Please join us for breakfast on Monday and Tuesday mornings in the Grand Ballroom and hear from outstanding speakers.
Alec Ross
New York Times Best-Selling Author & Leading Expert on Geopolitics, Markets & Innovation
Monday, October 17 | 7:15 am – 8:45 am
Alec Ross is the author of the New York Times best-seller The Industries of the Future, which explores the technological and economic trends and developments that will shape the next ten years, including robotics and artificial intelligence, advanced life sciences, cybersecurity, big data and the code-ification of money, markets, and trust. Alec started his career as a sixth-grade teacher through Teach for America in inner-city Baltimore. In 2000, he and three colleagues co-founded One Economy, a technology-focused social enterprise that serves millions of low-income people across four continents. He also served as the Convener for the Technology & Media Policy Committee on Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign and on the Obama-Biden Presidential Transition Team. He was Senior Advisor for Innovation to the Secretary of State, a position which tasked Alec with modernizing the practice of diplomacy and bringing innovative solutions to advance America’s foreign policy interests.
Currently, Alec is a board partner at Amplo, a global venture capital firm, and sits on the board of directors for companies in the fields of technology, finance, education, human capital, and cybersecurity. Continuing a commitment to education, he is a visiting professor at King’s College London and has served as a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Johns Hopkins University and as a Senior Fellow at the Columbia University School of International & Public Affairs. He was recently named as one of the “Top 100 Global Thinkers” by Foreign Policy magazine and has received the U.S. Department of State “Distinguished Honor” Award, the Oxford University “Internet & Society” Award, and the TriBeCa Film Festival “Book of the Year” Award. Alec’s writing has appeared in The Wall Street Journal and Foreign Policy. His academic writing has appeared as the journal cover articles of the SAIS Review of International Affairs and the NATO Review. Alec lives in Baltimore, MD with his wife and their three children.
Thank you to our Monday Breakfast Session Sponsor:
Ken Jennings
Greatest Jeopardy! Player of All Time, Jeopardy! Co-Host & Best-Selling Author
Tuesday, October 18 | 7:15 am – 8:45 am
Ken Jennings rose to fame in 2004 when the former Utah software engineer spent six months on the hit quiz show Jeopardy! His 75-game streak and $2.5 million in winnings are still Jeopardy! records today, and in 2020 he was named the show’s “Greatest of All Time” after winning a prime-time tournament against legendary champs James Holzhauer and Brad Rutter. Currently he is co-host of Jeopardy!‘s 39th season alongside Mayim Bialik.
In the wake of Ken’s life-changing Jeopardy! reign, he appeared on TV shows from The Tonight Show to The Simpsons to Sesame Street, and Barbara Walters named him one of the ten most interesting people of the year. Ken is now the author of twelve books, including New York Times best-sellers like Maphead, about geography obsessives, and Because I Said So, debunking parenting myths. He currently stars on ABC’s hit game show The Chase as well as Master Minds on GSN, and co-hosts the twice-weekly podcast Omnibus. Ken lives in Seattle with his wife and two children.
Thank you to our Tuesday Breakfast Session Sponsor:
nfraconvention.org 