Western Connecticut State University

Janine di Giovanni is one of Europe’s most respected and experienced journalists, with vast experience covering war and conflict. Her reporting has been called “established, accomplished brilliance” and she has been cited as “the finest foreign correspondent of our generation”.

Mark has made a living achieving the unfathomable: crossing the intersection of danger and excitement. He knows all too well the crippling grasp of fear. While in Tasmania, fifteen feet in front of a cliff in cold, shark infested waters, Mark hit a reef and instantly blacked out.

Gwynne Shotwell joined SpaceX in 2002 as vice president of business development and built the Falcon vehicle family manifest to more than 70 launches, representing more than $10 billion in business. Shotwell is a member of the SpaceX Board of Directors.

Matthew Luhn is a writer, story and branding consultant, creative writing instructor and keynote speaker with over 25 years’ experience creating stories and characters at Pixar Animation Studios, The Simpsons, and beyond.

Chris is a dynamic speaker who debunks the biggest myths of negotiation. Chris engages all groups with captivating stories, insights, useful tips for business and everyday life, and interactive audience participation.

Andrew McAfee studies how IT changes how companies perform, organize themselves, compete at higher levels, and how computerization affects competition, society, economy, & workforce.

Scott Harrison, Founder & CEO, charity: water, shares his story about why access to clean water is the first step to changing the world.

Alex Sheen, CEO of Because I Said I Would, makes charitable promises: 245 miles walks for victims of sexual violence; volunteering each week at charities in 2014; delivering relief aid to Hurricane Sandy victims.

Adam Braun is the Founder of Pencils of Promise, an award-winning nonprofit organization that has broken ground on over 200 schools around the world and in 2013 was recognized at the United Nations as the Empact Showcase’s “Education Organization of the Year.” In 2012, he was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 List and Wired Magazine’s “50 People Who Are Changing the World.”

Keynote speaker Sally Hogshead is the author of FASCINATE, teaching audiences how to persuade and captivate in a world with a 9 second attention span. From the moment she steps onstage, Sally Hogshead captivates the audience.

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.