Prominent Person Speakers

Archbishop Desmond Tutu

A Nobel Peace Laureate, Archbishop Desmond Tutu served as South Africa's voice of conscience during its long struggle against apartheid, soothing the spirits and rallying the hearts of his people as head of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. As a highly regarded and inspirational keynote speaker, he continues to ...

Gro Harlem Brundtland

Former Prime Minister of Norway, Director-General of the World Health Organization, and Chair of the World Commission on Environment and Development, Dr. Brundtland has been a prominent force in addressing key issues such as healthcare, economic sustainability, and the challenges to the environment throughout the world. ...

Michael Eric Dyson

Named by Essence magazine as one of the 50 most inspiring African Americans, Dyson is one of the nation's most renowned public intellectuals, revitalizing the role with the fervor of an ordained Baptist minister. Called "a street fighter in a suit and tie," he takes on the toughest and most controversial issues of ...

Shirin Ebadi

An extraordinary woman of many firsts, Iranian lawyer and activist Ebadi has made history as the first Muslim to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for her courageous defense of human rights in Iran. One of the most intelligent, passionate, and respected voices of dissent from within this complex nation, she speaks to the world ...

Geoffrey Canada

Profiled on 60 Minutes, Canada has achieved great success as President and CEO of the Harlem Children’s Zone, an agency that fuses community building with academic achievement to improve the futures of inner city youth. Recently, President Obama launched an initiative to create “Promise Neighborhoods” around ...

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

Internationally known as Africa’s “Iron Lady,” President of Liberia Ellen Johnson Sirleaf became the first woman to lead an African nation. A Harvard-educated former World Bank economist, she is a leading promoter of peace, justice, and democratic rule who was recently honored with a Nobel Peace Prize for her work in ...

Howard Gardner

Howard Gardner, a psychologist and professor at Harvard, is a pioneering intellectual thinker whose expertise reflects decades of study in leadership, intelligences, and ethics. His most recent book is Truth, Beauty & Goodness Reframed.

Mary Robinson

As first female President of Ireland, Robinson increased the status of the nation. Formerly the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, she now advises businesses worldwide on ethical practices and management. In addition to her role as Executive Director of the Ethical Globalization Initiative, she is one of five members ...

Anne-Marie Slaughter

As Director of Policy Planning for the US State Department, Anne-Marie Slaughter touched on nearly every foreign policy issue. She was named a Top 100 Global Thinker by Foreign Policy.

Harry Markopolos

Harry Markopolos was catapulted into the spotlight as the man who blew the whistle on Bernie Madoff and his $50 billion Ponzi scheme. Passionate about fixing the system and preventing future abuses, Markopolos speaks about the Madoff scheme and how you can recognize and prevent fraud in your organization.

Oscar Arias

Former President of Costa Rica and 1987 Nobel Peace Laureate Oscar Arias holds international stature as a spokesperson for the developing world. Championing such issues as human development, democracy, and demilitarization, he has traveled the globe spreading a message of peace and applying the lessons garnered from the ...

Maria Hinojosa

For 25 years, Maria Hinojosa has helped tell America's untold stories, many around themes of diversity and the cultural richness of the American experience. She is the anchor and editor of NPR's "Latino USA," a reporter for PBS's Frontline, and anchor of the Emmy-winning talk show One-on-One.

Ralph Nader

Former Green Party candidate for president and one of Time magazine's "100 Most Influential Americans of the 20th Century," Ralph Nader has always been a voice fighting for the people on the issues that matter most: healthcare, safety, environment, ethics, education, economic and social equality. As a keynote ...

Charlayne Hunter-Gault

Hunter-Gault made civil rights history as the first African American woman to graduate from the University of Georgia. Now, as one of television's premier journalists, she challenges convention with her insights. A special correspondent for NPR based in South Africa, she has written New News Out of Africa, which ...

Maureen Dowd

Maureen Dowd, winner of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for distinguished commentary, became a columnist on The New York Times Op-Ed page in 1995 after having served as a correspondent in the paper's Washington bureau since 1986.

Ellis Cose

Ellis Cose is one of America's most renowned journalists and media commentators, as well as an author and speaker on several important issues of national and international concern. Cose is the author of Bone to Pick, The Envy of the World, and the best-selling The Rage of a Privileged Class.

Gail Sheehy

As the best-selling author of over a dozen books, including Passages, Gail Sheehy has rocked the culture and changed the way millions of women and men look at the stages of their lives. A Library of Congress survey named Passages one of the ten most influential books of our time. In her latest book, ...

Wes Moore

Wes Moore is a youth advocate, keynote speaker, Army combat veteran, promising business leader and the best-selling author of The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates - contrasting his childhood choices against another Wes Moore's who was eventually imprisoned.

Mariane Pearl

Pearl is a unique and versatile award-winning journalist who has written A Mighty Heart: The Brave Life and Death of My Husband Danny Pearl, a gripping and profound narrative of her experience and the pursuit of those who captured and killed her husband, Daniel Pearl, the South Asia bureau chief for The Wall ...

Sheryl WuDunn

As a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, author and professional speaker, Sheryl WuDunn offers a unique perspective on current economic, political and social issues such as women's rights. As co-author of the New York Times bestseller, Half the Sky, WuDunn calls attention to the trials and triumphs of women ...