2024 Speakers
Brooke Skinner Ricketts
Brooke Skinner Ricketts is a growth strategist devoted to transforming possibility into performance. Brooke is an experienced queer executive who went from doing market research at truck stops to sitting in the c-suite and on the boards of public companies before her 40th birthday.
George Lepauw
“A prodigious pianist” (Chicago Tribune) recognized for his “singing tone” (New York Times), and someone who “likes to shake it up” (Chicago Tribune), George Lepauw is an artist and cultural activist who uses music to inspire and bring people together.
Kim Greene Hiller
Kim Greene Hiller is the owner and director of The Laughing Academy, a comedy theater and training center. A former actress and writer with the Second City Chicago, with a Masterof Education, Kim teaches life skills through the art of improvisation to people age five to seventy five in her studio and corporate settings.
Rebecca Davis
Rebecca Davis is a Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Manitoba. Dr. Davis’ research employs quantum mechanical models and experimental organic chemistry to address issues facing molecular design and discovery in areas ranging from drug discovery to molecular materials development.
Michael Feinstein
Michael Feinstein’s TEDx talk explores the transformative power of music, particularly focusing on the Great American Songbook as a unique expression of American culture and history.
Debi Hemmeter
Debi Hemmeter co-founded Leanin.org with Sheryl Sandberg, former COO of Facebook|Meta in 2013 to help women achieve their ambitions and to create an equal world. Today, Lean In continues to grow with a global community of 90,000 women who have started Lean In Circles in over 183 countries.
Joel Braunold
Joel Braunold is the managing director of the S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace having consulted for leading organizations, funds and foundations on public policy and issues surrounding financing of violence prevention and peacebuilding in the domestic and international contexts.
Matt Hay
Matt Hay was a college student when diagnosed with a rare disease called Neurofibromatosis Type 2 (NF2)that would eventually take his hearing, balance and facial movement. He turned his decades of struggle into an opportunity to help others live better lives.
Jamyle Cannon
Jamyle Cannon challenges our conventional ideas about peace and violence by showing how boxing, often seen as a violent sport, can be a powerful tool for transforming the lives of at-risk youth in Chicago.