When former Mayor Bill de Blasio took office in 2014, the city of New York was still dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. The unprecedented storm caused an estimated $19 billion in damages, 44 deaths and thousands of New Yorkers displaced from their homes. For de Blasio, it was confirmation that sweeping actions needed to be taken to address the climate crisis. The outcome was one of the most extensive bills to reduce our carbon footprint ever passed—the Climate Mobilization Act. It made New York City a global leader when it comes to fighting climate change. In this talk, de Blasio shares how New York is attacking global warming with its “Green New Deal” with real examples of how the city is reducing carbon emissions. And how you can get involved on the local level, too. “We have to go further than we ever thought we could and we have to do it faster than we ever thought we would,” he says. “This is no longer an option. This must be done.

His official title may not have been CEO but the former Mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio, definitely had the responsibility of one. As the city’s top leader, he managed approximately 400,000 public employees, had an operating budget of $100 billion and led the largest public health system in the country. That, by itself, would be enough. But he also had to lead his 9 million residents through one of the biggest challenges his city ever experienced when New York became the epicenter of the pandemic. And yet, he persevered—turning New York into one of the safest cities around. In this talk, de Blasio shares his leadership strategies and tips to achieve the seemingly impossible and real-life lessons in pushing through incredibly difficult challenges for any organization. From mission sensibility to decision-making and consensus building to crisis management to communication and strategy, as well as giving back, you’ll learn what it takes to be someone who gets things done and how to become a leader others will follow in good times and bad.

If there is one thing the pandemic has taught us is that our healthcare system is not equitable. Those marginalized do not receive the same care or access. That’s one thing that former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio pledged to fix and he did just that. In 2019, the mayor launched NYC CARE, the largest, most comprehensive plan in the nation with a goal to guarantee healthcare for every New Yorker. The plan serves hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers without insurance by strengthening the city’s public health insurance option and guaranteeing anyone ineligible for insurance—including undocumented New Yorkers—has direct access to physicians, pharmacies and mental health and substance abuse services. Sharing very human stories, de Blasio shows how New York City overcame huge barriers to put this unprecedented approach into action. He also provides the tools he and his team developed during COVID and how they can and should be applied moving forward in healthcare delivery. It’s a major step in making healthcare more equitable and a model for everyone to follow.

As Mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio led the largest public health system in the country at a time of one of the biggest healthcare crises to hit the world in 100 years. What he soon learned during the pandemic is that our healthcare systems are not set up to get critical health information and treatment to those who needed it the most. In this talk, de Blasio discusses solutions to fix this problem and the tools that are necessary, from new advances in telemedicine to using a public information approach to getting the private and public sectors to work together to address the disparities and needs for healthcare in the future.

There is a new crisis in healthcare brewing that many aren’t talking about. There is a chronic shortage of mental health professionals in this country and it’s going to keep increasing as the demand for mental health continues to grow. The time to start fixing it is now, says the former Mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio. In this talk, de Blasio shows how recruiting and educating professionals in other sectors works and how it can be the same for the mental health industry. He also offers solutions on how to get more people involved in mental health delivery through public, private and corporate sectors working together.

For Bill de Blasio, one of his most significant accomplishments as Mayor of New York City was the implementation of universal Pre-K and 3-K, which provides all families with two years of free, full-day, high-quality preschool for their three- and four-year-old children. He’s deeply proud of this achievement and there is good reason for it. Studies have shown that children who attend these programs have the best chance for success in their future academic and post-academic lives. In this talk, de Blasio shares the story of how he was able to achieve what many thought was unattainable, the benefits of the program and the challenges his team had to overcome to make this dream come true. Full of hope and promise, this talk proves that you can make a difference and help future generations—no matter what obstacles you face.

When it comes to embracing diversity, former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has a very personal story to tell. In this powerful talk, he shares his experiences, from his family’s reaction to marrying a Black woman to raising bi-racial children to working for the first Black mayor of New York to having more than 53% women on his leadership team at City Hall. He’s passionate about DEI and the power there is in supporting it. And his accomplishments, while leading the most diverse city in the world, prove it. He’ll share the obstacles he had to overcome and how to make progress, even when many are fighting against you. It’s something he’ll never give up. “We need an inspiring vision of equality that resonates in the hearts, minds and souls of all Americans,” de Blasio says.