KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Dan Heath, Best-Selling Author
Wednesday, November 9
8:30 a.m.– 9:45 a.m.

Dan Heath is a columnist for Fast Company magazine as well as a Senior Fellow at Duke University’s CASE center. He is the co-author of Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard, which debuted at #1 on the New York Times and Wall Street Journal
bestseller lists. Heath is a columnist for Fast Company magazine, and he has taught and consulted with organizations such as Microsoft, Philips, Vanguard, Macy’s, USAID, and the American Heart Association. Previously, Dan worked as a researcher and case writer for Harvard Business School, and later served as a Consultant to the Policy Programs of the Aspen Institute.

How to Lead a SWITCH
Why do some big changes happen easily while many small changes prove impossible?
The answer hinges on some of the most fascinating findings in psychology. Building on
this research, Heath will reveal a simple, three-part framework that will help you change
things in tough times, whether the change you seek is at work, at home, or in society. All of
us have things we want to change—in our families, our businesses, and our communities.
But where do you start? And don’t people resist change? In this talk, Heath explores
some reliable ways to drive successful change—and they are techniques that you can
start using today.

Tina Tchen, Executive Director of the White House Council on Women and Girls and the Chief of Staff to the First Lady
Wednesday, November 9
Noon–1:45 p.m.

Tina Tchen is an Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff to the First Lady Michelle Obama. Within the Obama Administration she also serves as the Executive Director for the Council on Women and Girls and the past Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement. Tchen was previously a partner in corporate litigation at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP. In that capacity, Tchen represented public agencies in state and federal class actions, including the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, the Illinois Department of Public Aid, and the Chicago Housing Authority. Tchen is the recipient of many awards, including the Leadership Award from the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois (1999); “Women of Achievement” award from the Anti-Defamation League (1996); and Chicago Lawyer “Person of the Year” (1994).

Dan Gilbert, Best-Selling Author and Professor of Psychology, Harvard University
Thursday, November 10
10:45 a.m.– Noon

Daniel Gilbert is a world-renowned authority on how people predict their emotional reactions to future events. He is the author of the national bestseller Stumbling on Happiness, which spent 25 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. Gilbert’s groundbreaking research on how people make judgments, choices and decisions lies at the intersection of psychology and behavioral economics. Gilbert is a Professor of Psychology at Harvard University and has won numerous awards for his research.
 

Stumbling on Happiness
Most of us spend our lives steering ourselves toward the best of all possible futures, only
to find that tomorrow rarely turns out as we had presumed. Why? As Harvard psychologist
Daniel Gilbert explains, when people try to imagine what the future will hold, they make
some basic and consistent mistakes. Just as memory plays tricks on us when we try to
look backward in time, so does imagination play tricks when we try to look forward. Using
cutting-edge research, much of it original, Gilbert shakes, cajoles, persuades, tricks, and
jokes us into accepting the fact that happiness is not really what or where we thought it
was. He will describe all that science has to tell us about the uniquely human endeavor to
envision the future, and how likely we are to enjoy it when we get there.