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Innovation Speakers

 

What worked yesterday might not work tomorrow. Lavin’s innovation speakers approach the issue with creativity and verve, offering hands-on methods to innovate from the ground up — improving your future while learning from your past efforts.

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Greg Hoffman

Nike's Former Chief Marketing Officer | Author of Emotion by Design

Creative and empowering—these are the qualities today’s leaders need to thrive in the post-pandemic future. As the former Chief Marketing Officer at Nike, Greg Hoffman stood at the helm of one of the world’s most innovative companies as they redefined the meaning of brand authenticity. Under his creative leadership, Nike drove themes of equality, sustainability, and empowerment through sport. In timely and engaging talks, as well his forthcoming book Emotion by Design, Hoffman reveals how we can build an enduring and innovative brand legacy through the power of storytelling.

 

Stephanie Mehta

CEO of Mansueto Ventures | Former Editor-in-Chief of Fast Company

What makes the world’s most creative people—and companies—tick? The most qualified person to answer the question is Stephanie Mehta. As Editor-in-Chief of Fast Company—the influential magazine championing creativity, innovation, and thriving workplace cultures for a new generation of business— Mehta is the rare editor who talks to pure creatives and corporate leaders in equal measure. She draws on her decades in business journalism to show us how to inject imaginative thinking, entrepreneurial zeal, and unbridled innovation into everything we do.
Jeremy Gutsche

CEO of Trend Hunter | New York Times Bestselling Author of Create the Future

Innovation speaker Jeremy Gutsche is “an intellectual can of Red Bull” (Association Week), a New York Times bestseller and a management consultant to brands, billionaires, and CEOs. He’s also the founder of Trendhunter.com: the world’s #1 trend-spotting site. With contagious enthusiasm, he shows us how to use methodical innovation to generate ideas and kickstart creativity in times of rapid change.
 
Loran Nordgren

Behavioral Science Expert | Renowned Management Professor | Author of The Human Element

Most marketers, innovators, and executives assume that the best way to convince people to embrace change is to heighten the appeal or value of their idea—often leading them to add extra features, benefits, and marketing sizzle. This belief is what award-winning behavioral scientist Loran Nordgren, a professor at the Kellogg School of Management, calls a “fuel-based mindset.” Fuel is what incites our desire to change, explains Nordgren. Yet focusing exclusively on fuel neglects the other half of the marketing equation—the psychological “frictions” that oppose change. In his new book The Human Element, as well as in his engaging talks, Nordgren reveals how to overcome these barriers and bring our best ideas to life. 
John List

Chief Economist at Walmart | Economics Professor at the University of Chicago | Author of The Voltage Effect

Why do some great ideas make it big while others fail to take off? John List—a leading economist at The University of Chicago and Chief Economist at Lyft—demystifies one of today’s trickiest questions in his upcoming book The Voltage Effect. Whether you’re growing a small business, rolling out a diversity and inclusion program, or delivering billions of doses of a vaccine—to achieve success, you need to be able to replicate your ideas at scale, explains List. In his high-impact talks, he reveals the qualities of a scalable idea, and how to best engineer them to drive change in our workplaces, schools, and communities. 
Jason Feifer

Editor-in-Chief of Entrepreneur Magazine | Author of Build for Tomorrow

The world has never been in a greater period of change. It’s an exciting time, offering opportunities for innovation, shifts in culture, and a general reevaluation of the way we live. Unfortunately, many people will miss out on the benefits of change because they feel threatened. As the editor-in-chief of Entrepreneur and author of the upcoming book Build for Tomorrow, Not for Yesterday, Jason Feifer has a unique window into the most innovative minds of today. In keynotes that will electrify and inspire any audience, he teaches us how to counter our primal fear of change by getting us excited about its possibilities.
Jonathan Brill

Futurist | Author of Rogue Waves: Future-Proof Your Business to Survive and Profit from Radical Change

As Global Futurist at HP, Jonathan Brill helped the iconic company prepare for the possibility of a pandemic, a takeover attempt, and a sudden market decline. The result was an excellent 2020 in the face of all three, while their competitors suffered huge blows. In his book Rogue Waves, Brill uses an evidence-based framework to help you capitalize on the economic, technological, and social undercurrents most likely reshape the business world.
Alex Kantrowitz

Reporter and Founder of Big Technology | Author of Always Day One

How do the tech titans—Facebook, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft—stay on top? Alex Kantrowitz, one of the world’s most prolific tech reporters, has made it his mission to find out. In his debut book Always Day One, he explores the precedent-setting culture and leadership practices these companies have built to spark invention and move beyond the status quo. In his talks, Kantrowitz reveals how you, too, can use the tech titan playbook to invent and reinvent in a rapidly-changing economy.
Shivani Siroya

Founder and CEO of Tala

As the Founder and CEO of microfinance company Tala, Shivani Siroya delivers credit to customers with little to no formal borrowing history—helping them start and expand small businesses. The company has disbursed more than one billion dollars to customers in East Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America, leading Forbes to name it one of the Top 50 FinTech companies in the world. Believing that financial visibility is crucial to living to our full potential, Siroya shows us why radical trust will be the currency of the future—and how we can leverage it to create a financial system that works for everyone.
Ellen Bennett

Founder and CEO of Hedley & Bennett | Author of Dream First, Details Later

At 25 years old Ellen Bennett was a cook at a 2-Michelin-Star restaurant in Los Angeles; yet she was still tying on the same $5 apron found in every diner and pub along Hollywood Boulevard. So she took her modest $300 savings and turned it into the largest gourmet apron manufacturer in the world. Now the founder and CEO at Hedley & Bennett—a brand beloved by the likes of Martha Stewart and Momofuku’s David Chang—this culinary entrepreneur explains how you, too, can jumpstart your own idea with charisma and heart.
Nicholas Thompson

CEO of The Atlantic | Former Editor-in-Chief of WIRED

Nicholas Thompson is CEO of The Atlantic and former editor-in-chief of WIRED. His bold, brilliant takes on the complex relationship between ethics, tech, business, politics, and society continuously shape the nation’s understanding of the world around them. In new talks, he blueprints what life will look like after COVID—how privacy, labor, business, and human connection will be irrevocably altered, and how individuals and organizations can poise themselves to thrive.

 

 
Joe Jackman

Founder and CEO of Jackman | Author of The Reinventionist Mindset

Our human instinct is to resist change. But what if we could reprogram ourselves to see change as not only inevitable, but good? As something to run towards, rather than away from? Wouldn’t we all be better off? According to Joe Jackman, Founder and CEO of Jackman Reinvents—Yes, we would. This bold belief is why iconic brands and leadership teams turn to Jackman as their secret weapon in spearheading remarkable change—transforming the way we look at strategy, design, culture, innovation, and customer experiences that truly engage.
Sarah Kaplan

Director, Institute for Gender and the Economy at Rotman School of Management | Author of The 360° Corporation

Today’s businesses have to answer to more than just shareholder demands. Stakeholder pressures have companies pulled in many different directions, from employees who want meaningful work; to consumers who want sustainable products; to activists monitoring companies’ social and environmental footprint. In talks, as well as her book The 360° Corporation, Rotman professor Sarah Kaplan shows us how the trade-offs we make to fulfill these pressures—along with shareholder demands—can be an opportunity for innovation, organizational resilience, and business transformation.
Mark Johnson

Co-Founder of Innosight | Author of Lead from the Future and Reinvent Your Business Model

How can you reinvent your business in the face of disruption—and come out stronger, more resilient, and more profitable than before? Just ask Mark Johnson, award-winning business author and co-founder of the innovation consultancy Innosight. There, he helps leaders and organizations develop the visionary ideas that lead to breakthrough change, and execute them with startling efficiency. As practical as it is creative, Johnson’s work not only stimulates new growth, but manages company-wide cultures of transformation. 
Radhika Dirks

Forbes' 30 Women in AI to Watch | Quantum Computing Expert | CEO & Co-Founder of XLabs & Ribo AI

A quantum physicist-turned-entrepreneur, Radhika Dirks is CEO and co-founder at XLabs: the only company in the world making AI moonshots a reality. Her work harnesses the dynamism of AI in tangible, world-renewing ways, amplifying your business, tech, brand, and strategy in the process. With firsthand examples of AI she has built, Dirks argues for a future that fits our biggest ambitions—making the world a better place while we’re at it. 
Tracy Dennis-Tiwary

Bestselling author of Future Tense | Clinical psychologist and researcher | Digital health technology entrepreneur

With stress and burnout spiking, many of us believe that our lives would be better if only we were less anxious. But Dr. Tracy Dennis-Tiwary says our anxiety is actually good for us, even though it feels bad. Anxiety helps us focus, create, and plan. As a clinical psychologist and author of Future Tense, Tracy provides a radical new framework for managing this misunderstood emotion and using it to our advantage. “When we stop rejecting anxiety,” she says, “we will be better able to channel it, manage it, and use it to prioritize what matters to us in life.”
Luke Burgis

Entrepreneur | Author of Wanting: The Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday Life

How can we create things that benefit us as people? That is the question that author, entrepreneur, and investor Luke Burgis asks. His people-first perspective stems from a lifetime of unique experiences: working on Wall Street, founding companies in Silicon Valley, even studying theology. Today, Burgis applies mimetic theory—the idea that desire is a social mechanism—to business. In talks, he shows us the hidden forces behind why we want things, how to break free from destructive desires, and how to cultivate the intentional desires that build a better world.
Shabnam Mogharabi

CEO and Executive Producer of SoulPancake | New York Times Bestselling Author

In a world of political propaganda, online extremists, and social media clickbait, SoulPancake stands apart. A platform recognized for its positive, uplifting media it aims to celebrate humanity and explore life’s big questions. As its CEO and Executive Producer, alongside The Office’s Rainn Wilson, Shabnam Mogharabi is responsible for inspiring and growing an online community of over 10 million fans. Her riveting talks explore everything from fostering creativity and finding your authentic voice, to why purpose is the most powerful asset a business can have.  
Derek Thompson

Host of Plain English | Bestselling Author of Hit Makers | Staff Writer at The Atlantic

As Senior Editor at The Atlantic, innovation speaker Derek Thompson writes on economics and politics, media and money in America today—and always with an expert sense of what’s important. 

 

 
Doug Stephens

Retail and Consumer Futurist | Internationally Acclaimed Author and Founder of Retail Prophet

Doug Stephens is one of the most influential innovation speakers and retail futurists on the planet. His talks are required listening for any company that orbits the retail world. In fully customized and thoroughly researched keynotes, Stephens shows you how to stay ahead of the changing mega-trends in demographics, economics, and technology that are resetting your industry—and, what it takes to be truly innovative. 
 
 
Tom Wujec

World Renowned Expert on Innovation | Former Chief Disruptor at Autodesk | Author of The Future of Making

New disruptive technologies are permanently changing the way we conceive, design, manufacture, and sell products. To veteran innovator and innovation speaker Tom Wujec—Autodesk’s former ‘Chief Disruptor’—this is an exciting opportunity. As each industry is forced to adapt and learn new skills, they’ll need a guide—and Wujec is our most valuable. 
Markus Giesler

Consumer Sociologist | One of The 40 Best Business Professors Under 40

“Your view of life changes the moment you start looking left and right” says innovation speaker, consumer sociologist, and rebel marketing speaker Markus Giesler. What he means is that our innovations—products, services, experiences—shouldn’t be created in a vacuum.
 
David Eagleman

One of the World’s Foremost Neuroscientists | Host of PBS’s The Brain | Scientific Advisor for HBO’s Westworld this is the science description this is the neuroscience description

How can we harness the brain for maximum creativity—at work, and school? In The Runaway Species, innovation speaker David Eagleman—“the hottest thing in neuroscience” (The Times)—reveals how any organization can adopt a more innovative mindset by decoding how the mind actually works. In talks, he helps us embrace risk and failure, empower our employees, and build truly creative companies.
David Robertson

Senior Lecturer at MIT Sloan | Author of The Power of Little Ideas and of Brick by Brick

We tend to imagine innovation as slow, incremental change or else industry-shifting disruption. Yet for most companies, neither works. Innovation speaker and MIT Sloan professor David Robertson outlines a third way of innovation—actual working strategies for world-class companies that build on his groundbreaking study of Lego’s near-collapse and rise, Brick by Brick.
 
Nina Tandon

CEO and Co-Founder of EpiBone | TED Senior Fellow

Nina Tandon is an innovation speaker at the cutting edge of science. She works on growing artificial hearts and bones that can be put into the body, and studies the new frontier of biotech: homes, textiles, and videogames made of cells. Named one of Fast Company’s Most Creative People in Business, and one of Foreign Policy’s 100 Leading Global Thinkers, she speaks on the future of healthcare and technology, and biology's new industrial revolution.  
 
Charles Fishman

Author of The Big Thirst and One Giant Leap

The moon landing didn’t just inspire a nation—it proved that, with the right leadership, we can solve complex problems and innovate quickly and under pressure. In his New York Times bestseller One Giant Leap, Charles Fishman explains how NASA rose to the impossible challenge set before them—inventing both space travel and modern project management. In talks, Fishman applies the revolutionary lessons of Apollo 11 to today’s urgent problems in business, education, and public life.
 
Salman Khan

Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Khan Academy

Sal Khan is a leading innovation speaker and the founder and CEO of Khan Academy, a nonprofit with a mission of providing a free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere. Khan is also the founder of Khan Lab School, a nonprofit laboratory school in Mountain View, California, where he teaches seminars in the humanities and sciences.
 
Peter H. Diamandis

Chairman and CEO of the XPRIZE Foundation, Innovation Speaker

It’s very likely that the future of space exploration lies in the hands of innovation speaker Dr. Peter Diamandis. As co-founder of the XPRIZE Foundation, he oversaw the creation of the $10 million Ansari XPRIZE for commercial spaceflight.

 

 
Yancey Strickler

Co-founder & Former CEO of Kickstarter | Author of This Could Be Our Future

Our current society is trapped by three assumptions, says writer and Kickstarter co-founder Yancey Strickler: that the point of life is to maximize self-interest and wealth; that we’re individuals trapped in an adversarial world; and that this is natural. His electric keynotes show us how we got here and—more importantly—how we can turn this ship around. 
 
David Sax

Author of The Future is Analog, The Soul of an Entrepreneur and The Revenge of Analog

Digital was supposed to change the world. But the need for real things is greater than ever. This is the business story that innovation speaker David Sax broke in The Revenge of Analog, which shows how retailers and tech giants are fusing screens with analog processes to outsmart the competition. It’s time for a sense of balance, Sax says—for wellbeing, as well as the bottom line.
 
John Maeda

Chief Experience Officer at Publicis Sapient | Author of How to Speak Machine

John Maeda is a world-renowned artist, graphic designer, computer scientist, educator, and innovation speaker whose career reflects his philosophy of humanizing technology. For more than a decade, he has worked to integrate technology, education, and the arts into a 21st-century synthesis of creativity and innovation. 
 
Randall Lane

Chief Content Officer of Forbes Magazine

Innovation speaker Randall Lane is the chief content officer of Forbes Magazine, where he has helped it reach its highest-ever U.S. readership (6.7 million) with new emphases on young innovators and disruptors. These are people reimagining the rules for business and rethinking the potential for entrepreneurs to solve the world’s most intractable problems.  
 
Michael Katchen

Founder and CEO of Wealthsimple

If Toronto is the Silicon Valley of the North–a thriving international hub of technological innovation–then innovation speaker Michael Katchen is one of its leading figures. Katchen is the founder and CEO of Wealthsimple, whose easy-to-use service has redefined investing for a young generation, and whose massive success has disrupted the financial services industry. 
 
Welby Altidor

Former Executive Creative Director at Cirque du Soleil | Group CCO, Cityneon

As Executive Creative Director for Cirque du Soleil, innovation speaker Welby Altidor was responsible for groundbreaking live events at one of the world’s most creative companies. His leadership there taught him that creativity isn’t reserved to a happy few, but the result of intentional practice: it can be found within us all.