Festival Speakers

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2024

Festival Speakers

A

Co-founder and CEO, Synapticure

Peace Activist; Co-Founder, Mejdi Tours; Co-Founder, InterAct International

Novelist; Essayist; Author, “Americanah”

Vice President and Fellow at Google Research

Director, City Innovation, The Aspen Institute

Founder, No Debt Degree; Senior Director, Whiteboard Advisors

Journalist; Women's Rights Activist

Co-Founder and CEO, OpenAI

Founder, CEO and Editor in Chief, The Business of Fashion

Fashion Designer; Founder, Andolsek

Director of Impact Strategy, Financial Security Program, The Aspen Institute

Founder, Explore.org; Vice President and Director, Annenberg Foundation

President, American Civil Liberties Union; Margaret B. Hoppin Professor of Clinical Law and Faculty Director, Community Equity Lab, New York University School of Law

Dr. Norman C. Francis Distinguished Professor of Law, Loyola University New Orleans College of Law; Founder, IncarcerationTransparency.org

Special Education Assistant, KIPP Vida Preparatory Academy

Otis Booth Leadership Chair, Division of Engineering and Applied Science and Howard Hughes Professor of Applied Physics and Materials Science, California Institute of Technology

Head Coach, Women's Basketball, University of Connecticut

Historian and Writer; Contributing Writer, The Atlantic

B

General Manager of Democracy Forward, Microsoft

Head, Bloomberg Beta

Regional Development Director, Teach Plus

President and CEO, Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs

Investigations Editor, The Stanford Daily; Student, Stanford University

Executive Editor, Local Investigations Fellowship, The New York Times

Protestant Minister; President and Senior Lecturer, Repairers of the Breach; Co-Chair, Poor People’s Campaign

Editor in Chief, Parents

Leonard I. Malis, MD/Corinne and Joseph Graber Professor of Neurosurgery, Icahn School of Medicine; System Chair, Department of Neurosurgery, Mount Sinai Health System

President, Dartmouth

Secretary of State, Michigan

Co-Founder and CEO, Substack

Co-Founder and Co-Chair, Bezos Family Foundation

CEO, Family Equality

Staff Writer, The New Yorker; Author, “Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here”

President of Editorial, NBC News

Lutheran Pastor; Founder, House for All Sinners and Saints

Senior Media and Tech Correspondent, CNBC

Chief Economist, Invest in America Cabinet, The White House; Member, Council of Economic Advisers

Composer; Pianist; Filmmaker

Co-Founder, 1863 Ventures

Investor, Pluralize Capital

Co-Founder and Co-CEO, NewsGuard; Author, "The Death of Truth: How Social Media and the Internet Gave Snake Oil and Demagogues The Weapons to Destroy Trust and Polarize the World – And What We Can Do About It"

Op-Ed Columnist, The New York Times; Chair, Weave: The Social Fabric Project, The Aspen Institute

Collaborative Artists

Founder and Senior Rabbi, IKAR

CEO Hermitage Capital Management, Head of the Global Magnitsky Justice Campaign and Author of Red Notice and Freezing Order

Founder, President and CEO, Beyond Meat

Guest Curator, Aspen Ideas Festival

Charles Warren Professor of American History and Professor, African and African American Studies, Harvard University

CEO, Robin Hood Foundation

Global CEO, Ogilvy

Co-Host, NBC’s “Today with Hoda and Jenna”; Author

C

Theater, Film, and Television Director​

Anchor, “The Saturday/Sunday Show with Jonathan Capehart,” MSNBC; Opinion Writer, The Washington Post

Professor of Law and Concurrent Professor of Political Science, University of Notre Dame Law School

Executive Director, Socrates Program, and Founding Director, Project on Belonging, Aspen Institute; Founder, Expectant Advisory

Political Consultant; Author

Founder, South Cobb in Tech

President, U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation; Senior Vice President, U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Architect; Founder and Creative Director, Practice for Architecture and Urbanism

Co-Founder and CEO, Airbnb

Founder and Director, Friendship Bench

Medical Journalist

Producer and Editor, NPR; Author, "The Other Significant Others"

Hip-Hop Artist, Actor, and Activist

Chairman, NBCUniversal News Group; Trustee, The Aspen Institute

Board President, Society for the Rule of Law; Contributing Writer, The Atlantic

Leader, DemocraSHE and Bezos Scholar

Author; Podcast Host, “Kelly Corrigan Wonders”; Host, “Tell Me More with Kelly Corrigan,” PBS

Founder and Director, AgeLab and Senior Lecturer, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Journalist; Founder and Executive Producer, Katie Couric Media

Governor, State of Utah

U.S. Representative (R), Texas

D

President and CEO, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco

Spokesperson and Director of International Relations, Parents Circle – Families Forum

Professor of Economics, Tsinghua University

General Director and CEO, Houston Grand Opera

Executive Vice Chair, Board of Trustees, Mount Sinai Health System

Managing Director, Partner, and Global Lead, Behavioral Science Lab, Boston Consulting Group

President and Trustee, Patrick J. McGovern Foundation

Co-Director, New_ Public

Columnist, The New York Times

Writer, The New Yorker; Author, “Supercommunicators”

Actor; Producer; Director

Founder and CEO, Lafayette Square

E

Founder, The Tornante Company; Trustee, The Aspen Institute

CEO, Endeavor; CEO, TKO Group Holdings

Senior Personal Finance Correspondent, CNBC

Humanist Chaplain, Harvard University and MIT

Professor of Strategy, China Maritime Studies Institute, U.S. Naval War College

Coordinator, Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection; Special Assistant to the President, The White House

CEO, Invest STL

Founder and President, Human Capital Africa; Senior Economic Adviser, Africa Economic Development Policy Initiative

F

Senior Research Scientist and Senior Education Manager, American Museum of Natural History

Vice Chair and Member, Board of Directors, Prudential Financial

President and CEO, Ford Motor Company

Executive Director, Sports and Society Program, The Aspen Institute

Head of Diverse Segments, Representation, and Inclusion, Wells Fargo

Milbank Senior Fellow Hoover Institution, Stanford University; Senior Faculty Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University

Cartoonist, The New Yorker; Graphic Novel Author

VP, AI Initiative

Chairman and CEO, BlackRock

Senior Advisor, TPG Rise Climate Fund; Chair, Rubicon Carbon

Soprano; Co-Artistic Director, Aspen Opera Theater; Arts and Health Advocate

Founder and President, James W. Foley Legacy Foundation

Actor; Producer; Activist

President and Co-Founder, Economic Security Project

Writer; Filmmaker; Podcast Host, “Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso”

G

Human Rights Attorney, Doughty Street Chambers

Editor in Chief, Reuters

Alphonse Fletcher Jr. University Professor and Director, Hutchins Center for African and African American Research, Harvard University

Dean, Faculty of Arts and Sciences; Vincent J. Scully Professor of Philosophy; Professor of Psychology and Cognitive Science, Yale University

Partnership Advisor, United Nations Joint SDG Fund

Managing Director, Perseus Strategies

Professor of Neurosurgery, Neurology and Oncological Sciences and Director, Comprehensive Brain Tumor Program, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Executive Vice President, Policy Programs and International Partners, The Aspen Institute

Executive Chairman and CEO, U.S. News and World Report

Chief Heat Officer, Miami-Dade County

Mayor, City of Mesa, Ariz.

Physician Resident, Trident Medical Center

James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor of African American Studies, Princeton University

CEO, Vet Voices Foundation

Contributing Editor, Rolling Stone; Author, “The Heat Will Kill You First”

Staff Writer, The New Yorker; Author, "The Real Work: On the Mystery of Mastery"

Director of Cyber Initiatives, Aspen Digital, Aspen Institute; Columnist, The Washington Post; Podcast Host, “Long Shadow”

Founder and Executive Chairman, Imagine Entertainment

John Cogan University Professor of the Humanities, Harvard University

Founder and Managing Partner, Telesoft Partners; Trustee, The Aspen Institute

CEO, Noble Reach Foundation

H

Principal, Head of Wealth Management Advice and Solutions, Edward Jones

Founder and CEO, Loyal

​CEO, Y Analytics; Partner, TPG​

CEO, Black Ambition Opportunity

Artist; Filmmaker

Director, Institute of Politics, University of Chicago; Founder, One Country Project

Managing Director, Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program

Co-Founder and CEO, Reconstruction

Mexican Investigative Journalist; Author

U.S. Senator (D-CO)

Former Assistant U.S. Attorney, Southern District of California

Anchor and Managing Editor, “NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt”; Anchor, “Dateline NBC”

Former US Senator; Former US Ambassador to NATO

Correspondent, NBC News and MSNBC; Author

I

President and Director-Counsel Emeritus, NAACP Legal Defense Fund

Columnist and Associate Editor, The Washington Post; Novelist

J

Chef; Restaurateur

Associate Director, YouthBuild, Mile High Youth Corps

Professor of Economics, London School of Economics and Political Science

President and CEO, NAACP

Founder and CEO, Salamander Collection

General Counsel, Haymon Boxing Management; Author, "The Gist of Bid Whist: The Culturally Rich Card Game From Black America"

K

Attorney and Founding Partner, Kaplan Hecker and Fink

CEO, Honeywell

Paul and Patricia Saunders Professor of Law, Georgetown University; Partner, Hogan Lovells

Ambassador of Jordan to the United States

Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility, Prudential Financial

Co-Host, “All Things Considered,” NPR

President of Xcel Energy Colorado

Former Special Presidential Envoy, Climate

Founding Director, Philosophy & Society Initiative, The Aspen Institute

Attorney, Koskoff Koskoff & Bieder

Chief Commercial Officer, GE Vernova

Violinist

CEO, Art Bridges

National Correspondent, NBC News

Op-Ed Columnist, The New York Times; Author, "Chasing Hope"

Executive Director, Food and Society Program, Aspen Institute

Chief Product Officer, Viant Technology

L

Leader, Campaign to Free Jimmy Lai

Pollster; President, Lake Research Partners

Professor, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado Boulder

Founder, E Pluribus Unum and Former Mayor, New Orleans

Executive Vice President, Leadership Division, The Aspen Institute

Singer-Songwriter; Activist

Co-CEO, BDT and MSD Partners

Senior Writer, The New York Times

Senior Writer, Barron's

Author; Journalist

John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Humanities and Associate Professor of African and African-American Studies, Harvard University; Founder, Vision and Justice Project

Musician

Political Strategist; President and CEO, Longwell Partners; Publisher, The Bulwark

Actor; Comedian

M

Collective Impact Coordinator, Bogotá Global Opportunity Youth Network, Corona Foundation

Political Consultant; Principal, Grassroots Lab

Host, Real Time with Bill Maher, HBO

Macroeconomic and Political Analyst

Former CEO, Mylan

U.S. Senator (I-WV)

Actor; Producer; Director; Author

Attorney, Social Media Victims Law Center

Co-Founder and CEO, Sway; Designer

Co-Founder and Vice Chair, Lighthouse Communities Foundation

Founder and Executive Director, #HalfTheStory

Founder and President, Regional STEAM Expo

Composer; Pianist; Professor of Music, Bard College

Founder and Director, Global Opportunity Youth Network, The Aspen Institute

UK Research and Innovation Future Leaders Fellow at the Latin America and Caribbean Centre in the London School of Economics and Political Science

President and CEO, National Minority Supplier Development Council

Deputy Director, Technology, U.K. Department for Business and Trade

​Co-Founder and CEO, Habi​

President and CEO, International Rescue Committee

Designer; Brand Consultant; Podcast Host, “Design Matters”

Editor in Chief, The Ankler; CEO, Ankler Media

Chief Medical Officer, Amazon Health Services

Photographer; Co-Founder, SeaLegacy

Governor of Maryland

Vice President; Executive Director, Ascend; and Co-Chair, Forum on Women and Girls, The Aspen Institute

Head Coach, Women's Basketball, Louisiana State University

President, Michael P. Murphy Studio

Frederick I. and Grace Stokes Professor of Law, New York University School of Law; Faculty Director, Birnbaum Women’s Leadership Center

U.S. Surgeon General, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Co-Founder, Muse Recordings; Host, "The Mike Muse Show," SiriusXM

N

Former United States Ambassador to Norway

Administrator, National Aeronautic and Space Administration

President, Alexander Neville Foundation

Director and Host, Poetry in America; Director, Verse Video Education; Director, Center for Public Humanities at Arizona State University; Powell M. Cabot Professor of American Literature, Harvard University

Owner and Executive Chef, Saigon Social

Photographer; Filmmaker; Co-Founder, SeaLegacy

Vice Chairman, Strategy and Client Relations, Blackstone; Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel

Board Member, Amazon; Former Chairman and CEO, PepsiCo; Author, “My Life in Full: Work, Family, and Our Future”

​Farmer; Owner, Patchwork City Farms​​

CEO, PEN America

Vice Dean for Education and Academic Affairs, Senior Lecturer and Director, SAIS Women Lead, Johns Hopkins University​ School of Advanced International Studies

O

Co-founder, Change the Ref; Head of Global Outreach and Artistic Adviser, Global Action on Gun Violence

Former Prime Minister of Israel

Historian; Professor of Public History, University of Manchester

Founder and CEO, Synchron; Instructor of Neurosurgery, Mount Sinai Health System

P

Former Pro Basketball Player, WNBA; President, Women's Basketball, Adidas

Journalist; Documentary Filmmaker; Writer

Documentary Filmmaker; Journalist

Co-Director, UCLA Center for Justice

Managing Partner, Edward Jones

Executive Director, Women’s Initiatives, New York City Department of Correction

Partner, KKR; Chairman, KKR Global Institute; Former CIA Director and Retired General

Journalist; Chairwoman and Investigations Head, Anti-Corruption Foundation

President and CEO, Middle East Investment Initiative

Governor of Colorado

CEO, Serum Institute of India

Visual Artist; Co-Host and Co-Creator, “Ear Hustle” Podcast; Photography Professor, California State University, Sacramento

U.S. Representative (D-CA)

President and CEO, Aspen Institute

Principal, Garnaut Global

Vice Chair, President and Global Head of Client Services, BDT and MSD Partners

Developmental Psychologist; Assistant Clinical Professor, Icahn School of Medicine; Co-Founder and Director, The Mount Sinai Parenting Center

Chief Science Officer, American Psychological Association; John Van Seters Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Senior Scientist, Tufts University; Founder and Principal Investigator, Dog Aging Project

R

Vice President; Co-Executive Director, Financial Security Program; and Co-Chair, Aspen Partnership for an Inclusive Economy, The Aspen Institute

Artist; Author

Founder and CEO, Moonshot

CEO, Gary Community Ventures

Scientific Director, Mount Sinai BioDesign; Co-Founder and Chief Science Officer, Precision Neuroscience Corporation; Assistant Professor, Neurosurgery, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Chairman and CEO, Willett Advisors

Director, The Second City; Author, "A Subversive's Guide to Improvisation”

Senior Vice President of Inclusive Solutions, Prudential Financial; Chair, The Prudential Foundation

Whitney M. Young Jr. Professor of Marketing, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

Founder and President, American Institute for Boys and Men

President of Colorado College

CEO and Chief Scientist, EvolutionaryScale

Chair and CEO, A-Rod Corp

President and CEO, National Constitution Center

​Co-Editor in Chief, The Hollywood Reporter

Co-Founder and Co-Chairman, The Carlyle Group

Director, Aspen Business Roundtable on Organized Labor, Economic Opportunities Program, The Aspen Institute

Anchor, "The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle," MSNBC

S

Vice President and Executive Director, Business and Society Program, The Aspen Institute

Writer; Artist

Bezos Scholar

Founder and CEO, Girls Who Code; CEO, Moms First

Executive Director and Curator, Letterform Archive

Writer; Advice Columnist, Savage Love; Podcast Host, "Savage Lovecast"

Jazz Fusion Band

University Professor of Art History and History, Columbia University

President and CEO, Wells Fargo and Company

Graphic Designer; Partner, Pentagram

Executive Director, Aspen Digital, The Aspen Institute

Founder and Principal, The Bureau Consortium; Owner, Schweit Consulting; Author, “Stop the Killing: How to End the Mass Shooting Crisis”

Historian; Author, "The World: A Family History of Humanity"

Singer-Songwriter; Founder, Hurray for the Riff Raff

Chief Heat Officer and Director, Climate Emergency Mobilization, City of Los Angeles

Founder and President, GOOD+ Foundation

Vice President and Deputy Chief Privacy Officer, Meta

Executive Director, Stevens Initiative, The Aspen Institute

President, COO and Member, Board of Directors, SpaceX

Chairman, Special Olympics International; Co-Founder, Unite; Co-Founder and Chairman, Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning

Founder and CEO, Kaleidoscope Affect; Retired Major General, Maryland Army National Guard

Executive Director, Religion and Society Program, The Aspen Institute

Founder, Chairman, and CEO, Vista Equity Partners

Co-Executive Director, Financial Security Program, Aspen Institute

Co-Anchor, “Squawk Box,” CNBC; Financial Columnist, The New York Times; Founder and Editor at Large, DealBook

Senior Director of Government Relations, Business Roundtable

Founder, Howard Kennedy

Actor and director

Executive Vice President, External Affairs, The Obama Foundation

CEO, GE Vernova

CEO, Microsoft AI

Charles W. Eliot University Professor and President Emeritus, Harvard University; Weil Director, Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government, Harvard Kennedy School of Government

Astrophysicist; Research Professor of Theoretical Cosmology, Institute for Advanced Computational Science, Stony Brook University

CEO and Board of Trustees Member, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Editor at Large, New York Media; Podcast Host, “On With Kara Swisher” and “Pivot”; Contributing Writer, New York Magazine

CEO bp’s Archaea Energy and bp’s former Senior Vice President for the Gulf of Mexico and Canada

T

Co-founder and CEO, Mind Blown and The Plant Based Seafood Co.

Taiwan’s 1st Digital Minister and Digital Democracy Pioneer

Jehuda Reinharz Professor of the Humanities, English Professor, and Co-Chair of Italian Studies, Brandeis University

Provost, Kings College; Editorial Board Chair, Financial Times

Mandolinist; Singer/Songwriter; Compose

Professor of Art Crime, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY

CEO, Brunswick Group

Journalist; Associate Fellow, PJ Patterson Institute for Africa Caribbean Advocacy, University of the West Indies; Trustee, Trevelyan Grenada Reparations Fund

V

Writer; Comedian; Actor

Global Energy and Climate Innovation Editor, The Economist

Executive Director and Executive Producer, Aspen Ideas Festival, The Aspen Institute

W

Forensic Psychiatrist; Captain, U.S. Army

Climate Economist, Columbia Business School

Vice President of Philanthropy and Society and Executive Director, Program on Philanthropy and Social Innovation, The Aspen Institute

President, Ford Foundation

Founder, Alice L. Walton Foundation

Founder and Executive Director, SilverLining

Co-Founder and Director, Mission: Wolf

Editor in Chief, The Markup; Incoming Chief Impact Officer, CalMatters

Co-Founding Partner and CEO, Zingerman’s Community of Businesses

Founder, Birth Detroit; Founder, Birth Center Equity

Author, "We Begin at the End"

Journalist; Host, “1A,” NPR

Governor, State of Michigan (D)

KIPP Alumni

Artist; Co-Founder, For Freedoms

Chair, President, and CEO, The Allstate Corporation

Executive Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer, Comcast Corporation; President, Comcast NBCUniversal Foundation

President, The Juilliard School; Artistic Director, Vail Dance Festival

Co-Creator, Co-Host, and Co-Producer, “Ear Hustle” Podcast; Co-Author, “This Is Ear Hustle: Unflinching Stories of Everyday Prison Life”

CEO, Alight

Y

Chief Justice Earl Warren Professor of Constitutional Law, NYU School of Law

Director, U.S. Office of Management and Budget

Z

Journalist; Author, "Age of Revolutions: Progress and Backlash from 1600 to the Present"

​Chief Communications and Impact Officer, Exile Content Studio​

CEO, Tree of Life

Israeli peace activist

Writer; Press Freedom Fellow, CUNY Craig Newmark School of Journalism; Visiting Professor, Princeton University

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