Festival Speakers
2024
Festival Speakers
A
Peace Activist; Co-Founder, Mejdi Tours; Co-Founder, InterAct International
Novelist; Essayist; Author, “Americanah”
Vice President and Fellow at Google Research
Journalist; Women's Rights Activist
CEO, Fannie Mae
Founder and CEO, The Business of Fashion
President and Board Chair, American Civil Liberties Union; Margaret B. Hoppin Professor of Clinical Law and Faculty Director, Community Equity Lab, New York University School of Law
Otis Booth Leadership Chair, Division of Engineering and Applied Science and Howard Hughes Professor of Applied Physics and Materials Science, California Institute of Technology
Senior Lecturer, Department of History, Clemson University; Contributing Writer, The Atlantic
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General Manager of Democracy Forward, Microsoft
Head, Bloomberg Beta
Regional Development Director, Teach Plus
Journalist
Executive Editor, Local Investigations Fellowship, The New York Times
Editor in Chief, Parents
System Chair of Dept of Neurosurgery, Mount Sinai Health System
President, Dartmouth College
Secretary of State, Michigan
CEO, Family Equity
Staff Writer, The New Yorker; Author, "Everyone Who is Gone is Here"
President of Editorial, NBC News
Senior Media and Tech Correspondent, CNBC
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
CEO, Hermitage Capital Management; Head, Global Magnitsky Justice Campaign
Guest Curator, Aspen Ideas Festival
Charles Warren Professor of American History, Professor of African and African-American Studies, Harvard University
CEO, Robin Hood Foundation
Chair of Renaissance Visual and Material Cultures, Edinburgh College of Art
Co-Host, “Today with Hoda and Jenna,” NBC
C
Theater, Film, and Television Director
Political Consultant
Architect; Founder and Creative Director, Practice for Architecture and Urbanism
EVP Strategy, Sustainability, and Ventures, BP
Chairman, NBCUniversal News Group; Trustee, The Aspen Institute
Attorney; Contributing Writer, The Atlantic
Author; Podcast Host, “Kelly Corrigan Wonders;” Host, “Tell Me More with Kelly Corrigan,” PBS
Founder and Director, AgeLab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Journalist; Founder and Executive Producer, Katie Couric Media
Governor of Utah
D
President and CEO, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco
Spokesperson and Director of International Relations, Parents Circle – Families Forum
Executive Vice Chairman, Board of Trustees, Mount Sinai Health System
President and Trustee, Patrick J. McGovern Foundation
Columnist, The New York Times
Writer, The New Yorker; Author, “Supercommunicators”
Actor; Producer; Director
E
CEO, Endeavor and TKO
Senior Personal Finance Correspondent, CNBC
Professor of Strategy, China Maritime Studies Institute, U.S. Naval War College
Founder and CEO, Human Capital Africa; Senior Economic Adviser, Africa Economic Development Policy Initiative
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Vice Chair and Member, Board of Directors, Prudential Financial
Executive Director, Sports and Society Program, The Aspen Institute
Milbank Senior Fellow Hoover Institution, Stanford University; Senior Faculty Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University
Cartoonist; Author
Senior Advisor, TPG Rise Climate Fund; Chair, Rubicon Carbon
Soprano; Arts and Health Advocate; Co-Artistic Director, Aspen Opera Theater and VocalARTS
Founder and President, James L. Foley Legacy Foundation
Actor; Producer; Activist
President and Co-Founder, Economic Security Project
Writer; Filmmaker; Podcast Host, Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso
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Human Rights Attorney
Editor in Chief, Reuters
Dean, Faculty of Arts and Sciences; Vincent J. Scully Professor of Philosophy; Professor of Psychology and Cognitive Science, Yale University
Managing Director, Perseus Strategies
Director of Comprehensive Brain Tumor Program, Co-Director of the Radiosurgery Program and Vice Chair for Diversity and Inclusion for the Dept of Neurosurgery at Mount Sinai Health System
Executive Chairman, U.S. News and World Report
Chief Heat Officer, Miami-Dade County
Mayor, City of Mesa, Ariz.
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”
Producer; Writer; Founder and Chairman, Imagine Entertainment
John Cogan University Professor of the Humanities, Harvard University
Founder and Managing Partner, Telesoft Partners; Trustee, The Aspen Institute
H
Principal, Head of Wealth Management Advice and Solutions, Edward Jones
Founder and CEO, Loyal
Founder, One Country Project; Director, Institute of Politics, University of Chicago; Former U.S. Senator
Associate Director, Economic Opportunities Program, The Aspen Institute
CEO, Reconstruction; Former Chancellor, District of Columbia Public Schools
Journalist; Author
Former Assistant U.S. Attorney
Correspondent, NBC News and MSNBC
I
Former President and Director-Counsel, NAACP Legal Defense Fund
Columnist and Associate Editor, The Washington Post; Novelist
J
Senior Legal Correspondent, NBC News; Co-Anchor, Saturday TODAY, NBC
Professor of Economics, London School of Economics and Political Science
Founder and CEO, Salamander Hotels and Resorts; Co-Founder, Black Entertainment Television
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
Paul and Patricia Saunders Professor of Law, Georgetown University; Partner, Hogan Lovells
Co-Host, “All Things Considered,” NPR
Former U.S. Secretary of State
Director, Philosophy and Society Initiative, The Aspen Institute
Attorney, Koskoff Koskoff & Bieder
CEO, Art Bridges
Op-Ed Columnist, The New York Times; Author, "Chasing Hope"
Chief Product Officer, Viant Technology
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Leader, The Campaign to Free Jimmy Lai
Pollster; President, Lake Research Partners
Founder, E Pluribus UNUM; Former Mayor of New Orleans
Co-CEO, BDT and MSD Partners
Senior Writer, The New York Times
Author; Journalist
Mansfield Freeman Chair Professor, School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University; Director, Center for China in the World Economy
Political Strategist; President and CEO, Longwell Partners; Publisher, The Bulwark
M
Political Consultant; Principal, Grassroots Lab
Host, Real Time with Bill Maher, HBO
Attorney, Social Media Victims Law Center
Founder and Executive Director, #HalfTheStory
Director, Global Opportunity Youth Network, The Aspen Institute
Deputy Director, Technology, U.K. Department for Business and Trade
U.S. Navy Admiral, Retired; Former Chancellor, University of Texas System
Professor of Linguistics, Columbia University
President and CEO, International Rescue Committee
Founder and CEO, The Ankler
Photographer; Co-Founder, Sea Legacy
Vice President; Executive Director, Ascend; and Co-Chair, Forum on Women and Girls, The Aspen Institute
Frederick I. and Grace Stokes Professor of Law, New York University School of Law; Faculty Director, Birnbaum Women’s Leadership Center
N
Chairman and CEO, Microsoft
Creator, Director, and Host, Poetry in America; Director, Verse Video Education; Powell M. Cabot Professor of American Literature, Harvard University
Photographer; Co-Founder, SeaLegacy
Board Member, Amazon; Former Chairman and CEO, PepsiCo; Author, “My Life in Full: Work, Family, and Our Future”
O
Co-founder, Change the Ref; Head of Global Outreach and Artistic Adviser, Global Action on Gun Violence
Historian; Professor of Public History, University of Manchester
Director of Innovation Strategy for the Dept of Neurosurgery, Mount Sinai Health System
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Journalist; Documentary Filmmaker; Writer
Documentary Filmmaker; Journalist
Partner, KKR; Chairman, KKR Global Institute; Former CIA Director and Retired General
Governor of Colorado
CEO, Serum Institute of India
Co-Host and Co-Creator, Ear Hustle
U.S. Representative
President and CEO, Aspen Institute
Principal, Garnaut Global
Vice Chairman and President of Global Client Services, BDT and MSD Partners
Developmental Psychologist; Co-Founder and Director of Clinical Programming, The Mount Sinai Parenting Center; Podcast Host, "Raising Good Humans"
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
R
Vice President; Co-Executive Director, Financial Security Program; and Co-Chair, Aspen Partnership for an Inclusive Economy, The Aspen Institute
Founder and CEO, Moonshot
Scientific Director of Mount Sinai Bio; Design and Faculty of the Dept of Neurosurgery, Mount Sinai Health System
Chairman and CEO, Willett Advisors
Founder and President, American Institute for Boys and Men
Chair and CEO, A-Rod Corp
President and CEO, National Constitution Center
Co-Founder and Co-Chairman, The Carlyle Group
Director, Aspen Business Roundtable on Organized Labor, Economics Opportunities Program, The Aspen Institute
Ambassador to the United States, Embassy of Australia
Host, "The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle," MSNBC; Senior Business Analyst, NBC News
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Vice President and Executive Director, Business and Society Program, The Aspen Institute
Writer; Artist
Founder and CEO, Girls Who Code; CEO, Moms First
Executive Director and Curator, Letterform Archive
Writer; Advice Columnist, Savage Love; Podcast Host, "Savage Lovecast"
Professor of Art History and History, Columbia University
President and CEO, Wells Fargo
Graphic Designer; Partner, Pentagram
Executive Director, Aspen Digital, 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"
Chief Heat Officer and Director, Climate Emergency Mobilization, City of Los Angeles
Founder and President, GOOD+ Foundation
Chairman of the Board, 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
Co-Anchor, “Squawk Box,” CNBC; Financial Columnist, The New York Times; Founder and Editor at Large, DealBook
Founder, Howard Kennedy
Actor and director
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
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Jehuda Reinharz Professor of the Humanities, English Professor, and Co-Chair of Italian Studies, Brandeis University
Editorial Board Chair and U.S. Editor at Large, Financial Times
Professor of Art Crime, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY
Journalist; Associate Fellow, PJ Patterson Institute for Africa Caribbean Advocacy, University of the West Indies; Trustee, Trevelyan Grenada Reparations Fund
V
Poet; Comedian; Actor; Author, "Your Wound, My Garden"
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General Adult and Forensic Psychiatrist, Walter Reed Center for Forensic Behavioral Sciences
Vice President of Philanthropy and Society and Executive Director, Program on Philanthropy and Social Innovation, The Aspen Institute; Founder, Global Philanthropy Forum; Co-Chair, Generosity Commission
President, Ford Foundation
Founder, Alice L. Walton Foundation
Founder and Executive Director, SilverLining
Journalist; Host, “1A,” NPR
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-Host and Co-Creator, Ear Hustle
Co-Founder and CEO, IDEO.org; CEO, Alight
Y
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