Dan Russell, PhD

Born in Somalia, Ayaan Hirsi Ali earned international attention as a critic of Islam and advocate for the rights and self-determination of Muslim women, actively opposing forced marriage, honor violence, child marriage and female genital mutilation. She founded the AHA Foundation – an organization for the defense of women’s rights.

A literary powerhouse and master storyteller whose words electrify the soul and ignite the imagination, Isabel Allende will discuss My Name, Emilia del Valle, to be released on May 6, 2025.

Professor of Medicine and Genetics, Stanford University, Author

Pulitzer Prize Winning Author, Humorist, Columnist

John Briscoe is a San Francisco poet, author, lawyer, and restaurateur. He has published poetry, articles on law, literature and history, and several books including Crush: The Triumph of California Wine, The Lost Poems of Cangjie, and Tadich Grill: The Story of San Francisco’s Oldest Restaurant.

Jeffrey Brown is Senior Correspondent and Chief Arts Correspondent for PBS NewsHour, public television’s prestigious nightly news program viewed by millions. During his career with NewsHour he has served as co-anchor, studio moderator, and field reporter on a wide range of national and international issues.

Daniel James Brown is author of The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Olympics (2013), that was a #1 New York Times Bestseller list for 137 weeks. Dan’s latest book, Facing the Mountain: A True Story of Japanese American Heroes in World War II (2021) portrays the kaleidoscopic journey of four Japanese American families and their second generation young men-the Nisei-who volunteered for the 442 Regimental Combat Team. The 442^nd was deployed to France, Germany and Italy, where they were asked  to do the near impossible in often suicidal missions.

Two-time US Poet Laureate, dubbed “the most popular poet in America” by the New York Times

Allison Crowther established the Welles Remy Crowther Charitable Trust to assist young people to become exemplary adults through education, health, recreation, and character development, in honor of her son, Welles, who perished while assisting other people evacuating the burning World Trade Center on 911

A former Secretary of the Navy and distinguished Naval Academy graduate, shares his inspiring journey in “At the Helm: My Journey with Family, Faith, and Friends to Calm the Storms of Life.” His memoir highlights principled leadership, ethical challenges faced, and pivotal contributions to naval history.

National Geographic Explorer in Residence, Ethnographer, Writer, Photographer and Filmmaker

Niall Ferguson, MA, DPhil, FRSE, writes and lectures on international history, economic and financial history and British and American imperialism. He is known for his positive views concerning the British Empire.

Filippenko is an Astrophysicist on a Nobel Prize winning team, as well as the 2007 Gruber Cosmology Prize, 2015 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics to all team members. He was voted the “best professor at UC Berkeley 9 years!”.

Internationally renowned illustrator, designer and visual storyteller. Author/designer of children’s books and 7 US Postage stamps including the 2006 Love stamp.

Don George is an editor-at-large for National Geographic Traveler magazine, as well as host of the National Geographic Live series of conversations with notable authors. In four decades as a travel writer and editor, Don has visited more than 90 countries on five continents.

A Pulitzer-Prize winning biographer, presidential historian, former sports journalist and political commentator.

Tom Ikeda is the founding Executive Director of Densho, a grassroots organization dedicated to preserving, educating, and sharing the story of World War II-era incarceration of Japanese Americans in order to deepen understandings of American history and inspire action for equity. Tom was wrote the forward and consulted with  Daniel James Brown writing of  Facing the Mountain.

Walter Isaacson has established himself as the biographer of creativity, innovation, and genius. Einstein was the genius of the revolution in physics, and Steve Jobs was the genius of the revolution in digital technology.

Leader in Science Policy in the US, Author, Undersecretary for Science for President Obama, Theoretical Physics Professor at CalTech then NYU

Acclaimed Author, Finalist National Book Award in Fiction and Professor at Princeton University

H.R. McMaster retired with thirty-four years of experience as an officer in the U.S. Army commanding troops in Afghanistan, Iraq, Kuwait, and during Desert Storm, followed by a position as National Security Advisor in the White House, and professorships at Stanford University and the Hoover Institution, H.R. McMaster brings us his well-qualified viewpoint of the geopolitical landscape and decades of first-hand knowledge of the global stage today.

Dr. Mikal-Flynn has worked in the area of trauma and post-trauma recovery for over twenty years. Drawing on her  own miraculous recovery from an accident that left her clinically dead for twenty-two minutes, her new book, Anatomy of a Survivor: Building Resilience, Grit, and Growth After Trauma, reveals all she has learned from working with hundreds of patients as well as her own journey back to wellness.

Nicole Perlroth covers cybersecurity and digital espionage for The New York Times. She has covered Russian hacks of nuclear plants, airports, and elections, North Korea’s cyberattacks against movie studios, banks and hospitals, Iranian attacks on oil companies, banks and the Trump campaign and hundreds of Chinese cyberattacks, including a months-long hack of The Times.

Acclaimed Author and Physician, “Out of the Fields: My Journey from Farmworker Boy to Pediatrician” has for over 35 years taken care of children like himself as a child

Tom Rinaldi, winner of 16 Sports Emmy Awards and 7 Edward R. Murrow Awards for his reporting for FOX New and ESPN

Luis J. Rodriguez believes a writer can change the world.

Mr. Rubenstein is a leader in the area of Patriotic Philanthropy, having made transformative gifts for the restoration or repair of the Washington Monument, Monticello, Montpelier, Mount Vernon, Arlington House, Iwo Jima Memorial, the Kennedy Center, the Smithsonian, the National Archives, the National Zoo, the Library of Congress, and the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Julia Flynn Siler is a bestselling author and acclaimed journalist known for her impactful works such as “The White Devil’s Daughters” and “Lost Kingdom: Hawaii’s Last Queen.”

Strock writes the ‘Next Nationalism’ on Substack and hosts the ‘Serve to Lead’ podcast.

Bestselling author of more than a dozen novels and memoirs, including The Joy Luck Club.

Bari Weiss is a journalist and the author of “How to Fight Anti-Semitism,” which won a 2019 National Jewish Book Award. From 2017 to 2020 Weiss was an opinion writer and editor at The New York Times. Before that, she was an op-ed and book review editor at The Wall Street Journal and a senior editor at Tablet Magazine.