Our Education Speakers push learning further with innovative solutions to enhance our education system, proven strategies for fostering critical thinking and inspiring narratives that demonstrate the power of discovery.
Scott Galloway
<p>Business guru, NYU marketing professor and thought-leader Scott Galloway offers his irreverent and radically honest take on the future of business, work and technology.</p><p>One of today’s most compelling and provocative commentators on business, Big Tech and our economic future, Scott Galloway is Professor of Marketing at NYU’s Stern School of Business and a serial entrepreneur. He was named one of the world’s best business professors by Poets & Quants.
Ruben Navarrette Jr.
<p>One of the freshest and most unpredictable voices in opinion journalism, Ruben Navarrette is a nationally syndicated columnist and CNN.com contributor who analyzes and comments on—with equal measures of passion and wit—pressing issues like immigration, politics, the media, Mexico's drug war, race relations, the Hispanic vote and the changing demographics of the U.S.</p>
Susan Cain
<p>Susan Cain is the world’s most famous introvert and named by LinkedIn the 6th Top Influencer in the world just behind Richard Branson and Melinda Gates.</p><p>Cain is the author of <i>Quiet Power: The Secret Strengths of Introverted Kids</i> and <i>Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking</i>, which has been on the <i>New York Times</i> bestseller list for seven years and counting, and has been translated into 40 languages.
Alex Sheen
<p>Alex Sheen inspires audiences to make a positive impact on the world, simply by keeping their promises and honoring their commitments.</p><p>Alex is the founder of because I said I would, a global social movement and nonprofit dedicated to bettering humanity through promises made and kept, created in memory of his father, whose word was his bond. To help others remember the importance of their goals and commitments, Alex and his organization send “promise cards” to anyone anywhere in the world at no cost.</p><p>Alex embodies the meaning of commitment.
Soledad O'Brien
<p>Soledad O’Brien is an award-winning documentarian, journalist, speaker, author, philanthropist, and founder of Soledad O’Brien Productions, a media production company dedicated to telling empowering and authentic stories on a range of social issues. She anchors and produces "Matter of Fact with Soledad O'Brien," a <em>Hearst political magazine </em>program seen in 95% of the country.
Alan Page
<p>Alan C. Page was born August 7, 1945, in Canton, Ohio. He graduated from Canton Central Catholic High School in 1963, and received his B.A. in political science from the University of Notre Dame in 1967 and his J.D.
Fredi Lajvardi
<p>As the real-life high school robotics coach played by actor and comedian George Lopez in the movie Spare Parts, Fredi Lajvardi is one of the nation’s leading STEM educators and a thought leader on the power of diverse teams to fuel creativity, innovation, and resilience in any organization. </p><p>Fredi Lajvardi captivated the country when he led his team of disadvantaged Latino teens in a university-level underwater robotics competition where they defeated leading schools, including top-ranked MIT.
Anya Kamenetz
<p>Journalist and author Anya Kamenetz is a futurist with a passion for the complexities of how we learn, work, and live in a rapidly changing world. </p><p>Anya was a longtime, award-winning correspondent at NPR coordinating education coverage online and on-air. Previously she covered technology, innovation, sustainability, and social entrepreneurship as a staff writer for <em>Fast Company</em> magazine.
Erin Gruwell
<p>Former inner-city high school English teacher Erin Gruwell changed the lives of her students and became a change agent for the future of education with her philosophy of tolerance, respect, and the power of writing one’s own story.</p><p>Charged with turning around a class of low performing, underserved kids who lived in a community plagued by gang violence and racial hostility, Gruwell compared the family feud in <i>Romeo and Juliet</i> to a gang war and used the stories of Anne Frank and Zlata Filipović—students who wrote about their lives during wartime—t
Freeman A. Hrabowski, III
<p>Freeman A. Hrabowski, III -- a charismatic leader who was jailed for almost a week as a 12-year-old in the fight for civil rights in the early-'60s Alabama -- has spent two decades as the president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) striving to channel minorities toward grad school. His research and publications focus on science and math education with special emphasis on minority participation and performance.