Keynote SpeakersSession Speakers
Ambassador William J. Burns
President, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State
William J. Burns is president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the oldest international affairs think tank in the United States. He retired from the U.S. Foreign Service in 2014 after a thirty-three-year diplomatic career. He holds the highest rank in the Foreign Service, career ambassador, and is only the second serving career diplomat in history to become deputy secretary of state. Prior to his tenure as deputy secretary, Ambassador Burns served from 2008 to 2011 as under secretary for political affairs. He was ambassador to Russia from 2005 to 2008, assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs from 2001 to 2005, and ambassador to Jordan from 1998 to 2001. Ambassador Burns earned a bachelor’s in history from La Salle University and master’s and doctoral degrees in international relations from Oxford University, where he studied as a Marshall Scholar. He and his wife, Lisa, have two daughters.
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Tyler Shultz
CEO & Co-Founder of Flux Biosciences, Inc.
Theranos Whistleblower
Tyler Shultz is an entrepreneur fostering innovation in healthcare. He graduated from Stanford with a Biology degree and entered the national scene when he courageously blew the whistle at Theranos. Tyler complained to the public health regulators in New York and was a source for a series of Wall Street Journal articles exposing Theranos’ dubious blood-testing practices. Owing to his role in expos-ing the fraud, Shultz was featured in Bad Blood, the book about the scandal penned by John Carreyrou, the original author of the Wall Street Journal articles, as well as in Alex Gibney’s HBO documentary The Inventor.
Hester M. Peirce
Commissioner, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
Hester M. Peirce was appointed by President Donald Trump to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and was sworn in on January 11, 2018. Prior to joining the Commission, Commissioner Peirce served as Senior Research Fellow and Director of the Financial Markets Working Group at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. While at the Mercatus Center, Commissioner Peirce’s research explored how financial markets foster economic growth and prosperity and the role well-designed regulation plays in protecting investors and consumers while promoting financial stability and innovation. Commissioner Peirce co-edited two books, authored publications, testified before Congress, and served on the SEC’s Investor Advisory Committee.
Before joining the Mercatus Center, she worked on Senator Richard Shelby’s Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs staff as Senior Counsel. She oversaw financial regulatory reform following the 2008 financial crisis and the regulatory implementation of the Dodd-Frank Act. Commissioner Peirce earned her B.A. in Economics from Case Western Reserve University and her J.D. from Yale Law School.
Roger McNamee
Author
Zucked: Waking Up to the Facebook Catastrophe
Roger McNamee has been a Silicon Valley investor for 35 years. He co-founded successful funds in venture, crossover and private equity. His most recent fund, Elevation, included U2’s Bono as a co-founder. He holds a B.A. from Yale University and an M.B.A. from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. Roger plays bass and guitar in the bands Moonalice and Doobie Decibel System and is the author of The New Normal and The Moonalice Legend: Posters and Words, Volumes 1-9. He has served as a technical advisor for seasons two through five of HBO’s “Silicon Valley” series and was also responsible for raising the money that created the Wikimedia Foundation.
Liza Donnelly
Cartoonist and Writer
The New Yorker Magazine
With award-winning cartoons covering a gamut of topics from global politics, to pop culture, to gender equality, New Yorker cartoonist Liza Donnelly proves that pen and ink are a powerful catalyst for engaging conversation about political and social issues. Donnelly's TEDTalk on how humor and art can empower has racked up over 1,200,000 views, and her work appears in The New York Times, Forbes, Medium, Politico, Huffington Post, Daily Beast, Salon, CNN, The Nation, National Lampoon, Glamour, Good Housekeeping, and most recently as Contributing Cartoonist on CBS This Morning. Donnelly's "Live Drawing"—where equipped with nothing more than an iPad and her quick hand she is able to bring high-profile moments to life—has allowed audiences to engage with major events including the Women's March on Washington, The Olympics, The Oscars, the 2017 Presidential Inauguration, and more.
Donnelly is also a Cultural Envoy for the US State Department and a member of the United Nations initiative "Cartooning for Peace," which has brought her to the global stage to speak about freedom of speech, world peace, women's rights and other world issues. She is the author of 15 books, numerous essays and her spot-on ability to observe the world with a thought-provoking and humorous lens is resonating with audiences around the world!