Mr. Alan R. Mulally served as the Chief Executive Officer and President of Ford Motor Company from September 1, 2006 to July 1, 2014. Prior to joining Ford in September 2006, Mr. Mulally served as an Executive Vice President of The Boeing Company since August 2002. He served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, Inc. from September 1998 to September 5, 2006 and from August 2002 to September 5, 2006, respectively.
Jim McCann : CEO, 1-800 Flowers.com
Jim McCann likes to make things grow. First, as a florist and then as the founder of 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, McCann, a consummate entrepreneur, has shown a knack for making businesses grow and prosper. From its roots in 1976 as a single flower shop in Manhattan, NY, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM has become the world’s largest florist with revenues expected to exceed $1 billion. In the process, McCann changed the way flowers and other gifts are marketed for birthdays, anniversaries, holidays and special occasions while helping to expand the definition of retailing – positioning his company to help customers express themselves and connect with the important people in their lives.
Douglas Conant : Former CEO, Campbell’s
From 2001 to 2011, Conant served as CEO and President of the Campbell Soup Company. Douglas R. Conant is also a New York Times bestselling author and keynote speaker with over 35 years of leadership experience at world-class global companies. In 2011, he founded ConantLeadership, a growing community of people dedicated to improving the quality of leadership in the 21st century. Deeply committed to leadership, he also serves as Chairman of Avon Products as well as Chairman of the Kellogg Executive Leadership Institute (KELI) at Northwestern University.
Eric Schlosser : Fast Food Nation
As an investigative journalist, Eric Schlosser tries to explore subjects ignored by the mainstream media and give a voice to people at the margins of society. Over the years he’s followed the harvest with migrant farm workers in California, spent time with meatpacking workers in Texas and Colorado, told the stories of marijuana growers and pornographers and the victims of violent crime, gone on duty with the New York Police Department Bomb Squad, and visited prisons throughout the United States.
Clayton Christensen : Harvard
Professor Clayton received his B.A. in economics, summa cum laude, from Brigham Young University and an M.Phil. in applied econometrics from Oxford University, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar. He subsequently received an MBA with High Distinction from the Harvard Business School in 1979, graduating as a George F. Baker Scholar.
Michael Bergdahl : Walmart
Michael Bergdahl was employed at Wal-Mart’s world headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas as the Director of “People,” working side-by-side with one of America’s most iconic business tycoons; Wal-Mart’s Founder and CEO, Sam Walton.
Andy Stefanovich : Marketing Innovator
With over 20 years of experience transforming Fortune 50 companies and armed with a reputation as one of the most disruptive and effective advisors to business today, Andy Stefanovich believes companies must reorient their focus toward creativity and innovation in order to sustain strategic growth.
Bobbi Brown : Makeup Tycoon
Bobbi Brown is a professional makeup artist and the founder and CCO of Bobbi Brown Cosmetics. Brown has written eight books about makeup and beauty. As a successful makeup artist with access to everything in the market, Bobbi found nearly all products looked too artificial, making it impossible to create a gorgeous, no-makeup look. Bobbi’s big breakthrough was her first American Vogue cover. The image was shot by famed photographer Patrick Demarchelier and featured the soon-to-be-supermodel Naomi Campbell, made up by Bobbi Brown.
Lior Arussy : Customer Experience
Recognized by ABC News, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, The Times of London and Gartner as one of the world’s leading authorities on customer experience management and customer centricity transformation, Lior Arussy has developed a strategic framework to transform organizations from product to customer-centricity while increasing their profitability through differentiation.
Melanie Notkin : Marketing Expert
Melanie Notkin uncovered the growing demographics of childless women and given them a voice. To celebrate modern aunthood, in 2008, she founded SAVVY AUNTIE®, the multiplatform lifestyle brand for cool aunts, great aunts, godmothers and all women who love kids. In 2014, Notkin introduced Otherhood, the modern, growing demographic of women who, despite their deepest yearnings, remain single and childless as their fertile years wane.
Breakfast At Balthazar with Jason Jennings
This intriguing man is nothing less than a business soothsayer in the world of professional speakers. Jason is the author of eight books, all of them bestsellers. I’d booked him, but had never met him. The grapevine in this business is small and well-trimmed. Four different clients had told me this man is the best business speaker in America.
Kindra Hall : Storytelling
Kindra is an author, speaker, storytelling advisor and a master of the personal story. Recognizing the need for carefully crafted, well-told stories in business and professional branding, Kindra has blended her 20+ years of traditional training with the modern demand for effective telling.
Deepak Chopra : Alternative Medicine
Deepak Chopra is the author of numerous books on alternative medicine, Deepak Chopra was born in New Delhi, India, in 1947. After attending the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, he eventually ended up in Boston where he began his career as a doctor. After becoming disenchanted with Western medicine, however, Chopra turned to alternative medicine. In 1995 Chopra, already a prolific book author, founded the Chopra Center for Well Being in La Jolla, California.
Dan Buettner : Live Longer
Dan Buettner is an internationally recognized researcher, explorer, New York Times best-selling author, and National Geographic Fellow. He founded Blue Zones®, a company that puts the world’s best practices in longevity and well-being to work in people’s lives.
Brian Tracy : Life Coach
Brian Tracy is one of America’s leading authorities on the development of human potential and personal effectiveness. He is a dynamic and entertaining speaker with a keen ability to inform and inspire audiences toward peak performance and higher levels of achievement.
Ulrich Boser : The Science of Trust
Previously, Boser was a contributing editor for U.S. News & World Report. His articles have been published in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post.
Boser is working on a book about learning. He is also the author of The Leap: The Science of Trust and Why It Matters and The Gardner Heist: The True Story of the World’s Largest Art Theft, which was a Boston Globe bestseller and USA Today called “a public service.”
Garry Kasparov : Chess Grand Master
Kasparov came to international fame as the youngest world chess champion in history in 1985 at the age of 22. Eager for new challenges, he retired from professional chess in 2005 after a record 20 years as the world’s top-ranked player. Kasparov wasted no time after leaving chess, joking that he would be far busier as a retiree. He quickly became an important voice in the Russian pro-democracy movement against the repressive regime of Vladimir Putin.
Steve Ballmer : Former CEO of Microsoft
Steve Ballmer retired as CEO of Microsoft in February 2014 and didn’t take long to move onto his next job, boss of the Los Angeles Clippers. In August he closed a $2 billion purchase of the team, the highest price ever paid for an NBA squad. The hefty price tag didn’t faze Ballmer, who keeps getting richer as Microsoft shares rise steadily since his departure.
John Mackey : Whole Foods CEO
John Mackey is the Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Whole Foods. Named the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2003, Mackey is a strong supporter of free market economics. He is one of the most influential advocates in the movement for organic food. Mackey built Whole Foods into an international organization, with outlets in major markets across the country, as well as Canada and the United Kingdom. Along the way he bought out smaller competitors. In 2007 Whole Foods purchased a major natural foods supermarket competitor, Wild Oats Markets, Inc.
Jeff Bezos : Amazon CEO
Jeff Bezos is the founder and CEO of Amazon.com. The initial success of the company was meteoric. With no press promotion, Amazon.com sold books across the United States and in 45 foreign countries within 30 days. In two months, sales reached $20,000 a week, growing faster than Bezos and his start-up team had envisioned. Today, the company is worth $136 billion.