Highlighted Speakers

Zainab Salbi
“One of the 25 Women Changing the World” — People. One of the “100 leading global thinkers” — Foreign Policy Magazine. The Iraqi-American humanitarian, bestselling author, TV Host and media commentator founded Women for Women International at the age of 23. The organization has since helped over 478,000 marginalized women rebuild their lives in 8 conflict areas. She is the author of several books including, Freedom is an Inside Job: Owning Our Darkness And Our Light To Heal Ourselves And The World. Her TV shows include “Through Her Eyes with Zainab Salbi” on Yahoo! News, exploring contemporary issues from a female perspective and appears regularly as a commentator in the media.

Loung Ung
Loung Ung is a bestselling author three books, activist and co-screenplay writer of the Netflix Original Movie directed by Angelina Jolie based on her memoir, First They Killed My Father, now streaming in 190 countries. Loung provides an eyewitness account of the Cambodian genocide, her survival, and life as a refugee in the U.S. from the age of ten. An eloquent speaker, she interweaves themes of leadership, activism, healing and resiliency. In these challenging times, she inspires hope as she delivers an empowering message of our ability to overcome adversity to create change in our lives and in the world.

Temple Grandin
The most accomplished and well-known adult with autism in the world. The bestselling author, innovator & animal scientist was subject of the HBO feature film “Temple Grandin,” starring Claire Danes. Her TED Talk "The World Needs All Kinds Of Minds," has been viewed almost 5 million times. Dr. Grandin is sought after globally to speak about her experiences with autism, cattle handling and the humane treatment of animals. She has been featured widely in the global media. Time Magazine named her one of the world's 100 most influential people.

Jamie Metzl
Jamie Metzl is a leading geopolitical expert and technology futurist, and author of Hacking Darwin: Genetic Engineering and the Future of Humanity. A member of the World Health Organization international advisory committee on human genome editing and a geopolitical expert, Metzl is one of the leading visionaries of the post-COVID world. He has done hundreds of national interviews (CNN, NPR, Bloomberg, etc.), published many high-profile editorials, spoken in online events on the crisis to hundreds of thousands of people, and become a leading advocate for responding smartly to the current crisis and conjurer of hope in a better future. A few months ago, he founded OneShared.World, which has grown to a global movement of people from nearly 100 countries working to collectively solve the world’s most essential common problems.

Brigadier General Peter Zwack
Brigadier General Zwack (Ret.) served as the United States Senior Defense Official and Attaché to the Russian Federation during challenging years of 2012-201, serving in the military for 34 years, and is one of America's leading experts on Russia. BG Zwack is currently a Global Fellow at the Kennan Institute within the Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars and is a sought after consultant on Russia globally. He presents lively, illustrated talks, including, “Russians: Who They Are, How They Think, and Why.”

Rukmini Callimachi
Rukmini Callimachi has been called “arguably the best reporter on the most important beat in the world.” A four-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, she covers the Islamic State and al-Qaeda for the New York Times, where she regularly speaks to the terrorists both in the encrypted chatrooms they use to communicate with each other and in jailhouse interviews conducted around the world. “From the time ISIS rose to become the most infamous terrorist organization on Earth, no reporters has done more to explain and expose the group than The New York Times’ Rukmini Callimachi,” Slate Magazine wrote.
Featured Videos
Produced and directed by Angelina Jolie, the film is based on the bestselling memoir by Loung Ung.
View SpeakerAuthor, TV Commentator & Founder of Women for Women International
View SpeakerAt TED with "The World Needs All Kinds of Minds"
View SpeakerRussia: Resurgent or Declining Power? A Eurasian perspective.
View SpeakerAfter international and local security forces' hard fought victories, how ISIS is regrouping in Iraq, Syria, Libya and elsewhere.
View SpeakerAuthor and advocate Chessy Prout and her father Alex Prout speak with Washington Post investigative reporter & co-author Jenn Abelson
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