Festival Speakers
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)
Band
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