Despite a host of challenges and pessimism about the state of global politics and economic forces, the global economy is in good shape, and we’re living in a time that has seen the greatest alleviation of poverty in the past 30 years, according to Nicholas Burns. Diseases like polio are close to being eradicated, and the promise of the digital age is delivering—with artificial intelligence and human genome breakthroughs making lives better. Geopolitically, the world has avoided military conflict on the level of the world wars of the twentieth century. Mr. Burns discusses major trends challenging global peace and stability, among them a weakening U.S. leadership role, the U.S.-China competition for power in the Indo-Pacific, and the North Korea nuclear crisis. He also examines prospects for stability in the Middle East and Europe, along with the deepening political crisis in the United States and its impact on foreign policy.

A career foreign service officer for 27 years, Mr. Burns has played a leading role in shaping U.S. foreign policy toward the Middle East, Asia, Russia, and Ukraine. He is currently a professor at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Singer and actor Tim McGraw has sold more than 50 million records worldwide and dominated the charts with 43 number one singles. He’s won three Grammy Awards, 16 Academy of Country Music Awards, and 14 Country Music Association Awards. His iconic career achievements include being named BDS Radio’s Most Played Artist of the Decade and having the Most Played Song of the Decade for all music genres. He is the most played country artist since his debut in 1992, with two singles spending more than 10 weeks at number one. His careerlong tour successes include the record-setting Soul2Soul: The World Tour 2017 with his wife, Faith Hill. McGraw starred in and narrated the hit movie The Shack and co-wrote and performed the closing credit song for the Oscar-nominated documentary Free Solo. Other movie credits include blockbuster hits Friday Night Lights and The Blind Side. McGraw recently co-authored the New York Times best seller Songs of America: Patriotism, Protest, and the Music That Made a Nation with Jon Meacham and enjoyed a critically acclaimed multicity book tour featuring conversation and music from the book. McGraw is the founder of health and fitness brand TRUMAV and has authored a health and fitness book, Grit and Grace, due out in November 2019. His latest music single, “Thought About You,” was a featured televised performance on both the NFL Tailgate Party for Super Bowl LIII and the NFL Draft.

Jon Meacham is one of America’s most prominent public intellectuals. A skilled orator with a depth of knowledge about politics, religion, and current affairs, he brings historical context to the issues and events that have an impact on people’s daily lives.

Mr. Meacham is a contributing editor at Time magazine and writes “The Long View” column in The New York Times Book Review. Previously, he was the managing editor and editor at Newsweek. He is a frequent guest on television news shows and was featured in Ken Burns’ documentary series The Roosevelts: An Intimate History.

Among Mr. Meacham’s best-selling books are Songs of America, a celebration of music that helped shape the U.S.; The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels, which examines current American politics and life by looking back at critical times in U.S. history when hope overcame division and fear; and Impeachment: An American History, which reveals the complicated motives behind the three impeachments in U.S. history.

Mr. Meacham is the author of several presidential biographies. Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush, Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power, and American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House, which won the Pulitzer Prize. His other books include Franklin and Winston and American Gospel. He delivered eulogies for President George H.W. Bush and First Lady Barbara Bush. Fox News produced an hour-long special about Destiny and Power.

The World Economic Forum named Mr. Meacham a “Global Leader for Tomorrow.” He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a fellow of the Society of American Historians, and chairs the National Advisory Board of the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University. He is a distinguished visiting professor of history at The University of the South and a visiting distinguished professor at Vanderbilt. He is currently at work on a biography of James and Dolley Madison.

After working for British Vogue for several years, Platon was invited to New York City to work for the late John Kennedy Jr. and his political magazine, George.

Shooting portraits for a range of international publications including Rolling Stone, The New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Esquire, GQ, and The Sunday Times Magazine, Platon developed a special relationship with Time, producing more than over 20 of its covers for them. In 2007, he photographed Russian Premier Vladimir Putin for Time‘s “Person of the Year” cover. The image was awarded first prize at the World Press Photo Contest.

In 2008 Platon signed a multiyear contract with The New Yorker. As the staff photographer, he has produced several large-scale photo essays, two of which won ASME Awards in 2009 and 2010. His New Yorker portfolios have focused on such themes as the U.S. military, world leaders, and the civil rights movement.

In 2009 Platon teamed up with Human Rights Watch to help celebrate those who fight for equality and justice in countries suppressed by political forces. These projects have highlighted human rights defenders from Burma and the leaders of the Egyptian revolution. Following his coverage of Burma, Platon photographed Aung San Suu Kyi for the cover of Time—days after her release from house arrest. In 2011 Platon was honored with a Peabody Award for collaboration on the topic of Russia’s civil society with The New Yorker magazine and Human Rights Watch.

Platon has published four books of his work: Platon’s Republic (Phaidon Press, 2004), a retrospective of his early work; Power (Chronicle Books, 2011), 100 portraits of the world’s most powerful leaders; China: Through the Looking Glass (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2015); and Service (Prestel, 2016), dedicated to the men and women in the U.S. military, their physical and psychological wounds, their extraordinary valor, and the fierce emotions that surround those who serve.

Platon is a communicator and storyteller. He has been invited to be a keynote speaker on leadership at the World Economic Forum in Davos, as well as by Chanel, Nike, Yale University, Oxford University, Wharton University, the National Portrait Gallery in London, and the International Center of Photography in New York. He has also appeared in a range of television media, including Charlie Rose (PBS), Morning Joe (MSNBC), Fareed Zakaria GPS (CNN), and the BBC World News.

Bernard Clark brings more than 30 years of financial industry experience to his role as head of Schwab Advisor Services™. He is also a member of Schwab’s Executive Committee. Mr. Clark oversees the business that provides custodial, operational, and trading support to over 7,500 independent investment advisory firms, with $1.8 trillion in assets under management*. He has been named by Investment Advisor as one of the “25 most influential people in the industry.”

Previously, Mr. Clark worked for Schwab on the advisor side as leader of the sales and relationship management organization. Before that he oversaw the retail business as head of the client services organization. He began his career at Schwab in 1998 as senior vice president of trading and operations for Schwab Institutional.

Prior to joining the company, Mr. Clark was with the London office of Deutsche Morgan Grenfell Group, where he was the managing director in charge of global sales support, hedge fund operations, and technology, which included managing client service support in Asia, Europe, and the United States. He also spent 13 years with Salomon Brothers as a member of the Executive Committee responsible for North American operations.

Outside of work, Mr. Clark serves on the board of the Foundation for Financial Planning and the Center for Services Leadership in the Arizona State University W. P. Carey School of Business. He is the president of the Saguaro High School Football Foundation and is an active supporter of Phoenix Children’s Hospital.

Mr. Clark holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from St. John’s University.

* As of June 30, 2019

Walter Bettinger II is the president and chief executive officer of The Charles Schwab Corporation, where he leads almost 15,000 full-time employees at the company’s headquarters in San Francisco and branch offices in more than 325 locations globally. He is credited with leading Schwab through the financial crisis: From 2009 through 2012, the company grew client assets by $530 billion. Mr. Bettinger serves on the boards of directors of The Charles Schwab Corporation; Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.; and Charles Schwab Bank®. He is also a trustee of several registered investment companies belonging to Schwab.

Prior to his current role, he was the president and chief operating officer of The Charles Schwab Corporation. Mr. Bettinger began working for Schwab in 1995 after it acquired the Hampton Company, which he founded to provide retirement plan services to corporations and their employees.

Mr. Bettinger is widely recognized as an industry leader. In 2014 Fortune named him one of the “top 20 businesspersons of the year.” In 2012 Tiburon Consulting presented him with its CEO Summit Award. In 2010 SmartMoney named him among its “power 30,” its list of the world’s most influential players. For his contributions to the retirement security of working Americans, PLANSPONSOR recognized him in 2009 with its Lifetime Achievement Award.

In addition to his professional duties, Mr. Bettinger is active in numerous charitable and philanthropic efforts. He and his wife, Teri, are founders of the Walt & Teri Bettinger Foundation and are the parents of five children.

Mr. Bettinger holds a bachelor of business administration degree in finance from Ohio University. He also completed the general management program at Harvard Business School.

Jonathan S. Beatty is a member of the Schwab Advisor Services management team and is responsible for leading Schwab’s national sales and relationship management team. He has worked with fee-based advisors for more than 15 years, providing counsel on strategic business issues and identifying solutions to help them meet their unique business needs. Mr. Beatty has held several key sales leadership positions within Schwab Advisor Services during his tenure with the firm, and he helped shape the sales organization role into one focused on consultative selling.

Prior to Schwab, he was a registered representative with Great Western Securities.

Mr. Beatty holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Wittenberg University and is registered with the National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc. He holds FINRA Series 7 and 9/10 licenses.

Charles (“Chuck”) R. Schwab was born in Sacramento, California. He earned a bachelor of arts degree in economics from Stanford University and a master of business administration degree from Stanford Graduate School of Business. He started the San Francisco–based Charles Schwab Corporation in 1971 as a traditional brokerage company, and became a pioneer in the discount brokerage business with the deregulation of commissions in 1975.

Often credited with “democratizing” investment, Chuck Schwab has driven countless innovations in the investment services industry designed to help individuals make the most of saving and investing, including 24/7 access to services, the one-stop mutual fund supermarket providing access to thousands of no-load, no-transaction-fee mutual funds, custodial services for independent registered investment advisers, online trading, integrated banking and brokerage services, and many others.

He has been Chairman of The Charles Schwab Corporation since its inception and has served as CEO for most of its history until October 2008. He is also Chairman of Charles Schwab Bank. Along with his wife, Helen, he also supports entrepreneurial organizations working in education, poverty prevention, human services, and health. He also served for 10 years as Chairman of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

In his latest book, Invested, Chuck tells the story of starting the company that bears his name, and the struggles and successes he experienced along the way. His previous books include How to Be Your Own Stockbroker; Charles Schwab’s Guide to Financial Independence; It Pays to Talk, written with his daughter, Carrie Schwab-Pomerantz; and You’re Fifty—Now What?

Amy Webb is a quantitative futurist, a professor of strategic foresight at New York University’s Stern School of Business, and the founder of the Future Today Institute, a leading foresight and strategy firm that helps leaders and organizations prepare for complex futures. She advises Fortune 500 and Global 1000 companies, government agencies, large nonprofits, universities, and startups around the world. A specialist in artificial intelligence, she has advised generals and admirals, White House leaders, and chief executive officers of some of the world’s largest companies.

Ms. Webb writes extensively about the impact on society of artificial intelligence, emerging technology, digital media, and the opportunities they present. She is the tech columnist and a contributing editor at Inc. magazine and writes a column about the future of technology for The Nikkei. She is a regular newspaper and magazine contributor and has appeared on CNN, NPR, and other television networks. Her research has been cited in academic papers. She is the author of three books. Her latest, The Big Nine: How The Tech Titans and Their Thinking Machines Could Warp Humanity, addresses the challenges posed by artificial intelligence in service to humankind. Her previous book, The Signals Are Talking: Why Today’s Fringe Is Tomorrow’s Mainstream, explains her forecasting methodology and how any organization can identify risk and opportunity before disruption hits.

Ms. Webb is a Fellow in the United States-Japan Leadership Program and a Foresight Fellow in the U.S. Government Accountability Office Center for Strategic Foresight. She was a visiting Nieman Fellow at Harvard University, where her research received a national Sigma Delta Chi Award. She was also a delegate on the former U.S.-Russia Bilateral Presidential Commission, where she worked on the future of technology, media, and international diplomacy. She is currently helping the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communication recalibrate accreditation standards for U.S. journalism and communication programs.

Ms. Webb holds a bachelor’s degree in political science, game theory, and economics from Indiana University and a master’s degree in journalism from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Emmy-nominated Padma Lakshmi is internationally known as a food expert, model, actress and best-selling author, as well as the recipient of the 2016 NECO Ellis Island Medal of Honor and Variety’s 2018 Karma award. Lakshmi serves as host and an executive producer of Bravo’s Emmy award-winning Top Chef, which is currently in its 16th season.

Lakshmi established herself as a food expert early in her career, having hosted two successful cooking shows and writing the best-selling Easy Exotic, which won the “Best First Book” award at the 1999 Gourmand World Cookbook Awards. Lakshmi followed this success with the publication of her second cookbook, Tangy, Tart, Hot & Sweet. In 2016, she released her food memoir, The New York Times best-selling Love, Loss and What We Ate, which also won “Best Lifestyle, Body & Soul” at the 2017 Gourmand World Cookbook Awards, followed by The Encyclopedia of Spices & Herbs.

In addition to her work as a writer, Lakshmi is a savvy businesswoman, having had multiple companies of her own, including her home décor line, The Padma Collection, and Padma’s Easy Exotic, a collection of frozen rices, lentils and other culinary products. In Spring of 2018, Padma collaborated with MAC Cosmetics for a worldwide capsule collection called #MACPadma.

Last year, Lakshmi became an ambassador for the ACLU, focusing on women’s reproductive health and immigration issues. She is also co-founder of the Endometriosis Foundation of America. The EFA has educated over 32,000 teens on this devastating illness.

José Andrés cares about the numbers: 9,000, 3.7 million, 300,000. These are the numbers of meals the famous chef, his World Central Kitchen, and Chef Relief Network have served at various times to victims and first responders of natural disasters—from the recent hurricanes that hit Puerto Rico and North Carolina, to the devastating wildfires in California, earthquakes in Indonesia, and volcanic eruptions in Hawaii and Guatemala.

In the past year alone, his culinary first responders have provided more than 4.8 million meals for victims of natural disasters around the world. Arriving days after Hurricane Maria ripped through Puerto Rico in 2017, Mr. Andrés and his team of chefs and volunteers prepared 3.7 million meals in kitchens across the island—a monumental effort he chronicled in his memoir, We Fed an Island: The True Story of Rebuilding Puerto Rico One Meal at a Time. He founded World Central Kitchen after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. Its mission has since expanded to discover “smart solutions to hunger and poverty.”

The internationally acclaimed culinary innovator and food advocate has received numerous achievement awards, including being named among Time magazine’s “100 most influential people” in 2018 and 2012, and the James Beard Foundation’s 2018 “Humanitarian of the Year.” In an interview with the late Anthony Bourdain of CNN’s Parts Unknown, Mr. Andrés said, “A plate of food is much more than food. It sends a message that someone far away cares about you—that you are not on your own. It’s a beacon of hope that maybe somewhere, something good is happening.”

This pioneer of Spanish tapas in the United States is also known for his avant-garde cuisine, and an award-winning group of 31 restaurants—and a food truck—located in the United States, Mexico City, and the Bahamas. He is the only chef in the world who has both a two-star Michelin restaurant and four Bib Gourmands.

Denis McDonough is no stranger to managing high profile, complex, and intractable situations. As senior principal at the Markle Foundation, the former White House chief of staff is now leading a task force to address the skills gap in the American workforce, with the goal of enabling people to succeed in an economy being reshaped by new technologies.

As the longest serving chief of staff to President Barack Obama from 2013-2017, he intently focused on restoring a working relationship with the Republican-led Congress after 2014 and provided the president with strategic advice on domestic policy, national security, and government operations. In line with the administration’s reputation for effective and ethical operations, he oversaw plans for performance and goals for federal agencies, as well as the recruitment and retention of key talent. This involved an unprecedented expansion of technology experts, engineers, and content creators within the White House and across the federal government. He also efficiently managed a 4,000-member White House staff, Cabinet secretaries, and agency leaders.

Before becoming chief of staff, Mr. McDonough served as assistant to the president and principal deputy national security advisor, leveraging his foreign policy background to deal with increasingly unpredictable situations abroad. Mr. McDonough was involved in the Navy SEAL strike against Osama Bin Laden. He led a multiagency team that provided crisis management and policy decisions during the Iran nuclear program negotiations, strategic arms reduction talks with Russia, reset with Asia, Afghanistan surge, and troop drawdown in Iraq. Prior to joining the White House, Mr. McDonough was the senior foreign policy advisor to the 2008 Obama presidential campaign, and held leadership and policy-making positions in Congress.

Mr. McDonough holds a bachelor’s degree from St. John’s University and a master’s degree from the Georgetown University Walsh School of Foreign Service.

Andrew Card is the Chairman of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), a nonprofit whose mission is to promote democratic institutions worldwide.

He is perhaps best known for his role in the administrations of three presidents. From his perch in the West Wing, Andrew Card experienced the trials and triumphs of leadership during some of the country’s most challenging times. He served as White House chief of staff to George W. Bush, and deputy White House chief of staff to George H.W. Bush, as well as his secretary of transportation. He was the deputy assistant to the president and special assistant to the president for intergovernmental affairs under Ronald Reagan.

The second-longest tenured chief of staff in U.S. history, Mr. Card is the one who, on 9/11, whispered to the president that America was under attack from terrorists and then spearheaded a government-wide reorganization to respond. When Hurricane Andrew hit in 1992, he coordinated the administration’s disaster relief efforts. His political life also includes running the 2000 Republican National Convention and serving as a Massachusetts state representative.

After leaving the White House, Mr. Card served in education leadership roles, most recently as president of Franklin Pierce University. Earlier, he was executive director of the Office of the Provost and vice president for academic affairs at Texas A&M University. He was also acting dean of A&M’s Bush School of Government and Public Service.

In private industry, Mr. Card was the vice president of governmental relations for General Motors, and acted as president and chief executive of an automotive industry trade association.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of South Carolina, attended the United State Merchant Marine Academy, and graduated from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Douglas Holtz-Eakin has an international reputation as a scholar of applied economic policy, econometric methods, and entrepreneurship. He is the president of the American Action Forum, an independent, nonprofit organization that seeks to educate the public about the complex policy choices facing the country.

Previously he was a commissioner on the congressionally chartered Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission and director of domestic and economic policy for John McCain’s presidential campaign. Before that, he was director of the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, where he addressed the 2003 tax cuts, the Medicare prescription drug bill, and Social Security reform. Dr. Holtz-Eakin also served as chief economist and a senior staff economist on the President’s Council of Economic Advisers. Prior to that, he held several positions at Syracuse University and also taught at Columbia University. He has a bachelor’s degree from Dension University and a doctorate from Princeton University.

With more than 30 years of experience in the investment industry, Beverly Flaxington is a well-known human behavior and communication expert. She also provides financial and investment guidance, executive coaching, instructional design, marketing and sales support, and facilitation. As the co-founder of The Collaborative, she helps financial services firms with business development and organizational needs. She is also a lecturer at Suffolk University.

Ms. Flaxington has developed numerous trademarked processes to help teams accomplish their goals. Her work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Planning Association’s Solution magazine, Investment News, and other publications. She is a blogger for Psychology Today online and writes a weekly column called “Ask Bev” for Advisor Perspectives magazine. She is the author of several books, most recently The Essential Sales Guide for Entrepreneurs and Small Business Owners. She has a bachelor’s degree in business administration and a master of business administration degree in management from Suffolk University.

Shachar Kariv, PhD, is a professor and distinguished teaching fellow at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley, and the Benjamin N. Ward Professor of Economics and department chair at the university. Dr. Kariv has conducted research in experimental and behavioral economics to understand individual preferences and attitudes toward risk and time, and is considered a leading game theorist. He is also the co-founder and chief scientist at Capital Preferences.

Previously, Dr. Kariv served as the faculty director of the experimental Social Science Laboratory at UC Berkeley. He has also held visiting professorships at Stanford, Princeton, University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, European University Institute, and Norwegian School of Economics, among others. He has received numerous awards, including the Sloan Research Fellowship and special recognition for distinguished excellence in teaching from UC Berkeley. Dr. Kariv has a bachelor’s degree in economics from Tel Aviv University, and a master’s degree and doctorate in economics from New York University.

As president of the consulting firm Red Zone Marketing, Maribeth Kuzmeski, PhD, and her team consult with top financial professionals who manage up to $1 billion in client assets. She has helped numerous advisors increase sales and profitability through the development and implementation of strategic and tactical marketing plans. She also teaches marketing at Columbia University.

Dr. Kuzmeski is the author of seven books, including the best seller The Connectors: How the World’s Most Successful Businesspeople Build Relationships and Win Clients for Life. She is a contributor to USA Today, Forbes, the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. Additionally, Dr. Kuzmeski hosts a podcast, runs her own charitable foundation, and is an international keynote speaker. She holds a bachelor’s degree in public relations from Syracuse University, a master of business administration degree in marketing from The George Washington University School of Business, and a doctorate in business administration from Oklahoma State University.

Kathy Jones is a Senior Vice President, Chief Fixed Income Strategist for the Schwab Center for Financial Research (SCFR). In this role, she is responsible for interest rate and currency analysis, as well as fixed income education for investors at Schwab. Prior to joining Schwab, Kathy was a Fixed Income strategist at Morgan Stanley where she specialized in global-macro strategy covering domestic and international bonds and foreign exchange. She has also been a consultant in the alternative investment area and was previously Executive Vice President of the Debt Capital Markets division of Prudential Securities. Kathy has covered global bond, foreign currency and commodity markets extensively throughout her career as an investment analyst and strategist, working with both institutional and retail clients. She makes regular broadcast appearances on CNBC, Fox Business News, and NPR. She is often in the financial news media including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Bloomberg, Reuters, and USA Today. Kathy earned her undergraduate degree with honors in English literature from Northwestern University and an M.B.A in finance from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management.

Greg Laurence, Managing Director of RIA Sales, is responsible for the team supporting the sales and distribution of Charles Schwab Investment Management (CSIM) strategies for Schwab and Laudus Mutual Funds, Schwab Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) and Schwab Bank Collective Trust Funds (CTFs) to registered investment advisors.

Before joining Intermediary Sales Group at Schwab in 2009 as Regional Director and Vice President of the Midwest territory assisting in the development of new mutual funds, ETFs and CTFs to registered investment advisors and bank trust channels, Mr. Laurence was Vice President of Client Service and Marketing at Oberweis Asset Management. There he worked with both institutional and intermediary retail clients. He also spent a year at Wilshire Associates as Vice President in the Analytics Division. Prior to that, he spent almost six years with Deutsche Asset Management (Scudder Investments) in a number of positions in mutual fund distribution, most recently as Vice President of Product Management for Scudder’s Value Equity products.

Mr. Laurence earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa, and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Wisconsin MBA Consortium. He completed the Certificate Program in Financial Planning at DePaul University in Chicago and is a Certified Financial Planner™ practitioner. He completed the Investment Management Education Program at University of Chicago Booth School of Business and is a Certified Investment Management Analyst® (CIMA). He also earned the Accredited Investment Fiduciary® (AIF) and Chartered Mutual Funds Counselor (CMFC) designations. He holds Series 6, 7, 24, 63 and 65 licenses.

In his role as managing director of business consulting for Schwab, Jerry Cobb helps advisory firms identify and address challenges around growth, profitability, and succession.

Before joining Schwab, he provided business analysis and insight into performance improvement for several organizations. He was the director of communications and public information for the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office. Prior to that, he was the founder of Actual Media, a communications strategy and public relations consulting firm that helped small and mid-sized firms with marketing, branding, and strategic communications. Earlier, he served as vice president of marketing for Kolbe Corp., where he helped investment advisors and others implement talent management and productivity solutions. Mr. Cobb also served as a business and financial news analyst for CNBC. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Brown University and a master of business administration degree in marketing from the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. He also studied business and economics at the University of Chicago on a fellowship.

John van Moyland brings 25 years of experience in the financial services industry to his role as head of financial products at Kensho Technologies, where he leads a team of quantitative analysts and data scientists using advanced analytics, machine learning, and natural language processing techniques to create truly differentiated custom baskets and indices. The company’s flagship family of indices captures the most innovative companies driving the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Prior to Kensho, Mr. van Moyland was managing director at Business Model Strategies Ltd., where he oversaw operating model design and optimization, technology strategy, and program management. Before that, he was global head of fixed income technology at Fidelity Worldwide Investment and head of regional technology for Asia at Barclays Global Investors (acquired by BlackRock). He is the co-founder of three companies, including Product Focus, Inc.

John Sileo is president of The Sileo Group, a data security think tank that provides data privacy training through keynote speaking, business coaching, and advanced seminars. The firm helps companies protect their privacy and prevent the loss of intellectual property and customer, member, and employee data. Mr. Sileo’s work is based on practical experience: He was the victim of an identity theft and embezzlement scheme that destroyed his business and almost landed him in jail.

Mr. Sileo has shared his insights with government agencies such as the Pentagon, the FDIC, Federal Reserve Bank, and the Department of Homeland Security, as well as a range of corporations. He has been featured in USA Today, on CBS’s 60 Minutes, and on The Rachel Ray Show. He has a bachelor’s degree in political science from Harvard University.

Celeste Headlee is an award-winning journalist, professional speaker and author of Heard Mentality and We Need To Talk: How To Have Conversations That Matter. In her 20-year career in public radio, she has been the Executive Producer of On Second Thought at Georgia Public Radio and anchored programs including Tell Me More, Talk of the Nation, All Things Considered, and Weekend Edition. She also served as co-host of the national morning news show, The Takeaway, from PRI and WNYC, and anchored presidential coverage in 2012 for PBS World Channel. Celeste’s TEDx Talk sharing 10 ways to have a better conversation has over 16 million total views to date.

As an NPR host and journalist, Ms. Headlee has interviewed hundreds of people from all walks of life. Through her work, she has learned the true power of conversation and its ability to both bridge gaps or deepen wounds. As a mixed race journalist of black and Jewish descent, Ms. Headlee also speaks candidly about how to converse on race and other difficult subjects.

Ms. Headlee serves as an advisory board member for Procon.org and is the conversation expert for Plenty of Fish. She is also co-host for season three of the Scene on Radio podcast – MEN. Her work and insights have been featured on TODAY, Psychology Today, Inc., NPR, Time, Essence, Elle, BuzzFeed, Salon, Parade, and many more.

Hollie Fagan is a managing director at BlackRock, where she oversees the firm’s dedicated Registered Investment Advisor Channel and Retail Investor platforms. Her team manages distribution, marketing, and investment support for mutual funds, separately managed accounts, alternatives, iShares ETFs, portfolio construction consulting, and risk analytics. It also supports BlackRock’s business with direct-to-retail consumer platforms.

Previously, Ms. Fagan led the iShares national accounts team, which was responsible for home office relationships with national wires, regional and independent broker-dealers, private banks and custodial firms. Before that she lead the iShares internal sales desk and the iShares research and due diligence teams. Prior to joining BlackRock, she worked at Alliance Bernstein and Merrill Lynch. Ms. Fagan has a bachelor’s degree from the College of New Jersey and a master of business administration degree from Rutgers University. She holds FINRA Series 7, 24, and 66 licenses and life- and health-insurance licenses.

Joseph Duran is an entrepreneur, investor, best-selling author, and industry speaker. He is the chief executive officer and a founding partner of United Capital, a financial life-management company that helps clients meet personal as well as financial goals. Investment News and Money.com have published his columns, and he is a frequent contributor to programs on CNBC, Fox Business, Bloomberg, and PBS. He has received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year and Schwab Pacesetter IMPACT® awards. He is the author of The Money Code: Improve Your Entire Financial Life Right Now.

Previously, Mr. Duran founded and served as president of Centurion Capital, which he sold to General Electric Private Asset Management. He has a bachelor’s degree from Saint Louis University, a master of business administration degree in marketing from the University of California, Berkeley, Walter A. Haas School of Business, and a master of business administration degree in finance from Columbia Business School. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst®

Shirl Penney is the founder, president, chief executive officer, and a member of the Board of Directors of Dynasty Financial Partners, a leading provider of investment and technology platforms for independent wealth management advisory firms. He began the firm in the midst of the 2008 financial crisis to improve the financial advisor model by building a service platform that allows advisors to better serve clients and efficiently grow their businesses.

Previously, Dynasty, Mr. Penney worked at Citigroup Smith Barney (now Morgan Stanley Smith Barney) in various leadership roles, including director of private wealth management and head of executive financial services. He is a frequent speaker at industry events and is regularly quoted in various financial publications. Investment News named him to its 2015 list of 40 most influential people in wealth management under the age of 40 and to its 2016 inaugural list of “Icons and Innovators” in wealth management. He has a bachelor’s degree from Bates College.

A sought-after speaker and investment strategist, Ron Carson is the founder and chief executive officer of Carson Group, one of the largest wealth-management firms in the country, established with a vision of delivering extraordinary customer service. The firm services financial advisors and investors through Carson Wealth, Carson Group Coaching, and Carson Group Partners, which helps advisors improve client service and grow their businesses. He is the co-founder of aRIA, a think tank and study group, and of Advisor Growth Strategies, a consulting firm serving the wealth management industry.

Mr. Carson regularly appears on Barron’s top advisor lists, and is one of only two independent advisors in the publication’s Hall of Fame. Forbes named him one of America’s top wealth advisors. He is the best-selling author of Tested in the Trenches, Avalanche, and The Sustainable Edge. Mr. Carson has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. He is a Certified Financial Planner™, a Certified Fund Specialist®, and a Chartered Financial Consultant®.

A former U.S. Air Force F-16 fighter pilot, Anthony “AB” Bourke is the founder and chief executive officer of Mach 2 Consulting, where he applies the same tools and techniques that made him a premier pilot to the competitive world of business. His training firm works with top management teams worldwide to help them implement the Feedback Loop, his battle-tested system that helps business leaders execute at a higher level and achieve their goals.

Mr. Bourke has flown tactical missions all over the world, piloted high-performance aircraft, and was one of the first to fly his F-16 over New York City in the homeland defense efforts of September 11, 2001.

Previously, Mr. Bourke and fellow fighter pilots formed the global management training company Afterburner, Inc. During his time as chief executive and president, Inc. magazine twice named Afterburner to its list of the 500 fastest growing companies. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley.

A leading historian and political commentator, Niall Ferguson, PhD, believes the key to explaining world history, the present, and the future lies in understanding the power of social networks and how they challenge hierarchical structures like government and religion. The latest of his 14 books, The Square and the Tower: Networks and Power, from Freemasons to Facebook makes the case for social networks as drivers of power and change in human history and predicts which hierarchies will withstand the latest wave of network disruption. His other books, including multiple best sellers, have covered such varied topics as the financial history of the world, the role of the House of Rothschild as the world’s banker, institutional decay, and the geopolitics of Germany, China, Britain, and the United States. He has won numerous awards for his books and several have been made into television documentaries. His weekly opinion columns appear in the Boston Globe and Sunday Times of London.

Dr. Ferguson is currently the Milbank Senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and a senior fellow of the Center for European Studies at Harvard. He also serves as the managing director of Greenmantle, a macroeconomic and geopolitical advisory firm he founded that provides custom research and advice for select clients in the financial, energy, technology, and industrial sectors. He is a visiting professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing and a distinguished scholar at the Nitze School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C. Dr. Ferguson previously served as a professor at the London School of Economics, Harvard University, and New York University Stern School of Business.

He holds a degree in history, a doctorate in philosophy from Oxford University, and was a research fellow and a lecturer at Cambridge University.

For Rohit Bhargava, predicting trends is about “curating observations of the accelerating present.” An authority on trends, marketing, and innovation, he runs the Non-Obvious Company, a consultancy that helps leaders and their teams see what others miss, enabling them to identify and seize new opportunities. Through trainings and workshops, Mr. Bhargava’s team helps companies with innovation, leadership, mindful management, sales, marketing, and employee engagement.

He has been recognized alongside visionary business leaders like Sir Richard Branson and Tom Peters as a “Top 100 Thought Leader in Trustworthy Business Behavior.” He is a popular keynote speaker and the author of five books, including his 2015 Wall Street Journal bestseller Non-Obvious: How To Think Different, Curate Ideas & Predict The Future, which he updates annually with new predictions. In addition to consulting and speaking, Mr. Bhargava teaches marketing and storytelling at Georgetown University. His personal “Influential Marketing Blog” has been featured in global media and named by AdAge magazine as one of the top 25 marketing blogs in the world. He regularly appears or has been featured in Harvard Business Review and The Guardian, and on NPR.

Previously, he was senior vice president of global strategy and planning for Ogilvy, and earlier served as an executive producer for Leo Burnett Australia, both global advertising agencies. He holds a bachelor of business administration degree and a bachelor’s in English Literature from Emory University, as well as a master’s degree in professional writing and editing from George Mason University.

Janet L. Yellen, PhD, is currently a Distinguished Fellow in Residence at the Brookings Institution. She is most recognized for her role as chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System during the economic recovery that followed the financial crisis. Under her watch, the country experienced the third-longest economic expansion in history. As the first woman to serve as head of the central bank, she oversaw a period of strong job growth and the start of monetary policy normalization. Dr. Yellen helped sustain a period of economic prosperity in which U.S. stock markets outperformed the rest of the world, inflation remained stable, and the unemployment rate declined. As part of her focus on reducing unemployment, she advocated for job training programs to enable American workers to attain skills needed for in-demand jobs.

Greg Valliere has followed Washington, D.C., for investors for the past 40 years, specializing in coverage of economic issues, taxes, the Federal Reserve, and, of course, politics. He is currently the chief U.S. policy strategist at AGF, an independent asset management firm with headquarters in Canada.

Mr. Valliere comes to his new role from Horizon Investments, where he served as the chief political strategist. Prior to that, he was the chief policy strategist for Potomac Research Group and Soleil Securities Corporation, held strategic roles at Charles Schwab’s Washington Research Group, and was the research director at The Washington Forum, a group he co-founded in 1974. He began his career at F-D-C Reports, a trade publication monitoring the pharmaceutical industry.

He is a frequent guest on CNN, Fox Business TV, Bloomberg Radio and TV, and CBS Radio News. He is frequently quoted in The Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and Barron’s.

Mr. Valliere holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from The George Washington University.

Liz Ann Sonders covers a range of investment opportunities and strategies focused on the individual investor. Her analysis and interpretation of the economy and markets reach Schwab’s clients in written reports, audio and video recordings, conference calls, and webcasts. She is a regular contributor to Schwab’s publications and is the keynote speaker at many of the firm’s corporate and client events, as well as outside conferences.

Earlier in her career, she worked at U.S. Trust as a managing director and as a member of its Investment Policy Committee. Before that she was a managing director and senior portfolio manager at Avatar Associates.

Ms. Sonders is a regular guest and guest host on CNBC’s Nightly Business Report and its other programs, and she appears on Bloomberg TV and Radio, CNN, Fox Business News, PBS NewsHour, Yahoo! Finance, and TheStreet.com. She was a regular panelist and guest host on PBS’s original Wall $treet Week with Louis Rukeyser. She is regularly quoted in The Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Barron’s, the Financial Times, and MarketWatch.com and by the Associated Press.

Ms. Sonders has been named among SmartMoney’s “Power 30,” the most influential people on Wall Street; American Banker’s “25 most powerful women in banking”; and Wealth Manager’s “top 50 women in wealth management”; and as Kiplinger’s “best strategist of the year.” She was recently named for the second time to Investment Advisor’s “IA 25,” a list of the 25 most important people in and around the financial advisory profession.

Ms. Sonders holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and political science and an honorary doctorate from the University of Delaware, and she serves on its Investment Visiting Committee. She holds a master of business administration degree in finance from Fordham University’s Gabelli School of Business.

As chief global investment strategist at Schwab, Jeffrey Kleintop analyzes and discusses international markets, trends, and events to help U.S. investors understand their significance and financial implications. He provides research, commentary, and actionable insights to Schwab’s client-facing teams and the firm’s Investor Services and Schwab Advisor Services™ clients.

Mr. Kleintop is frequently cited in The Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Barron’s, and the Financial Times. He is also a regular guest on CNBC, Bloomberg, Fox Business Network, PBS, and ABC News. Called “one of Wall Street’s best and brightest” by The Wall Street Journal, he is a sought-after speaker at industry events, including Barron’s Top Financial Advisors Summit and the Financial Planning Association’s annual conference.

Prior to Schwab, Mr. Kleintop served as chief market strategist at LPL Financial. Earlier in his career, he was the chief investment strategist at PNC Wealth Management and the senior investment strategist at ARIS Corporation of America. He is the author of Market Evolution: How to Profit in Today’s Changing Financial Markets.

Mr. Kleintop holds a bachelor of business administration degree from the University of Delaware and a master of business administration degree from Pennsylvania State University. He also studied at the London School of Economics and is a Chartered Financial Analyst^®.