Aspen Ideas Festival Announces Inspiring Leaders and Thinkers for 20th Year Celebrating Bright Minds for Dark Times

Satya Nadella, Alex Rodriguez, Admiral William McRaven join previously announced speakers Jane Fonda, Bill Maher, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Kara Swisher, Fareed Zakaria, and Maureen Dowd. The Festival returns to the Rocky Mountains from June 23-29, guest curated by celebrated editor and author Tina Brown. Featured moderators include NBCUniversal News Group journalists and hosts including Andrew Ross Sorkin, Jenna Bush Hager, Stephanie Ruhle, Laura Jarrett, Antonia Hylton, Julia Boorstin, and Sharon Epperson.

/EIN News/ -- Washington, DC, & Aspen, CO, April 16, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Aspen, CO, April 16, 2024 – The Aspen Ideas Festival, the Aspen Institute’s flagship summer convening presented in partnership with NBCUniversal News Group, announces new speakers appearing as part of a bold lineup of global thought leaders, tech and media innovators, artists, authors, policymakers, entrepreneurs, scientists, and explainers of now. Passes are on sale and press registration is open now.

Below are some of the 300+ speakers and moderators appearing at the Festival. Many more will be announced in the coming weeks.

• Former Secretary of State John Kerry, most recently President Biden’s climate envoy, shares candid thoughts about global inaction on the climate crisis, along with Anne Finucane, chairwomen of Rubicon Carbon.
• Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella in conversation with Tina Brown about leading in the AI era.
• Former Treasury Secretary Lawrence H. Summers talks with CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin about AI’s impact on the economy.
• Iconic baseball All-Star and entrepreneur Alex Rodriguez on the boom in sports investing, along with David Rubenstein, Carlyle Group co-founder and new owner of the Baltimore Orioles.
• California Congresswomen Katie Porter, E. Jean Carroll’s attorney Roberta Kaplan, and New York University Law Professor Melissa Murray assess the status of women in post-Roe America, moderated by Katie Couric.
• Fannie Mae CEO Priscilla Almodovar speaks with CNBC’s Sharon Epperson on the state of the U.S. housing market.
• Admiral William McRaven, who just received the $50 million Courage and Creativity Award from Jeff Bezos, discusses leadership in times of crisis with groundbreaking former Pepsi CEO Indra Nooyi and Ford Foundation President Darren Walker.
• Iranian-American journalist and courageous human rights campaigner Masih Alinejad on how women are fighting for their freedom in Iran.
• Acclaimed historian Niall Ferguson deep dives into the threat of a China-U.S. crisis over Taiwan with former Trump Deputy National Security advisor Matt Pottinger and three leading China scholars.

Additional headliners will be announced here.

NBCUniversal News Group anchors and correspondents from across NBC News, CNBC, MSNBC, NBC News NOW and Telemundo, will moderate conversations throughout the Festival.

Attendees will find the Festival reimagined for 2024. The action will stay on the revitalized Aspen Meadows campus into the evening, with new nighttime programming, entertainment, and dining. From sunrise to sundown, the festival will explore critical issues and uncover ideas that spark conversation and debate, with attendees gaining exceptional opportunities to interact in a uniquely intimate setting with people shaping the world. Explore this year’s themes.  

Underwriters for the 2024 Aspen Ideas Festival are Allstate, Amazon, BP, Comcast, Edward Jones, Meta, Mount Sinai Health System, Prudential Financial, Reuters, Viant Technology, the Walton Family Foundation, and Wells Fargo.

For more information on the Aspen Ideas Festival, please visit www.aspenideas.org. View this release online here.

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Jon Purves
                    The Aspen Institute
                    jon.purves@aspeninstitute.org