KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Teresa Amabile

Edsel Bryant Ford Professor of Business Administration and Director of Research, Harvard Business School

Originally educated as a chemist, Teresa received her doctorate in psychology from Stanford University. She studies how everyday life inside organizations can influence people and their performance. Her research encompasses creativity, productivity, innovation, and inner work life – the confluence of emotions, perceptions, and motivation that people experience as they react to events at work. Teresa strives to teach leaders how to simultaneously achieve their most passionate career aspirations, further the success of their organizations, and serve the aims of their communities.

Jim Gilmore

Mass Customization & Experience Economy Expert

Jim Gilmore is co-founder of Aurora, Ohio-based Strategic Horizons LLP, a thinking studio dedicated to helping businesses conceive and design new ways of adding value to their economic offerings. He is co-author of The Experience Economy: Work Is Theatre & Every Business a Stage with Joe Pine. The book demonstrates how customers increasingly spending their money on experiences – memorable events that engage them in a personal way, like going to Walt Disney World or a theme restaurant – and shows how businesses can benefit from this shift.

Ginger Hardage

Sr. Vice President Culture & Communications, Southwest Airlines

Ginger oversees all internal and external communications for the airline that carries the most customers in the United States. She has worked in communications in the Dallas area for over 30 years and has been named one of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Public Relations by PRWeek.  In 2010, Ginger was distinguished as one of Texas’ Most Powerful and Influential Women and Southwest Airlines ranked as one of the top 20 “Best-in-Class” in a national Corporate Public Affairs Survey. Ginger discuss how Southwest maintains one of the most admired company cultures in the world.

John Hunter

Creator, World Peace Game

John Hunter is an award-winning, gifted teacher and educational consultant who has dedicated his life to helping children realize their full potential. It was during his time in India as a college student that he became intrigued by the principles of non-violence and began to think of how his profession might contribute to peace in the world. Accepting the reality of violence, he sought to incorporate ways to explore harmony in various situations using the framework of a game – something that students would enjoy. They would be challenged while enhancing collaborative and communication skills. Hunter succinctly explains, “the World Peace Game is about learning to live and work comfortably in the unknown.”

John Osborn

President & CEO, BBDO Advertising

John Osborn is an energetic, positive, passionate leader who has worked with clients including FedEx, GE, Sony, Lowe’s, Monster, Mars, and Pepsi since joining BBDO in 1991. In 2004 he became President & CEO of the agency, which was named “Agency of the Year” by Ad Age, Adweek and Campaign in 2006 as well as “Creative Agency of the Year” by Shoot magazine and “Large Agency of the Year” by BtoB magazine this past year. John was inducted into the AAF Hall of Achievement in 2003 and has been featured on Crain’s New York Business list of “40 under 40” and BtoB magazine’s “Who’s Who in BtoB.” He was named a “Young Global Leader” by the World Economic Forum in 2006.

Halle Stanford

Executive Vice President of Children’s Entertainment, Jim Henson Company

Halle Stanford leads the development and production of all children’s programming at the Jim Henson Company. She was an executive producer on the PBS KIDS series “Sid the Science Kid” and “Dinosaur Train” as well as “Telling Stories with Tomie dePaola.” Her other projects include “Pajanimals,” “The Possibility Shop,” “Wilson & Ditch: Digging America,” “Animal Jam,” and “Bear in the Big Blue House,” which is now owned by the Walt Disney Company. Halle also founded 7 Crows Stories, a children’s creative company responsible for consulting on projects such as “Krypto” and “Baby Looney Toons,” and executive producing the “Pat the Bunny” DVD series.

Thiagi

Founder, Thiagi Group, Inc.

Thiagi is currently the Resident Mad Scientist at the Thiagi Group, Inc. He has been designing training games and simulations for the past 30 years and has conducted training in 25 different countries. His game-design workshops are held every year in Paris, Zurich, and Singapore. He has been the president of the North American Simulation and Gaming Association five different times as well as president of the International Society for Performance Improvement for two different terms. He has published 40 books designed more than 200 training games that are now used around the world.

Conor White-Sullivan

Director of HuffPost Labs, Huffington Post Media Group

Conor White-Sullivan is the Director of Editorial Technology at Huffington Post Media, where he focuses on new product development, with an eye towards user engagement. Previously he was the CEO and Founder of Localocracy, which built an online town common where local elected officials could connect with registered voters, and newspapers could build community and source user generated content. Localocracy won initial funding through business competitions such as the UMass Amherst Innovation Challenge and the Poynter Promise prize, and became one of the first for-profit companies to raise venture investment from the John F. and James L. Knight Foundation. The site was acquired by AOL Huffington Post Media group in fall of 2011. Conor has been named a Champion of Change by the Obama administration and was featured on the 2011 Forbes 30 Under 30 list for media.

Past Speakers

Mary-Catherine Bateson	Tony Baxter	Kevin Carroll
Richard Florida	Bijoy Goswami	Dave Gray
Sherwin Greenblatt	Jeremy Gutsche	Frans Johansson
Dean Kamen	George Land	Bernice McCarthy
Sarah Miller Caldicott	Keith Sawyer	Andy Stefanovich
Gail Vance Civille	Mike Wittenstein