An expert in business development, masterful pitchman Kevin Allen is recognized as one of the advertising industry’s most accomplished growth professionals. Allen is the author of The Hidden Agenda: A Proven Way to Win Business and Create a Following, a Wall Street Journal bestseller and the e-book, The Buoyant Leader: A Leadership Course for the […]

“The queen of the beach reads.” —Writer’s Digest Mary Kay Andrews is the New York Times and USA Today best-selling author of Spring Fever, Summer Rental, The Fixer Upper, Deep Dish, Savannah Breeze, Blue Christmas and Hissy Fit. Her latest beach read is Ladies’ Night. A former reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, she writes funny, […]

Jay Asher is the author of the young adult novels The Future Of Us and Thirteen Reasons Why. Thirteen Reasons Why, his debut novel, spent over two years on the New York Times children’s hardcover best-seller list, with foreign rights sold in over 30 countries and more than one million copies in print in the […]

Amanda Bennett is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist, editor, and author of several books including The Cost of Hope: The Story of a Marriage, a Family and a Quest for Life (Random House), her memoir of the battle she and Foley, her late husband, fought against his kidney cancer. The book chronicles the extraordinary measures […]

Patricia Bosworth, a contributing editor at Vanity Fair for over two decades, is an award-winning journalist and best-selling biographer and memoirist. She was awarded the Front Page Award and was a Senior Fellow in Columbia’s National Arts Journalism Program, where she received a grant to research her most recent book, Jane Fonda: The Private Life […]

  “James conducted an enlightening, eye opening session on the art of storytelling during our recent team offsite. It was equal parts educational and emotional as my group began to open up and share experiences. What began as a simple exercise in narrative ended in a bonding experience for all.” —Kathleen Pierce, Vice President, ADF […]

David Dosa, MD, MPH is a practicing geriatrician and health services researcher at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island and the author of the New York Times Bestseller Making Rounds with Oscar: The Extraordinary Gift of an Ordinary Cat. One of just 7,000 geriatricians in the United States, he is currently a practicing physician in […]

  “Bret Easton Ellis is a fast, funny, and disarmingly smart thinker and speaker. He’s able to draw on all corners of art, life, and literature in his quest to make sense of it all. You may end up in a weird place or two when you go deep with Bret, but the journey is […]

“The presentation by David France was thoughtful and impactful for our large diverse audience.  . . of HIV professionals.  His moving first hand account of the inspiration behind the documentary How to Survive a Plague was a reminder. . . of why they choose the field of HIV.” —Midwest AIDS Training and Education Center Filmmaker […]

South Carolina native Dorothea Benton Frank is a best-selling author, public keynote speaker, and nonprofit fundraiser. She is the New York Times best-selling author of Folly Beach, Pawleys Island, Shem Creek, Isle of Palms, Plantation, Sullivan’s Island, Full of Grace, The Christmas Pearl, Bulls Island, Return to Sullivan’s Island and Lowcountry Summer. Her latest novel […]

David Gelles is a business reporter for the New York Times and the author of Mindful Work: How Meditation is Changing Business from the Inside Out (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). He has practiced meditation for over a decade since studying it in India and spent two years traveling the U.S. unearthing stories of the uses of mediation […]

Sara Goldrick-Rab, Ph.D. is an award-winning education expert and the author of Paying the Price: College Costs, Financial Aid, and the Betrayal of the American Dream (fall 2016 / University of Chicago Press). She is a Professor of Educational Policy Studies and Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Founding Director at the Wisconsin HOPE Lab, […]

Jane Green is the internationally best-selling author of 15 novels. She is renowned for capturing in the fiction of her books the reality of women’s lives at all stages: from single thirty-somethings (Straight Talking); to marriage (The Other Woman), motherhood (Another Piece of My Heart), and divorce, stepchildren, and affairs; to midlife crises (Family Pictures […]

“Lee engaged the audience – alternating between sharing stories and having the diverse group share their experiences. It was a powerful participation and I am thankful for the opportunity.”  —Shed Boren, Director Miami Genesis Conference Lee Gutkind, recognized by Vanity Fair as “the Godfather behind creative nonfiction,” is an expert on the power of strong narrative […]

Jeff Jarvis is the author of What Would Google Do? and Public Parts: How Sharing in the Digital Age Improves the Way We Work and Live, as well as the ebook Gutenberg the Geek. He has been a business keynote speaker and moderated at conferences around the world – including South by Southwest, the World […]

Erica Jong is a poet, novelist, essayist, and cultural icon best known for her ground-breaking novel Fear of Flying. The internationally best-selling story of Isadora Wing coined a new phrase for a sex act and liberated a generation with a new way of thinking about gender, sexuality, and freedom in our society. 2013 marked the 40th […]

John Joseph is the frontman for the legendary punk band, the Cro-Mags, author of The Evolution of a Cro-Magnon, his inspirational memoir, and Meat Is for Pussies: A How-To Guide for Dudes Who Want to Get Fit, Kick Ass, and Take Names, an in-your-face look at guys’ health which has become an underground success and has […]

Charles Kaiser is an expert on the media, politics, the 1960s, and gay life in America through his three-decade career as a journalist and author. He is a former reporter for the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, and was the press critic at Newsweek. He is the author of The Gay Metropolis, […]

“Karr is a national treasure.” —George Saunders “Mary Karr is a pistol. She brings firepower to the podium with great style and a contagious Texas twang . . . our audience is still talking about her memorable performance.” —Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures “Mary Karr captivates and befriends her audience with her understated intelligence, her adroit use […]

Mollie Katzen, with over six million books in print, is listed by the New York Times as one of the best-selling cookbook authors of all time. A 2007 inductee into the prestigious James Beard Cookbook Hall of Fame, and largely credited with moving healthful food from the fringe to the center of the American dinner […]

“Wally Lamb is almost as masterful a speaker as he is a writer. He was by turns funny, insightful, and poignant. He told wonderful ‘behind the scenes’ stories and discussed his work in surprising ways. My audience – all two thousand – felt like they spent an intimate evening with a friend.” —Andrew Proctor, Portland […]

Tom Leopold, veteran comedy writer of such hit TV shows as Seinfeld, Cheers, and Will and Grace, has been making audiences laugh for over four decades. As Christopher Guest says, “When it comes to comedy, Tom Leopold has an extra gene. You may not know it, but he has probably made you laugh.” Now he’s keeping […]

Madeline Levine, Ph.D. is a psychologist with close to 30 years of experience as a clinician, consultant, educator, and author of the New York Times bestsellers, The Price of Privilege and Teach Your Children Well. She is highly sought after as a lecturer and keynote speaker for parents, educators, and business leaders both nationally and […]

Lawrence H. Levy is a novelist, an award-winning film and TV writer, a Writers Guild Award winner for Seinfeld, and a two-time Emmy nominee. He has written for various hit TV shows such as Seinfeld, Roseanne, Family Ties, Who’s the Boss, Facts of Life, Seventh Heaven, The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, Charlie’s Angels, and Saved by […]

“The profound implications for China’s investing environment can be summarized into two words: ‘buyer beware,’ writes Junheng Li … This book … is a treasury of her knowledge on how to exploit rampant market inefficiencies to make a profit in China.” – Forbes “We can learn a lot about finance and investing from Tiger Woman […]

Seth Lipsky has been described in the Boston Globe as “a legendary figure in contemporary journalism,” in the Atlantic.com as having “the most interesting mind in journalism,” and in the New Criterion as “one of our age’s great journalists.” Steve Forbes has called his editorials on monetary reform “brilliant” — “the Federalist Papers for a […]

Gregory Maguire is the author of the best-selling Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, the basis for the Tony Award-winning Broadway and international hit musical of the same name. He is also the author of the best-sellers Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, Lost, Mirror Mirror, and the other Wicked […]

“Barbara McClintock was one of those rare presenters that can entertain an audience of both adults and children. Her varied presentation style kept the audience engaged. Kids seemed to enjoy the candid snapshots of the author at home working in her bathrobe and the silly interactive drawing session while adults seemed to appreciate the story […]

Phil McKinney, an Innovation Consultant and president and CEO of CableLabs, has held technology and innovation leadership positions in a number of top companies and has been widely profiled in national media outlets. Vanity Fair named McKinney “The Innovation Guru;” MSNBCand FOXboth call him “The Gadget Guy;” and Laptop Magazine named him as one of the […]

Ben Michaelis, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist, popular blogger for Huffington Post and Psychology Today, and the author of Your Next Big Thing: Ten Small Steps to Get Moving and Get Happy. He has worked with hundreds of patients, including New York Times best-selling authors, musicians, artists, entrepreneurs, business professionals, and students to help them realize […]