Carl Bass is president and chief executive officer of Autodesk, Inc. Autodesk is the leader in 3D design, engineering and entertainment software. Formerly he was Autodesk’s chief operating officer, responsible for worldwide sales, marketing, and product development. Earlier roles included CTO and EVP of product development. Bass co-founded Ithaca Software, the developers of HOOPS, which [...]

Music and storytelling have always been a vital part of Charles’ life growing up in the South. However, despite thorough tutelage from his staunchly religious grandmother, who insisted upon him learning church hymns as a child, Charles never aspired to walk the path of a performing artist. He dreamed of playing professional football. After a disappointing end to [...]

Connie Duckworth founded ARZU, Inc., a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization, in 2004 and serves pro bono as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. She is a retired Partner and Managing Director of Goldman, Sachs, & Co., where she was named the first woman sales and trading partner in the firm’s history during her 20 year career from 1981-2001. Ms. [...]

David Ewing Duncan is an award-winning, best-selling author of seven books published in 19 languages; he is a journalist and a television, radio and film producer and correspondent. His most recent book is the bestseller Experimental Man: What one man’s body reveals about his future, your health, and our toxic world. He is the Chief [...]

UC Berkeley’s DeCadence (pronounced dee-KAY-dence, with a capital ‘C’), is best known around the Bay Area for their one-of-a-kind quirkiness and lovable eccentricity. Sporting eye-catching blue and gold capes at nearly every performance, this slightly unconventional gaggle of crime-fighting, booty-dropping vocalists has been spotted artfully wielding crazy costumes and daring dance moves wherever they go. [...]

Gopi Kallayil works at Google on the marketing of Google Plus and is based out of the Googleplex in Mountain View, CA. Earlier he worked on marketing the Company’s flagship advertising product, AdWords, in the Americas and Asia Pacific. Gopi also led the marketing team for AdSense, Google’s publisher‐facing product. Before joining Google, Gopi was [...]

Jodi Lomask has been commissioned to create original works for NASA, TED, SFO, Computers and Structures, the California Academy of Sciences, and the Salvadorian Olympic Gymnastics Team. Upon founding Capacitor in 1997, she began collaborating with world-renowned research scientists to create original dance works that draw attention to critical environmental issues. Under her artistic direction, [...]

Ken Goldberg is an inventor working at the intersection of art, robotics, and social media. At UC Berkeley, Ken teaches and supervises research in Robotics, Automation, and New Media. Ken holds dual degrees in Electrical Engineering and Economics from the University of Pennsylvania (1984) and MS and PhD degrees from Carnegie Mellon University (1990). He [...]

Lindsey Stirling has been playing the violin for 19 years with a range that extends from classical and to rock and roll. When she was 16, she joined the rock band Stomp on Melvin and began touring. She was recently a contestant on America’s Got Talent where she became known as the Hip Hop violinist [...]

Dr. Maria Fadiman works with the human/environmental aspect of conservation. She received her Ph.D. in Geography at the University of Texas at Austin, an M.A. in Latin American Studies from Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana and a B.A. from Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York. She was named one of National Geographic’s Emerging Explorers [...]