The Disruptors

Eric Cole (@drericcole) is arguably the #1 cyber security expert in the US with a resume including the Obama administration, the CIA, the Gates Foundation and CTO of McAfee and was inducted into the 2014 InfoSecurity Hall of Fame. Eric is an expert in information technology, with a focus on secure network design, perimeter defense, penetration testing, vulnerability discovery, and intrusion detect...

John Doran(@awaytowellbeing) has been a teacher and guidance counselor for over 24 years and is the author Ways to Wellbeing,. a book about creating a positive educational experience in the 21st century which taught in over 140 schools worldwide. John's passionate about the transformative power of education to disrupt poverty, and help young people succeed. He's a board member of the Make-A-Wish F...

Rohit Bhargava (@rohitbhargava) is an innovation and marketing expert and the Wall Street Journal best-selling author of five books on topics as wide-ranging as the future of business and building a brand with personality. His signature book Non-Obvious is updated annually with 15 new trend predictions and has been read by more than 1 million readers. He has delivered sold-out keynote presentation...

Rahaf Harfoush (@rahafharfoush) is a digital anthropologist, bestselling author and speaker researching the impacts of emerging technologies on our society and is focused on deep (and often hidden) behavioral shifts that are taking place within organizations and individuals in this digital era. She also teach Innovation and Disruptive Business Models at SciencePo’s Masters of Finance and Economics...

Mark Stevenson (@optimistontour) is a reluctant futurist, bestselling author, frequent speaker and occasional comedian. He's one of the world’s most respected thinkers on the connection between technology and society, helping governments, NGOs and corporates adapt to the future for sustainable success. He is the author of An Optimist's Tour of the Future and We Do Things Differently, is an occasio...

Ramez Naam (@ramez) is a computer scientist, futurist, angel investor and award-winning author best known for his Nexus Trilogy: Nexus, Crux and Apex His other (non-fiction) books include: The Infinite Resource: The Power of Ideas on a Finite Planet and More than Human: Embracing the Promises of Biological Enhancement. He's currently co-chair of energy and the environment at Singularity University...

Ben Hammersley (@benhammersley) is a technologist, futurist author and Editor-at-Large of UK’s WIRED magazine. Ben explores the effects of the internet and the digital network on the world’s business, political and social atmospheres. His latest book, 64 Things You Need to Know Now For Then gives us the essential guide to the things we need to know for life in the 21st century. He's the writer, ho...

Karen Dillon (@kardillon) is the former editor of Harvard Business Review magazine and co-author of the three books with Clayton Christensen, including the forthcoming The Prosperity Paradox: How Innovation Can Lift Nations Out of Poverty and bestsellers Competing Against Luck: the Story of Innovation and Customer Choice and How Will You Measure Your Life?  She is also the author of The Harvard Bu...

Nikolas Badminton (@nikolasfuturist) is a world-respected futurist speaker, author, and researcher. He wows audiences with keynote speeches on the impact of exponential technologies including: Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality; Work Productivity; The Sharing Economy; Autonomous Transportation; Smart Cities; Education; The Future of AI integrated with Life and Business; and Predictions for human...

Dr. Ayesha Khanna (@ayeshakhanna1) is Co-Founder and CEO of ADDO AI, an artificial intelligence (AI) solutions firm and incubator that was named one of 4 top AI companies in Asia. She has been a strategic advisor on artificial intelligence, smart cities and fintech to leading corporations and governments and serves on the Board of Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), the Singapore governme...

Douglas Rushkoff (@rushkoff) is an author, teacher and documentarian who studies human autonomy in a digital age. He has been named one of the “world’s ten most influential intellectuals” by MIT. Douglas' work explores how different technological environments change our relationship to narrative, money, power, and one another. He coined such concepts as “viral media” and “social currency,” and has...

Kevin Surace (@kevinsurace) is a futurist and disruptive innovation speaker, creator of the first smartphone and digital assistant and innovator of the decade. Surace has disrupted every industry he has entered from communications to A.I. to clean energy, been named Inc. Magazine’s 2009 Entrepreneur of the Year, CNBC’s Innovator of the Decade, and inducted into RIT’s Innovation Hall of Fame.  He h...

PZ Myers (@pzmyers) is a well-known atheist blogger, science popularizer and an associate professor of biology at the University of Minnesota Morris. His primary blog, Pharyngula went on to be acquired by National Geographic and he currently blogs at FreeThoughtBlogs.com where he criticizes creationism, supports feminism and writes about topics and trends important to the future of all of us. You...

Rebecca D Costa (@rebeccacosta) is an American sociobiologist and futurist and a recipient of the prestigious Edward O. Wilson Biodiversity Technology Award. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, The Guardian, and other leading publications and here weekly column, THE FIX, is presently featured on Newsmax and on her site: rebeccacosta.com Costa was the found...

Charles Eisenstein (@ceisenstein) is an author, podcaster and public speaker focusing on themes of civilization, consciousness, money, and human cultural evolution. His online writings have built a tremendous following; he speaks frequently at conferences and other events, and gives numerous interviews on radio and podcasts. He has been called “one of the up-and-coming great minds of our time” in...

Daniel Burrus (@danielburrus) is considered one of the world’s leading futurist speakers on global trends and innovation and The New York Times has referred to him as one of the top three business gurus in the highest demand as a speaker. Daniel is a strategic advisor to executives from Fortune 500 companies such as Microsoft, GE, American Express, Google, Deloitte, Procter & Gamble, Honda, and IB...

Deborah Gordon is a Professor of Biology at Stanford University studying the evolution of collective behavior using ant colonies as a model. Her research focuses on how ant colonies regulate their behavior in response to environmental changes, and how collective behavior is related to ecology. This work is highly relevant given the nature of swarms/emergent behavior and possibly holds valuable ins...

Lolly Daskal (@lollydaskal) is one of the most sought-after executive leadership coaches in the world with extensive cross-cultural expertise spans 14 countries, six languages and hundreds of companies. Of her many awards and accolades, Lolly was designated a Top-50 Leadership and Management Expert by Inc.com, 100 Great Leadership Speakers for Your Next by Inc. magazine and Huffington Post's The M...

David Orban (@davidorban) is an entrepreneur, author, keynote speaker and the Founder and Managing Partner of Network Society Ventures, a seed stage global investment firm focused on innovative startups at the intersection of exponential technologies and decentralized networks. An early adopter of blockchain and an active Bitcoin investor since 2010, he was the first to own Ether during the Ethere...

Byron Reese (@byronreese) is the CEO and publisher of Gigaom, an industry-leading technology research company. Byron's also an award-winning author, speaker and futurist with a strong conviction that technology will help bring about a new golden age of humanity. Byron holds a number of technology patents and hosts two podcasts about artificial intelligence. He gives talks around the world about ho...

 Dr. Brynn Winegard (@drbrynnwinegard) is a neuroscience, psychology and marketing expert, award-winning professor, speaker, and expert. She speaks frequently on the topics of persuasion, productivity, the neuroscience of leadership, motivation and preventing age-related cognitive decline. Coupled with over a decade in corporate marketing working for Pfizer Inc., Nestle Inc., and Johnson & Johnson...

Eric O'Neill (@eoneill) is an accomplished speaker, security expert and author that presents keynotes about espionage and national security, cybersecurity, fraud, corporate diligence and defense, hacking, pursuing one's dreams and surviving Hollywood. Eric has worked as an FBI counterterrorism and counterintelligence operative, a national security attorney, as a corporate security consultant and f...

Dr. David Perlmutter (@davidperlmutter) is a Board-Certified Neurologist, four-time New York Times bestselling author and serves on the Board of Directors at the American College of Nutrition. David serves as a member of the Editorial Board for the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease and has published in numerous peer-reviewed scientific journals including Archives of Neurology, Neurosurgery and The Jo...

Peter Brannen (@peterbrannen1) is an award-winning science journalist whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, Wired, Aeon, The Boston Globe, Slate and The Guardian among other publications. His book, The Ends of the World, about the five major mass extinctions in Earth's history. Peter is a 2018 Scripps Fellow at the University of Colorado Boulder, was a 2...

Prosanta Chakrabarty (@preaux_fish) is a systematist and an ichthyologist studying the evolution and biogeography of both freshwater and marine fishes. His work includes studies of Neotropical (Central and South America, Caribbean) and Indo-West Pacific (Indian and Western Pacific Ocean) fishes. Prosanta is an Associate Professor and Curator of Fishes at the Museum of Natural Science and Departmen...