Keynotes

Sir Ken Robinson

Sir Ken Robinson, PhD, is an internationally recognized leader in the development of education, creativity, and innovation. He is also one of the world's leading speakers, with a profound impact on audiences everywhere. The videos of his famous 2006 and 2010 talks at the prestigious TED Conference have been seen by an estimated 200 million people in more than 150 countries. He speaks to audiences throughout the world on the creative challenges facing business and education in the new global economies.

He works with governments in Europe, Asia, and the United States, plus with international agencies, Fortune 500 companies, and some of the world's leading cultural organizations. In 1998, he led a national commission on creativity, education, and the economy for the United Kingdom government. All Our Futures: Creativity, Culture, and Education (The Robinson Report) was published to wide acclaim in 1999. He was the central figure in developing a strategy for creative and economic development as part of the peace process in Northern Ireland, working with the ministers for training, education enterprise, and culture. The resulting blueprint for change, Unlocking Creativity, was adopted by politicians of all parties and by business, educational, and cultural leaders across the province. He was one of four international advisors to the Singapore government for its strategy to become the creative hub of Southeast Asia.

For 12 years, he was professor of Education at the University of Warwick in the UK, and is now professor emeritus. He has received honorary degrees from the Rhode Island School of Design, Ringling College of Arts and Design, the Open University, the Central School of Speech and Drama, Birmingham City University, and the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts. He was been honored with the Athena Award from the Rhode Island School of Design for services to the arts and education; the Peabody Medal for contributions to the arts and culture in the U.S.; the LEGO Prize for international achievement in education; and the Benjamin Franklin Medal of the Royal Society of Arts for outstanding contributions to cultural relations between the UK and the U.S. In 2005, he was named as one of TIME/FORTUNE/CNN's “Principal Voices.” In 2003, he received a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II for his services to the arts.

His book The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything (Penguin/Viking 2009) is a New York Times best seller and has been translated into 21 languages. His latest book is a 10th anniversary edition of his classic work on creativity and innovation, Out of Our Minds: Learning to Be Creative (Capstone/Wiley). Sir Ken was born in Liverpool, UK, as one of seven children. He is married to Therese (Lady) Robinson. They have two children, James and Kate, and now live in Los Angeles, California.

John Seely Brown

John Seely Brown is a visiting scholar and advisor to the provost at University of Southern California (USC) and to the independent co-chairman of the Deloitte Center for the Edge. Prior to that he was the chief scientist of Xerox Corporation and the director of its Palo Alto Research Center (PARC)—a position he held for nearly two decades. While head of PARC, Brown expanded the role of corporate research to include such topics as organizational learning, knowledge management, complex adaptive systems, and nano/mems technologies. He was a co-founder of the Institute for Research on Learning (IRL).

John—or as he is often called, JSB—is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Education. He is also a fellow of the American Association for Artificial Intelligence, of AAAS, and is a trustee of the MacArthur Foundation. He serves on numerous public boards (Amazon, Corning, and Varian Medical Systems), and private boards of directors. He has published more than 100 papers in scientific journals. In 2004 he was inducted into the IT Industry Hall of Fame. His current book, The New Culture of Learning, co-authored with professor Doug Thomas at USC, was released January 2011. With Paul Duguid, he co-authored the acclaimed book The Social Life of Information (HBS Press, 2000) that has been translated into nine languages, and with John Hagel he co-authored the book The Only Sustainable Edge, which is about new forms of collaborative innovation, and The Power of Pull, published April 13, 2010.

JSB received a BA from Brown University in 1962 in mathematics and physics, and a PhD from The University of Michigan in 1970 in computer and communication sciences. He has received six honorary degrees including: May 2000, Brown University, Doctor of Science Degree; July 2001, the London Business School, Honorary Doctor of Science in Economics; May 2004, Claremont Graduate University, Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters; May 2005, The University of Michigan, Honorary Doctor of Science Degree; May 2009, North Carolina State University, Honorary Doctor of Science Degree; and May 2011, Illinois Institute of Technology, Honorary Doctor of Design. www.johnseelybrown.com

Liz Wiseman

Liz Wiseman teaches leadership to executives around the world. She is the president of the Wiseman Group, a leadership research and development firm headquartered in Silicon Valley, California. Some of her recent clients include: Abbott Labs, Adobe, Apple, Campbell's, Dubai Bank, Gap, Genentech/Roche, Kellogg's, Nike, Oracle, PayPal, PepsiCo, Salesforce.com, SAP, Symantec, Twitter, and Yale New Haven Health System.

She is the author of Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter, a Wall Street Journal best seller. She has conducted significant research in the field of leadership and collective intelligence and writes for Harvard Business Review and other business and leadership journals.

A former executive at Oracle Corporation, she worked over the course of 17 years as the vice president of Oracle University and as the global leader for Human Resource Development. She is a frequent guest lecturer and has taught at Stanford, Yale, BYU, and the Naval Academy. Liz holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management and a Master’s of Organizational Behavior from Brigham Young University.