As one of the world’s leading inventors, thinkers, and futurists, Ray Kurzweil genius is certainly impressive, with a thirty-year track record of accurate predictions. Ray is the Director of Engineering at Google, heading up a team developing machine intelligence and natural language understanding. Kurzweil was the principal inventor of the first CCD flat-bed scanner, the first omni-font optical character recognition,... read full bio
Named by Fortune Magazine as one of the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders, Peter Diamandis is undoubtedly a business expert. Currently, Diamandis is the Founder and Executive Chairman of XPRIZE Foundation. This company designs and operates large-scale incentive competitions. Diamandis is also the founder of Singularity University, a graduate program focused on technology growth. Diamandis has had a flourishing career thus... read full bio
Richard M. Daley is a United States politician, member of the national and local Democratic Party, and was elected Mayor of Chicago in 1989 and reelected in 1991, 1995, 1999, 2003, and 2007. He is the longest serving Chicago mayor, surpassing the tenure of his father, Richard J. Daley. Daley announced that he would not run for re-election in 2011.... read full bio
Michael Stevens is an American educator, comedian, speaker, entertainer, and YouTuber who is best known for creating and hosting the YouTube channel Vsauce. Stevens was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and while in high school, he had developed a comedic personality. He went on to earn his bachelor’s degree in psychology and English literature from University of Chicago and while... read full bio
Leif Babin, co-author of the #1 New York Times bestseller ”Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALS Lead and Win” and a former Navy SEAL himself, is the co-founder of Echelon Front, a leadership and team training organization that kicks things into gear like a SEAL would. Babin, along with Jocko Willink, uses the training and skills he learned while serving... read full bio
Leif Babin, co-author of the #1 New York Times bestseller ”Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALS Lead and Win” and a former Navy SEAL himself, is the co-founder of Echelon Front, a leadership and team training organization that kicks things into gear like a SEAL would. Babin, along with Jocko Willink, uses the training and skills he learned while serving... read full bio
Among the greatest creators of the modern era is Ray Kurzweil. He was the primary developer of the first omni-font optical character recognition system, the first print-to-speech reading device for the blind, the first text-to-speech synthesizer and the first CCD flat-bed scanner. Along with designing the first commercially available large-vocabulary speech recognition system, he also built the first music synthesizer that... read full bio
Kevin McCarthy, the 55th Speaker of the House, is said to be a man who embodies "true American grit." McCarthy was the California State Legislature's fastest-rising Minority Leader before being elected to Congress. He served under four presidents, through two economic crises, and through constant political turmoil in Congress, holding almost every elected leadership post in the House Republican conference.... read full bio
John Mackey, co-founder of Whole Foods Market, has served as Chief Executive Officer for over thirty years. He studied at the University of Texas at Austin and at Trinity University. Mackey started his career co-founding his first store, SaferWay, with his girlfriend at the time. Within two years they merged SaferWay with the local Clarksville Natural Grocery and renamed it... read full bio
An MIT Professor of Information Technology, Erik Brynjolfsson is a leading technology, e-commerce and productivity expert. At MIT, he teaches courses on the Economics of Information and on Information Technology and Organizations. His work is dedicated to the exploration of three questions: How can information technology transform the structures of markets and firms What is the impact of information technology... read full bio
Thomas Siebel is an American businessman, technologist, and author who is the founder, chairman, and CEO of C3.ai, an AI software platform and applications company. Siebel has also been founder of the software company, Siebel Systems. Siebel was born in Chicago, Illinois, and he has earned his B.A. in history at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, his M.B.A. and... read full bio
After specializing in Energy Systems Engineering at Stanford University, Straubel quickly established himself in the business. After graduating from college, he worked with Rosen Motors to build a new hybrid car drivetrain. Straubel was one of the original members of the Pentadyne Power Corporation team that contributed to the advancement of this technology. After that, Straubel was the Chief Technical Officer... read full bio
As chairman of the Federal Reserve Board during one of the most turbulent periods in U.S. monetary history, Paul Volcker helped lower double-digit inflation rates in the early 1980s and ushered in an era of financial deregulation and innovation. During the more than 30 years Volcker worked in and out of the federal government he developed an expertise in... read full bio
When Baker, the ""Lizard Wrangler"" at the Mozilla Foundation, launched the Firefox browser four years ago, Microsoft's Internet Explorer was in her sights. Baker's overarching goal was to keep the Web open. Now, Firefox's market share has risen to nearly 20% while IE's has slipped from 95% to 72%, and most Web sites treat all browsers equally. These days, Mozilla... read full bio
Bill McDermott is the CEO of the world’s business software market leader, SAP AG. He leads over 65,000 employees that service over 250,000 customers in 188 countries. He has been credited for the reinvention of SAP in the era of mobility, cloud computing, next-generation business applications and in-memory technology. His forward innovation-led strategy has resulted in a surge in customers,... read full bio
Kim Cattrall, award-winning actress and producer, is known to millions of devoted fans around the world for her trailblazing role as ""Samantha Jones"" in the smash hit television series Sex and the City. Honored with three Golden Globe and Emmy nominations, she is the recipient of a Screen Actor's Guild award for the role. Her extensive acting career has spanned... read full bio
After launching his career as an award-winning commercial and music video director, Michael Bay quickly emerged as one of Hollywood's boldest and most bankable feature film directors. Characterized by his aggressive visual style and high-octane action sequences that have become the L.A. native's cinematic signature, the films that Bay has directed and produced have hit $4.5 billion in worldwide ticket... read full bio
Kelly Osbourne is a television presenter, fashion designer, singer, and actress. The daughter of Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne, Kelly is best known for her appearances in The Osbournes, a reality television show for which they won a 2002 Emmy Award for Outstanding Reality Program, as well as E!'s Fashion Police, where she has been a panelist and presenter since the... read full bio
Daniel Lamarre is the president and CEO of the visionary spectacle, Cirque du Soleil. In this role Lamarre is responsible for developing strategies related to business development, operations, sales, the company’s financial sustainability, and the perpetuation of its cultures and values. Some of Lamarre’s greatest achievements with Cirque De Soleil have been negotiating agreements with The Beatles’ and Michael Jackson... read full bio
Throughout his distinguished career, renowned American economist Ben Bernanke has significantly improved the study of economics. Bernanke is currently associated with the Brookings Institution, and his knowledge and judgment have influenced American economic institutions and policy. Bernanke, who was the 14th Chairman of the Federal Reserve, was essential in guiding the nation through trying economic times. He was also a member... read full bio
