Keynote Speakers

Alfre Woodard’s work as an actor has earned her an Oscar nomination, four Emmy Awards and seventeen Emmy nominations, three SAG Awards and a Golden Globe.

Woodard’s illustrious body of work includes her Oscar nominated performance in Martin Ritt’s CROSS CREEK; HBO’s MANDELA, where she was honored with an ACE award for her portrayal of Winnie Mandela; Lawrence Kasdan’s GRAND CANYON; John Sayles’ PASSION FISH; Joseph Sargent’s MISS EVERS’ BOYS, for which she won an Emmy, SAG and Golden Globe Awards; Spike Lee’s CROOKLYN; Gina Prince-Bythewood’s LOVE AND BASKETBALL; Tyler Perry’s THE FAMILY THAT PREYS; Maya Angelou’s DOWN IN THE DELTA; played Betty Applewhite on the ABC drama DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES and Ruby Jean Reynolds, mother to Lafayette Reynolds, on HBO’s TRUE BLOOD. Woodard co-starred in Lifetime’s hit remake of STEEL MAGNOLIAS, in which she was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild and Emmy Award and won a NAACP Image Award for her performance as Ouiser.

Most recently, she appeared in the critically acclaimed 12 YEARS A SLAVE, directed by Steve McQueen, in Marvel’s CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR and in New Line’s ANNABELLE. On the small screen, she most recently starred in MARVEL’S LUKE CAGE as Mariah Dillard and will next appear in the Apple series SEE, opposite Jason Momoa. Woodard can next be heard as the voice of Sarabi in Jon Favreau’s THE LION KING and be seen in the Netflix film JUANITA as the title character. Her starring role in CELEMNCY received critical praise at the Sundance Film Festival and was awarded the Grand Jury Prize.

In addition to her acting career, Woodard is a longtime activist. She co-founded Artists for a New South Africa, a nonprofit working to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS and further the cause of democracy and human rights in South Africa. In 2009, President Barack Obama appointed her to the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities. As part of her work on the Committee, Woodard adopted several high poverty and under-performing public schools around the country, including ReNew Cultural Arts Academy in New Orleans and Noel Community Arts School in Denver. She is an active advocate for the arts in education, largely through her work on the Committee’s “Turnaround Arts” initiative, which was launched in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Education and the White House Domestic Policy Council to narrow the achievement gap and increase student engagement through the arts.

She directed and produced, “Nelson Mandela’s Favorite African Folktales,” which won the 2010 Audiobook of the Year, and garnered a 2010 Grammy Award nomination for “Best Children’s Spoken Word Album.” The audiobook hosts a collaboration of talent both broad and diverse, featuring: Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, Helen Mirren, Alan Rickman, and Samuel L. Jackson.

Tamron Hall is an accomplished TV host, award-winning journalist and philanthropist. Her highly anticipated syndicated daytime talk show entitled “Tamron Hall” premiered across the country on Monday, September 9 with impeccably strong ratings. “Tamron Hall” is a daily destination for all things topical and a platform for viewers to connect with the people who are shaping our world through meaningful, engaging, and entertaining conversations.

Since 2013, Tamron has hosted “Deadline: Crime with Tamron Hall” on Investigation Discovery, taking an in-depth look at crimes that shocked the nation. The sixth season of the show is slated to premiere in fall 2019. She also brought her signature reporting style to “Guns On Campus: Tamron Hall Investigates,” a special on Investigation Discover that explored the importance of securing one’s personal safety on public property. In a powerful interview, Tamron brought two survivors together to present both sides’ positions behind this controversial debate.

Previously, Tamron co-hosted the third hour of “TODAY” and “TODAY’s Take” for three years and anchored “MSNBC Live with Tamron Hall.” She received the 2015 Edward R. Murrow Award for Reporting: Hard News in Network Television for her segment on domestic violence as part of “TODAY’s” Shine A Light series. She has hosted several special reports for MSNBC and NBC News, including the Emmy-nominated “Education Nation: Teacher Town Hall,” and she served as a correspondent for the NBC News special “The Inauguration of Barack Obama,” which won an Emmy for Outstanding Live Coverage in October 2010.

Prior to joining MSNBC in 2007, Tamron spent 10 years at WFLD in Chicago, where she served as an anchor, general assignment reporter, consumer reporter and host of the three-hour “Fox News in the Morning” program. While there, she secured a one-on-one interview with then Senator Barack Obama shortly before he announced his presidential run. Tamron was nominated for an Emmy for her consumer report segment, “The Bottom Line,” which she launched in 1999. Before joining WFLD, she spent four years as a general assignment reporter at KTVT in Dallas, and she began her broadcasting career at KBTX in Bryan, Texas.

Tamron was honored with Temple University’s prestigious Lew Klein Alumni in the Media Award in both 2010 and 2015 and was appointed to Temple’s Board of Trustees. In 2016, she received an Honorary Doctorate from Peirce College and most recently she was a Variety Power of Women Honoree. Tamron is an active member of the National Association of Black Journalists.

Tamron is passionate about many causes, including domestic violence, homelessness and literacy – dedicating her time to many deserving organizations over the years. She is an ambassador for Safe Horizon, a domestic abuse organization which also honored her with their Voice of Empowerment Award in 2014. She’s partnered with Safe Horizon previously to launch The Tamron ❤ Renate Fund in honor of her sister to help victims and families affected by domestic violence. Day One, a New York-based advocacy group for victims of domestic violence, honored her work, and she received the Ackerman Family Advocate Award for her efforts to raise awareness for families who have a loved one experiencing abuse.

Tamron is a native of Luling, Texas, and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Broadcast Journalism from Temple University.

A Silicon Valley icon and philanthropist for more than thirty years, Steve Wozniak has helped shape the computing industry with his design of Apple's first line of products the Apple I and II. He also influenced the popular Macintosh. In 1976, Wozniak and Steve Jobs founded Apple Computer Inc. with Wozniak's Apple I personal computer. The following year, he introduced his Apple II personal computer, featuring a central processing unit, a keyboard, color graphics, and a floppy disk drive. The Apple II was integral in launching the personal computer industry.

In 1981, he went back to UC Berkeley and finished his degree in electrical engineering/computer science. For his achievements at Apple, Wozniak was awarded the National Medal of Technology by the President of the United States in 1985, the highest honor bestowed on America's leading innovators.

In 2000, he was inducted into the Inventors Hall of Fame and was awarded the prestigious Heinz Award for Technology, The Economy and Employment for single-handedly designing the first personal computer and for then redirecting his lifelong passion for mathematics and electronics toward lighting the fires of excitement for education in grade school students and their teachers.

Through the years, Wozniak has been involved in various business and philanthropic ventures, focusing primarily on computer capabilities in schools and stressing hands-on learning and encouraging creativity for students. Making significant investments of both his time and resources in education, he adopted the Los Gatos School District, providing students and teachers with hands-on teaching and donations of state-of-the-art technology equipment. He founded the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and was the founding sponsor of the Tech Museum, Silicon Valley Ballet and Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose. In 2014, he was awarded the Hoover Medal, a prestigious honor given for "outstanding extra-career services by engineers to humanity," and was inducted into the IndustryWeek Manufacturing Hall of Fame.

Wozniak is Chief Scientist at Primary Data and is a published author with the release of his New York Times best-selling autobiography, iWoz: From Computer Geek to Cult Icon by Norton Publishing. His television appearances include: ABC's Dancing with the Stars and The Big Bang Theory, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Conan, and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

Multi-award-winning actor, director, and education advocate LeVar Burton is best known to television audiences around the world for his portrayals of two iconic characters, Kunta Kinte in Roots and Geordi LaForge in Star Trek: The Next Generation, as well as his 23 years as producer and host of PBS's Reading Rainbow. LeVar is the co-founder of the award-winning Reading Rainbow digital library and has introduced Skybrary, the next generation of innovative children's educational media on the Web. He was co–executive producer of the History Channel’s remake of Roots and has received the Eliot-Pearson Award for Excellence in Children's Media from Tufts University, the 2014 Los Angeles Times Book Prizes Innovator’s Award, and the 2015 Chicago Tribune Young Adult Literary Award.

An internationally recognized authority in creativity and innovation in education and business, Sir Ken Robinson's Videos of his famous TED talks are the most viewed in the history of the organization and have been seen by an estimated 300 million people in over 150 countries.

Sir Ken works with governments in Europe, Asia and the US, international agencies, Fortune 500 companies and leading cultural organizations. He led a national commission on creativity, education and the economy for the UK Government, was the central figure in developing a strategy for creative and economic development as part of the Peace Process in Northern Ireland, and was one of four international advisors to the Singapore Government for a strategy to become the creative hub of SE Asia.

Called “one of the world’s elite thinkers on creativity and innovation” by Fast Company magazine, Sir Ken has received numerous awards and recognitions for his groundbreaking contributions. He was included in Thinkers50 list of the world’s leading business thinkers and has been named one of TIME/Fortune/CNN’s Principal Voices. In 2003, he received a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II for services to the arts. His 2009 book, The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything, is a New York Times best seller and has been translated into 21 languages. A 10th anniversary edition of his classic work on creativity and innovation, Out of Our Minds: Learning to be Creative, was published in 2011. Finding Your Element: How to Discover Your Talents and Passions and Transform Your Life, was published by Viking in May 2013 and is also a New York Times best seller. His latest book, Creative Schools: The Grassroots Revolution That’s Transforming Education (Viking, 2015), written with Robinson’s trademark wit and engaging style, includes groundbreaking research and tackles the critical issue of how to transform the nation’s troubled educational system.

Ted Dintersmith is one of America's leaders in innovation, entrepreneurship, and education.

Ted's professional experience includes two decades in venture capital, including being ranked by Business 2.0 as the top-performing U.S. venture capitalist for 1995-1999. He served on the Board of the National Venture Capital Association, chairing its Public Policy Committee. From 1981 to 1987, he ran a business at Analog Devices that helped enable the digital revolution. In the public sector, he was a staff analyst in 1976-78 for the U.S. House of Representatives, and was appointed in 2012 by President Obama to represent the U.S. at the United Nations General Assembly. Ted earned a Ph.D. in Engineering from Stanford University and a B.A. from the College of William and Mary, with High Honors in Physics and English.

Ted has become one of America's leading advocates for education policies that foster creativity, innovation, motivation, and purpose. His contributions span film, books, philanthropy, and the hard work of going all across America. He's funded and executive produced acclaimed education documentaries, including Most Likely To Succeed, (Sundance, AFI, and Tribeca). With co-author Tony Wagner, he wrote Most Likely To Succeed: Preparing Our Kids for the Innovation Era. During the 2015/16 school year, he went to all fifty U.S. states, meeting with governors, legislators, educators, parents, and students, and encouraging communities to work collectively to re-imagine school and its purpose. Learn more about his work from his website or by following him on Twitter @dintersmith.

In addition to his keynotes, Ted is often asked to also screen his film and lead a post-film discussion.

Nolan Bushnell is a technology pioneer, entrepreneur and scientist. Often cited as the father of the video game industry, he is best known as the founder of Atari Corporation and Chuck E. Cheese Pizza Time Theater. Bushnell was the first and only man to hire the late Steve Jobs and wrote the bestseller, Finding the Next Steve Jobs, published by Simon and Schuster in 2013.

Over the past four decades, Bushnell has been a prolific entrepreneur, founding numerous companies, including: Catalyst Technologies; Etak, the first car navigation system; Androbot, a personal robotics company; and ByVideo, the first online ordering system. Additionally, he has consulted for numerous corporations, including IBM, Cisco Systems and US Digital Communications.

His latest startup, Modal VR, is an end-to-end virtual reality platform that delivers large-scale and fully wireless immersion for multiple users at once. Additionally, his company Brainrush has developed video-game based learning software that incorporates adaptive learning technologies to vastly increase the speed and efficacy of learning.

His Anti Aging games project helps seniors to avoid many of the problems of mental aging through game exercises that maintain mental flexibility and problem solving. He was featured in the New Yorker magazine for this effort.

Over the years, Bushnell has garnered many accolades and distinctions. He was named ASI 1997 Man of the Year, inducted into the Video Game Hall of Fame, inducted into the Consumer Electronics Association Hall of Fame and named one of Newsweek’s “50 Men That Changed America.” He is also highlighted as one of Silicon Valley’s entrepreneurial icons in “The Revolutionaries” display at the renowned Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose, California. In March of 2009, Bushnell was honored with the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Fellowship Award (BAFTA) the highest accolade the Academy bestows, for his outstanding creative contribution to the Video Games Industry. He was similarly honored with a LARA award from the German Academy of Entertainment.

Bushnell has created many business cultural innovations that have become the norm, including unique business planning sessions, flat egalitarian management organizations, casual work attire, play/work environments, creativity as a competitive weapon, and the innovator’s bonus.

Bushnell received his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Utah, where he is a Distinguished Fellow and also attended Stanford University Graduate School.

Kimberly created Black Girls Code in 2011, a non-profit organization dedicated to changing the face of technology by introducing girls of color (ages 7-17) to the field of technology and computer science with a concentration on entrepreneurial concepts. As Oprah describes it, Black Girls Code is "the first organization of its kind." Black Girls Code is now an international organization with seven chapters (with more on the way in 2015) across the U.S. and in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Prior to Black Girls Code, Kimberly enjoyed a successful 25+ year professional career in pharmaceutical and biotech roles, at companies such as Genentech, Merck, and Pfizer. Kimberly serves on the National Champions Board for the National Girls Collaborative Project, and the National Board of the NCWIT K-12 Alliance. She has been nationally recognized as a social innovator and for her work to increase opportunities for women and girls in the tech industry. In 2013 she was highlighted by Business Insider on its list of "The 25 Most Influential African- Americans in Technology" and was named to The Root 100 and the Ebony Power 100 lists. A highlight of 2013 for Kimberly was receiving an invitation to the White House as a Champion of Change for her work in tech inclusion and for her focus on bridging the digital divide for girls of color. In 2014 Kimberly received an American Ingenuity Award in Social Progress from the Smithsonian along with the Inaugural Women Who Rule Award in Technology via Politico. Kimberly was also asked to join the 2015 APEC Women and the Economy U.S. Delegation by the U.S. Department of State and the Secretary's Office of Global Women's Issues.

Known to many as "America's Educator," Ron Clark is the 2000 Disney American Teacher of the Year, a two-time New York Times Bestselling author, the subject of a television movie and the founder of The Ron Clark Academy. Ron is regularly featured on network and cable television (The Today Show, CNN and Oprah,) and was dubbed by Ms. Winfrey as her first "Phenomenal Man."

Ron pioneered innovative projects in rural North Carolina working with minority students in a low wealth area. His highly effective programs garnered national attention and led to a White House invitation to be honored by the President of the United States. In 2003, Ron Clark released the New York Times Bestselling book "The Essential 55" which includes his 55 expectations of students - as well as all individuals - young and old. Ron's second book, "The Excellent 11," was released in August 2004 and further captured the attention of parents, educators and students alike.

Obviously Ron Clark did not stop there. In 2006, Ron Clark founded The Ron Clark Academy, an inner-city school serving students from across metro Atlanta. The privately-funded institution is unique for its innovative teaching methods and curriculum based on worldwide travel. Each year the students, grades 5 through 8, apply their in-class lessons to international adventures. And, by the time of graduation, each child will have visited six of the seven continents. Almost 50,000 educators, teachers and administrators from around the world visit the Academy to observe the innovative and "out-of-the-box" methods for achieving student success from all 50 states and 26 countries.

In 2011, Ron Clark released "The End of Molasses Classes: Getting Our Kids Unstuck--101 Extraordinary Solutions for Parents and Teachers." This New York Times Best Seller brought to light 101 innovative and classroom-tested ways for improving America's schools and leading our children to greatness. A must read for every teacher and parent.

In his most recent release, "Move Your Bus: An Extraordinary New Approach to Accelerating Success in Work and Life." This versatile best seller is attracting attention from both the world of business and education. Ron Clark applies his successful leadership principles to both worlds in this effective and accessible guidebook, perfect for anyone looking to inspire and motivate his or her team.

As a Keynote speaker, Ron shares the uncanny adventures he has had in the classroom and speaks of his experiences teaching in Harlem. Within his humorous and heartwarming stories, he delivers a message relevant to each of us. It is a message of hope, dedication and the never-say-never attitude required to achieve goals and dreams.