2026 Featured Speakers
2026 Speakers To Be Announced Soon
Michael Horn
Award-Winning Author and Co-Founder of the Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation
Michael Horn is the award-winning author of several books, including the national bestseller, Job Moves: 9 Steps for Making Progress in Your Career; teaches at the Harvard Graduate School of Education; and co-founded the Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation, a non-profit think tank. He strives to create a world in which all individuals can build their passions, fulfill their potential, and live a life of meaning through his writing, speaking, and work with a portfolio of education organizations.
Michael is also the author of From Reopen to Reinvent: (Re)creating School for Every Child; Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns; Blended: Using Disruptive Innovation to Improve Schools; Choosing College; and Goodnight Box, a children’s story. He cohosts the top education podcasts Future U and Class Disrupted and writes the Substack newsletter The Future of Education. Michael also serves as an executive editor at Education Next, is a contributor to Forbes, and his work has been featured in outlets such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, and NBC. His 2024 Harvard Business Review article, “Why Employees Quit,” won the 2025 Warren Bennis award for the best HBR article on leadership. Michael serves on the board and advisory boards of a range of education organizations, including Imagine Worldwide and Minerva University.
He was selected as a 2014 Eisenhower Fellow to study innovation in education in Vietnam and Korea. Michael holds a BA in history from Yale University and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.
Elizabeth Markle
Founding Executive Director, Open Source Wellness and “Community As Medicine;” Community Mental Health Professor, California Institute of Integral Studies
Dr. Elizabeth Markle is a licensed psychologist, speaker, writer, researcher, and Associate Professor of Community Mental Health at California Institute of Integral Studies. She is the co-founder of Open Source Wellness, an Oakland-based nonprofit offering experiential behavioral health and wellness via a "Community As Medicine" approach in collaboration with healthcare providers and insurers. Dr. Markle earned her doctorate in Counseling Psychology from Northeastern University and her M.A. in Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute. She completed her pre-doctoral internship at Cambridge Health Alliance/Harvard University, and her postdoctoral training in Primary Care-Mental Health Integration at the San Francisco VA Medical Center. Dr. Markle is a thought leader in the field of health and wellness and has been sought-after as a consultant for her unique insights and expertise in clinic-community integration, innovative approaches to mental health, and group facilitation.
Richard Kahlenberg
Director of the American Identity Project at the Progressive Policy Institute
Richard D. Kahlenberg is an education and housing policy researcher, writer, consultant, and speaker. He is also Director of Housing Policy and Director of the American Identity Project at the Progressive Policy Institute and a professorial lecturer at George Washington University's Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration. He was recently featured in a front-page New York Times profile on his policy work as a "liberal maverick."
The author or editor of 20 books, Kahlenberg has been recognized primarily for his expertise in three policy areas: affirmative action in higher education, where he has been called “arguably the nation’s chief proponent of class-based affirmative action in higher education admissions”; diversity in K-12 schools, where he has been labeled “the intellectual father of the economic integration movement” in K–12 schooling; and zoning barriers to housing opportunities, where his work on how housing policies inhibit educational opportunities made him one of Washingtonian magazine’s top 25 most influential people shaping education policy.
Kahlenberg’s articles have been published in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the Atlantic, the New Republic, and elsewhere. He has appeared on ABC, CBS, CNN, FOX, MSNBC, PBS, and NPR. His books include: "Class Matters: The Fight to Get Beyond Race Preferences, Reduce Inequality, and Build Real Diversity at America's Colleges" (PublicAffairs Books, 2025); "Excluded: How Snob Zoning, NIMBYism, and Class Bias Build the Walls We Don't See" (PublicAffairs Books, 2023); "A Smarter Charter: Finding What Works for Charter Schools and Public Education" (with Halley Potter) (Teachers College Press, 2014); "Why Labor Organizing Should Be a Civil Right: Rebuilding a Middle-Class Democracy by Enhancing Worker Voice" (with Moshe Marvit) (Century Foundation Press, 2012); "Tough Liberal: Albert Shanker and the Battles Over Schools, Unions, Race and Democracy" (Columbia University Press, 2007); "All Together Now: Creating Middle-Class Schools through Public School Choice" (Brookings Institution Press, 2001); "The Remedy: Class, Race, and Affirmative Action" (Basic Books, 1996); and "Broken Contract: A Memoir of Harvard Law School" (Hill & Wang/Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1992).
"The Remedy" was named one of the best books of the year by the Washington Post, "Tough Liberal" was named one of the best books written on labor unions by the Wall Street Journal, and "Excluded" won the Goddard Riverside Book Prize for Social Justice. Kahlenberg has been a nonresident scholar at Georgetown University's McCourt School of Public Policy, a Senior Fellow at The Century Foundation, a Fellow at the Center for National Policy, a visiting associate professor of constitutional law at George Washington University, and a legislative assistant to Senator Charles S. Robb (D-VA).
His work has been supported by leading foundations including Broad, Jack Kent Cooke, Ford, Gates, Hewlett, Lumina, Nellie Mae, Spencer, Walton, and W.T. Grant. He serves on the advisory boards of the Pell Institute and the Albert Shanker Institute. He is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School.
Kindra Hall
Customer Experience & Storytelling Expert in Business; Best-Selling Author; Chief Strategy Officer at Steller Collective
Kindra Hall told her first story in the spring of 1992. Long before storytelling became a business buzzword, Kindra was fulfilling a 5th-grade language arts assignment by reading a story to a room full of out-of-control 3rd graders. Instead of reading from the pages, she set the storybook aside and told the story herself. Within the first few sentences, she held those unruly 3rd graders in the palm of her hand and knew, in that moment, she had stumbled upon something powerful.
Since that time, Hall has become the go-to expert for storytelling in business and beyond. She is the best-selling author of "Stories that Stick: How Storytelling Can Captivate Customers, Influence Audiences, and Transform Your Business." "Stories that Stick" debuted at #2 on the Wall Street Journal Bestseller List, and companies like Forbes and Gartner say it “may be the most valuable business book you read.” Her second book, "Choose Your Story, Change Your Life" is one of the Next Big Idea Club’s top 10 happiness books. Her newest book, "The Story Edge," inspires leaders to harness the power of stories to win in business.
Kindra Hall is a sought-after storytelling keynote speaker trusted by global brands to deliver messages that inspire teams and individuals to better communicate the value of their company, their products, and their individuality through strategic storytelling. Hall is also the former Chief Storytelling Officer at Success Magazine, where she shared the inspiring, often untold stories of achievers like Daymond John, Deepak Chopra, James Altucher, and Misty Copeland in print and on the podcast "Success Stories with Kindra Hall."
Kindra lives in Manhattan with her husband, young son, and daughter. When she is not traveling the world speaking, Kindra can usually be found at spin class, spending time with friends or exploring the city with her family.
Americus Reed
Whitney M. Young, Jr. Professor of Marketing at the Wharton School
Americus Reed is a Father, Professor, Researcher, Entrepreneur, Speaker, Angel Investor, Fitness Geek, Musician and Student of life. Unlike other educators and motivational speakers, he brings all of his own identities to bear to create a right brain and left brain fusion of deep scholarly research and pop-culture “edutainment.” His limitless passion energizes his work as the world’s leading “identity theorist.” His deliverables are designed to inform, advise and collaborate with the world’s obsessively intellectually curious individuals and most cutting edge organizations. Americus’ calling is to help them diagnose, identify and develop their unique gifts inherent in their own identities, so that they may flourish and thrive in all aspects of their lives.
He is the Whitney M. Young, Jr. Professor of Marketing at the Wharton School. He brings 25 years of research, teaching and consulting experience in leveraging deep social psychological analysis on how the topic of “Identity” and the complexity of how a person, organization, brand, or service creates self-expression and how this interfaces with various domains of business (Accelerating Growth, Creating True Loyalty, Work Identity and Organizational Culture and Calling, Persuasion and consumer targeting, and Brand Crisis).
As a part-time entrepreneur and full-time fitness enthusiast, Professor Reed co-founded Persona Partners— (http://personapartnersltd.com/) a consulting firm that focuses on strategies to create “Identity Loyalty” He has consulted with such companies as Americhoice, The Philadelphia Eagles, The Department of Education, Vistakon (a Johnson and Johnson co.), NIKE, the American College of Physicians and others related to the marketing and development of products associated with health and fitness.
An avid musician and athlete, he is a tireless educator with infinite energy. Drawing upon the super powers of both right brain left brain, Americus relentlessly motivates, inspires and engages his audiences with humor, wit and creativity, but importantly infused with science, data and evidence.
He has authored more than 50 articles, book chapters and cases on the topic. He also has been featured on CNN, CNBC, Forbes, Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, New York Times, NPR, the Hidden Brain Podcast, and Knowledge at Wharton.
Reed hosts a podcast called Marketing Matters, which airs live on Wednesdays on Wharton’s Sirius XM Channel 132 Business Radio. He teaches customer analysis, branding, and consumer psychology to undergraduate, graduate, doctoral, and executive students.
Clint! Runge
CEO & Founder, Archrival
Clint! Runge is CEO & Founder of Archrival, a youth culture agency that reinvents how brands win the hearts and minds of young adults.
Clint! and team light the fires for clients such as Red Bull, Adidas, Hollister and Spotify by going against the grain of traditional marketing to build brand love, loyalty and sales with teens to twenty-somethings.
His insight has been featured in Forbes, Inc. Magazine, Teen Vogue and Vogue Business and recognized as a lens into the future consumer by organizations including the New York Times, YouTube and Intel.
While he’s the kind of guy who likes cats and card tricks, his saving grace is that he does great creative. He’s won as many awards as he’s had all-nighters, leading Archrival to an Ad Age Agency of the Year and Inc 1000 company. Most frightening of all, Runge teaches creative strategy at the University of Nebraska.
Lastly, he considers himself a professional rock, paper, scissors athlete and welcomes your challenge.
Tim Shriver
Chairman, Special Olympics International
Tim Shriver is the Chairman of Special Olympics International, and serves with over 6.7 million Special Olympics athletes and their families in 200 countries since 1996.
During his time as Chairman, Special Olympics has developed proven programming for all aspects of a Special Olympics athlete’s life: leadership, health, education, and family support. His commitment to inclusion is evident in the Special Olympics athletes serving on the international Board of Directors, hundreds of thousands of health professionals trained in adaptive health care protocols, partnerships with organizations like the World Health Organization, and Unified Champion Schools creating a Unified Generation in which all people are included and accepted.
Shriver drove the largest expansion of Special Olympics, growing the movement from one million athletes to over six million athletes and unified partners leading the inclusion revolution around the world. Shriver has harnessed the power of Hollywood to challenge unconscious bias and share stories of inspiration, co-producing DreamWorks Studios’ 1997 release, Amistad, and Disney Studios’ 2000 release, The Loretta Claiborne Story. He is Executive Producer of The Ringer, a Farrelly Brothers film, Front of the Class, a Hallmark Hall of Fame television movie and The Peanut Butter Falcon released in 2019, and “As Far As They Can Run,” shortlisted for the 95th Academy Awards for Best Documentary Short Film in 2022.
In 2014, Shriver wrote the New York Times bestseller Fully Alive: Discovering What Matters Most, where he shares the life changing impact of people with intellectual disabilities and their capacity to inspire others to see the world in a more meaningful way. Before joining Special Olympics, he cofounded and currently chairs the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL). He is a member of the editorial board of the Disability and Health Journal. Shriver is Founder of UNITE, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, President of the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation, UNESCO Chair for “Transforming the Lives of People with Disabilities, their Families and Communities, Through Physical Education, Sport, Recreation and Fitness” at the Institute of Technology, Tralee, Ireland.
Shriver earned his undergraduate degree from Yale University, a Master’s degree in Religion and Religious Education from Catholic University, and a Doctorate in Education from the University of Connecticut.
Jeff Stein
President, Mary Baldwin University
Dr. Jeff Stein serves as the President of Mary Baldwin University, which offers undergraduate, graduate, and online programs. Since his arrival in 2023, the MBU Fighting Squirrels have launched the Elevate MBU strategic plan, accelerated undergraduate + graduate program pathways, new common curriculum, skills portfolio, and academic/residential pathways. His experience includes strategic planning, engaged learning, career services, and community partnerships, and he holds degrees from University of Georgia, Colorado State University, and Beloit College. Dr. Stein’s grandparents survived the Holocaust and Russian pogroms to make a new life in the United States, and his parents were the first in their family to attend college.
Eric Turner
President, Lasell University
Eric Turner assumed office as 10th President of Lasell University on July 1, 2023. He first joined Lasell’s senior management team in 2017 as VP of Graduate and Professional Studies. He was then appointed provost in 2020. However, Eric has more than 25 years of institutional leadership experience at Lasell., and previously served as an overseer, trustee at both the University and at Lasell Village, and later as chair of the University’s board of trustees. As president, Eric oversees Lasell University’s unique multigenerational campus, including the Holway Early Childhood Centers and Lasell Village, an award-winning continuing care retirement community with a learning mandate that attracts a diverse population of residents.
Earlier in his career, Eric served as a strategic advisor to chief executive officers of businesses and nonprofit institutions, working to improve personnel and organizational performance. He also served as a senior vice president at State Street Corporation, directing two different departments in the company’s financial services unit. Eric gained significant public sector experience as executive director of the Massachusetts State Lottery Commission and as a Deputy Treasurer of the Commonwealth, both under Treasurer Joseph Malone.
Prior to his association with the Commonwealth, Eric worked as an investment banker with the Wall Street firm Drexel Burnham Lambert and held marketing and finance positions at IBM. He served as a director of Tri-State Bank and Scientific Games Corporation, as well as a member of the boards of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, the Massachusetts Institute for a New Commonwealth (MassINC), the Massachusetts Council on Compulsive Gambling, the Harvard Business School Alumni Association, Catholic Charities of Greater Boston and the North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries. Eric resides on Lasell’s campus in Newton, Massachusetts, with his wife, Wanda Whitmore, and their family.
Additional speakers will be announced soon.
Eduventures Summit 2026
June 15-17, 2026
Loews Chicago Downtown Hotel