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Kevin Allen
An expert in business development, masterful pitchman Kevin Allen is recognized as one of the advertising industry’s most accomplished growth professionals. Allen is the author of The Hidden Agenda: A Proven Way to Win Business and Create a Following, a Wall Street Journal bestseller and the e-book, The Buoyant Leader: A Leadership Course for the […]
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Mary Kay Andrews
“The queen of the beach reads.” —Writer’s Digest Mary Kay Andrews is the New York Times bestselling author of 30 novels (including The Home Wreckers, The Santa Suit; The Newcomer; Hello, Summer; Sunset Beach; The High Tide Club; The Weekenders; Beach Town; Save the Date; Ladies’ Night; Christmas Bliss; Spring Fever; Summer Rental; The Fixer Upper; Deep Dish; Blue Christmas; Savannah Breeze; Hissy […]
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Amanda Bennett
Amanda Bennett is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist, editor, and author of several books including The Cost of Hope: The Story of a Marriage, a Family and a Quest for Life (Random House), her memoir of the battle she and Foley, her late husband, fought against his kidney cancer. The book chronicles the extraordinary measures […]
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Jennifer Finney Boylan
Jennifer Finney Boylan is the author of the critically acclaimed breakthrough bestseller She’s Not There: A Life in Two Genders, one of the first bestselling works by a transgender American, and Good Boy: My Life in Seven Dogs, a memoir about the transformative power of loving dogs. An activist for LGBTQ people, and transgender men and […]
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Jamie Brickhouse
“Jamie Brickhouse has lived an amazing life—in and out of publishing—and he provides audiences with a vivid and insightful talk that will be sure to provoke and inspire.” —Shaye Areheart, Director of the Columbia Publishing Course Jamie Brickhouse is the author of the critically-acclaimed Dangerous When Wet: A Memoir of Booze, Sex, and My Mother whose […]
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Derek Bruff, Ph.D.
“Dr. Bruff’s presentation was clear, compelling and perfectly tailored to resonate with our Speaker Series audience. His examples were original, timely and effectively presented (cognitively and visually).” —Janet Rankin, Ph.D., Director – Teaching + Learning Lab @MIT Derek Bruff, an educator, author, and higher ed consultant, is associate director at the Center for Teaching Excellence at the […]
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Flower Darby
Flower Darby celebrates and promotes effective teaching in all modalities to advance equitable learning outcomes for all students. She’s an Associate Director of the Teaching for Learning Center at the University of Missouri. Prior to that, she held roles such as Assistant Dean of Online and Innovative Pedagogies and Director of Teaching for Student Success. […]
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Cate Denial
Catherine (Cate) Denial, Ph.D. is the Bright Distinguished Professor of American History and Director of the Bright Institute at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, and author of the forthcoming A Pedagogy of Kindness. A distinguished lecturer for the Organization of American Historians, Denial won the American Historical Associations’ 2018 Eugene Asher Distinguished Teaching Award. She […]
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David Dosa, MD, MPH
David Dosa, MD, MPH is a practicing geriatrician and health services researcher at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island and the author of the New York Times Bestseller Making Rounds with Oscar: The Extraordinary Gift of an Ordinary Cat. One of just 7,000 geriatricians in the United States, he is currently a practicing physician in […]
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Bret Easton Ellis
“Bret Easton Ellis is a fast, funny, and disarmingly smart thinker and speaker. He’s able to draw on all corners of art, life, and literature in his quest to make sense of it all. You may end up in a weird place or two when you go deep with Bret, but the journey is […]
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Joshua R. Eyler, Ph.D.
Joshua Eyler, Ph.D. is Director of Faculty Development and Director of the Think Forward Quality Enhancement Plan at the University of Mississippi, where he is also Clinical Assistant Professor of Teacher Education. He previously worked on teaching and learning initiatives at Columbus State University, George Mason University, and Rice University. A sought-after speaker for his […]
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Charles Gasparino
Charles Gasparino is senior correspondent for FOX Business Network (FBN), an award-winning business journalist, and New York Times best-selling author of Bought and Paid For: The Hidden Relationship between Wall Street and Washington, Circle of Friends: The Massive Federal Crackdown on Insider Trading – and Why the Markets Always Work Against the Little Guy, The […]
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Sara Goldrick-Rab, Ph.D.
Sara Goldrick-Rab, Ph.D. is a scholar-activist whose pathbreaking research, teaching, and advocacy has changed how higher education understands and supports college students. A sociologist, she focuses on reducing poverty by revealing unheard truths and sharing that knowledge with multiple publics. Goldrick-Rab’s award-winning book, Paying the Price: College Costs, Financial Aid, and the Betrayal of the […]
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Jane Green
Jane Green is the internationally best-selling author of 21 novels, including 18 New York Times bestsellers. Her new book, Sister Stardust, is her first foray into biographical fiction, telling the story of Talitha Getty in Marrakech in the late sixties. She is renowned for capturing in the fiction of her books the reality of women’s […]
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Lee Gutkind
“Lee engaged the audience – alternating between sharing stories and having the diverse group share their experiences. It was a powerful participation and I am thankful for the opportunity.” —Shed Boren, Director Miami Genesis Conference Lee Gutkind, recognized by Vanity Fair as “the Godfather behind creative nonfiction,” is an expert on the power of strong […]
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Jeff Jarvis
Jeff Jarvis is the author of What Would Google Do? and Public Parts: How Sharing in the Digital Age Improves the Way We Work and Live, as well as the ebook Gutenberg the Geek. He has been a business keynote speaker and moderated at conferences around the world – including South by Southwest, the World […]
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Erica Jong
Erica Jong is a poet, novelist, essayist, and cultural icon best known for her ground-breaking novel Fear of Flying. The internationally best-selling story of Isadora Wing coined a new phrase for a sex act and liberated a generation with a new way of thinking about gender, sexuality, and freedom in our society. 2013 marked the 40th […]
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John Joseph
John Joseph is the frontman for the legendary punk band, the Cro-Mags, author of The Evolution of a Cro-Magnon, his inspirational memoir, and Meat Is for Pussies: A How-To Guide for Dudes Who Want to Get Fit, Kick Ass, and Take Names, an in-your-face look at guys’ health which has become an underground success and has […]
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Mary Karr, Ph.D.
“Karr is a national treasure.” —George Saunders “Mary Karr is a pistol. She brings firepower to the podium with great style and a contagious Texas twang . . . our audience is still talking about her memorable performance.” —Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures “Mary Karr captivates and befriends her audience with her understated intelligence, her adroit use […]
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Mollie Katzen
Mollie Katzen, with over six million books in print, is listed by the New York Times as one of the best-selling cookbook authors of all time. A 2007 inductee into the prestigious James Beard Cookbook Hall of Fame, and largely credited with moving healthful food from the fringe to the center of the American dinner […]
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Wally Lamb
I Know This Much is True is a hit HBO limited series starring Mark Ruffalo for which he won the Emmy & Golden Globe Wally Lamb is the author of six New York Times best-selling novels: I’ll Take You There, We Are Water, Wishin’ and Hopin’, The Hour I First Believed, I Know This Much is True, and She’s Come Undone and was […]
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James M. Lang
James M. Lang is Professor of Practice at the Kaneb Center for Teaching Excellence at the University of Notre Dame, and an Emeritus Professor of English at Assumption University in Worcester, MA. He is the author of seven books, the most recent of which are Write Like You Teach: Taking Your Classroom Skills to a […]
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Tom Leopold
Tom Leopold, veteran comedy writer of such hit TV shows as Seinfeld, Cheers, and Will and Grace, has been making audiences laugh for over four decades. As Christopher Guest says, “When it comes to comedy, Tom Leopold has an extra gene. You may not know it, but he has probably made you laugh.” Now he’s keeping […]
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Madeline Levine, M.A., Ph.D.
Madeline Levine, Ph.D. is a psychologist with close to 30 years of experience as a clinician, consultant, educator, and author of the New York Times bestsellers, The Price of Privilege and Teach Your Children Well. She is highly sought after as a lecturer and keynote speaker for parents, educators, and business leaders both nationally and […]
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Lawrence H. Levy
Lawrence H. Levy is a novelist, an award-winning film and TV writer, a Writers Guild Award winner for Seinfeld, and a two-time Emmy nominee. He has written for various hit TV shows such as Seinfeld, Roseanne, Family Ties, Who’s the Boss, Facts of Life, Seventh Heaven, The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, Charlie’s Angels, and Saved by […]
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Nicole Lynn Lewis
“Nicole Lynn Lewis has had it rough. Her journey through college as a teen mom is authentic and moving. Reading Pregnant Girl, you will learn something important about race, poverty, and gender and how they play a role in teen pregnancy. And you will learn something about how hope can win over adversity.” —Soledad O’Brien Nicole Lynn […]
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Junheng Li
“The profound implications for China’s investing environment can be summarized into two words: ‘buyer beware,’ writes Junheng Li … This book … is a treasury of her knowledge on how to exploit rampant market inefficiencies to make a profit in China.” – Forbes “We can learn a lot about finance and investing from Tiger Woman […]
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Seth Lipsky
Seth Lipsky has been described in the Boston Globe as “a legendary figure in contemporary journalism,” in the Atlantic.com as having “the most interesting mind in journalism,” and in the New Criterion as “one of our age’s great journalists.” Steve Forbes has called his editorials on monetary reform “brilliant” — “the Federalist Papers for a […]
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Gregory Maguire
Gregory Maguire is the author of the best-selling Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, the basis for the Tony Award-winning Broadway and international hit musical of the same name. He is also the author of the best-sellers After Alice, a novel based on Lewis Carroll’s 150-year-old classic, Alice’s Adventures in […]
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Barbara McClintock
“Barbara McClintock was one of those rare presenters that can entertain an audience of both adults and children. Her varied presentation style kept the audience engaged. Kids seemed to enjoy the candid snapshots of the author at home working in her bathrobe and the silly interactive drawing session while adults seemed to appreciate the story […]
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Phil McKinney
Phil McKinney, an Innovation Consultant and president and CEO of CableLabs, has held technology and innovation leadership positions in a number of top companies and has been widely profiled in national media outlets. Vanity Fair named McKinney “The Innovation Guru;” MSNBCand FOXboth call him “The Gadget Guy;” and Laptop Magazine named him as one of the […]
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Danny Meyer
Danny Meyer is the CEO of Union Square Hospitality Group and the founder of Shake Shack. Union Square Hospitality Group includes Union Square Cafe, Gramercy Tavern, Blue Smoke, Jazz Standard, The Modern, Maialino, Untitled, North End Grill, Marta, Porchlight, Union Square Events, and Hospitality Quotient, a learning and consulting business. Meyer, his restaurants and chefs […]
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Ben Michaelis, Ph.D.
Ben Michaelis, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist, popular blogger for Huffington Post and Psychology Today, and the author of Your Next Big Thing: Ten Small Steps to Get Moving and Get Happy. He has worked with hundreds of patients, including New York Times best-selling authors, musicians, artists, entrepreneurs, business professionals, and students to help them realize […]
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David Mixner
“The presentation by David Mixner was moving and heartfelt. Our audience really enjoyed it and was so pleased to have the opportunity to meet this great man of the world who is a stellar example to our students on how much a single human being can have an impact and make real change in […]
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Wayétu Moore
Wayétu Moore is a critically-acclaimed writer and activist. Liberia Connects dubbed her one of its “Top 10 Women of 2018,” and her debut novel She Would Be King, was named a best book of 2018 by Publishers Weekly, Booklist, Entertainment Weekly, and BuzzFeed. Her forthcoming memoir, The Dragons, The Giant, The Women, is her story of […]
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Rick Newman
Rick Newman is an award-winning columnist for the nation’s leading financial news site Yahoo Finance and author of Rebounders: How Winners Pivot From Setback To Success (Ballantine). An ideal keynote speaker for corporate events, entrepreneurship conferences, and small-business groups, Newman is a frequent moderator and panelist at the annual Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly […]
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Bill Persky
Bill Persky is a five-time Emmy Award-winning writer, director, and producer for such hit TV shows as the Dick Van Dyke Show, That Girl, Sid Caesar, Bill Cosby, and Kate & Allie. As funny as the comedy scripts he has written for over four decades, he is a sought after keynote and after dinner speaker. […]
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Mary Pilon
Mary Pilon is the author of The Monopolists: Obsession, Fury, and the Scandal Behind the World’s Favorite Board Game (Bloomsbury, February 2015), a former sports reporter for the New York Times, and past business reporter for the Wall Street Journal. Her work has been featured in The Best American Sports Writing and garnered awards from […]
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Barbara Reich
Barbara Reich is the go-to guru of organization. For Reich, Professional Organizer of Resourceful Consultants, eliminating clutter is a way of life. She tackles organization with a 360- degree approach, streamlining the homes, offices, schedules, and daily lives of discerning clients to help them find the elusive work/life balance we all seek. Equal parts affable […]
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Cal Ripken, Jr.
Baseball’s “Iron Man,” Cal Ripken Jr. broke several professional baseball records during his 21 seasons, but none is as sacred as his consecutive-games-played record. Shattering Lou Gehrig’s streak of 2,131 games by more than 500, Ripken displayed perseverance, endurance, and an everyday work ethic that endeared him to fans, transformed him into a national icon—and […]
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Kim Rossi
“Kim has a unique way of speaking about a heavy topic (raising children with autism) and making it enjoyable. . . I highly and enthusiastically recommend Kim Stagliano as a speaker – her inspiring words will positively touch the lives of all who have an opportunity to attend one of her presentations.” — Amy McCoy, […]
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Jonah Sachs
“Jonah was a dynamic speaker. He brought to life the importance of authentic storytelling.” —Microsoft “It’s easy to get stuck in the day-to-day and miss bigger opportunities. Jonah’s talk helped underline the value of different types of thinking, and in the days and weeks afterwards helped us approach familiar problems in novel ways.”—Google Jonah Sachs speaks to […]
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Leslie Sbrocco
An award-winning author, speaker, consultant, and television host, Leslie Sbrocco is known for her entertaining approach to wine, spirits and food, as well as inspiring others to live a life of passion. She is the host of the nationally syndicated PBS-TV series, 100 Days, Drinks, Dishes & Destinations. “A passport to delicious,” it showcases her […]
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Charles R. Scott
Charles R. Scott worked at Intel Corporation for 14 years including five years in Intel’s venture investing group, where he developed the corporation’s clean technology software investment strategy. In 2011, he left Intel to focus his energy full-time on writing, speaking, and completing endurance challenges with his family linked to environmental causes. In the summer of 2009, […]
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John Searles
“John Searles gave a fabulous keynote address at the 2008 Backspace Writers Conference. Not only did he charm the audience with his enthusiasm and humor, but many said John’s keynote was the highlight of the conference, and worth the cost of the registration fee alone.” —Karen Dionne, Administrator, Backspace LLC John Searles is the author […]
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Stephanie Sena
Stephanie Sena is the founder and executive director of the Student-Run Emergency Housing Unit of Philadelphia (SREHUP), a non-profit homeless shelter operating since 2011, where students provide shelter, food, and community to individuals experiencing homelessness in Philadelphia. She is the Villanova University Anti-Poverty Fellow and Full Time Faculty Member of the Villanova Law School where […]
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Nic Sheff
“Here is a young man who talks about very real issues of drug use and abuse without glamorizing them for a single second. As someone who’s been through so much and come out the other side – with the scars and ongoing challenges to show for it – he has so much to offer students […]
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Frederick Shegog
“Frederick Shegog is a unique and powerful storyteller combining real-world experience and a solution-focused message that all people need to hear.” —Greg Williams Filmmaker of The Anonymous People Frederick “Freddy” Shegog is a man who knows all too well about the struggles of this world. In his early twenties, he watched his future dreams fade […]
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Amity Shlaes
“Amity Shlaes was an excellent speaker for the Women’s Global Leadership Conference, the largest conference for women in the energy industries. She was able to speak to the economic issues confronting the industry. But more impressive was her ability to give business cases and tell personal anecdotes that related to the professional women in attendance. […]
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Jesse Stommel, Ph.D.
Jesse Stommel, Ph.D. is a faculty member in the Writing Program at University of Denver. He is co-founder of Digital Pedagogy Lab and Hybrid Pedagogy: the journal of critical digital pedagogy, and he earned his Ph.D. from University of Colorado Boulder. Stommel is co-author of An Urgency of Teachers: The Work of Critical Digital Pedagogy, co-editor of Disrupting the Digital Humanities, and co-editor of Critical Digital Pedagogy: […]
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Kenneth J. Sufka
Kenneth J. Sufka, Ph.D. is an award-winning teacher and researcher – and a highly sought-after speaker on college and high school campuses. His smart and accessible book, The A Game: Nine Steps To Better Grades is a must-read for all college First Year Experience students and for junior and senior high school students (and their […]
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Mimi Swartz
Mimi Swartz is an award winning investigative journalist, longtime executive editor at Texas Monthly, and a two-time National Magazine Award winner and a four-time finalist. She is the author of two books, Power Failure: The Inside Story of the Collapse of Enron (with Sherron Watkins), and, most recently, Ticker, the Quest to Build an Artificial Heart. […]
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Adriana Trigiani
Adriana Trigiani is the powerhouse New York Times best-selling author who is beloved by millions of readers around the world for her hilarious and heartwarming novels. Perhaps one popular book critic said it best: “Trigiani defies categorization. She is more than a one-hit wonder, more than a Southern writer, more than a woman’s novelist. She is […]
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Nicole Gonzalez Van Cleve
Nicole Gonzalez Van Cleve is an Assistant Professor at Temple University in the Department of Criminal Justice with courtesy appointments in the Department of Sociology and the Beasley School of Law. She is the recipient of the 2014-2015 Ford Foundation Fellowship Postdoctoral Award and the 2015 New Scholar Award (co-winner) awarded by American Society of […]
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John Warner
“[More Than Words: How to Think About Writing in the Age of AI] is a wise and clear-eyed case for why human writing should and will endure in the age of AI.” —Jane Rosenzweig, Director, Harvard College Writing Center “As a public speaker and educator, John Warner is charming, astute and genuine. During his ‘What […]
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Marc Watkins
Marc Watkins directs the AI Institute for Teachers and is an Assistant Director of Academic Innovation at the University of Mississippi, where he is a Lecturer in Writing and Rhetoric. He has led research initiatives, exploring generative AI’s impact on student learning, training workshops for faculty on AI literacy, and multiple institution-wide AI institutes. His […]
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Kate White
Kate White is an internationally known expert on leadership and success and a New York Times best-selling author of several influential books on work and careers, including, most recently, I Shouldn’t Be Telling You This: How to Ask for the Money, Snag the Promotion and Create the Career You Deserve and Why Good Girls Don’t Get […]
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Cathy Whitlock
Cathy Whitlock is a magazine writer, lecturer and author of the books Designs on Film: A Century of Hollywood Art Direction (Harper Collins) and re-de-sign (Fairchild). As a contributing writer for The Hollywood Reporter and Architectural Digest, she specializes in film, travel, set, costume and interior design, lifestyle, and celebrity profiles. Whitlock’s work also appears in Vanity […]
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Marion Winik
University of Baltimore professor Marion Winik is an award-winning columnist, renowned humorist, and winner of the 2019 Towson Prize for Literature. Among her nine books of creative nonfiction are The Big Book of the Dead, First Comes Love and Above Us Only Sky. Her award-winning Bohemian Rhapsody column appears monthly at Baltimore Fishbowl, and her essays have been published […]
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Tobias Wolff
Tobias Wolff is a novelist, short story writer, and memoirist and the recipient of the 1985 for The Barracks Thief, the 1989 Whiting Award for Fiction and Nonfiction, the 2006 PEN/Malamud Award (co-winner), the 2008 The Story Prize for his collection of short stories, Our Story Begins, the 2014 Stone Award for Lifetime Literary Achievement, Oregon State University, the 2015 National […]
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Mitchell Zuckoff
Mitchell Zuckoff is a professor of journalism at Boston University where he is the inaugural Sumner N. Redstone Professor in Narrative Studies. He is the New York Times best-selling author of Frozen in Time: An Epic Story of Survival and a Modern Quest for Lost Heroes of World War II and Lost in Shangri-La: A True Story of […]