pattanaik writes on the relevance of mythology in modern times, especially in management, governance, and leadership. Trained in medicine, he worked for 15 years in the healthcare and pharma industries before focusing on his passion full-time. He is an author with many bestsellers, a speaker in TedIndia, and with many TV Shows. He consults organizations on culture, diversity, and leadership and also consults various television channels and filmmakers on storytelling.
Philippe von Borries – Compassionate founder with passion to create and build brands
Philippe von Borries co-founded Refinery29, leading its creation and expansion into a global media brand. Philippe was President at Red Ventures, where Philippe led Lonely Planet, working alongside a great team to reimagine the iconic brand and how it can be a gateway for people to travel better.
Sarah Wood – Digital investor and author lobbying for more diverse business leaders
Sarah Wood is a horticulture student, community gardener, digital entrepreneur, tech investor and independent director who enjoys working with awesome people and helping mission-driven teams succeed. She is currently a student at Capel Manor College and a trustee at leading children’s mental health charity Anna Freud. Sarah is formerly the co-founder of Unruly, the global video advertising marketplace acquired by News Corp in 2015. She is an honorary fellow at Bayes Business School and the author of “Stepping Up: How to Accelerate Your Leadership Potential,” the best-selling business book that calls for more diverse, digital, and empathetic business leaders. She is also named Veuve Clicquot Businesswoman of the Year, City AM Entrepreneur of the Year, Tech Crunch CEO of the Year (Europe), and awarded an OBE for services to technology and innovation.
Dan Sanker – Tech entrepreneur and at the forefront on the future of emerging technology
Dan Sanker is a technology entrepreneur and executive who has started and sold several companies to public companies with a combined market cap of over $10B. After roles at larger firms including KPMG, Procter & Gamble, Nabisco/Mondelēz and Deloitte, he focused on building and leading private-equity backed companies that improve supply chain collaboration to benefit shoppers, retailers and suppliers. Dan is an author and has testified before the US Congress on the impact of emerging tech. He is a speaker and guest lecturer and has served on several boards, including The House of Songs and Community Venture Foundation. He is an IBM Influencer – Futurist and LinkedIn Influencer with approximately 400,000 followers.
Charlene Li – Resource person and authority in the disruptive transformation strategy
Charlene Li catalyzes transformation as an expert on disruptive transformation strategy and leadership. She is an entrepreneur and NY Times bestselling author who has seen business, society, and the world undergo seismic changes. Her work includes writing books, speaking, advising, and coaching companies and their leaders. I’ve worked with 14 of the Dow Jones 30 companies.
Joseph Mayans – Strategist and dependable consultant in the economic landscape
As the Chief Economist for Experian North America, Joseph Mayans breaks down the latest economic and consumer credit trends into actionable insight for the financial services industry. By connecting the dots between the broader economic landscape and Experian’s best-in-class data and analytics platforms, Joseph helps companies find opportunities and navigate the risks of the business cycle. Before joining Experian, he was the founder and principal economist of Advantage Economics. Joseph also led the economic research at a large regional bank and served as banking policy staff with the United States Senate.
Susan Cain – New York Times bestselling author and Ted Talks’ favorite speaker
Susan Cain is the author of the #1 New York Times bestsellers QUIET: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking and BITTERSWEET: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole, which was also an Oprah Book Club selection. Susan has spent the last twenty years exploring a particular realm of human nature: the quiet, the sensitive, the thoughtful, the bittersweet. Susan’s books have been translated into 40+ languages, and her record-smashing TED Talks have been viewed over 50 million times on TED and YouTube combined. Susan hosts the bestselling Audible series, A QUIET LIFE IN SEVEN STEPS, and the QUIET LIFE online community. Her Kindred Letters newsletter is read by people in all 193 countries and all 50 American states.
Mark Mobius – Experienced leader with an extensive portfolio in the emerging markets
Dr. Mark Mobius is synonymous with emerging and frontier markets investing with a reputation as one of the most successful and influential money managers over the past 30 years. In May 2018, he founded Mobius Capital Partners with two former colleagues. Before this, Mark spent more than three decades at Franklin Templeton Investments, most recently as Executive Chairman of the Templeton Emerging Markets Group. He has also contributed to developing international policies for emerging markets. He served on the World Bank’s Global Corporate Governance Forum as a Private Sector Advisory Group member and co-chairman of its Investor Responsibility Task Force.
Kai-Fu Lee – Expert and go-to venture capitalist in China
Sinovation Ventures is a leading venture capital firm in China, started in 2009 by a team led by Dr. Kai-Fu Lee. It has a presence in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Nanjing. The firm currently manages over US$2B AUM between four USD funds and three RMB funds and over 350 portfolio companies across the technology spectrum in China. Kai-Fu strives to help young entrepreneurs build world-class companies.
Phil LeBeau – Award-winning correspondent and ultimate storyteller meant to inspire
Phil LeBeau is an Emmy Award-winning correspondent for CNBC. Based in the Chicago Bureau, Phil has covered the auto and airline industries since 1999. He was also the host of three highly acclaimed CNBC documentaries: “Saving GM,” “Ford: Rebuilding An American Icon,” and “Dreamliner: Inside the World’s Most Anticipated Airplane.
Brad Feld – Accomplished investor and author with mastery in venture capital investing
Brad Feld has been an early-stage investor and entrepreneur since 1987. Before co-founding Foundry Group, Brad co-founded Mobius Venture Capital and Intensity Ventures. He is also a co-founder of Techstars. Brad is a writer and speaker on venture capital investing and entrepreneurship. He’s written several books as part of the Startup Revolution series and writes the blogs Feld Thoughts and Venture Deals.
Deanna Mulligan – CEO and author with extensive experience
Deanna Mulligan is the CEO of Purposeful, an advisory practice that builds upon the experience Deanna has gained as former CEO and Chairman of Guardian Life Insurance Company of America, Board Director of Vanguard and DuPont, and former Board Director of ARCH Capital. Deanna is an Advisor to Guild Education and several other private equity-funded start-ups. Active in the community, she serves as a Board Member of New York Presbyterian Hospital and The Partnership for New York City and participates in the Business Council and G100. Deanna’s book, Hire Purpose – How Smart Companies Close the Skills Gap, was a Wall Street Journal best-seller.
Suzy Welch – Senior advisor and professor with expertise in developing management skills
Suzy Welch is a Professor of Management Practice at NYU Stern School of Business, teaching the class she created called “Becoming You: Crafting the Authentic Life You Want and Need.” Suzy also teaches “Developing Managerial Skills,” which is about the mindset and competencies required to be an effective leader of people and teams. Along with teaching, she is a Senior Advisor at the Brunswick Group, a critical issues consulting firm. She is also a regular contributor on CNBC and other network shows, a frequent keynoter at corporate events, and a writer for publications, including the Wall Street Journal.
David Aaker – Leader of the global consultancy firm and known as the “Father of Modern Branding”
David Aaker, hailed the “Father of Modern Branding,” serves as Vice Chairman at Prophet, a global growth consultancy. David is a recognized authority on branding, has developed several recognizable concepts, including the Aaker brand vision model, and has received numerous awards for his contributions to the science of marketing. In 2015, David Aaker was inducted into the American Marketing Association Hall of Fame for his lifetime achievements in marketing. David has authored and published hundreds of articles and 17 books. David is an active branding consultant, Professor Emeritus at the Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley, and a revered speaker and thought leader.
Akira Morikawa – The CEO who creates innovation in the tech world
Akira Morikawa is the CEO of Channel Corporation as a solution for the unique challenges facing SaaS channel distributors. Its mission is to provide the support and resources needed to succeed in the competitive software distribution world.
Vivek Wadhwa – Established author, academic, and entrepreneur with well-rounded experience
Vivek Wadhwa is an academic, entrepreneur, and author of five best-selling books: From Incremental to Exponential; Your Happiness Was Hacked; The Driver in the Driverless Car; Innovating Women; and The Immigrant Exodus. Vivek has been a globally syndicated columnist for The Washington Post and has held appointments as Distinguished Fellow at Harvard Law School’s Labor and Worklife Program, Carnegie Mellon University, and Emory University; adjunct professor at Carnegie Mellon and Duke University; fellow at Stanford Law School and UC Berkeley; and head of faculty at Singularity University. He speaks and writes about advancing technologies that are transforming our world.
Peter Greenberg – Well-respected editor and journalist presenting the world through his eyes
Peter Greenberg is America’s most recognized, honored, and respected front-line travel news journalist. Peter is a Travel Editor for CBS News, appearing on The Early Show and across many CBS broadcast platforms.
Dr. Chris Stout – Best-selling author and start-up whisperer
Chris Stout is a licensed clinical psychologist and international humanitarian with a diverse background in various domains. He is the Founding Director of the top-ranked nonprofit Center for Global Initiatives, a Top Rated Healthcare Nonprofit. He has traveled the world, published 38 books, and won many accolades, including four additional doctorates (honoris causa) and invitations to TEDs, Davos, SXSW, and Renaissance Weekend. Chris was named one of the World’s Top 30 Startup Experts in 2024. He has been awarded 4 Humanitarian Awards and is in 3 Halls of Fame. Chris is a longtime LinkedIn Top Voice.
John Henry – Entrepreneur and brain behind AI-powered insurance company
John Henry is a Dominican-American entrepreneur and investor. He has been named to the Inc 30 Under 30, Adweek Creative 100, Forbes 30 Under 30, The Root 100, and Ebony Power 100 lists. He co-founded the first incubator in Harlem—Cofound Harlem— and later cofounded Harlem Capital, an early-stage, diversity-focused Venture Capital firm investing in women and minority founders. Today, John is the co-founder and co-CEO of LOOP, an AI-powered insurance company, and B-Corp, creating more equitable insurance for underserved communities.
About the show & host, Andrew Stotz
Welcome to My Worst Investment Ever podcast hosted by Your Worst Podcast Host, Andrew Stotz, where you will hear stories of loss to keep you winning. In our community, we know that to win in investing you must take the risk, but to win big, you’ve got to reduce it.
Your Worst Podcast Host, Andrew Stotz, Ph.D., CFA, is also the CEO of A. Stotz Investment Research and A. Stotz Academy, which helps people create, grow, measure, and protect their wealth.