General Session

Named one of “America’s Best Leaders” by U.S. News & World Report and one of 100 “Innovators for the 21st century” by TIME Magazine, Linda Rottenberg is one of the world’s most dynamic and respected experts on entrepreneurship and innovative leadership for the new economy. Rottenberg pioneered the field of High-Impact Entrepreneurship, and as the CEO and co-founder of Endeavor, which identifies and mentors the most promising emerging-market entrepreneurs, she created 150,000 high-wage jobs generating annual revenues of $4.5 billion. A galvanizing speaker, Rottenberg motivates Fortune 500 managers to think like entrepreneurs.

2011 turned out to be a banner year for Jose Rene “J.R.” Martinez. Not only did he and his dance partner Karina Smirnoff take ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” season 13 coveted mirror ball trophy, he was also named the 2012 Tournament of Roses Grand Marshal. He is an actor, spokesman and retired soldier. Martinez played “Brot Monroe” on the Emmy Award-winning daytime drama “All My Children.”

After high school he joined the army. Martinez was proud to serve, as a way to give something back to a country that had already given so much to him and his family. In March 2003, Martinez was deployed to Iraq, and on April 5, less than a month into his deployment, he was serving as a driver of a Humvee in Karbala when his left front tire hit a landmine. Three other soldiers with Martinez were ejected from the burning vehicle, but he was trapped inside and suffered smoke inhalation and severe burns to more than 40 percent of his body. Martinez travels the country to spread his message of resilience and optimism. He devotes himself to showing others the true value in making the most of every situation.

Dr. John J. Medina, a developmental molecular biologist, has a lifelong fascination with how the mind reacts to and organizes information. He is the author of the New York Times bestseller Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School—a provocative book that takes on the way our schools and work environments are designed. Medina is an affiliate professor of bioengineering at the University of Washington School of Medicine. He is also the director of the Brain Center for Applied Learning Research at Seattle Pacific University.

Candi Castleberry-Singleton is the chief inclusion and diversity officer at UPMC, a $10 billion, 20-hospital global health system and health plan. She is responsible for developing UPMC’s inclusion strategy, including its Dignity & Respect Campaign and Cultural Competency Initiative, as well as for overseeing progress toward system-wide goals involving 55,000 employees. In 2008, she launched the UPMC Center for Inclusion.

An experienced strategist, Castleberry-Singleton created The Integrated Inclusion Model, a systems integration model that helps companies transition from compliance-driven processes led by human resources, to integrated activities that shift the responsibility for achieving an inclusive culture to every employee. The model is featured in Crossing the Divide: Intergroup Leadership in a World of Difference (Harvard Business School Press, August 2009). Her inclusion initiatives have been implemented at Motorola, where she was vice president of global inclusion and diversity, and at Sun Microsystems, where she led the Global Inclusion Center of Expertise.

Recently, Castleberry-Singleton was named a 2010 Top Woman of Substance in Healthcare by Heart & Soul Magazine, one of the 25 Influential Black Women by The Network Journal, Top 100 African Americans in Corporate America by Savoy Magazine and a Woman of Humility by Point Park University in Pittsburgh. In 2009, Castleberry-Singleton was named one of the 50 Women of Excellence by The New Pittsburgh Courier and recognized by Diversity MBA Magazine as a Top 50 under 50 Executive Leader.

2011 Nobel Peace Laureate Leymah Gbowee is a Liberian peace activist, trained social worker and women’s rights advocate. She is Founder and President of the Gbowee Peace Foundation Africa, head of the Liberia Reconciliation Initiative and Co-Founder and Executive Director of Women Peace and Security Network Africa (WIPSEN-A). She is also a founding member and former Liberia Coordinator of Women in Peacebuilding Network/West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WIPNET/WANEP). Gbowee’s leadership of the Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace – which brought together Christian and Muslim women in a nonviolent movement that played a pivotal role in ending Liberia’s civil war in 2003 – is chronicled in her memoir, "Mighty Be Our Powers," and in the documentary, "Pray the Devil Back to Hell." In addition, Gbowee is the Newsweek/Daily Beast's Africa columnist. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Gbowee Peace Foundation USA, Nobel Women’s Initiative and the PeaceJam Foundation, and she is a member of the African Women Leaders Network for Reproductive Health and Family Planning. She holds a M.A. in Conflict Transformation from Eastern Mennonite University (Harrisonburg, VA). She is based in Monrovia, Liberia and is the mother of six.

Malcolm Gladwell has an incomparable gift for interpreting new ideas in the social sciences and making them understandable, practical and valuable to business and general audiences alike.

He’s become so successful at this that, in 2005, Time Magazine named Malcolm one of its 100 Most Influential People. He was chosen for Foreign Policy’s Top 100 Global Thinkers 2010 and 2009 list and is ranked number ten on The Thinkers 50 2011. And Newsweek chose him for the “Top 10 New Thought Leaders of the Decade.”

Malcolm’s book Outliers: The Story of Success is having an even greater impact than his first two books. In Outliers, Malcolm suggests an exciting new approach to helping people succeed by using the factors that really foster success. Outliers debuted as a #1 bestseller for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The San Francisco Chronicle, Barnes & Noble, and Publisher’s Weekly.

He is the author of two other New York Times #1 bestsellers, The Tipping Point and Blink. With his first book Malcolm embedded the concept of The Tipping Point in our everyday vocabulary and gave organizations new tools for understanding how trends work.

In Blink he analyzed first impressions—the snap judgments that we all make unconsciously and instinctively— and he explores how we can master this important aspect of successful decision-making.

Malcolm is a staff writer for the New Yorker magazine. His editor describes his work as a new genre of story, an idea-driven narrative that’s focused on the everyday and combines research with material that’s more personal, social and historical. He was previously a reporter for the Washington Post.

Kirsten Powers, a Political Analyst on 'Fox News' and Columnist for The Daily Beast and New York Post, has a unique perspective from her real-world experience working in politics and business.  Known for providing analysis and insight on the cultural and political issues of the day, Powers was a regular member of Fox News’ 2008 election night coverage throughout the primaries and general election.

After beginning her political career in Bill Clinton’s D.C. campaign office in January 1992 and working for the Clinton-Gore Transition team as they prepared for the new administration, Powers landed at the White House where she worked for U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor.  She rose through the ranks to become the Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Public Affairs. Powers served as Press Secretary to Andrew Cuomo’s 2002 governor’s race and continued to work in New York City and state politics, before turning to political commentary and writing. Her writing has been published in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, the New York Post.

Gina Rudan is the President of Genuine Insights Inc. a contemporary professional development and training practice whose mission is to leverage the genius within every individual and organization. Gina spoke on the subject of genius at the 2010 TED Global conference at Oxford University and is the author of PRACTICAL GENIUS: The Real Smarts You Need to Get Your Passions and Talents Working for You which was published by Touchstone/Simon & Schuster in the fall of 2011.

Gina has been a guest lecturer, trainer and strategist for organizations including Merck Co., the BET Network, the Interpublic Group, the United States Department of Agriculture and the Stern School of Business at New York University among many others. She is the curator of TEDxMIA, an independent movement to spread genius in southern Florida and is a member of the Visionary advisory board for the Wolfsonian – FIU Museum. Before launching her own practice, Gina held management positions at Fortune 500 companies including Avon Products and PR Newswire, where she was responsible for spearheading multicultural and international marketing efforts.

In 2010 Gina was selected as one of Poder Magazine’s top “20 Under 40” Hispanics in the United States. A native New Yorker, Gina graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature from Binghamton University and is a National Urban Fellow holding a Master’s degree in Public Administration from Baruch College in New York City.

Tony Schwartz is President and CEO of The Energy Project, a company that helps individuals and organizations perform better and more sustainably. He spent the first part of his career working as a journalist. He is a frequent contributor to the Harvard Business Review (HBR) and is one of HBR’s most popular bloggers. He also blogs regularly on the Huffington Post and on Oprah.com.